Tuesday 22 December 2015

Merry Christmas And Looking At 2016

We only work in black, grey and white, no matter the holiday
Although my work won't let me believe it until Thursday, Christmas is here folks! I am going to take the liberty of speaking for all six of us, when I say I hope your holidays are filled with toys and festivities (but mostly toys)! We are now taking a small holiday break, and will be back in the new year.

We have had a great year, attending more tournaments than I have fingers, helping Hawk at Salute and of course attending the UK Games Expo for the first time. On top of all this we've grown stronger as a blog and published in excess of 80 posts and 16 podcasts (not including the interviews and videos)! We wouldn't have bothered if you lovely people hadn't continued to come back, so thank you for this and all your lovely, lovely comments.

What does 2016 hold though? Well, towards the start of the year we will be focussing on helping the rookie. Christmas is bound to bring toys that people will need help with, but more than that we feel it is important that the hobby grow and we are in a great position to place an arm around the shoulders of these men and women, be them getting into the wargaming hobby for the first time, or a wargames reugee (like myself once upon a time). Dropzone can, admittedly, be an awkward game to get the hang off, so between Mike and myself we will be bringing a couple of series focussing on the new player; don't worry you old salty dogs of the zone, there will be some stuff in there for you too I'm sure!

I would also like to publish a few painting videos, and I know Tech Boy now has the taste for scrap booking, so you can be sure to see more of these! If there is anything you would like to see on the page please let us know, by commenting on this post, tweeting us @OBDZC or popping me an email at obteamdzc@gmail.com.

Until next year, stay cool Zoneheads.

Monday 14 December 2015

OB Podcast 11.5: Dibdib Dobdob


People of thine internet, hear ye hear ye! Team OB haveth delivered to their promise from ye olde episode 11, and unveil today their 11.5ieth episode!

What can your mind expect to be invaded with this time around? Scouts, scouts and more scouts! We will discuss the best way to assemble a pop-up tent, how to make a fire with only a box of matches and 17 fire lighters, and the difficulties of gathering edible food from an Aldi.

Hah, no, of course not; we don't know anything camping. Nope, you will instead be listening to us discuss the finer points of the Scout choices within Dropzone, ranging from 'which are the better units?' all the way too 'why should I take a squad?'!

Friday 11 December 2015

Resistance Sappers and Scout ATV's - The Lowdown

Well, we can all breathe now, stick a fork in me, I'm done!



The Dropfleet Kickstarter was an outrageous success. I would doubt very much if there was anyone out there who will be disappointed with their deals. I, for one, am over the moon. I'm also siding more and more with the Shaltari ships. The Scourge are still the best looking, but the Shaltari are really brutal looking. I like it.
Oh, and don't forget - there will be teleporting nonsense too.

Down at Hawk HQ it seems that there is still someone beavering away to give some new Dropzone goodies just in time for Christmas........ and they don't disappoint.

Tuesday 8 December 2015

The Elephants That Cross The Urban Jungle


Interesting things are happening in my dropzone related life at the moment. I've managed to successfully flush my Scourge host from my body (a diet of Tabasco sauce and ghost chillies will rid any parasite within you) and turncoat completely, by joining the good fight against the alien scum! Playing the Resistance has opened my eyes slightly to the issues other armies face (for instance, manoeuvrability is a luxury within junk-town forces), and also reinforced a few issues I had with the aliens (focal points are no issue at all for the Resistance, which is the opposite for the Scourge).

More interestingly than that though is you get to learn about all the units, y'know, get all up inside the infantry and tanks to see what they're really about. We do a lot of theorising and postulating here at OB, partly because it fills blog space, and mostly because we're vain enough to think we know what we're talking about. As it turns out, we sometimes talk out of our arse's - I know, shocking stuff!

Take the Hannibal for instance. After all of our initial bad mouthing, the tank is pretty useful despite its flaws, and has a little hidden utility if played in a perhaps unconventional way!

