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Mars attacks figures are solid, but have decent mold lines and are fairly bendy.

I think DBX and then DS are direct upgrade/replacements in terms of their board game materials soxmy assumption would be that lev of quality/material. I could handle MA stuff too, bit shallow, but if you take the best quality stuff (the tiger corps and bounty hunters) it would be pretty solid.

After grinding through a bunch of hard plastic mantic sci-fi zombies and WGF survivors, some nice single piece figures would be a nice change.

The Mars Attacks figures were pretty good. The Martians were the weakest of the bunch, with the U.S. troops being about as good as most restic minis if not better and the Tiger Corps being the stand out for quality. Honestly, the Tiger Corps may be the best "board game plastic" minis I've ever seen. The Dungeon Saga minis were mostly the same quality, although my copy of Valandor was apparently miscast.

I'll second Bob's sentiments on the Mars Attacks stuff.

I love the bugs as well as the Tiger Corps. The soldiers are pretty decent for generic modern soldiers.

I thought the terrain was a step up from the Deadzone stuff as well. Never had a Mars Attack connector snap on me. Buildings went together smoothly. Way better than DZ1.

Hopefully DZ2 builds on that, and we get some new TWD battlezones that add variety to the Mars Attacks ones.

 Gimgamgoo wrote:

What's annoyed me the most of all. They've removed all the Zombie AI rules from the latest KS2 of Deadzone which were from KS1 for some reason or other. But now they plan on making Walking Dead which sounds like PvP with Zombie NPCs - just like gaming in Deadzone 1 Contagion (RIP). As DZ2 backers we were paying for updated and improving the rules. What we've got is a watered down version and the stuff we played the most is being removed to go to Walking Dead.


Part of the Kickstarter statement for Deadzone 2 was;

"With this Kickstarter we’re also taking the opportunity to revisit the main rulebook, putting it into a glorious hardback format whilst making a few changes, including:"

And missing from the list below that statement should have been;

"Removing all rules for Zombie AI games as we're taking that idea to a licensed product coming soon"

:-(

Hm. That's not cool. Are people discussing that/rioting in the DZ KS comments?

 GrimDork wrote:
^Yeah. Now I don't have convert my own Michone, and I guess the rest of them... Guess I'll still have to DIY Darryl and maybe Meryl (Merle? However you spell that), but the later only cause knife hands rule.

Studio Miniatures has Michone with pets and Darryl.

I don't really know why you quoted me, but Manitc's track record varies with whom you speak to.

Ive backed Dreadball, Dreadball Extreme. Kings of War II , and Deadzone, and haven't had any issues besides some missing bases, which they promptly took care of.

I haven't played Mars Attacks, as that prperty doesn't interest me, but I've heard nothing but good things about it

 Azazelx wrote:

 Gimgamgoo wrote:

What's annoyed me the most of all. They've removed all the Zombie AI rules from the latest KS2 of Deadzone which were from KS1 for some reason or other. But now they plan on making Walking Dead which sounds like PvP with Zombie NPCs - just like gaming in Deadzone 1 Contagion (RIP). As DZ2 backers we were paying for updated and improving the rules. What we've got is a watered down version and the stuff we played the most is being removed to go to Walking Dead.


Part of the Kickstarter statement for Deadzone 2 was;

"With this Kickstarter we’re also taking the opportunity to revisit the main rulebook, putting it into a glorious hardback format whilst making a few changes, including:"

And missing from the list below that statement should have been;

"Removing all rules for Zombie AI games as we're taking that idea to a licensed product coming soon"

:-(

Hm. That's not cool. Are people discussing that/rioting in the DZ KS comments?

No, because it's something the RC will rework for v2 at some point, along with everything else.

I was kind of wondering about that... I mean did they remove the zombie rules from the core rulebook... wait. Zombie rules were never in the core rulebook they were in an expansion. One thing at a time maybe? Besides the zombie rules were pretty basic, is there anything that's changed that will make the zombies unusable? They still have stats. The AI should be no different. What am I missing? How does not updating all expansion material at the same time as you revamp the core game equate to 'dismissing all of the zombie rules in the game because we're running a zombie game'?

