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 This thread is the replacement to the 'pre-launch' discussion thread, here: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3489715 What is it? Dropzone Commander is a sci-fi tabletop wargame using 10mm scale miniatures. It is made by Hawk Wargames and focuses on urban combat. The game plays fluidly with rapidly shifting tactical situations thanks to the games focus on mobility as most units are deployed and redeployed around the battlefield via dropship. This becomes important as the game design and victory conditions are based around taking strategic locations or recovering objectives and often extracting them back off the table. This moves the focus away from simply killing plastic spacemans over to situations where you could out-manoeuvre an opponent who might possess greater firepower to snatch the win. It is a fairly new game system first released in 2012, tweaked over the course of 2013 resulting in the release of the version 1.1 rulebook and then expanded in 2014 with the Reconquest: Phase 1 book. At the time of writing, a second expansion is tentatively slated for release in late 2015. The games is continuing to benefit from updates and teaks to existing rules thanks to proactive developers and a strong community engagement effort in running and supporting a growing tournament scene. Hawk Wargames themselves are a new company founded by David J. Lewis (a.k.a. Hawk Dave) who effectively produced the original game single-handed. The game rules along with model designs and sculpting were all his own work. Along with the back story fluff and photography and probably some other stuff. The guy is some kind of mad genius. Since then the company has expanded and is up to nine employees as of January 2015.  The setting: The short version: Mankind is fighting to reconquer their homeworlds after losing to a parasitic race of aliens dubbed the Scourge 160 years earlier. Humanity has become divided into three factions. The United Colonies of Mankind (UCM) being the rebuilt central human nation, the Resistance being isolated societies of human survivors on Scourge-occupied worlds and the Post-Human Republic (PHR) being a bunch of cyborgs possibly under an alien influence. And finally, there the ancient and unfathomable Shaltari who turn up as it suits them. Long version: see post below. How do you play it? There is a two part demo game video from Beasts of War using the Two player Dropzone starter boxed set featuring Hawk Dave and his game design right-hand man Hawk Simon as they play through the introductory scenario using just the stuff you get in the box. Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enxGJE2xNb4 Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOKwfzck_VM Now that is 2hrs of video so I'll try explaining it in the next post. The size of a battle you decide to play falls under one of three bandings which are called Skirmish, Clash & Battle. The smallest sized game you can play is a 500 point Skirmish. Each faction has a starter army set which contains core units and equates to roughly 500 points, so each player just needs one of these to get started. A 1,500 point battle (tournament standard) will typically take around 2 hours once both players are familiar with the game. A mid-sized game like this is played on a 4x4 foot table, larger games on a 6x4 table.  How do I get started? If you already have a friend with the books, then the minimum entry point is one of the starter army boxes. These are now available in plastic for UCM, Scourge, PHR & Shaltari for £35/$55 RRP, or in resin for the Resistance (apparently some resistance piece can't be made in plastic for technical reasons so there won't be a plastic set) at £55/$85 RRP. All of the sets include a reference card with unit stats etc for play. As with anything, if you shop around then you WILL save money. I recommend checking out Ebay as BNIB items get listed there frequently. If you don't have a friend with the books, then the logical place to start is with the Two Player Starter boxed set: http://www.hawkwargames.com/products/2-player-starter-set This is costs £60/$90 RRP and is frankly the most cost effective way to get started. This set was released in 2013 and contains the updated v1.1 rulebook, a starter army set for BOTH the UCM and Scourge, a bunch of card buildings, dice, a tape measure, counters and reference cards. You can legitimately just buy this box and starting playing the game as soon as you assemble the models. Given that the starter box costs less then buying two starter armies individually it is tough to argue with. When I started buying my own stuff recently I ended up buying a second box off ebay for £45 (25% off the RRP delivered!) and splitting it with my brother. He took the models, I took the rulebook and accessories. He chipped in £30 to get two starter armies at half price and I got everything else I needed for the cost of the book by itself.  I have no friends, but want to play/I beat my friends too easily and want some competition! Hawk are taking an active role in building a community around their game and a competitive scene to go with it. They have settled into a routine of running their own open day & tournament event called Invasion twice a year which takes place in London. As I type this, I have just got back from the February 2015 Invasion which saw 44 players taking part in the tournament (Edit - The next Invasion taking place September 2016 has over 70 players signed up with nearly a month until the event - the game is growing!). I found that most of my 5 opponents were fairly new to the game or even playing their first proper games that weekend! The experience level ranged from total noobs through to hardened (but friendly) veterans. The nice thing about the Hawk's tournament system is that players are matched up based on their scores, so as things progress the better players are pitted against each other while the rest of us rookies/casual types end up together. Long story short? You should try it! The open day events also have a few free tables so if you just want a pick-up game then you may just get to play someone as well as watch the other games and check out the latest releases. Hawk's official event page is here: http://www.hawkwargames.com/blogs/events Ugleb fucked around with this message at 23:08 on Aug 31, 2016 |
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Feb 9, 2015 20:47
