New space combat game from Hawk Wargames and Andy Chambers in the works!

Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:

No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.

If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

**RiTides**

This was briefly mentioned in the post-Salute thread, but as it's going to be a new game I think it deserves it's own thread.

I'll update the OP when there is any additional news, here is what is known so far (from, I believe, the Hawk Wargames facebook page and a related GW Specialist Games group).

Thanks to reds8n for finding these quotes!

Andy Chambers wrote:I'm going to steal Marcelo's photo again to make a post-Salute announcement - I am indeed working with Hawk Wargames on a set of tabletop spaceship rules for the Dropzone Commander universe, provisionally titled Dropfleet.
I can't tell you how excited I am to have the opportunity to make another foray into spaceships as GW's now sadly discontinued Battlefleet Gothic remains one of my all-time favourite projects. It's a real privilege to be working with Dave, Simon and Louis at Hawk, they're passionate and dedicated hobbyists (see the 9' DZC scale model of the smallest ship in Dropfleet) so I think we'll be making this one a real doozy.

Andy Chambers wrote:Hey folks, I just wanted to announce that I'm working on a set of spaceship rules for the guys at Hawk Wargames - the Dropzone Commander people - provisionally title Dropfleet. I'd like to ask the group if there's any elements of BFG (or indeed any other spaceship rules like Firestorm Armada or Full Thrust) that you really, really like or really, really hate so that I can try to address them/obliterate them in Dropfleet. Just general fishing so I can steal your ideas really, but any thoughts you have on tabletop spaceships are of great interest to me.

Official confirmation from Hawk forums (thanks to Orlanth for bringing this to our attention):

http://www.hawkforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=4369&start=20

**Medium of Death**

I could definitely get into this. Drop Zone Commander models are awesome looking and if they translate that aesthetic into excellent sci-fi battleships then they'll be golden!

**Hulksmash**

I would poop my pants in excitement if this actually comes through. Just sayin.

**AllSeeingSkink**

Hulksmash wrote:
I would poop my pants in excitement if this actually comes through. Just sayin.

Indeed, there shall be much poop in pants if this comes to fruition.

**Flashman**

Yes, would definitely be interested in this. X Wing is a great dog fighting game, but the war gaming world needs a title where huge battleships line up and blast the bejeezus out of each other.

**Theophony**

Flashman wrote:
Yes, would definitely be interested in this. X Wing is a great dog fighting game, but the war gaming world needs a title where huge battleships line up and blast the bejeezus out of each other.

or at least a imperial ship game where it sets up for a planetary invasion game.

JB

I love BFG so I'm interested in this game. However, I hope he makes it even better than BFG. It wasn't much fun fighting Necron fleets and the Eldar were not much easier to face.

It's really too bad that GW didn't keep BFG going. It is fun to play a campaign with both BFG and 40K as long as you don't lose whole armies in space before ever reaching the planets.

**privateer4hire**

Hmmm. This is good news but thought AC was going to put out his 'Blood Red Skies' WW2 fighter game first.

**Theophony**

privateer4hire wrote:
Hmmm. This is good news but thought AC was going to put out his 'Blood Red Skies' WW2 fighter game first.

I'm sure he had plenty of ideas GW said "pass, it's not space marine enough for us" to back in the day

which just needed dusting off and tweaking to remove skulls and emperors from.

**Zond**

I'm in. Hard.

**Souleater**

Love dropzone. Loved BFG.

Very interested to see more about this.

**Pacific**

Souleater wrote:
Love dropzone. Loved BFG.

Very interested to see more about this.

Absolutely! Will be interesting to see where they go from this - great big bio-ships for the Scourge, really smooth looking ships for the post-humans etc. .

Any news on when we might start to see more? Hawk Wargames did a wonderful job of drumming up hype for Dropzone Commander (showing a new sculpt each day etc.), lets hope they take a similar route with this.

