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Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/06/11 23:49:06


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


This system hasn't seen much discussion on Dakka recently, other than rumors of its demise. I'll try to keep everything updated as often as I can. However, TTCombat's new site is difficult for anyone using an Apple product who wants to share photos.

First of all, Battle For Earth is the latest expansion for both games, with DZC 2nd Ed rules and DFC rules for destroyers, monitors, Dreadnaughts...and the Resistance faction. The Resistance fleet has some of the best spaceship miniatures ever released in my opinion, so well worth checking out. If you just want to play DZC, there is a rulebook for 10 pounds.

New releases:
There is a new 2 player starter set:


New starters with TWICE as many minis for Scourge, UCM and now Shaltari, each 35 pounds (about $50).


They are also selling the cardboard terrain for 20 pounds per pack, both in whole and ruins form.


They have also released variant tanks and air units for each faction over the last few months. Not going to link them all.

Rumors:
The behemoths are in the rule book, and some pictures of them are floating around the web. Each faction gets 2 options for heavy and light mechs.

There have also been images of Kalium vehicles spotted, and possibly a plastic Resistance starter on the horizon.

The huge anti-starship laser has a model in scale with DZC out there, but I'm not sure it's official or upcoming or what.

=====
For Dropfleet, they released some new play mats:
https://community.ttcombat.com/2020/06/05/new-releases-gaming-mats/

And for anyone who hasn't seen the Resistance fleet, here you go:
Starter:



Grand Cruiser:


Grand Battlecruiser:


Grand Battleship:



Rumors:
Resistance have yet to see destroyers and monitors. Every faction is getting a Lighter. Some other type of vessel is also upcoming, possibly a minelayer or boarding vessel. And Andy Chambers confirmed he is working on something for TTCombat, most likely Dropverse-related.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/06/11 23:54:31


Post by: AegisGrimm


Both Resistance fleets are damn beautiful, and the fluff is a great way to include them, from what little I have gleaned online.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/06/12 00:07:08


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


They are the best faction for creating your own...er, “chapter”. The background for the two official flavors is really fun, while blowing the potential sandbox way open for players who want to do their own thing.

On the FB group there are people converting Resistance fleets Modeled after BSG, B5 and even Star Wars. It’s a tremendously versatile kit.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/06/12 00:21:13


Post by: ingtaer


Do love those Resistance ships, am intrigued as to what people are using them for in B5, Raiders fits nicely but anything else Bob?


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/06/12 00:41:16


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


I’ll see if I can find and link to the images, but there were a couple guys who used the Resistance and station kits to create “close enough” facsimiles to Earthforce One, Omega Class Destroyers, Hyperions, and I think a Nova Class? Ironic because none of them made a Warlocke Class Destroyer even though that should have been the most straight-forward conversion.

Also, a lot of Scourge conversions take visual cues from the Shadows or Minbari.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Can’t get the pictures to copy on my phone. I’ll try the computer tomorrow.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/06/12 02:28:03


Post by: Vertrucio


I believe that's a new sculpt for the UCM light dropships, looking good.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/06/12 03:55:50


Post by: privateer4hire


Cool news.

For comparison with the original DZC starter, did the old one include a mat and cardboard buildings along with the book and 2 forces?


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/06/12 04:01:21


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


The plastics are the same, but each starter comes with a resin leader vehicle and a special (resin) dropship, which you’re probably right about being new. (The Shaltari get a far-gate or something.) However, there is also a new UCM Titania pattern dropship (in resin) that looks like a buffer, more angular version of the plastic drop ships for anyone who doesn’t like those.

We’re still waiting for the reboxed PHR starter and hopefully a Resistance starter in plastic.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/06/12 04:46:04


Post by: highlord tamburlaine


A resistance starter in plastic would be tempting.

I see what you mean about the unified paint scheme for the fleet now. Some of those big ships are mighty fine looking!


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/06/12 05:03:19


Post by: hotsauceman1


Depending on the price i might just pick up a started resistance for fun.
The game is still i think one of the most well crafted, well lored and well thought out games in the market.
Also, What is Kalium?


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/06/12 05:09:40


Post by: Vertrucio


Kalium, I think, is the resistance colony that went dark and just kept building ships, declaring itself independent from the UCM. This is why there's now a Resistance fleet in DFC beyond just a bunch of cobbled together ships.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/06/12 05:13:49


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


 privateer4hire wrote:
Cool news.

For comparison with the original DZC starter, did the old one include a mat and cardboard buildings along with the book and 2 forces?


Yes it did. The new starter doesn’t come with the cardboard terrain, but it comes with leader minis ...and I think it’s cheaper than the old one was. (I forget the retail price because it’s been years since I’ve seen the old starter not either discounted to move or jacked way up on the algorithms.)


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Kalium is a colony that broke off from the UCM early on by reconfiguring their Foldspace Nodes. They had a massive shipyard capable of building all the prewar ship designs, and they’ve kept it going for 170 years.

Kalium has a heavily-militarized population and extensive espionage network. They seem to be recruiting some of the worst “feral” warlords on the (Scourge-held) Cradle Worlds, and have gone to great lengths to acquire Scourge tech, including cloning vats.

Early on they experienced a lot of coups and civil strife before settling into the current totalitarian regime. Visually, Kalium takes a lot of cues from the Soviet Union and North Korea. (This leads to one blurb where Kalium insisted on taking Moscow and then got caught in the infamous Russian winter until the UCM sent cold-weather experts with proper gear to save them.) Anyway, their inclusion gives a template for what a colony isolated from the UCM might have looked like militarily. Many players have Resistance fleets that are at least in part composed of Kalium defectors or governments-in-exile, that kind of thing.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/06/12 19:41:08


Post by: Ragsta


Thanks for starting this page, Bob. I really like the look of those Resistance ships for kitbashing potential. To be honest I'm more of a BFG man but the possibilities ALL of the DFC kits presents are very good indeed.

Is there any way you can post pictures of what others have done with these kits without me embracing Facebook?


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/06/12 20:25:45


Post by: Crablezworth


The photography is fantastic, paintjobs too.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/09/03 22:27:48


Post by: Danny76


Resistance looks great.
Still haven’t even played the game, despite backing it from the start.
Made several Scourge, and UCM are ready to build.
Just never got round to looking at what’s best for a list..


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/06/12 20:38:48


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


 Ragsta wrote:
Thanks for starting this page, Bob. I really like the look of those Resistance ships for kitbashing potential. To be honest I'm more of a BFG man but the possibilities ALL of the DFC kits presents are very good indeed.

Is there any way you can post pictures of what others have done with these kits without me embracing Facebook?


I’ll try. For some reason, Facebook won’t let me direct link to images or save them on my phone to upload here. I do have a collection from around the web, but it’s limited. Are you mainly looking for Resistance builds? Also, I have a blog in the Painting and Modelling section with a few DFC kit bashes mixed in, and so do Kid Kyoto and Kestral.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Danny76 wrote:
Resistance looks great.
Still haven’t even played the game, despite backing it from the start.
Made several Scourge, and UCM are ready to build.
Just never got round to looking at what’s best for a list..


Depends how competitive you want to be. There’s a tactics page for Dropfleet on ...4chan?... that discusses the relative strengths and weaknesses of each ship in a faction, although it’s pretty heavy on the meme-speak. Typically, the gamers on Facebook recommend you have 2 strike cruisers per “starter set” (~500pts) and one troop ship per 1000pts (2 if you’re PHR), as well as plenty of fighter and bomber launch capacity. Resistance (And to a lesser extent Shaltari) is the odd faction out for this kind of list building. Resistance heavy frigates are very good gun-brawlers, along with the grand cruiser, but the cruisers seem to be most effective as troopships and launch carriers.

But for me, I just build the ships to look cool and then proxy them as whatever sounds fun. I don’t ever plan to play in a tournament.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/06/12 21:54:05


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


Ok, I contacted the guy with the awesome B5 conversions and got the files directly. This post’s for you, Intgaer.

[Thumb - C4C9E9F2-0155-4E38-B56C-05516DD20BED.jpeg]
[Thumb - 9AA03CF0-5B56-4E85-A447-867F6B68A959.jpeg]
[Thumb - C310B1AF-63F9-4A72-BE81-27CD0BD0A8B6.jpeg]
[Thumb - EAA5CAA9-BBA1-49FB-BC4E-EED8B6604A1A.jpeg]


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/06/14 20:56:07


Post by: Danny76


 BobtheInquisitor wrote:


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Danny76 wrote:
Resistance looks great.
Still haven’t even played the game, despite backing it from the start.
Made several Scourge, and UCM are ready to build.
Just never got round to looking at what’s best for a list..


Depends how competitive you want to be. There’s a tactics page for Dropfleet on ...4chan?... that discusses the relative strengths and weaknesses of each ship in a faction, although it’s pretty heavy on the meme-speak. Typically, the gamers on Facebook recommend you have 2 strike cruisers per “starter set” (~500pts) and one troop ship per 1000pts (2 if you’re PHR), as well as plenty of fighter and bomber launch capacity. Resistance (And to a lesser extent Shaltari) is the odd faction out for this kind of list building. Resistance heavy frigates are very good gun-brawlers, along with the grand cruiser, but the cruisers seem to be most effective as troopships and launch carriers.

But for me, I just build the ships to look cool and then proxy them as whatever sounds fun. I don’t ever plan to play in a tournament.


Definitely not gonna be doing tournaments.

I got Scourge, quite a bit of it.
I just made one each of Raiju, Shenlong, Ifrit, Wyvern, Hydra, Chimera. Then an extra Hydra and Chimera.
And then just 4 of every frigate sized one.
Hadn’t even read the rulebook as to what does what..


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/06/15 00:00:50


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


Scourge have that great Shadow/evil organic tech design, with a dash of Giger. They make such fun baddie ships.

As for what their ships do and how they play, I’m mostly going by FB discussion and the Tactics page (if Dakka doesn’t mind this link), but Scourge are basically the sneaky-stabby faction. The two heavy cruisers have partial cloak (so they can’t get major spikes from scans or lasers or going weapons free) and stealth (so they can still shoot some of their guns on silent running). Very sneaky. Their carriers hold more bombers than the UCM equivalent, and the bombers have scald (reduces armor effectiveness). Their frigates can all hide in the atmosphere until ready to strike, like Zergs buried in ambush, and their close action cruisers are glass hammers.

If you still have a lot of your leftover bits, you can also convert some corvettes pretty easily and maybe even some destroyers or monitors.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/06/15 00:05:53


Post by: Overread


Also don't forget the space ship games aren't about pure combat; they are dropship games so you have as much to consider with regard to dropping stuff planetside during the fight not just obliterating the enemy.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/06/15 08:25:12


Post by: lord_blackfang


The starters seem like a great price. The rest not so much. Feels like about the same cost as eBaying for Epic / BFG models that have a cult following and have been out of print for 20 years, ie not exactly reasonable.

How do the games play? I have a friend who went all in on the DFC kickstarter but was so disgusted by its mishandling and the clusterfeth that was the rules errata that he never touched a single sprue, it's all in his basement. Is there a single volume for up to date rules?


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/06/15 16:13:57


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


The starters really are the soul of the game. However, I bought a resin battleship for $40 in the last year, and paid $35 for a BFG battleship in 2005, so I wouldn’t go quite so far as to say Dropzone is that much more expensive per mini than OOP BFG. And they would probably be too expensive for me if they didn’t come with so many extra bits, especially the Resistance Grand Battleship. The destroyers and monitors seem to be the most pricey for what you get to me, which is why I would convert them from plastic rather than buying the resins (except for the PHR destroyers that really speak to me). (Most UCM players can get about 8 destroyers out of the resin blister and a bunch of plastic leftovers.)

I’ve seen PDFs of the rule books online—don’t think I’m allowed to post them—but the original KS rulebook is still the main rule book. The errata are added to the fleet builder on TTCombat’s site, so you can print all the current stats for your faction and be completely up to date.

https://dropfleetcommander.com/builder/

Pick a faction, go to the fleet building page, choose view/print, and then the last option is to print all ships. Gets you everything you need in addition to the original book.



Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/06/16 04:28:04


Post by: nobody


Should probably mention that DZC officially has a free online rulebook PDF:

https://community.ttcombat.com/2020/03/13/dropzone-commander-2-1-available-now/#more-4448

Note: They've done a round of changes since BfE dropped, the blog post explains the major ones, and the PDF includes the changes. These changes are also in the new "slim" rulebook, but I do not believe that they've included them in reprints of BfE.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/06/19 19:03:05


Post by: noexit1982


I’d love a PHR dropzone starter like the new big three


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/06/19 19:43:06


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


I’d love one, too. The larger plastic starters are great for kitbashing.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/06/20 09:36:03


Post by: ImAGeek


noexit1982 wrote:
I’d love a PHR dropzone starter like the new big three


I assume one is coming, right?


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/07/03 17:21:34


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


The big news today is that TTCombat now sells Vallejo Game Color paint, which is great for those times one is just shy of the free shipping threshold.

And TTCombat has updated the Dropzone army builder program.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/07/07 18:05:07


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


The TTCombat blog has a preview of new ships going on sale this Friday: lighters.. These are smaller ships, six per pack, with specialized roles,

The UCM get a stealth lighter that can drop off troops and perhaps attack with minimum detection.

The Scourge get a boarding ship that latches onto enemy cruisers.

The PHR get some kind of E-warfare ship that messes with enemy ships’ functions.

The Shaltari get a little attack ship that can use void gates to teleport itself all over the board for surprise attacks.

The Resistance get a cargo ship full of explosives.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/07/07 18:26:58


Post by: Overread




This is such an awesome model and concept! A huge boarding leach that just slams into bigger enemy ships and floods them with Scourge!


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/07/07 18:37:08


Post by: beast_gts


I love the Scourge Hiruko Boarding Cutter, but I'm not sure about the Resistance Seneca Detonator - for a faction with limited resources we sure do like blowing up our own ships!


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/07/07 19:04:17


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


From the blurb it sounded like maybe the cargo ship could detach the explosive containers and remote-pilot them in...but it sure wasn’t clear. The rules will hopefully go up on Friday.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/07/07 19:21:26


Post by: beast_gts


Yeah - it might just launch fire ships rather than ram stuff & blow up, but it's a bit ambiguous.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/07/09 12:26:15


Post by: beast_gts


Harpocrates & Helium preview

(Does anyone want me to copy the previews over to here?)


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/07/09 16:22:13


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


I enjoy reading Dave’s design thoughts, but the pictures and stat tables would be a pain to copy over, which is why I don’t copy it over. If you want to bring it over, I’d appreciate it. Thanks for posting up the links.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/07/09 16:42:55


Post by: beast_gts


Lysander & Hiruko

Spoiler:



With Lighters on the way, let’s find out a bit more!


This Friday sees the release of a new class of ship for each faction! The Lighters are small vessels, just a little larger than a Corvette. Each of them is pretty unique though, and fill very different roles in your fleets.

Today we’re going to have a sneak peek at some rules for the UCM Lysander and the Scourge Hiruko, and find out a little more about the design process from Dropfleet master David Lewis!

Spoiler:


UCM Lysander Stealth Lighter
The Lysander should be familiar to Dropzone and Dropfleet veteran players, and Hope’s Spark plays a prominent role in Battle for Earth! For more information, over to Dave!

The UCM’s Lysander has been a crucial element of their background since early on – it was the very first named ship class, way back in Reconquest: Phase One. The class was instrumental in the emerging Reconquest and allowed the UCM to explore without immediately getting vaporised, not to mention a hook for good old subterfuge. I’d always pictured them having a place in Dropfleet and this spurred me on to design sub-frigate tonnage ships for every faction that fought differently from corvettes, which already covered their niche.

Intended role in-game always informs my sculpting (and leads most projects), so stealthy capability would be central to the design, though it had to belong with the UCM’s regular ships. I’d always pictured the Lysander as a sleeker strike carrier, so I went for a dagger-like feel. It carries much the same payload as a New Orleans, so needed the familiar in-scale doors to tie those two classes together (I’m regrettably familiar with those, after making and painting 100 of them in 10mm for the Avenger project!) As an infiltration ship, it forgoes the turret amidships – if you’re firing weapons with this, things have probably gone awry!

I usually sculpt the UCM ship first in any new line, creating a scale reference. Lighters needed to be smaller than frigates (generally), but larger than corvettes, with a standard 2 Hull Points (since they can’t be crippled, ships with 3 HP are often tougher than those with 4!) I went for something slightly more substantial than 2HP would suggest to make the miniature more satisfying and to give me space to work detail – their fragility in-game and background comes from light armour and superstructure, not just from small size.

Thanks Dave! Honestly, he’s been asking to make the Lysander for going on three years now.

Spoiler:


The Rules
But what does it do? Well as a Stealth Lighter, that should be pretty obvious.

Spoiler:


Actually, what it doesn’t do is have Stealth! Surprise!

The Lysander indeed doesn’t have the Stealth special rule, but it does have a Signature of 0″ and Full Cloak. That means it’s never getting any Spikes and with 0″ Sig will never need to go on Silent Running. It’s basically always Silent Running!

It’s pretty fast, and as Dave mentioned, comes with 2 Hull. Although as one of the more esoteric ships in the UCMF, it is indeed Rare.

That’s a pretty decent statline for a little ship! It’s got weapons of course, and Dropships too. Plus a little extra that I’m not spoiling for you right now.

Spoiler:


Scourge Hiruko Boarding Cutter
This little leech is a real departure for Dropfleet, doing something only really done on a tiny counter basis before: boarding! And it doesn’t take no for an answer. Dave?

We’ve always had a ‘conflicted’ relationship with ramming in Dropfleet – being Sci-fi nuts we love the imagery while knowing in our cold brains how bonkers it is from a physics and accuracy perspective. Every gamer who’s every played with ships wants to shout ‘GIVE ME RAMMING SPEED!’ at some point, even just to purge it (temporarily) from the psyche. As such, we built ramming into the rules late in Dropfleet’s writing, but with a caveat: it isn’t really ramming, but getting close enough for a drive detonation or point-blank fire to do disproportionate damage. Being certifiably insane, it’s restricted to a last-ditch play for a doomed ship wanting to go down in a blaze of glory.

Still, if any faction might design a perfectly healthy ship around the concept, it would have to be the Scourge. The notion wormed its way into my brain (there’s the right metaphor) and refused to crawl out. As a faction with hordes of living killing machines (that aren’t afraid to die for the race), it fits their ethos while conjuring all kinds of Xenomorphically nasty visuals aboard the suddenly treacherous corridors of the doomed victim. So, how would this work? Point defence and hulls meters thick made small boarding craft less likely to make it, and what could be more cinematic that a octopus-like monstrosity latching on and injecting its living payload? With that and the faction’s usual style in mind, an aggressively brutal, unsubtle, front-heavy design quickly fell into place. Looking at it, there’s little doubt on how it does its killing!

Alright, that’s enough from him. Back in the box, Dave! Shoo!

Spoiler:


The Rules
So how exactly does a ship like that attack the enemy?

Spoiler:


The Hiruko has a Plasma Torch, which although only Close Action, is always going to get through Point Defence thanks to the Beam special rule. With D3 shots (oh and they come in squads of 1-3 by the way) and a 4+ lock, a squad of these can do a fair amount of damage before they collide.

And the Ramming Ship special rule makes that collision a worthy attack! Acting as a much larger ship for ramming, your opponent will struggle to prioritise targets, especially considering just how many of these little leeches you can afford in your fleet. Disgorging a whole cargo bay full of Eviscerators and other such nasty opponents comes with its own problems too, as all the ramming hits have Corruptor. You can’t fight off those invaders easily! Yes, it’s a one-way trip, but to deal a bunch of damage and rack up those Corruptor hits it’s definitely worth the sacrifice.

Spoiler:


So that’s a little info about the brand new Lighters for the UCM and Scourge -we’ll be back with more info on the rest later in the week, and of course all of these rules will be free to access on Friday in the Dropfleet list builder (we’ll also have some fancy looking stat sheets for download too).

Are you looking forward to adding some stealth to your UCM or some aggression to your Scourge? Let us know what you think of these new ships!


Harpocrates & Helium

Spoiler:


It’s the PHR and Shaltari’s turn for a close up look.


We’re back to have an in depth look at the design process and a little teaser of the rules for the new Lighters, which will be hitting the webstore this Friday!

Lighters are a brand new class of ship, bigger than a Corvette, smaller than a Frigate, and are all unique. We’ve had a look at the stealthy UCM Lysander and a bonkers ramming ship with the Scourge Hiruko, so we already know each is a bit different!

Today we’re heading out to the Abandonists of the Post-Human Republic, and the utterly alien Shaltari.

Spoiler:


PHR Harpocrates Guerrilla Lighter
You may recognise the energy plates on these Lighters. They’re a new sort of design for Fleet, but owe their looks to Zone! Here’s designer David Lewis with some more info.

The Erebos strike walker has been a part of Dropzone since Reconquest: Phase One, with electronic warfare always core to the PHR’s feel. I’d imagined its Dropfleet equivalent for some time, most usefully in the form of a small ship with the potential to be massive backside irritant for opponents! As in many wargames, it isn’t always the monstrosities that shape and change the game competitively, but the small, handy units that can easily slot into existing fleets. This makes them a fun challenge for rules writers!

Physically, I wanted large panels distinct from previous PHR structures in Dropfleet, while clearly belonging to the faction and harking back to the Erebos. Since this is the heart and soul of the rules for this ship, I sculpted the whole model around these projector structures. With small ships especially, it’s crucial to suggest a function visually from the other end of the table, so this one’s distinct from regular PHR vessels while being part of the family. Any PHR ship wants to look sleek and advanced – hopefully you’ll agree I’ve held on to that!