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Ok, I bought my stater pack, what should I get next? There are two expansion books. First, Reconquest: Phase 1. Originally published mid-2014, This book has been updated with a v1.1 edition incorporating errata and fixing some miss-prints. http://www.hawkwargames.com/products/reconquest-phase-1 This book includes some new rules & scenarios, introduces The Resistance faction and adds new units to all four of the original factions. Frankly, it is a must-buy for anyone wanting to get deeper into the game and packs a lot in. The second expansion is, wait for it, Reconquest: Phase 2. This was released in August 2016 and has only one edition at the time of writing. http://www.hawkwargames.com/products/dropzone-commander-reconquest-phase-2 This book features a big selection new units for each faction, quite a lot of new scenarios for both friendly and tournament play plus Environmental and Fauna (roaming creature) rules for use in non-competitive games. These optional rules have the potential to flip a game on its head unexpectedly but could lead to some very memorable gaming moments. These cover everything from high/low gravity or toxic environments to earthquakes and space battle debris falling out of the sky. The new units covered in this book most notably transform the infantry game adding in a wide variety of units that do much more than search for objectives and fight each other. The next thing you will want to pick up is the Command Cards for the faction(s) of your choice. These add an extra layer of tactics and opportunity to games and are highly recommended, if officially optional. They are not included in the starter sets in an effort to reduce the barrier to entry but are something you will want to pick up. Note that the UCM, Scourge, PHR and Shaltari decks have been rebalanced to v1.1 as of February 2015. If you are buying new decks then make sure to get the updated v1.1 versions! If you do own the older decks then you can download the errata from the Hawk Wargames site.  While you do get some card buildings in the 2 player starter box, you will probably be wanting more so a good affordable upgrade is to buy one of the card scenery packs. These also include double-sided ground tiles for your street layouts. http://www.hawkwargames.com/collections/card-scenery After that we are simply talking about buying models! If you want to quickly and cheaply expand your core army then you could simply buy a second starter army set, otherwise it is very much over to you, although you will need to pick up a dedicated command unit once you go beyond Skirmish sized games. Each race presently has one option but very soon (early-mid 2015) will be getting a second. This doesn't include the Famous Commander units, the rules for which are in the Phase 1 book. These are special character units designed for fun flavour but not necessarily balanced for competitive play so will not be allowed into tournaments. The first models for these will be released in early 2015. The setting: - If you don't care for fluff, skip this bit! The fluff driving this sci-fi conflict is advancing along with the game development. The backstory tells of a united mankind setting out among the stars and running into a highly advanced and near-immortal alien race called the Shaltari (who make extensive use of teleportation tech and other fancy toys). Things go great at first as the Shaltari guide the puny humans to a cluster of fantastic earth-like worlds to settle, which along with Earth become known as the Cradle Worlds. Eventually humans figure out that the Shaltari are a loose collection of tribal societies and that their benefactors are at war with another tribe, who want to employ the numerous and quick breeding humans as cannon fodder against their rivals. The humans go "err..nope!" and the alliance breaks down leaving the two races in an uneasy neutrality/occasional clash situation. Things continue to go well for the humans as they turn the Cradle Worlds into a paradise of good urban planning building great cities with the ugly industrial stuff either underground or on outlying colonies, leaving the core planets looking pretty and unpolluted. It is a golden age for humanity, which gets kinda spoiled when a weird alien object falls to earth. It is a pristine white sphere, the size of a tennis ball but impossibly dense and generally incomprehensible. It is clearly alien, possibly beyond even Shaltari technology but otherwise no-one has a clue what it is or where it came from. All attempts to analyse it fail until some genius connects it to a networked computer, at which point it immediately hacks everything everywhere and delivers a warning. The warning is to the tune of "Something is coming and you will all die. If you want to survive then abandon your homes and assemble in orbit of this world one year from now." Everyone freaks out. The government attempts to maintain order, everyone is either doomsday prepping, debating, or declaring the whole thing a hoax. In the meanwhile the White Sphere as it is known gets stolen (or possibly arranged to steal itself) from the lab and vanishes. The deadline approaches and a large number of people defy the governments decrees to heed the warning and gather for an exodus. poo poo gets real and the 'abandonists' as they are branded open fire on the navy ships present dealing a heap of damage to the fleet before every Abandonist ship abruptly gets their jump drives hacked and vanishes into the unknown. Two days later, a massive alien invasion happens bringing humanity to its knees. A race of parasitic aliens dubbed the Scourge invade all of the Cradle Worlds at the same time obliterating humanities defences with ease. They should have listened to the tennis ball. A tiny fraction of the populace manage to bail out to the frontier colonies while everyone else has a Really Bad Day. The Scourge, being parasites, have selected humans to be their next generation of host species and start getting parasitic. The FTL navigation beacons on the colony are deactivated preventing the Scourge from following the refugees, cutting off any survivors on the core worlds. Some isolated groups retreat deep underground where the Scourge are reluctant to go, everyone else gets consumed.  