Dropzone Commander: Review

Hi, my name is Razieltje and I'm here to bring you guys my point of view on the new 10mm sci-fi tactical miature game, Dropzone Commander by Hawk Wargames.

My first introduction to Dropzone Commander was during a miniatures expo in Antwerp (Belgium) called Crisis. Me and some of my friends got the opportunity to see the models, the awesome scenic cityscapes, but we lacked the time to actually find out how the game was played. Luckily the good people of Hawk Wargames were kind enough to send me their "2 players starters box set" (get one now, it's certainly worth it's value!), but more on that box set later. This permitted us to get into the game.

What is Dropzone Commander 

This is a Sci-fi turn-based 10mm miniature game. This means you will be playing on a battlefield with small miniatures! This does permit you to field a massive fleet brought in by (you guessed it) dropships.

How do you play Dropzone Commander

Dropzone Commander (DzC for initiates) is a turn-based game. Before the game, you decide the size of your battle. Based on the size of your army, you have a number of battlegroups available. Each of these battle groups exists of different squads. (this may sound complicated, but it actually explains itself quite easily. Also the free to download army builder does a great job helping you to fill in these gaps)
The game lenght is limited mostly 6 turns, which can be between 1 to 3 hours per game. Every turn exists of 4 actions. These actions are made per battlegroup, and every player takes turns activating their battlegroups until every battegroup has been activated. These turns consist of following actions

• Roll for initiative, to decide who goes first this turn
• Choose a battegroup, and complete their actions (repeat per player, battlegroup)
• Check to see if the vicory conditions are met

Choosing your battlegroup, and completing their actions is the strength found in DzC. Each player takes turns in choosing one of his battlegroups, does the neccessary movement, and tries to shoot his wanted targets. After the group has completed his actions, the other player gets to choose a battlegroup of his own, and do their actions, going back and forth until all groups have been activated for all players. This makes for a very dynamic flow of combat, where you need to take action and counter-reaction mere into account then some other games where you do all your actions, followed by your opponent doing all their actions. 

Dropzone Commander is objective based, meaning in most scenario's you try to secure objectives found on the battlefield. These objectives are mostly hidden in buildings, and can only be found by your troops. Those troops are transported to the battle using different forms of transport, and are of course protected by the rest of your army, cause let me tell you, those suckers really shouldn't be walking around :) 

Which armies are available

At the moment the 4 parties known to the Dropzone World(with a 5th one on the way!), each having their own strengths and weaknesses.

United Colonies of Mankind (UCM)

The UCM are the true, earthborn men. They possess over decent firepower, and adequate range making them the best all-rounder army.

The Scourge

Coming from deep in outer space, trying to colonize earth, the Scourge is a parasitic race with incredible speed and decent acidic weaponry, though what they have in strength, they lack more in defense.

Post Human Republic (PHR)

This cyborg race is actually a decendant of the human race, who was helped by an unknown party making them more equiped to handle different situations, but making the units more expensive.

Shaltari

The Shaltari came to the earth colonies in helping mankind making their way into outer space, but (as we are) the friendship couldn't last. Their origin is mostly unknown, but they possess extraordinary control of teleport possibility and defenses.

How much does this cost

To start with Dropzone Commander, Hawk Wargames has the option of buying a 2player starter set. This is an ideal start of your set, if you're interested into playing one of these two armies. Even if you're not, the starters set provides you with everything you need to transform your gaming table to an urban battleground, this for the reasonable price of about 70 €. The armies themselves can be bought in Army deals, providing you with enough models (even with personalised casings) with prices ranging from 100 € to the biggest army deal around 350 €. If we compare this to other similar games, like Warhammer 40.000, of Inifinity, we can see that the cost certainly is returned.
Scenery and extra's  not only can be bought on their store for a reasonable price (and super quality) but they also provide more than enough downloads for you to download, print, and create your own cities to wage war in.

Final words

Having played the game several times now, Dropzone commander brings a welcome change in the tabletop world, making the game more dynamic and certainly more fluid/natural. I did feel the 6 turn limit to be too short for really giving the transports (being big part of the game) a chance to shine. This game is certainly alot of fun, and I do recommend people to pick up the 2-player starter set and give it a try!