Friday 4 December 2015

I'm Not Sure I Can Wait Until June?


Wow, now the madness has all settled down, we can take a step back and reflect on the last 12 hours of the Dropfleet Commander Kickstarter. The end figure soared up to a phenomenal £629,222, smashing every stretch goal along the way! Considering the most Hawk thought they would achieve was £150k, they can be incredibly pleased with a very successful campaign.

Team OB would like to say a whopping congratulations to the whole Hawk team! I hope that this success shifts the spotlight firmly onto them, and that both DfC and DzC reap the benefits from this excellent campaign.

All that's left to say is; June? Really? How do you expect me to wait that long?!?

Wednesday 2 December 2015

BONANZA!


Well Dan is a happy man, you can all give yourselves a huge pat on the back as we all get Frigates galore! (Just don't open your wallets for a good while yet)

From logging on to Kickstarter this morning wondering if we would get to 500k, to seeing that target smashed at time of writing is amazing.

There is still 24 hours to go, and I want to see the Scourge space station add-on unlocked.......

Tuesday 1 December 2015

Getting Boots On The Ground

Unlike Mike's (not-so-secret) secret Resistance project, I have been very open about my junk town project. Also unlike Mike, while he has been grafting away behind the curtain (and I will say, they are looking very nice) I have been, well, stagnant in my effort.


This weekend though I found a bit of time and had a go at my Occupation Veterans, and I am very happy with the result!

The aim of the infantry in this army is to replicate the look of being inside a building, or in the case of my vets in and around it. I was lucky enough to win a three tier MDF Blotz building at a tournament in Brighton, and decided to use the top tier of the centre piece to help make these...

Friday 27 November 2015

OB Podcast Episode 11: OB:TMG


Hello, welcome to Americana. Please make your selection followed by the £ sign.......now

We are back for another thigh-slappingly, shambolically fun episode just for your earholes!

There is a lot of talk on Dropfleet, or should we say OB:TMG (you'll just have to listen to understand that), and some news of new units for Dropzone; that's right, our first love is getting some love! We also stuff in a fair bit of hobby chat.

Welcome to Episode 11!

Monday 23 November 2015

Warfare got Bombarded, Orbitally

First things first....Orbital Bombardment: the Miniatures Game Dropfleet Commander. Wow.
All the new reveals are great. The painted Shaltari are a work of art (kudos to Hotdrop Studios for the paint job). The renders just did not do them justice - can't wait to see the PHR. I don't think that will be until right near the end of the campaign though.

There is only one problem with the Kickstarter campaign (Ok, there are a few more problems, but overall it's been marvelous) - the comments section........ have you been there? Seriously where have some of these people been dug up from? As a favourite middle ages insult, they are mostly earslings. (To find out what an earsling is, you will need to read some of Bernard Cornwells Saxon stories - you won't regret it)

Anyway onto the most important part of this post. WARFARE 2015

Friday 20 November 2015

Trying something different......




Hello internet people!!!!

With the tournament scene now coming to an end, and leading up to the end of year festivities. I thought I would tell you a bit about my journey with my beloved Resistance. As Resistance is currently my primary force this is what I have been concentrating on. (PHR may come back now that the Medusa and Valkyries have been released). Depends if they nerf the Medusa or not.

Normally between Hawk's Invasion tournaments and over the summer, or just whenever I get a bit bored of my normal army really. I tend to venture out and try new units and even whole new army list designs all together.

Monday 16 November 2015

Scrapbooking Warfare 2015: Video Blog!


The OB team (sans Zombiestate) attended Reading Warfare this year and Spoiler alert! We throughly enjoyed ourselves. While there I decided I would play about with my camera and try and put together some sort of video for the event. I enjoyed the filming so much I ended up making two videos!

