You’ve seen the art, and possibly even the models. Here are the rules:
This instalment covers 3 new mercs: Eddak P’mera, Chief Radgrad, and Bjarg Starnafall. P’mera and Bjarg are both scouts, though quite different ones. Radgrad is a killer.
Comments welcome.
Quirkworthy 
“In addition, a model wearing a flight suit can end an action in “mid air” as long as they complete their Activation on a solid surface.” needs to have something to correct ending activation in mid air.
Consider the following sequence:
1. Player starts the turn with a Move card in their hand. So the player declares a move up into the air followed by a shoot.
2. In response, the other player plays a “Discard one card” card that eliminates that free Move card.
3. Now the game is stuck in an illegal state.
😦
Chris is correct. Change of plans is an active card and can only be played in you own turn. Cunning thought though.
Show the models!!!!
Didnt think you can play the discard opponents card card as a reaction.
I don’t have any of the models. The only pics I have are the ones you can find on Google.
Bjarg’s rule that he may need to be held mid-air in order for him to be represented as mid-flight seems pretty odd. For a game that has had a lot of unnecessary and cumbersome rules removed (ie. move by squares, you have LoS if you can see any part of the model, etc.) requiring players to hold a mini mid-air to determine LoS just seems really odd. Maybe if there was a stand to hold him 2” high or something the rule might be pretty cool, as things stand though it seems like a rule open to abuse and just seems a bit wonky at the moment.
I like the rest of the rules though, and the mention of the silent crossbow being used on zombies got me thinking of using Eddak’s rules with a Darryl Dixon mini for solo zombie games- awesome! 🙂
The choice with flying models is either to do this or to disallow overwatch. I’m less unhappy with this.
In practice, I’m not sure how much exploitability there really is.
A quick request (I hope its quick)
As the MA survey is to go out soon, and I have bought in initially for DZ – can there be a rough indication as to what will slot where. As in will some units be “can be used as troop/specialist/merc in X force” or will they all simply human and martian.
Understand this ins’t a priority though.
I’m not sure I understand your question correctly. However, if it helps, my current understanding is that the Martian and Human factions will be their own things, not add-ons to existing ones.
Sorry I’ll be clearer.
Within the MA factions appear creatures and mercs (Tiger corps), and the human faction in particular appears more rag tag than the rebs.
So I was wondering, given the rag tag nature, will any of the Mars or Human forces be usable in other armies in Deadzone (like some kind of merc or special rule allowing cross pollination) or will they purely be Mars/Humans.
As an example – Edwyn’s fluff indicates he would work for anyone except Martians.
From the discussions I’ve had so far they look like being stand alone factions. However, that is not final yet.
I’d personally hope they stay as stand alone factions; with deadzone being a big deal for mantic it’d be silly to have another off-the-wall IP that really doesn’t in any way fit as a core part of the game.
Its fair enough to allow people to use their minis if they really want to but I don’t want to start seeing teratons fighting alongside a marine merc versus marauders with a martian merc. That’d just be silly.
I’m hoping for variety is the spice of life. And to be frank (or Shirley) at this stage in the game, I want players around to play against. Apart from the Martians themselves, I can’t see how marines are silly. But its not those I thought would be cross factional. Alien animals and the tiger corps come to mind specifically (both very sci fi, in fact, don’t think of them as MA, just expanded bounty hunter options). I do hope though, that in deadzone, the MA human heros of non military origin do not out perform the trained guys. But that is another topic.
You memtion that both P’mera and Bjarg are scouts yet only Bjarg has the Scout ability???
Also could you explain the holding in midair situation I am failing to see it???
Basically, if you do a short move action off a cliff, you can hold him there till you do your next short action, then he has to end stood on something.
You only ever need to hold the model in mid-air if someone shoots or BA’s at it on overwatch, and only then if they succeed in their roll.
P’mera should have Scout too, or something like it.
Radgrad looks amazing!
Eddak’s pistol seems pointless? It’s inferior to his crossbow in every way.
I’m guessing this is a concession to to the sculpt which will include a pistol, but it’d be nice if there was a reason to make a tactical decision between the two weapons. Otherwise it’s just wasted space on the card.
