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Sure, 28mm games can be great fun and I am loving my Deadzone right now but...

Sometimes I just want to field a big ol' army and so, I started having a look at Dropzone Commander. So, after humming and hawwing, I eventually got myself a couple of Dropzone Commander armies, 1500 points or so of Scourge and UCM. Or, as I call them, The Reapers and the GDI.

For those that don't know much about Dropzone, here's my interpretation of it. Plus it sort of describes why I think it's such a neat wee game...

The concept of Dropzone Commander is that in the not-massively-distant future, defences like Star Wars and the Aegis Missile System have become so massively commonplace and so abundant that long range warfare quite simply isn't that viable anymore and the ruined cities, remains of destroyed worlds after the Scourge Invasion are the new battlegrounds.

So, a new method of waging war was developed. Fully mobile, rapid redeploying armies. Tanks, infantry, artillery. Whole armies need to be re-deployed to combat enemies in close range and at a moments notice.

Well, it sounded pretty cool to me.

My UCM




My Scourge



I mean, that's just awesome in my mind. The models actually fit in their dropships.

Although... It doesn't look like it's that big army I mentioned at the start...








How about now?

My armies are made up of 2 Dropzone Commander starter sets, plus a handful of extra models per faction. - The huge dropships weren't actually needed (I've got spare medium ones), but, quite frankly, I found them too awesome that I couldn't stop myself.


In the past few days, I've started experimenting with my paint scheme for my Scourge. I'm planning on changing it up some, but they do give a close look in at the models.





I've had a few starter games of it now, plus one full sized game and it's good fun, plenty of tactical layers to it. - Especially if you can work out how to do clever things with redeploying your squads with your dropships.

Wonderful, I myself is starting as well. I have chosen the Shaltari. They are one of the best looking armies in the game. Plus I love the whole warp gate. Loving your armies, keep it up.

Great looking army. I really like that blueish paint job.

Looking good. I look forward to hearing more about the actual gameplay as well as seeing the shiny models.

Progress is actually going surprisingly well on painting my Scourge army, so it shouldn't be massively long until I have a completed Scourge starter set to show off... Though, famous last words - I've still to start working on any infantry.

However, I tried something different tonight and painted my first UCM model. Truth be told, I was completely prepared to write it off as an unmitigated disaster. Everything painting-wise I could have done wrong on the model, I did... Starting with completely overspraying parts of it, missing other parts to end up with bits of newspaper stuck to other parts. And that was before my paintbrush even touched it...

However, now that it's pretty much done (I might do some drybrushing on the wheels), I've got to admit, the little guy is starting to grow on me...

I think I'm really picking up speed on this whole painting thing now. - The Dropzone minis do seem to allow me to paint them relatively quickly. - Especially compared to my Blood Ravens.

Here is my first full painted Squad. A Squad of Scourge Reaper AA tanks, with their Marauder carrier.

I thought it too much to magnetise UCM and decided early on not to even attempt to do so.

I would like to know what you did.

I'm trying to put off the decision as long as possible. My tank guns are just fitted together in pieces at the moment.

One thing I'm considering is drilling into the bottom of a few tanks - if I have a dril bit the right size. Then putting a magnet in there so I can fit the flying stand into the bottom of the tank on the middle, letting me use them like that.

I do have some other magnets that I could use for the turrets, but I'm not sure if it's really worth it as they seem to sit in fine.

I guess I could try something with the albatross too, but that's turning particularly tricky...

I've recently spotted this at my local GH and could not resist buying the rule book and giving the armies a glance before I make my choice.
(I'm leaning towards The Post Human Republic, but the Shaltari look SO cool!)

I've ended up only using one set of magnets on my UCM force, putting one on top of the stand of the albatross and another where it connects. - It looks a lot... cleaner than having the Widget sticking out from underneath half the model.