Friday 13 November 2015

List Review For Warfare


The Winter and Autumn Invasion tournaments highlight the twin peaks of the competitive Dropzone calander, with many tourney gamers gearing and preparing themselves for these events for months! Although we have to wait until sometime next January or February for the next one, luckily the season is never truly out, and most of the OB team have one more event to look forward to for before Christmas; Warfare 2015!

Warfare is a 2 day, 1500pt clash tournament held in reading, and run by Hawk themselves. As well as Dropzone, there will be a whole host of other game systems being played over the two days, ranging from a lot of historic games through to fantasy and sci-fi. Warfare also hosts a range of stalls and stands to peruse (at the risk of your bank account). If this all tickles your interest gland you can buy day tickets for a pre-determined fee which I can't find, possibly on their awful website (if it looks like you've clicked into Reading council's website, you're in the right place. How boring is it?!).

Tuesday 10 November 2015

Dropzone Commander 2.0

I'm sorry, I don't have news of a new version of Dropzone Commander. It's just a title to draw you all in - more a hypothetical question really.



Now I have you here, and have your full and undivided attention I want to discuss what I would like to see in DzC 2.0

First of all I want to state for the record, that DzC is a damn fine game - probably the best table-top wargame I have ever played. It balances tactical and strategic thought with a sci-fi world for a truly cinematic gaming experience. Being at 10mm scale make it seem more real compared to the larger scale wargames. It is also NOT a "line up your army, shoot, then opponent removes all his models". It keeps you engaged all game and throughout the turns. Even when you are losing horribly, you can snatch a draw or a win at the death.
I love it

Friday 6 November 2015

Some opinions can move fastly

Latest pledge rank on Dropfleet Commander.
I will very quickly note something that is oh so off topic for this post, but incredibly on point for the current game being funded, that Dropfleet Commander has now (at the time of publishing) hit £299k! Last night Hawk gave us another update to sink our teeth into, with renders of the fighters, bombers and the mighty torpedo as discussed in First Wave's interview with Dave Lewis. Not only this, but there is a brand new Lionel Richie inspired pledge level named 'Commodore' which more or less just gives the public what they want. Should it have been around from the start? Probably, but we have it now, so stop moaning. 

Melting the renders of the PHR Ajax class cruiser on to all of this, like the proverbial cheese on the Kickstarter toast, is leaving me incredibly hungry for cheese on toast. I mean, Dropfleet Commander. Hm, no, I mean both now.

But but but, let's bring ourselves back down to Earth for a few minutes, and move our attention from the ever bloating pledge fund of Dropfleet Commander. Let us focus our consideration instead to ships that move well inside of the atmosphere, rather than outside of it. Zoning in even further, let's concentrate on single or duel piloted aircraft, rather than that of some with cities worth of crew.

That's right, I'm talking about Fast Movers! A post on these elite units from myself has been a long time coming, so right off the bat let's get one thing straight:

I don't hate them any more.

Monday 2 November 2015

Dropfleet Commander: Scourge

Apparently there is a Dropfleet Kickstarter campaign? Anyone heard about this?....You'd think I'd know about it or something...

Strange....

Nope, I cannot continue this ruse for any longer. I am balls deep into pledge-land (wow, where did that come from, sounds like something Zombie would have said). Dropfleet funded within 4 minutes (according to Hawk James). I am so glad they removed the limited amount of UCMF Battlecruisers, otherwise I think there may have been a few disgruntled pledgers out there. 
Shaltari and PHR unlocked over the weekend too. Probably a lot quicker than Hawk expected. Can't wait to see the first images of the PHR fleet. 
It will have to be something extra special though, to tear me away from what I want to discuss.

I want to take a closer look at the Scourge, easily the best looking ships of ANY ship based game....EVER (I'm including sea and space/atmospheric here).

Friday 30 October 2015

In low orbit, everyone can hear you scream....

.....and they are all screaming "take my money, TAKE MY MONEY"

Look at this!! That is a big ship!!
Pre-Kickstarter update incoming.

