New M2E Releases.

Looks like we've finally got a release schedule for some of the new Malifaux plastics and it can be found here.

Here's some pictures of the new bits and pieces...

Starter Boxes.

There's also some of those models becoming available desperately.

There are also release dates for the Minion boxes in that list as well though pictures of these are already available...

Still no sign of the Gremlins though.....

Thoughts and comments are (as usual) most welcome.

Mutant Chronicles Warzone Resurrection - Dark Legion - Part 5

As the British weather kindly decided to stop raining for half an hour we have managed to reach the under-coated stage. The pictures are adequate for you to see what stage I'm at but I'll do some more decent quality ones once there's some paint on them.

This will also probably be a good time to work out how many points worth of Dark Legion I actually have...

Warlord and Lord.
Alakhai the Cunning is my Warlord and comes in at 220 points and Golgotha, Mistress of Pain can be taken as a Warlord instead for 175 or as a Lord for 150 though that can go up if I choose to give her a 'Algeroth Dark Symmetry Power'...but as I'm not sure what they actually do, I haven't bothered...yet...also, Alakhai is going to get a weapon conversion as his sword kept falling off*

*This is mainly because I dropped him and once the joint was weakened it was a pain to re-attach so I'm going to give him something a bit more substantial before I start painting. I mention this as I wouldn't want you to think it was a particular design issue...it might be for other people...just not in my particular case...

I can take both in a game of sufficient points as I'm allowed to Lords in addition to my compulsory Warlord in a standard game.

Troops.
In a game of 'Standard' size I have to take at least two troop choices but can take up to four if I wish. I can take my Undead Legionnaires in units of 5 if I wish but for testing purposes I'll be taking them in tens with a Necromutant Squad Leader as well as giving them a number of weapon upgrades.

This unit has a base cost of 50 points but I've added six additional Legionnaires at 10 points each (one is being upgraded to a Necromutant Squad Leader) and also upgraded two in every five (the maximum I'm allowed to) with a special weapon. For testing purposes I've took three HMG's at 8 points each and a Plaguedealer (basically a Flamer) for 5 points. This makes the unit 159 points (110, +20, +24, +5).

I could split these into smaller units if I wished but I wanted to make sure there was a slot spare for my Necromutants...

These have certain advantages over the Legionnaires in that they can take more than just basic Actions (o they can do things like 'Run' which my zombie guys can't) This unit is 105 points for five Necromutants and I can add up to another five if I wish. I've also upgraded one with a Heavy Plaguedealer (a more powerful version of the Undead Legionnaires Flamer weapon) though as with the Legionnaires I can upgrade two in every five if I so desire. This unit now comes in at 115 points with the single weapon upgrade.

Support.
Though they aren't compulsory, I can take up to three support units.

Though I can take my Praetorian Stalkers in units of up to six I've instead decided to take a unit of three (the minimum size is one) with their default weapon (A HMG rather confusingly called a 'Scythe' of Semai) and another three with a free close combat upgrade (the 'Reaper of Semai) purely for testing purposes. Both these come in at 80 points for the basic unit with each extra Stalker costing another 80 points. Making these two units 240 points each.

Razides are 75 points each and can be taken in units of up to three..but as I only have two...a unit of two it is. That's another 150 points spent then.

Light Vehicle/Monster.
I can take one of these and as I don't have any Necrobeast Riders yet (my 'Light Vehicle' option) I'll instead have to take this bad-boy...

I'm in "I'll have one of everything" mode at the moment so the test lists won't exactly be focused. In theory if I fielded everything I'd be putting the following on the table...

Warlord 
Alakhai the Cunning          -  (220)

Lord
Golgotha, Mistress of Pain - (150)

Troops.
Undead Legionnaires x11 (110), Necromutant Squad Leader (+20), 3x Valcheck HMG's (+24), 1x Plaguedealer (+5) - (159)                    
Undead Legionnaires x11 (110), Necromutant Squad Leader (+20), 3x Valcheck HMG's (+24), 1x Plaguedealer (+5) - (159)  
Necromutants x5 (105), Heavy Plaguedealer x1 (10) - (115)

Support
Praetorian Stalkers x3 - (240)
Praetorian Stalkers x3, Reaper of Semai x3 (0) - (240)
Razide x2 - (150)

Light Vehicle/Monster
Praetorian Behemoth - (320)

Total - 1753

Obviously I won't be play-testing at 1753 points, lol. But rather I'll be trying out different bits and pieces to see what I enjoy using most.

I'll try and make some more progress this week and I have a game scheduled for Friday.

Thoughts and comments are (as usual) most welcome.

Mutant Chronicles Warzone Resurrection - Rulebook

I was fortunate enough to get hold of the Warzone Resurrection rulebook for Mutant Chronicles today after the kind gentlemen from Prodos Games dropped them off at Titan Games...

As some-one who has a shelf full of rulebooks for various game systems I freely admit that I've seen everything from awesome to...not so awesome...I've seen varying qualities in the areas of artwork quality, section ordering and you'd be surprised at some of the most elementary mistakes in spelling, misdirected page numbers (or just plain missing ones) that sneak through so I'm on the critical side when it comes to rulebook reviews...given that the pdf for this system that I'd been working from had some issues with lay-out I was ready for anything...

