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Christmas Previews Roundup

We hope you all enjoyed our previews advent calendar! We've been reading all your comments and have decided it would be best to answer many of them in a summary newsletter, detailing more information on all these exiting releases for Q1 of the new year! As usual, shots of the real miniatures, along with full background, information and rules will be available to download as the models become available to pre-order.

1) UCM Katana Light Tank



The Katana is built upon a lighter, nimbler version of the more common Sabre-type chassis. In a further effort to save weight, UCM military engineers have also adopted a less power-hungry weapon system; a twin high-velocity cannon. This armament has a superior rate of fire to the more common railgun, although it does not have quite the same punch or range.

2) UCM Fireblade Light Tank



The Fireblade is based on the same chassis as the Katana and features the same increased speed as its sister. Unlike the Katata, the Fireblade has a very specific battlefield role; to expunge enemy infantry from structures with its formidable flamethrower!

3) UCM Eagle Heavy Gunship



The Eagle is essentially a weaponised variant of the condor which sacrifices its transport capacity in favour of devastating firepower. The Eagle packs a pair of heavy railguns as well as two independently targeting multi-rocket pods. This allows the Eagle to lay waste to virtually anything on the ground!

4) Shaltari Tarantula Battle Strider



The Tarantula is a smaller, more agile version of the towering Warstriders. Battle Striders feature anti-grav assistors and clamps on their legs and feet, allowing them to climb sheer surfaces to attack from above!
The Tarantula's primary armament is the highly advanced Gravatic Magnifier, a weapon which delivers crushing fore to anything with mass. The larger and heavier the target, the more devastating this weapon becomes! By its very nature, it is also effective against skimmers.
It is also armed with a nose mounted micro-laser, a small but deadly accurate weapon well suited to destroying lightly armoured targets from great distances.

5) Shaltari Birdeater Battle Strider



The Birdeater is an anti-air variant of the Tarantula, armed with the familiar and lethal twin ion-cannon. It often employs its climbing abilities to gain a commanding view of the battlefield - a highly useful ability for an anti-air unit! Since it is less agile than the Kukri, it is better suited to more static defensive roles, where its superior survivability makes it a favourite of the Shaltari Warchiefs who favour heavier units.

6) Shaltari Caiman Heavy Grav-Tank



The Caiman is truly formidable battlefield predator whose agility belies its massive size. Its primary armament is the Gauss Triad, a weapon designed to reliably cut through heavy armour at long range. It is also armed with a pair of micro-lasers on traversable turrets. Although less well armoured than Warstriders of equivalent size, the Caiman's agility can be used to deadly effect by the more subtle of Shaltari Warchiefs.

7) Scourge Stalker



The Stalker is a highly aggressive frontline tank hunter unit, designed to deliver crippling damage to the heaviest armoured units at close range using its frighteningly powerful eletro-web caster. It fulfils a role similar to the smaller Prowler, although the Stalker is more suited to direct, frontline assaults where its much heavier armour lends it greater survivability.

8) Scourge Ravager



The Ravager is a flexible anti-air unit, usually employed by the Scourge when long term air defence is needed. As a walker, it has much lower power consumption than the more aggressive Reaper skimmer and is often employed by Scourge occupation garrisons on conquered worlds. Coupled with greater survivability and independently targeting weapons, this makes the Ravager an excellent choice for vanguard defence.

9) Scourge Harbinger Assault Dropship



The Harbinger is a large dropship which features heavier armour than the more common Marauder type and is designed primarily for frontal assaults. The Harbinger is often equipped with plasma bombs - devastating freefall weapons which can be deployed from its tail proboscis. It can also be upgraded to carry a small arc caster, allowing it to assist in the decimation of enemy fliers around the Dropzone. The Harbinger is employed primarily to deploy Stalker and Ravager walkers, although it has been seen delivering other horrors direct to the thickest of the fighting...

10) PHR Helios Jetskimmer



The Helios is a high speed attack unit, designed primarily to hunt down enemy aircraft. While somewhat less manoeuvrable than the true skimmers employed by the Shaltari and the Scourge, it can still use its speed to great effect in battle. It is armed only with the RXs-5 'Galaxy' multi-rocket launcher. For what this weapon lacks in power, it more than makes up for in terrific rate of fire, where the sheer quantity of shape charge munitions can even pose a threat to enemy armour.