Wednesday 28 October 2015

Dropfleet Commander Kickstarter is getting very close

An absolutely stunning piece of artwork. Bravo Patrice, bravo
Well hello there fellow fleeters. It seems that Hawk Wargames has completely disregarded the constant stream calling for this game to be called Orbital Bombardment: The Miniatures Game (I say constant stream, I mean Zombie and I dropping it in where we can). Hawk have settled on Dropfleet Commander. I like it, it ties in with the Dropzone universe nicely.

We have been getting a really good flow of information via newsletters, detailing Shaltari, PHR and other ship renders. But what I want to talk about is the Kickstarter itself.

Monday 26 October 2015

Short Story: The Ritual


We're not all about tactics, reviews and tutorials here at OB. Oh nononono, every now and then we go a little bit deeper. Taking our old tugger to the middle of the Sea of Creativity, we take a deep breath and dive in; plunging down into the salty depths, past the painting updates and guides that make up the flotsam and jetsam, through the shoals of poemfish as they disperse around us in a panic, and even carefully navigating around the incredibly blue podcast reef. Every now and then our feet touch the bottom of the Sea of Creativity and we dig up something a bit more special... A story!

I penned the short story below for Hawk's first story competition on the forums. I really enjoyed the challenge of penning a unique perception into the dark belly of the Resistance, and decided to unearth it and share it with you all! It also has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that we have zip prepared for today...

For those of you who aren't typically story readers, it's only 500 words long, so shorter than an average post. A tasty, salty, bite sized tale.

Hope you enoy!

Friday 23 October 2015

The First Turn

The Resistance deploy at full throttle!
Back in my days of playing lesser, commercially designed, and some would say dirtier wargames, I was never really able to get the knack of deployment. It wouldn't matter if I were to deploy first or second, I would always get something wrong and then end up swearing at myself 30 minutes later when that expensive squad of combat specialists ended up being no where near any kind of melee. Frustrating times.

So you can imagine my happiness when I first discovered that Dropzone very rarely uses deployment in a traditional sense (i.e. I line up my toys, and then you yours, and then we dakkadakka), and even in the missions which you have an opportunity to do so you don't have too! Even more likely than this though is that the rules strictly forbid you from doing so (as is part of the course with my Scourge; everything is in a dropship). Now, as much as I don't like to be forbade (... forbidden... forbaden?) this very mechanic highlights part of what is so great about this wargame; the decision when to bring on your battle groups and in which order lies with you, and will change depending on how your opponent deploys and reacts to your activations.

But what does this mean?! It means boys and girls (I see one at the back of the auditorium) that turn 1 is incredibly important, as it is technically a 'rolling' deployment phase, and time and time again I see my adversaries get their priorities wrong. Well never fear, Dan is here to help in three easy steps!

Monday 19 October 2015

UCM on the ground. What is this madness?

Hello and good day to you, our marvelous readership.


For the attentive reader, you will know that over the last few months I have been using my UCM Air Supremacy list, or as Techboy calls it; a Flying Circus (I don't like the name, it reminds me of a certain build of 40k army).

I think I have used it to great effect; when used correctly it can reduce opponents to tears.
It is not perfect though. It lacks any kind of CQB punch and focal point holding is very difficult with so many non-scoring squads. It is very aggressive though - which is how I like to play.

So every now and again I like to change things up. I want to look at the UCM from a different perspective. Some might say a re-build......from the ground up.

Friday 16 October 2015

Variants on a Theme


Its blue moon time people!

Thats right, Edchopp is writing a blog post, like the occasional unwelcome fart in a space suit it is time for me to contribute what I can to this blog.

Monday 12 October 2015

OB Podcast Episode 10: Postvasion and Chill



Join us faithful listeners, for an evening stuffed full of war stories, general moaning and maybe even some casual chill.

That's right, it's the next instalment in our Podcast series, and we are chatting and analysing Invasion Autumn 2015!

