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Wasted Roads: Combat Zone Review; It's a blog update! Run fer yer lives!
Topic Started: Jan 28 2009, 07:41 PM (775 Views)
Phoenikuz
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Wastelander
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Hi gang,

Just wanted to tell you that I've updated my blog once more. This time around with a review of Combat Zone, as produced by EM4 miniatures, and it being my first review and all, I'm angling for feedback.. will anyone bite?

Anyway, if interested pop on by: Wasted Roads and give it a look.

Cheers!

(WARNING: May contain a lot of text and written in a weird, semi-rambling prose; all intents were humorous and no cats were harmed in the making of this blog)
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Earl of the North
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John, Earl of the North, Guardian of the sacred tinned goods
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Pretty accurate review, I picked up the rules a while ago and liked them (despite its faults).......oh, and just to say em-4 miniatures are very good to deal with, I've had nothing but good service from them and if I start up my 28mm's again guess who getting some orders.








Oh, and I got my new avatar pic off your blog :pipboy: sadly your review of Resident Evil: Apocalypse was accurate as well.... :wank: (i've been dying to find a use for that emoticon). :yes:
Edited by Earl of the North, Jan 28 2009, 08:40 PM.
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v_lazy_dragon
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I like it! Sure the review isn't as slick as some I've seen, but it gets across your thoughts on the game as well as your viewpoints on its quirks. (Hell - the style is similar to twhat I've done on my black-ops-command site). I like he assessment method & the conversational tone. As for the conclusions - You've got it about right as far as I can see. I always considered combat zone a good 'near future urban civil war' set, for platoon-ish sized forces (What I call the 'average guy's 40k army' sized force - a couple of vehicles, a few squads of infantry, a couple of characters maybe some heavy weapons & elites). It handles the distinction between irregulars & regulars well, has an interesting mix of squad level support weapons. I didn't have any problems with the AP system, although in fairness my regualr gaming group are a good bucnh & not much into munchkining or rules-lawyering. We tested reaction at the start of that units next activation

I agree that it does have some nice mechanics in it, and personally I like the set a lot. Its very versatile.. ..and yet, its not one I tend to use any more. I can't really pin down why, but I seem to have found other sets that work a bit better or play a bit more cleanly. You mention WW2, and I've actually a got a 'historical' weapons list tucked away somewhere; which never made ot to the chronicles. It was to enable CZ to be used for games between ~1870 & ~1945. If anyone would like a copy; PM me...
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Ross
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Ah Milla :wub: :drool:
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Phoenikuz
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@VLD:

Thanks for the comments regarding the actual prose of the review. I'm still trying to find the right tone, as I personally would like to see something a bit different than the bog-standard reviews. And well, the conversational tone was what I aimed for, so I'm glad it worked and that you liked it :)

And as you and Praetor points out (directly as well as indirectly) then they are not bad rules by a long mile. They just need a bit more work and more of a focus. I agree on the point with the AP's that it was probably just bad luck on my part, but I often found it confusing to have varying ranges of AP's available within a squad.

Consider, for sake of example, a gang of 8 with 2 elite, 3 Average, 1 Veteran and 2 Green figures. Each of these have, between 5 and 8 action points, and if they get shocked, they would be down to three. It just gets too hard to figure out for my ageing brain to put it bluntly. had, however, it been a question of having a 6" move, for instance, by paying 1 action point, then you could get the same feel across with a lot less work.

But I'll do a follow-up soonish with ideas on what you can do to add extra stuff for your CZ games :)

And to Ross:

Posted Image

:wub:
Edited by Phoenikuz, Jan 28 2009, 09:13 PM.
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Ross
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:thud:
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mattblackgod
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Big boss warlord dude!
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I liked your article - I think you picked out the games failings quite well (you might have seen my post on TMP - maddan).

I do like CZ but it is intended for a small handful of mini's each side. One reason I like it is that you can mix a variety of quality types in a gang or squad. I do find that the AP set can get a bit labouroius for bigger games. All you need is a distraction and whoops - you have forgotten how many you have spent.

I like the game but I play other rulesets just because they fit what I need better at the moment.

For:
Quick to learn
Easy to play (small games)
Great cinematic feel to heros
Easily customisable
Easy to write rules for.
Cheap
Good support and free rules via the CZ chronicles.

Against:
Difficult to run larger games (the CZ batrep on my website took 3 hours to play with 5 gangs each of 7 or so in number).
The AP system makes writing vehicle rules difficult (although I suspect the AP should be that of the driver).
No vehicle rules (although they are available free online).
Multiple dice sizes for different weapons can be a pain.
A modified roll of 6 to hit is a bit high with your green level troops rarely striking a hit (if you play CZ you will be better giving them hand weapons and using the spare points to recruit more cannon fodder).
The Battle book addon reads funny - it needed editing and tiding up.
Edited by mattblackgod, Jan 29 2009, 10:20 AM.
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Earl of the North
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John, Earl of the North, Guardian of the sacred tinned goods
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Have you seen this Ross

Posted Image


Okay she has boomerangs instead of the Ghurkha knifes and she's a bit of on the ugly homely side. :cblink:


http://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/2009/01/27/22590#comments
Edited by Earl of the North, Jan 29 2009, 02:03 PM.
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v_lazy_dragon
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Oooohhh. Well, the bent sticks could be re-worked into kukris with a file and minimal effort.

The face is't tooo bad, although it might take a bit of work to prettfiy her, with out making her look like a slapper (prostitue for those not aquainted with Britishisms). The painted version of her with uzis is a good example of how NOT to paint her face...

At ~$5 she isn't that cheap, but also its not out the way for 'one off' character figures; especially not for movie chracters
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Earl of the North
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John, Earl of the North, Guardian of the sacred tinned goods
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Yeah, the knifes wouldn't take much work, althrough a girl using boomerang's in a game might be cool.........Boomerang Girl to the rescue. :(|:D:

You could always turn her into a :ninj: with a cloth across the face.
Edited by Earl of the North, Jan 29 2009, 08:37 PM.
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mattblackgod
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Big boss warlord dude!
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Damn - another mini to add to the list.
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Ross
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Praetor XII
Jan 29 2009, 08:34 PM
You could always turn her into a :ninj: with a cloth across the face.
I don't know about the ninja bit, but a 'bandit handkey' over the mouth may fix it up.
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Earl of the North
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John, Earl of the North, Guardian of the sacred tinned goods
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Hey, the emoticon is pretty close.....two blades, big hankey across her mouth :ninj: ugly lady problem solved.... ;)
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Ross
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Just while we're on the subject of Alice, I had in mind this figure (I like guns better ;) ):
http://www.coolminiornot.com/store/product.php?xProd=2952
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Earl of the North
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John, Earl of the North, Guardian of the sacred tinned goods
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Now that's a nice figure. :)



John
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Phoenikuz
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Aye, much nicer than the not-Alice from RAFM. I don't know if it's just me, but I'm all over their line of robots, while most of the Modern Day heroes leave me kinda cold (Although, I still need to find a use for the white collar survivalist :D)
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mattblackgod
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Big boss warlord dude!
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Wow - nice mini. That list is getting longer.
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