"New Warzone owner to be announced (Tuesday at GAMA)" Topic

This from an anonymous poster on the Excelsior Board :-

"Actually, you guys will find out on Tuesday. The company that has the rights will be making an announcement at GAMA. So, you'll get the information as fast as the various gaming news sites report it.

I run the playtesting program for the company that has the rights, so I've been trolling various websites looking for potential playtesters. Obviously, I have to wait until after the official announcement to recruit as I can not divulge any further information. (And before everyone volunteers, I already have a short list.)

But as you guys now know that the Mutant Chronicles's miniature rights are off the market, I don't see the harm in letting you guys know that the official announcement is less than 48 hours away."

Warzone, the game that refuses to die ;-)

Well, good luck to anyone brave enough to try. Hope we get some decent resculpts & better distribution.

Hope we get some decent resculpts & better distribution.

Indeed.

To imagine what might've been, if Target hadn't dropped the ball when they did initially…

- Monk

You know, Battlefront will be making an announcement at GAMA too, and they are pretty good with distribution and promotion…

I can just imagine if Battlefront gets the rights.

"Sure, Warzone is a fun game if you're looking for a game. Don't expect it to realistically portray battles by mutants in the future, though. You should really play Day of the Screaming Eagle version 2, NOT THREE, but version 2 for a real good minute by minute simulation of . . ."

Since you are trolling you will find Warzone Battle Reports as well as spotlights on many of the factions at…

redjak.com

redjak.com/Citadel/Algeroth2.htm

link

link

"To imagine what might've been, if Target hadn't dropped the ball when they did initially…"

"dropped the ball"? Target AG was a monster entertainment conglomerate. The adventure games division was doing reasonably well, from what I understand, but the larger company disintegrated in a spectacular fashion, dragging a large corporate structure into bankruptcy that left a seat on the national stock market BOD *empty*.

You'd probably "drop the ball" too if the rug was pulled out from under you…

I was referring to the corporate entity, Farstar, not Target AG. They were grabbing huge marketshare at a ridiculous rate- of course they were doing okay.

So rein in the aggression. :P

- Monk

Just to be a pessimist, but the poster didn't say anything about Warzone…. All the he/she/it said was that the miniature rights to Mutant Chronicles were taken.

The new company doesn't have to redo Warzone.

I dunno that that's necessarily pessimistic, Mike, but then again, I was a fan of Mutant Chronicles before there was a Warzone, when it was, by all appearances, just a couple of odd, very cool figures on baby blue cards with a big red nepharite on it.

So, yeah- I may be biased. :)

- Monk

I look forward to the rebirth of Warzone/Mutant Chronicles. Its probably gunna be a clicky game though. which may not be a bad move.

I think making it a clicky game would finish off the still thrashing corpse of a once proud product…

Tuesday March 14th – The Announcement.

GW is now the proud owner of Warzone/Mutant Chronicles. The first army book will be released in May 2006 called Orkzone tm.

Orkzone will bring the greenies to the Warzone world. Be the first to go Ork on those corporations.

Old Time Warzone Players

Dooo Dooo Orkzone nooooo ….! :)

It's a little early for April Fools day!

It wouldn't be GW and Orkzone. It will be WizKids and "Warzone: the Mutant Clickables". Either that or WotC will turn MC into a sci-fi version of Axis & Allies minis.

Wait a minute… Necromutant / Necromunda? Naahhh.

Erg… hopefully we'll hear something about Chronopia soon, too.

Hey Alxbates, can you get in touch with me

doublesix66 at btopenworld dot com

It will be interesting to see which company takes up the reigns and where they steer this game, I've been playing it since the Rpg and all 3 verions of the tabletop game.

I'd love to see what they announce but I guess we will have to wait another 48 hours, but hey its better than we expected we thought that was it dead and buried (well it will depend on what they do to whether we thing that should have happened)

But with me the glass is alway 1/2 full ;)

I had adeal to write soem Mutant Chronicles and a book I edited for Kult was never released (to the best of my knowledge) when Target blew up. I'd be interested in revistiting some of that wook.

I kind of hope that it's Mongoose.

I gotta be honest. I'm really thinking WizKids here. Reaper wouldn't do it, would they? That would be perfectamundo, but I just don't see it. Oooo I'm all excited and stuff.

BTW…will it be announced here, Mr Editor?

It was announced. It is Fantasy Flight Games. They are doing a collectible miniatures game for Mutant Chronicles.

I was impressed by the Descent game by Fantasy Flight,

..but a collectible miniatures game for MC?

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo…………[sound of forehead hitting keyboard]

Honestly, I think this is the most exciting news for Warzone in YEARS.

I know the CMGs aren't everyone's cup of tea…but man, it is GREAT that the game is at least in good hands.

i THINK a CMG is a very good idea for MC/Warzone. Don't ask me why, but it works. I'm looking forward to it.

Details here

link

And direct to their site

link

Alas…

- Monk

Collectable and in a totally new scale. Recipie for disaster. Hopefully someone will get the rights to Chronopia and do a better job.

36mm?

I think its the same scale as the LoTR clix game, isn't it?

Yeah, I suppose they wouldn't want all those people with existing collections of Pewter Warzone minis to proxy them in place of some propped up collector value minis.

Well, I'm not selling my collection off for these.

yeah 36mm, ?!

This sucks!

>>I think its the same scale as the LoTR clix game, isn't it?<<

Pretty close. Of course, THAT game tanked despite the power of the property.

This has the smell of an expensive failure…

Well, I guess those figs I was getting out of storage can stay in storage. Saved me a trip I suppose.