Thursday 8 October 2015

Scream For Me Baby!

Charlie Brown and Snoopy
Over the summer a new unit was spawned from one of Hawk's low hanging fleshy sacks, causing all sorts of controversy and mayhem. On seeing this gooey, amorphous state crawl onto the scene some shouted "overpowered!", and others "the winner of the summer releases". Of course, I'm talking about the Raider and Screamer.

Having taken the pair to Invasion and applied them in an active, competitive environment, I feel I am in a good place to write a critique on the most feared tag team in the Dropzone universe. To sum up this article quickly; they're not broken or overpowered. As to why not, you'll have to read on...

Monday 5 October 2015

Revving Up The Engine Again

All I have so far, and this is about a third done...
With Invasion now in the past, I have decided to put my Scourge to bed (do Scourge dream of electric hosts?) and bring out the Resistance once more. I got my first game in with them for a while last Friday, against as fate would have it another Resistance army; even more coincidentally, the same one I played at Invasion (The gent attends our club, and had lent his army to my foe the evening)! Having stopped playing with our friends from Fury Road to practise with my Jelly's for Invasion, it was refreshing to jump back into a weather beaten, written off wagon and take it for a spin.

Friday 2 October 2015

Flight of the UCM: Day 2

I'm back......sorry, you have to put up with me for now.

Team OB: Screamer - MegaMike, ZombieState and SkullSword (plus a rather disgruntled German in the background)

If you haven't read part 1 of my Invasion recap, firstly why not? and secondly it's here

Without further ado

Monday 28 September 2015

Flight of the UCM: Day 1


I love Invasion
The pinnacle of the Dropzone tournament calendar. It has been getting bigger and better each year. Lots of familiar faces to give man-hugs to and lots of new faces, which is tremendous to see, it means that there is still a large pull for Dropzone. Dropzone is certainly growing.

So how did I do, well 4th. Which is my lowest placement in a Dropzone tournament since my first one (where I was 5th). But I'm not as disappointed as you may think. There were a hell of a lot of good players with challenges from Sweden, Holland, Scotland and Germany, not to mention all the other English clubs too. Add to the fact the recent errata updates and new units released and what you have is a very balanced field.

Saturday 26 September 2015

Invasion Sep 2015 - The Pictures


By the oil of a Zeus I took a lot of pictures over the weekend, but as promised (and in no particular order, balls to organizing these) here they are! Boom!!

Friday 25 September 2015

Invasion - What Did We Learn?

Game 5 on top 3 tables, L to R: Pete (Sgt Slaughter), 
Joe (skullsword), Dan (Zombiestate), Mike (Mega Mike)
The Invasion has now been and gone, and has left Croydon as nothing more than a smouldering crater (not that anyone could tell, or mind in fact). The battles raged long and hard for two days, culminating in the eventual crowning of a supreme general. Friendships were made, models were broken, and hugs were given out a little too freely.

You're sure to have noticed the lack of post on Monday, but I have an excuse; my brain was still a puddle of useless, pink, molten goo, which had overheated and melted after 12.5 hours of hard thinking. It was sloshing about inside my skull, so on Monday I siphoned it out, froze it back to shape  (in my handy brain shaped ice cube tray) and popped it back in. Seriously though I was shattered, and realistically we haven't had much news to rush to the PC to transcribe. Apart from the renders of UCM dropfleet frigates I have literally no exclusives to report. Which sucks. It would be fair to blame the KickStarter, and also the upcoming Reconquest Phase 2, but I'm in a petulant mood so I'll be blaming S and J Hawk (for no particular reason).

Friday 18 September 2015

Live coverage of Invasion this weekend


The armies are ready to be fielded in the warzone, Intelligence is ready to dispense special orders at their commanders whim, and the dice are preped ready to be rolled. Well, almost. Some generals will be working to the wee hours of the morning, but hey, that's a tournament tradition.