=/

Yes, the rules were in a 32-page booklet called Deadzone: Contagion.

Of this, the zombie-relevant parts are:
- 3 pages of zombie rules
- 1/2 page about how to use Zombies in existing missions
- 7 page solo campaign (3 pages of rules, 4 missions)

I don't know enough about "Deadzone 2.0", but the rules are simple enough that you should be able to adapt them easily.

That's what I'm seeing. So I can't understand the angst about it.

 GrimDork wrote:
I was kind of wondering about that... I mean did they remove the zombie rules from the core rulebook... wait. Zombie rules were never in the core rulebook they were in an expansion. One thing at a time maybe? Besides the zombie rules were pretty basic, is there anything that's changed that will make the zombies unusable? They still have stats. The AI should be no different. What am I missing? How does not updating all expansion material at the same time as you revamp the core game equate to 'dismissing all of the zombie rules in the game because we're running a zombie game'?

=/

By that fantastic argument I take it of course that you won't be expecting to see any of the following either;
Indirect Weapons or Vehicles (Nexus Psi)
Asterians, Forge Fathers. Bikes, Shields, Smokescreens (Incursion)
They were only expansions, I'm sure you can house rule and adapt all those into your games.


I think people missed my point. We paid to upgrade our Deadzone in the kickstarter. Yet Mantic seem to be removing some of the parts we liked, and managing to make an entire licensed product out of some of the stuff we're losing from Deadzone.

I'll not say more on the topic. However, if the Deadzone Rules Committee do even half as good a job as the Kings of War RC did, then I know we'll get a great game in Deadzone2. Just a shame I've lost any opponents I once had as it was the battle cards that swayed them into playing it.

^ We're planning to release an updated set of stat cards as .pdf's too. One of many projects to complete, will take time. Might even be able to outsource that task to the community since I've seen plenty of custom stat cards posted in the facebook group.

We're writing the campaign book for the Exham IV Deadzone currently, once we've done that, we'll have a better idea of how to proceed with reworking previous expansions to fit v2, Nexus PSI will be a natural first choice to go back over, rework the scenarios, make a custom d88 table for etc.

Again, it's one of those things where if someone wants to take a serious stab at updating it to a professional standard (20 hours work minimum for a first draft done properly, I'd estimate), that's something the RC can then have a look at, read through and work on before submitting to Mantic as an official errata/update to the original book.

At this point, the v1.5 .pdf is pretty much final, and it's a matter of clearing up wording and proofreading.

 scarletsquig wrote:
^ We're planning to release an updated set of stat cards as .pdf's too. One of many projects to complete, will take time. Might even be able to outsource that task to the community since I've seen plenty of custom stat cards posted in the facebook group.

We're writing the campaign book for the Exham IV Deadzone currently, once we've done that, we'll have a better idea of how to proceed with reworking previous expansions to fit v2, Nexus PSI will be a natural first choice to go back over, rework the scenarios, make a custom d88 table for etc.

Again, it's one of those things where if someone wants to take a serious stab at updating it to a professional standard (20 hours work minimum for a first draft done properly, I'd estimate), that's something the RC can then have a look at, read through and work on before submitting to Mantic as an official errata/update to the original book.

At this point, the v1.5 .pdf is pretty much final, and it's a matter of clearing up wording and proofreading.

Thank you. That's a long way to restoring my faith in what's going on.

Have you any idea if the new hardback is going to be the same large size as current DZ ones or more like that smaller format KoW one. (Love the KoW hardback rulebook).

On topic... have Mantic said if the figures are boardgame plastic ready made like Zombicide, or will they be hard plastic?
I'm hoping the zombies will be hard plastic on sprues so we can make a variety of poses. Otherwise the zombie horde may look a bit samey. How sprue models will sell to a non hobby boardgame crowd is a different matter ofc.

