Greetings Readers,

Instead of looking to the future and talking about lofty gaming aspirations, we’re going to kick off the New Year by peering back into the murky past of wargaming and examining a franchise for which I have a great deal of fondness, but which remains at the periphery of the mainstream consciousness, considered by many to be a habitually cursed IP: I’m talking, of course, about the classic Mutant Chronicles spin-off Warzone.

So take my hand, and let’s go back to the heady days of the 90’s…

In the beginning

Warzone actually begins life as Mutant Chronicles; a pen-&-paper RPG released in February 1993 by Target Games, a Swedish publisher who had been active since the early 80’s. To put this into context, this is the same year that Games Workshop released the (now iconic) 2nd edition of Warhammer 40,000 and arguably establish the two-player boxed set format which has now become an industry standard. By contrast, the first edition of Target’s Mutant Chronicles-derived wargame takes another two years to arrive (1995) and only really hits its stride in 1998 with the publication of its own 2nd edition, whose format is almost identical to GW’s 1993 magnum opus (2-player boxed set, three core books, 80-odd plastic miniatures, etc.).

The Setting

Much like the early Rogue Trader days of Warhammer 40,000 it was clear from the outset that Mutant Chronicles, and subsequently Warzone, took many of its cues from recognisable, cult classics such as 2000AD’s Judge Dredd: Warzone takes place in a dystopian future setting, where (by dint of rampant, unchecked capitalism) humanity has irrevocably polluted the Earth and essentially stripped it bare, consequently founding (and escaping to) colonies throughout the solar system and terraforming worlds as diverse as Mercury, Venus, Luna, Mars and elements of the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Additionally, the nation-states of the Earth have gradually given way to, and been subsumed by, the rise of the corporations, themselves eventually coalescing into five massive blocs or ‘Mega-Corporations’; Bauhaus (with Germanic/European aesthetic), Capitol (with a decidedly American feel), Mishima (taking its cues from Japanese stereotypes), Imperial (an amalgam of British/Scottish/Irish influences), and Cybertronic (an ambiguous technocracy and new kid on the block, with dubious origins) all of whom are locked into a never-ending struggle for dominance either fought clandestinely by murder, intrigue and assassination (not to mention economic shenanigans) or via outright, armed conflict.

Alliances of convenience, betrayals and reversals abound with no one side having the upper hand for long. The only other power bloc of note in this dynamic being ‘The Brotherhood’, which is akin to the Catholic Church, but on the same scale as the Mega-Corporations and arguably representing the last vestiges of humanity’s conscience, common sense and enlightened self-interest, not to mention its remaining vestiges of spirituality and yearning to escape the eternal spiral of corporate servitude and stagnation.

Against this backdrop (and cutting a longer story short) avaricious explorers from the Imperial Mega-Corporation (because nothing says human greed quite like villains styled after British colonialism/imperialism) discover a 10th planet in the outer Solar System, land, plant the flag, and subsequently break several protective wards/inter-dimensional barriers, allowing an evil power referred to as the ‘Dark Symmetry’ into our universe, as well as the horrific denizens of another realm, the Dark Legion, who are led by five apostles who embody various human conceptions of evil (e.g. Disease, Lies, Insanity, War, Zealotry).

The Dark Symmetry infects all intelligent, computerised systems, making them murderously dangerous, and forcing Humanity to regress its technology backwards to an essentially dieselpunk-esque state and institute various edicts against ‘thinking machines’ (which Cybertronic are probably flouting). The player is pitched into this desperate milieu, as either one of the Mega-Corporations vying for supremacy against its competitors whilst also staving off the depredations of the Dark Legion, the Dark Legion themselves seeking to annihilate and enslave humanity, or the Brotherhood trying to hold the line against this existential threat and rally the erstwhile Mega-Corporations under one banner before its too late.

So that gives you an extended précis of the setting, but what about the actual game itself?

The system

Well, this where things get interesting, and where Warzone starts to rise above the level of mere curio: As a modern gamer, if you were to pick up a copy of Warzone‘s 2nd edition, as well as a heady dose of nostalgia, you would still find many of the mechanics surprisingly familiar: Its 1998 edition already features many elements that have since become the staple of more modern games and were certainly a step up from Warhammer 40,000‘s 3rd edition, published in the same year.

Warzone 2nd edition features, for example, alternating activation (you hear that Games Workshop?), action points, a size-based system with effects on ‘to hit’ rolls, terrain access and close combat, falling damage, quota- and ratio-based force composition, all alongside more recognisably 90’s games mechanics. Warzone is also different, in that it follows its RPG heritage more closely and uses a D20 system as oppose to D6 or D10.

The factions themselves have enough flexibility to cater to various play styles; the Dark Legion, in particular, can be broken down further by playing exclusively to one of the five themes provided by the Dark Apostles (each with unique characters and units) and the Mega-Corporations can be supplemented by mercenary style factions referred to as ‘The Tribes of Earth’ – Basically the descendants of the flotsam and jetsam of humanity who either weren’t valued highly enough by the Mega-Corporations to be taken off-world, or simply couldn’t afford it.

The Miniatures

So if that piques your interest, the next logical question is, do you also like the classic, chunky, single piece, metal miniatures of the 80’s and 90’s? If so, then you will love Warzone‘s original aesthetic because, at its height, the game had a phenomenal array of chunky, characterful sculpts, available either in blister packs or gorgeous, high-quality squad boxes, in a range and variety that easily rivalled Games Workshop Warhammer 40,000 at the time.