Personally this is one of my favourite looking Lighters. The sleek look echoes the PHR Destroyers, and those big energy plates really show its role even from a distance!

Spoiler:


The Rules
Yeah yeah, we know what you’re after – you want rules, right? Well you’re not getting the full statline today, or the points (you’ll have to wait for them on the Fleet Builder tomorrow). However, I will show you the biggest draw for the Harpocrates: the weapon.

Spoiler:


On first glance a single shot weapon with a 5+ Lock and absolutely zero damage doesn’t look great.

But the EM Sabotage rule. Holy moly! If you want to annoy your opponent, this is the ship to do it with. Forcing an enemy ship onto Silent Running means you’re knocking its maneuverability right down and also crippling its damage output.

Bearing in mind this works on ANY ship (yes, including Dreadnoughts) and suddenly one of the smallest ships in the game becomes one of the biggest threats. Make no mistake: the Harpocrates is to be feared.

Spoiler:


Speaking of things to be feared, how about a shiny new yellow and orange Shaltari ship? It might not look scary, but just you wait. What did you do here, Dave?

Early in Dropfleet’s development, we decided to limit the Shaltari’s teleportation tech to their deployment of ground forces (besides the occasional command card and special rule). With the new mechanics of shield tech, this made the faction play differently in Fleet rather than simply being a port of the ground game. This made sense with the background too (the mothership is the end of the chain – there’s no mother-mothership for one to teleport through, not yet anyway!) Still, the tech was there and we made the decision to bring it into Dropfleet in a limited way, for specialised ships. This was a natural and plausible fit for smaller ships, so it found a home in the Lighters project.

Of all factions in Dropfleet, the Shaltari are physically the most eldritch and unknowable – they can take many forms and every structure shouldn’t necessarily ‘say’ what it does in a way that a 2020 human can understand! As with all sculpts, it should be readily identifiable from others, so I went for a new, horseshoe-type superstructure with the intention of suggesting manoeuvrability, lightness, aggression and speed. It certainly belongs to Shaltari, but there’s a new shape there to go with this new and unpredictable tactical option!

The Helium definitely says “aggression” to me! That forward facing look definitely says that you don’t want to be on the wrong side of it (and that’s definitely the front).

Alright, thanks Dave! That was very nice writing, I’ll ask the warden for extra rations for you tonight.


Spoiler:


The Rules
This little ship utilises the Voidgate network in a way that we haven’t seen in Dropfleet, and it’s something that Shaltari opponents are probably never going to get used to!

Spoiler:


The Helium has fairly standard Shaltari stats, and is super mobile thanks to the Vectored special rule. Almost undetectable with its shields down, it’s hard to hit, and a massive 16″ move will keep it out of harm’s way. However, that’s not all.

Spoiler:


The Void Skip special rule means it’s equally good at getting out of combat as it is at getting into it. Moving it all the way down a Voidgate Network means these ships can get all the way across the table easily (and don’t forget you can be more aggressive thanks to the Selenium Heavy Voidgate), and position your ships in the most opportune place to make best use of their short ranged Pulse Blasters. The battlefield is never going to be the same!

Spoiler:


So when we said “unique” we really meant it. The Lighters (or Cutters or Voidflyers) were all designed around niche roles in their respective Fleets, bringing ideas together that are worlds apart. They’re only small, but we foresee them having a big impact on your games!

What’s more, they’re going up on the webstore tomorrow! We’ll be back in the morning to have a look at the remaining Seneca Detonator, so if you’re a Resistance player (or want to know what your oppponents are going to be bringing against you), stop back then!


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/07/09 17:06:58


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


Wow, that was pretty fast. Thanks for posting all that!

Each of those ships seems to add something new and interesting to me, not something I really felt about all of the destroyers and monitors. The UCM and Resistance Lighters are the most conventional of them in terms of effects, but at least they play strongly to the factions’ background flavor.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/07/09 17:09:23


Post by: Durandal


The UCM one looks like a alternate for your strike carriers, faster and with zero signature so they can more easily run to the opponents backfield without having to double thrust. However the other 3 types are significant game changers.

1. Shaltari can now first strike swarms via teleportation and cross the map easily.
2. PHR and Scourge have serious anti-battleship/dreadnought capability. Their lighters can either continuously shut down larger ships (PHR) or stack a bleed effect on a ship (scourge), add the small sig and high movement, and these will be tough for a fleet to stop.
3. No rules yet for the Remnant fire ships, but they probably explode like a ship having a fusion drive overload. Which will make them dangerous over crowded drop zones.

I think the UCM and the Scourge have good defense, with lots of forward firing independent guns to target multiple lighters at a time.

PHR and the Resistance ships will suffer a bit due to lack of forward weapon systems.

Shaltari won't care, as they have plenty of tools to deal with these ships. if anything the teleport power will be abused for more first strike issues.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/07/09 18:38:05


Post by: Overread


What I like is that these ships are really tying to do new things for each fleet rather than refining already existing roles or concepts, perhaps with a few modifications or tweaks. Monitors for some struck me as cheaper specialists for specific roles that already exist but that you might want to back up with some additional support.

These ships are going to new places with some fresh or reworked ideas. They bring something new, whilst also being on the small end so they fit into fleets quite nicely.


I'm also glad to see new ideas appearing in the game, I think that DFC needs that to help build more and more interest into each race. Giving fleets like scourge an actual ramming and infestation ship really brings the lore into the battlefield.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/07/10 11:14:07


Post by: beast_gts


Seneca Detonator

Seneca Detonator

Spoiler:


Sounds pretty ominous, doesn’t it?


We’ve seen the UCM, Scourge, PHR, and Shaltari’s offerings for the new Lighters (on the webstore later today!), and now it’s the Resistance’s turn!

This is a pretty exciting release for us, as it’s the first time (and not the last) that the Resistance are getting a simultaneous release with the rest of the factions! The fleet is still missing a couple of classes (Monitors & Destroyers come to mind) which I’m sure we’ll see for them at some point, but for now, let’s find out a little more about this chunky boi.

Spoiler:


Resistance Seneca Detonator
We know that it explodes (the clue is in the name), but what else? I’m going to hand it over to Dave to talk about designing the Seneca Detonator.

Improvised explosives have been a part of asymmetric warfare since mankind first discovered how to make things go boom. It’s basic technology that can turn the innocuous into a weapon – something any hard pressed Resistance commander would surely do! Remote operated fire ships were already in the rules for the Resistance fleet – previously limited to ships that can carry bulk landers – it made total sense for the faction, was fun thematically and gave a twist to Resistance ‘meat crates’.

I’d wanted to bring overtly civilian ships into the Resistance fleet, something which fits thematically while enriching the universe – what does a cargo hauler look like exactly? Well, it looks like… a cargo hauler! We’ve all seen container ships, and row upon row of blocks screams ‘cargo’. Still, I wanted something more technological and visually modular, so settled on a regimented row of mechanical armatures, clasping their blocky cargo, which could open up or detach, moving to a docking port (or target!) under its own power – as a result, the miniature is twice the weight of all the other lighters, though it’s no longer. The prow was intended to tie the ship in with the rest of the fleet, which it clearly stands out by way of ‘brickishness’.

Thanks Dave! The iconic Resistance style prow really helps to tie it in with the others in the fleet. Between that and the bridge on top, it should also fit perfectly in with a Kalium fleet too.

Spoiler:


The Rules
Enough design talk! Let’s rules talk! The modular look of the Seneca’s cargo bay lends itself very well to launching things, but unlike its larger brothers and sisters, there aren’t any people inside here!

Spoiler:


The Seneca is the most heavily armoured of the Lighters, with a great 4+ save. What more would you expect from super bulky over the top pre-war designs?

The Seneca can launch 3 Fire Ships a turn (each!) which means a nice amount of launch damage on your opponent, especially considering how survivable these little ships are. Fire Ships don’t count towards your Launch cap either, so take as many of these as you like!

The Seneca also explodes a lot for a ship of its size, but as usual, I’m not giving everything away yet!


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/07/10 12:14:19


Post by: Kid_Kyoto


Le Resistance suicide ship scratches my itch for flying boxes. Going to need some just because.



Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/07/10 16:39:37


Post by: beast_gts


New Lighter Releases!

Spoiler:


Zipping into the webstore today!


It’s new release time, and the Dropfleet Lighters are taking centre stage this week.

We’ve spent all week looking at their design and their rules, and now they’re ready for you to pick up!

UCM Lysander Stealth Lighter
The OG that started it all off, the UCM Lysander is finally here, realised in lovely resin for you.

Spoiler:


The stealthiest of stealth ships (maybe even stealthier than Scourge), the Lysander is an all-rounder, able to get in quickly and without detection, shoot up a little bit of interference with its Close Action weapons, and launch Dropships. It can also scan clusters like a much larger battlegroup – surveillance is what it’s good at!

You get 6 in a pack and they’re available now for £20.

Scourge Hiruko Boarding Cutter
If you like weird leeches and getting caught onto the side of enemy space ships, this one is for you!

Spoiler:


The Hiruko does one thing, and it does it well: ramming. If you want to shout “RAMMING SPEED” at your opponent, then invest in some Hiruko! This little ship blasts enemies from close range and counts as double its Hull value when ramming, opening up the side of the enemy ship and expelling its Scourge fighters into the ship, causing it to take more damage as they rampage through!

The Hiruko also comes in a pack of 6 for £20.

PHR Harpocrates Guerrilla Lighter
This devious ship is the embodiment of David and Goliath.

Spoiler:


Able to do no damage at all, the Harpocrates is nonetheless surely going to become a staple in PHR players’ fleets. Armed with EM tech, this little thing can completely shut down an enemy ship for a turn, forcing them onto Silent Running. PHR opponents: target priority number one.

6 Harpocrates Guerilla Lighters (that’s got to be the hardest name to type repeatedly, thanks Dave) are available now for £20.

Shaltari Helium Voidflyer
Speaking of deviousness, how about a Shaltari ship that is more Shaltari than any Shaltari ship?

Spoiler:


The Helium Voidflyer can be pretty devastating if applied to the right place. Indicative of the Shaltari way of war, it’s all about a little pressure on a vulnerable part. And the Helium is excellent at getting to those vulnerable parts, thanks to its ability to teleport down a Voidgate network and appear across the board in an instant.

The perfect ship for protecting your Voidgates, 6 Helium Voidflyers are £20.

Resistance Seneca Detonator
Save the biggest for last, and this thicc ship is definitely biggest!

Spoiler:


The Seneca Detonator is what you use if you want to be absolutely sure to blow up everything within range. Covered with individual remote-controlled cargo pods filled with explosives, the Seneca adds loads of Fire Ships to your arsenal. Oh and if it’s destroyed it makes a really big explosion too! That could be good or bad depending on how aggressively you use it!

The Seneca Detonator is available now for – you guessed it – £20 for 6!



All of our Lighters are now on pre-order, to be shipped out next Friday. If you’re looking to expand your fleet in new and interesting ways, look no further! They come in groups of 1-3, meaning £20 will get you a decent addition to your fleet, and leave you with plenty of money spare for whatever other massive miniatures releases you might be ordering this weekend.


As always, you can find the full rules for the Lighters on the Dropfleet Fleet Builder. Although we know you like the fancy stat sheets with all the extra background lore, so we’ve made those available in the Resources section of the webstore too. As always, rules are subject to change, so pick up some Lighters, get some games in, and let us know what you think.



Dropfleet Fleet Builder

LIGHTER STAT SHEETS
UCM
Scourge
PHR
Shaltari
Resistance


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/07/10 17:09:17


Post by: ImAGeek


Think I might have to pull the trigger on Dropfleet soon. Spaceship games have been really appealing to me lately and the models are pretty great.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/07/10 17:13:39


Post by: Overread


Dropfleet is probably the best out there at present. Battlefleet Gothic is lost somewhere in a Warpstorm whilst Firestorm Armada is trapped beyond delays to Dystopian Wars and is likely more than a year away at best right now.

One neat thing is that Dropfleet isn't pure space battles; its competing for ground landing sites and such. So it introduces a whole rafter of unique elements that makes it quite refreshing alongside other space games which tend to focus purely on ship to ship combat in space.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/07/10 17:39:40


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


That cargo hauler is pretty sweet. I wonder what one would look like if it were rigged for torpedoes or a Close Attack death blossom.

They are atmospheric and outliers, so they should be able to pull a Djinn-style pounce attack. And if they are close enough to each other and their target, then any enemy who blows one up risks taking out their own vessel(s) at the same time.

These lighters seem surprisingly dangerous for their size.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/07/10 17:48:52


Post by: ImAGeek


 Overread wrote:
Dropfleet is probably the best out there at present. Battlefleet Gothic is lost somewhere in a Warpstorm whilst Firestorm Armada is trapped beyond delays to Dystopian Wars and is likely more than a year away at best right now.

One neat thing is that Dropfleet isn't pure space battles; its competing for ground landing sites and such. So it introduces a whole rafter of unique elements that makes it quite refreshing alongside other space games which tend to focus purely on ship to ship combat in space.


Battlefleet Gothic would be the dream but I imagine it’s a while off still.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/07/10 19:14:37


Post by: Theophony


 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
Le Resistance suicide ship scratches my itch for flying boxes. Going to need some just because.



No idea why but when I see that I think of Bruce Willis from the Fifth Element . Big Badda Boom!


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/07/10 19:33:59


Post by: warboss


 Theophony wrote:
 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
Le Resistance suicide ship scratches my itch for flying boxes. Going to need some just because.

Spoiler:


No idea why but when I see that I think of Bruce Willis from the Fifth Element . Big Badda Boom!


I get the first impression of that Star Trek Voyager Anti-matter waste Malon freighter and I don't mean that as an insult. I think that was the point!


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/07/17 10:44:39


Post by: beast_gts


The Shaltari Helium Voidflyer's gun has gotten a buff -

Spoiler:


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/07/17 10:48:59


Post by: Overread


Sounded like it needed it, I saw a lot of comments in the FB group that the ship was far too weak with its gun to make it worthwhile taking. Glad to see such a fast turn around adjustment!


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/07/17 15:09:46


Post by: RiTides


I love them all except the PHR one... unfortunately that's the fleet I have!

Love the ships for this game, and always wish they'd make an open space combat system for them... the "dropfleet" gameplay just didn't work for me. Both in execution, and concept... my capital ships do not need to directly hover over a city to claim it (or obliterate it). Breaks the great hard scifi theme they have going, and just wasn't fun...

If anyone has Dave's ear at TTCombat, open space combat system and I'll buy all the fleets!



Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/07/17 18:21:04


Post by: Nurglitch


Good lord but those are sexy ships.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/07/17 19:37:54


Post by: beast_gts


 RiTides wrote:
Love the ships for this game, and always wish they'd make an open space combat system for them... the "dropfleet" gameplay just didn't work for me. Both in execution, and concept... my capital ships do not need to directly hover over a city to claim it (or obliterate it). Breaks the great hard scifi theme they have going, and just wasn't fun...

If anyone has Dave's ear at TTCombat, open space combat system and I'll buy all the fleets!


The original reason given was that space is huge, and therefor the ships would need a reason to meet / engage each other. Some groups do play it as a pure space battle game, and there are some 'official' scenarios for deep-space engagements (ambush the dreadnought or something like that).


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/07/17 19:45:27


Post by: ImAGeek


I actually bought the starter for Dropfleet because of this thread, it arrived this morning. Haven’t had a proper look because of work but initial impressions were good, so I guess thanks Dakka!


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/07/17 20:26:42


Post by: Overread


I've been slowly getting scourge models and thinking on getting a starter one day - though I'd likely end up trading the humans away eventually (don't get me wrong they look utterly fantastic but - scourge!


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/07/17 20:29:56


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


 RiTides wrote:
I love them all except the PHR one... unfortunately that's the fleet I have!



What would you prefer them to look like?

Looks like one could convert a PHR lighter proxy from one Calypso ECM wing and some cruiser optional prow bits. If you’re looking for something more like the monitors, two of the frigate launch hoods could make a “shroom-slice” prow for you to glue the Calypso bit on, along with a spare Grav-fin or two. Or you could just take a Medea but and smooth it down or something. There’s an unfortunate shortage of spare fins in the PHR plastic range, so that might limit your options.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
 ImAGeek wrote:
I actually bought the starter for Dropfleet because of this thread, it arrived this morning. Haven’t had a proper look because of work but initial impressions were good, so I guess thanks Dakka!


Welcome! Glad to hear you’ve had a good first impression.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/07/17 23:23:43


Post by: The Warp Forge


Love TTCombat. Love the new starters, just wished the Resistance one came plastic too for DZC


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/07/19 03:24:31


Post by: RiTides


beast_gts wrote:
Some groups do play it as a pure space battle game, and there are some 'official' scenarios for deep-space engagements (ambush the dreadnought or something like that).

Oh, nice!! Do you know what system they use / how they are playing it as a pure space battle, or where I could find out? I haven't been able to figure out how you'd rebalance troop carrier type ships to focus on space combat.

Bob - Not sure, just feels liked it needs some fins or something to give it a better profile / shape. The others are just awesome, though!


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/07/19 04:30:05


Post by: UnstableDominus


I've got a whole UCM fleet stashed away and this is giving me the itch to pull it out again. I love the lighters, but need to put some paint on my Kievs first.

The hiruko has to be one of my favorite Scourge ships so far too. It looks brutal.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/07/19 06:22:36


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


RITides, I’ll see what I can convert from a few bits. Sadly, spare fins are precious and few.

Anyway, I printed out some BFG ships in scale with DFC. I’ll try printing a different Sword.

[Thumb - DAE5BA92-E98A-4091-A2F8-5D06337FC2C8.jpeg]


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/07/20 00:33:15


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


I put together a few tentative conversions based on the concept of the PHR lighter.

[Thumb - F1D1C163-6A62-46C0-8F59-E18831CA551A.jpeg]
[Thumb - EDCF08B6-50B8-4372-A68A-3D3656230A64.jpeg]
[Thumb - 413E6C27-016F-47AE-B973-365D69EDF106.jpeg]
[Thumb - C9CAE6B3-FBAB-4618-B7CC-EBF3562CE72E.jpeg]
[Thumb - D8D81C91-3014-4DC3-8007-DB2988CD33EF.jpeg]


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/07/20 00:36:25


Post by: warboss


Nice! There are also a ton of B5 ships that have been uploaded to thingiverse over the past couple of months likely from a PC game given the scaling of various components. They might be good for digital conversion fodder.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/07/20 01:07:09


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


I forgot to mention that I left spaces on the torpedo ship and small lighter to add some of the Space Station kit’s small “fins”, when I get some more of them.


@ Warboss, awesome! I’ll have to investigate. I’d love to have an Omega or Sharlin in DFC scale for scenarios. Hmmm. EAA forces fight the Battle of the Line.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/07/20 01:27:24


Post by: warboss


 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I forgot to mention that I left spaces on the torpedo ship and small lighter to add some of the Space Station kit’s small “fins”, when I get some more of them.


@ Warboss, awesome! I’ll have to investigate. I’d love to have an Omega or Sharlin in DFC scale for scenarios. Hmmm. EAA forces fight the Battle of the Line.


This is the guy I was referring to. That Earth Alliance Nova looks incredible but there is no way any of those antennae will survive printing let alone tabletop play at anything other than old AMT/ERTYL scale.

https://www.thingiverse.com/badhaircut55/designs



Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/07/20 02:03:40


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


Great googly moogly. That guy’s got both of the mutually-exclusive Dilgar ranges.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/08/04 16:18:05


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


The new event exclusives have been teased. They go on sale Friday.

https://community.ttcombat.com/2020/08/04/teaser-exclusive-tuesday/?fbclid=IwAR0amTnJnnE-r8Nx3UDRehgGkTdP1gx6_fA-NoB_Ak446K0E0gCpnk8sN_Q



I’ll see if I can get some pictures over, but it looks like the Pungari Thresher is back (as well as all of last year’s exclusives) and we get:

A gunship for Dropzone.


Sector tokens (buildings) based on Scourge-infested NYC.


A Rumbleslam character named after the most infamous typo in the Dropfleet Rulebook: Traffic James.




Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/08/04 16:55:57


Post by: Mr Morden


 warboss wrote:
 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I forgot to mention that I left spaces on the torpedo ship and small lighter to add some of the Space Station kit’s small “fins”, when I get some more of them.


@ Warboss, awesome! I’ll have to investigate. I’d love to have an Omega or Sharlin in DFC scale for scenarios. Hmmm. EAA forces fight the Battle of the Line.


This is the guy I was referring to. That Earth Alliance Nova looks incredible but there is no way any of those antennae will survive printing let alone tabletop play at anything other than old AMT/ERTYL scale.

https://www.thingiverse.com/badhaircut55/designs



Wow thats handy might have to get some of these to fill out the small gaps in my huge B5 collection - especailly the Shadow and Centauri

Still keeping an eye on the Dropfleet ships ( I picked up the orignal game) but not grabbed by many of the designs


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/08/04 17:29:27


Post by: Barzam


So, that exclusive Resistance cruiser won't be available? Or will it?


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/08/04 18:14:31


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


 Barzam wrote:
So, that exclusive Resistance cruiser won't be available? Or will it?


The exclusive Centurion will not be available again. That comes directly from Lewis Clarke. Which really makes me sad.

