Post by Fadril Adren on Oct 6, 2015 18:20:04 GMT -5
Warpath is the sci-fi gaming system where two opposing forces of miniatures do battle in the warzones of the far future. Designed by Mantic Games, it currently has 5 days left on Kickstarter.
Especially in recent years there are plenty of great sci-fi games on the market, and as such we decided that with Warpath we wanted to do something a little different, and not directly compete with those other games. Warpath was born out of the desire to create something aspirational and yet achievable. It’s that big exciting battle that you always built up your collection to play but rarely, if ever, actually played. Warpath makes that goal both affordable, and playable in just a few hours with abstracted rules and simple mechanics.
This sort of game isn’t for everyone of course, and I firmly believe that creating the Firefight rules was the right thing to do for those who want something a little more detailed. However who says we have to have just one set on rules? On with Warpath!
Warpath focuses on units rather than individuals, with small fire teams the base-level entity in the game. Essentially that means one statline for five figures rather than one for one, to improve the speed of play. There are still detailed choices to be made about the composition of your units, but these are restricted to the army-building stage so you don’t have to worry about them in the middle of a game. This squad focus does two things.
Firstly it focuses the player’s attention on overall strategy and tactical choice – the game is a lot more about which units to put where, which targets to shoot at which time, when to combine fire, when to split fire, and so on. It is less about the impact of each individual soldier, and takes more of a general’s view of the battlefield as opposed to a sergeant’s. This tactical decision making is reflected in the mechanics – suppression, charge reactions, the order of activations and Warpath’s Orders system are all designed to maximise tactical choice without adding complexity to the rules. Obvious choices are the bane of all games – it’s really important that the outcome of the game is directly influenced by player decisions to make those decisions feel meaningful.
Secondly, it means that the game can be more fast and dynamic, and that players can smoothly expand to bigger and bigger games without the game becoming clunky. We had the same goal with Kings of War, and we have successfully run 16,000 point games at our Open Days in just a few hours. We want to do similar things with Warpath, and recreate some truly epic battles.
Forge Father Tank – Work In Progress Render
Before anyone gets intimidated by the size of the game, Warpath is designed to work with forces of just 30-40 figures – the mechanics will work just as well at that size, and of course your games will be even quicker. The army selection mechanics are not fully developed yet, but we are planning that “standard” tournament-sized games will be in the 50-60 model region for elite armies like the Enforcers, with 100-150 models for horde armies such as the Plague.
Both Warpath and Firefight are perfectly valid games depending on your personal choice. Some people will only play one, and will play Firefight even on an apocalyptic scale for the cinematic experience, and others will prefer Warpath even at the smallest size for a more fast-paced strategic game. Others will start with Firefight for smaller games, and build up to Warpath for the bigger games. Whichever you prefer, I urge you to at least give both games a try – you might surprise yourself!
Look out for an updated version of the alpha rules coming soon, with all of the feedback from the community Alpha test implemented. These rules will stay in an alpha state while the alterations are tested, and we will be taking on feedback throughout the Kickstarter. Once we have everyone’s comments, we will solidify the game and go to an open beta, with plenty of time to get all of the testing done to fully balance the forces. We want to make Warpath the Kings of War of the sci-fi world, and it’s worth putting in the time to do it.
WARPATH DETAILS: THE GAME
There are two sets of rules for Warpath. Which you choose depends on your style of play – you may prefer one over the other, or link both sets together in a campaign. The choice is yours!
Warpath is the mass-combat strategy game that allows you to play massive sci-fi battles on the tabletop, quickly and affordably. Using Warpath’s innovative Orders system, you’ll command an army of infantry, elite specialists and hi-tech vehicles, in a dynamic game of strategy and tactics.
Warpath: Firefight is the squad-level battle game where every soldier matters. With an emphasis on cinematic battles between as few as 30 soldiers a side, the game is designed to zoom in on the action, with a focus on dynamic, tactical games, whilst retaining Mantic’s game design philosophy of being easy to learn and fast paced. Ideal if you are looking for an alternative to other games on the market.
Here's more on Firefight:
The feedback on this year’s alpha was varied. The mechanics largely went down well as we’d hoped, and the players who had a chance to test out the rules gave us some really reassuring comments. However, for a portion of our community the rules didn’t provide the gaming fix they were looking for. The Warpath we put out is something quite different, whereas a lot of people were searching for a viable alternative to the other games on the market that they are currently playing, and wanted certain design points of those games carried through to Warpath.
