Deadzone - Tile-based miniatures game by Jake Thornton

If you can't see what the combination of grid movement and free placement (that you seems to keep ignoring), I'm at loss as what to say. It get rids of measuring with rulers while keep the traditional miniatures games flexibility of placement.

Ex Illis grid is too large and the game is too abstracted due to their confidence with computer-based upkeep, growth and combat calculation. SKANK suffers the same problems with many rules from smaller publishings: actual, practical playability. They offer a lot of cool things while suffer in practicality. It's easy to throw more and more rules in. Keeping them playable with smooth pace is not.

Those tables are awesome for sure, but how many will actually get to play in such tables? I've had the fortune to play in such tables once, and even from that experience, aside from the visual grandeur, they just add to game time, become measuring hell, and lots of wasted space in general.

With $150 in this KS you get 4 factions, enough terrain and bits to game. No more scrounging the dollar shop or hacking those styrofoam packaging (which, I have to admit, fun).

ldsdbomber wrote: I dont really understand how these games get on apart from appealing to modellers and mini painters. Just download any random set of freeware miniature or skirmish rules, throw some pre painted minis down, like AT-43 and roll some fucking dice already. I mean its all the same shit, but one after another come rolling out like the next great thing. woopee doo, its minis and a map, and the same old rules one way or another, now you have another kickstarter package and you want hundreds of dollars for loads of retarded pledge levels. Are we so devoid of imagination that we cant bear to just you know, create some shit ourselves, we have to rely on someone to spoon feed us an entire package.

grrrrrrr

The differences are usually more subtle, yes.

However, making a fun one by your own is not that easy. The free nature of miniature tames makes it hard to make definitions. You also have to keep in mind on what you have (and what other people will have if you're going to share/sell ot).

Two Hour Wargames rules are the posterboy for difference in tabletop gaming, but even then it still has the same trapping of move-shoot. In THW rules, the following may happen in a single In Sight test (which may happen more than once in a turn): Models shoot, some duck away for cover, some out of fight, survivors may immediatly shoots back (although they may duck to cover too). As long as hostile figures are in sight of each other, they keep reacting. All in a single In Sight test.

Targeting space isn't new, but it does provide choice when coupled with shooting individual figures.

The game also uses degrees of success. In most test you and your opponent roll d8s, begins with 3 dice. Modifier affects number of dice rolled, never the target number. In some test you can choose which attribute to use. For example if you are attacked in melee, you can use either Fight or Survival attribute. Fight is usually more favored because it allows counter attacks, but if your Survival skill is better it might be wiser to use Survival.

Doubling your opponent's success often give you bonus action. In a fight you may attack again. When breaking off you may blaze away (which may cause the enemy you just left to be suppressed). Having 3 successes in Overwatch allows you to firing while keeping the overwatch status. Note that different units have different Overwatch action.

Grenades may throw you around, and you can take damage from slamming the wall and falling.

They initially uses I-go-you-go but will switch to partial activation. Figures will have command value which enables player to activate several figures (instead of all figures going at once).

It also uses cards, which is I think the weakest part of the design. They are just simple cards with +1 to this action and that. Each cards have 2 uses and you must choose 1 of them when you play it. I was expecting more radical stuff such as stuffing grenade in melee, grabbing an enemy to throw at another and so on.

Again, none of these are new, but when combined they make a solid design.

I'm not ignoring anything. I just don't see it as incredibly interesting. I see that it does away with rulers, and I see that you can put a mini in any corner or wherever you wish in a grid space.

I see that it's a reaction-based game.

I'm just not seeing it being all that shit hot. Sorry. If you can't handle that I don't agree with your assessment, well, I can't help you. It doesn't make either of us wrong, we just see things differently.

I've played maybe 50 of these games at this point, of the modern-future-postapoc time period, and I've settled on what I like. I like Skank a lot because it's reaction-based, but it's not cumbersome. I'm still evaluating a few to see which I settle on. Maybe after Deadzone gets finalized it turns out great. Maybe not. No skin off my nuts either way.

Check out some chatter you'll like at LAF: www.lead-adventure.de/index.php?topic=53180.75

I've been following it.

Thanks pete, I'm already there too (albeit lurking)

Second generation of Deadzone is now on kickstarter: www.kickstarter.com/projects/1744629938/...rmish-game?ref=users

I was thinking about buying in since this game has always seemed cool to me. Does anyone have any ACTUAL first-hand experience with it? Like it, love it, hate it etc?

I backed the first kickstarter, and have played several games. My short version: excellent core rules, but the faction balance seems off, and melee units seem undercosted given how deadly close combat is. Hopefully they are addressing this in the new version of the rules, which they are giving a free digital copy to the original backers. The game is really fun, though, and the terrain is cool, albeit fiddly to assemble.

Gversace wrote: I backed the first kickstarter, and have played several games. My short version: excellent core rules, but the faction balance seems off, and melee units seem undercosted given how deadly close combat is. Hopefully they are addressing this in the new version of the rules, which they are giving a free digital copy to the original backers. The game is really fun, though, and the terrain is cool, albeit fiddly to assemble.

That's strange you say so because I heard from many people that Plague faction feels week because how good is the Enforcer's shooting.

I have not yet played with the Enforcers, but the Marauder's dogs just tear things up, and they are cheap. Maybe we played with too much terrain.

A guy in my gaming group backed the new kickstarter. If nothing else, he figured the terrain would be good for playing Necromunda some day.