I plan to buy the retail Centurion and modify it to look like the exclusive version by cutting off the prow sensor fin and repositioning the mass driver turret. I’ve seen it done online and it tends to look pretty close.

I believe we will see the Princess liner and both UCM exclusive light cruisers, though.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/08/04 18:14:50


Post by: Overread


That massive scourge tower would be a beauty to fight over on the Planets.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/08/04 18:16:41


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


Here is a photo I found of a similar conversion.

[Thumb - AFADF1DA-5BE7-4D8D-B890-28FC607BCB8C.jpeg]


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/08/04 19:58:22


Post by: Kid_Kyoto


Oh those NY ruins are tempting...



Ooo, new Master of the Fleet for the IG!


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/08/04 20:19:26


Post by: beast_gts


I'm struggling to get a grip of the size of the Osprey Gunship - does it have a two-level cockpit (with two windows) and oversized chin guns, or is it an enclosed / armoured cockpit?


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/08/05 01:23:38


Post by: Vaktathi


Ahahahahaha that Traffic James model is amazing. Kid_Kyoto, I may have to steal your idea, a new MoF may be in order


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/08/05 01:34:08


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


beast_gts wrote:
I'm struggling to get a grip of the size of the Osprey Gunship - does it have a two-level cockpit (with two windows) and oversized chin guns, or is it an enclosed / armoured cockpit?


That is such an odd design choice. The cockpit area looks like a Dropfleet ship more than a Dropzone dropship. Hmm... I may need to get one for kitbashing.


And a Traffic James for the memes. (I need to use him for Urban Manhunt.)


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/08/05 11:22:05


Post by: beast_gts


New Osprey article up, and it does seem to be an odd armored cockpit.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Spoiler:


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/08/05 11:31:26


Post by: Overread


It could be using cameras. So instead of a wide open shield it has a strip of cameras in two positions (upper and lower) which then feed back info to the pilot inside behind the protective shield of metal.

Making it more expensive to produce and thus a limited production design.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/08/05 22:36:22


Post by: Vertrucio


Were the attack buggies always that big? I recall they were smaller than the tanks. Maybe that's a new plastic kit?


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/08/05 22:39:49


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


I think that’s the new command vehicle that comes with the new starter. It’s bigger than the recon buggies are.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/08/05 22:45:29


Post by: beast_gts


 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I think that’s the new command vehicle that comes with the new starter. It’s bigger than the recon buggies are.

Yeah, that's the new Wolf LAV.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
A Late Night blog post - scenic bases are coming to DZC:

Spoiler:


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/08/06 05:11:12


Post by: UnstableDominus


I think it makes sense that the Osprey doesn't fit as well as some of the other units aesthetically. It was an early design that was eventually scrapped in favor of the original raven chassis.

Also, I'm in love with that Scourge tower. I hope they come up with some thematic rules to use with it (as an orbital elevator or something similar).


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/08/07 23:17:40


Post by: Overread


Reminder the event exclusives are all up on sale now!! Might be one of the last chances to get the 2019 models like the Thresher Hive Ship!



Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/08/08 00:18:12


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


 UnstableDominus wrote:
I think it makes sense that the Osprey doesn't fit as well as some of the other units aesthetically. It was an early design that was eventually scrapped in favor of the original raven chassis.

Also, I'm in love with that Scourge tower. I hope they come up with some thematic rules to use with it (as an orbital elevator or something similar).


Someone on FB is already floating the idea for ramming that tower with strike carriers or corvettes.

It’s too good to be merely a token. I’m going to have to get it (next time because budget) and use some Scourge Station Upgrade bits to make a proper vessel out of it.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/08/18 10:18:18


Post by: madcadian


does anyone know when..or if a new Starterset for the resitance in DC come to release? I whant to to start with the game and..I know...Resistance is't the easy way to do this, but I love the style and the idea of that faktion.

should I wait for a new starter or should I go with the old one?


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/08/18 16:13:08


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


There are photos floating around of some new Resistance units, including g a slightly different version of the lifthawk. Speculation is that these sculpts are for a plastic starter. However, everything went on hold for Coronavirus. The Behemoths were supposed to come out earlier this year, and they still haven’t. On Facebook, one of the head honchos stayed that the Resistance fleet cruiser and frigate boxes were being put off for now, too. I believe they’ve also said the new PHR starter was deliberately delayed also, although some online speculation runs that they are having trouble with the plastics manufacturer.

So, no one really knows when anything will come out.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/08/18 21:00:38


Post by: madcadian


thanks for the quik answer

so.. fingers crossed...I'll wait for the best.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/08/24 18:04:52


Post by: Overread


Just a heads up that the exclusive models are remaining on sale for another week - now ending on the 1st September.
https://community.ttcombat.com/2020/08/24/exclusives-now-here-longer/?fbclid=IwAR1VJ7J6OAUcFInPPTfVHxl-bGKf17t1ErWM-Zmsdpbu_IpoNLCKYd_ytBY


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/09/08 16:30:41


Post by: beast_gts


New PHR Starter Army box coming Friday - including new HQ: Proteus Mobile Command Post

Spoiler:


The White Sphere Returns! Teaser Tuesday Time!


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/09/08 16:39:49


Post by: chaos0xomega


That PHR box is insane :O I already have like 3 of the old starters, but.... its worth buying another one or two for the neptunes alone


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/09/08 16:45:45


Post by: ImAGeek


Been waiting for that to be released. The Dropzone starters seem like excellent value.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/09/08 16:47:52


Post by: Stevefamine


It's a great game - I quit DZC awhile back but Dropfleet I can see staying strong to a 2nd edition easily and lasting for years. Especially with the dip in Xwing and the GGWP of Firestorm Armada


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/09/08 16:48:37


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


Oh hell yeah. I’ve been waiting for this updated starter for a while.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/09/08 18:19:13


Post by: Cronch


Just in time! If my opponent won't like the scourge in the 2-player box, this will be great way to retain them


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/09/08 18:22:37


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


At the current exchange rate, these starters are about $50. Two of them and some terrain and you get free shipping.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/09/11 14:32:36


Post by: beast_gts


Pre-orders are up - The Starter Army, Proteus by itself and re-designed Valkyries:

Spoiler:


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/09/24 15:32:07


Post by: Danny76


They do look pretty awesome, I’m trying to keep to DFC only, but it’s proving hard..

Is there a good place for Dropfleet discussion by the way?
Tactically and painting both.
The dropcommander forum is pretty much a bust..


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/09/24 15:36:21


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


The Facebook community is pretty lively. Failing that...I guess the tg discussions would be the next most lively.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/09/25 16:26:09


Post by: beast_gts


Dropzone Commander New Site

Spoiler:
Dropzone Commander New Site

The new Dropzone Commander website is launched today. Let’s take a look at the new features and it’s impact on the future of Dropzone Commander.

I’m delighted to release the new Dropzone Commander Website to the public today.

First of all, this is a massive change from the last one in every way. This should give an even better experience of the first look at Dropzone Commander and of course players interactions via the Force Builder. There is also a new way to manage leagues and a way to submit game results for future balance passes, so let’s take a look.

Website:
Is hopefully a more modern and cleaner design. It’s kept quite basic, however it will be expanded on in time as we have new content for it! Keep an eye here on TTCommunity for more info in the future.

Force Builder:
The Beta test feedback was excellent, thanks to everyone who submitted feedback and comments. We’ve made changes where we felt it was best, however please do continue to give your feedback so we can develop this further. Key to the new design is that it is much easier to make changes than the old builder.

There are a couple of changes to the public Beta which I shall run through here. First of all the print outs are now designed to work better with US Letter paper sizing, a big part of the problem is we often work to A4 size here, however that means a lot of wasted white space when it’s shrunk to Letter sizing.

Secondly. There is now a new feature. Competitive Army Codes. This is something that makes a massive change to how the builder works, and how it works with the Tournament Manager (more later.)

So these two buttons allow you to view competitive armies, and create your competitive army code. So, first of all, a Competitive Army Code is a snapshot of your army, at the time you make it. It cannot be edited, and you name it yourself. This is perfect for submitting to Tournament Organisers and for sending to friends. If you edit your army using the editor code then you will need to make a new Competitive Army Code to share the changes.

These codes also can’t be deleted, and names for obvious reasons, can’t be duplicated. Personally I use the format of my name, faction, points and if it’s for a tournament, that tournaments name. Feel free to come up with your own convention though! It is case sensitive, so keep that in mind.

Tournament Manager:
This was a secret feature that wasn’t in the beta. You can now manage your leagues, and – in time – knock out tournaments, via the official site. There are plenty of options for setting your league up, a passcode for the organiser to make sure only they can edit it and submit results and you can make it public so people can see, or keep it private and share the name with the players. All up to you.

You can also submit the results of one off games via the Tournament Manager too, this is great for submitting us feedback on your game, so please do this as often as you like! All you need is the Competitive Army Code of both armies, and you can give us the result, and make any comments for us to look at.

Balance Passes:
The Tournament Manager allows us to have some real data about units’ performance in games now. If you submit your games or manage your Tournaments via the site we can see what units are doing well, and which ones… well, aren’t. That and the usual feedback we get from the players will mean even better data to base our balance passes on.

Future Development:
There are more features planned for the future too. So the site will keep growing and developing. As always, any new developments will be announced here on TTCommunity.

Website and Force Builder Feedback:
Please keep this coming. Whether it’s via Email to info@ttcombat.com, on Facebook in the Dropzone Commander fan group or even on the Discord where I myself try to engage with the community on various matters.

All feedback is good feedback. We want to make this site perfect for all users and for players of Dropzone Commander to have a great resource. So please, any feedback, or even feature ideas you have, are greatly appreciated.

Quick Note on the Future:
I’d also like to take this opportunity to answer a few questions we get asked a lot about Dropzone Commander and what is happening to certain models and so on.

Covid19 has of course caused quite a disturbance to our release schedule. This has meant the Restock project was temporarily paused. This is going to restart very soon. The plan is to get all the old units restocked so we have our own moulds for them, release a few alternative sculpts and units with these restocks and then we shall be looking at moving onto Behemoths.

We have previously mentioned battle group box sets for each faction, so rather than buying miniatures individually, you can get a box set of them. This is something we still plan to do, and again, this will be done once the restock project is complete.

Once stores are able to do demos, and we can do events again, we shall be really pushing some Dropzone Commander content on here too as well as helping our TTAgents to get out there. We have some great plans for Dropzone Commander and we’ve been delighted with the great support we’ve received from the community during these testing times.

We are really excited to see how the future develops for Dropzone Commander, Dave has been making some truly stunning new sculpts which we can’t wait to share with everyone.

So if you need to grab some new miniatures, or you really want to jump into the exciting world of Dropzone Commander for the first time, head to our webstore.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/09/25 22:02:35


Post by: Vertrucio


"Hey guys! There's a new dropzone commander website!"

Does not link to the dropzone commander website (www.dropzonecommander.com) in entire article.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/09/26 14:31:17


Post by: recaf


 Vertrucio wrote:
"Hey guys! There's a new dropzone commander website!"

Does not link to the dropzone commander website (www.dropzonecommander.com) in entire article.


Thanks, was combing the article with furrowed brow


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/09/26 16:03:57


Post by: beast_gts


 Vertrucio wrote:
"Hey guys! There's a new dropzone commander website!"

Does not link to the dropzone commander website (www.dropzonecommander.com) in entire article.


Yeah, they've used that address (and www.dropfleetcommander.com) for a while but it couldn't have hurt to have a obvious link in the article...


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/09/29 14:59:46


Post by: beast_gts


Don’t Resist This Teaser Tuesday

Spoiler:

Don’t Resist This Teaser Tuesday

More Dropzone already?! YEP!

It’s barely been three weeks since the PHR got their long-awaited Starter Army, and we didn’t want to keep Resistance players waiting long to finish the set!

The Resistance Starter Army is going up on pre-order this Friday!

We’ve seen massive increases in all the other army contents, and the Resistance Starter Army is no different.

Where it is different is that this set is entirely in resin! It’s not quite double what you got in the old set, since the resin pieces are a lot more detailed, but it’s pretty close.

In order to make this set as big as possible we’ve made some cunning adjustments to some of the classic Resistance designs so they’re easier to cast, and come in fewer pieces. Eagle eyed viewers might be able to see the changes, but we’ll have a closer look later in the week.

All of these optimisations mean that the new Resistance Starter Army will be retailing at…. £35!

That’s right, it’s the same price as the other Starter Armies, as £5 cheaper than before! :O

Oh and of course the set also has the standard fastplay sheets and acrylic blast template! What a bargain!

The kit also contains a new commander, the Hydra Relay Hovercraft. The Starter Army has a version that just makes that, but we’ll also have it on its own, which will be able to make a variant too!

This is the Circe Attack Hovercraft, which trades its missiles and Scanner Array for a very deadly looking turret mount!

And that’s not all! We have a couple of other surprises coming your way on Friday, but I think that’s enough excitement for one day. Stop back later in the week when we’ll reveal all and have a closer peek at some of these new models.

In the meantime, you can find the rest of the Resistance range over in the TTCombat webstore. And of course they’re the newest faction in Dropfleet Commander too, with over 10 billion different ships!


TL;DR - Resistance are staying resin, and are getting a new commander - the Hydra Relay Hovercraft / Circe Attack Hovercraft.

Spoiler:


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/09/29 17:17:07


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


I’m in.

I’ll wait until the next time they have their event exclusives up again to place an order, but I’m in.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/09/29 19:43:54


Post by: beast_gts


Spoiler:

They've made some changes to the Jacksons. Can't spot anything else in that photo...


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/09/29 22:32:06


Post by: chaos0xomega


Not a fan of the change to Jacksons, and wish it came with Tiltrotors :(

Will probably still pick up a pair of Resistance starters


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/09/30 07:14:06


Post by: Kid_Kyoto


That is some fantastic terrain in the back, I love that building on the columns.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/10/01 11:01:29


Post by: beast_gts


Spoiler:



Incoming Resistance

Spoiler:
Incoming Resistance

A new spinner your way comes!

With the Resistance coming to pre-order this Friday we thought we’d show you a little more of the Hydra Relay / Circe Attack Hovercraft in 360.

As you already know these will be available to pre-order this Friday on the TTCombat webstore along with some other goodies. The Starter Set gets the Hydra Relay Hovercraft whereas purchasing the Hydra Relay on its own also gets you the Alternate Circe Attack Turret. We look forward to releasing these and we hope you’re as excited as we are.


 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
That is some fantastic terrain in the back, I love that building on the columns.

I think they're the old Hawk resin buildings.

Hovercraft Time!

Spoiler:

Hovercraft Time!

What is this new Hovercraft? Let’s find out!

Tomorrow sees the release of the new Resistance Starter Army, and with it the brand new Hydra Relay Hovercraft! But what is it and why should you want it in your army? That’s what we’re here to find out!

Hydra Relay Hovercraft
This is a new Commander, so it’s a bit of a support role. Let’s look at the stats:

The Hydra is a pretty nippy, with a 10″ move. Of course, you mustn’t forget that the Hovercraft don’t go in any transports, so you’re going to have to be careful with that 10″ to make sure you’re getting stuck into battle. Once you’re there though, it’s great at relocating.

A decent Armour 13 and 3 Damage Points with Resilient means it’s the hardiest of our new Commanders, and although Evasion +1 isn’t full Skimmer stats, it’s still very handy.

A Double Rocket Battery is a nice weapon, a simple 2 shot version of the standard Resistance profile. However, thanks to the Hydra’s advanced targeting, those missiles stay effective at a longer range, giving it a pin-point long range of 18″ Countered. It’s a good sniper!

The big news here is the Scanner Array though, a unique special rule for this Hovercraft. It allows you to pick a single enemy unit each activation, and for the rest of the round, all friendly units re-roll hit rolls of 1 against that unit’s squad. That’s a big deal! It’s less useful against aircraft since they tend to only have squads of 1, but against Standard choices or even Infantry units bunkered down in a Garrison, it’s super useful.

The separate version of the Hydra comes with the option to change the turret, making the Circe Attack Hovercraft!

Circe Attack Hovercraft
This mean looking hover-tank is completely different to what the Resistance have had access to previously.

As with the Hydra, the Circe doesn’t have a transport, but moves fast on its own. It also benefits from the Hovercraft rule, which means it will move on Turn 1 with the rest of your Hovercraft transports. Very handy!

It’s definitely faster than your Hannibals, and while it’s not as well armoured, it does benefit from Resilient and the Evasion bonus too, as well as an extra Damage Point! All in all, it’s pretty tough really. Just watch out for multiple shot weapons, making Resilient less useful.

The 180mm Vengeance Cannon is a nice mid-way point between the Hannibal and Alexander, adding a longer range, an extra point of Energy, and Devastator 2 against Skimmers and Tanks. Note that the Vengeance Cannon isn’t all-powerful, so it doesn’t work especially well on Walkers. Choose your targets wisely!

It also has a great Flamethrower. A primary weapon on other vehicles, this is more like a nice bonus. A 9″ range means it doesn’t even have to be that close to occupied Garrisons to get its full use, so we recommend pushing it for tank hunting, and any infantry killed are a nice bonus.

So there we have it! Two brand new hovercraft, each very different. Who is excited to add these to their Resistance armies? Who wants a whole army of hovercraft (me)?

These will be going up for pre-order tomorrow (Friday) on the TTCombat webstore, and there are still a few surprises left as well!


Spoiler:



Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/10/02 15:58:01


Post by: beast_gts


New Resistance Releases!

Spoiler:

New Resistance Releases!



Resistance Starter Army? Check. BRAND NEW UNITS? BIG CHECK!


It’s a really special release day today, Resistance players are going to be PSYCHED!

We teased on Tuesday that the brand new Resistance Starter Army is released today, but we have more stuff we kept a secret!

Resistance Starter Army
So let’s start with the obvious:



The Resistance Starter Army is here!

This set is fully made of resin (except the infantry bases I guess. And the blast marker. And the fastplay sheets and box and stuff whatever), which means more detail than you’ll get on the other Starter Armies.

It’s almost twice the size of the previous set, and is actually cheaper as well! Coming in at a paltry £35, this is the first time that it’s just as affordable to start a Resistance army as any other.

The set has a squad of heavy Hannibal tanks, a big squad of Gun Wagons, 12 bases of Resistance Fighters with 6 Jacksons to transport them in. There’s also 2 Kraken Hovercraft for Wagon transport, and 3 of the massive Lifthawks too! Add in one extra Hydra Relay Hovercraft to put your Commander in, and you have a great new set.

You may even notice some new designs creeping in there too. The Krakens and Lifthawks have been redesigned to be easier to cast (one of the ways we’re able to cram so many models in this set for even less than you used to pay), and you’ll see two new designs of Jackson in there too, which we thought we be a nice treat. Ours are painted up in army colours, but they’ve been designed to work brilliantly as repurposed civilian cars (or private security company ones at least).

Currently these new designs are exclusive to the Starter Army, as each has fewer parts to make assembling your army much easier and quicker. Don’t worry, the super multi-part Lifthawks are still available separately if that’s what you want.

Hydra Relay/Circe Attack Hovercraft
We had a look at the rules for these hefty hovers yesterday, and now they’re ready for you!



This brand new hovercraft design answers the question of “what if Kraken but smaller and guns?”

Sitting about half the size of the Kraken transport, the Hydra/Circe is a brand new chassis which functions as a fast paced heavy tank.

While you can only make the Hydra in the Starter Army (another way we’ve managed to squeeze more models in there), if you get this kit separately you’ll be able to choose to make either the commanding Hydra or the shooty Circe.

The Hydra is a great choice for putting a Commander in, since its manoeuvrability helps get your command radius into the right place, and its Scanner Array allows you to pick out enemy squads and re-roll 1s to hit – very handy, even in bigger games!

Meanwhile the Circe variant swaps that command nonsense out for straight up firepower. Sitting somewhere between a Hannibal and an Alexander in damage output, it also packs a Flamer for additional nastiness.

The Hydra/Circe is now available for £10.

Swifthawk Tilt-Jets
A brand new unit is spotted on the horizon!



Introducing the Swifthawk Tilt-Jet!

This little aircraft is the Resistance’s answer to light aerial transports. If you were missing the allied UCM Raven in V2, then look no further!

The Swifthawk is an extension of the Strikehawk Tilt-Rotor, just much smaller! It also replaces its propellors for jet engines, reminiscent of the Hellhog. It’s truly a hybrid design which also lends some of its look to the Cyclone as well. Inspiration from all over the place!

You get two of these little dropships in the set, and they’re very handy for your Exotic infantry. Able to transport two units, they are also armed with a minigun and a set of light missiles, continuing the Resistance’s idea of up-arming literally everything. Oh and did I mention that they follow their big brother’s standard of giving the occupants Rapid Insertion? Now that’s a light dropship you can count on!

The set of 2 Swifthawk Tilt-Jets is available now for £10.

Tempest Interceptor
Did you think we were done with new units? Nope!



This is the Tempest Interceptor.

Like a fever dream that combines The Phantom Menace with Flash Gordon, this retro-future design is perfect for joining the ranks of the Resistance.

An out and out interceptor, the Tempest fills a vital role in the Resistance army: it’s incredibly fast and offers great long ranged accuracy when taking down enemy aircraft. Send it after your opponent’s fast flyers and laugh as you get the first shot!

The Tempest Interceptor is £10 in the webstore, ready for you right now!

Urban Bases
Even more?!