These gamers wanted a game that had more granularity – something that could be played with smaller forces (somewhere from platoon to company level, as opposed to an “army”, but not single squad level like Deadzone) and something that gave more weight to the individual figures, rather than the units. This is understandable – wargaming is a hobby after all, and you will have all spent many hours lovingly painting your models – making them a more integral part of the action is a just reward.
In response, we commissioned Warpath: Firefight. The brief was to take the same objectives that we had with Warpath, and carry forward some of the game mechanics, but build them into a game that ticked all of these boxes – individual casualty removal, more detail, and less abstraction of stats and abilities – a more cinematic game. The game would use fewer figures, and zooming in on the action would alter some of the strategic choices, but the mandate to create a fast, slick, sci-fi game still remained.
The core objectives of the game were to firstly create something that “felt” sci-fi, with a focus on shooting and advanced tech. The game was to be dynamic and reactive, with emphasis on suppressive fire, tactical formations, combined arms, and as much tactical choice as possible. Terrain was to be majorly important both as an in-game objective, and to make the playing field obviously different from other wargames like Kings of War. In between all of these things, we absolutely had to keep the core rules as simple as possible, as you have come to expect from Mantic. These goals are something that we are taking forward with both Warpath and Firefight, but in different ways.
To ensure that Firefight was approached with fresh eyes and to avoid confusing it with the “mass-battle” mindset of Warpath, we wanted it written by a completely different designer to the original game, and who better than Mark Latham? Mark has previously been in charge of Warhammer 40,000 and also headed up the White Dwarf team, so he knows his way around a sci-fi wargame.
Mark is still working on the rules themselves, but he has put together some notes on some of the things to expect from Firefight as opposed to Warpath.
• Every model matters – casualty removal, positioning and variation of weaponry and equipment within a unit are all important.
• Detailed rules for unit interaction considering the more free-form approach.
• More detail for weapon types and special rules.
• Get into the thick of the action, using true LOS, per-model hits in shooting and melee, improved terrain occupying rules, and Warpath’s Orders system.
Warpath is played with armies of infantry, vehicles and heroes, represented by 28mm scale miniatures. Whilst there are many more armies, factions and races, this Kickstarter will initially focus on:
Enforcers
The Enforcers are the Corporation’s elite, dispatched to tackle threats that are beyond the scope of regular military units. Each one is a superior soldier, trained in countless forms of combat and equipped with the best technology available. As a unit they are disciplined and fearless, ready to lay down their lives to carry out the orders of their captain without a single question.
Forge Fathers
A Forge Father Army is among the most technologically advanced in the galaxy. The Forge Fathers are not tempted to battle easily, but will readily deploy their forces to defend their honour and their trading interests. The Forge Fathers do not wage war lightly, but once committed they will depart only when their foe has been annihilated!
Veer-myn
An insidious disease ridden race, the Veer-Myn fester in the darkest corners of man’s world. Their broods writhe and chatter in a rodent like manner, equally matched by their physical appearance. The uncertainty of whether the Veer-Myn act with a motive, or just the need to infest and expand, only adds to the nightmare created from what lurks within the shadows.
We have taken to Kickstarter to raise the funding we need to release the game and complete several armies. In return for your support we've put together two incredible value-for-money pledge levels to get you started with Warpath - The Sci-fi Battle Game.
Warfare
Advanced Warfare
Total Warfare
Ultimate Tyrant
* You will make your choice of either the Two Player Battle Set or Battlegroup after the campaign has finished - check out the add-ons below for what each contains.
Once the project is completed we will send you access to an automated Pledge Manager. On here you will input your choices and let us know what you would like for your pledge.
Please note that all miniatures are supplied unassembled and unpainted.
Add-ons are extras you can pledge for in addition to a pledge level to really sweeten the deal!
Pledging and selecting Optional Add-ons
To get an Optional Add-on, click “Manage my Pledge” in the top right corner of the Kickstarter page and input the total value of everything you want. For example, if you’re at Advanced Warfare ($125) and want an additional Battlegroup ($75), you would enter $200 as your total pledge.
When the campaign has finished, we will send you access to a shiny automated Pledge Manager. On here you will input your choices and let us know what you would like for your donation.
Operation Heracles - Two Player Set
Battle Groups
More Battlegroups will be unlocked as we progress through the campaign.
Scenery
Battlegroup Expansion Sets
Vehicles
And that's just the Add Ons!! Want to see the stretch goals? Go on over to their Kickstarter page here: Warpath Kickstarter by Mantic
- FADRIL