Barzam wrote:
I love that the Veer-myn all look to be wearing sealed environment suits. That's awesome!

 DaveC wrote:
They used Mantic Digital for the Warpath PM but it’s now gone as they currently use backerkit they migrated the details to pledgehammer but that’s gone too so there is no longer an online record. If you keep old emails you should have got a receipt listing your pledge items from the PM otherwise you’ll probably need to ask Mantic support for it.

Deadzone: Outbreak is coming soon and next week we'll be going over all of the content - including the brand new Nameless faction - over on the Mantic Blog. There will be features on the new online campaign, background, units and even some great bundles for those of you who want to get started in Deadzone. Stay tuned!

DEADZONE: OUTBREAK
Perhaps the most exciting release for Deadzone is a new supplement – Deadzone: Outbreak. A little like the Clash of Kings supplement for Kings of War, this will bring together a wealth of great content:

Tips for running tournaments and leagues
New equipment/weapons for your strike team
Updated and new scenarios for tournament play
Updated faction lists that include the latest changes from the errata
The faction lists in particular will be extremely useful as it means all the updated factions will be in one place, so there’s no need to flick between the original rulebook and the errata. The Rules Committee is already hard at work on the content and it is going to be released in June. [Note now July]

However, that’s not all the book will introduce…

THE NAMELESS!

That’s right, The Nameless are coming to Deadzone. Along with their own Star Saga expansion The Nameless will become an official faction in Deadzone and their stats will appear in Outbreak.

A new Faction Starter will be released that includes the Minions from the Star Saga expansion, along with some brand new miniatures that will ensure they’re an effective faction. So expect to see a vehicle-like Nameless miniature and more. [Note probably the nameless Goliath]

We’ll also be working on the background of the Nameless to explain why they’re heading into space and trying to colonise new planets.

 scarletsquig wrote:

Every army list gets a complete reprint, so there's no more flicking through errata for changes, and there's 10 factions in the book, inlcuding the two new ones (Nameless and Mazon Corp).

 DaveC wrote:

 scarletsquig wrote:

Every army list gets a complete reprint, so there's no more flicking through errata for changes, and there's 10 factions in the book, inlcuding the two new ones (Nameless and Mazon Corp).

Thanks for the info and it's nice to have a proper spelling for Mazon! Maison seemed a bit weird but I'd only heard it mentioned in audio interviews so I had no reference for spelling!

I assume there will be a few new metal/resin minis to flesh out the Nameless and Mazon Corp and maybe others?

 scarletsquig wrote:
It's a proper chunky book, which all of us on the rules committee have been working on for the last 6 months.

Every army list gets a complete reprint, so there's no more flicking through errata for changes, and there's 10 factions in the book, inlcuding the two new ones (Nameless and Mazon Corp).

There's a number of other things in there to refresh the core game as well, 8 core missions (the 4 from the original book revised + 4 more), so you can now roll a d8 to determine mission, adding a lot more variance and balance to the overall experience. Secret missions got a revamp as well.

The book can basically be considered a v2.5 for Deadzone, to rebalance the whole thing, remove the need to check errata, refresh the scenarios and provide official tournament play guidelines.

It lays down the groundwork for future releases (there's potentially a lot more to come!), Deadzone is being pushed a *lot* by Mantic this year, as a sci-fi skirmish game with quick, grid-based mechanics, small board size it has had a lot of traction since it is very easy to get started with (buy & paint 5 minis, have a friend with the rules/ terrain and you're sorted).

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Will the new book have a lot of new or expanded fluff?

 scarletsquig wrote:
Also, we're sorting out the Mars Attacks lists for Deadzone very soon now that Outbreak work is mostly complete, the game might slowly be going OOP, but we'll make sure the minis everyone has are still supported.

Spoiler:

DEADZONE OUTBREAK: WHAT’S COMING UP THIS SUMMER?

