Dropzone Commander Rules Review

My Dropzone Commander rules arrived a couple of weeks ago, and after reading the book through I'm ready to write up my thoughts.

Presentation

The book is 152 colour pages printed on a nice glossy paper. Throughout are more photos of the miniatures taken in scenery which look amazing. The cover itself is a photo with special effects added, that brings the miniatures to life. The rules sections have some nice clear diagrams and there are plenty of pictures highlighting the technology and units released in the first wave. My only complaint is that the text does go a little close to the spine meaning you have to open the book wider than you may like. Then again, not everyone is as precious about not breaking spines on books as me.

There is a nice write up of the background to the setting at the start, giving the rules a grounding in the background. Nothing ground breaking in the background, but it is solid and well thought out. Each faction gets a couple of pages of background before a complete list of the units in the initial release wave. As a bonus you also get some alternate schemes painted up for those that aren’t taken with the studio schemes.

Rules

This is my opinion based on a read through of the rules.  Obviously to get a full understanding of them, there is not substitute to playing, but I'm still putting together my starter armies.

The first thing that struck me as I read the rules was how simple it is, while still maintaining depth. It’s great to see a sci-fi game where the focus can be on shooting, with infantry combat being only a minor aspect. In fact infantry combat seems to be one of the more complicated areas of the game. I need to read that section again to get a decent grasp on what’s going on. G

I think the game meshes ground based and aerial combat well, with fighters mainly being called in for strafing runs and not having to hang around on board being shot at. Given the scale, battlefield manoeuvrability comes from the dropships which will make battles much more fluid. Having your units move around under their own power actually can result in very little movement depending on the unit.

Another excellent feature is the turn sequence, which sees each player activating small portions of their forces at a time, allowing for strategic reactions to your opponents actions. No longer will you find you forces annihilated in a single turn and being unable to react. Instead you have a chance to try and repair poor tactical decisions, or at least run away from what’s killing you.

Terrain plays a major role in the game, as does playing scenarios rather than straight up annihilate the enemy battles. The book comes with a selection of scenarios with options to improve them based on the points size of the battle you are playing. In the scenarios objectives are located within buildings meaning your infantry has to go in and get them. Without terrain, the game would very quickly go to the force with the longest range, which isn’t all that fun.

For added tactical fun, each faction has a command deck that they can draw from and gain important bonuses. This simulates the actions of the commander on the battlefield, and each deck has a number of staples across each faction, and faction specific cards. The faction specific cards go towards building the feel of each army, and could help you save that vital unit from destruction. The number of cards you draw is limited to the level of your commander, and many of the abilities only work within an area of them, meaning you’ll need your commander up near the action. The decks don’t come with the rules unfortunately, but each starter army comes with them, or they can be bought for an additional £5. Alternatively you could not use them in your games, although that would limit the usefulness of Commander units within the game.

Perhaps the area with the most complexity is the army construction rules, although this does seem to be partly due to future proofing than anything else. Also, with so few army options at the moment, you might find yourself falling quite short of the points limits.

Conclusion

Overall, I'm extremely happy with the Dropzone Commander rules. They have lived up to the promise of the miniatures and I eagerly await a chance to give these rules a try. The book is a bargain at £15 with a decent amount of fluff mixed in with the rules.

With luck I’ll be getting a game in at the end of the month, and I’ll write up thoughts on how the game plays then.