NAVEL EXPO-SURE

Me (joe) and Ed are travelling up to the UK Games Expo in Birmingham., and are both attending Hawk's largest to date Dropfleet commander tournament in the UK!

The tournament is on Saturday 3rd June, during the  UK Games Expo that runs from Friday 2nd to Sunday 4th. We are driving up on Today along with Mike and Sir [edi: Madam] Bethany to get settled into our surroundings and wet our throats a little, or maybe even a lot.

It's a 1 day tournament of 1250 points, clash sized, playing 3 games of 3 hours long (yeah its going to be a long day, but a fun and very rewarding one). Hawk have released a Tournament Pack and an FAQ just in time for this event which I believe is to add in some much needed balance to the game.

Currently they have 34 players signed up. Only just a few months ago they increased the player limit to 64 from 32, so there is still some space to get in on the action. I'm not too sure on how the scoring system is going to work with just 3 games, but the boys down at Hawk are a smart bunch, and am sure they'll figure something out.

This FAQ Is So On Fleet...

So Hawks difficult second album is here and as with any table-top game there are inconsistencies and typos. Now I, personally, am a big fan of Dropfleet. I love the models and the cinematic style of the system. It’s clever use of signature and scan mechanic makes for a very interesting way of looking at the concept of ‘Ranges’.

Now we have a lovely bunch of clarifications and a few little errata to help out. SO I’ll go through them and pick out the major ones (In my humble opinion at least) and mull over what they mean for the game as a whole.

Dropfleet Commander Battle Report: PHR vs Shaltari 1000pts

We've taken the liberty of setting Techboy up as a permanent projector, allowing us to share our latest games with all you lovely people out there. His model (the 2000) comes with a tripod for stability, a plug and adaptor (as to not overload the energy supplier, not Techboy; he's the source of all electricity) and even a popcorn machine in the back (just add kernels). We just need to pry his eyes open and jam the content into his data port to begin the projection!

Being shown this week is Mike and Ed taking to the vacuum for their first game of fleeting and dropping in space, Mike with his Shaltari and EN-S with the PHR. Much like the first game this was a 1000 points clash, Take and Hold mission, Column approach.

Warfare 2016 - The Army Lists

It's that time of year again. The days are short and dark, the trains forget how to keep time, and the cold is determined to slip into all my special places. That's right, it's November, and that means complete bleakness for the next four months in the UK, although politically England has been in a state of November for number of months now, so at least we're prepared for it this year.

A lighthouse in this Mist of Misery however is Warfare 2016! For those unaware the Warfare exhibition is traditionally a historical event (ranging from anywhere between WW2 to Ancient Egypt, and maybe even further back in time; Dinosaur War-Simulator [8.76mm]), and the horde (not hoard) of tournaments for these systems go to show that they are very much live and kicking! Starting from last year though a TO had managed to squeeze in something a little newer (although at a very familiar scale), all of our favourite Sci-Fi game; Dropzone Commander! The tourney is a two day affair with five games, set at 1500 points.

Much like last year all the boys are off to it except me, which gives me the joy of critiquing all of their lists; let the criticism begin!

Laying the Smackdown on the grid

This is what happens to PHR on a Critical Location....

Well it's been a while since I have written about or even played Dropzone. I think I've had 1 game since Invasion, and with Warfare 2016 coming up this weekend thought I'd refresh my parasite and chuck him in at the deep end. My opponent on a wet Tuesday night was none other than TechBoy2000 and his PHR of Tronville.

Invasion 2016: The Lists

Like a sneaky, slippery Scourge, Invasion has crept up on us once again, and is bigger than ever! Tomorrow the Croydon Conference Centre will be packed to the brim with Zoners battling each other for the greatest of all prizes; a picture on the OB blog! Oh, and there's this trophy thing too. The six of us will all be down for the weekend, and I can't wait to meet up with old friends and hopefully make some new ones.

In order to wet your lips in anticipation of things to come, here are the lists we will be using over the weekend. Well, all lists except Tech Boys that is, apparently he couldn't find the two minutes to send one over to me, something to do with being 'busy at work'. Rubbish, if you ask me.

First Impressions: Phase 2 PHR

I choose you! (Old UK Lottery reference)

So here we are in one of the good bit of the poop sandwich that is the reconquest phase 2 review series. After Dans 'Yay Scourge!' and Mikes 'Boo UCM' here's my 'Yay PHR!' review.

Unfortunately due to the vagaries and shenanigans of the UK postal system I have yet to receive my copy of Reconquest Phase 2 so I've had to nab some info off those in the know. I'm also on occasion crouched in the corner next to my front door biting my nails and crying out 'WHY?!?!?!'. But that’s just my average Saturday.

Now it must be said that the PHR before receiving the duel hard infantry double whammy of the Medusa and the Valkyries struggled quite a bit to keep up with most other factions and relied on the Helios to do a lot of the heavy lifting. Now PHR are a real menace on the field able to respond and strike hard in some key areas, while still keeping the doctrine of being hard to kill very much in mind. The PHR if played properly are an extremely difficult faction to grind down. If only I was a better player, ah well.

Anyway onto my thoughts.

Burnt Ends Taste Yummy

The more you know...

Menhit /ˈmɛnˌhɪt/ (also spelt Menchit) was originally a Nubian war goddess in Egyptian mythology. Her name depicts a warrior status, as it means (she who) massacres. (from Wikipedia)

The whipping boy, the punch bag, the gimp.

