Man Battlestations Forum
Other Naval Games => Space Naval Games => Topic started by: Ruckdog on June 30, 2016, 08:05:24 am
-
Now that the game is nearly here, I thought it might be a good idea to get the ball rolling on a discussion thread.
How many of you out there are eagerly awaiting your Hawk spaceship goodies? 8)
-
I'm eagerly awaiting MarkyMark to get his Dropfleet Commander stuff so he can teach me how to play. Does that count?
-
I am, very much so... Hopefully they don't just occupy another box on my shelves, along with everything else.
Need to pick one of the four factions and start assembling/painting it shortly after I get it. Start one game system on the right foot, I guess.
Ruck, got a favorite faction (by design)?
-
MMrk70,
I'm in for the following:
Lt level pledge: PHR, rulebook.
Extra PHR starter fleet.
PHR BattleCrzr.
No surprise to Gregg.. I'm sure ;).
-
I am, very much so... Hopefully they don't just occupy another box on my shelves, along with everything else.
Need to pick one of the four factions and start assembling/painting it shortly after I get it. Start one game system on the right foot, I guess.
Ruck, got a favorite faction (by design)?
I would have to say that its the UCM, followed closely by the PHR ;)
-
MMrk70,
I'm in for the following:
Lt level pledge: PHR, rulebook.
Extra PHR starter fleet.
PHR BattleCrzr.
No surprise to Gregg.. I'm sure ;).
I'm just surprised you were able to restrain yourself to only the Lieutenant level! Unlike MarkyMark, who chose the "Grand Master Excelsior of All the Fleets" level. :D
-
I am, very much so... Hopefully they don't just occupy another box on my shelves, along with everything else.
Need to pick one of the four factions and start assembling/painting it shortly after I get it. Start one game system on the right foot, I guess.
Ruck, got a favorite faction (by design)?
I would have to say that its the UCM, followed closely by the PHR ;)
I have to say I like the Scourge the least, but they are still cool. Cannot decide on the other three, will have to be in my hot little hands to decide.
-
MMrk70,
I'm in for the following:
Lt level pledge: PHR, rulebook.
Extra PHR starter fleet.
PHR BattleCrzr.
No surprise to Gregg.. I'm sure ;).
I'm just surprised you were able to restrain yourself to only the Lieutenant level! Unlike MarkyMark, who chose the "Grand Master Excelsior of All the Fleets" level. :D
Owner of all, master/painter of none...
-
http://www.gadzooksgaming.com/collections/dropfleet-commander
Damn... I'm super tempted on that box set...
-
I'm really interested to see how this game plays. Really like the ship designs.
-
We shared space with the Dropzone Commander folks at NOVA, and the lead clearly loves DZC, as he purchased a ton of the pre-painted lasercut buildings from 4Ground (I think). He ran the Dropfleet Commander demos at Gencon, and unfortunately, he was not a fan of the system. The main issues he had were:
1) Complexity of shooting. While the Target Signature concept is very thematic (I'm sure Ruckdog will love it), the demo host said it was very complicated and no one was able to pick it up during the demos. Because he was constantly helping people figure it out, he didn't do much else.
2) While the various 'altitudes' are interesting (Atmospheric, Low Orbit, High Orbit) he felt they just made the complex Target Signature math even more complicated, while not adding meaningful depth, but maybe he didn't grasp the tactical reasons for switching levels.
3) Ultimately, the main thing that bothered him was simply this: Dropfleet Commander is a spaceship wargame, but the space combat portion isn't how you actually win the game. Instead, what matters is what is happening on the Ground game level. Both players start at High Orbit, and are trying to simultaneously insert ground forces on an undefended planet surface. You win the game by capturing more ground objectives than your opponent, so the Ground vs Ground combat is ridiculously important (and extremely simple) while the space combat doesn't seem to matter at all (and is very complicated.
I expected he wanted something like Firestorm Armada's System Wars: Attacker/Defender spaceship scenarios where the battle can be used to inform the players on how they will play the Ground Combat game. I really like how System Wars addresses this: play essentially a normal Firestorm Armada Scenario, and your final Battlelog can be spent to gain perks during your next Planetfall game... Or vice-versa.