Warzone‘s miniatures are very much endemic to a point in time when sculpting was still done by hand, miniatures were produced in white metal, and the machinery necessary to create high-quality plastics was still too costly for anything except centrepiece products. In this case, Warzone‘s 2nd edition boxed set which featured 80 (mono-pose) plastic miniatures; 40 Bauhaus Ducal Hussars, and 40 Imperial Trenchers, with two variant sprues for each featuring either an officer or a heavy weapons specialist, representing the only examples of plastic Warzone miniatures from this period.

I am fortunate enough to own the entire back catalogue of the Bauhaus boxed units (and blisters), and the boxes themselves make for worthy display pieces in their own right, featuring robust cardboard construction, full-colour exteriors, studio-quality photography of the painted miniatures, faction specific colour-coding and detailed descriptions of the units on the back.

So at this point, you’re probably wondering why Warzone wasn’t giving Warhammer 40,000 more of a run for its money, why you’ve never really heard of it, and why I referred to it as ‘cursed IP’ earlier on.

Well, you’ve come this far, so let’s keep going…

The Warzone Curse

Now this is where things get complicated…

Around the same time that GW were going through major upheavals in the late 90’s, Target were also hitting significant problems, and in 1999 went bankrupt, only a year after launching the 2nd edition of Warzone. Out of this mess came the formation of a daughter company, Paradox Entertainment, which quickly became independent, and to whom the rights to essentially all of Target’s Intellectual Property (or the Intellectual Property that Target owned – A pedantic, but necessary point to make) were transferred. This included, rather surprisingly, a whole raft of Robert E Howard properties such as Conan the Barbarian, Bran Mak Morn, Kull of Atlantis, Solomon Kane, as well as the Target’s own IP such as Mutant, Mutant Chronicles, Warzone, Kult and Chronopia (hence my pedantry).

In an attempt to keep the Warzone ball rolling in the early 2000’s Paradox licensed Excelsior Entertainment (EE) to produce a 3rd edition (referred to as Warzone: Universe Under Siege or Ultimate Warzone) as well as a new edition of Chronopia, Target’s fantasy setting. However, in really murky circumstances, Paradox pulled the licence from Excelsior in 2004, midway through production of Warzone: Universe Under Siege and the company (EE) collapsed, although there is much debate as to whether the company collapsed causing Paradox to pull the licence, or Paradox pulling the licence caused the company to collapse…

In an absolutely heart-breaking move, the moulds for both Warzone and Chronopia were destroyed, and remaining stock was sold to Irish miniature foundry ‘Prince August’ (who are still selling what’s left of it to this day). Paradox then spends the intervening years fighting various legal battles around its ownership of its more notable IP (such as Conan the Barbarian, even being sued in 2011 by Stan Lee Media Inc.) and licencing out the lesser known IP’s to various other companies.

In terms of Mutant Chronicles and Warzone, the former was initially licensed out to Swedish company COG Games from 2006 to 2009, and subsequently withdrawn before the company brought anything to market (COG subsequently sinking without trace). The IP ending up with Modiphius in 2013, who published a Mutant Chronicles RPG in 2015, the same year that Paradox were purchased by Cabinet Entertainment (just to make things more complicated) – Interestingly, Modiphius are also licensed to produce RPG’s based on Conan, and John Carter (possibly via their association with Paradox).

Oh, and the licence for Mutant (no relation), went to another name you might know: Fria Ligan.

In terms of Warzone, things don’t quite so well: In 2008, whilst still under the Paradox Entertainment aegis, Fantasy Flight Games (FFG) are licensed to produce a 54mm collectible miniatures game based on Warzone, but the campaign is so poorly managed, and sales so bad, that the game is cancelled shortly after release.

Flick to February 2013 and Paradox have again licensed out the Warzone IP, this time to up-and-coming Polish outfit, Prodos Games, who create a brand new edition entitled Warzone: Resurrection and a substantial range of well-received, high-quality, 32mm resin miniatures.

Despite Prodos experiencing its own problems and controversy (most notably with their Aliens vs. Predator kickstarter), things go well for about five years and they even manage to publish a 2nd Edition of their Warzone: Resurrection ruleset. However, things start to take a turn for the worse in late 2018 when Prodos and Cabinet come to blows concerning Prodos’s design concepts for an upcoming Warzone Kickstarter. Both companies agree to part company, Prodos having until October to sell off remaining stock, releasing rules updates as free PDF’s to support the fanbase and providing any remaining paraphernalia as prizes for Warzone: Resurrection Tournaments. Obviously unwilling to lose out entirely, Prodos also announce that they will reposition, and use the concepts they’ve been working on (with suitable amendments) to create their own unique IP, Starcide and also continue to expand on their AvP franchise.

All of which, leaves Warzone once again in limbo…

So why should you care?

Well, there are several possible answers here: If you’re interested in retro-gaming or a member of groups such as the Oldhammer community, and would like to try something a little bit different, you can still pick up previous editions and iterations of the rules from Prince August or eBay. If you’re a fan of fluff, then Warzone offers a unique dieselpunk setting with overtones of 2000AD and arguably as much storied depth as its prior contemporaries. And if you like working on interesting miniatures, then the original 90’s era sculpts have that idiosyncratic quirkiness endemic to handsculpted miniatures which makes them an absolute joy to paint, and the more modern iterations by Prodos offer some great examples of what up-to-date, high-quality, digital sculpting and resin casting can achieve.

And who knows, maybe Warzone will even be back once again in a few years, for another short-lived, but glorious iteration – Only time will tell…