Warzone (game)
Encyclopedia
Warzone is a tabletop miniature wargame
based on the Mutant Chronicles
universe and role-playing game
. It features squad-based combat at a skirmish level, although vehicles and large models were introduced in later supplements to the main rule book.
Warzone was originally produced by the Swedish
company Target Games
. The rights to the Warzone brand were acquired by Paradox Entertainment
in December 1999 in the wake of a complicated restructuring
of Target Games and its child companies. Warzone has since gone out of print
.
There is still an active discussion forum of gamers promoting Warzone and its sister game Chronopia.
future in which a space faring humanity has explored beyond Pluto
and has uncovered artifacts which unleashed an evil force known as the Dark Soul. This is a force which corrupts both man and machine, and has sent its own minions, consisting of legions of undead
and alien
s in an attempt to conquer humanity. In light of the corruption, human technological and social progress has largely halted. Most people are citizens of one of the major megacorporations, who have colonized the inner planets of the solar system, and who fight against each other when not fighting the evil forces of the Dark Soul. The Earth has become known as Dark Eden following global apocalypse
, and is home only to tribal survivors. This background is intricately tied to that of the Mutant Chronicles
role-playing game
.
in which players take turns issuing orders, moving model troops on a model battlefield, and resolving combats that occur by rolling dice. It is played at the skirmish scale, where one model represents one soldier. The game became gradually more complex with later editions and expansions adding more detail and special abilities.
Warzone is often compared and contrasted to Warhammer 40,000, which targets the same market audience, and has similar gameplay, although Warzone never reached Warhammer 40k's volume of market penetration . Warzone aims for a more realistic feel, being set more closely in the future, with recognizable weaponry, megacorporations that represent modern-day nations, and a focus upon the power of units of soldiers, while Warhammer 40k has aimed for more of a fantasy feel, with a greater variety of weapons and aliens and a focus upon the power of individual heroes.
The original Warzone was released in 1995 by Target Games
. Though based on Mutant Chronicles
, the universe of Warzone differed from the source material as presented in the role-playing game. The release of Warzone 2nd Edition in 1998 was intended to address a number of shortcomings perceived by players and designers alike in the original rules. This edition also saw the rewriting of the background according to Nils Gullikson's original vision of the Mutant Chronicles
universe, to a mixed reception by established players. Target Games also released an heroic-fantasy tabletop game called Chronopia, but not set in the same universe.
During the production of the third supplement for Warzone 2nd Edition, Target Games
underwent a significant restructuring which resulted in the establishment of Paradox Entertainment
as an independent company and the license for Warzone being sold to Paradox Entertainment. Development and production of the Warzone line was not resumed after the disruption and a license to use the Warzone brand in the context of miniature wargaming was awarded to Excelsior Entertainment (as well as licenses for the related Chronopia brand). The resulting edition was Warzone: Universe Under Siege, released in 2004. Excelsior Entertainment went out of business during production of Warzone: Universe Under Siege. This last version was called Ultimate Warzone while in production.}
The remaining stock of Warzone and Chronopia miniatures were sold to an Irish company Prince August, who still have copies of the boxed game and supplements of the second edition in stock. The original moulds were destroyed, so the 28mm franchise is dead. In 2008 Fantasy Flight Games released a 54mm CMG (collectible miniature game) set in the Mutant Chronicles franchise. The game was cancelled shortly after release due to poor sales.
Real-Time Strategy
game was in development after Paradox Entertainment
had acquired the license but the production was quietly shut down. The game would have been called Warzone Online and would have featured a then brand new Game Engine
called the Valpurgius Engine. It would have been released on both the Xbox
and Windows platforms.
Miniature wargaming
Miniature wargaming is a form of wargaming that incorporates miniature figures, miniature armor and modeled terrain as the main components of play...
based on the Mutant Chronicles
Mutant Chronicles
Mutant Chronicles is a pen-and-paper role-playing game set in a post-apocalyptic world, originally published in 1993. It has spawned a franchise of collectible card games, miniature wargames, video games, novels, comic books, and a film of the same title based on the game world.Mutant Chronicles...
universe and role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
. It features squad-based combat at a skirmish level, although vehicles and large models were introduced in later supplements to the main rule book.
