Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

So, the other day, I went to pick up my DZ package from my parents (3 sprues and 3 minis for the pledge porn crowd), and they ended up taking the boy for a couple of hours. I had nothing else to do, a certain Gerry Goldsmith track stuck in my head, so... I converted. (See below for the current state of things.)

My questions are: What deadzone or Warpath stories or rules books discuss their space ships or FTL technology? Are there any canonical illustrations? What is the fluff for Warpath space travel--FTL, weapons, scale, etc.? Thanks for any info you can give!



I'm not finished with these models yet, but the basic shape is there. I plan to add more structure from some Imex/Platformer kits and details from more Mantic/GW or modelling kits. Any recommendations? Or should I treat BFMantic like a GW product and only use Mantic bits? (I don't want to use the Dreamforge bling because I want my Dreamforge kitbashed ships to look distinct from the Mantic ones.)

Wow, those are very nice! I'd use whatever bits you have to finish them off, not just the Mantic ones (I think the larger one needs something on the bridge). Can't help on the fluff, though.

Well, I cant remember any fluff, but the DZ rulebook has some illustrations of ships... enforcer ships, anyway. Very round though. Slightly tauish, but with anime-esque wings... hard to describe.
Its right after the index though.

 Paradigm wrote:
Wow, those are very nice! I'd use whatever bits you have to finish them off, not just the Mantic ones (I think the larger one needs something on the bridge). Can't help on the fluff, though.

Thanks for the encouragement! I'll posts pics again as I complete them. I'm definitely going to do more with the bridge and the 'nacelles'.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Tyr13 wrote:
Well, I cant remember any fluff, but the DZ rulebook has some illustrations of ships... enforcer ships, anyway. Very round though. Slightly tauish, but with anime-esque wings... hard to describe.
Its right after the index though.

Doesn't look easy to kitbash. Oh well. Thanks for the heads up.

I'll have to make a Battlefleet for the Gothic Corporation's generic knock-off competitor.

Those are... decidedly Klingon in nature, and also very awesome

The FTL drive is called a McKinley drive I think, apparently you can rig them into a large bomb if the occasion calls for it. I think only ships of a certain size can house one, not fighters or space-trucks, I think we're talking about dozen crew sized ships and up, I'll see if I can dig through the story compilation some time.

It's all very new and the majority (possibly the totality) of the Ronnie/Manticverse is all breadth and no depth at the moment. I'm really hoping they push the fluff aspect of their universe as they get going, dreadball and deadzone have both added a little, hopefully warpath will do a lot more.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I still can't get over the designs, clever as all hell.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Containment protocols (which I believe we are to take as canon)

The hunt- a Nightjar is the smallest ship to house a McKinley drive. Apparently the McKinley drives are meter thick lustrous black tubes. I dunno about larger ships, this drive ran from bow to stern of the Nightjar. It was rigged as an explosive, something of a mini nuke.

No Survivors- A Core Class cargo transport is nearly two miles in length with a crew of 26. A single corridor runs the length of the ship with the engine room at the stern. Two airlocks.

If it's of any use, when they declare a containment protocol all ships in the immediate vicinity get their nav-computers wiped and that makes FTL suicide without a map, could end up in a star blah blah.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I think people were either carelessly or carefully vague with their descriptions, and I don't recall any fun space combat.

 GrimDork wrote:
Those are... decidedly Klingon in nature, and also very awesome

The FTL drive is called a McKinley drive I think, apparently you can rig them into a large bomb if the occasion calls for it. I think only ships of a certain size can house one, not fighters or space-trucks, I think we're talking about dozen crew sized ships and up, I'll see if I can dig through the story compilation some time.

It's all very new and the majority (possibly the totality) of the Ronnie/Manticverse is all breadth and no depth at the moment. I'm really hoping they push the fluff aspect of their universe as they get going, dreadball and deadzone have both added a little, hopefully warpath will do a lot more.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I still can't get over the designs, clever as all hell.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Containment protocols (which I believe we are to take as canon)

The hunt- a Nightjar is the smallest ship to house a McKinley drive. Apparently the McKinley drives are meter thick lustrous black tubes. I dunno about larger ships, this drive ran from bow to stern of the Nightjar. It was rigged as an explosive, something of a mini nuke.

No Survivors- A Core Class cargo transport is nearly two miles in length with a crew of 26. A single corridor runs the length of the ship with the engine room at the stern. Two airlocks.

If it's of any use, when they declare a containment protocol all ships in the immediate vicinity get their nav-computers wiped and that makes FTL suicide without a map, could end up in a star blah blah.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I think people were either carelessly or carefully vague with their descriptions, and I don't recall any fun space combat.

Thank you for the positive comments! I really appreciate them. And yes, I was definitely feeling a Klingon vibe from pretty much every part of the lamp post.

Thank you for the info about the McKinley drive. Unfortunately, It sounds like a more contained device that lends itself more towards "flying brick" spaceships or cylinder ships. They also sound very similar in scale and FTL limitations to 40k/Battlefleet Gothic ships, or possibly Babylon 5. Still, it opens up some possibilities for kamikaze ships and the like. Hopefully, Mantic will start laying down some background rules.

Also, thank you for the story reference. I'll look it up and read it...just as soon as I learn how to read on my computer without somehow accidentally opening a browser and surfing the internet. I just don't get it; that never happens when I read paper books.

Yeah the fluff is still really nebulous and not concrete, the McKinley drive ran the length of the ship but maybe that smallest ship wasn't that big, and you can just tuck the drive away anywhere in a bigger one, hasn't been said yet.

I'm pretty sure they Wyverns the enforcers use are at least somewhat streamlined and not giant flying bricks, but I guess we'll see!

You could print the PDF pages out right?

 GrimDork wrote:
Yeah the fluff is still really nebulous and not concrete, the McKinley drive ran the length of the ship but maybe that smallest ship wasn't that big, and you can just tuck the drive away anywhere in a bigger one, hasn't been said yet.

I'm pretty sure they Wyverns the enforcers use are at least somewhat streamlined and not giant flying bricks, but I guess we'll see!

You could print the PDF pages out right?

I ...could... print them. I don't have a printer, but I do have lots of books on the shelf which are closer than a trip to Kinkos, so somehow I've never made that leap. Hmmmm.. Of course, if Mantic offered printed versions for $5 like their Dwarf King's Fighting Fantasy books in the next Kickstarter campaign Pledge Manager I'd be all over them. As a customer, I may not quite be a rational actor.

For the Wyverns are they small dropships or larger landers? Not-Thunderhawks? I guess I really need to get around to reading all the pdfs. Do you think they would work for Drop Zone ComMantic as 1/350-scale Intruders with some Mantic bits instead of wings? 'Cause that's what I'm picturing.

Oh you lost me at drop zone commander. Zero knowledge of that one unfortunately.

 GrimDork wrote:
Oh you lost me at drop zone commander. Zero knowledge of that one unfortunately.

I don't really play the game. I just like making spaceships and stuff. Basically, DZC has a scale where dropships and tanks can coexist on a table, so smaller than 28mm but a lot bigger than BFG, et al.. Really, I only care about the aesthetic considerations, as well as having minis of a size to swoop around with my hands while making pew-pew noises.