Nasca Razide (Warzone)

The end of year is coming and Warzone is on a roll!

Funny thing about it, but for some mysterious reason autumn / winter is somehow the best moment for painting oldschool junk. My guess: it's subconscious thing - I remember I got lured into Warzone trap when it was cold, so the terapist might find some connection... 

Crazy or not since do-gooders got some reinforcements, it was fair to paint something for The Evil Side. The beefcake below is nasca razide from Dark Eden line (Warzone on Earth simply speaking). Must admit I wasn't sure about this model and in the middle of painting I was considering washing it off to start again but all in all model turned out to be pretty cool. It's main flaw is too much muscles on the top (it falls easily) but apart of that - it's classic, goofy piece of art from oldie Warzone.  

As for paintwork I decided to keep it "fleshy" instead of violet like on official artwork. Somehow it's totally not my cup of tea. The only violet or blue skin tone in Warzone I can stand is Nepharite of Semai and praetorian stalkers ^^ 

The gun is just chunk of metal. There was a plan to add some color buttons or stickers but that would make it look like Nerf gun, rather then Algeroth's death device. Plus it's pretty dark and that makes nice contrast with rather monotone model.

Bare flesh is kinda plain so I tried to give it "texture" by adding some cuts. Now I can see I should finally invest in some better quality brush for such task but all in all I cannot complain. Neither can mr razide.

So here it is: facing Cybertronic patrol on Luna's outskirts:

And here about to gun down necromutants commando:

And da beefcake itself:

And the last thing. You might have noticed the globe counter on the right panel has been replaced. About 2 weeks ago that thing simply disappeared. Turned out it was shut down and that's just it. Tried to find some replacement so there's brand new, blue globe spinning right now, but it doesn't seem to show any visits. I'll try to look into it 🤔

Mishima vs Legion battle report

After dealing with Cybertronic invaders in 2021 and 2022 my peace loving Dark Legion was brutally attacked by Mishima expeditionary force. So once again local nepharite had to defend everything Algeroth and Dark Apostles stands for (whatever it really is 😈).

About week ago my one true foe has finally got over 1000 pts Mishima force painted, so it was time to test new toys in the field. It turned out getting old samurai models it pretty hard task nowdays, so my opponent decided to gather rather elite force, hoping to expend the army in the future. Really would like to see force based on samurai warriors and ashigaru in action one day.

Initially the plan was to test some home rules to make 1st edition of Warzone game more dynamic. Or just dynamic, even by tiny bit... 😋 But after both armies and beers were unpacked on the battlefield decision was made to use basic rules with no crappy modifications. Nostalgy factor turned out to be way too strong to resist.

We were both taking pic hoping to assemble detailed game report, but the next day it turned out lots of photos were just f#cked, so it's rather overall relation then detailed report. Who cares anyway - we all know the only thing that matters are pics of painted models in action.

So here's overall view on the battlefield.

Dark Legion force has been deployed in the corner with a pond (most probably toxic), so Mishima invaders started the game in the opposite corner:

Horde of necromutants and cultists are emerging from forest torched by those heartless Mishima bastards... 🤬 There are some rules of war, you know? Bastards!

And here are the torchers - cold, heartless battle droids supported by inquisitor! I bet it was his idea! Goddamn Brotherhood! Just look like happy they look!

Squad of suicide warheads covered by crimson devils unit emerging from field of cosmic rice:

Whole bunch of these anime-devils emerging from deployment zone:

Line of elite Dark Legion commandos trying to reach enemy with long range weapons:

Solid training, bit of luck plus long ammo belt and razide gave crimson devils what they deserved. I'm guessing trees should now grow better in this area:

At the same time cultists of Algetorh are sneaking behing boccage towards enemy positions:

Suicide warheads detected squad of necromutants led by mighty nephatite of Algeroth. They rushed towards the servant of Darkness to perform deadly attack but they've managed to inflict only 3 wounds! Nepharite got a chance to fall beck behind necromutants to regenerate:

Crimson devil specialist covering battlefield with fire from his heavy machine gun:

While rest of his comrades are reaching safe positions in the ruins:

Squad of cultists is preparing to take over statue and altar of Ancient Evil. This is actually staged photo - Mishima battle droid were dead long before my trusty cultists reached the altar. Yet it's still cool picture and the hobby is all about looking at nice minis 😊

It was fun to see Warzone alive once again. Despite all drawbacks of the 1st edition seeing these old, clumsy sculpts staggering on the battlefield is just pure joy. At this very moment group of the last 3 cultist is standing on the painting desk, so maybe next time I'll be able to field 2 squads from secret kohorts range. Really want to get them done as soon as possible - I am getting sick from these rapsberry/red rags... 🤢

Cybertronic vs Legion battle report

Shortly after recent unexpected meeting of Cybertronic and Dark Legion patrols, noise of another battle has shaken the surface of Mars. Cybertronic drones have spotted column of flame bursting among rock formations not far in the south of the base, which might be sign of gas or oil deposit the corporation has been looking for. Therefore strong patrol led by one of clones of doctor Diana has been sent immediately to examine and secure the discovery.