Ray of Hope: On the plus side, it sounded like he has some influence on the game's design, and the extensive feedback he provided from the Gencon demos might be used to make some adjustments before launch. I'll also admit I like how DFC feels more thematic than FSA. FSA is really a WWII naval combat game, as few of the game mechanics reflect the outer space theme. From movement to firing to damage to boarding, the entire game could be played using Topside miniatures WWII ships, and it would play just fine while feeling thematic. Just remove FSA Boarding and Shunt machanics, and you're set for a fantastic naval game.
-
Thanks for the rundown Ryjak. I was kind of afraid of that, the whole connection to DZC, I just didn't realize it was so pervasive in DFC. Now that I think about it, though, while the "altitude" mechanic seems kinda cool, it would only make sense when fighting above a planetary body.
Does it seem like there is any way to play the game in a non-orbital setting, where it is just ship-to-ship combat? Or is it too tied to the goal of orbital insertion of ground forces?
Something tells me that I'm going to end up with some of the models either way--the UCM and PHR ships alone are too shiny not to have in The Collection.
-
Thanks for getting his thoughts! He might very well have been the one that gave me my demo at Gencon, and I didn't recognize him :-[.
I think that the altitude mechanic and the ground objective mechanic are intended to be DFC's distinguishing characteristic. I like the concept, and the execution in the demo seemed decent. The Target Signature stuff did take some getting used to. @Landlubber: I specifically asked the question about non-orbital settings at Gencon, and the answer was No. Like I said, I think the orbital setting is being used as a way to try and break DFC out from the pack.
As an aside, I really don't feel like FSA feels specifically like a WWII combat game...to many of the mechanics just don't correlate, and the ships are statted very differently than one might expect if the game were trying to emulate WWII. In the sense that it is a primarily 2D game, it does feel a bit more like a "wet" navy game at times than a space game. However, that is true of most space combat games, I've found. And, it's not particularly a bad thing IMO ;).
-
Something tells me that I'm going to end up with some of the models either way--the UCM and PHR ships alone are too shiny not to have in The Collection.
You know, re-reading your post, I think that is an important point as well; the models they are making for this game are quite lovely, and I bet they will find their way into other games as well. Traditionally, it seems that space combat gamers have always grabbed their favorite models to use with whatever rule set is in vogue (I once faced a Klingon fleet being used as Sorylian proxies in a game of FSA!).
-
Well, you know my OCD won't let me proxy models.... :(
So...a couple of thoughts on this. On one hand, I understand the need for companies to make their games stand out--whether through rules, models, settings, whatever. A fleet-scale space combat game that takes place in orbit around planets is interesting and there isn't anything out there like it right now. We could play Halo: Fleet Battles or Firestorm Armada in that setting, but neither game has rules governing how ships deal with combat and maneuver in orbit over a planetary body (not that we couldn't gin some up).
On the other hand, however, I think they're severely limiting themselves if they DON'T have options for the different fleets to engage in non-orbital settings. Because if the rules only support combat in orbit (which again is an interesting mechanic), it seems like they're trying to entice people who already play DZC to get into DFC, as opposed to enticing new people into the becoming Dropfleet/Dropzone players--especially if, as Ryjak stated, the ship-to-ship combat isn't the main focus of a Dropfleet game.
Which is perplexing, since they're coming out of the gate with four factions of very unique-looking ships. That's an awful lot of trouble to go to just to make a game that merely supports (almost as a sideshow, from Ryjack's notes) one of their other games. I get that they're trying to be unique, but it seems as if they're shooting themselves in the foot.
Just my $0.02.
-
To be honest, I have many of the same concerns, Landlubber. I wouldn't be surprised if we see an expansion within the year that extends combat out away from the low orbit setting, but who knows! I think we will just have to get the game in our hands and mess around with it some before we can say for sure how well the low orbit setting of the game holds up.
-
Well, I certainly give it a try. MarkyMark should have a few fleets. And if I don't like it, that's OK, I have a few space-based games already. And like I said, if nothing else, I'll probably pick up some of the models at some point if they start selling them individually. I'm always on the lookout for unique starship/starfighter designs, and those certainly are, especially the UCM and PHR ships.
