It may sound strange with an review of a Kickstarter campaign but as I got my first wave of stuff from the Deadzone KS a week before Christmas I have now looked trough it all and built some things so I thought a Review of the actual content is a good idea.
On time
During the KS campaign Mantic said December 2013, and I think most of us did get their first batch of stuff in Dec so that is great. I have pledged on two other KS (Warzone: Resurrection and Robotech RPG Tactics ) both which are long over due since their initial promised releases. I have also heard that most miniature based games on KS have been delayed. So good job by Mantic for delivering on time.
The box
I got a big box filled with the main game box and a lot of sprues. I think I got all that was to get from the initial wave accept the T-shirt, acrylic counters etc. but every model and building sprue. At first it was quite intimidating to check that everything was there which I where supposed to get in this delivery. (KS update 124 and update 125 helped a lot in this regard) There was just so much models and part in there and it took an evening to go trough it all. All was there though (accept some dice but I already knew this as Mantic stated the missing ones will arrive in next wave) and that was just fantastic, I thought at least some small parts would be missing but no, everything was there. So good job yet again Mantic.
The models
I haven't bought models from Mantic since they released their Zombies so I didn't really know what to expect quality wise on these. And what is the verdict? Well they are quite nice sculpts, but the plastic they use (the same as their other ranges?) isn't the best and you have quite a lot of mold lines and until I cut that away I was even a bit disappointed. But when I did fix them up and put them together they do look nice. The details are there but it's far from as sharp as for example GW plastics, and because of this I think you need to put some more effort to painting these. I will not go any further into detail about this as I will do either a review for each faction released or for all the first wave instead where I got more into detail about the actual models. But I can say so far that they look as I thought they would and I like most of the sculpt designs.
The scenery
This will have an own Review in the future as I do have much to say about them but I also want to try out all the different parts and combinations before I do a full review. But for short, I do like them and they work as intended. BUT. They do snap sometimes (the connectors not any walls they are hard as nails) if you aren't really careful. I have built a quite big building so far and It took quite some time to build so I don't think I will take this apart and build something else from the parts used, which takes away the modular ability of the kit. Smaller buildings and scenery however I don't see any problem taking it apart and build something else from it. Other than that they look good when built and I can see that you get great diversity from all the bits, more about this in the Scenery review.
The Rules
I haven't played a game yetm but the actual rules looks solid and fun. The rulebook is soft cover and on ?? pages and looks nice with nice pictures and clear easy to read rules. Nothing spectacular though, it does what it's supposed. The same goes for the rest of the gaming stuff you get in the box, the card tokens, gaming mats (both 'deluxe' and paper variant), faction decks and dice looks nice and does what it's supposed to, but nothing spectacular.
Overall
It may not be the best quality miniatures/books/cards etc youv'e seen in a wargame but all in all I really like this box and the contents. You get so much stuff in this box that you almost get overwhelmed and the quality is good enough in my opinion. The overall feel I get over the box is that it's nice and worth it's money and I must say that I'm really happy that I did participate in this Kickstarter. For you who missed out on the KS there will be a retail version as well (have already sold out on pre order versions) but I think it will be a little bit smaller and with less content, even then I think it's great deal for any wargamer.
As I said I will do more in depth reviews of the models and scenery later until then I hope someone found this somewhat useful, and if you want to find out more about Deadzone or Mantic Games, check out their webpage here.
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| Picture by Mantic Games |
On time
During the KS campaign Mantic said December 2013, and I think most of us did get their first batch of stuff in Dec so that is great. I have pledged on two other KS (Warzone: Resurrection and Robotech RPG Tactics ) both which are long over due since their initial promised releases. I have also heard that most miniature based games on KS have been delayed. So good job by Mantic for delivering on time.
The box
I got a big box filled with the main game box and a lot of sprues. I think I got all that was to get from the initial wave accept the T-shirt, acrylic counters etc. but every model and building sprue. At first it was quite intimidating to check that everything was there which I where supposed to get in this delivery. (KS update 124 and update 125 helped a lot in this regard) There was just so much models and part in there and it took an evening to go trough it all. All was there though (accept some dice but I already knew this as Mantic stated the missing ones will arrive in next wave) and that was just fantastic, I thought at least some small parts would be missing but no, everything was there. So good job yet again Mantic.
 |
| Some of the rebs I have built so far |
The models
I haven't bought models from Mantic since they released their Zombies so I didn't really know what to expect quality wise on these. And what is the verdict? Well they are quite nice sculpts, but the plastic they use (the same as their other ranges?) isn't the best and you have quite a lot of mold lines and until I cut that away I was even a bit disappointed. But when I did fix them up and put them together they do look nice. The details are there but it's far from as sharp as for example GW plastics, and because of this I think you need to put some more effort to painting these. I will not go any further into detail about this as I will do either a review for each faction released or for all the first wave instead where I got more into detail about the actual models. But I can say so far that they look as I thought they would and I like most of the sculpt designs.
 |
| Not completely done, and yes this building is quite large |
The scenery
This will have an own Review in the future as I do have much to say about them but I also want to try out all the different parts and combinations before I do a full review. But for short, I do like them and they work as intended. BUT. They do snap sometimes (the connectors not any walls they are hard as nails) if you aren't really careful. I have built a quite big building so far and It took quite some time to build so I don't think I will take this apart and build something else from the parts used, which takes away the modular ability of the kit. Smaller buildings and scenery however I don't see any problem taking it apart and build something else from it. Other than that they look good when built and I can see that you get great diversity from all the bits, more about this in the Scenery review.
The Rules
I haven't played a game yetm but the actual rules looks solid and fun. The rulebook is soft cover and on ?? pages and looks nice with nice pictures and clear easy to read rules. Nothing spectacular though, it does what it's supposed. The same goes for the rest of the gaming stuff you get in the box, the card tokens, gaming mats (both 'deluxe' and paper variant), faction decks and dice looks nice and does what it's supposed to, but nothing spectacular.
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| All the stuff in all it's glory |
It may not be the best quality miniatures/books/cards etc youv'e seen in a wargame but all in all I really like this box and the contents. You get so much stuff in this box that you almost get overwhelmed and the quality is good enough in my opinion. The overall feel I get over the box is that it's nice and worth it's money and I must say that I'm really happy that I did participate in this Kickstarter. For you who missed out on the KS there will be a retail version as well (have already sold out on pre order versions) but I think it will be a little bit smaller and with less content, even then I think it's great deal for any wargamer.
As I said I will do more in depth reviews of the models and scenery later until then I hope someone found this somewhat useful, and if you want to find out more about Deadzone or Mantic Games, check out their webpage here.