Dropzone Commander - the Factions

One thing a lot of people ask about are the different factions.  I'm not a total expert on every unit of the game. Having played against everything except the Resistance I do have a bit of knowledge. I've also watched and read a lot of battle reports detailing the various units, tactics, and strategies for each faction.  Here is a down and dirty primer for each of the forces.  Keep in mind these are my opinions based off of data I have gathered and observed. Please correct me and add your opinions as well!

The United Colonies of Mankind

The UCM would be considered the heroes of DZC.  The protagonists of the story if you will. Mankind was driven from the cradle of civilization by the Scourge. 200 years later they have amassed a war machine of epic scale with the sole purpose of retaking their home worlds and driving the Scourge out.  DZC begins on the eve of Reconquest - the retaking of Eden.

Pros
* Strong Armor - almost all of the UCM tanks have an armor of 10
* Articulated weapons - most of the UCM tanks can lift their weapons over obstacles and remain in cover
* They pack a punch - Main Battle tanks have cannons of energy 10 - shredding lower armor units
Cons
* Low damage points - Most armor only has 1 DP. Armor 10 is nice but enough fire will still shred your forces
* No skimming or passive saves - the UCM does not have anything to mitigate hits or damage.  This is not a complaint just a statement.
* No Demolition - their weapons have no extra impact when trying to destroy buildings.

Play style for the UCM
I play aggressively with the UCM but you have to be careful. Moving your units to far ahead and spreading them out can leave them exposed.  Plus the UCM has decent range to reach out and touch someone.

The Scourge
If the UCM are the protagonists of DZC then the Scourge would be the Antagonists. The Scourge invaded the Cradle of Humanity close to 200 years ago. They are a parasitic species who take over their hosts. The upside to this is the Scourge try to take as much intact instead of laying waste to their opponents. The cities of Mankind are mostly up and running instead of a desolate landscape.

Pros
* Fast - the Scourge are fast! They have the ability to cross the battlefield and take the fight to their enemy.
* Skimming - when Scourge skimmers move 6 or more inches in a turn they can skim -making it harder for their enemies to hit
* Hard hitting - the UCM have energy 10 weapons.  The Scourge have some weapons E11 or higher.

Cons
* Short range - while the Scourge have hard hitting weapons they have to get into your face to use them. That means exposing themselves to lots of fire
* Weaker Armor - that speed and skimming does come at a price.  Their vehicles can be taken down by weaker weapons

Playstyle
If you like aggressive, fast moving, driving down your enemies throats then the Scourge are for you!

The Post Human Republic
Just before the Scourge invasion a small white orb landed on earth.  It was more advanced than anything humanity had encountered.  This orb connected to every computer terminal, network, device, and told humanity to go to a set of coordinates in space.  It warned of a coming threat.  A small percentage of Humanity went to this rally point.  They were branded traitors as they fled.  200 years later, on the eve of Reconquest the UCM were approached by a technologically superior race. They looked human, but were almost more human than human.  They revealed themselves as the decedents of those who fled and became the PHR - cybernetically enhanced humans. They are mysterious and have an agenda - though it has not been revealed. The UCM treat the PHR as traitors and despise them.

Pros
* Demolition - many of the PHR weapons have Demolition, meaning that if you need a building destroyed these are your units
* Long range - most of the PHR weapons can reach out and smack someone.
* Multiple damage points - a lot of their heavier units can take more punches than the UCM or Scourge

Cons
* SLOW - many of the PHR units will only move 3 inches.It can take them a while to get to a Focus Point unless dropped.
* Expensive - the PHR have some of the most units on the game. They'll have fewer units to fight and contest, despite their blistering arsenal.

Playstyle
Slow and steady wins the race.  The PHR can remove buildings with objectives. They can also make you think twice before infantry move into a building. Falling masonry is a pain.

The Shaltari
The Shaltari are the elder race of the game who have plied the space ways for centuries.  I explain them as the Minbari from Babylon 5 - they are the oldest race, ancient, highly advanced technology, and mysterious in their objectives.  Unlike the Minbari the Shaltari are not unified. They are broken up into different tribes.  Those tribes don't always get along.
 Pros
* Gates - unlike the other races who have dedicated transports for their units the Shaltari have gates. These gates allow them to teleport units back and forth.  The gates are not tied to a specific unit so two different units could potentially use the same gate at some point.
* Passive saves - The Shaltari have point defense systems and shields that can allow them to shrug off a shot.  If you hit a Shaltari unit with passives they make a die roll and if high enough ignore the hit.

