Tuesday 1 July 2014

Warzone Resurrection: Bauhaus Rising!


Greetings all, it has been a long time since any hobby content has come from my end, and quite frankly Sven has been doing a Stirling job of providing excellent content during my hobby drought. Two things have signified the end of my complacency: the arrival of my Warzone Resurrection Wave 2 and the carpet fitting of my new hobby room (more on that in another post). So far regular readers will have seen a huge amount of Mishima miniatures being put together and painted up by my self, this is no surprise as the Prodo interpretation of Samurai in space, is quite frankly spot on. However while I truly have enjoyed my Mishima task force, I am at heart a Bauhaus man.

From the outset of 2013's Warzone Kickstarter I had planned to get at the very least one of everything of the initial Bauhaus release, some of the key lures of this being Vulkan Battlesuits, the Grizzly Battle Tank and the new Vorreiters mounted Hussars. In fact I by the end of the KS I ended up doubling up on almost every release, giving me the option to field 10 person squads of infantry. So with Mishima put away for now I immediately started building or dry fitting some of my favourite figures from the current range. I started two days ago with the probably the most intriguing unit, the Vorreiters:




From what I can see, this model is based on J Lehaitres belt drive bike, the magazine showing said invention even has a comic book style drawing of a soldier riding said vehicle with a mounted machine gun. Considering that the Bauhaus faction is a collective of Franco German archetypes, this would easily mesh in with the background. Visually it is very effective, twin tractor drives surrounded by a very solid chassis that would impress even a Space marine. The twin MG 08 machine guns at the front look suitably archaic but suffer from the same small barrel syndrome that most of the figure range has; which makes it hard to use cinematic effects.


As a kit, it is actually not too bad although there is some pinching at the front of the chassis (possibly removed from mould too soon?). There were very minimal cast lines and as a kit it is incredibly simple; yet sturdy; to construct. The pilots are a little generic with only the ability to turn the head for variation, I would like to see some form of addon kit with duelling sabres for that all important 'charge' modelling option. This kit was also my first chance at testing out the colour scheme for the whole army, and I am glad to say that in my eyes it has been a success, dark grey armour plates set against royal blue fatigues go back to the 2nd Edition Bauhaus army colours, as an alternative to the baby blue that was more pre-dominant at the time.


Perhaps the one of the most iconic units of 2nd Edition Warzone, the Vulkan Battlesuit was always going to be a miniature that drew a lot of attention, however in my opinion the KS version falls short of expectation. So far all of the Vulkans I have put together have some form of excessive cast lines, loss of detail or in some cases holes where the resin has not been filled the mould properly. Also the design is not as good as it could have been, it has a awkward look to it which is made even worse when using the flame thrower/machine gun weapon options. The Vulkan looks slightly better with the twin hydraulic fists that come with the KS addon pack, and because of this I have decided to kit out all three of my KS Vulkans for close combat. Despite all this, I have seen renders for a new and improved Vulkan kit, which does live up up to expectation and I honestly cannot wait for those to be released!


Another unit that suffered from a poor KS design was the Juggernauts. I have to admit, the original concepts I really like, as they have a lot more blocky/Vulkan look to them. However public opinion turned them into really bad discount power suits with awful poses and dated design. I will will go out on a limb here and say that the original designs actually put me off Bauhaus and Warzone completely and it was only because of the Mishima figures that I bothered to give the range another shot. Luckily the redesigns above are a great deal better and actually look like decent miniatures, taking aesthetics from the film 'Edge Of Tomorrow', these new Juggernauts have a fluid animated pose and armour that actually has significant detail. I honestly love these new versions and I can't wait to finish the Vorreiters and get started on this battle suits.


Now this is the miniature that I was anticipating the most out of all of the Bauhaus releases, the GBT 48 or Grizzly Battle tank, is the most iconic vehicle of the Bauhaus background, this was due to the massive size of the original tank, which sadly I never got. However Prodos have done such a good job on this one in my opinion, that I do not have to trawl the various auction/trade sites to find a original one! There are significant changes to this editions mighty battle tank, namely the size; it is now a much more conservative figure coming in at around the same size as a GW Leman Russ Battle tank; it is not as curvy as it used to be, sporting slabs of bolted on armour to add detail and texture to the kit. Another significant change is the lack of crows nest/periscope which was iconic with the larger vehicle back in the 90's. Again the lack of this item was down to KS backer/communal direction and is something that I am actually disappointed with. Ok perhaps the smaller size of the tank meant such detail could not actually be added, but it was a part of the vehicle that made it truly stand out over standard tanks. Regardless I am thrilled at finally having this vehicle (it was part of the much delayed wave 2) and can't wait for some bits I have ordered to arrive before I start proper assembly.

So with Wave 2 finally shipped, most KS backers can now finally sit back and fully appreciate the Prodos revamp of Warzone Resurrection. While some figures were obviously rushed, the majority of the range is a solid collection of unique looking sci-fi/grime punk miniatures. The softer almost rubbery resin used for the figures is really growing on me, as they seem to have a much better resistance to damage and paint scratches (I have tested this by accident), however I must note that some of the casts were not up to scratch due to over using some of the moulds and warm weather can be a issue for thin components, leading to leans or bends. However I am incredibly please that Prodos are already addressing some of the KS designs as Bauhaus is as much a make or break iconic faction as the Imperial miniature range; which they got absolutely spot on; and there is still a wealth of units that could be released, which will frankly look amazing with today's technology: Jaegers, Blitzers and the Wolf helmed dragoons would all make for stunning units that would garner a massive positive response from the gaming community. However I sure Prodos already know this, as they have a beyond excellent communication/dedication with their fans, something that became evident from day one, the excellence of their new range is matched by enthusiasm and full disclosure, which ultimately creates a massive community spirit, something that GW.

I highly recommend that your check out this range of excellent range of miniatures and D20 gaming system I have been playing/collecting Warzone since around 1998 and as a stand alone 'universe' it is every bit as fulfilling as 40K with an excellent grim dark background, heroic characters and of course detailed miniature range. You can currently get the whole range of Warzone Resurrection miniature from: Wayland Games - Discount Wargames

Thanks for reading,

DiStudios
The 14th Legion 







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