The opening of the game takes place 160 years later. The humans that fled have formed the United Colonies of Man (UCM) and the back-story is written from their perspective. They spent the passed time building a massive war machine dedicated to the reconquest of the Cradle Worlds in which they aim to counter-invade multiple worlds simultaneously. The Abandonists reappear just as this kicks off calling themselves the Post Human Republic (PHR). They are now a society of subtly enhanced cyborgs with some really nifty gear courtesy of the White Sphere's guidance. Their motives are secretive and they proceed to play all sides. The Shaltari being incomprehensible ancient aliens like to turn up seemingly at random to screw with everyone. The Scourge by now are a waning power starting to run out fresh hosts, so they are on the hunt for a fresh feeding ground. The story advanced with the release of the games first expansion in 2014, called Reconquest: Phase 1. This picks up 250 days since the beginning of the UCM's Reconquest offensive and introduces the games 5th faction The Resistance. The Resistance are small societies of Scourge survivors living underground or remotely deploying scavenged military equipment or retro-fitted civilian vehicles. Some Resistance groups are friendly to the UCM (referred to as Allied), others are warlords and the like who would rather do a secret deal with the PHR (referred to as Ferals). All in all, everyone likes to shoot each other, as befits a wargame setting. Reconquest:Phase 2 advances the story up to day 500 and sees the UCM's Reconquest being to show signs of stalling. While several first phase invasion targets are close to secured, many theatres remain just beyond completion or have suffered severe set backs. The PHR and Shaltari are everywhere in pursuit of their own shadowy agendas both helping and hindering the UCM or Scourge. The PHR appear to making an unexpected bid for territorial control in one theatre while the Scourge are seemingly massing for a counter offensive.... But where? Ugleb fucked around with this message at 23:03 on Aug 31, 2016 |
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Feb 9, 2015 20:47
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How do you play it? (long version!) There is a two part demo game video from Beasts of War using the Two player Dropzone starter boxed set featuring Hawk Dave and his game design right-hand man Hawk Simon as they play through the introductory scenario using just the stuff you get in the box (as posted in OP). Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enxGJE2xNb4 Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOKwfzck_VM Now that is 2hrs of video so I'll try explaining it a bit. The size of a battle you decide to play falls under one of three bandings which are called Skirmish, Clash & Battle. The smallest sized game you can play is a 500 point Skirmish. Each faction has a starter army set which contains core units and equates to roughly 500 points, so each player just needs one of these to get started. To start with you pick one of the scenario's from the rulebooks and setup the board as it instructs. Depending on the scenario you will be setting down a number of buildings in certain areas of the board that will contain mission critical objectives to be recovered, placing focal points for which you will be vying to control or a combination of both. It is unusual for the primary objective of the game to be 'kill as much stuff as possible', although the value of destroyed units may serve as a secondary objective or tie-breaker. Plus it is always fun to blow stuff up. Once the scenario critical pieces are placed, you fill up the table with other buildings and terrain as you see fit.  It is not unusual to start the game with no units on the table. Most units will be assigned to a dropship of some description and placed 'in reserve' ready to fly onto the table from turn 1. In DzC Armies are made up of 'Battlegroups' which may contain one or more 'squads'. The game is played using 'alternate activation' where players take it in turn to activate one of their battlegrounds (and all squads within it) at a time. At the start of the turn players roll for initiative and the winner opts to go first or second. Player A then picks a battlegroup in their force to activate and moves onto the table. This battlegroup is probably made up of one or more dropships, each carrying vehicles or infantry split into squads. Each squad may move then shoot, or shoot then move. Player A completes his actions their first squad, then the second etc until every squad in the battlegroup has been activated. Player B then picks a battlegroup from his force, works through its squads in the same manner then hands back to player A to select their second battlegroup to activate. They will continue to alternate ike this until every battlegroup has been used, at which point the turn ends they roll initiative for turn 2.  The advantage to this system is that it keeps both players engaged as every few minutes they will be back in control to activate a battlegroup, as opposed to some systems where player A moves and then shoots with their entire army before player B gets to do anything. In large games that gets tedious, but in DzC your turn is never more than a few minutes away. Movement is designed so that units on foot take forever to get anywhere (some units have just a 2 inch move on a 4 foot wide table) while aircraft such as dropships can cover large distances rapidly. This means that deployment is significant and retaining the ability to re-deploy mid-battle can be the key to success. Deploying embarking/disembarking from a transport requires that units canm only move half of their full move and may not shoot in the same turn, a system that promotes forward planning and careful positioning while pushing players to comit forces. You can't simply keep loading/unloading your troops all of that time as then you never get to shoot at anything! Shooting like everything else in DzC uses D6 (sometimes D3 for damage) and is a pretty typical system of roll to hit, roll to damage, reduce health to zero. Each weapon has an accuracy value (2+ to hit etc) which is modified by things like cover (infantry inside a building have 'hard cover' making them +2 to be hit). Weapons also have two range values, which essentially boils down to having a shorter effective range if you want to hit something with countermeasures (most units do) and a much longer one for things that don't (like buildings). Most weapons will deal one damage point (DP) per successful attack, while tougher units have multiple DP. Some units get a saving roll against hits (normally a 5+) which is taken before the damage roll and so reduces the amount of dice rolling you are doing. I find that this system doesn't call for many dice, with only the occasional 'bucket of dice' moment. I got through a five game tournament this weekend using only the ten dice that came with the starter set and a few tokens to mark damaged units.  