All examples of the various ways you could describe the Menchit as it currently stands. Even after its points were dropped and the flamer it carried got an extra boost to it's range, the Menchit still did not sit comfortably in a list. Compared to its similarly grouped siblings the Phobos (the clearly favoured child called golden bollocks by the other two behind its back) and the Ares (angry middle child), the Menchit could not sit in a squad and have something to do every turn. It sat, it slouched and it sulked, as its longer ranged siblings did the good stuff.

London Busses

Wait ages for some rules, then 6 come along at once.......just like London busses!

So we wait for what seemed like an eternity to finally get the rules for the Corrupter, Menchit A2 and Firebird, then low and behold, Hawk surprise us by getting the May release rules out on time. 
Has the hell frozen over, is the moon blue, have England won the World Cup? 

All the recent releases are here if you want to download the rules/buy the new stuff

If this is the new face of Hawk, colour me impressed. Long may it continue. 
That's enough of my ramblings, on to more of my ramblings! 

This months releases seem centered around artillery pieces. 

More new stuff. Spoiler alert, we're (mostly) happy!

Welcome back friends, to another installment of "Mike and Dan review the new stuff", as you will see we like it. Even better news is that I have even played with one of the new releases already! Now you're excited!

So without further ado, I bring you the Menchit A2, the Firebird and the Corruptor. Dust off your worms people, they are coming back!!

Woah Man, That's Heavy

Let's go back. Way back. Way, way back. Back to the time when Coyotes strode the land, proud and alert, and Sabre's slunk behind each other in conga lines of death, articulated rail guns raising up and down like a Giraffe's neck. This was a time when the Heavy choice was a dangerous one, and if an adversaries army fielded one of these units it had to the potential to radically adjust your game plan. You see, the Gladius used to be a hefty elephant of war, and if an Odin dropped near, well, pretty much anything, it was brown trousers time.

These two units are a great example of how the game has developed over the last year and a half, for either better or worse. Both embody the characteristics of what you would believe make up a heavy unit; they both pack dangerous weaponry, can take a bit of a kicking, but are as slow as a paraplegic turtle. You would use them as a hammer blow on a back to back activation, drop last and activate first next turn, and the results could be devastating!

Major unit update, plus Reconquest 1.1

Looks like the Hawk team have been beavering away to bring us some updates to the experimental rules that are currently available, all in advance of the upcoming Reconquest Phase 2 book that is rumoured to be June time. I have taken it upon myself to read all the updates, and provide to you, my loyal readership, all the changes that have been made.

As an added bonus I have also gone through the Reconquest Phase 1, 1.1 rulebook that I picked up at Salute and highlighted the changes, all collaborated below.

I'll chuck in some thoughts too - you can ignore them if you choose, but do so knowing that, much like walking on the cracks in paving slabs, a bear will eat your mum!!

I hear there are new units?

We have new units - not only that but we have rules now too, aren't we lucky gamers?

Good gamers, you have been good boys and girls, come here and get a belly rub

A new unit for each faction as wave 1 hits us like the proverbial tsunami. Below I will talk about each one and give my (not asked for in any way) opinion on them within the current game.

Also you lucky lucky readers will have the privilege or reading Dan's comments too. Maybe lucky is the wrong word........

So onwards to the quick and dirty review

I AM LADERLAPPEN

For an explanation, you will have to wait for the post-vasion podcast....

Invasion is over and boy was it a good event. I think the epitome of it's epicness was obviously me fighting off 49 other gamers to claim the top prize (after a bit of an awkward prize ceremony).

There was literally a ton of new stuff, not just in render form but actual physical models. this made me so very happy as I feel we have been a bit starved of DzC recently. Below is a bit of a picture dump of new stuff, followed by some info that Ravaner (aka Mr Russell the south coast Talon has put into word form on the forum).

Walking the Grid

Come here Often?

So after much promising and false starts here's a post with more pics of my Tron PHR. Some things have changed since I last posted about these guys, some techniques have altered a little. I also started the practice of having my command units in the MCP (Red bad-guy) colours to differentiate them and give a nice variation to the army. I also used the red scheme to make my two Medusa look different. The only thing in the MCP colour scheme I changed was the red power lines which really are closer to oranges than red. I kept the coal black highlight on the body the same which I think looks really nice and gives great contrast to the model.

Anyway I also wanted to use a better technique for taking pictures of my models hence why it took so long as I had to research how to 'Focus Stack' while not perfect I think I managed to get some good images. But mainly to my eyes it shows up where I've skipped a little in the rush to get the job done!

Anyway hope you enjoy!

Establishing A Force: PHR

So, you've just graduated from Sphere Academy, and you're ready to face the galaxy head on. Your monthly subscription to Bionic Bonanza means you are up to date with all the latest electronic implants, and the 'No Oil, No Spoil' diet has helped you lose that beer gut and slip snugly into your all-purpose PVC jumpsuit. Basically, you're the personification of cyber swag.

So why is it that when you jump in your Zeus and prepare yourself to take command in your first non-simulated battle, your body starts to shake uncontrollably? It turns out that even androids get the jitters! Well never fear young cyborgs, an experience implant is here! Simply plug it in to your neck socket, but be careful not to cross the stream of your quantum spoonificator.

As promised before our festive break, here is the first edition of my new series; Establishing A Force. In this and the following articles, you will find lists to help give a little direction to the spending of your Christmas bonuses, and the reasons and tactics behind the build of the rosters. I'm going to be running through the different factions alphabetically (not alphaspaghetically this time), which starts us with the all-spherical PHR!

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?!).

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

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!

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.