Hi there, Ronnie here with an update for all things Deadzone, this time focusing on the rules.

I am really excited to talk about the updated rules and why we have chosen to do what we have done.

First off just a quick apology for the plastic vs. resin changes in the last update. While I think this issue is pretty much sorted (and hopefully today’s update will sweeten the pot even more!) I don’t think we handled the communication quite as well as we could. As well as extoling the greatness of the plastic, I should have given a bit more colour about the challenges we are having with resin – both because this is often causing significant delays to despatching Kickstarters (such as Blaine for KoW – great model – but the major reason for delays because of the quantities) and a few quality issues (such as the traps in DS). Anyway, we all know that any Kickstarter when it is still early in the creative process will experience a few changes – in fact that might be some of the fun – but I don’t ever want you to feel that you are getting less than we promised.

Which leads me on to today’s update. We knew people wanted to play Deadzone – great scenery, great models and cool background, but the rules were just a bit too tough to master. A steep learning curve and a few rules that always caught you out. That’s why we set about doing an updated set. We wanted to make it faster, slicker – more fun!

Jake and I spoke at length about what needed doing. I will let Jake himself talk you through the next bit….

First we tried small tweaks and general tidying up, but it simply wasn’t enough of a difference. What we needed was a step change in ease of use, so we came up with this version.

The intent is not to take away a popular game, but to replace it with a slicker and faster version of itself that retains the key elements whilst losing anything unnecessary. In doing this, many elements were moved from being separate rules to being integrated in other ways, so most of what seems to be missing is actually just hidden somewhere else. This process of integration has made the game play much faster and with a far greater body count.

When we started we intended to just upgrade the rulebook, but once we started working on it and saw what we could do – which is make a truly fantastic, quick skirmish game – we knew it was an opportunity we had to take.

He wrote a first pass, and I played it… and I played it again and again! I thought it was brilliant, but then perhaps it was just me. So I sent a very rough draft to the Deadzone rules committee and the guys in the USA and UK that I knew loved the 1st edition and were always playing, and the 3 Deadzone Tournament Champions from Adepticon 2015 – i.e. the people who were regularly playing the game as it was. And I honestly asked them if they preferred the new or the old version. There was only one answer – and it was the same from every single player. The liked the 1st edition, but they loved the second!

At this point Jake went away and worked the rules up into a more complete document. If you want to know more about his design thinking and the journey of the game pop over to his site, where he has been sharing his thoughts (www.quirkworthy.com). Since we got the script back it’s been edited and the army lists have been added. The rules committee have also developed the campaign system, which allows you to design your own force and see it improve over time.

And that’s what you have here!

- Just click the link and press download in the top right.

A new shiny version of Deadzone, and I hope it will get you to finish painting that squad (if you are like me they are based and undercoated!) and have a game on all that fantastic scenery and rubber-backed mat! The rules have been designed to allow quick and fast – but always tactical – play.

There are victory points to collect by grabbing key positions on the battlefield (and keeping them) – great for those fast armies that are looking for supplies – like the Rebs. There are loot counters – with a few booby traps, naturally – that give in-game buffs. And much less armour and fewer dice modifiers - so much more death!

We have also given far more choice in the basic army lists, so you pick troop types and then select any additional weapons & gear they are packing, over and above their standard equipment - giving you a high degree of customisation over your force.

And then there is the command dice – these really create the dramatic, heroic moments in the game. These are the buffs to allow you to do the impossible – but remember your opponent can do it too!

These replace the cards (which although a good idea, they were a little slow and cumbersome). During the KS we promised everyone an updated set of cards – and these will of course be replaced by a full set of the new command dice. (Before you ask we looked at making them the same as the Warpath dice – but ended up compromising both games doing that!).

This means that the only thing a backer from the last edition of DZ will need to buy is one pack of dice to validate his whole collection (I have already promised to give them a pdf download version of the new rulebook).

The plan is also to give another set of Kickstarter-exclusive special edition command dice to every backer on this campaign too, so you’ll get 2 sets – the standard retail set (for your friends) and a KS exclusive set (to show off with!).

We wanted to tell you about this with the plastic changes last week, but it made the blog too long (and too late because I have been slow writing it).

I am not going to tell you too much about the changes – hopefully you’ll discover these in the game play videos we have coming up, or better yet, by having a few games.

I will just mention this… on one face of the command dice there is a Mantic splat. This is the army special ability. This is the 6! It is what makes your force do something special – in keeping with their training/attributes but just that little bit unique, and it’s based on your commander. It might let you go on a frenzy and do another attack with a model (per splat dice!), or a horde rule that allows you to shuffle forward a previously moved model. This is a change on the surface that will make every game that bit different (just like the loot counters!!!).

Ok this is cool, I hear you say – but there are only 7 armies right – so how much different can it be? Wrong! Because starting with Infestation we will be creating a new army list for each Deadzone faction, based around a named character – and they will have their own unique splat (and sometimes even unique unit entries or upgrades). This will be an ongoing development so there will be new lists coming – meaning that although most of your force will use the same models from game to game you can radically change your force by changing your leader, and adding a new splat and some different upgrades - keeping every game fresh with only a little effort from you.

Ok, enough from me. Please have a read of the rules, hopefully a game or two, and let me know your thoughts!

Best wishes, thank you as always for supporting us through Kickstarter. It makes what we can do so much better.