11) PHR Angelos Jetskimmer



The Angelos is a multi-role fast strike vehicle. It is armed with a single RXs-120 smoothbore heavy cannon (the same weapon employed by the Enyo). Coupled with the Angelos' speed and advanced targeting systems, this can be used in both the anti-structure and anti-armour roles. The Angelos also features a limited transport capacity, allowing it to drop small strike teams of infantry if required.

12) PHR Mercury Scout Drone



The Mercury is an unusual battlefield unit, in that it is totally unarmed. Instead, it carries a highly advanced full spectrum sensor package. This is sufficiently advanced to scan structures to assist ground troops in objective and intel searches as well as normal scout functions. The Mercury is normally carried into battle by the Triton Strike Dropship, which can also be armed with a pair of heavy anti-armour missiles designed to work in tandem with the Mercury's sensor package. This transforms the Triton into a capable anti-armour gunship once it has delivered its pair of Drones to the frontline.

BONUS PREVIEW: Orbital Defence Laser



This is the largest miniature that we have developed so far (by quite a large margin!) It is a massive directed energy weapon normally employed to engage enemy spacecraft and dropship armadas from very long range. It is unwieldy as a tactical, battlefield weapon due to its slow speed of traverse and constrained mount. It is an almost ancient design by UCM standards, and has been in service since before the Scourge invasion. As such, it is a common sight on both Cradle World and UCM military instillations.
This will be the centrepiece of our upcoming line of Scenario Packs!

New Release Roadmap for Q1, 2014

Here is a general summary for the expected release dates for all these new and exciting releases (precise dates to follow in the new year):

January:
1) UCM Katana Light Tank
2) Shaltari Tarantula Battle Strider
3) PHR Angelos Jetskimmer

February:
1) UCM Eagle Heavy Gunship
2) Shaltari Caiman Heavy Grav-Tank
3) Scourge Stalker
4) Scourge Harbinger Assault Dropship
5) PHR Mercury Scout Drone
6) Monorail Scenario Pack

March:
1) UCM Fireblade Light Tank
2) Shaltari Birdeater Battle Strider
3) Scourge Ravager
4) PHR Helios Jetskimmer
5) Orbital Defence Laser Scenario Pack




Older 2 player starter info in spoiler:

Just saw this. Might get me to buy it.

Does anyone know if the plastic sprues will be available separately? I posted that question on their facebook. Just wondering as it would be easy to start a quick force by buying some more.

about fecking time
lets hop they drop there prices of the overly expensive stuf plastic is the way forward not resin

Wait, by my count, the forces each of 3 APC's. I wonder why the main pic shows only 2 on each side.

They'd be stupid not to offer the sprues separately. Even if they didn't, it's more economical to buy the game and throw away the faction you don't play than to buy the restics.

I'd love to pick up a few sprues like this for the PHR. I'd rather get the MLRS than APCs, but you're still getting some nice walking drones and UAVs for 28mm games.

Ok, have been looking at this for a while and now they release a set with the 2 factions I like, I think someone is trying to tell me something.

The starter set is fantastic news for this game! They'll also be unveiling a new race at GenCon... I will see if I can snap some pics

Wow! I'm extremely shocked to see them move to hard plastic. Does anyone know if more of the range is moving in this direction? They must be doing well to be able to invest in plastic this early in their life. Anyone know who is producing the plastic sprues?

Looks good, glad they're going plastic

I really love the models, but I've been thinking about selling off my UCM stuff, in a year I still haven't played once or even got around to painting them.. just too busy :(

Wow looks very nice, and sure this will help sell the game to people.

Always thought the miniatures were great and surprised it hasn't been taken up by more people in my area - now this will start making me think about making a board full of that ridiculously expensive Japanese N-Guarge terrain to make a 10mm scale city..

 bbb wrote:
Wow! I'm extremely shocked to see them move to hard plastic. Does anyone know if more of the range is moving in this direction? They must be doing well to be able to invest in plastic this early in their life. Anyone know who is producing the plastic sprues?