Warzone was originally produced by the Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
company Target Games
Target Games
Target Games was a Swedish publisher of role-playing games active from 1980 until the year 1999 when they went into bankruptcy proceedings.-Publications:...
. The rights to the Warzone brand were acquired by Paradox Entertainment
Paradox Entertainment
Paradox Entertainment owns rights to many intellectual properties, the most famous of which is Conan the Barbarian as created by pulp author Robert E. Howard and expanded upon by many other authors over the years. Other properties include Bran Mak Morn, Kull, Solomon Kane, Mutant, Mutant...
in December 1999 in the wake of a complicated restructuring
Restructuring
Restructuring is the corporate management term for the act of reorganizing the legal, ownership, operational, or other structures of a company for the purpose of making it more profitable, or better organized for its present needs...
of Target Games and its child companies. Warzone has since gone out of print
Out of print
Out of print refers to an item, typically a book , but can include any print or visual media or sound recording, that is in the state of no longer being published....
.
There is still an active discussion forum of gamers promoting Warzone and its sister game Chronopia.
Setting
Warzone takes place in a fictional cyberpunkCyberpunk
Cyberpunk is a postmodern and science fiction genre noted for its focus on "high tech and low life." The name is a portmanteau of cybernetics and punk, and was originally coined by Bruce Bethke as the title of his short story "Cyberpunk," published in 1983...
future in which a space faring humanity has explored beyond Pluto
Pluto
Pluto, formal designation 134340 Pluto, is the second-most-massive known dwarf planet in the Solar System and the tenth-most-massive body observed directly orbiting the Sun...
and has uncovered artifacts which unleashed an evil force known as the Dark Soul. This is a force which corrupts both man and machine, and has sent its own minions, consisting of legions of undead
Undead
Undead is a collective name for fictional, mythological, or legendary beings that are deceased and yet behave as if alive. Undead may be incorporeal, such as ghosts, or corporeal, such as vampires and zombies...
and alien
Extraterrestrial life in popular culture
In popular cultures, "extraterrestrials" are life forms — especially intelligent life forms— that are of extraterrestrial origin .-Historical ideas:-Pre-modern:...
s in an attempt to conquer humanity. In light of the corruption, human technological and social progress has largely halted. Most people are citizens of one of the major megacorporations, who have colonized the inner planets of the solar system, and who fight against each other when not fighting the evil forces of the Dark Soul. The Earth has become known as Dark Eden following global apocalypse
Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction
Apocalyptic fiction is a sub-genre of science fiction that is concerned with the end of civilization due to a potentially existential catastrophe such as nuclear warfare, pandemic, extraterrestrial attack, impact event, cybernetic revolt, technological singularity, dysgenics, supernatural...
, and is home only to tribal survivors. This background is intricately tied to that of the Mutant Chronicles
Mutant Chronicles
Mutant Chronicles is a pen-and-paper role-playing game set in a post-apocalyptic world, originally published in 1993. It has spawned a franchise of collectible card games, miniature wargames, video games, novels, comic books, and a film of the same title based on the game world.Mutant Chronicles...
role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
.
Gameplay
Warzone is a tabletop miniature wargameMiniature wargaming
Miniature wargaming is a form of wargaming that incorporates miniature figures, miniature armor and modeled terrain as the main components of play...
in which players take turns issuing orders, moving model troops on a model battlefield, and resolving combats that occur by rolling dice. It is played at the skirmish scale, where one model represents one soldier. The game became gradually more complex with later editions and expansions adding more detail and special abilities.
Warzone is often compared and contrasted to Warhammer 40,000, which targets the same market audience, and has similar gameplay, although Warzone never reached Warhammer 40k's volume of market penetration . Warzone aims for a more realistic feel, being set more closely in the future, with recognizable weaponry, megacorporations that represent modern-day nations, and a focus upon the power of units of soldiers, while Warhammer 40k has aimed for more of a fantasy feel, with a greater variety of weapons and aliens and a focus upon the power of individual heroes.
Editions
There have been three editions of Warzone produced: the original Warzone, Warzone 2nd Edition, and Warzone: Universe Under Siege. All have since gone out of print.The original Warzone was released in 1995 by Target Games
Target Games
Target Games was a Swedish publisher of role-playing games active from 1980 until the year 1999 when they went into bankruptcy proceedings.-Publications:...
