The future is here

What a way to say goodbye to the old year and ring in a new one than a huge box of toys!  Go big or go home - and since I'm already home I guess I had to go big. The Warpath kickstarter finished on October 11th 2015, and was scheduled to ship not quite a year later.  Well, like so many others, Mantic has fallen from the pedestal of shipping kickstarters on time - and wave one shipped three months late.

Even more disappointing is that all but one of the new hard plastic vehicles have been pushed back to wave 2 - which itself will most likely be pushed back to Q2 of 2017 - which could be as late as June.

But enough whinging (which I've been taught is a proper English word (not just an alternate spelling) by our cousins on the other side of that big pond) - what's in the box.

25 lbs of toys

I was a little worried when I got home after working the last (week)day of 2016 to see a huge tear in the box.  I was a little concerned that something might have fallen out in transit - and if it had been the plague then who knows what kind of havoc it might have caused, using FedEx to spread it's virulence across the Midwest.

big freaking tear

I opened the box, and fortunately there was a packing list right on top.  I had my own list based on the pledge manager, so I first cross checked that - and it was all as expected.  I then confirmed everything they said was in the box WAS in the box - and nothing had managed to escape. I suspect the tear was from the sheer weight of the plague bursters trying to escape - or maybe just getting bumped a bit too hard on the flight across the Atlantic.

The box was full of big bags, each full of sprues and metal models (with a few restic and the new plastics also thrown in for good measure.

The first bag was full of Veer-myn.  I had some of these already from a old warpath veer-myn army box as well as the Deadzone 2 kickstarter.  What I was really happy to get however was a couple of models for which I only had one of and wanted two for the variations - namely the Night Terror and the Rumbler weapon platform.  It may not always be the most effective choice, but when you have multiple builds for a model I like being able to actually  make all the options (occasionally magnetizing them when I need to).

Veer-Myn battlegroup

The next bag was pretty much all new to me - the GCPS battlegroup.  I had very little GCPS - I think I've gotten a couple of bags of restic troops in crazy boxes (and before this I already had three unassembled striders (one for each of the variants in Deadzone of course).

GCPS Battlegroup

Now some of you may already be asking, "where are the actual models?"  Well you'll have to wait a bit for those, as just unboxing everything is going to more than fill my quota for this post - I'll be showing off all the new models next time.

The Forge Fathers were the next bag.  This definitely will fill out the Deadzone models, as well as the older ones that I had from the prior starter box.  Plus two more iron ancestors - so I can actually field a full formation of these.  Thinking about it, I am a little disappointed that they did not offer any deal to get more Valkyr Bikers - I only have the one from Deadzone, so will have to get at least one more to make a team.  And who doesn't love dwarfs on motorcycles.  (Well I guess a certain company that is also headquartered in Nottingham the wrote the out of 40K after the 2nd edition).

Forge Fathers Battlegroup

Next out of the box was the Enforcers.  Enforcers have the most plastic models - with enforcers, peacekeepers and pathfinders all on hard plastic sprues, as well as the hard plastic jetbikes (which are cut off the sprues and sold in bags - apparently taking up SIGNIFICANTLY less space in the warehouse).  Because enforcers were in the first edition Deadzone game, I have a ton of the normal ones, as well as some of the heavy weapon variants (which now come as add metal ons, Mantic having done away with the restic versions).  Plus two more striders - I think that give me a total of seven now.  Though they have to be shared between GCPS, Enforcers and Plague (and maybe one for the poor rebs in Deadzone).

This does include the metal bits to make the Ajax Seige Strider - and while some of the variants aren't that thrilling - seeing these HUGE metal bits (teaser) makes me want to build that puppy.

Enforcers Battlegroup

The final big baggie was the space elves, the Asterians.  They had gotten their first hard plastic sprue, to make the marionettes (and a drone), plus this also includes a bunch of the restic Asterian models.  I have thought about making this 'my' army - (I really like their vehicle - but of course it is wave 2).  I hope these new plastics are not as fiddly to put together as the restic ones - which I also have a lot to put together. 

Asterian Battlegroup

Those who are very astute among my readers will notice that there is one specific army battlegroup missing - the plague.  Where are those virulent bad guys, seeking to spread their contagion throughout the tabletops of the galaxy?

Well like the enforcers, the first edition of Deadzone came with plague.  Plus they seem to have infected every crazy box I have gotten since they came out.  As such, well I already have just about everything in the plague battle group.  The only thing I was missing was the special character, and the new 3rd Gens.  However I have a bunch of the restic ones.  So I picked up the special character and a few sprues of the new 3rd Gens separately.

However this is not all that was in that huge box, not by a long shot.  I guess I was surprised because I didn't remember that we were getting a hard copy of this book - I thought it was just the digital version.  So now I have a real physical book to read (not sure if I will (this is not commenting on the book whatsoever - it may be a fantastic novel that will receive accolades and win awards, but I have just never been a fan of 'licensed' fiction), but I have it).

To help feed people's desire for fluff and background

The actual rule books (and sourcebook) are nicely packaged in a slipcase.  I will probably get the rule books spiral bound like I did for Kings of War (as the are much easier to use on the table top that way), but the box is still nice.

box of books

There is one more set of three big bags in the box however (as opposed to the mass of little ones still to come) and these were the three Enforcer Interceptors - the only hard plastic vehicle (out of eight) that came in wave one.  I took pictures as I figured out how to put this together (one BIG issue - Mantic definitely needs to start coming out with instructions for models) - but that is another for next week.

Enforcer Interceptor plastic vehicle kit

Each in a separate little bag is a sprue of the new Plague 3rd Gens (which include a mortar and a hound on the sprue as well).

Plague 3rd Gen plastic sprues

One thing that they also included was plastic counters - for suppression and other conditions.  I'm still not quite sure what all of them are yet.

Warpath tokens

Command dice are also something needed.  New custom 8 sided dice to allow you to give commands to your units above and beyond normal activations.

Command Dice

Of course there are bases for everything - lots of bases

Warpath uses 25, 40 and 60mm round bases

Some other small, individual baggies remain.  First was an enforcer sprue, then I found the little bag of metal bits, and realized these were the Enforcer Tank Hunters - disappointed as these are just metal alternate arms.

Enforcer Tank Hunters

A couple of HUGE metal guns - this is the conversion kit to turn an Enforcer Accuser Interceptor into an Arbiter Interceptor.

These are actually the same gun that the strider uses

Maybe the heaviest of all the warpath models - the plague bursters are just huge lumps of metal.

three pairs of bursters

The murderbirds have got to be the most complex of all the models released.  A big bag of metal bits with no obvious way to put them together at all.

Plague Murder-birds

Finishing the stuff I ordered individually for the plague is the special character - Subject 901

Plague Subject 901

The veer-myn have their tangle - which actually has a resin base on it.  The drawing looked cool, so I picked one up - though I'm not sure how it works in the army.

Veer-Myn Tangle

The very last thing in the box is, of course, Blaine, the mascot of Mantic Kickstarters.

Blaine - and I have 2 of him :-)

I honestly could not finish going through everything in a single session.  So next time folks (same bat time, same bat channel!) I'll have pictures of all the NEW models in their sprued (or metal) glory.  It is just the brand new stuff though - if it is an existing model from Deadzone - well then you have to go back and see them here and here.  (I am such a rotten tease :-).

Because it is all fun and games . . .