-
Was just catching up on Firebase Delta, and Josh had nothing good to say about the mechanics, whatsoever.
-
An Update
Dave has been over at Beasts of War for a number of days, and we are hoping that many of you will have seen the update to backers that was on the recent Weekender video. But for those of you who haven’t seen the video or the reviews on it about the Rulebook, we have put together some information below. There will also be a range of videos coming out over the next few weeks with various focuses, whether that is gameplay, spaceships or space stations!
Kickstarter Fulfilment Update
As many of you will have seen, we have been packing and dispatching a plethora of orders, with many leaving the Hawk Warehouse on a daily basis! Our UPS and Interlink drivers have had to make several return trips with larger vans to pick up what have been going out!
Over the past 2 weeks the team at Hawk have been hard at work packing and dispatching Kickstarter pledges for Dropfleet Commander, and although we are making good progress, the logistical complexity of processing 4000 individual orders is proving to be very time consuming, and though this was planned for, the delay caused by the printed elements has further delayed the shipping, more than recently anticipated.
We have increased the number of warehouse staff and secured additional warehouse space to help expedite the delivery process, as well as sending down a number of our own ‘elite team’ to help move and pack items. We wish to emphasise that the delays in fulfilment are no way due to lack of fulfilment stock and are purely reflective of the volume of orders to be processed mixed with the delay in receiving the printed material.
Dropfleet Commander Wave 1 Retail Release
Most of you will be aware that the wave 1 of the Dropfleet Commander retail release is scheduled for the 14th of October and unfortunately it is likely that there will still be some Kickstarter pledges awaiting delivery at this point.
Since the retail release consists of around a dozen pre-arranged bulk shipments of stock to distributors, delaying wave 1 of the release would not actually speed up the Kickstarter fulfilment process. This is a hard pill to swallow for us, as we have put so much effort into endeavouring to get this Kickstarter delivered before release, but we also have to be conscious of the game and with agreements made with our distribution partners.
We will, therefore, be proceeding with wave 1 of the retail release on the 14th of October as many wheels are in motion for it, and we hope that you, as our backers, will understand that we are doing everything in our power to ensure completion of the Kickstarter fulfilment in October.
What are we doing to Prioritise Kickstarter Fulfilment?
In addition to the hiring of temp staff, increased warehouse space and deployment of the Hawk elite team, we have taken the decision to defer wave 2 of the retail release. Whilst the deferring of wave 1 of the retail release would not impact Kickstarter fulfilment, pushing back the wave 2 release does mean that the warehouse staff allocated for manufacture of the battleships can be reallocated to Kickstarter fulfilment as a priority.
We are also withdrawing the sale of promotional stock at our Dropfleet pre-release events, and will be focusing every available member of the Hawk Wargames team toward the completion of the Kickstarter fulfilment in October.
We appreciate the patience and understanding shown by you, our backers, and our supporters as we reach the final stages of delivery. It has been a big process, but we are extremely proud of the finished product and we hope that when it reaches you, you will find that it was worth the wait.
Here is the video from Beasts of War if you would like to see it - Hawk Wargames Content begins at around 1:03:50:
https://youtu.be/hJUJYx9ozl0?t=1h3m50s
We can't wait to get Dropfleet Commander rewards out to you all!
Kind regards, and thank you for all of your support!
The Hawk Wargames Team
Looks like they are making progress! Anyone here get their goodies yet? I plan on doing an unboxing post on the blog when I get mine 😉
-
Another message! I put this one in spoilers to avoid the Wall of Text:
[spoiler]Dear Backers
We are getting into our dispatches.
We had a small hiccup last week where a number of pledges went out without notifications going out to customers. It was our intention that tracking information went out with every order, so apologies if you get your order without any tracking – we have found the error, and are ensuring that all dispatches are going out with a notification to each backer regarding their pledge. Following on from the video and Kickstarter Update last weekend,
Dave wanted to share a typed message with you all:
Firstly, we have some Feedback on the Beasts of War Weekender Kickstarter update slot. Choosing to deliver the update in video format was a conscious choice as we thought it important to convey the news verbally and in a more personal manner. Beasts of War is an ideal platform for us as we do not yet have a sophisticated video setup of our own and we felt much of it was said best via this format. I had planned a visit to Beasts of War for the purpose of promoting Dropfleet Commander, and thought it was an important time to put out a video from me about the Kickstarter.