The Silent rule is very cool. It’d be neat to see something like that for Move actions to represent a creeping infiltration (not Sprint, obviously, save perhaps for truly exceptional individuals).
Coyld be any short action this character does cannot trigger a overwatch action. That way there is scoop for combo skills that make sprint a short action.
The pistol will go. I thought that the model had one, but apparently he doesn’t. As always, writing stats for stuff you haven’t got is problematical.
I definitely think that Eddak P’mera needs a boost to justify his cost. Compared to the much cheaper Rebel Commander, there is little to recommend him as is.
I think the obvious thing is to give him scout, which seems like an obvious thing anyway. A scout leader would be fare more interesting and unique, game-play wise, and would be worth the premium pricing. Leaders tend to be starved for actions anyways, between shooting, moving and commanding, and there are always missions like Infiltrate, where you do want a leader up front. So I would pay 22 for one that starts in the middle of the board.
Stealth is also a bit weird as it is. Is it meant to be just an option denial tool? i.e you must waste your overwatch on me, otherwise I will invalidate it kind of deal? Because given current overwatch rules, you basically can’t ever get a shot with Eddak at an overwatching target without it simply activating overwatch first, since it’ll see you moving into position before you shoot it. So the only use that rule has is to force the overwatching target to waste his shot at Eddark, who is fairly tough. Though with 5+ survive, and costing 22 point he’s hardly appropriate cannon fodder…
Still, if that was the plan, I would think you’d still need Scout to make this an effective tactic, since that way anything in his line of sight basically has no choice but to shoot or move, instead of overwatch. Otherwise it will take him too long to get into range to start playing sacrificial pawn at sniper’s overwatches.
If the plan WAS to make him able to move in and assassinate overwatching snipers etc, you do need, as mentioned in the above post, some sort of rule that enables you to move and shoot while ignoring overwatch. That would definitely justify his cost, even without scout.
Also, yes, his pistol seems useless. The only possible use is if you want to bait your enemy to overwatch you, and that would happen anyway the moment you moved in LoS to take the shot. Perhaps a possible solution is to make it a Machine Pistol, with Rapid Fire range 3, giving him the option to suppress, albeit weakly. Either that, or turn it into a Magnum, AP2 Range 2 Single shot. Or just remove it.
The silent rule works more like anti-sniper snipinhlg so long as he only shoots the overwatching enemy he wont activate the model which is why I agree that he should have scout that way you can set him up where he can see more before the overwatch models enter overwatch.
Woops, I meant Magnum AP2 Range 3…. though range 2 might not be a bad idea.
I think the simplest solution to the Stealthy issue would be this character rule :
“Sneaky : Move actions from this model do not trigger Overwatch” However that might be way too powerful, particularly since you can get free move actions by cards/orders, and thus could also Aim your Stealthy shot. We don’t want to completely invalidate overwatch.
Perhaps a more realistic rule would be :
“Prowler: This model can use a Long Action to perform a Move that does not trigger Overwatch”. That one is a lot more reasonable. You can’t use cards or orders to get it, and it requires you entire activation. Suddently your opponent has a chance to react, or you need to spend resources, such as an order(to get the extra shoot action), to make a stealthy move and shoot combo, which seems much more appropriate. And either way, you wont get to aim. Seems legit.
I do absolutely agree with the design of having Stealthy as a weapon trait, and having another character trait for sneaky movement, as that allows you to “go loud” or “go silent” whenever needed. That’s good design.
He should have had Scout to start with. I thought he did. Added now.
A part of his cost is having Agile, which is very useful for all sorts of things. Being a leader too, and not bad elsewhere makes for a pricey model all told. Enabling him to sneak about better won’t make him any cheaper, though I do like the idea.
I think giving him scout helps solve the avoiding overwatches idea but I am still a fan of him having a skill where short actions dont trigger overwatch or give a penelty to overwatch tests.
Is there any reason Radgrad and Bjarg will work for factions other than the ones they ‘come’ from? I thought the point of these guys was that they were faction specific
I’m waiting for word from Mantic as to whether they had a particular set of factions in mind, so I’ve left it broad for now. This may well be focussed as you say.
When might we see rules for the rest of the gang?
Up now.