Death Zone 2020 - A Review

 

 

Once again we have a beautifully produced full colour book that is slightly marred by the lack of proof reading.  Almost everything in the book is a reprint of the 2016 content updated to use the new team special rules.  There are little things such as Ranulf the Ref still having to "roll higher than the AV of the player" even though the main rule book changes AV 7 to be AV 8+ being everyone else is having to roll equal to AV.  Then we have the new Mercenary rules where the Elf starts with AG 2+ but can increase this by 2 to AG 0+ when AG 1+ is the max allowed!!?

New Inducements

This section takes all the inducements printed in the old Death Zone and Spike journals and updates them to use the new team special rules.  Instead of being taken by an Orc or Dwarf team they are now Badlands Brawl or Worlds Edge.  This expands which teams can take them.  Some of the inducements have had minor alterations and there are a couple I have not seen before.

(In)Famous Coaching Staff

• Kari Coldsteel - 50k for 2 cheerleaders and a player for a single drive if you are low on numbers.  She also now plays for Elven teams.  It is one less cheerleader but otherwise the same as last time.
•  Papa Skullbones - He can now be taken by any Favoured or Underworld team opening him up to the likes of Skaven and Goblins.  There is also a slight buff that a roll of 8 is pick two mutations rather than one of the listed pair.
• Galandril Silverwater - A slight cost reduction to 40k and now available to all Elf teams means Dark Elves can also hire her.  The cheer-leading effect is better as you get +D3 and she still counts as 1 if you have none (lets face it who is going to want to roster Cheerleaders).  The change of getting extra TRR has now moved to a 1/8 on the Prayers table.
• Krot Shockwhisker - The Skaven Engineer got slightly and now works on dead players!  It is still a 4+ to get a player back for a single drive.
• Fink Da Fixer - He got hit with the Nerf bat hard.  Almost twice the price can only re-roll one Bribe a game and no longer counts as any assistant coaches!  He at least still has the bonus to Argue the Call but I am not sure that is enough to make it worth taking him.
• Mungo Spinecraker - An Orc who tries to give your team Thick Skull.  There is a 2/6 change he turns KO's into stuns but also a 1/6 he turns them into Casualties!  It is an interesting risk/reward here.  For 80k it could be worth it for teams with a deep bench to try and keep players on the pitch.
• Professor Fronkelheim - This is a direct reprint from the Necromantic Spike.  It is nice to have it here for completeness.  One less book to have to carry around to club night.  He is also the first of our staff to give players extra skills for the game with a chance that they will get to keep them for ever.
• Schielund Scharlitan - 90k for an Agent who will give d3 players Pro for the match,  Like the professor there is a chance they get to keep the skill for ever but the downside is they may gain loner.  A great way to try and get some skills on a rookie team but possible not one you want to risk on a more seasons team?
• Ayleen Andar - 100k for the chance to make your Journeymen either lose Loner for the match or gain a skill.  Also another annoying error.  The rules say roll a d6 -1 for each J-man but have a result of a six giving two skills...

Wizards

The next section reprints all the alternative Wizards we have seen.  This means most teams have the option of getting Thunderbolt (the Lightning Bolt replacements) rather than Zap.  There is some interesting spells but very few that  are likely to get used.  The Horticulturalist of Nurgle, availabe to all Underworld and Favored of Nurgle, seems the best. His Thunderbolt variant can hit d3 players and the other spell is -2 to rushing which looks good if you have to stop a stretch play. Without re-rolls a double rush is only going to work 25%.

Horatio X has also been moved from being a Infamous Staff into being a named Wizard.  Like all wizard he is now restricted to one spell per match which is his signature poorly aimed fireball.  This makes him half as useful as last edition for the same price.

Biased Referee

All of the named referee's from DZ2 have been redone as Biased Referees.  This actually makes them useful.  Most of them have a 50% chance of seeing any foul that is not a double and then either sending the culprit off or whacking with an axe or fist.

• Jorm the Ogre is the option available to all teams for the same price as the standard biased ref.  He will knock foulers down with mighty blow.  While he is hired get the ref becomes get the crowd which will reduce teams fan factor (and thus winnings).
  
• Thoron is the ref for Dwarven teams.  He sends the fouler off makes get the ref results on kick off be re-rolled.
• Ranulf costs and extra 10k and you get a choice between being hit by his axe or being sent off.  His extra rule is no one can argue the call when he is hired.
• Trundlefoot Triplets are also back with a special discounted price for halfing teams.  Who frankly are the only ones likely to hire these walking disasters.  They certainly put the comedy back into the game with a 1/6 chance of sending the target of the foul off rather than the fouler!

