Best of Friends

Best of friends. Or an opportunistic photo taken
before the bear started it's dinner...

As Dropzone has grown and aged, much like a fine wine (I use this metaphor without being able to back it up, all wine tastes like sweet petrol to my unrefined pallet), the roads of choice have forked and had lanes added, tunnels of dilemma have grown and widened like sink holes, and appetisers and deserts added to the menu of DzC. First there was the second standard choices, which were then followed by a host of unique support, heavy and scout choices which nestled neatly into their respective races slots. The latest twigs to branch from the DzC tree are the new Commanders, which has given most races an entirely whole new spin on army selection! Maybe that metaphor should have been seeds sown in the garden of Dave and Simon... Hm. Or the latest sails on the good ship Commander.

Crap metaphors aside, there is one avenue which isn't looked upon very often, and that is the unique choice that Scourge and Resistance armies have access to; the second commander.

The choice has been there for, well, ever, for both armies, but never really taken advantage off. I guess the Resistance are new so people haven't really tried exploiting the list fully yet, and as for the Desolator... Well, we all know my feelings towards the magnificent flying weather machine. The fact of the matter though is that both of these armies can have two units of immense power, and that they actually fit in the armies like a hand in a well oiled glove. Alright, no more metaphors, I promise.

Let's look at the Resistance first.

My next army to use will be the Resistance, and quite frankly I can't wait. Every list I have drafted in the last month has had two commanders, and it hasn't even crossed my mind once to not have them, Between le Resistance and the Scourge the duel commander build fits the orphans of humanity that little bit better. Here is one of my sample lists:

I have recently been on the receiving end of a Thunderstorm, and wow, people who think the Phoenix is a beast need to get blasted by one of these boys. Four E12 shots annhiate basically everything. A Thunderstorm took out my fresh Oppressor in one round of shooting with only marginally above average rolling. That's how good ACDC's roaming stage is! One thing it can't do however is quickly navigate through a packed mid-table due to it's immense bulk. That's where the Alexander slots in.

I'm not really a fan of Hannibals. They are a lot of points for a tank which is only okay at shooting A10 and 9 units. They are however very survivable, due to their 2DP and that no one will shoot them because they don't kill anything. This survivability and points cost makes them great at holding focal points, which is a slot in the list that needs filling reliably. Do you know what is better than the Hannibal at holding focal points and surviving and killing stuff though? Yep, you guesed it, the Alexander. Without a CV it is only 45 points more than two Hannibals, so stick it in a Lifthawk, fly it to where you need a heavy hitter and drop it, safe in the knowledge that either it will not be moved or your opponent will train their entire army on the juggernaut to remove it. Whilst this is happening though, a Thunderstorm is cruising about nearby creating havoc and death.

Another thing; I didn't realise just how good the Thunderstorm is at building demo! Maximum damage on a building from the hovercraft's four plasma cannons and the Alexander's Equlaizer cannon in one turn of shooting is twenty four damage! Twenty Four!! Throw in the chainguns and maelstrom launcher, you are looking at a potential thirty six damage. Wow.

Now I've not tried the combo, but they bring everything you need. You won't be lacking on FP grabbers, AT units in the list, or even AA and troops if you construct it correctly. It doesn't even feel like an 'all eggs in one basket' list, although if you did think of it in that way, you could say that all the eggs are hard boiled. And then covered in concrete. Everything thing in the above list works together to cause an opponent to react, almost overwhelming an opponent with options. I'll be assembling this force, and can't wait to see my adversaries jaws drop.

Two Alexander's would also work, but I don't think two Thunderstorm's would. They would just get under each others- erm not feet. Flaps, let's go with flaps- and neither would provide its full potential.

Right, next it's peanut butter jelly time.

Rolling Hot posted a great article a little while ago regarding what they like to call the Double D; the Duel Desolater (I can't help my dirty mind thinking that this sounds like a painful, soul stretching sex act though. Just add in some tactics about them both penetrating the target at once, and well, yeh...). From what I gather in conversations with Hawk, this list was seen as a good option over in the states. I can see it suiting their play style, as from articles I read or listen to there is always an overwhelming amount of tanks, both heavy and standard being used in their games! Who needs flesh when you have metal, right? It isn't however something I have ever seen in the UK, or really heard of being used outside of the US though. So why is that? Pre-errata I would say because of the points sink into units not being able to contribute to mission criteria, and as we all know DzC is all about the mission criteria!

But things have changed now. Desolaters aren't the waste of points they once were- they now can actually contribute to your army! This suddenly spins the choice, and then couple that with the release of the Oppressor... Well, you could end up playing armies like this:

Now I don't know about you, but I sure as hell don't want to play that list! Letting the Desolater maraud up one flank, whilst the Oppressor captain it's minions and heads up a pincer attack on the other flank is a tantalizing possibility. There are a few issues though. I don't think these two commanders fit as well together as the Thunder and Alex. The Desolator is too sporadic to be reliable, and you cannot risk putting the Oppressor near it because you always know you will hit and double up in that bloody Ion Drizzle attack that you are too weak to resist using. The blazing hot irony is that the Desolater needs the Oppressor to back it up in case it fails. I think two Desolater's would work better, but you will need to luck to use the army efficiently. You also need to add a CV2 boss in the second unit, or it can't score. You could run two Oppressors running parallel to each other which is fairly tasty, although if you get caught without AA back up you could lose them both in two or three turns.

One other potential problem is that whereas the Resistance are cheap and can bolt a 'competitive' army together with two commanders, the Scourge will struggle due to the points cost of units. Just look at my list; no Reavers and no real hammer unit.

All in I'm reckoning that duel Resistance lists are a good choice, but Scourge perhaps not so much. Thunderstorm/Alexander, and Oppressor/Oppressor lists look the most reliable and the best value for points of the bunch.

I actively encourage you to get FFOR out and get your duel commander list on! The trick is to fit in what you really want first, and then fill the gaps. Oh, and trust me, you won't get that second squad of your favourite unit in...