Cons
* Expensive - their units pay for the privileged of Gates and passive saves.
* Can get Stuck - the Shaltari cannot teleport objectives off the board. The objectives remain with the gate.  Destroy the Shaltari Gates and their units are stranded and forced to try and walk objectives off the board.

Playstyle
The Shaltari are a fast deploying force who can move whole units from one side of the board to another using their gates. This gives them immense flexibility to handle incursions and help get them get into place to stop enemy infantry from taking objectives.

The Resistance
I know only a little about the Resistance.  When humanity was driven from the Cradle Worlds they became the UCM.  Those who were left behind fled underground and formed their own society.  The Resistance.  The Resistance found that the Scourge could not travel underground very far and moved deep and began to rebuild.  Some remained organized and had social order. Others turned to the their more primal nature and became warlords, the Ferals.

Pros
* high armor and damage points - a lot of the Resistance have thick armor and can take a punch or two
* UCM Plus - the Resistance have access to some UCM units, only they are better
* A drill - since the Resistance are underground they have a drill that can come up anywhere on the battlefield to disgorge units.

Cons
* No countermeasures - the other four races have countermeasures - point defense systems, ablative armor, whatever you want to call it, that means you have to be in a certain range to hit them.  not so with the Resistance.  That UCM railgun that normally only has a 24" range against countermeasured units can strike with impunity anywhere within line-of-site

Playstyle
I'm not sure about the play style, yet. So far I've only seen a handful of BatReps with the Resistance. I'm hoping to go against them soon, however.

There it is - my quick impressions of each of the DZC factions. I'm sure I've left things out or glossed over them.  If you have any comments or questions please let me know!

Dropzone Commander - Not sold on Fast Movers

There are many moving parts in the machine that is Dropzone Commander.  One of those parts is the Fast Mover. The fluff describes Fast Movers as that critical airstrike that takes out a vehicle, building, or hard hitting unit behind enemy lines.  The theory is that the fast mover comes on, strafes the target and obliterates it, then flies off the table and then circles back for another round.  So far I have not seen the Fast Mover worth the points paid.

Fast Movers have some gorgeous models. Above are a pair of UCM Archangels. I didn't paint them - those are shamelessly borrowed from Hawk's website. The idea is when they are activated they will fly on and rain death on other aircraft or soft targets. However there are a few considerations.

1) In all battles I've seen they start in reserve. Translation - while ground units start on readiness and can come onto the board upon their activation. With units in reserve you have to roll on the Reserve Table.  Chances are this unit will not make it onto the table until turn 3 or 4 unless you are very lucky.

2) Even if you do make the Reserves roll you have to check and see if the Fast Mover is ready. Another die roll - and a roll of a 1 and the pilots are joyriding around, having a smoke and a drink, something.  Still more points sitting off the table.

3) If you do make your reserve roll AND you make the readiness check you still have to paint the target (so to speak) set your entry and exit point, and make the run.  If you are against a PHR player they have some nasty AA units. They'll hit on a 4 (and that is with the Reaction fire) and destroy you on a 3.  One Damage Point is pretty flimsy.  Oh, and they have a 24" range so unless you are skimming at 2" and not the normal 6" you have a pretty decent chance of being shot down before you even reach your target. The gun on the Archangel has a 12" range and without the ability to pre-measure you really are pressing your luck.

The PHR Athena - still not painted by me!

I guess some tricks to use are to try and get the enemy AA to fire before you try to activate your Fast Mover but a savvy opponent will leave one ready to blast you out of the sky unless there is an opportunity or reason they cannot.

In the two times I have attempted to use the Fast Movers they have not paid for themselves.  I've seen a couple of games with them used - and even when they were not shot down they did not do much. I've seen a lot of battle reports and the general mantra is "They look great but usually die a gruesome death."

I'll have to check out the Forward Observer rules but so far I am underwhelmed by this aspect of the game.  I NEARLY picked up some archangels until  I actually proxied a pair.  More work will have to be done to get me to commit my hard earned cash to add them to my current army.

What are your thoughts on the Fast Movers?  Have you had any better luck? Any strategies I should try? Hawk took the time to design and write rules for them, I hate to leave them off the table.