Other Inducements

We then have four pages of low cost inducements.  I really like these because it means teams actually have some options when they get 30-60k inducements about what to buy.

• Waaagh! Drummer - I believe this was first shown in the Savage Orc team download and is now available for all Badlands teams. It has been updated to work like a master chef and each success lets you push back an opposing player at the start of a drive.  At 50k this seems a nice option for reducing LoS hits and possibly destroying OTT attempts.
• Cavorting Nurglings - Another reason that "Favored of Nurgle" is the only pick for a team with "Favored of ..." rule.  A temp cheerleader and a boost to Fame (which is also winnings) makes these a nice 30k option.
• Dwarfen Runesmith - All the old world teams may now be able to take a runesmith but not only did he get a price increase, to 50k, he now also fails completely on a roll of one!  I cannot see any of my teams wanting to hire this guy.
• Halfing Hot Pot - This puts Horatio X to shame.  A psudo-fireball that might actually land on target!  Best used in the second half since it might explode in the dugout and knock out some players.
• Master of Ballistics - Not sure why halfings get this guy cheaper? For 40k you can almost get the kick skill on your team.
• Bottles of Heady Brew - This is interesting as it is the first inducement that is using a teams tier rating.  Any Tier 3 team can juice up d3 stunty players.  The weakness here is you have to use it every drive.  That could make scoring OTT harder if key players suddenly go stupid.  Overall though 40k to get some Frenzy, Dauntless players is a nice choice.
• Team Mastcot - It is the third of the cost of a TRR and you get what you paid for.  That is a 1/3 chance of an extra re-roll each half.  For the price I am quite happy with this.  If the mascot fails you can still use a normal TRR so there is no risk involved.
• Medical Unguent - If you cannot afford an actual apothecary you can have this to help get a player back on their feet.  It only works on Seriously Injured players which is 3/16, or 19%, of the results.   That does give a high change that 60k gets you nothing of use for the game.
• Side Bet - The good news is you have something to spend 10k on.  No longer can anyone complain about having unspent petty cash.  The bad news is you get nothing unless you win the game.  At least if all you are getting is 10 or 20k you are likely in a good position to try and win.

Fabulous Freebooters

The main section of new stuff is 12 pages of alternative rules for Mercenary players.  I like the design space they are playing with here.  Standard Mercs are fairly dull and with the cut down list of Star Players these could fill a nice gap.

Sadly the results seem to be who can add the most players with Dirty Player +2 on the team.  The limit is 3 since that is the most Feebooters anyone can hire.  There are concerns with the poor quality of the rules text.  Can every Freebooter increase all stats by 2?  Can you actually reduce a stat by 2 for -20k cost or just reduce by one as that is the only option listed?  What happens when your Elf increases there Agility to AG 0+?  It seems to have been written when AG 6 was still an option.

The rules allow a commissioner to make a nice set of Freebooters available to the teams in their league.  If I was going to use them I would just ban DP+2 for anyone except the Tier 3 teams.

Giants, Balls, Sponsorship, Weather and Stadia

We then have about thirty pages of reprints of 2016 optional rules.  Given I only ever purchased a couple of Spike Journals it is nice to have them all collected together.  As there are 16 balls they even added a table for you to use.  Some of this stuff is great for a fun match or maybe a themed tournament.  Stadia rules look to be identical.  

Sponsorship has had some minor changes.  There is no longer a bonus for have a stadium and each team gets to add there touchdowns and casulaties inflicted not just the team who had the most.  That means if you win a match 2-1 and inflict 2 casualties you now have a 25% of getting a sponsor.  The major sponsors got better

• McMurty's Burger - you can always get the extra TRR for the first half and can carry it over to the second half if not used.
• Farblasts - The player you becomes the bombardier also gains access to passing skills.  This gives a way to get Leader on teams who have no players with P access.  You can then cancel the sponsorship and keep the skills you have learnt.
• Steelhelm - You now get to re-roll your random skill picks; not only that but you can choice to only re-roll one of the dice!
• Star Insurance - This did not actually get better.  You still just get some cash
  

Match events

Some more random tables for those that like to add that little extra factor of fun!  I think these were introduced in the Head Coaches Handbook but have no seen them before.  Sure they are fun but it is an extra dice roll to make at the start of every turn.  I would rather this was done as a second kick off event.

BB Sevens

Sevens for me is a great way to run a tournament in a evening.  We now have some rules for player advancement and extra inducements.  I could see using these in a tournament.  Rules have been streamlined to help with the Injury table having been removed.  A roll of 12 on the Casualty is now just dead.  In fact this is a nice throw back to the older rules where double six was dead.

Image Credits

Images linked from Warhammer Community page