This video was one of the last I filmed while I was there. It was unscripted and unrehearsed and as a result I didn't quite cover everything I should have. Most importantly, I did not apologise directly for the situation - I am extremely sorry that the dispatch of the pledges has not gone to plan, and that this delay has affected so many people. Omitting a clear apology was entirely unintentional and for that I'm sorry.
In my time at Beast's of War I filmed some great content to support Dropfleet Commander. The next videos will be released on October 14th, so keep an eye out for those. We will do our best to inform you all ahead of time when future content is due to go out too. This has been a challenging experience for us all in the last few weeks, but we have tried to adapt quickly to the situation. Several Hawk staff who normally work on communications are now in the warehouse assisting with packing. Getting your pledges out as fast as humanly possible is our priority.
As stated in the video update, the first wave of Dropfleet Commander’s retail launch will be going ahead as planned on October 14th. Once again we apologise for the less than ideal nature of this arrangement. Supporting all of our community, including retailers who have places where people can play the game, is one of the cornerstones of Dropfleet Commander’s future, and is very important to us. The launch had been planed far in advance for a time when we had anticipated that all pledges would have been shipped. The printing delays and subsequent logistical challenges unfortunately prevented us for realising our intentions and the current arrangement is a compromise. We have also delayed the further retail waves to ensure as much of the entire team are focused on the Kickstarter fulfilment.
You should expect another update at the start of next week to include more information on when we hope to have completed shipments of all Kickstarter pledges. The team who are managing the shipment and packing logistics are very much more in control of the situation now that the printed materials have arrived, and although I visited the warehouse yesterday, the processes are well in place to know that the daily rate of dispatch has increased to a higher level than it was previously.
The absence of an update to the Hawk Wargames website to include Dropfleet Commander is a necessary result of the additional manpower dedicated to packing. Most staff at Hawk cover multiple roles and we are of course focused on dispatch as a first priority. In addition to a final shipping date we hope to have an estimated timeframe for the launch of the revised website by early next week. A key thing to mention here, is that while we will be taking orders on the site for Dropfleet Commander products, we will NOT be shipping ANY of them until we have honoured our commitments to our backers. This will be made clear on the website also!
The penultimate point to mention, is that our retail and distribution partner in Germany will be promoting Dropfleet Commander later this week and over the weekend at Europe's biggest board gaming/tabletop convention – SPIEL. A small Hawk Team not involved in the packing process (including myself) will be on hand to assist them with English language demos and to answer any questions attendees might have for us. As this is launch weekend, they will have a limited quantity of wave 1 Dropfleet stock on hand in addition to the complete Dropzone Commander range. We look forward to seeing some of you there! You can find us in Hall 2, at booth 2-F160.
Finally, I would like again to reiterate that we are doing our utmost to get your pledges out to you as fast as we can and to apologise sincerely for the delay in your pledges, for the delay in communication and for the retail release of the game coming before all the pledges had been sent out.
Thank you all for your continued support, understanding and patience,
- David Lewis,
Director, Hawk Wargames
[/spoiler]
Interesting. It looks like quite a few folks (me included) will not be getting their KS pledges until after tomorrow's official retail release. From what I've gathered looking at the comments on KS and in other threads, there are a few folks that are (understandably) miffed about that. I can't say I'm too worried about it; it's not like the delay will be more than a week or so it appears, and it isn't like I don't have plenty to keep myself busy in the mean time!
-
Has ANYONE received their pledge yet or at least gotten notification of it being mailed?
I have not. :'(
-
Nada on my end. I'm really excited about getting my hands on this stuff...the anticipation is killing me!
-
Hey guys~
Interesting read hope get a out of orbit rule set too and same, waiting for plegdes to turn up too. Me and my mate went straigth in on the kickstarter as well, actaully really like the look of the scourage espcially that battle cruiser, but also went for phr and ucm too. Shaltari not sure on, they look too eldar for me...