Shocked about plastics you say? Is that really the first thing that shocks you about this? Have you not looked at what this sets costs? You get 2 starter army's, a rule book, terrain and other assorted stuff for a little less than one.... yes ONE starter army!
To me... that's shocking!

Cool, good to see. I can't obviously speak to the quality of their upcoming plastics.. the one resin pack I bought (for use in Heavy Gear) was quite nice and easy to assemble even with the number of details. The cityscape pack (parts of which are included above in the new starter) is definitely a great value and good quality for cardstock.

If I ever saw two people playing the game locally, I'd consider picking it up. I can only support one game no one plays and that niche is firmly locked up with the above mentioned Heavy Gear currently. :(

I didn't even notice that, Bubbalicious... that's a good sign, as price has been the main barrier to most people picking up this game that I've spoken to.

It's fairly easy to play, doesn't require a ton of models, and now has cheap in-scale terrain offered along with it... so price was the main remaining hindrance to wider adoption.

I liked the idea of this game until I saw the prices at the flgs. Now in plastic I'll be really tempted. Especially tempted just by the terrain which could work with mechafront as well. I've really been watching since I saw some previews of the larger tanks they've been showing.

 RiTides wrote:
I didn't even notice that, Bubbalicious... that's a good sign, as price has been the main barrier to most people picking up this game that I've spoken to.

It's fairly easy to play, doesn't require a ton of models, and now has cheap in-scale terrain offered along with it... so price was the main remaining hindrance to wider adoption.

Indeed, it seemed to be a common complaint when I checked out all the DZC threads a few months back in the misc minis forum. I'd be curious to see if there is any loss of detail with the switch to plastic with a side by side comparison. That potential loss of detail seems to be a big topic of discussion over on the Warzone thread.

 Theophony wrote:
I liked the idea of this game until I saw the prices at the flgs. Now in plastic I'll be really tempted. Especially tempted just by the terrain which could work with mechafront as well. I've really been watching since I saw some previews of the larger tanks they've been showing.

The same is true of me in the opposite sense- I have the terrain already, which tempts me to get Mecha Front models, which should work well with it

 warboss wrote:

 RiTides wrote:
I didn't even notice that, Bubbalicious... that's a good sign, as price has been the main barrier to most people picking up this game that I've spoken to.

It's fairly easy to play, doesn't require a ton of models, and now has cheap in-scale terrain offered along with it... so price was the main remaining hindrance to wider adoption.

Indeed, it seemed to be a common complaint when I checked out all the DZC threads a few months back in the misc minis forum. I'd be curious to see if there is any loss of detail with the switch to plastic with a side by side comparison. That potential loss of detail seems to be a big topic of discussion over on the Warzone thread.

There are some closeups of the pieces over at beasts of war, just skip a bit forward.
http://www.beastsofwar.com/dropzone-commander/dropzone-commander-2-player-plastic-starter-set-unboxed/

Wow, that looks like quite the starter set- definitely more interested in it now.

This interests me. I've been eyeing the resin stuff off and on. If they sell the sprues separately, I may just buy some to mess around with them.

Love the idea, but it figures it both the factions I not into. Where is the other starter. Then I have no choose but to buy.

Bubbalicious wrote:

 warboss wrote:

 RiTides wrote:
I didn't even notice that, Bubbalicious... that's a good sign, as price has been the main barrier to most people picking up this game that I've spoken to.

It's fairly easy to play, doesn't require a ton of models, and now has cheap in-scale terrain offered along with it... so price was the main remaining hindrance to wider adoption.

Indeed, it seemed to be a common complaint when I checked out all the DZC threads a few months back in the misc minis forum. I'd be curious to see if there is any loss of detail with the switch to plastic with a side by side comparison. That potential loss of detail seems to be a big topic of discussion over on the Warzone thread.

There are some closeups of the pieces over at beasts of war, just skip a bit forward.
http://www.beastsofwar.com/dropzone-commander/dropzone-commander-2-player-plastic-starter-set-unboxed/

Thanks for the link. I'm not too familiar with most of the models but I'll try to find some similarly sized and angled pics for comparison.

