New Produs Warzone Models for 40K.

[YorkNecromancer]

You may or may not have heard of Mutant Chronicles: Warzone. It was an old rival for 40K from the mid 90's. For more details, read this:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/TabletopGame/MutantChronicles?from=Main.MutantChronicles

Anyway, a company called Produs has run a Kickstarter to reboot the tabletop wargame, and I went in with a moderate amount of money once I saw some of the models. I thought people here might like to see how they compare to 40K.

To start with, they are made in resin - very much like Forge World's - and require some careful assembly. I would not recommend them for beginners, and the amount of flash on them was pretty appalling. There were also a number of pieces affected by poor alignment of moulds; very much like Forge World (which I always find disgusting considering Forge World's inflated prices). I would put the 'failure rate' at about 20% (so for every ten models, two will have serious defects that need careful modelling work).

Despite this, the models are superb; I would rate the detail as easily the equal of Forge World.

Anyway, pics:

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb183/MaltonNecromancer/Warzone%20Models/2013-11-24123247_zps9a75f962.jpg
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb183/MaltonNecromancer/Warzone%20Models/2013-11-24123344_zps13aa97be.jpg
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb183/MaltonNecromancer/Warzone%20Models/2013-11-24123401_zpsc50250d3.jpg

These are Cybertronic Chasseurs, and they retail for £12.99 for 5. The guns they come with are bloody awful, but the actual models are superb. I have converted these up to be used as AdMech Thralls with Las-locks, and I think the guns fit nicely with them, if perhaps a little cartoonishly in terms of 40K's 'heroic' scale - Warzone's models are closer to 'true-scale'.

N.B.: the yellow you see at the limb joint on a few is Milliput I have used as filler to allow them to carry the much bigger 40K rifles.

[YorkNecromancer]

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb183/MaltonNecromancer/Warzone%20Models/2013-11-24123520_zps1df2359e.jpg
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb183/MaltonNecromancer/Warzone%20Models/2013-11-24123533_zps653a6f15.jpg
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb183/MaltonNecromancer/Warzone%20Models/2013-11-24123541_zps8ae81fdb.jpg

These are Bahaus Etoiles Mortants. I will be using them as slightly more 'Splinter Cell' style Inquisition Death Cultist unit. The arms they came with were absolutely horrible. Badly sculpted, weirdly posed, and fragile as glass filaments. So, they're in the bin, and I've used some Dark Eldar Wych arms. One of the heads was somewhat malformed, so I used a spare Statuesque Miniatures metal head I had knocking around, which was a perfect fit.

I think these look awesome, but I absolutely recommend different arms.

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb183/MaltonNecromancer/Warzone%20Models/2013-11-24123431_zps7ae615f4.jpg

This is a Cybertronic Cuirasser, converted to be a Necron Lord. It's a lovely sculpt, but it arrived without a gun! That didn't matter to me at all, but I do think it reflects poorly on their product control.

[YorkNecromancer]

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb183/MaltonNecromancer/Warzone%20Models/2013-11-24123655_zps25735e00.jpg

Finally, a size comparison shot. I think they fit quite well with 40K; I was surprised with how taken I was with the Cuirasser as a Necron Lord. I think s/he looks pretty swish.

Overall, I am very impressed with the detail of the sculpting, but not with the product control. I hope Produs can get on top of this, because it would be nice to have Forge World quality models for a fraction of the price; I will definitely be getting another ten Chasseurs.

Here's their webstore if you're interested:
http://warzonegame.com/categories-list.html

[iamian]

man, I still have all the core rules from warzone, it was a great game...

[Archon Charybdis]

Some interesting models. Definitely love the Necron Lord conversion. It's very different, but with some similar cues that would look right at home in a Necron army with a good paint job.

[SON OF ROMULOUS]

I always recommend looking to see what it out there and what is available via 3rd party minature companies. they offer some very nice conversion bits as well as alternate minatures. i know i for one have been mulling over the dream forge troops lately they look like they would be perfect to represet carapace vets. but these ones from prodos do look like they would work as gene forged infantry i could see them working out models to represent a forge world add on to their mauraders unit. a T4 add on to the squad that's not quite an orgyn but these actually look like they would fit the bill.

[SaveModifier]

I always find it amazing what people will let other companies get away with when they'd scream bloody murder at GW for less.

[YorkNecromancer]

I always find it amazing what people will let other companies get away with when they'd scream bloody murder at GW for less.

Are you talking about me in specific here? Because I've been quite open with my distaste for people delighting in bashing GW for quite a long time now. I have commented on it quite extensively on both this site and Disqus.

As far as 'letting this company off the hook', I don't feel I have. I feel I have been fair. These cost me about a third what I'd pay for them if they were GW models. Also, they're a new start-up, and I bought these at a discount through Kickstarter, which means they get the benefit of the doubt as far as quality goes; I wasn't expecting GW quality from a new company and I would be a fool if I did.

What I've tried to do here is be honest about the products that I bought, in order to help members of this site decide if they might want to support said company in future. I know I will not be buying any further Etoiles Mortants because of the arm issues, but I will be buying further Chassuers, because despite the molding issues, the quality of the detail on the sculpts exceeds Forge World. I say this without a hint of hyperbole, and I do not say it lightly.

The object of this thread was to allow members of this site to make informed decisions about their model purchases from a new, untested company. If it was of no help to you, then that's fine. If it was, that's fine too. Otherwise, I invite to consider the fact that the suggestions that I might be being hypocritical in your comments is firstly unhelpful and secondly rude.

[SON OF ROMULOUS]

how is it bashing GW if we are talking about 3rd party models? if you want a GW rant i can go into one easily.... not excited i got my cataphracts in last week and low and behold one of the claws was damaged and one of the boots has a miscast in it. but that's not what any of us talked about. i believe i spoke about dream forge and york was talking about prodos.... maybe you need a reality check or to stop sniffing the modeling glue...

[Asymmetrical Xeno]

I got a cybertronic Starter set from the prodos kickstarter some weeks ago myself. Rather like the models myself, painting them in a "cyber soviet" theme but will be using them as the warzone miniatures they are intended personally - but I do like what you've done to make them "40k" especially the necron lord conversion - that model was one of hte reasons I chose cybertronic as it reminded me of the ABC warrior from that crap judge dredd film from the 90s (the robot was the only cool thing about it!).

Like you I also had a few parts missing, but when I emailed them they sent out replacements very fast and i got them only 3 days later so they at least do something about it if you let them know. I also agree that they are just as good as forge world miniatures in terms of the resin used and detail level.