**Tannhauser42**

Anybody want to start placing bets as to how compatible our BFG ships will be in this new system? I wouldn't be surprised if the gameplay is just similar enough to BFG to allow us to use most of our old ships.

Either way, really looking forward to this.

**-Loki-**

Flashman wrote:
Yes, would definitely be interested in this. X Wing is a great dog fighting game, but the war gaming world needs a title where huge battleships line up and blast the bejeezus out of each other.

Isn't that what Firestorm Armada is?

**Jehan-reznor**

I played a lot of BFG and even have lots of original space fleet ships, very interested in this!

**AlexHolker**

If I had one suggestion for a change from Battlefleet Gothic, it would be to decouple heading from orientation. Let a ship burn on a heading of 000, then next turn rotate to 090 and fire its weapons while still drifting on the same heading.

**Malika2**

This is going to be awesome!

**Breotan**

I like the premise, but "Dropfleet" is a really dumb name. I hope they come up with another before launch.

Still, why would people invested in other space battles games like Firestorm Armada switch? Is Dropzone that much better a miniatures game than its counterparts?

**Manchu**

Very exciting. DZC has great fluff and I am eager to see the games depicting it expand. I bet there is already a good amount of mind-blowing concept art on Mr. Lewis's desk! Oh to be a fly on that wall ...

Agreed that "Dropfleet" is not the right name.

**Pacific**

Breotan wrote:

Still, why would people invested in other space battles games like Firestorm Armada switch? Is Dropzone that much better a miniatures game than its counterparts?

It's a really nice little rules system - very fast and tactical. The miniatures are gorgeous as well, which I suppose bodes well for any other game Hawk Wargames will release.

That being said apparently Firestorm Armada 2.0 is an improvement over its predecessor in terms of rules. Will be interesting to see how this develops for sure..

**Kilkrazy**

-Loki- wrote:
Flashman wrote:
Yes, would definitely be interested in this. X Wing is a great dog fighting game, but the war gaming world needs a title where huge battleships line up and blast the bejeezus out of each other.

Isn't that what Firestorm Armada is?

And Starmada, Star Trek Battles, Starfire, Full Thrust, and several others.

This new game will have to bring something different and pretty special to the table.

**Malika2**

Hmm, maybe it will just bring in cool miniatures and still people will buy it.

**Kilkrazy**

I am all for cool miniatures but again, there are plenty on the market already, both tied to specific games and more generic designs (I have a bunch of the Cold Navy models), so they will have to do something fairly special in that regard.

**Malika2**

I guess the game is going to be the 'excuse' to get the miniatures out without just being "non-GW" models. Also, if the game could be combined with Dropzone Commander, I'm all up for it. It could be a great addition for campaigns.

**Sikil**

Gosh...

I'm in for a huge PH(34)R invasion fleet, a small colonial UCM fleet and a medium size Shatarii fleet.

My wallet hates me already!

**Jehan-reznor**

Maybe this system should go Japanese style?

銀河英雄伝説 Legend of the Galactic Heroes always has huge battles this would make a good tabletop spaceship game

**Malika2**

Wow...those are actually some pretty cool models!

**scarletsquig**

Really hope they can Kickstarter it and get some hard plastic sprues sorted... I like their stuff, but the resins are too pricy.

**Breotan**

scarletsquig wrote:
Really hope they can Kickstarter it and get some hard plastic sprues sorted... I like their stuff, but the resins are too pricy.

I wish Firestorm Armada would do that. Resin + metal keep me from picking it up.

**Tamereth**

I'm a huge BFG fan. If this uses an updated / streamlined take on those rules, with the quality of models Hawk have been releasing I'm all over this.
I like dropzone commander, the rules are ok but not really grabbed me as anything special, but I keep picking up models for it because there gorgeous and the quality is fantastic. The UCM have always given me a bit of a starship troopers fell so this feels like a natural next step go with the setting.
Any idea's on the timescale we're looking at here. Have they been working on this for a while or only just agreed to do it?