This summer Containment Protocols are in full effect thanks to the Deadzone Outbreak Summer Campaign. It’s a chance for Deadzone players around the globe to get together to decide the fate of an entire planet and it will be backed up by a range of new releases too.

Over the course of this week, we’re going to be delving deeper into the campaign by looking at: how the campaign will work, the new Nameless faction, a preview of the Outbreak supplement and lots more. Also, make sure you’re signed up to the Mantic newsletter because this Friday we’ll be giving subscribers the opportunity to download the Firefight rules for FREE! More on that in a moment. Anyway, to kick things off, we’ve got a brief overview of everything that’s coming up over the next week…

DEADZONE SUMMER CAMPAIGN

Earlier this year we released a mini campaign booklet for Firefight called ‘Starfall’. This told the story of a backwater planet that had become the centre of GCPS attention following some tectonic shifts that uncovered precious minerals. Unfortunately, it also uncovered a resident population of Veer-myn that weren’t too happy about the invading GCPS forces. The Starfall campaign booklet introduced a series of linked missions that told this story. In fact, you can still get the Starfall booklet by ordering it from the website. It’s free and you’ll just need to pay for postage.

The book ended with a mysterious spaceship arriving in Starfall’s orbit… the Nameless had arrived! The summer campaign will take place on Starfall, as different factions land on the planet ready to exploit its natural resources and get their hands on the mysterious (and powerful) Nameless technology. Very much like the Kings of War: Edge of the Abyss campaign last year, we’ll be creating an online hub where players can upload their battle results. Each faction will have their results tallied to see who gains control of the planet. We’ll have more details about the summer campaign tomorrow, so stay tuned. But for the moment, mark August 20th in your diary as that’s when the campaign will begin!

DEADZONE OUTBREAK
Accompanying the summer campaign, we’ve got a brand new 88-page supplement for Deadzone. A little like Clash of Kings for Kings of War, which introduced new units and scenarios for KoW, Outbreak is pretty much Deadzone 2.1. Inside the book you’ll find re-balanced/new units for each faction, plus two brand new factions: Nameless and Mazon Labs. There are also four new scenarios, plus we’ve re-balanced the original scenarios, and introduced new pieces of equipment.

This supplement is an essential purchase for any Deadzone player and we’ll be putting it up for pre-order later this week. We’ll also be exploring the book in more detail on Wednesday to give you a taste of what’s to come!

THE NAMELESS!

This summer also sees the introduction of a brand-new faction for Deadzone: The Nameless. There are a number of new releases centred around the Nameless, including a Deadzone faction starter, a new expansion for Star Saga and the monstrous Goliath (aka the Monstrosity from the Star Saga Kickstarter).

In the Outbreak supplement, Christopher Verspeak explores the background of the Nameless a little more and explains why this previously peaceful race is encroaching into GCPS space. Head to the Mantic Blog on Thursday for a closer look at the terrifying Nameless.

FIREFIGHT

With all this Deadzone action taking place, we realise that some people may be itching to take their Deadzone games to the next level. Firefight is the next logical step, as you only require around 30 to 50 miniatures for a decent sized scrap. As part of the Outbreak summer campaign, there will be an optional mission to play a full-on Firefight battle, as the conquest for Starfall comes to a dramatic conclusion.

To make sure as many of you as possible can experience the Firefight rules, for a limited time only we’ll be offering a PDF of the entire rulebook as a FREE download. That’s right, you can get the Firefight rules for FREEEEEEEE! Make sure you’re signed up to the Mantic Games newsletter to receive the download link first. You can sign up here.

PRE-ORDERS!

All of the above will be going up on the website later this week. Plus, we’ll have some special bundles for those of you who are just getting into the wonderful world of Deadzone. Don’t miss out on what promises to be an action-packed summer of sci-fi gaming.

Make sure you head back to the blog tomorrow for a closer look at what’s happening during the summer campaign…

 scarletsquig wrote:
...

The book can basically be considered a v2.5 for Deadzone, to rebalance the whole thing, remove the need to check errata, refresh the scenarios and provide official tournament play guidelines.

