Dropzone Commander - Introduction (aka: say what now?)

Due to reasons (including but not limited to; other people also interested in it, see it a while back and thinking 'that's cool', and let's say... a general malaise with certain 6mm systems, they were on sale, the system is still actively supported) I ended up getting some starter boxes for Dropzone Commander.

I had seen these models painted up in display cabinets in a couple of FLGS some time ago and it looked interesting, but I'd passed it over as;  i) it has more of a... battletech/anime aesthetic than I normally like,  ii) I already had Epic as my game for that scale/genre (6-15mm massed battlefield).

Similarly, at cancon there were often some Dropzone Commander/Dropfleet Commander (hereafter DZC/DFC) items floating around in stalls but with less intensity that most other systems. I was, and still am, wary of 'peripheral games' after my experience with Halo version (company closes, no support, no players, lots of tiny paperweights).

Dropfleet Commander is sometimes referred to as the spiritual successor of the long unsupported Battlefleet Gothic, having being designed by the same author (to what extent I do not know).

With the stars aligned and after a quick chat to the local players about the game (sadly i didn't know they were playing until after they had finished otherwise i could have watched/learned!!) I ended up with a couple of cheap starters.

Over the last couple of days I have assembled the UCM faction, which was a relatively painless process...

Squared away (though they will probably get painted before anything on the existing paint queue)...

There are 5 main factions in this fiction. UCM probably being the most 'vanilla' group. There is a bunch of backstory and fluff which I haven't delved into too deeply.  Probably want have a game or several before investing too heavily in the fluff (or more models for that matter). 

So I have the opposing starter to do, the Scourge faction.

My understanding is that it's generally simpler than Epic and thought to be more 'balanced' across the factions,  so I look forward to trying it out and seeing how it blends.  If DFC carries on and improves upon Battlefleet, then it's not entirely unreasonable to anticipate DZC might improve upon Epic and will hopefully be a decent set of mechanics.

I think there are 3 or 4 other locals gearing up for DZC so a willing player base certainly helps enthusiasm. Interestingly, I found out that some of the same local subset also have the Halo stuff... not that I really want to dig that out.

Update 20210510

Finished assembling the Scourge...

The tanks are all 'hover tanks' so once painted they will be mounted on the clear discs at the front.

Not like I will be magnetising them so they can sit in the drop ships.... that way lies madness... though i believe some people do or have done that.

Until next time...