Um, down south at my aunties visting family atm. Very good dystopian wars scene here so got to bring my models next time. ^^ They also had some Dropfleet at the local model shop.. had 2 player boxes and the fleet start boxes on the shelf. Beening magpie for ship models, i could'nt resist.. getting a box or two. >_<
Sailion
-
Yeah, I suspect I might end up grabbing a second starter myself at some point. Hawk posted another update on KS:
[spoiler]Update #56
Oct 21 2016
Shipping Update
26 Comments
Liked
38 likes
Dear Backers
Sorry that this is arriving to you today rather than earlier this week. This is a quick update to address a few questions that have been raised and to let you know the progress of Kickstarter shipment and our projections for completion.
1) Shipping Progress - Our rate of Kicksarter shipment has increased significantly as we apply extra manpower, and have real room to move in the warehouse. Notably, all Admiral Pledges have been shipped. At current projections, and we plan to have all pledges packed by the end of this month (October). We are doing our best to work with our couriers to ensure as many parcels can be picked up as possible each day, so that pledges go out as quickly as we can pack them. It might be that some of the dispatch goes into early November, but we are doing what we can to plan for fast dispatches of rewards. The order in which pledges are shipped is determined by efficiency and product locations within our warehouse, and is not biased towards any particular pledge level or regional location. We're simply following the best procedure to get the maximum amount of packages out per day as we can while clearing more working space. Thanks for bearing with us as we complete this monumental logistical task!
2) Lack of Retail Packaging in Kickstarter Pledges - We did not intend to ship kickstarter rewards in retail packaging for several reasons. Firstly, with over 7000 2 player starter sets to pack, store and shrink wrap, this would have severely slowed the packing progress, taken up much more space and resulted in an additional 5 Tons of packaging being sent out. Secondly, since these products are not for retail (and therefore do not need to advertise themselves) the additional boxes and plastic shrink are unnecessary.
For such reasons it's common for wargaming Kickstarter rewards to not be shipped in retail packaging. Having said that, it's clear that we didn't communicate this adequately and for that we apologise. As a result, we are working on a solution for backers to obtain 2 Player Starter Set outer boxes for free if they want them once the pledges are all shipped (as any disturbance to the admin/packing process at this stage will cause great disruption). We will let you know more on this in a future Kickstarter update.
3) Support Structure for Dropfleet - As mentioned in previous updates, the website, forum, tournament pack, download pack, downloadable scenery and fleet stat reference lists will be made available online in due course. Their rollout has been slowed somewhat due to essential manpower being diverted to packing pledges. This is just a reminder that we haven't forgotten about these important elements and that we'll have them out as soon as humanly possible!
Thanks again for bearing with us and we hope that you enjoy the game!
Kind regards
The Hawk Wargames Team
[/spoiler]
Keeping my fingers crossed that the shipping notification will pop in then next few days!
-
Thanks Ruckdog. :)
Well, only waiting i guess? Nothing not used to from pre-orders. So, how does the size of the fleets work and such? avergae game size?
Side note: Thinking of starting playing world of warships on NA sever, notsure yet. xD
Sailion
-
I'll be curious to see if game-play improved from what you reported at GenCon, Ruckdog.
LEO Space Combat has so many potentials (I'm thinking to the orbital hijinks in SEVENEVES for instance). I'd hate to see a game tackle that without an innovative and playable aspect. (Mere Height Levels has proven eternally insufficient ... looks at SILENT DEATH 3D...)
-
Here is a pretty good blog post that talks initial impressions on the rules, minis, and other components:
http://www.tfgradio.com/tactics/dropfleet-commander-first-playthrough/
I still can't wait to get my hands on my stuff!
-
The base looks interesting
-
It is! Hawk is trying to be very clever with their bases, to try and show as much information as possible to minimize book keeping and tokens. It mostly works, from what I saw at Gencon. A bit fiddly, but no more so than having a lot of tokens around.