Dropzone Commander - the Unboxing

One way that I judge a new game is the introductory boxed set. Some come with a few models, a cheap rulebook, but not enough to really get started.  I knew what I was getting, I had done some research. It's one thing to read about it on another site but totally different when you actually get it. Hawk has done an outstanding job with their two player starter set. enough words - on with the opening!

This is the large and heavy box I got in the mail after ordering the two player starter set.

 With the tape broken and the boxed now open I saw my prize for the first time! I love the cover art.

The back of the box to let you know just what you are getting into.  Oh the excitment!

Pulling back the bubble wrap I'm greeted by plastic sprues. They are gorgeous!  The boxed set comes with three of the same sprue for UCM as well as the Scourge.  This is the full starting force for both UCM and Scourge. Once you assemble your models you can start playing.

You get an extra Bear APC which can be proxied as a Kodiak until you get the actual model. The plastic is sturdy and hard.  All the models have great detail except for the infantry.  I'll live with that since once they are on the table you won't notice the lack of details on them.

Along with the two full starting forces you get ten buildings.  My only complaint was one of the buildings was kind of scrunched.  Hawk might think of a better way to package them, but with a little work and tacky glue I was able to sort it out. As complaints go - another very minor one. The building was still usable.

You also get two large city maps to put together for your battlefield. There are two starter army quick reference sheets that also have the cheat sheets for energy to armor damage ratios. You get a full sheet of tokens for objectives, focal points, possible objectives. You get the blast/landing zone templates.  The big deal here is the FULL Dropzone Commander 1.1 rulebook. The book is beautifully illustrated and contains all of the core races (before the Reconquest expansion) and lots pictures of fully painted miniatures for reference.

But wait - there's more!
On top of the two full starter sets, tokens, buildings, and rulebook you also gets . . .

Ten decently sized D6s and a tape measure. Not some red S&M whip thingy, but an honest to goodness tape measure.  You get all of this for between $75 and $95 depending on how you order your gaming stuff.

This is surely a loss leader for Hawk but it did the job for me.  I got the starter set and then immediately began to formulate the expansion for my UCM army.  Two friends (or even acquaintances) can each get a boxed set and trade one set of models for the other - and you can get about 1100 points for each.


I was hoping they would do an alternate release of the starter set but with PHR and the Shaltari - but I'm happy that they are about to release those starter armies in plastic as well.

Hawk has done a bang up job of providing a starter set that you get everything you need to start the game and play. You have two full and viable forces that you can learn the tricks and tactics of. From there you can begin expanding your army. If you are looking to start Dropzone Commander then the boxed set is a great way to go.

Cha Cha changes

Another big milestone is about to be passed in our lives.  Walker is moving to his biological father's house - full time. No more back and forth. No more of his room being empty half the time. There are a variety of reasons for this decision - the big one he does not want to do chores or pay rent.  I don't think he's ready to be a full time adult yet - so I wish him the best!

I'm of two minds - on the one hand I'm sad that he is moving out.  I've watched him grow from a young child into a young man.  I've watched him mature and learn, and I'm glad to have helped with that.  I've helped shape him into the man he is becoming.  He went to his fathers house for two weeks every summer as a part of the divorce but this will be the first time he'll be gone.

On the other hand I'm glad because we are going to turn his bedroom back into our den. I won't have to be a parent any more!  On the downside I'll be picking up his slack but as Sun pointed out we'd be doing this if he had gone off to college as well.

Right now we're packing up his stuff and getting it ready to move. Some of it is staying. We'll be storing his bed in case this whole thing does not work out.  Some of it will be pitched, some donated, some will go to the garage sale we are planning.

I don't know if I'll have "empty nest syndrome" or something like it. We still have the animals which demand attention and affection. It's also not like we're parting on bad terms. We're not evicting the boy - he chose this.  Granted we didn't fight too hard to stop him.

I guess this chapter of our lives is about to close and the page will turn.  A new chapter is about to begin!

Dropzone Commander

Dropzone Commander is my newest wargamming addiction.  DZC is produced by Hawk Wargames and is a 10mm scale game, meaning that its models are smaller than say those from Warhammer Fantasy or 40K.  It is vastly different than either of those two games and that is one of the reasons I really dig it.