Originally designed to make our lives easier when painting up the studio models, we had enough people asking for them (seriously, a lot of people asking), that we’ve had them cast up properly and we’re ready to sell them!

The bases come in packs of 3 slots or 5 slots, with 18 bases in each. There are 3 designs, so you’ll have plenty of variation. They’re modelled with simple ledges and curbs, which will allow you to decorate them how you like. These ones were painted with a layer of textured paint, then a little sand and flock added. Although I’d recommend adding the textured paint after your infantry are in the slots!

Each pack of 18 bases is £8.



We thought you’d probably all like to see just how big these new miniatures are, so here we go! That Interceptor is not messing around!

We’ll be back next week to have a closer look at the new Starter Army models in more detail, and Chris is peeking his head out in a minute with some brand new rules for these units and a cheeky update to some other Resistance units, so you can see just how they fare on the battlefield!

All of these new releases are available to pre-order right now in the TTCombat webstore, so make sure to head over there for plenty more pictures of these great new models!


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/10/02 16:20:55


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


I was just coming to post that. Thank you.

I must have that Tempest Interceptor! It’s ridiculous in the best way.

The Better Arvus Lighter also looks great.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/10/02 16:46:03


Post by: beast_gts


Rules for new units:
Spoiler:


 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I was just coming to post that. Thank you.

Thanks - no problem!


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/10/02 16:50:54


Post by: beast_gts



Dropzone Commander Balance Pass October 2020


Spoiler:
Dropzone Commander Balance Pass October 2020


With the release of new units for the Resistance we took a look through the faction once again and made some extra changes to give more balance and some flavour to the faction.

We did a balance pass for the whole range last week. However with new releases on the docket, we kept a few back a week so we could surprise you with a faction specific balance pass for them. Let’s take a look.

First of all, we have two new units, so let’s not keep you waiting.

Swifthawk Tilt-Jet
A new transport is a big deal for any army, and the Resistance one is no exception!



It has a gun, it has missiles, and it’s fast as anything. What more could you want from a light transport?

Well how about Rapid Insertion for the infantry inside? That’s a big deal! Being able to enter from anywhere on a Garrison and not re-rolling hits means this is sure to be a favourite.


Tempest Interceptor
The brand new fast flyer for Resistance has some meaty stats.



While it doesn’t have any fancy unique rules, this big new flyer makes up for that in its regular statline. It’s incredibly fast with decent evasion (although it’s not super good – it is a very big ship), but also has good armour and 2 Damage Points.

The big draw here will be the twin Hailstorm Cannons, which have a massive range for an interceptor, and while they aren’t crazy accurate they have AA-4 which means hardly any enemy aircraft will get an Evasion bonus on those shots. Combine that with a huge 24″ range and that means this ship will force your opponent to play very defensively or recklessly aggressive – both good options for you!

M5 Napoleon
This one is actually an error correction. The version that went up last week had the main turret duplicated, which, though we wanted it to have a lot of dice, this gave it a quite frankly impossible amount of dice. The tabletop equivalent of bulletstorm!

So we wanted to correct that, however that meant we took another look at it, so we’ve modified the weapon profile for the main turret again since we liked the double entry to represent both barrels, but weakened the amount of dice, and potential max energy of each one.

Hopefully this version is the ideal version. We love this model here at TT Head Office and we really want the rules to represent how it looks.

AT-90 Strikehawk Tilt-Rotor
Some small changes to this one to align it with the new Swifthawk. This means an increased transport capacity, a new missile bank and a small points increase.

Skulltaker Assault Transport
Again, some balance changes for this one to specify it’s role more. It’s now faster but has a smaller transport capacity. This makes it more of a auxiliary gunship with transport capacity.

Resistance Veterans
These guys have been redesigned from the ground up. We are aware that removing Marine Force Recon teams was a blow to some players, and some have been asking for more Kalium focused infantry. Well we think this should satisfy all those needs.



Resistance Veterans now come armed as standard with Assault Rifles and Knives and Pistols. In fact they have nothing to separate them from standard Resistance Fighters, in fact, they are worse since they don’t even get the RPG. So what do they get for their extra 5 points?

Well that is up to you, the player. Before deployment (so this can be tailored to the opponent, or to the theme of your army) you get a choice of rules. Choose from 3 options:

Scourge Occupation: These get the Modified Scourge Rifles back.

Marine Force Recon: These gain Dodge and improve their CQ weapons.

Kalium Volunteers: These guys are like stone. Resilient and re-roll failed Fortitude tests.

Alongside the new releases this allows you to flavour your Resistance army a bit more.

Beserkers
A small change to these nutters, their CQ weapon has an Energy increase to 4.

Hellhog
Since this will no longer be the only Fast Flayer for the Resistance, it can go back to being a bit more flexible in its role.



It’s still Fast, however it now has a minimum distance of 6″, meaning it almost hovers in place, like it used to. However to get it’s full Evasion Countermeasures it must move over 18″.



These changes bring some more internal balance to the Resistance Faction and make all units useable and allows you to build a more themed Resistance list if that’s your thing!

If this makes you want to grow your Resistance army further, or has made you want to start one, with the new starter army released today, it’s a great time to start. Head to our webstore now for the whole range.

Final bit
One final thing before I leave you all to your experimenting with the new units and changes. We are aware the current FAQ is rather out of date and we are looking to get that fixed ASAP. With so few games being played the last 6 months it hasn’t been a big priority for us, but it seems people are starting to get some games in.

So if you have any questions, then William Martin, part of the Dropzone Comamnder Community on Facebook, and a part of the ever growing Discord server has started this document to collect questions. Please feel free to add your questions there.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/10/04 16:56:25


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


What is the discord server?


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/10/04 17:31:40


Post by: chaos0xomega


Theres a discord server?


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/10/04 17:59:19


Post by: warboss


Has anyone tried printing out the buildings for DZC at a larger scale? I've got some ideas about doing a 28mm-ish urban game as a themed game at the FLGS (think a tabletop version of Earth Defense Force vs dollar store toy enemies mixed in with 3d printed ones) when I finally return and printing them out professionally on cardstock at officemax/depot/kinkos/whatever depending on the price. I might try to reinforce the insides with some cheap foam as well to keep them from moving around/bending too much.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/10/04 18:37:13


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


I’m curious to see how that turns out.

Does anyone have good ideas for representing DZC at 28mm?

I was thinking that Mantic’s rangers could work for UCM. I might try to convert some Scourge from Trederrans and Tyranid parts. Resistance can be almost anything, from Medge’s Broken to Terminator Genysis Resistance. No clue where to start with Shaltari.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/10/04 19:16:34


Post by: warboss


 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I’m curious to see how that turns out.

Does anyone have good ideas for representing DZC at 28mm?

I was thinking that Mantic’s rangers could work for UCM. I might try to convert some Scourge from Trederrans and Tyranid parts. Resistance can be almost anything, from Medge’s Broken to Terminator Genysis Resistance. No clue where to start with Shaltari.


I could see some use for both Dakka's own Maelstrom's Edge units (Karists?) and Gates of Antares Concord for PHR infantry. Both have more grungy and/or practical near future factions that might work for the resistance and UCM infantry. Shaltari are indeed difficult; about the closest thing I can think of for them would be the Therians from the OOP AT-43 game and that's not particularly close anyways.

We'll see if my one shot game ends up getting past the brainstorm stage. It will largely depend on how much the oversize printing costs will be as I can't print those at home on my printer. Luckily, since they're a UK company, they're sized to european paper sizes that are metric and scale easily, lol.



Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/10/04 19:28:35


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


I googled papercraft terrain, and it looks like there are a lot of options. I can’t remember the name of the company, but there was a Kickstarter for cardboard 28mm buildings that seemed affordable.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I think the Algoryn might have the best combination of size and smooth high-techiness of the Antares factions, but the Concord heads look pretty close. Maybe Concord heads on Karist Heavy bodies..?


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/10/04 21:54:43


Post by: JoeRugby


Would be in deep if they released 28mm scourge. (not carnevale “28m mind you)

Anvil industries republic commandos make good UCM


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/10/04 22:17:03


Post by: warboss


 BobtheInquisitor wrote:

I think the Algoryn might have the best combination of size and smooth high-techiness of the Antares factions, but the Concord heads look pretty close. Maybe Concord heads on Karist Heavy bodies..?


True, that might work. It might be a big pricey and a PITA combining the two for a lark.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/10/05 01:40:42


Post by: Ancestral Hamster


Is there a spoiler for the Proteus Command Flyer? What does it bring to the PHR? My last games of DZC I was running Jocasta Caine in her Hera with a flight of Apollos. The maneuverability of those walkers were really advantageous, and usually not what people expect of the PHR.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/10/05 06:34:22


Post by: Danny76


I suppose that’s all they need now. A skirmish level, and you’ve got a really good mix of play for a narrative etc


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/10/05 09:22:14


Post by: beast_gts


 Ancestral Hamster wrote:
Is there a spoiler for the Proteus Command Flyer?

It's in the Army Builder (which doesn't want to load on my work computer for some reason...).


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/10/05 11:06:18


Post by: beast_gts


Proteus Mobile Command Post



Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/10/05 11:47:40


Post by: Kid_Kyoto


Oh man that is nice.



That's like sell me a new army for a new game level of nice.

Nice.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/10/05 12:25:07


Post by: Cronch


The new Resistance units do look fantastic, the fighter looks like something from Prequel trilogy.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/10/05 17:18:57


Post by: Ancestral Hamster


Thank you. Disruption is good.

beast_gts wrote:
Proteus Mobile Command Post


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/10/05 17:40:10


Post by: Sikil


Nice!!

Love the Proteus, the Valks and am happy that the Resistance is getting "some" of the love too!

Now, get them Behemoths released! Honour demands it!


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/10/05 17:46:39


Post by: warboss


 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
Oh man that is nice.

Spoiler:


That's like sell me a new army for a new game level of nice.

Nice.


It reminds me of a cross between BSG and Pulp Flash Gordon.



Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/10/06 07:24:41


Post by: hotsauceman1


Wait, I can't use Ravens in my resistance army anymore?
I never got to play with them but I had those for the longest time lol.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/10/06 09:05:16


Post by: Cronch


 Sikil wrote:

Now, get them Behemoths released! Honour demands it!

Plz no, super-heavies ruin games, always had.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/10/06 09:27:54


Post by: beast_gts


 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Wait, I can't use Ravens in my resistance army anymore?

No - they dropped the Allied / Feral thing (about a week after I finished painting my Ravens & MFR!).

Based off the Veterans changes I'm hoping we get Feral/Occupation, Allied/MFR & Kalium theme options.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/10/06 14:32:02


Post by: Sikil


Cronch wrote:
 Sikil wrote:

Now, get them Behemoths released! Honour demands it!

Plz no, super-heavies ruin games, always had.



I get it that they might not be your cup of tea, but I for one cant wait to let loose the Behemoth for truely epic battles!


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/10/07 16:17:12


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


On the TTCommunity blog, they mentioned that they are working on entirely Kalium ground forces. Some of the redesigned armored cars in the new starter were designed with Kalium aesthetics in mind.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/10/08 13:02:25


Post by: beast_gts


 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
On the TTCommunity blog, they mentioned that they are working on entirely Kalium ground forces. Some of the redesigned armored cars in the new starter were designed with Kalium aesthetics in mind.

Yep, and they 'previewed' some humvee and modern military style Technicals & Wagons for Kalium.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/10/08 13:05:37


Post by: beast_gts


Easy Build Resilient Resistance

Spoiler:
Easy Build Resilient Resistance



Some little tweaks have appeared!


The brand new Resistance Starter Army is currently up for pre-order, and it’s a real bumper box! With about twice as many models in as it used to have, it’s also seen a price cut, in what could arguably be called “the best thing to happen in 2020” and actually not be hyperbole!

But how on Earth did we manage to cram more stuff in for less money? Well, we had a chat with Dave about revisiting some old designs to make them cast easier and in fewer pieces. Not only does that mean we can fit more in the box, but as a Starter Army, it’s also easier to assemble, which is always nice.

By Air



First of all we can see that the Lifthawk now comes in a crazy two pieces.

Dave selected his delete key and got rid of a couple of the engines on the side! The engines still have the same rotating mechanism, but this version has them moulded on like this. The little fins have also been removed, making this basically a single piece aircraft!

We wanted to keep the option to take this big transport without the weapons (although, let’s face it, is anyone actually using it without the AA Cannons? They’re so helpful), so there’s a little sensor on the top which the cannons sit neatly over.

By Sea



The ubiquitous Kraken also saw a bit of a redesign, with the engines tucked into the sides in order to cast in one piece. We kept the ramp separate still, and it’s on the same hooks as before, so it can still be modelled up, down, or not glued on for both!



The Kraken is a brand new hovercraft commander for the Resistance, and from the start we knew that we wanted to use this chassis for more than just the one vehicle. So the version you can buy separately has the top as a separate piece which can swap out to make either the Hydra or the Circe, depending on your army needs. However, to keep the part count low in the Starter Army, we elected to make a different version in a single piece.



The hovercrafts also differ a bit from their separate cousins in that they have flat bottoms! Not that you ever see the bottoms of the others, but both have fans sculpted on the underneath. In fact, it’s so rare to see them that in a little behind-the-scenes gossip, the studio painted ones don’t even have the bottoms painted! :O

Having a flat bottom on the hovercraft isn’t just to save you painting time, it means they can be cast in a different way, meaning we can get more in a mould with more consistent results in casting. All that together means you get more stuff for less cost in your Starter Army!

By Land



By now a lot of you have noticed that the Jacksons are a little different in this set too.

This actually wasn’t a way to make things easier or more numerous, it was just something we thought was cool! A little while ago Dave sculpted a Kalium version of the Jackson (coming soon), and we loved it so much we asked him to make some more!

The Jacksons are a weird mix of military and private ownership, often used pre-war by security companies, and we wanted to reflect that in the models. Considering the Gun Wagons in the set are all quite random, we thought it’d be cool to give a few more variants of Jackson.

At the moment these are exclusive to the Starter Army, although with Kalium variants coming in the future, it’s safe to say you’ll be able to get them outside of this box eventually. You get 2 of each in the Starter Army, and while the official scheme has them all in military grey, we think they’d look great in all sorts of colours to fit with the more scrappy nature of some Resistance forces.



There we have it! With a few cunning changes by Dave, we’ve managed to double the contents of this Starter Army, and bring it down in cost. Now you can start any faction in Dropzone Commander and have a similar entry cost. That means it’s all about who you think is coolest!

And not to worry, if you still love the original designs, they’ll still all be available separately, but obviously the Starter Army is the best way to… well, to start an army!

Are you excited by the new Resistance? Fancy a buzzing army of hovercraft? Make sure to pre-order your Starter Army now, and let us know if you’re going to be a Kalium conscript, Scourge occupation veteran, or a Vega Scrapfleet ground militia fighter!



It seems a bit odd to me for a game like DZC to have multiple different sculpts/versions of the same models - but what do I know!


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/10/08 19:58:47


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


That little scanner looks cool. Might have to leave one exposed, and find some way to use that gun on a truck...or perhaps a frigate.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/11/04 19:10:20


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


They posted a couple of teaser pics. One is for a Resistance destroyer and the other has a lot of cruiser broadside slots, so maybe a dreadnaught or a new type of cruiser?




Automatically Appended Next Post:




Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/11/17 15:23:45


Post by: beast_gts


Teaser Armstrong Tuesday

Spoiler:
Teaser Armstrong Tuesday



The Resistance are getting some old old old reinforcements this week!


If you’ve left the colonies, been fighting against the jellies, or otherwise avoiding abandonists and space hedgehogs, it goes without saying that you’re probably a Resistance player!

If you’ve been playing this ragtag crew (or hardcore military regime, depending on your preference) in Dropfleet Commander, you’ve already got access to a lot of toys. From modular Cruisers to the biggest Battleship in the game, there are plenty of things to choose from!

Although the newest Dropfleet faction haven’t yet caught up with the other races, but this week we’ll be taking one more step closer towards rectifying that!



Introducing the new Armstrong Destroyer! Actually, there are three different variants here.

Aldrin Colony Ship



The Aldrin is a robust little ship, dating back around 3 centuries in its design. It’s big and chunky, and designed for jetting out to find new systems. Ships like these would make blind foldspace jumps, hoping to come across a habitable place to colonise. They’re hardy enough to survive years in the void, and come fully equipped with enough space to house a whole colony’s worth of drop craft.

Armstrong Destroyer



The Armstrong Destroyer is an expeditionary vessel, usually the first into a star system, armed with an HF-8 Clearance Laser used for breaking up asteroids and other orbital dangers to help its fellow ships manoeuvre to their designated drop sites.

Of course, a laser like that is more use nowadays blasting ships apart!

Collins Support Carrier



And rounding off the trio is the Collins. A support ship through and through, the Collins is filled to bursting with fuel tanks and repair stations, making it invaluable on long-range missions. It’s able to repair and refuel smaller fighters on the fly, making it extremely useful to admirals trying to make the most out of their meagre stock of old-tech launch craft.



We thought you’d want to see how big this one is, so here you go!

This new set of Destroyers (although technically only one is a full-blown Destroyer) is out this Friday!

Not only does the set come with the options to make 3 of each class, but all those bridges are modular too, so you can make all sorts of different looking ships. You don’t even have to put a bridge on at all, making the classic “straight out of the shipyard” looking colony ship!

We’ll be back later this week to have a closer look at the models and the rules, so make sure to stop by then! In the meantime, feel free to have a look round the ever-growing selection of Resistance ships (or other ships if you like!) already on the TTCombat webstore!


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/11/17 16:34:34


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


I may have to buy multiples to combine with space station bits to build an explorer fleet. I’ve already been converting explorer ships from the space station and resistance sprues, and these hulls add a great EAA throwback aesthetic.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/11/19 14:24:37


Post by: beast_gts


Resistance Destroyers – What Do?

Spoiler:
Resistance Destroyers – What Do?



The Resistance colony ships are coming in tomorrow!


Open the doors, duct tape the landing ramp and get ready, because three new Resistance ships are arriving for pre-order tomorrow in the webstore.

But what exactly do they do? And why should you care? Well, read on to find out!

Aldrin Colony Ship
First of all, the “bare bones” version, as it were.



The Aldrin is our idea of what an old EAA colony ship would look like. Those that got sent out into the depths of space to find new habitable worlds to colonise.

Of course, with that in mind, it had to be tough and chunky.



With a nasty 6 Hull the Aldrin is right up there with the PHR Destroyers for hardiness. And a massive 2+ save makes it very tough! Of course, it has Ablative Armour so that 2+ can get crippled, but it’s still very tough!

It has a decent Scan, but is one of the slowest Destroyers on the block. And carrying on the Resistance style of poor Point Defence too. All in all, it’s very tough! The Aldrin is also able to enter Atmosphere, which makes it even more survivable. Very nice!

And what’s that? 2 Bulk Landers?! Niiiiice. That also means you’ll be able to free up your Cruisers for more offensive roles. Always handy!

Collins Support Carrier
Onto possibly the weirdest one next.



The Collins is something very different to what we’ve seen before, but a continuation of what started with the Lighters, and actually even the Gladiator. The Resistance have such varied Cruisers and Frigates that we wanted their more “stock” ships to have very specific roles.

So here’s a ship that fills a 100% support role. And it does so like this:



By boosting nearby fighters! Keeping fighters after using their Point Defence is something we’ve seen a tiny bit of before (UCM Command Cards I’m looking at you), but here’s a ship that does it all the time!

Armstrong Destroyer
And finally, the one with the big gun!



The Armstrong was originally manufactured for clearing orbital debris and asteroids for the other ships to safely get to their drop sites. Of course, clearing debris is a very time-consuming thing, so in the heat of battle, it’s best to direct those lasers towards enemy ships instead!



The Resistance are getting a burnthrough laser! Not only that, but it’s a Mauler type as well.

For those that don’t play Shaltari, a Mauler type weapon has a Lock value equal to the target’s armour value. So those with better armour will be more easily hurt than those with light armour! Otherwise a Mauler weapon works as a standard Burnthrough weapon, so can do up to 6 Damage in one attack. Although Maulers are always Close Action weapons too, so you’re going to have to get close.

Still, the Armstrong punches pretty well above its weight, and is definitely going to be a bit of a thorn in the side of your opponents!



So there we have it, a little info on our new Destroyers! The Resistance sure are in for a treat, bringing some nasty tricks with them. Although you’ll have to plan your fleet a little around these ships, we think it’s well worth including some to mess with your opponents. 2 Bulk Landers from Atmo! :O

These little beauties will be going live tomorrow (usual time is around 3pm for those sitting there hitting refresh), so make sure to pop over to the TTCombat webstore to get yours then!


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/11/19 16:21:57


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


Mauler lasers! And a 2+ Armor bulk lander ship. Nice.

More importantly for me is that they look awesome.

Not quite as sold on the aircraft carrier one.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/11/19 16:27:46


Post by: beast_gts


 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Not quite as sold on the aircraft carrier one.

Yeah, the Collins looks very situational. I wonder if it'll have it's own launch assets.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/11/24 17:52:51


Post by: Overread


Memo to self - Scourge space tower!


Edit - failed on space tower because its a 2021 exclusive so I'll budget it for next year during and event. However I did get the Thresher ship since that's a 2019 exclusive and will be likely vanishing this time for good.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/12/08 01:12:30


Post by: Overread


And TTC are doing an advent calandar and first up is a new spacestation expansion pack for the spacestation kit for Dropfleet.

