Dropping in to Drropzone Commander

I'm my quest to experience more new games this year, along with backing the recent Dropfleet Commander Kickstarter it seemed prudent to give Hawk Wargames Dropzone Commander a whirl.

It can be quite daunting going into an established game completely cold, however the games club I attend has a few DZC players so I was able to arrange an intro game with David, and was also lucky enough to acquire a starter set at a fantastic price from Chaos Cards. 

Thus primed and with my freshly painted UCM force from the starter set still tacky, I arrived at the club for a 4 player game, using nothing but 2 starters worth of terrain, and the forces from  the sets. 

 Despite only the host of the game actually knowing the rules, the 3 of us picked up the basics very quickly, and before long the game was in full swing with drop ships swooping in to drop units in, pick up objectives, and masses of things exploding. 

Men of the match have to be my legionnaires who stormed a building, swagged some Intel, and then spent the rest of the game shooting anything that came within range to pieces. 

I was impressed with the game, everything felt dramatic and whilst the rules were simple the flow of the activation mechanic meant that every move had to be be carefully considered, and it felt like the challenge was the tactical situation, as opposed to trying to wrestle with the rules. 

The background to the universe the game is set in is intriguing as well, with mankind attempting to retake its worlds from an alien occupier after a long exile, and for once is the aggressor rather than the defender from another alien menace. 

The science and model range is all quite believable technologically too, everything has a very grounded.

 

At first the 10mm scale models were a little daunting, however I'm quite enjoying being able to paint a platoon in an evening after work, there's something deeply satisfying about getting a handful of tanks turned around in a few hours. 

You can see the pics of my test APC, and some of the rest of my army in action in the pictures around this post. 

I've already ordered the reconquest book and some reinforcements, and am very happy to add another game to my rotation. You can find out more on Dropzone Commander at the Hawk Wargames Website, and see more of my painting at Volley Fire Painting Service.