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.

DropZone Commander Miniature Review

Since being premièred at Salute 2012, Hawk Wargames DropZone Commander has been an eagerly awaited release. We have been teased with gorgeous images of the units but now we have them in our hands!!

The pre-orders for DzC came during a self imposed spending freeze on gaming, however I justified a small purchase of some mini’s for “review purposes”. So, I suppose I’d better do a review.

I purchased 3 models, a Jaguar Warstrider from the Shaltari faction, and a pair of Hyperion Heavy Walkers and a Neptune Medium Dropship from the PHR. Given I'm likely to go either with Shaltari or PHR when I invest in an army, I picked things that the starter sets didn't include, but seemed useful in the long run. Without a look at the army building rules, I was shooting in the dark, but I think I've succeded.

Here they are in their blister packs. Packaging is decent, with enough foam packaging to avoid the parts rattling around too much, while the blister pack itself is a pretty standard clamshell design. Down side of these packs were the lack of identifying markings on the outside of the pack. I would expect that retail packages will come with a sticker somewhere on the outside to inform the customer what they are picking up, otherwise I can see new players picking up the wrong blisters.

Lets take a look at what you get in each blister.

Jaguar Warstrider

Hyperion Heavy Walkers

Neptune Dropship

The first thing you notice when you've got the parts in hand is the detail. It is amazingly detailed, exactly as the preview pictures on the website show. Companies sell us on resin minatures because of the detail it offers, but they rarely produce models that take advantage of it. Hawk Wargames, however, have show what can be achieved with resin minatures! They are so detailed I'm almost scared to undercoat them in case I loose some of it.

The new widget that comes with the Neptune Dropship is a great idea, making transport of the air models so much easier.

Taking a closer look, there are some obvious flashing that needed to be removed, but very few mould lines. Having worked with other companies resin/plastic resin models, I'm very impressed with how this formula handles. The flashing was easily removed with either a side cutter or knife, with no cracking, and it was all located in flat areas so no detail was lost. Mould lines were easily filed away, as were the odd blemish. The underside of the Jaguar's "head" hadn't quite come out as crisp as the rest of it, but nothing a small drill didn't rectify. Across the 3 models I found only 3 air bubbles, that will easily be cleaned up with some liquid green stuff.

Games Workshop take note, this is how you ship resin models. Perhaps you should ask Hawk Wargames for some tips?

The miniatures went together beautifully, with only super glue needed to bond the pieces together securely. If anything, it was a little too quick to bond as you get next to no time to tweak the positioning of legs. However, we shouldn't complain, then these models shouldn't need any pinning at all.

Jaguar Warstrider

Neptune Medium Dropship

Hyperion Heavy Walkers

I've been waiting eagerly for these miniatures, and I have not been disappointed. If the rest of the range is this good, then we are in for a real treat. I cannot wait to get painting these, although first I need to decide on a paint scheme.

My only regret, I didn't pre-order the rule book at the same time. However, I know a few people with one, so I'm hoping to nab a look at one in the near future. When I have, expect a review of the rules.