Dropzone/Dropfleet Commander

[cypheon]

Just curious if anyone has experience with these game systems? I have been missing BFG a lot lately and saw that the same authors of that games rules wrote Dropfleet. Is it a game that other bfg fans have found enjoyable?

As for dropzone, i find the idea of using rapid redeployment as a core game mechanic interesting. However i would like a little more info on the game before i start investing time or money into it. Has anyone tried it out? Any comments on it?

[robomummy]

I'm a Hawk Talon and play these games a lot at my LGS. They are both great games, fun and fast paced but two very different styles.

DropZone- very fast and focused more on objectives and missions. Most games aren't big bloodbaths like 40k. the point for most armies is to get in and out as quickly as possible while denying the opponent from taking objectives or holding points. Sets like the orbital laser, monorail, and bunkers make for very entertaining scenarios if you get bored of the normal missions. also the new book includes environmental rules like storms and earthquakes or animals.

Dropfleet- another very fun game but still being updated as it goes, hawk just recently put out errata for faster play since it is still fairly slow paced. Important things to note: All weapons have infinite range to counter this each ship has a scan value (how far they can detect other ships) and a signature (how far they can be detected from); orders and actions either increase or reduce signatures of ships making it important to plan your moves ahead of time. This game is similar to dropzone as it focuses heavily around objectives, ships must drop troops onto cities and occupy them both in space and on the ground. Other ships can bombard those troops and there is a simple Risk-like ground combat system for troops to fight each other. In extreme circumstances for denial a heavy ship can nuke a city (which is hilarious and very satisfying) but it costs you victory points to do so.

Both games can be combined for a truly epic campaign of space and ground combat.

[cypheon]

I have picked up the main rules for drop fleet. Now i am torn between UMC and PHR. The scourge and shaltari ships are not visually appealing to me, unfortunately. I played orks in BFG and the scourge look like they play similar... i just dont want to paint those ships, at all...

Any thing you can tell me about the playstyles of PHR vs UMC?

As well as, what is an average game size? The book mentions 1500, but eerything i find about events suggesys 1250 instead.

[robomummy]

PHR- have some of the best armor and some pretty good weapons fairly slow compared to everything else though. Most of their weapons are above average but are mounted as broadsides so getting good angles requires a bit more positioning than other factions. Also you get carrier frigates and cruisers that can carry torpedos.

UCM- the good at everything, great at nothing faction. The UCM are the standard that I compare most ships against. Decent armor, decent weapons, good scan ranges and average signatures all around. They suffer by not having too many specialized ships that can perform specific tasks well (example their main carrier has increased firepower at the expense of launch capacity).

I'll throw in scourge and Shaltari since those two are the main ones I play; bias is included at no extra charge.

Scourge- Fast ships at the expense of having the largest ship signatures making them difficult to avoid being hit. This makes them difficult to use at a distance, the tradeoff is that up close they can do truly massive amounts of damage to other ships. I would say they play more like eldar, maneuverable glass cannons.

Shaltari- probably the most difficult faction to use but if used correctly it can be one of the most powerful forces able to outmaneuver and out shoot anything that gets too close. THey have the weakest armor and saves but their signature is pretty much nonexistent. They have the option of raising shields to give them a better save but this increases their signature to ridiculous levels (16" in most cases, almost double the average) there is no point in doing this unless you know for a fact that your opponent will be in range. Their troop deployment is also extremely maneuverable meaning if you position your ships directly your ground troops can teleport to be everywhere at once. Limited fire arcs on their ships means that you really need to position yourself carefully but once you do you can unleash devastation from a distance before enemy ships get close.

[cypheon]

So i am starting with umc, going to aim for 1500 point fleet. I just need to figure out how many strike carriers and troopships i need before filling the rest of the list with murder ships...

Any suggestions on that one, robo?

[robomummy]

as a general rule you want 1-2 troopships and 3-4 strike carriers for every 1000 points. I've been told that at 1500 points you want 3 troopships and 6 strike carriers but that seems excessive to me. I think you can get by with 2 troopships and 6 strike carriers But i wouldn't go any lower than that.