-
Still on the fence about this one. Models look great, and there are some mechanics that I like--the energy spikes making you more visible, the ability to change "altitude", etc. (would be awesome to show physical altitude differences). Still not sold on the game, though, just can't wrap my head around combat in orbit only. Ah well. Not like I need ANOTHER game to play. :P
-
SPACESHIPS! My commodore pledge arrived yesterday :o
I'll have to unbox it tonight due to getting home late last night. Today is going to be a long day :'(
For those interested, here is a timeline of my shipping process. I'm located in Northern Virginia, USA.
14 Nov: Notified that the shipping label was created.
17 Nov: Package was picked up, and started its journey.
18 Nov: Package arrived in USA
21 Nov: Package arrived at my house.
So, it was a week total from the first notification to delivery.
-
I just read your "Unboxing" blog post. DAAAAANG, there are a lot of small parts on those sprues!
Once you get the ships assembled, you'll have to post up some size comparison pics with Halo Fleet Battles, BFG, Firestorm Armada, etc.
Do you have paint schemes in mind yet?
-
Just played my first game and very impressed. Essentially Andy has taken up from where he left off with BFG and produced a pretty nifty product.
Now to paint up a slew of Scourge!
-
Just played my first game and very impressed. Essentially Andy has taken up from where he left off with BFG and produced a pretty nifty product.
More details, please!
-
It is very similar to BFG with significant national/faction differences but some elements are streamlined. Absent close in weapons, ranges are unlimited but everything depends on achieving a firing solution which is determined by adding the firers electronic skill (scan range) to the targets electronic footprint (size plus activity) and subtracting any special EW tricks. Lots of special actions are available but many can generate a bigger EW footprint. Ordnance (fighters/bombers/torps) are strictly limited based on the size of battle (very valuable and not available en masse) thus the game moves sharply without carrier/aircraft clog that can curse both BFG and DW.
The game is totally focused on planetary rationale in that missions are invasions. bombardment. raids and defense and ignoring objectives will almost always result in failure. You can rarely kill your way to victory while ignoring objectives. This makes special assets - troop ships, bombardment vessels, landers - very valuable and in need of both protection and careful use. They (along with carriers who mostly cannot get in fights and live long except for the very largest) have to get to objectives while keeping out of the way of the other fellows big nastys.
The factions are (rough rough analogs) with UCM = Imperials (basic humans, not the best tech but very shooty), the Scourge = Tyranids (parasites with essentially semi-organic ships) close in brawlers with some stealthy stuff also cheaper but generally a bit fragile , Post-Human republic PHR = Space Marines/Adeptus Mechanicus , tough with better tech but fiddly to play (broadside ships almost age of sail thus maneuver dependent. Shaltari = Eldar, significantly higher tech, more fiddly rules, freaking Elves, have not seen them play but tech/nasty/fragile.
All in all I've been impressed and the models are first rate and then some.
-
Lack of the Carrier Clog is interesting, while still retaining the "Deliver the carriers/Dropships" aspect. From a game perspective, the less fiddly bits, the better.
How do you "protect" your vulnerable ships? Most space games don't restrict targeting, so I always see a system weakness in "Caravan Guard" scenarios.
Having your EW footprint, and thus vulnerability, go up with the more you do is a neat aspect. It sounds like it take likely tech consequences, and leverages it into a game mechanic. Those can often be awesome game aspects. OTOH, sometimes simulating things like that gets fiddly, and verges into Saganami Tac-Sim territory.
If Spartan screws up and stumbles out of local use by this summer, my most likely replacements are DZC/DFC or Star Wars Armada. So I'm always curious about each.
-
You can protect your more vulnerable assets by dropping into atmosphere (landers and smaller vessels) or by going Silent Running (lowers footprint but cuts out most offense). Part of the challenge is interposing your offensive vessels forcing the opposition to choose between getting clobbered by the threat at hand over going after the prime targets. Needless to say, the emphasis on maneuver is strong as is deciding how/when/what to commit. With say three objectives on board, you have to decide to contest how many for how long to win. It is still early but I'm enjoying this as much as BFG.