I would guess boardgame plastic, but I dint think they've said either way. Boardgame plastic seems more accessible to a wider audience and without the rules we can't say how many zombies you need. May be a fairly low number since they're more of a hazard.

Looking forward to finding out.

Maybe I missed it in the announcement but is this purely based on the graphic novels or will we see main characters like Daryl?

 Gimgamgoo wrote:

 scarletsquig wrote:
How sprue models will sell to a non hobby boardgame crowd is a different matter ofc.

If Sedition Wars is any indication, then not at all.

After playing Zombicide, I can tell you that even 8 unique sculpts look okay when they are in hordes. You're really just looking at those on the outside edges anyways.

John D Law wrote:
Maybe I missed it in the announcement but is this purely based on the graphic novels or will we see main characters like Daryl?

Purely based upon the comics. They are treated as completely separate licences so I would not expect to ever see Daryl in the game unless he is also introduced in the comic (there are a few imitation Daryl miniatures out there though so can easily proxy him).

Hope we see the characters from the telltale game.

Me too! Played both seasons of the game, loved them and would very much like to own miniatures of the characters. Utterly unfamiliar with the comic itself, although that didn't stop me with Mars Attacks...

Can't imagine they can resist making a zombie version of EVERY named character, so when they get bumped off they can join the horde coming after the rest of your guys :-)

 Grot 6 wrote:
Hope we see the characters from the telltale game.

Oh man, that would be awesome! I'd so play some games based around the scenarios from the game.

Thanks here's what I got from the interview as it does ramble on a bit

Set amount of stuff to fund once funded that's it regardless of how long the KS has left to run.
Ronnie mentions that if they do fund everything it will be their biggest KS so they have planned beyond $1.2 million then.
Base pledge $100 - $125
1 pledge level only all in no add ons to prevent packing mistakes.
Retail starter box £35/$50.
Papermat and card terrain in box. KS may fund 3D terrain.
Retail blisters $12.50/$20 - 1 Hero, 1 secondary hero, 1 unique zombie, character and equipment cards
A few unique heroes will be retail only - not available in KS
120 sculpts in the product range. Sculpts are bulkier and a bit bigger than Mars Attacks and DS

$100-125 is quite a high starting point for a game with a retail price of $50, so I do wonder quite how much extra will be in there for that

but I do approve of the single pledge level as they really, really do need to solve their warehouse issues

 OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote:
$100-125 is quite a high starting point for a game with a retail price of $50, so I do wonder quite how much extra will be in there for that

but I do approve of the single pledge level as they really, really do need to solve their warehouse issues

I thought the same thing, especially since it will only be around $40 once the online retailers get ahold of it.

Thanks, Dave!

Idle comments:
* No add-ons means it'll be harder to reach SG's.
* $100 MSRP = $50 base + 4x blisters.
* New Mantic products at MM are about 1/3 off.

So we're talking base game + 8x blisters worth of stuff to break even with OLGS?

Eh, still interested. (:

120 unique sculpts? And only one pledge level?

So would that mean that the pledge level can do nothing but fatten as we reach the 1.2m+ cap of prepared items? I mean Surely they won't be funding things that they would hold onto until retail?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, I hope they aren't too much bigger than mars attacks, I would like this to match up with my other stuff.

I guess they are looking for more backers at lower amounts. 10,000 to 12,000 backers would get them the $1.2 million. That said no Mantic KS has broken 6,000 backers but they might be looking at something like Zombicide where BP had 20k+ and S3 had 12k backers.

I'll wait and pick it up from Miniature Market for 40-50% off when they do one of their periodic get rid of Mantic stock sales.

10k is doable, considering the license.

One pledge level could work, although $125 is too high, it would have to be $100 like Dungeon Saga to keep within people's casual spend limits.

If they have at least 50 minis to start, and finish at 100+, that will work out well.

Also, upgrades to the paper mat and card terrain have to happen, unless there is a *lot* of good quality card terrain there and they've thought about it properly (thinking DZC-style terrain). Paper stuff just feels cheap, and if you're going with card terrain, battlesystems have far better stuff.