I got seriously into wargames shortly after high school.  I saw Necromunda played and loved the models and the terrain.  That led me to Warhammer 40K.  That in turn led to Mordheim and eventually Warhammer Fantasy.  While I had enjoyed all of those games the fact that Games Workshop completely rewrote the rules every few years and seemed to make (IMO) boneheaded decisions I have since lost interest. That and the cost to get into either game is astronomical any more.

DZC plays differently than many other wargames.  It has an alternating activation sequence - meaning I activate a unit, they do their thing, then you activate a unit, and so on. The turns are very quick and you normally don’t sit around while your opponent moves their entire army.

The rules are tightly written and it’s almost as if they have an actual editor review them for clarity. This is refreshing after having to wade through interpretations in other systems (I’m looking at you GW). There are no spam units - every unit has its purpose and you cannot skimp on one over another.  Most of the missions are objective based - meaning that there is a goal and not just killing as many of your opponents units as you can.   You can destroy many more units than your opponent and still lose if you don’t meet the mission objectives. 

You need infantry to actually capture objectives inside of buildings.   You’ll need transports to move your infantry into position - APC’s and then dropships of some kind to get the APC’s into position.  You will need Anti-Air to shoot down and destroy the dropships.  You then need heavy armor to help destroy the AA.  There is also air support that comes on from one edge of the board, makes its run, and then flies off. The AA is designed for them as well.

If you don’t take enough infantry then you won’t be able to capture objectives.  Take too much infantry and you won’t be able to take as much AA or armor. Too much AA and you can control the skies but you’ll be vulnerable to the main battle tanks. Too much armor and your enemy can fly around you and ignore the deadly firepower.

The models are gorgeous and all to scale. The Condor dropship can be put together in such a way you can show it carrying three tanks or two Bear APC.  The PHR Poseidon can be assembled to show it carrying the walkers into battle.  You can put the Hunter tanks or Invader APC’s onto the Marauder dropship.

The boxed set is a great value as well - for about $75 you get TWO starter armies (UCM and Scourge), the full 1.1 rulebook, not some mini rulebook that has most of it cut. You get cardboard buildings for your battle field, two cityscape maps for the buildings. You get dice, even a tape measure (not some red whippy stick to harass your opponent with).  It’s a great way to get started. The models are plastic and go together easily.

I’ll be providing my views and thoughts on the various factions and units in the future.  Dropzone Commander has reignited my love of wargamming and I’m looking forward to the future with Hawk Wargames!

Updates

I didn't realize just how long it had been since I posted. Over a year. Wow. Real life happened, plus I got lazy.  I'm going to rectify that by a blog post at least once a week. Friday is my scheduled day (I've even set up a reminder in my phone!)

A lot has happened since the last post.  Some good. Some not so good. Shit happens as the saying goes.  Still, I want to get back to writing and trying to get more exposure. Upcoming posts will be about the changes we are going through, projects I am working on, and my new wargame addiction - Dropzone Commander!  I'll be spamming Facebook, G+, and Twitter once new things are up. Feel free to read through and post comments!

Security in an MMO

First off - I'm not talking about the username/password or hacking of an account. I'm talking about the lackeys that the good guys and villains use for their actual security. For example, in World of Warcraft you sneak into a fortress with roaming guards. Unable to sneak by them  you kill them all in a very gruesome manner. It is loud, bloody, and usually over pretty quickly.

Just down the hall there is another group of guards who are so deaf or incompetent that they don't hear or notice that you just murdered their fellow guards. It gets better. The corpses of the guards you just killed are laying out in the open. Another group of guards wanders by and doesn't notice the bodies. Or the bloody footprints that have been tracked away.They don't say "Wow, Jim was alive the last time I saw him," or "I wonder if I should report that Jim and Bob were killed while on patrol." Nope they just keep wandering around and don't sound the alarm.

If you are much higher in level than the guards they will totally ignore you. They'll just wander by probably thinking "If I don't make eye contact maybe they won't kill me like, poor Bob and Jim."

Star Wars the Old Republic is even worse. Here you have some places with advanced communications. Instead of roving patrol number 1 reporting "A Jedi has breached the compound, alert" all the guards do is fight back and usually fall to their grizzly deaths by light saber.

I realize these are games but still!  It's like I've invaded a James Bond Villains underground lair and his henchmen are acting like they are extra's on loan from Dr. Evil. Villains are often some of the most creative characters but in an MMO their Rent-A-Cop security shows why the good guys always seem to win.