This one features not just new segments, but segments that can link together and even create a VAST spacestation!

https://community.ttcombat.com/2020/12/07/advent-calendar-7/

Spoiler:










Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/12/08 01:17:46


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


The smaller mass driver turrets are the huge dreadnaught turrets. Each of those huge turrets must be larger than a frigate!


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/12/08 01:26:28


Post by: chaos0xomega


Im going to need to buy quite a few more space station kits


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/12/08 07:56:01


Post by: Kid_Kyoto


Oh dear.

Are those plastic?

I may need more more space station kits.

And a bigger closet.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/12/08 14:12:40


Post by: chaos0xomega


The blurb on the website seems to imply they are resin


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/12/09 17:13:19


Post by: beast_gts


Advent Calendar 9

Spoiler:

Advent Calendar 9

https://i0.wp.com/community.ttcombat.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/9-copy.jpg?resize=300%2C300&ssl=1

It’s day 9 – Dropzone day!

Dropzone players, welcome! It’s your day today, so let’s perforate the cardboard and peel back the foil to get to the tasty treats inside.



This year has seen the release of all the new Starter Armies, with twice as much stuff as before for less price. They’re not bad sets! Before the pandemic hit we were also forging through our restocks, adding plenty of alternate units as well. Well, that train is about to pick up speed again, adding more restocks, and more alternate builds as well!



Dave has been hard at work making new versions of existing builds, like this alternate weapon system for the Wolf. Previously only a Commander, this version swaps the missiles for a crazy organ gun of some kind! Don’t ask me what it does – that’s down to the madness of Dave’s mind.



The PHR, long without multiple fast flyers gain an alternate version of the Athena, swapping out its cruise missiles with some dangerous smart missile banks.



The Scourge have been falling behind a little with their restocks, but that just means that they’ve got more goodies still to come! First of all the Corsair is getting a new weapon system, and it looks suspiciously like some kind of Arc Caster – great for hunting aircraft.



There’s also a new weapon system for the Desolator. I know what you’re thinking: “The Desolator and Overseer already come in a dual blister.” And you’re right! However, the old Eden’s Dinosaur hasn’t seen a release yet, so expect standard rules for that as this one in a set together! What does that gun do? Well it’s a big one, that’s for sure.



For those wanting the older feral version of the Alexander (which used to be Salakhan’s ride before he faked his death and joined up with a mysterious faction that may or may not be Kalium), you won’t have to wait long either. We took the chance to make a feral version of its alternate Napoleon as well! It’s pretty fierce looking, that’s for sure!

But it’s not just alternates to look forward to next year. We’re rounding off on finishing all the restocks, so it’s time to press onwards an unleash Dave’s full creative weirdness on the game! We’ll be releasing plenty of new Dropzone miniatures as well. We’re not spoiling them all here, but how about just a few?





Don’t ask me what these are, because I don’t know! All I know is what faction they belong to. But don’t fear, all factions will be receiving reinforcements next year, with plenty of weird and wonderful stuff that you really won’t be expecting!

Until then though, there’s plenty of Dropzone Commander already available. If you’ve been holding off on the new edition, now’s the perfect time to pick up that army you’ve been thinking about. Starter Armies contain basically a whole force in themselves, for a bargain price! Add on a rulebook and you’re ready to drop your troops in and get started in the lightning fast games of Dropzone Commander!


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/12/09 17:21:08


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


Two of the new designs seem really impractical to me. The walker with the stubby legs should just use wheels or treads or hover engines, and that resistance tank looks like something Cobra Commander would hop into to boost toy sales.

But that new Shaltari tank. Mmmmmmm.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/12/09 17:47:26


Post by: Overread


hmmm no PHR reveals - does this mean the titan is finally coming!


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/12/09 17:54:34


Post by: beast_gts


 Overread wrote:
hmmm no PHR reveals - does this mean the titan is finally coming!

Apart from the alt. Athena and the quad walker?


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/12/09 20:06:42


Post by: chaos0xomega


Yeah, no PHR reveals aside from the two PHR reveals that are very clearly right there.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/12/09 20:07:14


Post by: Overread


For some reason when glancing at the images I thought they were human faction ships not PHR.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/12/10 00:00:25


Post by: Ancestral Hamster


The new PHR quad walker looks like it should be a pre-Scourge Earthforce prototype, not PHR. Will need to see the rules for the Athena variant; was not happy with the original Athena so never bought one even though I like the look.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/12/10 00:09:51


Post by: chaos0xomega


The PHR walker and the Resistance tank right below it (not the one with the gatling cannons) are misses for me. Just not aesthetically appealing.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/12/10 00:57:45


Post by: Durandal


chaos0xomega wrote:
The PHR walker and the Resistance tank right below it (not the one with the gatling cannons) are misses for me. Just not aesthetically appealing.


They do seem to deviate from the army style significantly, and there doesn’t seem to be a logical reason. The resistance tank is especially egregious given the illogical design.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/12/10 08:27:16


Post by: Cronch


the alt builds for athena and the wolf look nice. the rest are a bit of a bust, esp. the phr battle-waddler- never base your mech designs on your aunt's favorite pug.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/12/14 15:14:45


Post by: Overread


And Back to Dropfleet

https://community.ttcombat.com/2020/12/14/advent-calendar-14/?fbclid=IwAR2G-lgLMk8Ifz16-VXafNR3ndU3B1if__tCqYCBzUXyXer23GTgNuwMGAc

First up the Dropfleet rulebook is now digitally online for free from their resources site. In addition they've uploaded a whole bunch of artwork for desktop wallpapers!


All on the resources tab https://ttcombat.com/pages/dropfleet-commander-downloads


Though it seems to need an update - the rules are directly linked here https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0965/1274/files/Desktop_Dropfleet_Rulebook.pdf?v=1607956597

AND the Ether Drake also has rules now too


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/12/14 16:56:23


Post by: chaos0xomega


Is the Ether Drake purchaseable anywhere?


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/12/14 17:05:21


Post by: Overread


chaos0xomega wrote:
Is the Ether Drake purchaseable anywhere?


Far as I know at present the only copies were sold with the KS they did for Stellaris a while back. I do recall that the models made in that were being made for a boardgame, but I don't know/think anything has moved on that front in a while. It might just be a slow burn project that might have even slipped due to Corona and such without being mentioned.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/12/14 17:36:56


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


Troll Trader is still completing the Desert of the Dead KS, which I believe was before the Stellaris campaign, and their hobbits only recently went for sale on their site. I’ve had my hobbit minis from their campaign for what feels like years.

So, I don’t expect the Ether Drake and Automated Dreadnought will come out for a long while.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/12/16 17:38:28


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


In today’s advent calendar blog post, TTCombat unveiled a new Dropverse game.

Flightwing Commander. A quick aerial combat game that uses Dropzone aircraft minis.



https://community.ttcombat.com/2020/12/16/advent-calendar-16-2/?fbclid=IwAR0AKeVRrwHnBZDwjRzdQu0y3L-9yYNT_Srks8FLhfFRH4GQHY04mZJVelU


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/12/16 17:43:54


Post by: chaos0xomega


Yep, I called that one a couple years ago when they said they had a third game in the works.

Disappointed they didn't stick to the "Drop" naming convention. I would have pushed the concept further, named it "Dropwing Commander" and made it about the intermediate step between Dropfleet and Dropzone. High altitude warfare between fighters battling to attack/defend dropships and bombers transitioning from orbit to the ground, etc.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/12/16 20:31:55


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


My reading is that this is more of a small side game that lets players use their flyers in/advent to Dropzone games. I don’t believe this is the new game they hinted at. Andy Chambers was supposed to be involved with that.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/12/21 15:25:51


Post by: beast_gts


Advent Calendar 21

Spoiler:

Advent Calendar 21

Day 21 – Dropfleet players aren’t going to want to miss this one!

We’re on our third and final week, and it’s been quite the preview so far! For Dropfleet we’ve had new shooty space stations and the full rulebook for free.

So let’s round out the holiday period with some new ships.

We’ve recently focused on some smaller ships like Lighters, Monitors and Destroyers to add to your games, but it’s time to go big again!

With only 2 of each Battlecruiser available to each faction, don’t you think that size of ship deserves a bit of love?

Well if so, you’re in luck because next year we’ll be releasing brand new Battlecruisers!



Every faction is getting a new blister with 2 new Battlecruisers in each. And these are all kind of different!

You’ll notice some similarites throughout the range to some other classes of ship, such as this UCM one with triple prows, just like the Kiev.



The new ones have been built around the familiar frame of the existing Battlecruisers, although each has had a major component redesigned to make them look very different indeed!



This one is like a giant Castor! The Battlecruisers were some of the oldest ships sculpted by Dave, so he’s used this experience to revisit the classic designs and bring in some of the new elements he’s introduced to each faction.



Weirdly the Shaltari one uses the same fins as the Ruby/Sapphire set, but replaces the core hull, making something that looks familiar but at the same time very different in profile!



Not all Battlecruisers have to be aggressive either, like this Resistance one! We’re still in early rules stages at the moment, but I can say that this is a repair ship for on-the-fly fixing!

Oh, you thought we were going to show you all the designs of each? Sorry, nope! You’ll have to wait until next year to see all of those. Who says Dave is finished with them anyway?

UCM Command Cards
Also in Dropfleet news, the UCM Command Cards are back!



We ran out of these a short while back, and took the opportunity to update them to the new design.

We actually weren’t expecting delivery of them until the new year, but they got here early, so we thought we’d release them early. They’re in store now, although you almost certainly won’t get them until after Xmas if you order now!


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/12/21 15:55:03


Post by: Overread


Love those new Battlecruiser designs - jealous that the PHR get some big forward guns like that! That said most of them look like they favour forward firepower over broadsides.

The Resistance almost looks like its a huge dropship with the way its underside is designed


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/12/21 16:11:21


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


That PHR battlecruiser is a must-have for me.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/12/21 16:42:02


Post by: Cronch


I love that just like Spartan with Firestorm, TTC is having this continuous shift in faction design aesthetic, which makes the old ships start looking less and less compatible.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/12/21 17:08:26


Post by: Overread


The PHR looks very similar to their former ships, its just not slaved to the exact same design concept of only focusing on broadsides.

Heck don't all these ships still use the very same base hull design for battlecruisers anyway?


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/12/21 19:28:45


Post by: Krinsath


To my eye the UCM, Resistance and Scourge battlecruisers use the identical core hull. The Shaltari one looks to be notably different and the PHR one even more so. However, the Shaltari one matches the overall design aesthetic (i.e. - you wouldn't have to guess which faction it belonged to) and the PHR one matches the existing Monitors. So there's an argument with the PHR that post-TTCombat their range has seen much more variation, but I'm not sure the claim can hold any water for the other 80% of the factions.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/12/23 16:00:41


Post by: beast_gts


Advent Calendar 23

Spoiler:

Advent Calendar 23

Saving the biggest things for the last week? That’s us!

It’s a Dropzone day in the advent calendar today, and… well, let’s not waste any time…

There’s a tentacled nasty making its way around the office, grabbing people from their desks and carrying them about. It’s… unpleasant for a while, but after they get back they seem happy, if very thirsty…



It’s a Scourge Behemoth! :O

We’ve had the Behemoths on the horizon for a little while, but we made the decision to push them back to get all the restocks done and some smaller new models made first. We’re getting close to restocks being finished, and will be pushing on with them again in the new year.



In the meantime, we thought it was high time to test out one of these massive new models (I can’t really call it a “miniature”).

This is the first 3D print of the Scourge Behemoth, carefully assembled by Fin. It’s pretty crazy looking, right?!



Bear in mind that this is still a WIP picture. Models this big take a long time to get ready for production, or even for making master moulds! This is a scale that Dave has never sculpted at before, and these will be some of the largest models we’ve ever produced, so there’s a lot of back and forth still to come to make sure everything is perfect. And that’s just tolerances and fitting – on something this big, the only way to properly inspect the details and the overall look of the model is by getting it stuck together!

Needless to say, we’re still a little way off releasing these huge models, although there will be plenty of other things to keep you all busy in the meantime.



What do you think? Excited by a massive, awesome looking model? Concerned for your UCM Legionnaires? These are the biggest models we’re likely to ever make for Dropzone, so yeah, those Legionnaires probably should be a little worried!

Dropzone Desktop Wallpapers



As an extra little bonus (and so Fleet players weren’t getting ALL the love), we’ve uploaded a whole load of Dropzone desktop wallpapers to the TTCombat webstore Resources page!

There are faction specific and a few various ones in there as well. There’s loads of art from Battle for Earth, in full size!



And some classics, like this sinister Razorworm attack.

Just head over to the Resources page and download yours, completely free!


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/12/23 16:12:01


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


It looks cool, but not cool enough to justify a dreadnaught-sized price point, for me.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/12/23 16:24:39


Post by: Overread


Feed me Seymore!

That's an awesome titanic monster!


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2020/12/23 16:53:53


Post by: chaos0xomega


I didn't think anything could ever make me interested in playing scourge. I was wrong.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/03/30 16:06:48


Post by: beast_gts


Teaser Tuesday: Monitors and Cathedrals

Resistance Monitors
That’s right, the Resistance are continuing their… resistance and catching up with the other factions, filling in holes in their battleline.

And now we’re filling in one of the last ones: Resistance Monitors!

Spoiler:


What you see there is the Resistance Newton Kill-Sat.

The Resistance are a little different in that they’re mostly made up of old ship designs, and their Monitors are no different! The Newton Kill-Sat is an old relic, from a time before the Scourge invasion. This design is the epitome of military excesses in peacetime: a light, slow satellite armed with one of the biggest and least subtle weapons in Earth’s arsenal: the XN-40 “Godray” Orbital Mass Driver.

As with other Monitors, expect the Newton to be very slow, but with a big gun that tilts up, down, backwards and forwards, who needs to move fast?

But what if you’re a scientist, not a fighter? We got you covered.

Spoiler:


The Newton can also be built as it’s alt: the Galileo Orbital Telescope!

The Galileo really shows that the Resistance will use whatever they can: these are mostly refugees that escape the Scourge invasion. Who cares whether your ship has a gun or a telescope when a sea of jellyfish is coming for you? You run away!

The Galileo is actually an incredibly useful part of a Resistance fleet. These long-range telescopes are able to pick up movement from a massive distance, warning the fleet of impending enemy attacks, and helping the otherwise quite dated scanning equipment to lock onto their targets more effectively.

We’ll be looking more at both Monitors later this week.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/03/30 17:26:32


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


Holy crap. I need these. Sure, I’ve been converting my own Big Gun satellites, and these make them obsolete, but I gotta have them.

I’m thinking that telescope offers some scan boost or something.



Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/03/30 18:17:20


Post by: Malika2


Is it just me or does the Resistance have a new colourscheme nowadays? Makes them look very interesting!


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/03/30 18:21:08


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


It’s not just you. They used to be painted darker Kalium colors or rusted to hell. Now they look newer and shinier.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/03/30 19:08:50


Post by: beast_gts


I wonder if there's a third version (like the others)? A torpedo or fire-ship launch platform would be cool.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/04/01 14:07:46


Post by: beast_gts


Offensive Satellites? Resistance Monitors!

Spoiler:
Offensive Satellites? Resistance Monitors!

We’ve got new spaceships, so let’s see what they do, shall we?

You might be used to satellites being super helpful. Letting you chat on your phone wherever you are (hah, who actually uses their phone as a phone anymore?), streaming TV worldwide, and providing charming covers of David Bowie songs.

But in the future of Dropfleet Commander, satellites do a lot more than that!



These are the Newton and Galileo, the newest additions to the Resistance fleet. The Monitor class ships are something a little weird – half satellite and half attack ship, they’re pretty slow but pack a punch!

So what exactly do they bring to your fleet? Well, how about a telescope?

Galileo Orbital Telescope
The Galileo is a rare ship in Dropfleet Commander in that (aside from limited Point Defence lasers) it’s entirely unarmed.



The Galileo boasts and extremely good Scan range… although without weapons it’s not a huge amount of use hah!

Unfortunately for this little spaceship that could, its Thrust is real low, and while a 4+ Armour save is okay, it’s not quite on par with some of the other Monitors. Although considering this thing is a telescope I’m not sure you should expect much more!

The real draw here is that these ships have Detector, which is always handy. Although I know Resistance Frigates can all have Detector, so what makes this one special?



The Space Telescope rule means that basically your Active Scans boost up an extra Spike! The usual Minor turns into a Major, and if you ping a ship on Silent Running (provided you get the 4+) they get a Minor Spike too! There’s also something a little extra and secret, but we’re not revealing that until the full rules go up tomorrow!

Newton Kill-Sat
Of course, for those that like their ships a little more killy, you can always go for the Newton (although with the poor Scan ranges in the Resistance, that Galileo is worth its weight in gold).

That massive gun is just as dangerous as it looks:



Nicknamed the “Godray”, this is your standard sci-fi space laser. It’s big and blows things up real good! A rare 3 Damage is a big draw here, as this weapon can rip through anything smaller than a Frigate in one shot, and a squad of them spells a lot of trouble!

Although that’s not even the main draw here. Particle is a special rule not seen much outside of Shaltari, but this gun is massive. Particle causes all hits to become Criticals, so have fun breaking through even the toughest armour. A whole group of these can seriously threaten even the largest Dreadnought!

The Godray is on a swivel mount as well, so if you want you can angle that weapon straight down and turn into a true kill-sat, blowing up entire city blocks in a single volley.



The Newton and the Galileo are up for pre-order tomorrow (usually around 3pm GMT fyi). We’ll be chatting about them (and the new Sci-Fi Gothic terrain) then, so make sure to stop by here or the TTCombat webstore to pick yours up and rain fiery death from a distance (or just see things a lot bigger than before, if that’s your jam).


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/04/01 16:37:01


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


That scan boost is welcome. I wonder what the secret text says.

As for the gun, it’s cool, but it doesn’t change the whole dynamic of small ships doing the most shooting since they shoot forwards, cruisers launching, and heavies doing the gunlines.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/04/02 14:34:23


Post by: beast_gts


Newton Monitors store link and rules PDF.


Bank Holiday New Releases!

Spoiler:
It’s a bank holiday release day, but that just means that I’m typing this while relaxing in a hammock and getting fat eating chocolate eggs.


Ahhhh this is the life! I’ll stop munching for a minute, because we’ve got some big releases this week to go through.

Resistance Monitors
First of all, we’ve seen them all week and the Resistance Monitors are now available for pre-order!



The Newton Monitors set contains three of the new ships, able to be built as three Newton Kill-Sats or three Galileo Orbital Telescopes (or both if you’re careful with the magnets).

These ships may be slow, but what they lack in speed they make up for in versatility or flat-out firepower.

The Newton boasts the massive XN-40 “Godray” Orbital Mass Driver – a Particle weapon that does 3 Damage per shot. it’s really, really dangerous. The Galileo on the other hand trades its big gun for an equally big telescope, which is useful for Active Scanning your enemies. When it does so, you put a Major Spike on them instead of a Minor Spike, and it also helps friendly ships to target that enemy: they do Critical hits on one over the Lock value instead of two. That’s a lot of Criticals!

The set of three is available to pre-order now, for £20.



Automatically Appended Next Post:
(They've also release the V1.2 digital rulebook).


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/04/02 16:19:57


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


Holy crap is that going to make the Max Guns cruiser builds more effective. All those low power shots are getting a boost. Heavy frigates with fusillade or squadron (I forget the rule names) will be even more killy.

But more importantly, they look cool and distinct, adding flavor to the faction.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/04/04 23:40:31


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


The event exclusives are back on sale this weekend. They have a lot of their resin minis back in stock, too.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/04/16 15:34:23


Post by: beast_gts


Quick FYI - Updated DZC rulebook released today, and some new units/options in the pipeline (thanks to Mark McKenzie on FB):

Scourge
Raptor Spider Drones
Subjugator Arthropod
Eradicator Chameleopod
Corsiar Interceptor (Arc Castor)

UCM
Wolverines (flame turret)
Gladius (mortar)
Titania Albatross

PHR
Hermes Disruption Walker
Menchit (Styx Autocannon)
Athena (Shooting Star)

Shaltari
Alligator Gravcharger
Obelisk Ionspire
Jaguar (Bio-atomiser)

Resistance
Strikehawk (Sentinel Defence Turrets)


Automatically Appended Next Post:
https://community.ttcombat.com/2021/04/16/new-dropzone-new-mdf/

(I'll make a better post when I get home after work)


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/04/16 15:46:20


Post by: hotsauceman1


Those are pretty cool.
Man I really wish this game kept it's steak over here, I have a resistance force that never even saw the table.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/04/16 16:23:02


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


A lot of the new units look fun, visually and conceptually. However, the Shaltari obelisk is something I’m more likely to use in Dropfleet as a space station or something.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/04/16 19:59:58


Post by: Lexikon


 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Those are pretty cool.
Man I really wish this game kept it's steak over here, I have a resistance force that never even saw the table.


Strongly agree with this. I love DZC, maybe my favorite tabletop game to actually play. But it never got very big in the states and the Hawk -> TTCombat transition sucked the wind clean out of it here. Not that Hawk's distribution in the states was ever great, but it existed.

Some of these new units look phenomenal, but I have to think very carefully about buying more units for armies that are fairly large and rarely see the outside of their case as it stands.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/04/16 21:17:11


Post by: hotsauceman1


Honestly.
Dropfleet killed the steam I think. It was too big and took too much away from the main game.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/04/21 20:33:39


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


More restocks, rulebook update, etc.