What I like about DzC shooting is that it tends to feel decisive. You are not rolling buckets of dice needing a 4+ to hit, a 6+ to wound and find nothing gets killed because the other guy rolled on his 2+ save afterwards. Even in tournament standard mid-sized games (1,500 pts) you are probably talking about 30-50 models in your force so it stays quite manageable. The stand-out exception to this is Close Quarter Battles where opposing infantry inside a building scrap it out, but even then the dice are divided between bases and can be rolled in smaller groups. The key point is that combat in DzC leads to stuff going boom so as the game progresses forces diminish and move quickly. A 1,500 point battle (tournament standard) will typically take around 2 hours once both players are familiar with the game. Ugleb fucked around with this message at 21:00 on Feb 9, 2015 |
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Feb 9, 2015 20:47
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Useful Links FFoR List Builder: Fighting Forces of the Reconquest - this an excellent program to help you quickly and easily build your own army lists. Highly recommended and much praised by Hawk's own staff! http://www.dzc-ffor.com/ Hawk Wargames: Main site: http://www.hawkwargames.com/ Forums: http://www.hawkforum.co.uk/index.php Events page: http://www.hawkwargames.com/blogs/events Rules errata (including updates from 1.0) http://www.hawkwargames.com/blogs/errata Community links: Orbital bombardment blog/podcast: http://dzcblog.blogspot.co.uk/ Ugleb fucked around with this message at 22:01 on Feb 9, 2015 |
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Feb 9, 2015 20:48
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The Factions I'm going to keep this a vague overview as metas change over time. Hopefully I can address both Dropzone and Dropfleet together here. UCM - The United Colonies of Man The UCM are the basic human faction of the Dropzone universe. They are what the human government turned into after the Scourge Invasion of Earth & the Cradle Worlds put humanity of the ropes. The UCM are a militarised culture entirely devoted to the REconquest - returning home to wipe out the Scourge squatting there. In Dropzone the UCM are styled as the air faction. Their general approach to warfare is to efficiently drop forces from orbit so make extensive use of gunships, bombers and fighters to support their ground asset deployments. UCM airpower is formidable, however they still possess fairly solid if generally cheaper tank squadrons. The strength of the UCM is probably their wide range of tools while their weakness is in their squishy human infantry. With a few exceptions the UCM rely on numbers over quality and can struggle if their infantry need to get stuck into CQB. Flattening buildings or gaining aerial superiority on the other hand is much less of an issue. The Scourge The Resistance PHR - The Post-Human Republic. The Shaltari Ugleb fucked around with this message at 23:22 on Aug 31, 2016 |
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Feb 9, 2015 21:07
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Stupid 1.1 question, are the changes to the version 1 rulebook available anywhere so my mates who picked up the original rulebook can get in on the current changes?
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Feb 9, 2015 21:34
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enri posted:Stupid 1.1 question, are the changes to the version 1 rulebook available anywhere so my mates who picked up the original rulebook can get in on the current changes? They are indeed, it's all in the errata section on Hawk's site. Once the 1.1 Command Cards errata goes up they'll be there too. I'll add it to the links section. http://www.hawkwargames.com/blogs/errata
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Feb 9, 2015 21:59
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Ugleb posted:They are indeed, it's all in the errata section on Hawk's site. Once the 1.1 Command Cards errata goes up they'll be there too. I'll add it to the links section. Well that's a plus point  I have the starter box all painted up ready to rock, just a question of pinning one off my opponents down for a game, there's just so many games competing for time whenever we get the chance to actually play.
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Feb 9, 2015 22:32
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The OP could probably use a quick rundown of the different factions and how they play. Other than that, it looks pretty solid. And I'm just going to relink this thing since it was the last major topic in the old thread: http://dzcblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/invasion-day-1.html?m=1
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Feb 10, 2015 06:15
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Speaking of the old thread, we seem to be missing a link to it in the OP: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3489715
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Feb 10, 2015 17:07
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I think the most important thing to note here is that the dropships actually work as dropships
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Feb 10, 2015 18:43
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Has anyone had any experience with Scourge Stalkers? I think they look kind of cool and I'd totally consider adding a squad of them + a Harbinger seeing as they occupy the same slot but I don't really know if they are as flexible as 3x Hunter MGT's + Marauder, although the Stalkers + Harbinger are actually slightly cheaper (if you don't take the Mini Arc Caster on the dropship). e: I suppose the Hunter is more of a generalist uit you can use to really spearhead an attack while the Stalker relies on it's dropship to get anywhere fast, but if it gets into position it could really do some damage (to enemy vehicles). Recoome fucked around with this message at 00:04 on Feb 11, 2015 |
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Feb 11, 2015 00:01
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I saw a few Stalkers in the Invasion tournament but they didn't seem to do all that well. I took them out quickly so maybe I didn't see their true potential. My Ares squad took two of them down in one round leaving a third to not do much by itself.