...

 timetowaste85 wrote:
What’s the quicklink to send to for items missing? I haven’t received the paid add-on hornets or mules. Just the two “missing” mules from my battlegroups.

Today we’ve got a sneaky peek at the brand new Deadzone Outbreak supplement. This 88-page book will be going on pre-order later this week but first we wanted to whet your appetite about what’s inside. Firstly though, let’s explain a little bit about the background behind this book… With Outbreak we (and the ever-vigilant Rules Committee) wanted to create something that acted as a foundation for an online campaign but wasn’t tied directly to it. Instead, it’s a major update to the rules that also introduces two new factions (Mazon Labs and Nameless), plus a bunch of new units for existing factions. What’s more, Deadzone 2.0 was released in 2016 and the RC felt it was time to look at re-balancing unit stats where necessary. Think of Outbreak as Deadzone 2.1.

Anyway, with all that in mind, let’s run through the contents…

NAMELESS

The launch of the new Nameless faction is one of the key elements of Deadzone Outbreak. Warpath writer Christopher Verspeak has written a new background for these be-tentacled horrors and this is all explained in Outbreak. Alongside this you get the full faction listing for the Nameless, along with small pieces of info about each unit. We’ll be exploring the Nameless in more detail tomorrow, so stay tuned…

NEW SCENARIOS

Something else the Rules Committee was keen to introduce in Outbreak were new scenarios. There are four in the Deadzone rulebook but, seeing as you roll a D8 to decide what mission to play, it made sense to expand this to eight. As a result in Outbreak you will find four new scenarios: Scatter, Divide & Conquer, Invade and Occupy. These scenarios will be used in the online campaign too. As well as introducing the new scenarios, the Rules Committee also went back to the four original scenarios and tweaked those where necessary. We’re really excited about this increase in scenarios and can see it being very useful for tournaments to ensure that things are kept fresh and exciting.

NEW EQUIPMENT

Another piece of feedback that came through the dedicated Deadzone community (#Deadzoneislife) is that the current selection of items wasn’t particularly well balanced. It tended to favour the more ‘shooty’ factions, rather than the close combat specialists. So, there are now four different item selections to choose before the game and this introduces four new items: Combat Blades, Shock Baton, Adrenaline Shot and Stimulant Shot. These alternate items are represented by the standard counters in the game, so there’s no need to buy a new set of counters.

NEW ABILITIES

With the introduction of new factions and some new units, it was time to also create a slew of new abilities as well. This has led to the creation of abilities such as Cloaking Device, Communications Relay, Evade, etc. What’s more, the existing abilities Fire Control, Knockback and Teleport have all been amended in Outbreak too.

NEW UNITS

As well as introducing the new factions, Outbreak also has a host of new options for the existing factions. For the Asterians, this includes the likes of the Support Drone, while the Forge Fathers get the new Thorgarim unit, Marauders gain Goran Auxiliaries, Rebs recruit the Teraton Shock Trooper, etc. It’s also the first time the Veer-myn beta list (which seems to have been in beta since Deadzone 2.0 launched) has been officially released in print. As you can hopefully tell from this, even if you’re not planning to take part in the summer campaign (because you’re being forced to go on a pesky family holiday or something), Outbreak is still a vital addition to your Deadzone arsenal.

NEW ELITE LISTS

Finally, if you like your themed lists, you’ll find Elite Lists for each faction (apart from Mazon Labs, as they’re already pretty elite).

DEADZONE OUTBREAK: GENESIS OF THE NAMELESS

Deadzone Outbreak blog week continues with a preview of the new Nameless faction! Hopefully by now you’ve already caught up on the structure of the summer campaign and found out what’s inside the new Outbreak supplement. However, at the heart of both the summer campaign and Outbreak is the arrival of a brand-new faction for Deadzone: the Nameless.