In any case, I've finished my Scourge Desolator now!
This guy was pretty much The model that got me into Dropzone Commander in the first place and, aside from me needing to tidy up my drybrushing a little on him, I'm pretty darned happy with him.

I am going to fiddle about a bit with how he's mounted on his base though, I'm liking the whole 'vertical' look I've done to him, but I'm not sure vertical he should be, or how to make him reliably stay there. - Magnets will be the solution probably.

I wanted to say I'm a fan of the UCM color scheme, my plan is to paint mine in GDI colors when I can finally get around to painting them.

Nice Desolator. It looks cool, alien, and threatening all at once.

Well, I've been working away at Dropzone Commander... Pretty much the whole day and ended up with an Infantry battlegroup mostly done.
This is the first time I've tried painting any small scale infantry models since oh... Probably 1999 or so! I think I did a bit better since then.... All in all, not bad for a days work, I think.

I've tried experimenting with Games Workshops Agrellan Earth cracked paint for bases and it looks... mostly.... ok. However it doesn't come out too clearly in the photos. I figured I'd try this as my usual sand and rock would seem a bit too large for the infantry.





I'll need to finish them off tomorrow, mostly just some details like finishing off the lights / lenses to go.

I'm also considering adding some static grass does to help the bases. Any other suggestions?

A little static grass would look really nice. That is what I am doing with the UCM army that I just started.

I've added some Static Grass to my Scourge Infantry battlegroup and it's looking much better. However the bases and the Agrellan Earth in general seem to be entirely immune to any attempt to take a picture of them with my camera...







And now, after (only) 4 months since getting the game, I've finished painting... Half the starter box. Which, to be honest, is incredibly good going for me. Especially adding in my Scourge Desolator too.





They're looking pretty good together, I think!

However, that's only about a Quarter of my total Scourge models and I've got exactly 1 UCM model painted too...
So, there's plenty more Dropzone Commander to come from me!

Those are looking sharp. I figured that the Scourge would be the 'easier' faction to paint, with their shape being particularly made for drybrushing and things like that. They look really good, and I'm particularly impressed with the amount of color you managed to get on the infantry despite their size!

All around awesome. I can't wait until you get goin' on the rest of the UCM models.

I'm definitely interested in the game, but like most newer games I've been worried about the risk of buying them (they're not terribly cheap) and then not having anyone to play with. But Now I'm thinking I might end up with a small force just to paint them and have them hanging out and looking cool.

Kudos chief.

Well it's probably too late now, but my buddy was getting a really nice effect with that aggrellian earth and then applying a dip to it.

CAUTION: The dip is oil based.

So what I'd suggest is get really good coverage with that citadel AE so you don't see the circle bases of the infantry at all and then applying a dip to the base. It wil fix the AE so it won't chip too. But, there won't be any turning back if you do it this way. So try it out on a scrap piece first. I'd reccomend Minwax Polyshade Royal Satin Walnut or Antique Satin Walnut. The sheen will fade in about 6months or you can dull coat it in about 24 hrs. Most of my minis are dipped with those colors if you want an example.

Another alternative would be a devlen mud wash on the base will pick out the cracks more. Yeah. That's probably a better idea for your aethetic anyway.

Nice minis BTW. Are you basing then washing then highlighting? I like the scheme on the UCM. Tires on the Bear APC do need a drybrush or something though. I'm looking forward to buying this game.

Yeah, I haven't really done much with the APC tires... I really should get round to doing that.

With the Scourge, it's Fenris Grey (Russ grey now?) basecoat, then it's Druchii Violet wash all over it, followed by drybrushes of Daemonette Hide, Warpfiend Grey and an edge drybrush of Lucious Lilac.

I'm still going to play with my UCM colour scheme a little more. It was a fur brown spray undercoat (though I'm thinking I should have gone with Leather Brown), then a basecoat of... Urr, I think it was Iyanden Darksun or Tau Sept Ochre, then the Agrax Earthshade wash. Then the main colour was Balor Brown, followed by a Bubonic Brown edge highlight.