Imagine my surprise when the Warzone Resurrection book exceeded all my expectations by a significant margin. The book has what I can only describe as an unusually luxurious feel to it and is amazing quality in all cosmetic areas as well as having an extremely user friendly lay-out, excellent art quality and has the feel of something that has been prepared with significant care on the designers part...I haven't found any spelling mistakes yet, either, lol.

Here's some pictures from the inside together with a few observations...

As I mentioned above, the book is well laid out. Background is at the beginning, followed by a comprehensive and clear rule section with specific rules for each faction at the end together with some additional background material specific to them.

Each faction's respective section is in a slightly different style that represents their individual styling...

Each unit entry has some well written and suitably inspirational background material as well as a clear and concise listing of it's statistics, armament and abilities...here's a couple of examples...

Every entry has (at the very least) one picture of the unit and these are in a variety of styles depending on faction...again here's a few examples for your perusal...

As you can see this is a high quality example of how a rulebook should be done and it's not particularly expensive either...especially when compared to a certain other games companies. I'll also be having an in-depth look at the actual rules system itself over the next few weeks but don't worry...all the usual features will still be happening as well.....

Thoughts and comments are (as usual) most welcome.

Mars Attacks and Deadzone Newsletter.

Looks like Mantic Games are trying to tie all their creations into one glorious cross-over...

This weekend is your last chance to get the bonus 5 FREE Tiger Corps Miniatures with a Mars Attacks pledge of The Will of Man and up - please don't miss out! The Mars Attacks Kickstarter has entered the final 10 days and we are just about to head into the the final stretch – what a journey it has already been, with lots of Martians, flying saucers, trucks and giant stompy robots! General Tor leads his Grunts into Greenville, a squadron of Saucers in support. I think we have offered a level of choice not seen on other miniature kickstarters with our credit system, though it does not allow us to give everyone out there a really clear picture of what you need to buy. With a new game you want to spend your money and get the full game experience - and something you will really enjoy. So what are we funding with Mars Attacks? Essentially it is a strongly narrative miniatures game played on a tabletop, with fantastic scenery! This means a strong story running through all the scenarios linking the missions - from rescuing the captive, stealing intelligence, or capturing resources - and occasionally just plain kill the enemy big time! So, we have looked again at the $150 core pledge- and we have now built a ‘Recommended Pledge’ which offers the models, rules and deluxe mat - everything you will need to play all the way through the scenarios and missions. I am sure that this will still get more freebies too as we run to the finish line (hint hint!) Of course if you want to keep the credit option it is still there, so if you want to build a Martian army with your credit this is still a valid choice – the credit system remains yours to use as you see fit. But for those that want a ‘1-click’ solution to lots of Mars Attacks gaming, this is the pick. We’ve also put together a ‘Recommended Pledge” for the $300 level too – which can be taken by both Alien Abduction and BLOODSHED ON THE BATTLEFIELD backers. This will give you all you need to play through the scenarios making for a great narrative game - but building up to also give you two armies to use in points-based games. This will allow you to play massive 4x4 battles with lots of great and interesting units on each side - and lots more scenery to customize your tabletop. And our Bloodshed on the Battlefield backers will still have $25 more credit to spend! Bloodshed on the Battlefield pledges are rare deals that we offered to celebrate New York Comic Con. Whilst they do say that the pledge level closes on the 13th October, there are currently some available that you can pledge for if you want one – that's $325 worth of Core Add-ons plus a $75 Starter set for $300 - so don’t miss them! Suburban Nightmare - Terrain-only Pledge For the terrain aficionados out there we’ve put together this new Suburban Nightmare Scenery-only Pledge Level. This pledge level allows you to pick 2 Standard Scenery packs of your choice – either 2 Ruined Scenery Packs, 2 Intact Scenery Packs or a combination of both – and throws in 2 sets of Urban Accessories for good measure. Each Standard Scenery Pack contains 4 sprues of tiles plus connectors. Look out for it in the right hand column - it's perfect for any modern games you might be playing, is hard plastic, fully modular and completely compatible with our Deadzone terrain! Hit and Run  One of the things we’ve been asked for is a premium painted option where you can get a complete copy of the boxed game painted – well, this has now gone live on the Kickstarter page. Get everything you see here painted by a studio painter. Limited in number, we’ll assemble and paint up all of the models included in the set plus all of the scenery for those of you who want a lovely set of these miniatures pre-painted for your gaming table. It'll look great! DreadBall Martian Team Mars Attacks is famed for its crossovers and we’ve combined the game of Martian Mayhem with the futuristic sports game to give you this – the Martian DreadBall team!The Martian DreadBall Team, whilst not being written into the background (Earth is a ravaged wasteland in the Warpath universe after all!) will be a balanced team comprised of 2 Strikers, 4 Jacks and 2 Guards. You can pick up a team on the Kickstarter by selecting the DreadBall Team pledge level here. And finally... DreadBall isn’t the only crossover we’ve made – we’ve also created Faction Decks for Deadzone so that you can use all of the miniatures funded during the Kickstarter in the game. That means stat cards, battle cards and mission cards for everyone’s favourite bunch of Martians, and the plucky human survivors. Our Deadzone Week has also launched with all of the pre-release Deadzone sets going up for pre-order! We'll be exploring the range more in a future newsletter but look out for more coming up on the Mantic Blog - in the mean time, please become a backer on the Mars Attacks Kickstarter and help us realise this great new miniatures range.