. Though based on Mutant Chronicles
Mutant Chronicles
Mutant Chronicles is a pen-and-paper role-playing game set in a post-apocalyptic world, originally published in 1993. It has spawned a franchise of collectible card games, miniature wargames, video games, novels, comic books, and a film of the same title based on the game world.Mutant Chronicles...
, the universe of Warzone differed from the source material as presented in the role-playing game. The release of Warzone 2nd Edition in 1998 was intended to address a number of shortcomings perceived by players and designers alike in the original rules. This edition also saw the rewriting of the background according to Nils Gullikson's original vision of the Mutant Chronicles
Mutant Chronicles
Mutant Chronicles is a pen-and-paper role-playing game set in a post-apocalyptic world, originally published in 1993. It has spawned a franchise of collectible card games, miniature wargames, video games, novels, comic books, and a film of the same title based on the game world.Mutant Chronicles...
universe, to a mixed reception by established players. Target Games also released an heroic-fantasy tabletop game called Chronopia, but not set in the same universe.
During the production of the third supplement for Warzone 2nd Edition, Target Games
Target Games
Target Games was a Swedish publisher of role-playing games active from 1980 until the year 1999 when they went into bankruptcy proceedings.-Publications:...
underwent a significant restructuring which resulted in the establishment of Paradox Entertainment
Paradox Entertainment
Paradox Entertainment owns rights to many intellectual properties, the most famous of which is Conan the Barbarian as created by pulp author Robert E. Howard and expanded upon by many other authors over the years. Other properties include Bran Mak Morn, Kull, Solomon Kane, Mutant, Mutant...
as an independent company and the license for Warzone being sold to Paradox Entertainment. Development and production of the Warzone line was not resumed after the disruption and a license to use the Warzone brand in the context of miniature wargaming was awarded to Excelsior Entertainment (as well as licenses for the related Chronopia brand). The resulting edition was Warzone: Universe Under Siege, released in 2004. Excelsior Entertainment went out of business during production of Warzone: Universe Under Siege. This last version was called Ultimate Warzone while in production.}
The remaining stock of Warzone and Chronopia miniatures were sold to an Irish company Prince August, who still have copies of the boxed game and supplements of the second edition in stock. The original moulds were destroyed, so the 28mm franchise is dead. In 2008 Fantasy Flight Games released a 54mm CMG (collectible miniature game) set in the Mutant Chronicles franchise. The game was cancelled shortly after release due to poor sales.
Video Game
An OnlineOnline game
An online game is a game played over some form of computer network. This almost always means the Internet or equivalent technology, but games have always used whatever technology was current: modems before the Internet, and hard wired terminals before modems...
Real-Time Strategy
Real-time strategy
Real-time strategy is a sub-genre of strategy video game which does not progress incrementally in turns. Brett Sperry is credited with coining the term to market Dune II....
game was in development after Paradox Entertainment
Paradox Entertainment
Paradox Entertainment owns rights to many intellectual properties, the most famous of which is Conan the Barbarian as created by pulp author Robert E. Howard and expanded upon by many other authors over the years. Other properties include Bran Mak Morn, Kull, Solomon Kane, Mutant, Mutant...
had acquired the license but the production was quietly shut down. The game would have been called Warzone Online and would have featured a then brand new Game Engine
Game engine
A game engine is a system designed for the creation and development of video games. There are many game engines that are designed to work on video game consoles and personal computers...
called the Valpurgius Engine. It would have been released on both the Xbox
Xbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...
and Windows platforms.
External links
- Warzone and Chronopia forums
- Spanish Unofficial Mutant Chronicles Community
- Italian Unofficial Mutant Chronicles Community
- Spanish Unofficial Mutant Chronicles Community
- Mutant Chronicles Online Encyclopedia and rules
- Excelsior Entertainment Official Forum — small but active (as of 2008) Warzone community
- Greywolf's Warzone 2nd Edition Page — the largest individual fan site for Warzone
- Prince August — a shop in Ireland that is selling Warzone and Chronopia miniatures purchased from Target Games in 2006.