I'm going to try some other schemes now with it though.

Miniaturemarket.com is right down the street from my house (1-2 miles), their retail store has about a dozen copies of the rulebook 1.0 on clearance for $5.00. I saw on the website you can still use the first rulebook and the FAQs instead of getting the new book, but was wondering is it better to just get the new book instead? I mean price wise $5 can't be beat, but I haven't gotten into the game.......yet, and don't want to start off with a purchase I regret.

Sorry, don't mean to high jack your thread, just figured you might be able to answer, or others in hear might be able to answer without me making a whole new thread. Besides its a bump .

For $5 it's worth it, I think. - That's only a dollar more than a copy of White Dwarf weekly after all. And if it's similar to the 1.1 rulebook with all the background in there, it'll certainly keep you occupied for long enough.

The best value item in the Dropzone Commander range though is the 2 Player Starter set, which includes the complete 1.1 rulebook. The starter set is also pretty good as a standalone boxed game with a good amount of replayability in it.

 Compel wrote:

The best value item in the Dropzone Commander range though is the 2 Player Starter set, which includes the complete 1.1 rulebook. The starter set is also pretty good as a standalone boxed game with a good amount of replayability in it.

This.

I just ordered my second one. The first one is that good.

 Compel wrote:


The best value item in the Dropzone Commander range though is the 2 Player Starter set, which includes the complete 1.1 rulebook. The starter set is also pretty good as a standalone boxed game with a good amount of replayability in it.

Yup. I've already got one and want to expand my USM. It's going to be cheaper to buy a 2nd starter set and sell the excess parts on Ebay than buy the resin miniatures.

Those Scourge are looking good, mate. I just got into DZC with Post Human Republic. I've played four games so far, and have really enjoyed them. Very cinematic and very tactical games.

Cheers,
Sword

finished painting my first squad of UCM infantry - Only urm, 10 months after I bought them.
Yikes, I need to pick up on this whole painting thing.
I've gone for a desert scheme for my UCM that seems to work well with the bases I think and do a good contrast with the more alien looking purple scourge.
The models with undercoated first with Army Painters Leather Brown.
The bases are Agrellan Earth, with attached 'burnt grass' static grass.
The basecoats were Zandri Dust for the helmets, XV88 for the uniforms, with Mournfang brown for the boots / leather. The faceplates (I think they're supposed to be faceplates....) are Mechanicus Standard Grey.
It's then a simple wash of Agrax Earthshade.
I then tried adding some extra layers.
Uniforms - Balor Brown for the main coat, then some Tallarn Sand lines (which didn't really do anything noticeable).
Helms - Ushbati Bone
Faceplates - Dawnstone.
Boots - Snakebite Leather
And obviously, some black for the guns. I'd like to add some white lines to them, but that's probably going overboard.
In any case, I think they look pretty good, especially with passing the "from 3 feet away" test.
I'm working on my other squad next, then I'm going to try to brave painting the condor. - I tried that a while back and found it surprisingly difficult to do.





To pick up on earlier conversations, the army starter boxes for the original 4 factions have now been released in plastic at a pretty darn amazing £35 each - Less than a squad of Grey Knights from GW.

Awesome work! Looking good. I'm about finished with what I own for UCM -

Have you played yet or just painted?

I'm well into the double figures of starter set games now, though I've just started playing the UCM half of the sets. I've got to say, I'm finding the UCM a lot harder to play as than the scourge due to the lower dropship speed usually meaning, unless I go for the middle building, I can't start searching for the objectives until turn 4, without having a good chance of being blown out of the sky by a bad initiative roll on turn 2. I'm probably doing something wrong though.

I've still only played 1 complete 1500 point game though. They're taking a bit too long for normal gaming nights as we're constantly needing to look up the book to see what all the new guns added in do. I've still not braved command cards yet either.