That's right, for those of you who have had not only your heads in the ground, but your entire bodies, Invasion is here! Almost sixty Commanders of Dropage will bear down on Croydon for the next two days, and fight to become not only the most renowned commander, but also be part of the strongest team.

Tuesday 15 September 2015

OB Podcast Episode 9: Prevasion: The Return



So it’s been a while again. Damn life for being so lifey, and full of nonsense!
Invasion is approaching fast and we are all excited for the pinnacle of the tournament year.
We had a few interruptions whilst recording the pod including Sgt. Slaughters first bumbling appearance on our sacred sound-waves. Also there was an England match on the telly (my fault!). I might have also been eating fried chicken too.

I know, I know - very unprofessional.......

Friday 11 September 2015

UCM hobby update; it flies

You may or may not remember from my post a few weeks ago where I was showing off my new Praetorians, that I mentioned a little project that involved a couple of Neptune's and a Ferrum.

Well I have finally finished that little project so you can the fruits of my labour below.


Monday 7 September 2015

Hazard Warning: The Medusa(s)

I have now had the privilege misfortune of playing against the Medusa, or should I say Medusas or is it Medusai, actually that sounds like Me-juicy - I digress. 

DON'T look in her eyes..........the EYES!!!!!!!

I had a game against Ed (TechBoy2000) and although he was wasteful of the Triton X's and the Medusa's abilities I can see massive potential for the unit - especially working in tandem..........shudder

Friday 4 September 2015

Why Fly When You Can Drive?

Mask - Confusing cars for planes since 1985
When people think Dropzone Commander, they are sure to think of active, cinematic battles taking place between two detachments which are deployed via dropship into premium tactical positions. Boiling it down even further, you are going to be thinking of dropships. Dropships, to drop your tanks into the dropzone, right? This method of deployment isn't always the case though, and some armies prefer to use as few dropships as possible. Enter the drive on squad. It isn't uncommon to see entire tank formations trundle on the board edge, and for those new or unfamiliar to the game it could beg the question; Why?!

In this post I'll be running through why we drive units on and some of the better units to do it with. So tug on your driving gloves and take the roof down, let's get the wind in our hair! And if you've been drinking, don't worry, this is private land...

Note: The subject matter of this post was inspired by one of our reader's who asked about the benefits of driving vehicles on. If you have any questions ping them over to obteamdzc@gmail.com and I will be happy to answer them; who knows, you may even get a post about your query! 

Monday 31 August 2015

Video Interview with Dave Lewis


So this is an exciting time to be part of Orbital Bombardment; I am very proud to present to you our very first foray into the world of video interviews, with our interviewee none other than Dave Lewis of Hawk Wargames!

As with first times in all avenues of life we experienced a small problem, specifically in sound department (my mic wasn't turned on...). However it doesn't distract from the great content I managed to squeeze from Dave! We chat about the impending Kickstarter for Dropfleet Commander and what to expect from it, and discuss the reception of all the new summer releases for Dropzone Commander. On top of this Dave talks about the app which is close to release!

Friday 28 August 2015

Coastal Assault round up. It was a Srceam!!


These tournaments are coming thick and fast at the moment. Last weekend (16th Aug) team OB departed our warm cozy beds and took a road trip down to Brighton for Coastal Assault. A one-day, 3 game, 1500 point tournament.


Greggs in the morning. Team OB road trip!

As I had been off work for a week and a half (holibobs) I had no access to FFoR. I intended writing my list on the journey down, but in all the mirth and frivalry I completely forgot. So when we got to the venue I hurriedly scribbled a list, there was only one min. requirement I put on myself, and that was the Screamer and Raider, I just had to try it out.

Monday 24 August 2015

The Most Final Wave


What a summer Dropzone has had; we have been positively spoilt with new infantry across the board, and a few specialist units which will get you scratching your head when list building for every army!