I really loathe collectable games. I hate not knowing what I'm getting til I get it. I despise not being able to get just the faction I want and no other.

I like many of their board games but am really disappointed that they got the rights to this one. Think I'll hit eBay for an old book since my brother owned the one I used to use.

Well FFG is kind of a weird company. They do lots of gorgeous board games but then they also do CCG's (Game of Thrones, Call of Cthulhu) which should give them some experience for this sort of thing…

A Mutant Chronicles clicky game when all that was needed was a fixed Warzone with a dependable production and distribution channel…that's a bit dissapointing.

But then FFG and the MC IP owners want to cash in on the upcoming movie project so I guess this is soemthing that marketing felt they had to conjure up to feed the tie in bug.

I don't think FFG could have just "fixed Warzone" as the UWZ game engine is property of Excelsior Entertainment. Obviously that's just the impression I got from the rulebook, mind you.

Be that as it may, I won't be getting into this one (almost should say "either" as I'm not into Warzone in a big way anyway) because of the collectible angle. Although if FFG happens to make the mistake of publishing the rules for free then I'll most likely check 'em out with my (underscaled) WZ minis. The very idea makes me feel naughty all over (-;)

Fantasy Flight Games always publishes the rules on their web site.

Is doing a collectable game a mistake? I don't know. This is the company that took a chance on the $80 USD board game, the size of small house, which has proven extremely successful.

The economics of the collectable market are interesting. You don't need a very large fan base in order to keep a game profitable, assuming that a company plans for the actual size of the fan base and doesn't over extend their resources.

Simply re-hashing Warzone would have been a huge mistake. The market is already full of excellent SF games.

Mike Z

After ruminating on this for a few hours, I can say "At least I have my copy of UWZ…"

Sad, though- I'd really hoped for something positive.

I guess it's time to start statting out my WZ figs for Defiance, Vor, ShockForce 2, house-ruled Necromunda, and Aetherverse: Upheaval.

- Monk

What a massive disappointment!!

CMG ? that really sucks hard.

Looks like I'll finally have to give up on UWZ & try out Infinity at Salute.

Ah fertilizer!

This inhales bigtime. I love and miss the active WarZone environment but ain't no way I, or my group, will pick up on the collectible garbage market.

Unfortunately, it's doubtable that I'll be able to convince to even bother with the stuff we already have. There's just a little something that having an active base to a game that keeps it playable.

Truthfully, I'd have no real problems buying into the new system, mini's and all, if it weren't "collectable". When I want to add a unit that's what I want to buy, not drop another $100 USD and end up with another 20 unusable duplicates before I get what I need. Cheap, painted (even poorly) models to just buy & play appeals to me. It's not like my own painting skills are so fabulously better that I can tell the difference from more than three feet away anyhow.

Well, I guess they'll make good toys for the kids once they hit the discount bins…

On a meager attempt at a positive note…

I do wish FFG luck on their endeavor. Mutant Chronicles is a great and imaginative environment that provided me and my friends with many hourse of entertainment. The marketplace continually shows that there are a lot of people out there willing to subject themselves to the "collectable" mini-gaming market and I'll be happy enough as a gamer to see our hobby expand.

But that doesn't do much to ease my own feeling of loss.

I'm sorta against not-collectable prepainted too, since if the fig is cheap and prepainted then it could've been even cheaper unpainted. The overhead would get worse for expensive minis well painted.

Plus I convert a fair share of my minis (not fabulously well but still) so I'd end up with a mishmash of colours anyway…

But that's just me of course.

The marketplace continually shows that there are a lot of people out there willing to subject themselves to the "collectable" mini-gaming market and I'll be happy enough as a gamer to see our hobby expand.

But that doesn't do much to ease my own feeling of loss.

Agreed, Paul. I bear FFG no ill will, and hope they do well with their new endeavor- I just wish they were ruining a property I didn't like, rather than what is probably my single favorite sci-fi game concept in the entirety of my 25 or so years as a gamer.

- Monk

Wait & see, that's what I say. Collectable miniatures don't have to be low-grade crap, and if ya don't believe me on this, check out some of the cool jap-toys out on the market.

They could be the same quality as what Whiz Kids puts out or loads better, or possibly even worse. But I think that a major problem, at least for the fans here on TMP who tend to be Gamers, not just people who play games, is that the new, larger scale (36mm) kinda drills the pooch on WarZone for us.

First and most obviously, there's no way the mini's already made will work with the new system. The click system can easily be gotten around merely by writing the stats on paper, but few diehards are going to put up with the scale difference.

Second, the new scale negates the use of the majority of Sci-Fi style terrain that people have already built, whether it be for WarZone or some other system. Playing a clicky game on a pre-designed plastic mat is fine for me when I'm going to play something short and plain with my young son, but when I get together with my adult friends we prefer to deck the table out with some cool 3-D terrain features, and I don't have storage space for yet another scale.

Now, I do realize that NO company buying the license can expect to make a reasonable profit on the game merely by pleasing the old crowd. A new customer base needs to be attracted and with a movie coming out that means aiming for the crowd that the movie is meant to appeal to. However, surely there must have been a way to do this without completely turning their backs on the established base?

The scale isn't set in stone as the figures have yet to be produced. If you wish to lobby for a different scale (and intend to actually buy the game), send a polite email to ffg@fantasyflightgames.com and state your case.

Mike Z

36mm? Doesn't seem THAT out of scale with current Warzone figs (picks up Brotherhood Pilgrim fig as example…).