As some readers will know, back in April I backed the Warzone Resurrection Kickstarter. This Kickstarter was run by Prodos Games in order to revive the Mutant Chonicles: Warzone game which was originally produced by Target Games back in the 1990s.
The Kickstarter was a roaring success, and while the original target was to launch the game with four factions enough stretch goals were met to be able to launch with six. Inevitably this meant that the original June shipping date was a hopelessly optimistic target now Prodos had so much more to produce. This backlog was not helped by flooding in the production facilities in the late summer. All this meant that my stuff finally arrived in early December, when I had all but forgotten about it.
My Kickstarter pledge netted me rewards in the shape of the hardback Warzone Resurrection rule book and the Capitol faction starter set. I will look at the rules and background laid out in the book in later articles but for today I will look at the miniatures I received. Capitol, put very simply as a strongly ‘American’ themed faction (in contrast to the pseudo-Germans, Brits and Japanese of Bauhaus, Imperial and Mishima).
The starter pack included two themed D20s a deck of resource/equipment cards, the special character Big Bob Watts, ten Light Infantry figures and two Purple Shark jet bikes. All lovingly rendered in blue resin.
Of the three units, the most disappointing is definitely the Purple Sharks, which is a shame as I was quite looking forward to these. They lack the crisp detail of the other two kits and are the only one with serious mould line issues. Indeed the belly of the bikes is marred by an unsightly ridge resembling nothing more than a patch of scar tissue. The two halves of the bike do not fit together well, with a visible gap between the two halves at the nose. Assembling resin models with superglue can be a frustrating experience at the best of times, but the number of times I wanted to scream while trying to get the pilot of the bike in situ was something else. Possibly the most unforgivable issue though is the fact that the models are not supplied with a flying stand, but only with a resin post intended to be glued onto a standard plastic base and then fitted into the corresponding hole on the underside of the bike. I would definitely recommend anyone looking to field Purple Sharks in their force to make alternative basing arrangements.
The other models in the set are much, much better. The detail is crisp and there are very few visible mould lines. That said some of the very fine detail was so fine as to be easily damaged. The character of Big Bob Watts is a very cool model and by far the easiest of the set to assemble. A model like this really illustrates the difference between heroic scale miniatures and the relatively realistic scale that Prodos have designed in. I think everyone will have their preference about what approach works best, though for such a larger than life character as Big Bob (a huge man who wields Gatling cannon like pistols) whether a naturalistic model can do the idea justice.
The Light Infantry are pretty nice, especially considering these are the basic troop choice for the army. Putting together any model this size using superglue is a tricky task at the best of times, but these came together without too much trouble, barring a slightly awkward shoulder joint. I like the look of these models and the design is nicely straightforward. My only mild criticism is that the heads with the mask and goggles look could have been sculpted with slightly more defined details as they look quite blank at first glance.
The models had a fair bit of flash on the sprue, but nothing that was onerous to clean off. In most cases it could be scratched off with a thumbnail. Only the Purple Sharks had any significant problems with mould lines, though all the models required substantial clipping and trimming where they met the sprue and in most cases this had to be done carefully so as to not bugger the point where the component would be glued on to another part of the model. There were a few little bubbles in the casts, the worst being a fist sized hole in a jet bike pilot
As a starter set I think this a pretty good pack, though like all such sets the value depends on whether the units and characters included suit your tastes and preferred play style, and the mediocre quality of the Purple Sharks is another minus point. If Prodos can keep a handle on the production quality and implement their ideas properly Warzone Resurrection could be a hit.
According to their reply the last time I asked, Firestorm Games do plan to stock Warzone Resurrection.
