A Nepherite in-hand is worth....

before i left Ontario last August, I stopped by Meeplemart in Toronto one last time.  I was mostly there to pick up more robotic minis, but i also wanted to pick up some Warzone resurrection minis.

Now I don't play Warzone Resurrection but i do have a large collection of Warzone miniatures, mostly from 2nd edition.  Warzone 1st edition was my first 28mm miniature game, so it always held a special place in my  heart.  it also helped that it was a pretty decent game.it was also very big in my area, until 2nd edition came out. shortly thereafter target folded, and Warzone has been seeing hard times ever until Prodos took it over.

Warzone is the miniatures setting for Mutant chronicles(1993), which in turn is a development of a Swedish game from 1984 called Mutant.  like it's immediate competitor, Warhammer 40K, it is set in a very dark brooding world. the setting for warzone is set somewhere in hte area of 1500 years in hte future.  It has mega corporations, a Inquisition-like religious group know as the Brotherhood, and a chaos-like faction known as the dark legion. it's also a slightly more hard-scifi world(at least, for the 80s/90s), assuming you ignore the Dark legion.  the tech is just barely post-modern  in most cases(weapons are predominently ballistic, etc).  and interstellar travel has not been developed, though humanity has colonized  most of  "teraformable" planets.

Several of the Mega Corporations are aesthetically themed on periods of history from their ancestry.  Many Bauhaus units wear a modified Pickelhaub helmet,  Imperial forces tend to draw inspectorate form Great Britain, and Mishima are strongly In the samurai style.  Capitol draws strongly from an exaggerated American style.

2nd edition Raside with Nazgaroth HMG(centre) and
2nd edition 2 Immaculate Furies(left and right)

the background results in an interesting array of forces, and the rules are a refreshing break form Warhammer mechanics.



Anyway,  when i was at Meeplemart I picked up a trio of Preatorian Stalkers(with LMGs) and a Nepherite of Algeroth.  neither of these units got a decent treatment under 1st edition, and only the Praetorian stalkers got a (crappy) release under 2nd ed.  I happen to like the fluff for both, so i was quite happy when Prodos released  spectacular sculpts for both.

a few years ago i also stumbled upon a stockpile of Warzone minis in  a dank store basement in Toronto, and bought a small bortherhood and Dark legion army at 50% off. I bought a Razide, 2 Immaculate furies,  20 hilarious carnophage models,  8 Kadavers, and a huge Ezoghoul(pictured below mounted on a CD for a base)

1st(and only) Edition Metal Ezoghoul(Left) and
Prodos resin Nepherite of Algeroth.(right)

 Nepherites are the lieutenants of the Apostles.  They sport superhuman strength and resilience, and can wield the Dark Symmetry( Magic/ Evil "Force").   This particular Nepherite serves Algeroth, the Apostle of War.  Algeroth provides most of the muscle for the armies of the Dark Legion.

3 Prodos Games Praetorian Stalkers

The praetorian Stalkers are bio-mechanical machines built in the laboratories of Algeroth.  they are extremley proficient killing machines.

Ezoghouls  and razides are a little murky. at least some of the fluff hints that they may be extra-dimensional Aliens, pulled into this dimension and into the service of Algeroth.  Immaculate furies are created in birthing vats in the laboratories of Algeroth, so they are presumably bio engineered.

the Nazgaroth HMG was probably one of the most fearsome weapons in Warzone 1st edition.  it's range was LOS, and the Razide could fire the damned thing on the move with no penalty.  it was ungodly expensive though.


the 4 prodos models had almost no flash and required almost no cleaning of mold lines.  very well sculpted and cast all around. Which is a good thing because they aren't cheap to begin with, and the current UK-Canadian exchange only magnifies it.  I believe the Nepherite was $17.95 CDN, and the 3 Praetorians stalkers were $27.95 CDN.  I'm adding these to my existing army, though, which i got at discoutned prices, so overall it's still a good deal.  the regular infantry from Prodos are notably larger in most cases, but the non-human models (dark legion stuff, and large /vehicle models) fit in jsut fine.  Next on my list to buy from Prodos is an Eradicator Deathdroid and an Exterminateur Atilla Mk I.

the old Target metal models were also very clean.  this isn't unusual, but there were occasional mold slips with the 1st edition Warzone miniatures, so i lucked out with the Ezoghoul, which was in pristine condition(after almost 20 years)


I own  armies for Bauhaus, Capitol, Cybertronic, Brotherhood, Dark Legion, and I have my Father's Mishima army on semi-permanent loan.

200pt Robotech game

On Tuesday I ran a game of Robotech RPG Tactics at the Edmonton Wargamers Group meeting.
Dave played the Zentraedi forces, while Chen reprised his role from the previous battle as the UEDF.

THE Battlefield

 I had blitz a few bits of terrain teh few days before teh game night.

The Zentraedi forces had 2 recon squads each with a recovery pod.  one squad had 2 heavy missle battlepods attached.

Dave's Zentraidi forces

the UEDF forces had a squadron of Valkyries and a a reinforced Brawler Company of (4 Tomahawks and 2 Spartans)

Chen's UEDF Forces

  During the first turn, Chen shot up some  battlepods with  valkyrie missiles, but they returned during teh enxt turn.  The Zentreadi fired half the missiles from their heavy missile battle pods, but teh valkyries managed to avoid serious damage.

during the 2nd turn, the  UEDF killed the 2 heavy missile battlpods nearly killed a Command pod, but in response lost the Valkyrie Flight leader, one spartan, and  a missile volley from the heavy missile battlepods nearly took out a pair Tomahawks(left then with 1 damage point each).

At the beginning of the 3rd Dave moved his 2nd battlepod squadron into position to capitalize on the previous turn's missile strikes. he took out the last UEDF spartan,  one of  the badly damaged tomahawks, and another valkyrie. In return Chen's UEDF forces killed the damaged command pod and more battlepods.  

During the 4th turn things tuned for the Zentraedi as  Dave lost his last  Command pod and a recovery pod, and, of course, more battle pods(as long as command pods are alive they comb back after all).

During the last turn,  the Zentraedi charged their remaining recovery pod into close combat with a Valkyrie, but failed to land in hit.

all in all it was a good game. During the 2nd turn it looked like  the Zentraedi were pulling ahead, but the UEDF pulled  ahead during the 3rd and 4th turns.The UEDF still took significant losses.  50% of their unit had been outright destroyed, and another 3 of the remaining 5 machines had heavy damage.

The Zentraedi had 5 battlepods and 1 recovery pod when we called the game.

I think Dave and Chen enjoyed the game.  it certainly was bloody.   I need to get to painting more UEDF forces for some variety.