Ahh it will come with time. I play UCM and find them quite nice. If you want to get into buildings faster get some Raven A's and haul jets to the buildings.

Scourge are fast but lower armor an have to get close to play. I like the longer range of the UCM

With UCM I try to go with the 2x3 Legionnaires in 2 Bears + Condor, and then another 2x2 Legionnaires in Ravens. The 2 squads in Ravens go hunting for the side objectives.

Dropping Sabres first turn (or Katanas), lets you threaten buildings from pretty much anywhere on the map, especially if you activate their battlegroup after the opposing infantry battlegroup. Signaling you have LOS on the buildings with Objectives can make an opponent think twice, especially if they realize that by jumping in turn 2 they'll eat falling masonry damage and then an assault from your infantry.

So, one of the guys that I was demoing the game to last week wanted another game today, so I figured lets bump it up to 999 points.

My idea being, as it's a pretty darn complex game, slowly step things up, plus that way, I get to start memorising some weapon and unit stat lines, which seems to be the main slowing thing in games.

I tried picking 2 1000 point forces that were pretty balanced against each other, though I'm not convinced it worked out massively. - The UCM side seemed rather pants.

Scourge:
Scourge Oppressors
Desolator: Desolator(Champion)
Prowler Pack: 4x Prowler, Intruder Beta

Scourge Vanguard
Hunter MGT Squadron: 3x Hunter, Marauder
Reaper AAGT Squadron: 3x Reaper, Marauder

Scourge Warrior Cabal
Warrior Horde: 3x Warriors, Marauder, 2x Invader
^ Sharing ^ Warrior Horde: 3x Warriors

Scourge Invasion Host
Slayer HGT Squadron: 2x Slayer(+Razorworms), Marauder



UCM:

Field Command
Kodiak ACV: Kodiak(Lieutenant)
Rapier AA Tank Section: 3x Rapier, Condor(+Missile Pods)

Colonial Armored Formation
Sabre MBT Section: 3x Sabre, Condor(+Missile Pods)

Colonial Legionnaire Corps
Colonial Legionnaire Squad: 3x Legionnaires, Condor(+Missile Pods), 2x Bear
^ Sharing ^ Colonial Legionnaire Squad: 3x Legionnaires
Expeditionary Group

Wolverine LAV Team: 4x Wolverine A, 2x Raven B(+Missile Pods)
Praetorian Team: 2x Praetorians, Raven A(+Missile Pods)


While it seemed good to have the Elite infantry option, they seemed to be very hard countered by the 2 razorworms, especially keeping in mind that there was a group of Heavy Tanks that were added on top. - The Praetorians never fired there weapons. I'm thinking that, dropping the missiles from the light dropships, gives enough points to have, instead of 1 squad of 2 praetorians in a dropship, to have a second infantry battalion of 2 squads of 2 praetorians in 2 light dropships. - They at least have the soft counters to the heavy tanks, can do extra damage around the place in general (such as providing extra AA shots, to soft counter the desolator too). Plus the 2 razorworms are able to split off separately and should stand good odds individually against 2 bases of infantry.

As for the game itself? It came down to a dogpile on the Scourge side of the board behind the central building, with reinforcements funnelling in, trying to pick up the objective, only to die horribly, to have the enemy squad then pick it up, to then die horribly and so on... Eventually we both ran out of activations to pick the darn thing up, leaving us at 1 objective each, with it sitting on the ground surrounded by 3 Hunters and 3 Reapers all crowded around the central objective which had just made it out of the Objective Building. I was shooting at this building all game with my tank squad and doing very poor damage.

Last shot of the game, my Kodiak fired at it. Taking, finally demolishing the damn thing.

Well, you know how I mentioned that those Reapers and Hunters were all crowded round the central objective. Well, when the objective building went boom, 5 out of 6 of the tanks were within 1 inch of it, giving me a Battle Point win quite handedly.

Awesome Batrep! Good job!