Deadzone Ed1 Rulebook from Mantic Games, 2014 - Wargame book review

image © Mantic Games

Deadzone Ed2 Rulebook from Mantic Games

Details

Wargame Book: Deadzone Ed1 Rulebook, Product Code: MGDZM03-1, Series: Deadzone, Setting: Warpath, Rules: Deadzone Ed1, Company: Mantic Games, Production: 2014-2016 (out of print)
Designer: Jake Thornton
Features: softcover

The Deadzone Ed1 Rulebook provides the basic rules for a miniatures skirmish wargame system. The missions, the battle effects, and the force lists for the Warpath setting are published on separate cards you have to obtain to play the game.

Deadzone Ed1 is superceded in almost every way in the action resolution by the Deadzone Ed2 system, however the framing system is so different, it almost seems like another game.

* * *

Opening the book

The book is very nice, has a good cover, and good illustrations. The book itself is A4 size, the usual size for rulebooks. The binding looks okay. Although it's softcover, it's enough to protects the book from damage during gaming. The paper is good quality. The book is full colour, the art (mostly line-art) and the photos are nice.

Contents (80 pages)

• Setting (p4-5, p11, p58-65, 11 page, 14%): A setting introduction.
• Rules (p6-10, p12-44, p66-80, 53 pages, 66%): Rules. You'll need to read them if you'd like to play Deadzone Ed1.
• Campaign rules (p46-55, 10 pages, 13%): Rules for continuous games.
• Roster sheet (p56, 1 page, 1%)

Reading the book

The book is good, easy to follow.

The text: The text is easy to read, easy to comprehend. I think the language is easy to understand even for those who've learnt English as a second language.

Setting: The setting is a generic, bleak sci-fi world. There's nothing exceptional here, evil corporations, ugly aliens, the usual.

Rules: The rules look easy to follow and I've felt I understand most of them for the first read-through, or at least I'll know where to look them up. The editing is strange though, as the rules are scattered through the book.

Information: While I can't be sure, I suppose the rules give you everything you need to know about playing Deadzone Ed1, without the need to know further wargames.

Differences between prints

My copy is a second print one. I know of no differences between prints.

Who will need this?

If you'd like to play Deadzone, and you are not afraid of trying Deadzone Ed2, you can download the Deadzone Ed2 rules for free. If you'd like to stick with Deadzone Ed1, this is the book you'll need. However, for playing games, you'll also need the battle cards, mission cards and the faction cards (the force list of the system), that were only available in the Deadzone Ed1 Starter Set. The tokens you can substitute for yourself, but those cards are essential.

If you'd like to buy this because of your interest in the Warpath setting, this book has plenty to offer, although I'm sure you can find just as many setting info online, for free.

If you already have Deadzone Ed2, and you are interested in the roots of the system, you can still find lots interesting ideas you could implement in your games. The action resolution is Ed2 is more efficient, however every other aspect of the Ed1 game is totally different. It's worth a read-through, and if you like it, you could give it a try.

If you are interested in a generic sci-fi wargame, you can easily use the game without the attached setting, especially as the setting related rules (such as the force lists) are not included in this book. The book however doesn't have everything you'll need to play, so make sure to get the mission cards, battle cards, and at least borrow the faction cards so you'll have a template to build your own forces.

Recommendation

Possible uses

* * *

Resources

* * *

Buying the product

Price

Base price(Deadzone Ed1 Rulebook): 10 GBP / ? EUR/ ? USD

Base set price(Deadzone Starter Set): 65 GBP / ? EUR / ? USD

• Includes: Deadzone Ed1 Rulebook (10 GBP), Deadzone Deluxe Mat (20 GBP), 8x d8 dice (5 GBP), Deadzone Tokens (?), Enforcers Faction Starter set (20 GBP), Plague Faction Starter set (20 GBP), Deadzone Ed1 cards (ca. 13 GBP), Battlezones scenery (50 GBP) = 138 GBP = 47% price
• Price for Deadzone Ed1 Rulebook: 4,7 GBP

Where can you buy it?

Buy the Deadzone Ed1 Rulebook from Mantic Games from Amazon

Amazon US - Amazon UK - Amazon CA - Amazon DE - Amazon FR - Amazon IT - Amazon ES

Buy the Deadzone Ed1 Rulebook from Mantic Games on eBay

eBay US  - eBay UK  - eBay CA  - eBay DE  - eBay FR  - eBay IT  - eBay ES  - eBay AU  - eBay IE  - eBay AT  - eBay CH  - eBay BE  - eBay NL

Buy the Deadzone Ed1 Rulebook from Element Games (UK) -10%, ref. code:KAD935 Buy the Deadzone Ed1 Starter Set from Element Games (UK) -10%, ref. code:KAD935 Buy Deadzone products from Firestorm Games (UK) -10% Buy Deadzone products from Wayland Games (UK) -20% Buy the Deadzone Ed1 Rulebook from Noble Knight Games (USA) -10% Buy the Deadzone Ed1 Starter from Noble Knight Games (USA) -20% Buy board games from Book Depository

* * *
Do you have the Deadzone Ed1 Rulebook from Mantic Games? How do you like it? Would you recommend them to others? Tell your opinion in the comments!