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Feb 11, 2015 00:30
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I like my stalkers. I drop them and some Prowlers on top of something and they either run and hide or get shot and bit to poo poo the next turn. I usually also present a lot of Prowlers and a Backwave Anhilator to support the ground fire though, making them less of a priority target.
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Feb 11, 2015 01:21
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I faced them once and spoke to another guy who used them, and they just don't seem to do it - yeah they are a longer more powerful ranged shot, but they are to slow, and 2 extra armour seems to be less useful than the +2 accuracy penalty for shooting at skimmers. The Ravagers on the other hand make a good defensive AA unit with more shots than the Reaper. Fake Edit - I'm writing up my little Invasion report, should be up soon TM.
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Feb 11, 2015 05:59
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For those who weren't at Invasion, the first set of named characters are up for pre-order on Hawk's site.
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Feb 11, 2015 13:29
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Eden's Dinosaur actually looks really good
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Feb 11, 2015 13:31
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So, Time for my Invasion 2015 report! I was playing with a Scourge list, making me the fast parasite aliens. Game 1 - vs The Resistance. This was to be my first ever game against the Resistance - and my heart sunk a little when my opponent put three Cyclones (think Apache Helicopters) onto the table. Then came the Zukov’s, Drills and freeriders. We were playing a objective mission, and I was able to quickly get troops into four of the five buildings, and get my forces down - then I opened fire at one of his drills with six hunters and two shots from their despoiler dropship. Nothing, Not one thing except a whole bunch of ones. out came the free-riders and in come the Cyclones and there went the match - not bad on VP’s - only a difference of 1 - but I was out for a 15-5 loss on killpoints! Lessons Learned - Barrage templates and huge masses of tanks are not good things. Also freeriders have sticky bombs that make a mess of tanks Game 2 vs the UCM My other army, so at least I knew the units here. the mission was 2VP for each held quarter of the table. My opponent moved up in his quarter while I took the other three lightly - only his infantry pushed out to oppose me. I sacrificed my Reavers to draw off some of the AA fire from his six Rapiers, then charged in my Desalator and fired its weapon - I hit 9 units, but rolled 2s for ALL my damage! Things were looking bad as his longer ranged weapons picked off some of my units. I won the initiative on turn 3 and immediately fired the Desalator once more - this time I was able to gut the core of his army (about six Rapier/Sabre kills IIRC) This combined with my killing of his Eagle swung the game back from the brink of defeat. Unfortunately it was not to be - losses were high on both sides, but I underestimated the speed of his light dropships and abandoned my home quarter bar some infantry - he nipped in and took the game - 16-4 once kill points had been added up. Lessons Learned - Never assume the game is over until its over Game 3 vs the Shaltari My first game against the Shaltari, and I was never really in this one - three focal points were up for grabs and I charged my forces in - I once again focus fired my Hunters and heavy dropship on one of his walkers, only to do 1 point of damage - the return fire wrecked my ground forces and left me with no way to contest the focal point - the Commander in his Doom Squid was once more thrown into the maw of AA fire and managed to get some kills before being taken out - my opponent was scared by this but it was not enough to prevent a 17-3 defeat. Lessons Learned - Basically how the Shaltari fight, at least now I have faced off against all the races. Also my Hunters got a stern talking to and a promise that they would be implanted into razorworms if their performance didn’t improve. Game 4 vs the Scourge Day two and refreshed after a better nights sleep and hyped up after a 50 minute journey had turned into a three hour odyssey (I arrived at the table with 15 mins to spare, rather than having an hour to kill), I was facing the only Woman in the competition, and while we were both using scourge, her army was heavy on walkers and harbingers to my more classic Grav tank build. This was going to be interesting to see if my theory that Grav tanks are better payed off. The mission was Bunker assault, and some poor Hawk staffer had painted about 150 of the things! I deployed my forces on turn one, while she had to wait until turn two - this allowed my Hunters to steal the march on them and get off a volley of fire that took down half of them, the dropship dealt with another one before I won the intuitive the next turn and finished the job - not a single Stalker was able to fire! My two Reaver Gunships dealt with the Annihilator in short order. This destroyed her anti-tank capability, and pretty much won me the match there and then. The other highlights were a squad of warriors desperately trying to reach the safety of a bunker and a Destroyer on Destroyer CQB that started on turn 3 and finished on turn 6 - Destroyers do not die easy! 16-4 to me. Lessons Learned - Stalkers just don’t seem to cut the mustard, they lack the speed and I was able to smash them up with no losses. Game 5 vs the Scourge Another mirror match, this time against a more conventional army with Slayer heavy tanks in place of my massed Hunters. This was a take and hold mission - four objectives and a focal point. The objective were both positioned so we could claim 2 buildings each on the first turn. So I knew exactly what I had to do. My opponent did the odd thing of putting ALL his infantry into one large building with an objective, so in went my Hunters and their dropship. one volley later and half the building was in ruins - and it was hardened (AV8 instead of AV6). He scurried his Destroyers over to the normal sized objective building while I searched in both of mine. The second turn the building came down and took out a