-
@McKinstry, thanks for the rundown. DFC does indeed look intriguing. I like the technical aspects of increasing your "footprint" based on activity, etc. I wish that Firestorm Armada and Halo: Fleet Battles incorporated more "sci-fi" aspects like that. Would be cool to see some offensive electronic warfare weapons--computer viruses, offensive jammers, etc. Halo doesn't really incorporate anything like that at all; Firestorm has one or two things that lean in that direction (like the Directorate's bio weapons and the ability to target specific subsystems), but both games could benefit from more of that sort of thing, in my humble opinion. I agree with you on the models--very cool looking ships.
@Dale, not sure how Spartan Games could stumble out of local use...that would require several of us to get rid of significant chunks of our miniature wargaming models...
-
Thanks for the rules run-down, McKInstry. I still haven't managed to get my first game in. I have to say, looking through the rule book I'm having a hard time seeing the parallels between DFC and BFG in terms of mechanics...maybe it will become more apparent once I actually play the game!
-
The production value of the rules book is superb and vastly superior to any of SG rule books
-
The rulebook is great, quality background and pix, the minis look great (even though all of mine are still on sprues!) and I have no opinion on how it plays (yet). The 2-Up battleship is an immense chunk of resin, at least as bis as I would expect Firestorm Armada leviathans to be (and on par with the recent Ice Maiden Kickstarter).
There is a Facebook group with a lot of good paint jobs if you're interested in taking a look.
-
I got a chance to play yesterday! Event report is up,on the blog:
http://www.manbattlestations.com/blog/2017/01/30/event-report-dropfleet-tournament/
-
Thank you. Great report and your fleet was clearly the best painted.
Where we the players getting corvettes? I thought they hadn't been released yet?
-
Thank you. Great report and your fleet was clearly the best painted.
Where we the players getting corvettes? I thought they hadn't been released yet?
Thanks! Regarding the corvettes, the other players were proxying them. The PHR player was using old BFG Cobra destroyers, the Shaltari player used some kitbased minis, and the other UCM player was using the drones that come with a DZC unit:
http://www.hawkwargames.com/products/ferrum-class-drone-base
-
An Errata sheet was issued today.
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0159/4298/files/Dropfleet_FAQ_s_and_errata_1.1.pdf?10209811200625327151
-
An Errata sheet was issued today.
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0159/4298/files/Dropfleet_FAQ_s_and_errata_1.1.pdf?10209811200625327151
Interesting...after a quick glance through, looks like the Shaltari are getting tapped with the Nerf bat slightly (gates go down to 2HP, and the Glass goes to 18pts per ship). I also spotted a few things in the FAQ that I realize I was doing wrong last Saturday!
-
Here are my initial thoughts on the game:
http://www.manbattlestations.com/blog/2017/02/02/dfc-first-impressions/
-
Locally, Gamer's Haven has just the rulebook on the shelf now. Noticed it last night.
I flipped through it, and began trembling as the cool pics and ship images began seizing my brainstem and impulse centers while flooding them with dopamine. Eventually I had to fling it from me and flee, lest I succumb.
Seriously, Spartan has *real* competition here, on looks alone. Don't know why the looked so much better in the book versus the KS pages ...
-
Well, I have 3 cruisers and 16 escorts finished for the Scourge. I probably won't get to start on the UCM until next week but by April I should be ready to start the basic scenarios.
The models are gorgeous and all in all, not terribly demanding to paint.
-
I'm very happy to come back* to the forum and see a good discussion about DFC underway!
I hope by now everyone has received their Kickstarter. I did not receive mine in the mail until mid-January, but I can't hold it against them. I set about reading the rulebook and building frigates - SO MANY frigates. I went all-in for UCM, and so far the Toulon (basic UCM turret frigate) is my favorite model, and ship class. (I say that without having played a game, of course.)
Personally, I find the focus on orbital combat refreshing. As much as I love open-space combat, I like the emphasis in DFC on what is being fought over. I find it also helps capture the relative scale of the warships and the planet. That said, I do have a star-field gaming surface I would like to be able to use. Maybe for taking on highest-orbit space station over Olympus Prime?
