Open Day Recap – Deadzone

24th Nov 2020

Rob Burman



With COVID still causing issues here in the UK, it meant we couldn’t hold our traditional day of gaming and chat at HQ over the weekend. However, we weren’t going to let a pandemic stop all the fun! So, we hosted our second Virtual Open Day. This gave us a chance to invite Mantic fans from around the globe to spend the day chatting and give them some sneak peeks about what’s coming up in 2021.

You can watch the whole thing above. However, just in case you can’t get away with watching six hours of live streaming, we’ll be running through the highlights on the blog all this week… and we might even sneak in some extras too!

DEADZONE!

Deadzone has had a great year in 2020 – the two-player starter set has been consistently selling out and we’ve seen lots of new players picking up the game. The two-player set is currently out of stock but we’ve got plans for a re-stock shortly (probably after Christmas). We’ve also got a brand new neoprene mat coming out soon too. You can take a look below:

All-in-all there are some very excited things planned for Deadzone in 2021 – although we can’t spill all the beans just yet. However, we can reveal a few things:

FORGE FATHER ARTIFICERS

Over the past two years, we’ve had great success releasing sub factions for existing Deadzone armies. The sub factions are an interesting way to introduce alternative play styles and new miniatures to add more character. So far we’ve had Volt Chasers for Veer-myn, Alpha Strike Team for Rebs and the recently released Matsudan for the Asterians.

Next year we’re giving the Forge Fathers a boost with the Artificers. If you’ve played Star Saga, you’ll be familiar with the concept of Artificers, thanks to Ogan Helkkare. We really loved the aesthetic of Ogan and wanted to expand on that with a full sub faction.

The Artificers often accompany the Brokkrs into a Deadzone, as they’re required to fix the various mining machines and tech used to strip the planet. They’re often more boisterous and loud than your average Forge Father and it’s not uncommon to find them gambling and drinking in between fixing the complex machines.

They’re typically armed with modified engineering equipment and their additional mechanical arms can easily be turned into a combat weapon.

The Artificers will come in a new sub faction starter set, complete with resin models – including a new leader.

We’re also planning to release some alternate heads that can be used for the Artificers or for Steel Warriors. But that’s not all…

The Artificers are getting their own mech too. Normally this is used to move the heavy equipment using during mining operation or for cutting through rock to find the precious resources below. However, in a pinch the Artificers can quickly modify it for combat. Think of it like a fork lift OF WAR!

VEER-MYN

Although we’re not releasing new Veer-myn models, as such. 2021 will see the release of new Ratkin minis for Kings of War. Now, if you’ve been following the progress of Kings of War you’ll know that some Veer-myn models have made their way into the Ratkin list – such as the Tunnel Runners and Tangle, for example.

Well, now it’s time for Kings of War to return the favour and we’re currently looking at which of the Ratkin minis will fit into Deadzone.