I really love Free League. They just have so many games that are absolute bangers, and their aesthetic sensibilities are impeccable. Their game systems are generally good as well, with Mutant: Year Zero being a particular favourite of mine. The whole setting and tone of that game, as well a the dice pool-based gameplay ticks a lot of boxes for me. It just works.
Now, Free League (Fria Ligan if you’re nasty) is putting out a miniature skirmish game based on the property. That’s exciting. I like miniatures. Obviously. Pairing them with a game that I already love is going to be a recipe for success as far as I’m concerned.
The campaign is for a core box, with the option of also backing for an expansion box. Let’s dive in and take a look at what’s actually being promised.
Something I really like is that this campaign and the game it promotes is not just covering the core Mutant: Year Zero rulebook and the types of mutants found therein, but it also covers each of the three expansion books (Genlab Alpha, Mechatron, and Elysium) and the characters introduced in each of these tomes. The main box covers the core rulebook mutants, listed here as Ark Mutants and the animal experiments from the Genlab Alpha book. Here are the miniatures for these two groupings:
First of all, I really love that we’ve got Farrow, Dux, and Bormin from the Road to Eden video game in here. Not only did I enjoy these characters, but I also really like that this is doing some joined-up world-building. We’re seeing characters develop over different mediums, and that’s really neat.
Now, in addition to the miniatures shown above (obscured miniatures to be unlocked via stretch goals), the core box also contains lots of tokens, cards, dice, and the like. Here’s what to expect:
There’s also a mat, and it looks like the next stretch goal at the time of writing is some cardboard terrain. The dice are also similar to those used for the RPG, which is a good sign.
In addition to the core set, there’s also an expansion box on offer here. Not only do these add more options for play, but they also expand the scope of the game to allow for 4 players. That’s pretty cool. This set focuses on the respective factions from the Mechatron and Elysium books for the MYZ RPG:
Again, what fantastic minis. I particularly love the Mechatron miniatures. I’ve always loved the artwork of the Mecha King from the front cover of the Mechatron book, so it’s cool to see him represented here:
So, I’m happy with the contents of the box. Well, boxes, I suppose. There aren’t a huge amount of miniatures, but there doesn’t really need to be. We don’t need a ton of miniatures to play this game. The miniatures seem to be PVC-based, and will come “sundropped”, which is a term I had not encountered until today:
Basically, it’s quick-and-dirty shaded miniatures to slightly enhance the appearance. A quick search finds a mix of some that start with a darker base and are then drybrushed up, and some with a lighter base that are then washed down. Either way, it adds a bit of depth to the otherwise unpainted miniatures, making them look a lot more interesting and dynamic than they would with just base plastic. Here are some examples of some painted Zone Wars miniatures:
Fantastic.
What about the game, though? Well, in a move that I applaud whenever any campaign does it, Free League has made a set of playtest rules available. There are printable tokens and cards, and a rulebook labeled as being “Alpha Rules”. Having an initial skim, the core of the game is quite similar to the RPG, with dice pools based on a combination of attribute score and gear bonus. This is a nice, simple system, with each character having scores in 4 core attributes:
Of course, this system is not as detailed as the RPG. This system is streamlined for use as a board game. This is exemplified in the fact that weapons are a lot less likely to spontaneously break after a bad roll. That is a great rule for the RPG, as it helps to make combat a daunting prospect, but it doesn’t work for a combat-focused miniature game. The playtest rulebook is 15 pages long and also includes an example scenario at the end. My only criticism of this book as a taster of the game is that there is only one scenario. It would have been more interesting to include a few with very different objectives, to give a better idea of the range of different missions that the game could facilitate. You can click here to download a copy of the Alpha Rules.
Free League also put out this fun video in which they discuss the game with the designer, Any Chambers. Yes, that Andy Chambers, formerly of Games Workshop fame. I’ve included the video below, but I’ve set it to start at the bit that I found most interesting, which is less about the game and more about Chambers himself:
So, as usual, we come down to value. There are so many great projects on Kickstarter, but some are prohibitively expensive for what they are. Like, really. How much will this set you back? The answer is that it’s significantly less than I would have anticipated. Like, significantly.
The core game is SEK 598. Kickstarter describes this as being around £48. That seems reasonable. I’d like to see the terrain from the stretch goals in there for that price, but it’s still decent. You also make real savings when you add in the expansion. The expansion box has pretty much the amount of content as the original box. THe pair together costs SEK 998, which is around £80. That’s actually pretty good.
Shipping has been a big problem for some recent campaigns and bundles, adding huge costs onto projects which might otherwise be reasonable. Here are the shipping estimates for Zone Wars:
As a potential UK customer, I am very happy with that. Bear in mind that these are estimates and that things can change, but even with a 25% increase when it comes to actually posting the boxes, this will still be alright.
Yeah, I think this is a pretty solid campaign. You’ve got a trusted publisher, working with a proven designer to produce a game based on an established and popular property. You’ve got decent miniatures, openness about the rules, and reasonable pricing. Even shipping is alright. Fantastic campaign.
You can click here to visit the Zone Wars campaign page at Kickstarter.
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