We are now on the final new unit release for the summer, and they don't get any more specialised than these boys and girls!

Friday 21 August 2015

The Final Wave

Hello fellow zoners, we have more new stuff to talk about, plus some updates to existing experimental rules. Exciting times on the horizon.

Yoo hoo big summer blow out?
With wave 2 we had models, but no rules for what seemed like an age, now for wave 3 we have rules but no models (I think I prefer it this way round!).
Not long to go until they are released though, unless you happen to have gone to GenCon, if so, I am jealous!

Monday 17 August 2015

Being Oppressed Isn't So Bad Realy


Ever since I first laid eyes on her I have been firmly under the cosh. She doesn't always treat me fairly, and time to time kicks up a right fuss and refuses to cooperate, even though I may be in the right. But boy is she a looker, and when she is in the mood she always puts out...

I speak of course of the Oppressor, every hosts favourite mecha-crustacean! As a man tired and fed up with the Desolator, the Death Crab was a blessing from Hawk's nest; I finally had a commander which I could get along with! She can be a handful, but when used correctly will dominate games. Since the release I have never gone back to the Desolator, and have exclusively used the Oppressor in all of my Scourge lists. Along the way I have picked up a few pointers as how to get the most of the commander, and thought this would be a delightful time to share them with you!

Friday 14 August 2015

Woking War round-up

This would be my DzC trophy cabinet if I could stop finishing 2nd and 3rd all the damn time!
Another weekend, another tournament, they are coming thick and fast at the moment. We are well and truly in the middle of the season.
A few of us at Team OB, I say a few, I mean all but Dan (he was at a wedding in Bolton) took part in Woking War. There was an X-Wing and Dropzone tournament in the same venue. With 10 DzC players it was a good event. There was prize support from Hawk and ibuywargames for added shininess to the competition.

Monday 10 August 2015

Hobby progress: Praetorians and mystery project

You may well have seen ZombieStates really funky Free-riders. They are damn sexy.
I thought I'd share some of my hobby too............yes, I can hobby too.


I'm not a great painter, I can paint to a decent table-top standard, and I'm happy with that, sometimes I can do some great stuff, but with me, it's all about motivation...........

Friday 7 August 2015

Summer releases: Wave 2



Forenote: Zombiestate here, letting you know that even though the article states Mike wrote this, it is all lies and was me! As such direct any praise and hate my way...

It's been what feels likes an age since the new units were released without rules. The cruel gods of time have been taunting us as the days roll by, and we stare longily at our new beautiful resin toys and just...sigh...

Well worry no more, we have rules to salivate over! Want to hear our opinion? Then read on! If not, well, you're probably in the wrong place. Maybe you took a wrong turn in google. Maybe knitting is more your thing. Try this blog instead

I suggest giving all the rules a download and a good read first before continuing. Done? Good! Let's get it on.

Monday 3 August 2015

GenCon 2015D round up and other news

Up-scaled UCM Bejing class Battleship
So, we were expecting to be able to bring you all a thorough and well thought out review on all the wave 2 unit rules. Sadly, a combination of laziness and inefficiency- Sorry, I mean hard work and jet lag have prevented Hawk providing them to their eager and incredibly impatient public.

As such we have nothing else prepared, so have decided to bring you a round up of all the news from Gen Con, and also some other news too!

Friday 31 July 2015

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Helios

Yes the sun really does shine out of there.

I played in the UK Games Expo recently with a list that I have very much enjoyed playing with.

Although the tournament only lasted one day and consisted of three games it was plenty of fun and really let me run out the list I'd recently mulled over. See below.

Monday 27 July 2015

Woking War - One day tournament


Our friends over in Woking are running a one-day tournament on the 8th August and there are still a few spaces left. 

Friday 24 July 2015

Getting Started: Resistance Training Manual


So ladies and gentlemen, it is time for me to share my experiences in playing the Resistance. Mainly list making and some solid tactics. 

