Haiiro 
Confession time, dear reader – I had never heard about Warzone, Mutant Chronicles, Doomtrooper, none of it, until the Warzone Eternal Kickstarter launched. I had been involved in the game scene for almost a decade at that point, mainly wargames, but also board games and RPGs. As one of those properties that has sat on the periphery of the gaming space for quite a long time, I just had never encountered a single thing about it. But, the day that the refreshed WZ:E Kickstarter launched, I was there, happily selecting two full armies to my order (Bauhaus and Mishima, if you must know), eagerly awaiting when I would get to play this new game. So how does one go from having no experience to being completely hyped? Well, I’ll tell you.
Brom and his Art
“You know, there’s a whole miniatures game based on Brom’s art right?”
I sat, eyes wide as my friend Hank took down some of his models from a little game by Cool Mini or Not called Dark Age. I was over at his place, playing a game of Malifaux, when I mentioned that I had Kickstarted an art book of Broms and was excited to get prints of some of his fantastic art. He. showed me those metal models and I was sold, this was the game I wanted to get into. It was less clunky than Malifaux and the zany, flat distribution curve of the d20 excited me (at heart, I love spectacle, and what’s more spectacular than your gun blowing up in your own hands?) I was instantly hooked. The next Adepticon I went to, I bought a Kukulkani force and a Skaard force for Mrs. Haiiro.
I played the game off and on, my group in Illinois not quite taking to it. But still, I painted my models and read the lore, and waited to find others that might love it too.
Allie and Korrok
In only a year after I bought those first models, I found myself in Michigan – a new career and a baby Haiiro added to the mix. I brought my models with me and became determined to play more Dark Age. I took my models, some terrain and went to a local board game group (this was a small community, we met at a bar since there wasn’t a game store). There I introduced the game to my dear friend Allie. Now Allie also fell in love and took the game back up to her community, which then hooked into Korrok! We were happy with our game, buying new models, reading new stories, and enjoying the small tournaments we would run.
Of course, all good things must come to an end. Almost out of nowhere CMoN announced that they were cancelling Dark Age. I was devastated, this was a game I loved, that I shared with a community that I also loved. So I hung up my hat, put my minis in a case, but kept wearing my hoodie.
Now with cat hair and paint stains!
Following Steele to his Next Project
When Dark Age was canned, Mrs. Haiiro, in a bid to cheer me up said, “well whatever game Bryan Steele works on, lets check it out!” And so the waiting game began.
More time passed, I started a new job in a new state, went back to Malifaux (and picked up several other mini’s games while I was at it!), and waited, hoping for anything that could scratch the same itch. Then Korrok messaged me – WarZone Eternal, an older property coming back and being designed by Mr. Steele himself! We took a look at what they had planned, how the game functioned and were all in. It was a winding road, but we got there. And now we’re here, not waiting for our next game, but waiting for our miniatures to arrive to start building our own local communities! And yes, we are planning on going hard and holding tournaments and demos and the whole nine yards.
Now I just need a Warzone patch to go with my Dark Age one on my battle vest.
Right next to the Cannibal Corpse patch, exactly where it should be.