Slayer along with 6 bases of warriors! I got one of my objectives off the board, and he got a measure of revenge on my hunters with his own units. Turn 3 saw my Desolator, Despoiler and the remaining Hunters open up on the second building, and down it went along with any chance he had of winning. I did feel a bit mean, but it was a strategy that worked! My last warrior group took their sweet time finding the last objective, and I only got it because I used a card to activate them before my opponents commander could come to blow them up. After that the battle became a scrap over the focus point - I had two destroyers in a building in range, and the last turn saw every flyer he had open up on it - the Desolator rolled a 1 and the game ended with only 1HP left on the building! The points value of the Destroyers got me the focal point and a 6-1 victory - 14-6 with no extra VP’s for me as I’d sacrificed most of my units to win the game! Lessons Learned - Have a plan and stick with it - he didn’t get what I was planning until it was to late - I moseyed my Desolator up the middle saying “so it can react” - covering the fact it’s mission was always to bring down that second objective building. Also apparently Reavers get 2 shots, not the one I’d been using this entire tournament! I feel like an idiot! I’ve been playing Scourge with 50% efficient AA since I started the game! Final placing - 28th out of 39! about where I expected to be!
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Feb 12, 2015 06:01
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Dave Brookshaw posted:For those who weren't at Invasion, the first set of named characters are up for pre-order on Hawk's site.
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Feb 12, 2015 11:26
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Safety Factor posted:It's nice to see all of them painted up, but, man, Foley has a really garish color scheme. I was actually a little surprised that they didn't show off the remaining special characters at Invasion. I'm kind of looking forward to when Caine gets released so I have an excuse to run a stupid flying robot circus with my PHR. We got new command options instead so it's not like I'm about to complain. The rest of the famous commanders are coming in the second half of this year. The new standard command units may be on sale at Salute (april?) apparently, with experimental rules out around the same time. Also, I gather that the new space game (which might be called Dropfleet) is going to be shown at Salute. And we might see some of the possibly three new Infantry units per faction along with a new book towards the end of the year. So it's looking like Hawk are drip feeding stuff out over the course of 2015.
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Feb 12, 2015 11:34
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Safety Factor posted:It's nice to see all of them painted up, but, man, Foley has a really garish color scheme. I was actually a little surprised that they didn't show off the remaining special characters at Invasion. I'm kind of looking forward to when Caine gets released so I have an excuse to run a stupid flying robot circus with my PHR. We got new command options instead so it's not like I'm about to complain. They had one of the second-wave Resistance Commanders (the one with the giant drill,) but yeah. I was a bit disappointed that the new PHR HQ unit (not Barros) is *another* Type-4. The Scourge get a funky crab-monster, the UCM that gigantic assault flier, and the PHR get Barros' model with a Hyperion laser as a tail gun.
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Feb 12, 2015 12:11
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That was a great write-up, even though I'm mega new to DZC, mobility seems to be a very big factor and Stalkers just don't really have the mobility, although perhaps not going overboard with walkers might help too.
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Feb 12, 2015 13:14
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Dave Brookshaw posted:
I had mixed feelings there too. I still *DO WANT* a Nemesis, particularly as I don't have a standard Hades yet, but I was hoping for something more new than a variant. The positive though is that I'm not really desperate to buy a famous commander and as they are not tournament legal I probably won't ever see the two side by side on the table.
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Feb 12, 2015 14:08
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Yeah, the new type-4 command unit was a little disappointing, but I can't blame Hawk for wanting to get more mileage out of that sculpt. It's a great model, I just would have rather seen something new. I feel similarly about the new Shaltari grav-tank unit. It will probably be nice to have, but it's nothing special. On the other hand, the Scourge crab and UCM super gunship are seriously cool. I am really looking forward to when they start pumping out those extra infantry options. The only ones shown so far are the power armored UCM troopers and the little Scourge flying monsters and they're only in the design stages at the moment, but I feel like there's some breathing room for most of the factions. Especially for PHR and Shaltari as they each only have two infantry units. It's nice to see that Hawk is doing well enough to continue expanding the range while working on a brand new game.
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Feb 12, 2015 15:49
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Grey Hunter posted:I faced them once and spoke to another guy who used them, and they just don't seem to do it - yeah they are a longer more powerful ranged shot, but they are to slow, and 2 extra armour seems to be less useful than the +2 accuracy penalty for shooting at skimmers. I guess it depends who you're playing. I never really face off against UCM that often, but the skies are choked with blast weapons so I often saw a pack of Hunters get mauled by the large blast, despite the acc penalty
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Feb 12, 2015 16:54
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Well, one of the Hawks (either Simon or Dave) said that the Hera, the heavy jump-walker the second PHR named character uses, will probably come out as an independent model as using the sculpt for just her mech would be wasteful.