I have played around quite a lot with lists and have taken both allied and feral to the tournament scene. My opinions are coming from a heavily competetive side. Basicly if you want the best chance of winning some games, (I say chance because even I, the master of lucky dice cannot foresee what the dice gods will decide!) then you need to read this.
When I say lucky, I am the person that could probably save 30 2+ Siren dodge saves in one round of CQB, but also be able to roll snake eyes on my Thunderstorm custom shooting on the last turn while he is holding a focal point with 1 dp left........ Yeah yeah, i know your heart bleeds for me, blah blah.

Monday 20 July 2015

Fast Ideas

You're only 2 turns too late, not to worry...
DzC is a game system which gives a lot to its players, and rarely allows the Lady of Luck to take away from it. The core mechanics are so balanced that they could have walked the tight rope between the Twin Towers which that hairy guy walked over. Or at least got half-way over; it did look super difficult. I have found though that on the few occasions when you solely really on luck rather than simple tactical majesty, the system can come up a little lacking sometimes. Take Recon for instance. I have seen at least five variants of this mission created by fans (us included), but hardly the rest of the rulebook games have been changed.

Friday 17 July 2015

OB Podcast Episode 8: Fresh Meat For Grinder


Hello and good day, it has been a while. For that I can only say..........absence makes the heart (and ears) grow fonder. 

We have a plethora of news to discuss plus an OB exclusive from Hawk - you won't find out first from any other source!!

Monday 13 July 2015

I'm Running Free (Yeeaaahh)

No amount of road waste can stop us!
One of the reasons I chose the Resistance to be my next army was for the sheer amount of conversion opportunities available. The scrappy and characterful units already ooze charm, like oil leaking from a faulty engine, but the desire to put my own stamp on the army has taken over. You see, I need an army to be unmistakeably me. With Shaltari and Scourge I painted them bright and fairly obnoxious colours, as the finite nature of the sculpts didn't leave an opportunity to be constructively creative.

Resistance however, give me a much larger range to play with. The units aren't polished which means I can bolt things on and cut pieces away, much like an aggressive resistance mechanic. Instead of a blowtorch and spanner though my tools will be a craft knife and super glue!

Friday 10 July 2015

Getting Started: Scourge Unit Overview


It's been a long time coming; an awful long time coming really. Every other army has one of these (although perhaps not up to date, but one exists none the less), but not our Jelly Overlords. I'm shouting about a unit overview for our adorable occupiers!

If you want to read any of our other unit overviews they are here for UCM, PHR, Shaltari and Resistance

So sit back, clear your head and let the fleshy tar seap into your mind holes, you're about to ingest a whole lot of information...

--Note-- This is a huge post, and although could have been split into two was not to keep the resource in one place.

Monday 6 July 2015

Can less activations be a game changer?

Nobody press the RED button!!!!
I have always been a big advocate of maximum activations. Which means utilising the most amount of battle-groups allowed. When designing a list for this I would normally have a couple of powerful battle-groups and a couple of very minimal battle-groups to ensure I had as many options as possible. 

Recently I have been wondering if having less activations could work as a tactic.

Players who design their lists with maximum activations in mind, normally dread losing a battle-group in game (I'm one of them). It can screw over your plans completely, but if you design your list for minimum activiations will it be easily outmaneuvered or will it be a tough nut to crack?

Friday 3 July 2015

Shaking The Rust Away

This is my focal point!
"Alright boys, bring her in and get her on the lift. Oh lordy, it's worse than we thought. I didn't know that rust could grow on top of rust! Bloody things weren't built to last five years, let alone two hundred and fifty. Right, get the WD40 out, we could be here a while!"

While my boys work on the latest Alfa Romeo they have brought in to be reconditioned and pimped out, come in and sit down in the office of my underground garage bunker and share some whisky. Well, more moonshine than whisky. Well, more pure diesel than moonshine. Living in occupied New London is hard...