In this month's article there are a few things we would like to delve into. This article will offend some but we hope to enlighten and bring some very disconcerting social issues to light. We hope that those of you with more delicate sensibilities will not faint or get the vapours. We will try and speak frankly about this issue but beware we will not be beating around the proverbial bush here.

The Problem With Greenskins

So what is this serious issue you ask? We it is the question of the Orc (or Orx or Orks, no matter how you spell it). I know in the past we at Deadzone the Podcast have been accused of being Orc haters. Some say we are even members of an anti-Orc hate group. Some others say we formed said anti-Orc hate group. But the real honest truth is we feel sorry for the Orc race. Derogatorily known as "Greenskins", long have these noble creatures been portrayed as worse than fools but actual jokes. In certain other games the Orcs are derogatorily portrayed as warlike and barely able to speak correctly. They add "z" to pluralize their names. They constantly say things like "Waaagh!” It’s a sad state of affairs.

In Warpath and Deadzone we thought this stereotypical portrayal of the Orc race would cease. We hoped these dignified beings would get there due. And in the background it all looked promising. The Orx were organized into The Marauders and despite their barbaric and aggressive name they seemed to be a more civilized version of the Space Orc. Gone was the rampaging horde. It was replaced by the Organized, Military, Mercenary force. Highly trained and skilled the Marauders are a definite step forward in the Orc Equality Movement. But then the miniatures came out.

The Warpath Orx seemed to be more humanized in scale and shape; a smaller version of the classic Orc look. Some would see this as a step forward also but IT IS NOT. Worse than portraying the Orx as savages is to turn them into green skinned humans. This is an affront to the majesty of the Orc form. Deadzone then came out and the Orcs regained their mass but also a little of their foolishness. The heads became large caricatures once more. The General became a foppish joke. Even their loyal Mawbeasts have chainsaws for tongues! Once again the Orx were seen in the old way, as fools. The only exception to this is the magnificent Marauder Hulk.

Now that is an Orc not to be trifled with. That is an Orc that all other Orcs grow up wishing they could be. That is the future of Orcs! If all Orcs could get proxies that look like this epic specimen then just maybe the Orcs would rise again! Now I will say we haven't mentioned the Goblins at all. The Goblins are a special case and I for one think there is room for their fun and frivolity in gaming. No one would dare try and replace our favourite prancing Goblin Sniper! No one would dare proxy such a glorious sculpt!

Proxies For Deadzone

Speaking of proxies, there has been a lot of talk about replacing certain models in Deadzone with others from different games for either variety or just, what some consider, better models. We here love most of the sculpts in Deadzone (with the exception of the poor Orcs as mentioned above) but in the attempt to cover a wider range within Deadzone lets discuss some proxy ideas.

The easiest proxies for Deadzone are from Warpath, obviously. As they are in the same universe Warpath Orx (even if a different sculpt style and scale) could easily be used for Marauders. Warpath Forge Fathers also come in handy testing out the beta rules for their Deadzone counterparts. There are even people coming up with stats for Corporation Marines and Veer-myn so they can be played in Deadzone. Check out the Deadzone Protocol Facebook page for discussions on this.

Dreadball, also from Mantic Games, is in the Warpath/Deadzone universe and with a little modification various races from this could be weaponized and used in Deadzone. Many companies make weapons that could be molded to the Dreadball players creating cool new Deadzone minis. Personally I'm looking forward to someone making some Nameless stats up! Now that would be fun!

Outside of Mantic, many miniatures people are talking about are from Sedition Wars as proxies in Deadzone. This Kickstarter from a few years ago provided the world with a large selection of unique minis at a reasonable price and now many stores are selling this game at a reasonable price. The Vanguard troops and the evil Strain make perfect stand ins for the Enforcers and Plague. Also in the Kickstarter there were a bunch of strikingly familiar miniatures such as the Calamity Crew, Ridley and Hexen which would make for some interesting Rebs. I'm sure these minis are available on eBay if one was interested in getting them.

Another interesting source of proxies is the collectible miniature market world. With games like HeroClix and Pathfinder Battles among others there is a wealth of interesting, pre-painted (to varying degrees of quality) miniatures. Personally, we picked up some Pathfinder Battles Shadow Hounds which we will be repainting and proxying for Plague Puppies. You can't beat the prices usually and until Mantic decides to release all their miniatures individually this is the only way to get more of some minis without buying whole new starter packs. Mantic is releasing their Plague Teraton individually so maybe there is a chance we won't have to do this in the future!

As for a little vehicle action both Khurasan Miniatures and Antenocitis Workshop make some amazing models. Personally the Caiman APC and the Firefly are must haves for my Enforcers. Sure their isn’t much use for them in Deadzone but look at them!

Lastly let’s talk about the Infinity range of miniatures. These amazing minis are a little pricey but, for those who can afford it, Enforcers or Rebs could easily be blinged out with selections from this range. The sculptors and painters over a Corvus Belli make their miniatures really stand out and you can see how they can charge their premium prices.

So there we go with some ideas for those who want a little variety in their minis until Mantic comes out with some more. I for one can’t wait for Warpath Vehicles!!

In The Meantime...

On a gaming note we played some more and we would love feedback on some things that came up. The first thing that struck us, and Jack especially, was the way initiative works. Almost always the Enforcers with their lower model count would go first and thus make some of the Plague cards effectively useless. The card in particular that we found was only used the first round if the Plague got to go first was the one that activated an unactivated model. Its a strange way to do initiative and I'm sure it was done to reduce the chance of small groups being wiped out before activating but it is a bit one sided especially playing Plague vs Enforcers. We are thinking about using a die system where having fewer models was a bonus but did not necessarily mean they went first. Let us know your ideas or if you like the way it works now.

Another thing that came up was the Plague's use of their Mortar team and its Massive Frag ability. We read and re-read the rules and from what we could tell this weapon can't miss and does huge damage to a large area. For example the first round the Plague went first and with their massive frag they wiped out half the Enforcer squad. Now you may say it was lucky. The Plague did roll well and The Enforcers didn’t roll great. But even the best result would have had all the Enforcers in the effected area pinned. And it wasn't like they were grouped up too much either. The blast radius is nine squares circling the target which pretty much filled the Enforcer deployment zone (we were starting corner to corner). We re-rolled the results a few times to see just how devastating it was and it almost always took out at least one guy. On a larger board there wouldn’t be an issue. It would just mean that the Mortar team would be Sniper bait, but on such a small board this weapon and all other ones like it seem much too over-powered.

If anyone else has found this or the opposite please let us know. People have also reported the Enforcer Sentries is overpowered but we have yet to use them to see but we'll let you know how it goes. We discuss this more in depth on Deadzone the Podcast so please check that out too.

So comes the end of another article. Deadzone, officially released on Feb 14th, has a bright future ahead and we can't wait to see what's coming up next. Please let us know below what else you'd like us to discuss and what you'd like to see from the future releases. And finally, do stop the wrongful persecution of the noble Orc. It's not right to make jokes about their funny, big heads and terrible under bites. And please whatever you do don't call them Greenskins... that's their word!

Rob Harper & Jack Fyke

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