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Feb 12, 2015 16:55
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Dave Brookshaw posted:Well, one of the Hawks (either Simon or Dave) said that the Hera, the heavy jump-walker the second PHR named character uses, will probably come out as an independent model as using the sculpt for just her mech would be wasteful. I figured something like that would happen eventually and they're right to do it. It could just end up as another generic command option and that'd be totally fine.
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Feb 12, 2015 17:15
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Hey, new thread! Snazzy. Time for my yearly check in to see if anyone plays this game in the triangle NC area. I've had a Shaltari starter for ages and I've only played a couple of games since people are too interested in 40k and fantasy.
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Feb 12, 2015 20:39
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I watched a couple of battle reports of this on YouTube a while ago, and the game actually seemed a lot more static than I was expecting from the description in the op. Gameplay seemed to be a combination of a rush for infantry to get to objectives, and everything else slowly moving around whittling away at the enemy. Once infantry was in place it was down to endless dice rolls turn after turn, with building combat being nowhere near as decisive as I expected, until someone gets the objective and bugs out. I guess I was expecting more extractions and hot drops, and not just for infantry. Command cards didn't seem to have much impact either. Were these games outliers? What does a normal game play like?
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Feb 12, 2015 21:43
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Depends on the scenario I guess, but the couple games I played were mad rushes and calculated sacrifices of armor to protect your infantry and objectives, and eliminate the enemies'. Games are 6 turns, and it takes 2 to reach the objectives generally and 2 to extract off board for the bonus VP. I found it way more mobile than something like FoW or 40k. Then again, I also have Shaltari, which are all about movement shenanigans.
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Feb 12, 2015 21:49
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I hardly ever redeploy Mechs as a PHR player. Infantry, sure - they jump in and out of Tritons all the time. Scanner Drones getting back into their Triton a couple of times. Shaltari players redeploy all the time, and it's them I'm most experienced against. Although my group now has an enthusiastic Scourge player, so we'll see.
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Feb 12, 2015 22:27
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Dave Brookshaw posted:Well, one of the Hawks (either Simon or Dave) said that the Hera, the heavy jump-walker the second PHR named character uses, will probably come out as an independent model as using the sculpt for just her mech would be wasteful. Safety Factor posted:I figured something like that would happen eventually and they're right to do it. It could just end up as another generic command option and that'd be totally fine. Agreed, I'm expecting the core of that new 'rarely seen Hera' walker to be re-purposed as a new line unit which frankly is of more interest to me than Jocasta Caine herself. I can't argue with the economics of re-using sculpts when you are running a small company in a niche market. Mould making is a very expensive business so you really need to make good use of them! Presumably the new unit will either be a 'rarely seen Hera' with some outlandish ability or a fourth class of type 3 (Apollo, Erebos, Jocasta's Hera and something else). Thirsty Dog posted:I watched a couple of battle reports of this on YouTube a while ago, and the game actually seemed a lot more static than I was expecting from the description in the op. I have yet to see a DzC youtube video that was as engaging as actually playing it tbh. How much repositioning you do is going to vary from game to game of course but also with the forces being used. PHR for example I have heard called 'the walking turret army' due to their slow moves but long ranges, you aim to get them onto the ground then start shooting. Shaltari on the other hand uses their gates to move all over the place. Many objectives do involve getting the objective back off the table once secured which is where your extractions come in, but redeploying everything can be a trade off given that units which embark/disembark give up their opportunity to shoot in the same turn. Choosing when to get back in the dropship, or how long to stay in it it, becomes a significant choice. You are right that infantry tend to rush objectives when you have a scenario using them, as seizing objectives is key to victory and only infantry go into buildings to get them. It generally is a rush to secure them quickly for an early advantage then try to prevent the enemy from catching up. On the other hand, I tend to find Close Quarter Battles to be usually quite decisive, especially where elite troops like PHR Sirens are involved. I had a PHR vs PHR game the other day with two squads of my basic infantry (Immortals) vs 1 squad of his basics plus a squad of Sirens who are CQB monsters. I was wiped out in a single round! Command card use varies. As what you are drawing is random, you won't always have a card that is relevant to use every turn. I find that when the cards are used they feel significant, but they might not be used in every turn. Having the ability to re-roll missed shots with a unit at a pivotal moment can feel huge. The purpose of the cards is really to add a more unpredictable element to the game that can spice things up, rather than being the main event.
