Ronnie explains why YOU need to try Warpath!
17th Mar 2017
Rob Burman
For several centuries humanity has continued its inexorable quest into space, thanks to its pursuit of greater knowledge and bottomless need for raw materials. Many that have stood in its way – Grogan, Judwan, Yndij, Teratons and Chovar – have been subsumed or crushed, as the power and wealth of the GCPS has driven endlessly onwards.
However some have been able to strike an uneasy truce with the Corporations and the secretive Council of 7. The Forge Fathers’ technology, determination and practicality allow them to trade with the GCPS, while their ferocious, easy-to-fight stance, ensures an ‘eye for an eye’ policy is enacted swiftly and brutally whenever humanity oversteps the mark, which maintains that status quo.
But as humanity continues its growth, new threats and challenges are threatening its very existence. Subservient races are once again finding their voice (and their weapons!). In the dark expanse of space, an unseen foe keeps striking at remote outposts, trading ships and medical stations, taking them offline without warning. Mysterious relics unleash virulent plagues, closing down entire planets and unleashing Deadzones wherever they are discovered. Finally, circling the edge of the Outer Sphere sits an ancient and civilised race, watching the balance of power ebbing and flowing, as they bide their time, waiting to intervene with potentially devastating consequences.
Humanity’s main defence against these new threats are the GCPS troopers, stationed on every planet, moon and space station from the central core right out to the outer fringes, protecting whatever ‘high value assets’ are deemed worthy of heavy protection. And at every crisis point the Enforcers will appear – ensuring the will of the Council of 7 is enacted, no matter the cost, and the Mauraders, an army for hire, are willing to fight for the highest bidder.
Welcome to Warpath…
And finally here we are – more than five years since its first appearance, the Warpath universe is back – and oh my, has it had some work!
Since its first stuttering appearance we have been slowly but surely populating the Warpath Universe. Right after I lauched the first Warpath I vowed to myself we would not do it again until we could do it properly. This meant we needed numerous armies (with a host of units for each) and vehicles (because what is a sci-fi battle game without vehicles – nothing, that’s what). So instead we started building slowly. From Project Pandora, through to DreadBall we kept adding more and more layers. New races, new characters and new storylines, even the sports they play – both the live-vid-streamed high production Arena version and the hardcore, violent underground game – have come into being.
But the universe really started to come alive when Deadzones started appearing all across the galaxy. We had the buildings to create the outposts and cities they battled over, and small gangs of elite troops battling across Plague-infected planets. Then later this year we will be breaking into a tiny laboratory on a remote planet to find out what evil has been perpetrated in its darkest corners.
But finally, after many hundreds of hours of playtesting, and hundreds of thousands of dollars of tooling (made possible by the fantastic and generous Kickstarter backers) Warpath is here – and it has it all!
Warpath has been conceived to allow gamers to take epic sci-fi battles to a new level, fighting massive battles, with numerous vehicles and unit after unit of troops, all armed with an array of devastating and varied weaponry. There are four races on day one, with two more on the way in the following months, all in plastic and ready for you to start an army. We’ll then release more support troops for two of the armies – the Enforcers ‘protecting all’ and the battle-hardened Forge Fathers, dwarfs in space and take no backchat from anyone!
Reinforcements for the Veer-myn and Asterians will follow soon after, with their full ranges becoming available, ahead of the Plague and the GCPS troopers making their debut in the Warpath universe later this year.
If the concept of epic battles with hundreds of miniatures and awesome vehicles is a little overwhelming (but you want more than the super quick and super playable Deadzone) then there is Firefight to get your teeth stuck into! While Warpath is all about commanding units, Firefight gives every soldier the chance to shine and become a hero because you issue actions to individual miniatures!
Even better, because the miniature range can be used in all three games, all you need to do is grab yourself a starter set, download the free rules from our website (which will be available shortly) and see which size you like best! Personally for me, bigger is always better.
And once you’ve got your force you can come on board with one of our global campaigns, which will not only offer a new narrative to the universe but your games will help shape the very future of the universe itself (if you like Kings of War we have the ‘Edge of the Abyss’ summer campaign coming this year). Or perhaps you enjoy a good old competitive throw down at a tournament – well, we will be hosting those too, here at Mantic HQ!
So, those of you that have supported us in getting this far – thank you. Without your support this simply would not have been possible. The terrain and factions that came from Deadzone (1 and 2) through to Star Saga and DreadBall, every gang, team or squad has helped us develop the rich tapestry of Warpath.
I hope the videos, photos and background you see over the coming weeks and months will inspire you to grab up a few units (the starter armies will be really rather sexy and super value.. hint hint) or even just pick up the rules and the source book and give it a once over. I think you’ll be blown away!
Best wishes
Ronnie