Dropzone Rules Update
We’re back with rules!

Phew! Last week was a massive week for Dropzone. Aside from around 60 restocks (and plenty of new alternate weapons and builds) going live on the webstore, we also had an update to the digital rulebook, and a massive balance pass go live.

With such a lot to do, there were some errors (classic Traffic James) and what’s more, the army builder went a bit nuts pushing all the changes at once. Lesson learned there!

So we’ve gone through to update things and we’re fairly sure that the army builder is now running okay. We’re still expecting some downtime in the coming weeks while we migrate all the servers for all the sites, but we’ll let you know ahead of time when that’s coming (it’ll likely be a Monday morning when most won’t notice).

In the meantime, feel free to head over to www.dropzonecommander.com and check out the updated stats.

We’ve also updated the stat cards on both the Dropzone site and the TTCombat Resources section. Any units that had errors on now have a 1.1 in the bottom corner to let you know they’ve been changed. You may even find some pre-playtest versions that went out this morning by mistake. Oops! One of which was this beast we saw in the advent calendar:



You’ll notice some changes still happening on the army builder as well. We’ll be carrying on updating photos as we go, as well as getting some juicy background lore from Dave. And of course a whole load of other visual and practical changes. Keep an eye on things; we’re not done yet, we’ll be tweaking and improving things for a while. One thing we’re currently working on is a better system for replacing or upgrading weapons. You’ll notice a few that have multiple upgrades listed separately where they should be one choice (there’s a category on our to-do list which is specifically how annoying PHR weapons options are!) – that’s top of the list, so we should see some changes soon.

Feedback

Although we’ve done our best to catch any errors, there are likely still a few floating around. With around 150 units updated, it’s inevitable. If you see any inconsistencies between the cards and the builder, let us know! You can submit feedback directly onto the army builder, or pop us an email at info@ttcombat.com and we’ll send it to the right people to get looked at.

And of course, if you have feedback on rules or unit stats, we’re keen to know about those too! All your feedback is what we pay attention to when doing balance passes. We do heavily favour games played, although we know that isn’t possible or very practical right now. We’ll be looking at another balance pass later in the year, and plenty of new releases between as well. The benefit of a living rule system and digital stats means we can keep tweaking So when it’s safe, get some games in and let us know how it goes!

Thanks for your patience over this massive update! Check out the rules, and if something tickles your fancy, don’t forget that loads of Dropzone is now on the webstore for pre-order!


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/05/11 16:47:00


Post by: beast_gts


Battleteaser Cruiser Tuesday

Spoiler:









Spoiler:
Battleteaser Cruiser Tuesday
Back with our second Teaser Tuesday this week, there are some big new Dropfleet ships on the horizon!

Wait, is there a horizon in space? An event horizon maybe? I don’t know, I’m no scientist.

However, I do know cool spaceships when I see them, and this week we have 10 new cool spaceships for Dropfleet Commander.

We’ve seen teases of these in the advent calendar and previous WIP Wednesdays, but we’re happy to announce that the brand new Battlecruisers are out for pre-order this Friday!

Each Battlecruiser comes in a set with options to build two different variants. Although we’re not going to show all of them today, sorry!

UCM Rome

First of all we have the UCM Rome. A strange hybrid design of Battlecruiser, this ship fills a role between heavy-hunter and escort. Armed with two heavy torpedoes, you’ll be able to make a mess of even the most dangerous enemy ships, and armed to the teeth with point defence lasers galore, this ship is safe from return fire and helps out friendly units too.

All of our new Battlecruisers use parts from the original designs (well, second versions if you count the Kickstarter exclusive ones) and add on brand new pieces, making completely new ships. The Rome is no different as it draws on the Kiev’s triple prow, making something that bridges the gap in the design style between the two.

Scourge Shadow

The Scourge are receiving a new Battlecruiser too, in the form of the Shadow.

This new Battlecruiser has a mixed offensive output, trading its stealth away for just a really scary amount of potential damage. Armed with the classic combo of Oculus and Plasma weapons on the prow, the Shadow pairs those with Launch on its fins, and a dangerous new weapon on top.

Known as the Magnetron Lash, this big ol’ multi-cannon array is the Scourge’s first Mauler weapon. I can’t say much more about it than that at the moment though! Stay tuned for more info.

PHR Pompeius

The PHR Battlecruiser is definitely one of the biggest changes! With a brand new hull that echoes the shape of the PHR Monitors, the Pompeius does something that the PHR don’t often excel at: shooting straight forwards!

Armed with a giant version of the Castor’s weapon, the Heavy Quad Battery can deal out a lot of damage, especially when targeting larger ships. That makes this a Battlecruiser that doesn’t focus on small targets – a welcome addition to any PHR fleet!

Shaltari Hematite

Now for my favourite! Which is unusual, because Shaltari cheat and rely on Shaltnanigans and I can’t deal with their tricksy tactics. But here is a ship that really speaks to me. One Burnthrough laser is good; just look at the Chromium! However, four Burnthrough lasers are so much better. For once a Shaltari ship that I can get behind!

Resistance Senator

Finally we have the Resistance who are also getting their third and fourth Battlecruisers! Bedecked in the classy Kalium scheme, you can tell this Battlecruiser means business.

It’s got about a thousand missiles, which is a nice start! Seriously, that’s a lot of missiles. It’s also got some super fancy scanner arrays, which look like slightly different versions of those found on the Lima. Oh and did I mention those big ol’ green torpedoes? What on earth could they do? I’m sure it’s nothing good for your opponents.

All of these Battlecruisers are coming to the TTCombat webstore on pre-order this Friday, and each has an alternate build that we’ll be looking at later this week. As a little teaser, how about one alternate? I’ll leave you with the PHR Agrippa!


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/05/11 16:56:58


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


I dig all of these designs. The PHR ship is the biggest departure from their old BC, and my favorite. The Resistance ship looks like a close-up beast. I’m not sure about how I would use the UCM BC in game or in fluff, except maybe to escort support ships or something? The Shaltari ship looks pretty similar to the older version with another impractical F(N) Weapons Free failgun.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/05/11 17:04:06


Post by: Cronch


I just cannot get over how goofy the massive torpedoes are, and how much space they take on the ship for a weapon that cannot be reloaded during game. Painting them in nerf colors doesn't help...
That being said, the scourge and PHR are the winners, the two human ships are meh due to said missiles. Shaltar always look like someone playing with fractals so no opinion on them.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/05/11 17:18:23


Post by: beast_gts


Cronch wrote:
I just cannot get over how goofy the massive torpedoes are, and how much space they take on the ship for a weapon that cannot be reloaded during game.

I wonder if Andy Chambers was just trying to do torpedoes 'different' to BFG...


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/05/11 17:57:29


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


I thought the Resistance torpedo domes were supposed to be a bigger version of the mauler laser from their destroyer. I’ll just pretend that’s what they are.

For the UCM ship, I dunno. Their torpedoes were always awkward. They would make sense if they were designed as autonomous small craft in order to increase their range, but humongous missiles that can only strike near targets, and only after a delay, don’t really seem worth their real estate.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
The Pungari torpedoes, however, are perfect.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/05/11 18:02:09


Post by: Sacredroach


I'm actually a fan of those oversize torpedoes...reminds me of my childhood watching Uchuu Senkan Yamato and Arcadia of My Youth.

Still happy with the releases for the UCM...just wish I had time to play.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/05/11 19:14:28


Post by: chaos0xomega


They were probably aiming for realistic naval torpedoes, so they had to make them unreasonably large in order to justify why they can't be reloaded during combat.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/05/11 20:26:54


Post by: warboss


chaos0xomega wrote:
They were probably aiming for realistic naval torpedoes, so they had to make them unreasonably large in order to justify why they can't be reloaded during combat.


I think just mounting them completely outside of the ship as opposed to an internal bay would have accomplished that without going the naval space combat equivalent of JRPG massive sword on the model.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/05/11 20:57:30


Post by: AegisGrimm


Yeah, they could have been large rockets about half the existing size that just jettison and fall away from the ship and then accelerate toward the target. As-is they look like a 28mm scale bit glued onto a fleet-scale ship.



Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/05/11 21:01:03


Post by: Kid_Kyoto


That Resistance ship is amazing, a flying city. It just needs to paint those big warheads in a matching color.

Historically Battlecruisers were upgunned cruisers, smaller ships with the guns of a battleship but the armor and mass of a cruiser. Pocket battleships or glass cannons basically.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/05/12 00:54:20


Post by: chaos0xomega


 warboss wrote:
chaos0xomega wrote:
They were probably aiming for realistic naval torpedoes, so they had to make them unreasonably large in order to justify why they can't be reloaded during combat.


I think just mounting them completely outside of the ship as opposed to an internal bay would have accomplished that without going the naval space combat equivalent of JRPG massive sword on the model.


*shrug* it was just a theory

Historically Battlecruisers were upgunned cruisers, smaller ships with the guns of a battleship but the armor and mass of a cruiser. Pocket battleships or glass cannons basically.


Thats incorrect. Battlecruisers generally were larger than battleships in terms of length and comparable in terms of displacement in order to accommodate the additional equipment needed to facilitate the higher speeds, as well as the hydrodynamic shaping needed to achieve it - a longer hull is capable of achieving a higher top speed than a shorter hull of the same beam, thus Battlecruisers tended to be longer than battleships, but not really narrower. In terms of armament, they were generally comparable to battleships though often (but not always) the caliber of the main battery was slightly lighter to facilitate higher rates of fire - we're talking 15" guns instead of 16" guns, or using a /45 caliber instead of a /50 caliber. There were a couple weird scenarios where this wasn't the case- the British Courageous-class ships, for example, which were often referred to as "light battlecruisers" or "large light cruisers", and the Japanese Tsukuba and Ibuki classes which were built as cruisers and later reclassified as battlecruisers. Generally this was the result of politics rather than something that was considered a sound approach to warship design or exemplary of the type.

In terms of armor, it really varied by time and place, as well as whether or not you consider fast battleships to be battlecruisers or rate them as a distinct class - the fast battleships (many of which started out as battlecruisers) generally had comparable armor to normal battleships (in some cases even heavier armor than contemporary battleships did). The first Battlecruisers (the Invincible class in British service), for example, were built alongside HMS Dreadnought (but completed sometime later) - they were 40 feet longer, weighed only about 600 tons less, and had one less turret of slightly larger caliber (305mm on the Invincible vs 300mm on the Dreadnought). The armor, on the other hand, was barely half of Dreadnoughts at its thickest points and no heavier than that of the typical contemporary armored cruiser. In reality, armor schemes for battlecruisers varied dramatically over time and space. Generally, the "typical" battlecruiser is thought of as having an armor scheme intermediate that of a cruiser and a battleship, i.e. heavier than a cruiser, but lighter than a battleship - but that wasn't always true.


In terms of British battlecruiser design, the armor generally lagged that of battleships, but the armaments remained comparable - in general British battlecruisers were about as protected as contemporary cruisers were, but in some cases they were arguably less (the Renown class for example had less armor than any of her predecessors in British service, and the Courageous class which had even less protection than that). The flip side of that is the HMS Hood, which when launched was the largest vessel in the Royal Navy and had armor and armament equivalent to that of the Queen Elizabeth-class battleships that were her contemporaries in service. In the post-WW1 era the Royal Navy came to define any battleship with a speed in excess of 24 knots as a battlecruiser regardless of intended role, etc. which meant that later British "Battlecruiser" designs (chiefly the never-built G3) were better armed and armored than the battleships which preceded them.

The Germans on the other hand prioritized armor, as such German battlecruisers had significantly heavier armor than British battlecruisers often sitting between a British battlecruiser and a German battleship in thickness, but lighter armament (usually lagging that of comparable British battlecruisers by 1-2 inches in diameter). By the WW2 era there was a very blurred line between battlecruisers and battleships in German service owing to their generally well-rounded designs. Depending on who you ask the Bismarck was either a fast battleship or a battlecruiser for example, and likewise there have been forests destroyed in the debate about the categorization of Gneisenau and Scharnhorst.



Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/05/12 09:59:02


Post by: Cronch


chaos0xomega wrote:
They were probably aiming for realistic naval torpedoes, so they had to make them unreasonably large in order to justify why they can't be reloaded during combat.

While reloading torpedo tubes in combat was hard, they didn't displace anywhere near the same space.
My main issue isn't with the size per se (though they are thicc) but that they're housed inside the ship (except for PHR ones I think?)...except for the exit of their tube. So they decided to put an armor box all of the missile except the part that houses sensors and possibly the boom-boom part.
It'd look (imo) so much better if they were on external rails instead, like space-katyushas.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/05/12 10:16:52


Post by: Kid_Kyoto


Thanks chaos0xomega, always nice to learn something.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/05/12 14:29:02


Post by: beast_gts


Thats No Moon – WIP Wednesday!

Spoiler:
Thats No Moon – WIP Wednesday!
. Sound the air horns, grab the vuvuzelas, bang the drums of war and make as much noise as you want because we’re in space and no one will hear you anyway.


Straight from Lewis’s desk I bring you the Space Station add-ons that were teased back at the beginning of the advent calendar.



They have been printed, moulded and cast and now there is this once full box of resin pieces. Now its remnants of just some of the parts that will be coming in the space station blisters. With so many different sized and useful pieces, there are decisions to be made as to what goes with what.



Is this a set in the making? Honestly even we’re not completely sure yet! We are still mixing and matching to make sure you can make a whole station or link them together for a great price.

When we have new modular sets like this, we tend to get them all cast and then have a play! While you can get a good idea of what makes up a set in a 3D, theres only one way to really know. Tip it out on the desk and fiddle around with the pieces!



Its testament to the modularity of these sets. There are plenty of weapons and focal points for future battles! These pieces are really bringing another level of customization to our popular Space Station kit.

These photos are just of the new pieces, we haven’t even had chance to add in all the plastic bits yet. We’re excited to see all the possible weird creations. To be honest we don’t even bother cleaning these pieces up. It’s just a rough and ready “what goes with what”. Then we figure out exactly how to split the parts down into sellable packages.



Scourge invaders beware, colossal rail guns are at the ready! Dave has done a marvellous job with the detail and flexibility of add-ons. They’re going to look great on your gaming table!



These are our largest blisters, crammed full of parts! Its no joke about getting the most space station for the your money! Although apparently there are still a couple of parts yet to come through. Nonetheless this is a good indication of what you might be getting in these new blisters.

These will be protecting your star system in the not too distant future. For now though, be sure to check out the rest of our Dropfleet range and bolster your forces for the incoming battles.

Share this:


I thought I had enough space stations, then I saw these...


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/05/12 14:59:09


Post by: chaos0xomega


I need to buy a few more of the plastic kits still... but I'm going to buy so friggin many of these too.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/05/12 15:24:08


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


Oh noooooooo

I just got some plastic space station parts. And now I need more.

And look at those guns!


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/05/13 11:51:48


Post by: Mr Morden


I think the space station big guns would make a cool ship on its own.

Quite like the PHR Minbari style Battlecruisers but not feeling the others


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/05/13 11:54:29


Post by: Overread


The rework of the scourge battlecruiser hull being retroactive is a welcome change.

Now to just convince them to either change their resin casting method or to stop putting all those ridges and fine details on the mould join/line of scourge ships


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/05/13 16:14:35


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


Those rules are...I don’t know. I have no idea if they will break the game or only add a few new options.

The Kalium War Crime Cruiser feels like something I should have seen coming.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/05/14 15:14:39


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


The second UCM BC is heavily reliant on players owning a set of the command cards. Aren’t they only available through the big Battlefleet boxes?


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/05/14 15:21:15


Post by: beast_gts


 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
The second UCM BC is heavily reliant on players owning a set of the command cards. Aren’t they only available through the big Battlefleet boxes?

They are available separately (link).


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/05/15 07:30:41


Post by: MrPieChee


Have all the faction cards been updated to the new layout? Last I saw, it was just resistance and one other I think...


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/05/18 17:28:36


Post by: beast_gts


MrPieChee wrote:
Have all the faction cards been updated to the new layout? Last I saw, it was just resistance and one other I think...
Just UCM and Resistance so far.

Kalium Teaser Tuesday
Spoiler:





Spoiler:
Kalium Teaser Tuesday

Hello Dropzone fans! Are you a Resistance player that wants more options? Of course you do. Read on…

It’s Teaser Tuesday, which means it’s time to tease some Tuesdays.

Or, rather, tease some models.

Because this week is a Dropzone Commander release, and we’ve got some models that people have been asking about for a while now.

This week sees the release of some alternate sculpts for the Resistance in the form of Kalium specific miniatures!

If you wanted to play a military-heavy style Resistance faction, then you don’t need to worry about having scrappy vehicles anymore. This week we’ll be releasing alternate sculpts for:

Technicals
Wagons (both standard and Storm varieties)
Battle Buses (and Remote Bomb Buses)
Jacksons
Lifthawks (this one is known as a Voidhawk since it can safely deploy from space)

As you can see from all these pictures, you’ll have great options for alternate models to turn your Resistance army into a full military force. Fin has painted these ones in the official Kalium colour scheme (a little less shiny on ground-level than in space), but you could use them as more military-style Resistance cells from any of the Cradle Worlds, or indeed any rogue colony. There’s a great bit in Battle for Earth about the Vega Scrapfleet taking control of a hidden bunker on Earth with a massive cache of pre-Scourge tech).

All of these new sets use the standard Resistance rules, and you’ll find all of the options represented (including the howdah weapon upgrades on the Battle Bus). So you can head over to the Army Builder and start planning your dream army right now!

We’ll be releasing these in individual sets this coming Friday, along with one more Dropzone kit we’re keeping a secret until then. So make sure to stop by then to see all of the new goodies that will be coming to the TTCombat webstore this week!


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/05/18 17:38:50


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


I hope they sell a Kalium starter set...


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/05/18 18:13:56


Post by: Brickfix


Damn the new Voidhawk is an absolute beauty


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/05/18 18:27:45


Post by: hotsauceman1


Damn........
Those are cool.
I am still thinking of reserving a shelf for my dropzone and redoing them as a display piece for fun,


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/05/18 18:55:40


Post by: Crablezworth


Their photography is always fantastic, love the all black scheme.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/05/19 12:57:40


Post by: chaos0xomega


Seconding desire for a Kalium starter. I would honestly collect two Resistance armies, one of the best miniatures ranges out there for any game.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/05/19 16:27:58


Post by: hotsauceman1


In wargames i cant think of a faction of ragtag humans like this.
We got so much like the other factions, but none like this.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/05/19 16:37:19


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


Maybe the Broken from Maelstrom’s Edge?

Another reason I love these minis is that they don’t have the bolted-on plates and dents of the main Resistance vehicles, giving us the ability to further differentiate units for gaming or background purposes.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/05/19 18:15:49


Post by: hotsauceman1


Yeah, Im thinking of stripping my old ones, buying the starter set, some new units, paint them up and put them on a display.
If only my leviathan didnt fall and explode in a million peiece once


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/05/21 15:19:26


Post by: axotl


Ugh I'd had to swear off TT Combat after spending WAY too much on a few dropfleet full fleets only to receive some of the worst quality casts for every ship in resin - including some of the limited time event kits Broke me, and never followed up to go through the tedium of replacing 75% of what was sent. Sure hope their process has improved, because these are great - and they really do have some of the best designed mini ranges around. Tons of fun.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/05/21 15:44:33


Post by: beast_gts


axotl wrote:
only to receive some of the worst quality casts for every ship in resin
Yeah, they seem to be on a steep learning curve with resin casting. They said in the Battlecruisers article they've gone back and redone some of the moulds so they're easier to work with / assemble.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/05/21 15:56:09


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


The more military look is perfect for my Resistance “chapter”—I’m going to have to buy in. I really hope they put out a starter set or some other deal before the end of the year, because I just bought the other new Resistance starter, and I can’t afford to double it with piecemeal purchases.

That Voidhawk tho. The troop carrier version looks like a hero ship I need for my forces.


axotl wrote:
Ugh I'd had to swear off TT Combat after spending WAY too much on a few dropfleet full fleets only to receive some of the worst quality casts for every ship in resin - including some of the limited time event kits Broke me, and never followed up to go through the tedium of replacing 75% of what was sent. Sure hope their process has improved, because these are great - and they really do have some of the best designed mini ranges around. Tons of fun.


I’ve had to ask for replacement parts for less than a fifth of the resin ships I’ve received, so they are better but not perfect. The good news is that they did send me replacements pretty quickly.

They mention that their restock is out of stock, so there will be a two week wait for some items. I don’t know if their quality suffers when they rush, but I plan to wait a bit longer than that to place an order.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/05/21 15:58:45


Post by: Overread


Some of their casting problems are with designs themselves -a lot of the fantastic scourge stuff has a lot of ridges and fine detail right on the mould line spot. The LAST place you really want that kind of detail since its at the most risk of damage and even if it prints well its a nightmare to clean the mould lines off.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/05/26 23:38:50


Post by: axotl


Not the place for it but not sure if there are other threads for dropfleet on dakka - anyone have any experience with their customer service? Getting really hungry to spend more time and money on my fleets but I gotta know if they're good about replacing garbage casts / parts. The new resistance designs are so so good. And I haven't expanded since corvettes came out. And I received garbage tier miscasts of all resin ships for 3 fleets.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/05/26 23:45:18


Post by: beast_gts


axotl wrote:
Not the place for it but not sure if there are other threads for dropfleet on dakka - anyone have any experience with their customer service? Getting really hungry to spend more time and money on my fleets but I gotta know if they're good about replacing garbage casts / parts. The new resistance designs are so so good. And I haven't expanded since corvettes came out. And I received garbage tier miscasts of all resin ships for 3 fleets.