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Feb 13, 2015 00:11
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Redeployment of ground units is rarer due to the loss of a round shooting - you really never want your AA to not be able to shoot, and as long as something is in range of your anti-armour, your often better off engaging them. Troops tend to redeploy like anything though - get that objective, abandon that building, take that focal point - Infantry are the least glamorous but most useful unit. That said,turn 6 of a focal point mission will see people jumping into transports like anything - after annihilating my opponent in a hour and a half of a 2.5 hour slot, I started watching the game next to me, where there was next to no shooting on turn 6 as both sides used their drop ships to cram as many units into the 6" around the focal point as possible! Command cards are key - sure, there are going to be times when you are looking at a hand of CQB cards and all your infantry are dead, but then there are the times when you play a card that allows you to re-roll initiative with a higher command value. Or you move your troops those few extra inches that means your opponents units who were just safe are now in range of all your MBT's. Or the time you have the objective but your drop ship was shot down - CALL FOR EXTRACTION! look who just got the objective off the field and won the game! I think a lot of the videos have low CV commanders, and are not drawing enough cards to get the good ones.
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Feb 13, 2015 09:47
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I actually ended up picking up the Resistance starter set with the intention of making a Feral Resistance force. So I've picked up a pair of Cyclone gunships for my planned larger army, but I'm currently going to built to 750 points which looks likequote:
You may note that there's no commander in it, well I can't really fit it in (7 points over) which is why I went overboard with the AA guns on the Dropships. It'll scale better to 1000 points or whatever, but at this level it's hard to fit many things in.
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Feb 18, 2015 13:19
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Even at 1500 points you really have to work at making the stuff you want/need fit. I think it's a strength of the game that you are always having to compromise somewhere.
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Feb 18, 2015 14:07
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I really want to use the AH-16 Cyclones I have, conversely, I'd like to be able to use a commander with the command deck as well.
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Feb 18, 2015 22:17
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Leo Showers posted:I really want to use the AH-16 Cyclones I have, conversely, I'd like to be able to use a commander with the command deck as well. I went up against a list with four Cyclones at Invasion. I never stood a chance - those barrage weapons just hurt!
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Feb 19, 2015 08:39
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I had my first two proper games of gayzone commander today I'll write it up when I'm not drunk
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Feb 19, 2015 13:33
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Okay, so this is a quick write up on the first two games of Dropzone Commander. We used the 2 player starter set, I played the Scourge and my friend played the UCM. We played 'Lightning Raid' both times. Game 1 I won initiative so I elected to let the UCM activate first, he moves his dropships up the center, unloads his Sabres and Rapiers but critically keeps his fully loaded Bear APCs in their dropship. I send my Marauder dropship up my "right" side and unload Warriors into the "right" objective, with the second Invader APC moving to contest the centre. My Hunters and Reapers move behind the centre building with the objective, with the dropships positioned behind them. UCM wins turn 2 initiative, so he begins to move his tanks up to engage the building my Warriors are in, his Rapiers are near the centre and critically he moves his fully laden infantry dropship from before to the "left" side, which is dangerously close to my Reaper AA tanks. Sensing an opportunity, I move my Reapers into the open and pray for initiative. Amazingly, I roll a 6 for initiative for turn 3 and win it, so I run my Reapers up and engage and destroy the infantry's dropship, with everything "destroyed in the air". This basically loses the game for him here because he has no infantry to contest the objective, anyway my Warriors on the "right" objective grab it and begin extracting on their dropship. This is when we called it because he had no way on stopping me. Game 2 Game 2 unfolded much like game 1 would've if he didn't lose all of his infantry. We used similar moves (except this time I was attacking the "left" objective. A brutal CQB fight ended up occuring in the middle building which ended up going until the end of the game, we both had claimed an objective so it was decided on kill points. All in all this game was much closer, I had killed all of his dropships and Sabres but he killed my Hunters, I was in a position to finally win the CQB in the middle but my claimed objective had their Invader APC shot out from under them, meaning I needed the middle objective to be extracted to win. I noted that the UCM had be very "mission focused" this time and managed to contain my extremely aggressive attacks by making very good trades. His AA tanks were absolute MVPs here and they almost won him the game. Final Thoughts Dropzone Commander is extremely fun and I am totally sold on the gameplay, it's exactly what I like in a minatures game and I think it's very well designed with solid rules that don't really have any bloat. My opponent criticised the ability to give the Skimmer bonus to a skimmer that didn't move (I declared that it moved and back and it was over 6") but thats more because he had a hard time shooting my Hunters with Sabres, and the 5+ to hit sucks (compared to my 2+). I feel that this is balanced by the versatility of the Rapier AA tanks, which are effective at engaging the Hunters, if you keep the Sabres with the Rapiers it is a difficult prospect to attack. Next game I'll be using my Feral Resistance probably, although I really enjoyed the fast-paced playstyle of the Scourge.
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Feb 20, 2015 04:52
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Watched my first game of DzC today, I'm pretty sold on it now. Love the look of the Resistance as it reminds me very much of the GLA from CNC Generals. Annoyingly they are the most expensive starter. I imagine the cheapest place to get starters are at the usual suspects like Miniature Market?
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Feb 22, 2015 07:04
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