Buy why did we choose the Nameless? Well, following their introduction in DreadBall and the arrival of Project Oberon in Deadzone, they’ve always been a popular race within the Warpath Universe. After all, who doesn’t like Cthulhu-style space monsters with more tentacles than your local Sealife Centre? The answer is absolutely no one. NO ONE!

This love for the Nameless came to a head during the Star Saga Kickstarter when we introduced the Nameless as the core of not one but TWO expansions: Fear in the Darkness and Terror ihn the Deep. The introduction of the Nameless immediately saw the total start shooting upwards and we immediately had calls to make the Nameless into a Deadzone faction. However, this left us with a little bit of a problem – in the DreadBall background they’re described as a peaceful race

GENESIS OF THE NAMELESS

Never fear, we thought! The Outbreak supplement is a chance for us to really expand on the Nameless background and turn them from a bit of a joke faction into a fully-fledged (and fighty) faction for Deadzone. There was really only one man for the job: Christopher Verspeak! Christopher wrote the excellent First Strike novel and also contributed a lot to the Warpath Sourcebook.

He went back to the drawing board with the Nameless and began exploring their origins in more detail. We’re not going to spoil everything here but, in keeping with the DreadBall background, they’re mostly a peaceful and heavily religious race. However, with the aggressive expansion of the GCPS, one of the hostile religious sects within Nameless culture has decided the GCPS is a threat that must be wiped out. Although this militant group is mainly shunned by Nameless society, they’re attracting more followers by the day. If their incursion onto the planet Starfall goes well, it’s likely to encourage even more to join and the Nameless will become increasingly violent.

As such, the success or failure of the Nameless during the summer campaign will dictate how their culture progresses. Will they become a race determined to wipe out humanity, or will they continue to choose a more peaceful path? Only YOU can decide.

NAMELESS FACTION STARTER

The core of the Nameless faction will come in the form of a new Deadzone faction starter. This will include a brand new leader (in resin) and 17 troops (a mix of PVC plastic and resin). The Nameless are led by the powerful Psychotroid, a bizarre creature with Psychic attacks and the ability to cause enemies to flee.

It will be backed up by smaller minions, like the Scuttler and Inker, plus core troops such as the Caratid (similar to the DreadBall striker) and specialists like the lumbering Ogre. If you fancy a different leader for your Nameless troops, you’ll be able to pick up the Kickstarter Exclusive The Fear for just 15 Mantic Points or The Blight for £7.99. This will give you more options when battling it out on Starfall.

Currently there’s no faction booster for the Nameless, as this summer campaign will shape how aggressive they become within the Warpath Universe (and what extra troops they require), however that doesn’t mean we’re done with the Nameless releases…

GOLIATH

Releasing as part of the Star Saga line is the Nameless Goliath, however this mighty beast can also be used as a ‘vehicle’ in Deadzone. This is currently due for release in August alongside a Nameless Minion Booster for Star Saga – this will include 12 of the PVC miniatures, so might come in handy for Deadzone too if you want to bolster your troops. Both will be going up for pre-order in early July.
.
BATHOMITE

A completely new unit for the Nameless is the resin Bathomite, which is also heading your way in August (just in time for the summer campaign). Again, this is another ‘vehicle’ for the Nameless and is shaping up to be an awesome miniature, as you can see in the concept art below.



THE FUTURE OF THE NAMELESS

What’s going to happen with forthcoming Nameless releases? Well, this is where YOU come in! With the summer campaign there’s the chance to shape the future of the Nameless. Will they become a thorn in the side of the GCPS? Could they ally with the Rebs to bring the GCPS to its knees? Will they retreat to their home system to nurse their wounds before another attack? This summer is just a taste of what we’ve got planned for the Nameless and we can’t wait to get our tentacles on more units in the future.

The Nameless Faction Starter, The Fear and The Blight (along with a host of other Deadzone-themed releases) will all be going up for pre-order on the Mantic website tomorrow (Friday). Will you be fighting for or against the Nameless in the summer campaign?