Yes they're good - email them a photo of the issue, order number or receipt and the batch number from the packaging and they'll sort things out.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/05/26 23:53:05


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


axotl wrote:
Not the place for it but not sure if there are other threads for dropfleet on dakka - anyone have any experience with their customer service? Getting really hungry to spend more time and money on my fleets but I gotta know if they're good about replacing garbage casts / parts. The new resistance designs are so so good. And I haven't expanded since corvettes came out. And I received garbage tier miscasts of all resin ships for 3 fleets.


I’ve had to contact them for a number of replacements over the last couple years. (Most of the resin ships I received were fine to great, but there seems to be at least one mold-slip or bubble-poxxed ship per every half dozen.). I contacted them by email. They asked for a photo of the miscast part and of the sticker on the box with the batch or series number. Then they sent the missing piece by currier, which usually took a week or so to arrive. Add in the email back and forth time, and you might be looking at two weeks, assuming similar mailing time.

I’ve had good experiences with them through Facebook, too, asking Lewis Clarke for a modification to one of my orders and receiving it.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/05/27 00:08:01


Post by: Overread


In general if I need replacement parts due to damage I will often find the support email and send all details I can along with photos up front. Pretty much all model firms want to see the problem and see any batch/packer/picker/id codes attached. GW even want to see receipts of sale when you buy from 3rd parties.

It makes perfect sense - they want to see unique identifiers to ID the model so they can track errors to specific models or even to pickers/packers/casters who might not be doing their job right; they also want to see the problem to make sure its valid and to be aware of it for the future (easier to train people to spot things if they can see it) and to track any repeat occurrences. And finally they want to make sure its a legitimate request not just someone trying to game the system


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/07/13 16:50:54


Post by: beast_gts


Teaser Tuesday – Super Space

Spoiler:







Spoiler:
Teaser Tuesday – Super Space
Hey folks, today we’ve got some “super” exciting things to show you!

Welcome to Teaser Tuesday, where we look at what’s coming out in the world of TTCombat this week!

This Friday you can expect to see some brand new Dropfleet Commander Space Stations. These new kits are fully compatible with the existing Space Stations allowing you to make even bigger stations than ever!

First off we have the Defence Grid Space Station. These impressive looking stations add a dual layer to the standard space stations, making them look super heavy – perfect for a military station. They come equipped with some fantastic weaponry such as the 35-KL Quad Mass Drivers. This upgrade is sure to put a dent into enemy forces.

The next Space Station is the Astrobotanical Lab. This peculiar Station is a more passive alternative to the Defence Grid. However don’t let this fool you, the Astrobotanical is equally as important within the battlefield. Its Signature Bloom will help to disguise friendly ships if they hang around close to it.

The last thing we’ll be teasing today goes hand in hand with the Space Stations: we have our very own TTCombat Superglue! This quick drying and strong holding glue is perfect for plastic, resin and metal models.

The Space Stations will be available for Pre-Order on Friday and the glue will be ready for purchase on Friday too!

In the meantime why not check out our existing Dropfleet Commander kits; alongside our ever growing hobby accessories there’s plenty to get your hands on!


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/07/13 16:52:21


Post by: Mr Morden


The silent running space station is cool


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/07/13 17:25:21


Post by: warboss


Cool. I'm getting battleship basestar vibes from that top one.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/07/13 20:31:51


Post by: chaos0xomega


Those are some biiiig guns.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/07/14 08:38:52


Post by: Kid_Kyoto


The military station with guns the size of ships is silly but the flying greenhouse, OMG that is just lovely. I could never paint it well, but it is lovely.

What are the ships around it, I don't recognize them.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/07/14 09:20:15


Post by: beast_gts


 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
What are the ships around it, I don't recognize them.
They're the Resistance Destroyers & Monitors.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
WIP Exclusive Dropzone

Spoiler:








Spoiler:
WIP Exclusive Dropzone


Well it’s about that time when things are getting back to what we are used to. Just in time for some sweet exclusives to be released into the wild.

Greetings folks and welcome to another WIP Wednesday where we show what works we have in progress on a Wednesday. We have some Dropzone Commander exclusives on the way for you this week and they are something special.

Each of our Dropzone factions will be getting a unique, alternate sculpt which will be available on our webstore during the UK Game Expo and at the event itself. That’s right we will be there showing off as many products as we can muster up to Birmingham. Some new, some old and some exclusive. Although the UCM Osprey is our 2021 exclusive, we thought it was high time to introduce a new set of Exclusives. These will be available at every event we attend, and on the webstore, and not timed, so you can pick them up whenever we’re at a show in the future.

UCM Polar Bear

So, let’s begin with the UCM Polar Bear, an alternate sculpt to the Kodiak armoured command vehicle. Yes, this to is basically a mobile command centre capable of orbital strikes and almost total destruction. It’s completely redesigned, more fitting for hostile environments. Oh and yes it comes with parts to make the Panda as well.

Shaltari Ronin

The Shaltari Ronin Tripod! More imposing than its alternate, yes. Less nimble, slightly. More awesome, oh yeah! This little piece of artillery has the potential to do some serious, serious damage before being taken out of commission.

PHR Taranis

The PHR Taranis Walker. Looking a bit like an angry metallic tortoise, this indirect fire walker has the ability to severely damage any unit behind enemy lines. All from the safety and comfort of being super far away.

Oh and we’ve got the first resin masters for the Taranis to have a peek at too!

That’s all we’re showing today, but all factions are getting a cool new alternate style unit, so keep your eyes open!

We cant wait to get to the UK Games Expo and see all of your wonderful faces again. We will be demoing many of our games for those of you who are not familiar with all of our lines.

Keep an eye out on our webstore or right here on TTCommunity for more updates on our journey to the UK Games Expo.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/07/14 16:54:05


Post by: Theophony


THat first exclusive reminds me of one of my favorite toys from when I was a kid.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/07/14 17:16:06


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


I’m all-in for those space stations. I can’t wait to mount some of the huge guns to some battleship conversions…

None of the Dropzone stuff does it for me. The Polar Bear comes closest, but the differing track shapes bother me.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
That’s a cool little vehicle, Theophony.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/07/14 17:24:23


Post by: Brickfix


I quiet like the ronin alternative


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/07/14 18:16:59


Post by: Theophony


 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I’m all-in for those space stations. I can’t wait to mount some of the huge guns to some battleship conversions…

None of the Dropzone stuff does it for me. The Polar Bear comes closest, but the differing track shapes bother me.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
That’s a cool little vehicle, Theophony.


THe best part was it was all electronic and you programmed it like old Rogue trader robots. Move 6 feet forward, turn left, move 3ft forward, turn right, fire lasers (Flashing lights and zapping sounds). Plus it came out around the time of BattleStar Galactica...hence the look of it.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/07/14 21:57:55


Post by: Gimgamgoo


 Theophony wrote:
 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I’m all-in for those space stations. I can’t wait to mount some of the huge guns to some battleship conversions…

None of the Dropzone stuff does it for me. The Polar Bear comes closest, but the differing track shapes bother me.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
That’s a cool little vehicle, Theophony.


THe best part was it was all electronic and you programmed it like old Rogue trader robots. Move 6 feet forward, turn left, move 3ft forward, turn right, fire lasers (Flashing lights and zapping sounds). Plus it came out around the time of BattleStar Galactica...hence the look of it.


And came with a trailer that tipped up. I seem to remember the advert had a kid delivering an apple to his dad or something. Marketed cleverly as an educational toy.

Haven't used my UCM Kodiak yet... but I think I need a tracked version. :-)


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/07/15 10:51:18


Post by: beast_gts


Space Stations – What Are They?

Spoiler:
Space Stations – What Are They?

Where do they live? How do they work? And why?

Today we’re going to answer all of these questions as we have a little look at the new Space Stations!

This week sees the release of two new scenery sets for Dropfleet Commander: the Astrobotanical Lab and the Defence Grid. Both of these new kits are designed to be fully modular, and work with the existing Space Station kit, allowing you to make the craziest stations you’ve ever thought of. Now with more guns! Or plants, I guess, if that’s your thing.



What Do They Do?
In-game, Space Stations provide an alternative for drop sites. They’re not on the ground, but floating around in space! That means that troop carriers with Bulk Landers can really make the most of their launch capabilities.

Although up until now, Space Stations have always been an optional part of scenarios, with the release of these new sets we thought it was high time for them to be rolled into the main game and let people use their lovingly crafted orbitals to their heart’s content!



With these new rules, you will be able to include Space Stations in your fleet, paying for them with your points just like normal.

When you’re setting up the board, you may replace any uncontrolled Space Station or Cluster with your own Space Station (rolling off if more than one player has Space Stations in their list). The friendly station follows all the regular rules for Space Stations, and isn’t controlled by any player until they get some ground assets in there. It simply gives players a little more control over how their games are going to go – paying points for the option to replace the existing locations with one of your choosing.

Upgrades
But – as you can see above – you can also upgrade your Space Stations! You already have the choice over Small, Medium, or Large (the stat lines of which will be familiar to you), but you’ve also got a choice of upgrades!



While Space Stations in some of the scenarios are already armed with weapon systems, if you’re bringing your own, you have to pay for them! The larger your Space Station, the more options you get from the Armaments list. From the standard weapon options to a couple of extra bonus special rules, you can kit your station out your way.

Defence Grid
It’s not just small guns though, what about some big guns?



Your Defence Grid comes with a whole load of weapons! That huge Quad Mass Driver is certainly very scary. 4 Attacks with Damage 4?? That’s going to be a really scary gun to face. And they’re also Unhackable, which means your opponent cannot fire these weapons.

However, they can be stopped by controlling the station. So get your carriers forwards quickly, or that 35-KL is going to be raining fire down upon you! With this particular upgrade, you have to carefully decide where to deploy your Space Station. Do you keep it in the back field to get access to the weapons early? Or do you put it further up the board so you get the most out of its Close Action weapons? Space Stations don’t have the best Scan range, so it’s a difficult decision!

Astrobotanical Lab
Of course if you’re a gardener and not a fighter, you could try an Astrobotanical Lab. Or you could take a Large Space Station and have both!



The Astrobotanical Lab doesn’t come with weapons (although has plenty of spots to place Armaments from the plastic sprues), but its Signature Bloom is a powerful secondary ability in its own right!

Astrobotanical Labs literally light up the night sky, confusing enemy scans and throwing their equipment out with crazy readings. In game-terms, this means that any friendly ships close enough don’t have to worry about Minor Spikes! Although a minor buff, it actually helps out a lot, keeping your forces more hidden when positioning, or ignoring Flash weapons entirely.



So who’s excited to add some Space Stations to their lists? Although we’re not giving everything away today, these are super useful for changing your games up a little with a relatively low points cost. Although if you start fully upgrading your stations, you’re going to start to feel the pinch on points for the rest of your fleet.

The Defence Grid and Astrobotanical Lab will be available tomorrow for pre-order, and the full rules will be available for free download as usual as well! Check back with us then, and don’t forget to head to the TTCombat webstore have a look at the rest of the Dropfleet Commander range.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/07/16 10:29:30


Post by: kestral


That Botanical station is something I certainly wouldn't mind having. Pretty sure I'd struggle to paint it though.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/07/16 13:51:42


Post by: The_Real_Chris


That is an awesome model.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/07/28 17:25:23


Post by: beast_gts


WIP Wed: Return of a Champion

Spoiler:

So without further ado, let’s get to it. Some of you may remember back in 2018 we released a Remnant Centurion model for Dropfleet Commander. This special edition was a sneaky pre-cursor for what turned into the full Resistance fleet. Sadly, this will not be returning in its current state.

Remnant Centurion 2-Up



We made it super sized version though! The 2-up Remnant Centurion makes for a fantastic show piece or if you really wanted to, you could find a way to include it in your games. Or just fly it around the room making pew pew and zoomy noises.

If you did have your heart set on one of these in he regular scale then take a look at the Resistance Centurion. Not quite the same but very similar which may suit your purposes.



Don’t talk to me or my son ever again!

The 2-Up Remnant Centurion will be available to order on the TTCombat webstore during the event, and in plenty of events to come in the future. There will be limited stock during each event (since they are very labour intensive to produce), so get over to the webstore (or see us in person at UK Games Expo) quick to get yours!



Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/07/28 17:55:44


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


That could be my dreadnaught. I wonder how much it will cost…


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/07/28 19:08:45


Post by: Brickfix


The 2 up UCM battleship would be a good price indicator I would guess


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/07/28 19:21:22


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


Well, that’s a battleship and this is a cruiser. Still, good point. So, up to 50 GBP.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/07/30 15:32:32


Post by: beast_gts


 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Well, that’s a battleship and this is a cruiser. Still, good point. So, up to 50 GBP.
It's £50



Friday Funday Releases!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Spoiler:









Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/07/30 16:19:20


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


Oh no, that resistance spider tank. Oh no. No no.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/07/30 16:28:45


Post by: beast_gts


 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Oh no, that resistance spider tank. Oh no. No no.
Oh yes


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/07/30 16:43:51


Post by: Overread


Those shaltari walkers look - eh - they seem to be rather a crude design - esp when they add the blade which just seems wrong on a design that's clearly just a mobile walking gun platform. They lack the elegance that the rest of the race tends to have esp their other tri-legged walkers


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/07/30 17:14:35


Post by: Ancestral Hamster


The alternate PHR Taranis/Thor walkers are "meh". Like a pug whose head has been replaced by a gun mount. The alternate Scourge Corruptors I like. OTOH, have yet to play Dropfleet Commander, and have not played DzC for a few years. Too many mini games, not enough time.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/07/30 17:35:22


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


beast_gts wrote:
 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Oh no, that resistance spider tank. Oh no. No no.
Oh yes


Thanks for posting the price and the pics.

The only one I’m really interested in is the 2-up Centurian. Mayyyyyhbe the Scourge flyers to convert to space ships.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/07/30 19:11:41


Post by: chaos0xomega


I'll be getting 4 of the Resistance mechs (don't even play them (yet) lol).

Considering 2 packs of the PHR walkers - I already have 4 each Thor/Taranis, but I have pretty much everything PHR thus far and feel obligated to get these even though I'm not big on the design.

The UCM pack looks cool too but I don't necessarily like it any more or less than the base design. Might pick up 1 pack for the command vehicles but we'll see.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/07/30 20:03:02


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


 Ancestral Hamster wrote:
The alternate PHR Taranis/Thor walkers are "meh". Like a pug whose head has been replaced by a gun mount. The alternate Scourge Corruptors I like. OTOH, have yet to play Dropfleet Commander, and have not played DzC for a few years. Too many mini games, not enough time.
m

They’re great with Horizon Wars, which is comparatively a very easy game to learn and play.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/08/13 16:19:59


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


Dropzone restocks and some new variants.

Incoming Transmission – Reinforcements requested at these co-ordinates! SEND….. BACKUP…… zzzzt

Welcome to another Friday release, this week we have some new models coming for Dropzone Commander. If you want to check out what MDF is being released this week too, you can check that out here.

If you missed yesterdays post regarding the new Dropzone units and their rules, you can check that out here. The Stat Cards for these units have also been made available on the Dropzone Commander site.

Last time we did this we had over 80 miniatures coming back into stock, allowing you to build the armies you wanted. This time it’s a few things that were left off from our previous restock with some variants added.

We do also have an update for the Dropzone Commander FAQ going live too, you can find the FAQ 2.2.0 here in the Dropzone Commander Resources through the TTCombat webstore. We have a few units to get through so lets get into it.

ACCESSORY:

Aegis Orbital Defence Laser



First up is the accessory, The Aegis Orbital Defence Laser. This kit has been made a little bit smaller than it was before. You should now have more room on the battlefield when placing your Defence Laser. This is something you may want to take control of or destroy pretty quick. Units can take cover here and whilst they’re there, they might as well use the laser right? I mean, with Destroyer 5+ and Devastator-5 (Scenery) why not?

You can get your very own Orbital Defence Laser for just £25

UCM:

Scimitar Heavy Tanks



Coming with two options, Scimitar and Flail. The Flail is your short range bomb with tracks, this thing will get in close and then BOOM! Everything around it takes damage, except for itself. This of course does also ignore both Passive and Evasion Countermeasures so you probably want to destroy it quick.

You get two of these in a blister with options for both the Scimitar and Flail for £12

SCOURGE:

Annihilator Mobile Artillery



The Annihilator or as it was also called in the rules post “The High-Heeled Fish of Doom!”. This comes with weapon options to make three variants too. A very deadly walking ship that with one of its variants has unlimited range!

You get one Annihilator in a blister with parts to make any variant for only £12

Screamers



The Screamers are here and they are available as a two pack, these guys are perfect for getting in buildings and trying to halt enemy units from searching for objectives.

Two Screamers in a blister for £10

Harbinger Dropship



The Harbinger Dropship has a variant as seen here which is the Harbinger Troopship. This unit can carry your troops in whilst protecting itself from other aircraft if you take the Mini Arc Caster, whilst the Plasma Bombs deal damage to anything below.

One Harbinger with two variants in a blister for £12.

Savager Laser Barge



The Savager and its new variant, the Slaughterer. These are a fine addition to any Scourge army, especially with their Special Rules! Destroyer 6+ for the Savager? Area, Devastator-4 for the Slaughterer these can and will most likely make things hurt.

One of these in a blister with both weapons for £18

SHALTARI:

Firedrake Heavy Assault Gate



You saw that right, the Firedrake is here! It does have a variant too, the Frostdrake. Some of you may remember seeing the Firedrake and Frostdrake on sale seperately before, well we’ve made it so you can make either from a single purchase!

You get the Firedrake in a blister with the option to make a Frostdrake for only £18

RESISTANCE:

Hellhog Jumpjet



The Hellhog is great for any Resistance army. Flying fast and hitting hard with the ability to take Double Missile Pods alongside the Satan Chaingun and Cobra Missiles. That’s a lot of firepower for something this nimble!

One Hellhog Jumpjet in a blister for £12

Lifthawk Dropship



Double Missile Pods and a Flamethrower on a Lifthawk means more troop carrying and more damage, something that everyone likes! This can be pretty deadly when dropping units off at occupied buildings, burning everything around it!

The Lifthawk is available as a single model in a blister with weapon options for just £18

That’s quite a bit we have coming to pre-order today! Anything you like here or if you’re looking for your next project head over to the TTCombat webstore and have a look at what we have. If you have something of ours that you’ve been working on and would love to share it, please email us some photos to info@ttcombat.com. Who knows, we may ever show it off here for Monday Motivation for all to see!


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/08/17 13:45:51


Post by: slyphic


UCM Flail - I wonder to what degree the neon green paint scheme is coloring my opinion but it just doesn't look like a UCM unit. That top belongs on a Shaltari. Also, I'm having a hard time understanding how TT expects it to be used. Dropship flies over and lands, 2" disembark, 3" MV from this thing, center a template over it for another 2" of range. So you have to park a dropship 8" away from the enemy. Reapers love this. And then it has to roll for the template, maybe, but with an Acc penalty because it just dropped so it's even more likely to either miss on the roll (and does that mean you don't place the template or not?) or hit at E5 from a glance.

It has a Mv of 3", so anything with evasion can just casually walk away from it and watch it fail to keep up. Basically its only use is to jump in the middle of a pack of PHR Type-2s or Shaltari walkers (since it ignores PCM) and desperately hope for lots of 6 which doesn't sound like a strategy so much as reckless and foolhardy desperation. And that's very much NOT the UCM combat doctrine.

Harbinger Dropship - Been expecting this one since the Raider profile changed in April. I do not miss the Raider, it was ugly, and this model looks significantly nicer, but... I'm still pissed at the designer for claiming the Raider model was still supported. The unit profile doesn't match it at all. Actually the unit profile doesn't even match the new unit either come to think of it. There's nowhere to attach an arc caster and the cargo bay at the same time, nor is there an acid streamer in the pack it looks like.

A disappointing mess for a quality model.

Savager Laser Barge - The Eden's Dinosaur finally returns. They sat on this one for ages, I and many others have owned this model for years now. There's some weird probability curves on the laser. Not quite sure what to make of this one yet.

Slaughterer Ordnance Barge - Mv 0" on a flying unit is nonsense. Another unit with Behemoth stats which is probably a 'tease' their release is imminent. Ignoring Dev-B, this unit completely obviates the Annihilator. It doesn't have to land to fire, has more armor and DP, better accurary, better Dev values. Reeks of power creep and new-models-are-better syndrome.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/08/18 14:28:39


Post by: nobody


Flail targets itself with the template, and if it hits everything else under the template is automatically hit with an E7 Penetrative attack that ignores Passive Saves.

It feels like it’s intended for a meta that currently doesn’t exist


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/08/18 15:32:56


Post by: Brickfix


I really don't see a use for the flail. Only enemy unit that gets close and personal are the scourge "crabs" and they don't really care for S7...

I have to take a closer look at the new Scourge fliers. I got the Edens dinosaur model last year heavily discounted, it's great to see I can finally use it now. I'm not really sold on the long range guns, scourge always felt like an army that likes to get in your face.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/08/18 17:13:39


Post by: slyphic


nobody wrote:
It feels like it’s intended for a meta that currently doesn’t exist


This is why I kept asking TTC to post a batrep or AAR or just unit lists of their recent games. Because I'm all but certain now their internal meta has mutated into something entirely unlike how everyone else in the world plays the game. OR, they just don't playtest the game themselves at all. Equal odds really. The lead designer has made some stray comments that support the 'no playtesting' explanation.



Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/08/18 17:33:36


Post by: Cronch


I think it's a case of "design a model and then find a niche" and they happened to design a tesla-tank that would make sense in a game where infantry can melee tanks like 40k, not so much DZC.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/08/18 18:23:56


Post by: slyphic


Cronch wrote:
I think it's a case of "design a model and then find a niche" and they happened to design a tesla-tank


Interestingly, we know that's not the case. This unit got leaked by accident back in April. The telsa top was designed after the rules were written.




Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/08/18 18:36:37


Post by: Overread


Sometimes an issue with wargames is that the designers end up making niche and situational models because they've already done the "core" stuff.
Ergo its hard to add models to a generalist core because you've already got it; so you keep making models for collectors and customers and those who either don't care or aren't as skilled or generic in how they build armies.


IT can explain why sometimes you get new models that are "just all round better than something we had before" or "are just so niche that you'll never use them".


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/08/18 19:14:53


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


I was thinking of using those Tesla turrets for some kind of Dropfleet conversion. For the tanks themselves, the turret doesn’t seem to fit the lore very well either. A shield generator, Electronic Warfare suite or AA application for that turret would make more sense to me, or some specialized anti-Titan/Titan support role if those ever come out.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/08/18 19:47:24


Post by: slyphic


The entirety of the lore we have for the flail is
The Flail mounts an electrostatic pulse generator known colloquially as the Tesla Array; a weapon which projects a bubble of circuit-frying, crew-cooking charge around itself.


TTC really can't be bothered to write more than that a single sentence on any their new models. I miss the old Hawk experimental rules that gave you whole paragraphs of background and lore to explain the units.

Now an area-denial EMP generator sounds a hell of a lot more like the UCM I know. Something that causes aircraft near it to roll on the crash table, or reduces the actions of nearby vehicles like the Subjugator, which I still think should instead reduce movement ranges in a bubble considering its lore:
Its the Micro Subjugation Field that puts human forces most at ill-ease, manipulating gravity in such a way as to impede all enemy ground forces in the immediate area.


Dave wrote a game starting from fiction and versimilitude first principles. The systems made sense because you could intuit them naturally. It felt real, which gave it a gravity and sense or purpose.

Lewis Clarke rewrote it as a game first and only. And it feels so shallow in comparison for it.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/09/01 12:29:38


Post by: beast_gts


WIP Wed: New Set of Dreads (no, not hair)

Resistance is never futile! Resistance is the only way we are able to persevere. Resistance is the only way Forward.


Hello everybody and welcome to our newest edition of Work In progress Wednesday. What do we have for you today you may ask? RESISTANCE DREADNOUGHTS!

That’s right, space behemoths that are dwarfed only by actual planets. We have 4 tasty dreads to show you in various levels of completion but one thing they all have in common… They are siiiick!



Resistance Dreadnoughts

Large, in charge and with the ability of a full assault battling barrage is this bad boy, with its super unique front end sure to strike terror in the opponents eye. The lines on this dread just screams style to me, like a Cadillac rolling down a Miami beach front.

You may have seen this one in our UK Games Expo roundup post (or at the show itself). A little tester of what can be done with the kit, this one isn’t getting the full Fin paint treatment, but we thought was fun anyway.

This is actually one of the smallest dreads you can make with the kit. It’s fully modular, allowing different sizes and styles!



No we are not in a chop shop but this ever so slightly bigger beast is still under construction. Its shaping up to be a formidable opponent though. Just look at the size of that antenna!



Fin is still working on the assembly of this fine ship, but will be painting it up to show exactly what you can do with the set. There are so many pieces in this kit it’s unreal. Dave really went nuts on the whole “Lego in space” thing here!



Last but not least by any measure is the baby of the group. Don’t think of baby as being small, just smaller then its counter parts. This little legend has turrets on top, hybrid guns on the side and 360 degrees of destruction to send towards the enemy. Smaller but no less deadly. We will resist, we will secure victory.

The Resistance Dreadnought kit is coming your way very soon, although some assembly will be required! We’re excited to see what everyone does with their dreads. As you can see, there are quite a lot of ways to make yours unique!

Thats it for another WIP Wednesday. Be sure to keep an eye out on our webstore and right here on the TT community site for any updates on when we will be releasing these glorious space demons.

Take care getting back to regular life.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/09/01 16:46:58


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


They are gradually becoming Snap Ships.

Love the possibilities of the kit. They could have chosen a less brick-shaped final form to show off, though.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/09/02 06:20:48


Post by: Kid_Kyoto




My first thought was plastic or resin, but my second thought was who cares, either way this is a must buy.

EDIT-squinting at the sprues I would guess resin.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/09/02 07:23:08


Post by: Malika2


I really love the modularity of it!


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/09/02 08:07:32


Post by: Cronch


I really wish they cut down on frigate-sized guns...


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/09/02 08:34:58


Post by: Malika2


Cronch wrote:
I really wish they cut down on frigate-sized guns...

Fully agreed here, it does really diminish the sense of scale.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/09/02 11:56:39


Post by: Flinty


I think they should double down and have guns that actually fire frigates!


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/09/22 19:53:23


Post by: slyphic


So, "Battle Boxes" and the Vulture / Polecat

https://community.ttcombat.com/2021/08/25/reinforcements-inbound-wip-wednesday/

These new boxes will offer the start of a Battlegroup in an easy box. With some familiar and some brand new miniatures, we’ll have a whole range of Battlegroup boxes to make it easier than ever to expand your Dropzone armies.

Each faction will be getting Battlegroup boxes full of models to expand your forces in a quick and easy way. The first ones coming your way are Armour Battlegroups, offering new vehicles to your army.

The Battlegroups will be a mix of new and existing faction models tailor made to provide a wide range of reinforcements to your faction. Such as the new UCM Polecat. It’s like a Wolverine Scout Buggy on steroids!

Full coverage is the aim of the game with these reinforcement faction boxes. From air, with the Falcon, to ground, with the Gladius Heavy Tank and maybe everything in-between

While the Katana isn’t in the first UCM Battlegroup box, we aim to represent almost every unit in the army in a box in the future!


Vulture then Polecat being painted - https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1148392556?filter=all&sort=time

And a tentative release date from a interview this past weekend. (not much DZC/DFC content beyond the below quote at all)

https://www.goonhammer.com/the-goonhammer-interview-lewis-clarke-from-ttcombat/

Lewis: So we’re releasing battle group boxes in I think it’s just over a month now. Which is going to be if you bought your starter army, here’s what you buy next. In the box is a bunch of different models for a really good price, with some new models in there as well, for good measure. That’s our first push to really get Dropzone into stores and make it store-accessible, as retail friendly as we possibly can.




Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/09/22 20:02:33


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


This is a great idea. And if they can get some of these boxes into US FLGSes, Miniature Market, or even on Amazon, it will make Dropzone much easier to buy.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/09/22 20:55:38


Post by: slyphic


TTC was able to get a crate across the Atlantic to Golden Distribution, but that's looking more and more like a one-time thing instead of a sustained supply chain. Game Kastle is the ONLY significant online retailer in the Americas attempting to sell Fleet/Zone, and their pages are 75% Out of Stock / Pending Restock. Kickass Mail Order is the best stateside source at the moment.

It's a good idea if they're actually planning to make a push into the physical retail market again, but unless it carries a noticeable discount it ain't going to help online sales much. Dunno. I'm curious to hear more, size of the box and price point mostly. Are they targeting the same ~$55 as the faction starters?

Interesting they're starting with an Armour group first, the vast majority of recommendations I see (and offer myself) are to expand with elite troops and light dropships, as failure to bring elite infantry is practically conceding CQB under current rules.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/09/22 21:10:30


Post by: BobtheInquisitor


Perhaps their sales don’t reflect game performance. I can see people buying tanks and gunships just to paint or use for other games, where their infantry are less useful. I have no interest in buying their infantry myself, and may never get around to cleaning or basing the infantry that came with the starter sets.

In your experience, how much does the game drive miniatures sales, as opposed to miniatures selling themselves and maybe the game?


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/09/22 23:12:08


Post by: slyphic


I've seen the papercraft terrain used by a lot of BT and Titanicus players, and very rarely the models used with other games. The overwhelming majority of dropzone models I've seen around the net, in person, every where, are being used with the Dropzone game. Dropfleet gets a bit more off-game use.

I don't blame you skipping the starter infantry if they're the plastic ones. Just awful. But the metal versions are best-in-scale quality, easily.

I really think the game does drive the mini sales. And I believe they think so as well, considering these battleboxes are being presented as a game legal battlegroup, an expansion of the starter sets.

I keep coming back to this idea that their internal meta is just bizarrely different than everyone elses and the game's dormancy after the BFE faceplant and quarantine have isolated them from seeing how divergent the game they think they're selling and the game people are buying minis for have grown apart.

Or maybe I'm totally off base. They don't talk about playing the game in their blog, on FB, in discord, in interviews, or in person from accounts of talking to them at events like UKGE. A bat rep or AAR from them, even a short one, would be highly insightful.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/09/22 23:17:20


Post by: Overread


If you want good proof that a game sells models look at Age of Sigmar. GW made the mistake of thinking that games didn't sell models and shelved Old World and did AoS - granted there was more to it than that; but it proved without doubt that for a wargame, the game-* most certainly sells the models and also markets them.


When I see boutique model lines they tend to be very different; more focused on things like 75mm scale for painters; meanwhile both dropfleet and zone are smaller models by far.


That said I do think that they could market the wargames more so; esp Dropfleet. They don't seem to have put as much energy into it, which is surprising considering that their former biggest competition - Spartan Games - folded and left the market pretty much open. GW haven't stepped back in at all (as yet); meanwhile Wayland have rebooted the sea version of Dystopian Wars; written out the land entirely and Firestorm Armada is very delayed.

In theory Dropfleet really should have soared up bigger than it is now I think.

That said I do think they are held back by some model design aspects. Eg scourge spaceships are a nightmare to clean because they put a lot of ribbing on the mould line join point.
Their plastics are very interesting; very hard but very high detail and having plastic core sets should have them in a great position for fast expansion of sales.



*or at least the potential to play the game


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/09/23 00:31:01


Post by: chaos0xomega


slyphic wrote:
I've seen the papercraft terrain used by a lot of BT and Titanicus players, and very rarely the models used with other games. The overwhelming majority of dropzone models I've seen around the net, in person, every where, are being used with the Dropzone game. Dropfleet gets a bit more off-game use.

I don't blame you skipping the starter infantry if they're the plastic ones. Just awful. But the metal versions are best-in-scale quality, easily.

I really think the game does drive the mini sales. And I believe they think so as well, considering these battleboxes are being presented as a game legal battlegroup, an expansion of the starter sets.

I keep coming back to this idea that their internal meta is just bizarrely different than everyone elses and the game's dormancy after the BFE faceplant and quarantine have isolated them from seeing how divergent the game they think they're selling and the game people are buying minis for have grown apart.

Or maybe I'm totally off base. They don't talk about playing the game in their blog, on FB, in discord, in interviews, or in person from accounts of talking to them at events like UKGE. A bat rep or AAR from them, even a short one, would be highly insightful.


I was kinda thinking about this last night as I went through a collection of about 100 or so PHR and UCM dropzone/dropfleet blisters (there were a few resistance ones in there too) and sorted them out into different parts of my queue. The listbuilding limitations (especially the most recent iteration which has done away with PHRs ability to take mixed walker units and evidently simplified a lot of units down into just a handful with more unit options (ex: the Enyo and Hyperion are gone, they are now Odins with different weapons) ) don't allow me to play the game that I want to play - the core rules for the most part are fine, though there are some things I would adjust, but between how expensive (points wise) everything is and how restricting the army building rules are, I actually can't play the game the way I envision it being played in my head. Like the concept of dropzone commander as a game is cooler than the actual game itself, not because of the rules - but because how its being played.

I'm thinking of doing some homebrew playtest games with a friend, I wanna see how it plays when dropships are free (maybe heavy armed dropships like the Njord maybe will have an upgrade cost from a free dropship instead) for up to your armies needed lift capacity, plus some slightly tweaked battlegroup rules to give a little more flexibility in listbuilding. I'm thinking 2k points with free dropships might be a good sweetspot to give it a try.

That said I do think that they could market the wargames more so; esp Dropfleet. They don't seem to have put as much energy into it, which is surprising considering that their former biggest competition - Spartan Games - folded and left the market pretty much open. GW haven't stepped back in at all (as yet); meanwhile Wayland have rebooted the sea version of Dystopian Wars; written out the land entirely and Firestorm Armada is very delayed.

In theory Dropfleet really should have soared up bigger than it is now I think.


It was Hawks/TTC opportunity to waste, and they wasted it. 100% agreed with you here, they were handed a wide open marketplace with their most immediate competition more or less completely erased from the table and absent any meaningful presence, and they did not take advantage of that opportunity or do much of anything in that timeframe. I'm sure theres perfectly valid logistical reasons for it and that there were some other factors involved that I haven't considered (GW making a surprise comeback from the deaths (Im exaggerating) doorstep), but they could have absolutely dominated their niche market segment(s) if they had done things right.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/09/23 01:47:01


Post by: slyphic


PHR walker units being forced into homogenity is such a dumb move. And even dumber justification. "it was too confusing for new players". Like hell it was. Collateral confuses new players. Aerial transport disembarking rules confuse new players. Indirect rules confuse *current* players.

But the actual answer is even dumber still. It was too much work to support in the online builder.

The naming collapse was "to reduce the clutter in the builder" yet it didn't really, at all. It just makes it take longer to describe units now. I can't tell a new player I've got a squad of Type-2s, an Odin, two Enyo and a Hyperion. Now I have a squad of 1 Odin with railguns, a squad of 2 Odin with smoothbore cannons, and I can't even take the Odin with hyperion laser in the same group.

It detracts from the faction identity and gameplay to no tabletop benefit whatsoever. Again, like they aren't playing the game themselves.

TTC says they're in the middle of retooling their resin casting equipment, and I hope they finish soon. They have never and will never have a better window of opportunity to grow DFC than they have this very moment. Star Wars Armada has announce no new releases for 18 months. Firestorm Armada is at least that far away from release. The field is wide open, no competition. They have a mature game of great quality. They just have to capitalize on it.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/09/23 07:39:52


Post by: hotsauceman1


If I was to say what really doomed this game to relative obscurity with dedicated but small fan base was Dropfleet itself.
This game was poised to take second tier alongside WM/H, Malifaux and other games that while not GW, they siphon players from GW.
But hawk got to greedy and wanted a second game.
Dropfleet should have came out about 2-3 years later when it did when Hawk was more entrenced in the market.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/09/23 08:06:16


Post by: lurch


So just getting into this game and its seems that the consensus is just play 1.1?. also buying some elite infantry seems cheep enough that if these new battlegroup box sets are well priced doing both would be an option for new players.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/09/23 09:46:14


Post by: Cronch


I honestly think anyone that wanted to play DFC is already playing it or grew disillusioned with it. The big thing with both drop games is that they have a layer of completely conventional, fine gameplay, and then the hard core of "WTF" concept that makes it just too much for the majority.

In Dropfleet, it's the fact that your fleet is just there to babysit the dropships. In dropzone, the fact that half the rules focus on how infantry acts in buildings.I didn't count the pages,but it literally feels like the rulebook rushes by the basics of movement and shooting, and then dumps all of the garrison/searching for objective rules at once and game with amazing tanks and mechs is once again reduced to window dressing for the EXCITING game of tiny infantry shooting at each other inside a building. In both cases they have amazing models of this big,scary, impressive stuff, and it's front and center on the artwork and advertising shots but in reality it's just there so the main game of hide and seek/chit-counting on the clusters can happen.

If someone asked me for a game about sci-fi mech/tank warfare, I'd never recommend DZC, because it's not.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/09/23 09:59:35


Post by: Overread


I do think "Dropfleet" needs to add in rules and options for other battle types. The dropzone system is neat and it gives it a new layer over many other ship based games. I would certainly not "drop" it; just provide it alongside your conventional "two or more fleets shooting each other to bits" and other objective types.

I think its also a good way to east new players in. A straight fight is much easier for new people to wrap their heads around then you can start adding in more exotic objectives and ground control points and such.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/09/23 14:31:09


Post by: Mr Morden


 Overread wrote:
I do think "Dropfleet" needs to add in rules and options for other battle types. The dropzone system is neat and it gives it a new layer over many other ship based games. I would certainly not "drop" it; just provide it alongside your conventional "two or more fleets shooting each other to bits" and other objective types.

I think its also a good way to east new players in. A straight fight is much easier for new people to wrap their heads around then you can start adding in more exotic objectives and ground control points and such.


Yep quite a few of our game group were put of by their first games of Dropfleet - having a true fleet game as an intro / alt to the much more involved drop element would be good.

However there were other issues which for us made the made game inferior to say Battlefleet Gothic or ACTA:B5 - for example the way it handled fightes and bombers - the fact that you could not have your fighters defending your ships against bombers was just wrong. Also there were some major balance issues that reared their head straight away.

Some interesting mechanics like the signiture rule but just not enough to hold players interest.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/09/23 15:22:53


Post by: slyphic


lurch wrote:So just getting into this game and its seems that the consensus is just play 1.1?


The problem is there is no consensus. v1.1/classic CQB is fiddly and weird, roll-on deployment undermined the game, conventional weapons could out-demo Demo weapons, there's a few unit balance issues that didn't fully get addressed before the next edition. Beta fixed most of these problems but introduced new problems like tracking collateral tokens, 'Approaches', drop'n'shoot. Then v2 comes along and takes some of the fixes from the beta, and introduces a whole slew of new problems. 2+ years on, it's crawling slowly away from the mistakes v2 made, but it's a different game because of all the darlings the current designer refuses to give up. Indirect Fire is a fething mess because he refuses to admit indirect fire should never be 'hull down'. Contrast with Melee weapons which have gone full circle from v2 release rules all the way back to essentially the rules from v1.0 in 2012.

We play a homebrew version based off Beta with the dumb gak thrown out and a few tweaks from v2 backported.

Cronch wrote:I honestly think anyone that wanted to play DFC is already playing it or grew disillusioned with it. The big thing with both drop games is that they have a layer of completely conventional, fine gameplay, and then the hard core of "WTF" concept that makes it just too much for the majority.


Overread wrote:I do think "Dropfleet" needs to add in rules and options for other battle types.


Either of you played recently? There's been a big push to use more scenario types than sector control. It's gotten more varied. I'm also a big fan of 'Ravanar's Pendulum', a set of alternate ground combat rules the Hawk playtesters were refining before the company went tits up.

Page 27 - Ground Assets
replace table with
"only bombardment armor values"
"cancellation timing and value"

Page 28 - Resolve Combats:
a) The player with the lowest Initiative selects a Cluster and a Sector within the Cluster.

b) In order, the players perform the following cancellations. All possible cancellations must be made before moving on to the next step:
1. 1 Armor token cancels 1 opposing Armor token
2. 1 Infantry token cancels 1 opposing Infantry token
3. 2 Infantry tokens cancel 1 opposing Armor token
4. 1 Armor token cancels 1 Infantry token and survives to hold the sector.


So instead of a chit based dice game, you win ground combats by blowing up dropships, majorly shifting the action back to the fleet side and speeding up the game as well. It's how we play. And a smattering of other tweaks out of Adepticon like Torpedoes being able to bombard ground targets and resolving immediately if the target is within Thrust range.

Mr Morden wrote:the way it handled fightes and bombers - the fact that you could not have your fighters defending your ships against bombers was just wrong. Also there were some major balance issues that reared their head straight away.


Um, y'all must have gotten that wrong. Fighters defending against bombers is a core gameplay element. You launch a squadron to defend a specific ship, and the fighters increase the Point Defense value of the ship, which directly defends against bombers. The timing and resolution gets a bit convoluted and could be explained better, maybe a diagram or step-by-step walk through.

The biggest remaining problem is every faction has one or two ships that are just garbage. Trap ships you should not build. Otherwise, it's pretty well balanced actually as long as you use different types of scenarios; splash in some station assaults, a Raze mission, etc.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/09/23 16:01:20


Post by: Mr Morden


Um, y'all must have gotten that wrong. Fighters defending against bombers is a core gameplay element. You launch a squadron to defend a specific ship, and the fighters increase the Point Defense value of the ship, which directly defends against bombers. The timing and resolution gets a bit convoluted and could be explained better, maybe a diagram or step-by-step walk through.

We were more looking for - your fighter squadrons defending your ship intercept and destroy incoming bomber squadrons - especially unescorted ones.


Dropfleet / Dropzone Commander news and rumors. Dominion heavy bomber. p.31. @ 2021/09/23 16:14:06


Post by: slyphic


Mr Morden wrote:We were more looking for - your fighter squadrons defending your ship intercept and destroy incoming bomber squadrons - especially unescorted ones.


I guess I don't see a meaningful distinction for the overall strategy. You wanted the fighters to be a independent element, zipping around the table? I guess just different degrees of abstraction for different people. Then again, I'm one of those guys that got into the game precisely because it's NOT two fleets duking it out in a line in deep space, because that makes no kind of sense to me. I blame too much milSF reading and Project Rho - http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/ I'm not looking for space Trafalgar. (nothing wrong with Trafalgar, I enjoy a good wooden-ships iron-men tall ship game as well)