Hawk Wargames, Dropzone Commander, 2 Player Set

Yesterday a package arrived from Hawk Wargames. Wrapped up all nice and neat was the new 10mm Dropzone Commander 2 player set.

Wow! Hawk Wargames really did a bang up job with this set. Rather than go the resin route, they now have plastic injected molded spruces and IMO this a huge improvement as far as mold lines and how things fit together. The plastic appears to be really clean and perfect for modeling.

The buildings, markers and blast templates are made from card stock and time will tell how well these hold up. 

The set comes with a beautiful colored rulebook, with lots of painted examples of the various vehicles.  There are also directions on how to assemble each vehicle and quick start fast play sheets and scenarios for game play.

The set contains 2 different Armies, the United Colonies of Mankind and the Scourge.  I prefer the look of the humans, but I am quite certain the Scourge has their fans.  These are basic starting forces and it makes the perfect entry point into the Dropzone Commander universe.

The United Colonies of Mankind Starter Force

•  3x Sabre Main Battle Tanks 
•  3x Rapier AA Tanks 
•  2x Bear APC’s (+1 bonus spare!) 
•  30x Colonial Legionnaires (on 6 bases) 
•  3x Condor Medium Dropships (now with clear canopy and pilot!)

The Scourge Starter Force

•  3x Hunter Main Grav-Tanks 
•  3x Reaper AA Grav-Tanks 
•  2x Invader APC’s (+1 bonus spare!)  
•  30x Scourge Warriors (on 6 bases)  
•  3x Marauder Medium Dropships

Also included as you can see from images below is a complete urban battlefield.  The battlefields are designed from poster layouts and pre-cut, pre-folded card stock buildings.

What you get

•  2x Urban Streets Posters, will join together in 4 different ways to create a 48”x33” road
•  layout10 x Pre-cut, pre-folded card buildings in 10 different designs

With this set you have everything you need to throw down and play Dropzone Commander. 

The game retails for £60.00 or about $95, which for what is included, seems like an excellent deal these days.

DropZone Commander

The folks at Hawk Wargames were nice enough to send out a sample set of their exciting Dropzone Commander for review.

The rulebook is absolutely beautiful.  The book consists of 154 pages chalk full of goodness, including game background, rules, scenarios, army lists (UCM, Scourge, PHR, SHALTARI), guest painter pictures and tokens & templates.

The images in the book are...well lets just say...mind blowing in detail.  The artists have blurred the line between reality and science fiction perfectly.  The landscapes and cityscapes used are what every gamer would dream of having on their tabletop.  Incredibly detailed buildings, city streets and outstanding paint jobs make each picture come alive.

The rules consists of 34 pages that are really easy to read, with plenty of examples and tables to follow.  Each Army is broken down into a background section, weapon details, unit specific stats, army lists and examples of armies and color schemes.  Guest painters strut their stuff showcasing some amazing painting skills that will be hard to follow.

The game has been designed around the concept of rapid deployment and redeployment of your forces by airborne dropships, thus the name of the game DropZone Commander.

The game is scaled in 10mm, a happy medium between 6mm and 15mm.  The figures I received came in an army box.  All the vehicles were resin and the infantry were metal.  The 3 dropships came with their own flying base.

Below are some of the parts that come in the box set.  The dropships are made up of 5 parts.  The walkers are composed of 5 parts.  The tanks are a 3 part set.  The starter army had 3 dropships, 2 tanks, 4 walkers and 4 stands of infantry.

Based on what I have seen, you will need a few tools including a good x-acto blade, a file and some cutters.  One thing I didn't like was the two piece mold for the Post-Human Republic tanks.  These have to be glued together with the seam line running down the middle of the tank.  A one piece version would have been much better, with the injection taking place in the underside.  This is something that is already done with countless resin vehicles and should be done here as well.  I also think, although it would increase cost, is to have metal bits for things like weapons.  Resin weapons always have a habit of breaking or warping, at least mine do, and metal bits just seem to last longer.

The metal troops are very nice and have plenty of detail.  Over all really like the look of the armies.

Hawk WarGames, Dropzone Commander

Salute 2012 saw a new company by the name of Hawk Wargames showcase their sci-fi miniature line called Dropzone Commander.  The figures are 10mm and look stunning.  From everything that I have seen Dropzone Commander will include flyers (Including transports), infantry, walkers and vehicles.

Right now intel is a little sketchy.  From what I can gather there are at least 4 main armies, which include the UCM (United Colonies of Mankind), The Scourge, Shaltari Tribes, PHR (Post-Human Republic).

UCM (United Colonies of Mankind - Are are the basic humans, They were the most powerful faction in space, but were crushed in battle by the central worlds (including Earth).  They tend to be a little lower tech.

PHR (Post-Human Republic) - Rely on advanced technology and weaponry.

Scourge - The Scourge consist of bio-mechanically-inspired aliens. They were the ones who overran earth, and are enemies of humans.

Shaltari Tribes - Use Teleportation. The troops are fast, but fragile  They sort of have an Eldar flavor to them.

They are also making terrain/buildings.  The Buildings are hollow, modular sections.  They are going to be released in packs and should be interchangeable with sections.

The game is designed around huge dropships.  Most of not all units can be flown with landing craft on to the battlefield.  The dropships are available in different sizes and are 1 to 1 scale, i.e.  they are designed to transport the actual models used and are scale accordingly.

Apparently they are working on a ruleset, but I am not sure where it stands.

I hear they are looking for both painters and play testers.

Check out their website and twitter account for updates.

You can find more pictures from http://lifevsgaming.blogspot.com and http://mr-bugman.blogspot.com