A.I. patrol arrived with no delay, but just after cyborgs spotted the burning flame shambling horde of undead legionnaires emerged from behind the hill and rock formations. Apparently also Legion's tekrons found that phenomenon worthy examining...

So we had another Warzone game on dedicated battlefield. 

This time we were supposed to test some more home rules my opponent made up recently, but instead of simple modification of 1st ed. rules, he brought statistics from Ultimate Warzone mixed with old mechanics and "booster" cards you can see on the table. All units got statistics reduced so even once-powerful single models became quite pathetic. 

Because of rules modification the game was nothing like classic Warzone match but it also was breath of fresh, martian air. We will give this project a chance for sure.

Forces of Cybertronic: 

-    Eradicator Deathdroid, 

-    dr Diana,

-    cuirassier Attila,    

-    1 squad of mirrormen, 

-    1 squad of machinators, 

-    2 squads of chasseurs. 

Forces of Legion:

-    nepharite of Algeroth,

-    ezoghul

-    razide, 

-    2 squads of praetorian stalkers,

-    2 squads of necromutants, 

-    2 squads of undead legionairees.

Both sides emerged from the deployment zones trying to catch cenrte of the battlefield. We agreed to play 6 rounds and the winning condition is securing the burning crater after 6th round ends. Crawling undead formed a wide line keeping most of infantry in the middle, while ezoghoul rushed forward to lure out deadly Eradicator Deathdroid from the cover. The cuirassier took careful aim at advancing ezoghoul, but none of bullets managed to penetrate exoskeleton from such a distance.

On eastern side squad of mirrormen supported by chasseurs advanced trying to secure flanking position, but they for under praetorian stalkers' deadly supressing fire. Despite having best armour Cybertronic could provide - two mirrormen were hit and destroyed.

Necromutant commando advanced trying to find some cover against chasseurs' fire and greet Eradicator with a flamethrower. Deathdroid moved forward to get as many deaders as possible within range of gigadeath chainripper and built-in flamethrower. Dry deaders burn better then logs of wood...

Since Eradicator showed it's position, ezoghoul was ordered to move back to capture the objective after situation in the centre is clear. At the same time praetorian stalkers once again opened deadly fire towards advancing cyborgs, gunning down 3 chasseurs.

Cybertronic force advanced to get the positions around the crater. They managed to take down few legionnaires and necromutants but this definitelly wasn't enough to stop or even make slow crawling mass undead. In responce Nepharite ordered to open fire from all guns available. Salvo of 30 or so assault rifles must have taken it's toll: a few more chasseurs and two machinators were taken out of action. Even Eradicator got it's armour plates scratched!

The next turn started with Eradicator: the death device advanced to torch whole squad of necromutants! The first salvo scorched 2 mutants, another salvo took 2 more out of action.
Eradicator was close now, so both units of undead legionnaires were ordered to advance and open fire at closest range possible. Unfortunately about 20 shots managed to cause only a single wound: 

thick armour supported by life-saving mechanisms make deathdroid almost unstoppable!

Seeing what happened to necromutants, the nepharite commander ordered ezoghoul to charge Eradicator, hoping tear it apart or at least engage in close combat for long enough so the remaining forces can open fire once again. Seconds later nepharite also charged deathdroid from behind the smoke screen, but combined attack caused only 2 more wounds - Cybertronic was still deadly!

On eastern flank operator of Tormentor flamethrower has finally reached the target: 2 chasseurs were burnt to death within seconds which caused blind panic to the survivors.
Since the flank has just been secured, the other squad of necromutants advanced to the centre of the battlefield to support core of Dark Legion force.

On the eastern side praetorian stalkers have disengaged mirrormen and advanced opening deadly fire consuming some chasseurs and the last machinator. In exchange one of stalkers has been mortally but it was fair price to pay for Cybertronic losses.

Eradicator recieved one more wound, but it was still standing!
It managed to leave close combat and then spat burning napalm on surrounding zombies. Few survivded only because they were out of range of the scorcher.

In the last turn ezoghoul and centurion charged barely-working Eradicator, hoping to inflict the final wound and take that beast out of action. At the same time Scorpion tried to lay smoke screen to cut off praetorian stalkers, who alrady moved on firing positions:

it missed and shortly after it's been torn apart by concentrated machine guns fire.

In the very last moments of the battle, necromutants fired at remaining squad of chasseurs making them panic, but it couldn't change the game result: 

whole centre of the field has been dominated by Dark Legion's spawn, and there was absolutely nothing barely-active Eradicator could do about it. The battle was over. 

As I wrote it after the previous game - it was great to see old models in action once again. Apart from the fact Warzone game is just fun, we're pretty nostalgic about it here - hobby started for us because of Warzone around 1996/1997. 

Because of severe rules and statistic modifications the battle was nothing like Warzone 1ed - no more overboosted characters and one-man-armies. Instead of initiative rolls we used "booster cards" which could help activate faster but also boost statistics during the game: it wan't the fastest way but it brought some tactical thinking at the beginning of each turn. This element is yet to be tested.

Hope you enjoyed the battle report - especially whole that FX-fung-fu by opponent performed on some the the photos. Can't wait to paint some more Dark Legion's bloodthirsty servants to throw them on Cybertronic once again! 💀