Top plastic, bottom resin.



I'd say that the detail carried over pretty well assuming that those are indeed pics of the plastic models (which I have no reason to doubt frankly). Some of the edges seem a bit softer but that could be due to the painted resin models having edge painting. Either way, it seems like a very good transition.

 warboss wrote:

 RiTides wrote:
I didn't even notice that, Bubbalicious... that's a good sign, as price has been the main barrier to most people picking up this game that I've spoken to.

It's fairly easy to play, doesn't require a ton of models, and now has cheap in-scale terrain offered along with it... so price was the main remaining hindrance to wider adoption.

Indeed, it seemed to be a common complaint when I checked out all the DZC threads a few months back in the misc minis forum. I'd be curious to see if there is any loss of detail with the switch to plastic with a side by side comparison. That potential loss of detail seems to be a big topic of discussion over on the Warzone thread.

The loss of detail is overstated and overrated in that thread. Plastics generally sell many times what metals and resins sell for, and price is part of that. For the price, I guarantee the quality will be satisfactory to most. Unless they screw up like Mantic.

Mantic's recent issues don't really have to due with details lost in material transition but rather not sculpting the details in the first place or sculpting details in almost ridiculous proportions.

I edited my post above with some large comparison pics hidden under the spoiler tag (otherwise they'd take up several screens!).

 warboss wrote:
Thanks for the link. I'm not too familiar with most of the models but I'll try to find some similarly sized and angled pics for comparison.

Top plastic, bottom resin.

Spoiler:

I'd say that the detail carried over pretty well assuming that those are indeed pics of the plastic models (which I have no reason to doubt frankly). Some of the edges seem a bit softer but that could be due to the painted resin models having edge painting. Either way, it seems like a very good transition.

They look really good! And the detail on these models is very fine, so it's awesome that they were able to translate it into plastic (not sure if this is "hard plastic" a la GW, or restic we're talking about here, though).

From what is written in the OP and the look of the sprues, it's normal plastic. I absolutely hate the mess of a confusion that mantic's arbitrary changing of model making industry standard terms for decades is causing. It's just plain plastic!! I never had to ask if "plastic glue" worked on plastic models before mantic's dropping of the otherwise clear restic term.

Okay well let's not go down that road in this thread

Hard plastic sprues, this is pretty amazing!

 RiTides wrote:

 warboss wrote:
Thanks for the link. I'm not too familiar with most of the models but I'll try to find some similarly sized and angled pics for comparison.

Top plastic, bottom resin.

Spoiler:

I'd say that the detail carried over pretty well assuming that those are indeed pics of the plastic models (which I have no reason to doubt frankly). Some of the edges seem a bit softer but that could be due to the painted resin models having edge painting. Either way, it seems like a very good transition.

They look really good! And the detail on these models is very fine, so it's awesome that they were able to translate it into plastic (not sure if this is "hard plastic" a la GW, or restic we're talking about here, though).

Pet peeve, but assuming we're talking about Privateer-style plastics can we quit calling it restic and call it PVC like it actually is? It's just not polystyrene, which is why polystyrene cement doesn't work on it. There's no resin involved at any point, or at least no more than any other plastic.

Irregardless, this is pretty clearly polystyrene.

Yes actually a lot of minis out there are PVC. I'm actually looking into PVC for my game I dunno what Mantic's is though.

I'd assume these are gonna be the standard good ole fashioned "real" plastic we get in other model type kits, for everyone that loves stinky glue.

This set is tempting.. I might have better luck getting friends to play if there's armies for 2 players. Maybe I'll see if I can trade my PHR army for this

Just sent out a PM but figured I'd put this in the thread as well. If someone just wants the starter for the minis and rules, I'd be interested in buying the buildings and tiles to pad my existing cityscape set. The set isn't released until the end of September so we've got a while to figure it out.

Noir wrote:
Love the idea, but it figures it both the factions I not into. Where is the other starter. Then I have no choose but to buy.

I was considering buying Shatari or PHR. Now I am left with the dilemma of whether or not to buy the starter and save some money, or splurge and buy the stuff that I really want.