Anyway, I have started building and painting a fleet when I can. I was not very interested in building the recommend starter fleet for the UCM, so instead I have been focusing on getting a points-equivalent fleet ready for gaming. Namely, it consists of: a full group of 3 Osaka-class light cruisers, 1 Madrid-class cruiser, a full group of 4 Toulon-class frigates, and 2 New Orleans strike carriers. I believe it comes int at just 2 points over the standard Moscow-Berlin-Seattle fleet. So far, I have built everything but the Madrid, and even gotten the three Osakas fully painted.
I did not think I would, but I really like the ship bases. They've gone together easily enough, and have enough room to put ship names on them. In a move that surprised no one, I have started naming the ships in this battlefleet with Rush song titles.
Thanks for the blog content on the game, Ruck! I enjoyed it a lot when first digging into my Kickstarter box. Is anyone else following the "building the Avenger" series on YouTube? Link: https://www.youtube.com/user/hawkwargames
* - My laptop was stolen out of a locked hotel room last June, and I was not able to afford a replacement until January. This marks my first post back on an online forum since! (The lawsuit against the hotel is ongoing.)
-
I'm certainly excited by DFC. Trying to crank out UCM to get a game going but Scourge was my initial painting effort. I've got PHR but won't get there for a while.
-
New Kickstarter update!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hawkwargames/dropfleet-commander/posts/1835808?ref=activity
Dear Backers,
We hope everyone is having a good Sunday, and the first few months of 2017 have been full of great games and Spaceship and Space Station building activities.
This is a fairly long update, but hopefully full of a range of interesting things for you all. We know there are some of you who are still waiting on missing parts, and a few waiting on missing pledges altogether. We are working on these and every week are sending out missing parts and pledges as quickly as we can.
We are also putting together details to share with you soon on Wave 2. This will come in one of the next few upcoming updates.
We have also been working on a range of content specific for backers which we will be sharing soon too - we have been prioritising getting remaining pledges and missing parts out to backers, so this has taken longer than we had hoped to get to you all. This will be being sent out via an update in the next few weeks, which will be followed by regular updates on other content that will be specific to backers too.
The UCM Saratoga Class Light Cruiser
We are pleased to be able to present to you all the web only model in celebration of the relaunch of our website.
This highly detailed resin ship is the UCM Saratoga Class Light Cruiser, an alternate sculpt for the popular New Cairo Class Light Cruiser. It will be available exclusively on our website until April 21st. After this date, it will be on sale at Salute 2017, along with a few other select shows that Hawk Wargames are attending. After that, this miniature will not be available again, so get yours while you can!
The Saratoga is an experimental development of the New Cairo class Light Cruiser with a focus on efficiency, incorporating the very latest systems. While the New Cairo inherits many core attributes from the older Rio class (itself several decades old), the Saratoga features an entirely new prow and amidships superstructure, conceived from the ground up.
Early field reports of the class in action have been exemplary, showing the ship able to provide equivalent combat performance to the New Cairo while consuming less energy and requiring fully half the crew to operate effectively. The few in service have served with distinction and none have thus far been lost to the enemy, leading officers and enlisted to declare it a uniquely lucky class.
Unfortunately for the Admiralty, the Saratoga's were built exclusively at the FSI (Ferrous Shipping Industries) yards over the planet Ferrum which were entirely destroyed during the Scourge onslaught in late 2671. The yards had turned out a meagre 12 vessels for early void trials before their loss, making this one of the rarest ships in the UCMF. Compounding this, several proprietary systems were integral to the design and the subsequent collapse of FSI makes future construction of the class unlikely.
Famous ships of the class: Saratoga, Angelfire, Heaven's Ire, Stygian Light
Along with this model, we also have a range of models available for a limited time to celebrate the relaunch of our website. They can be found here in our Website Relaunch Sale > and include a selection of the show only models from previous years.
Dropfleet Commander Corvettes
We are also pleased to present the Corvettes for each faction.
Each Corvette Blister contains 6 highly detailed resin Corvettes, along with 6 flight stands and bases. These Corvettes are now available to pre-order from the Hawk Wargames Website >
Some Experimental Rules Updates
Below is a brief summary to induduce this experimental Rules update document, which can be found here >
"To all Dropfleet gamers, Firstly, we’d like to thank you all for playing the game and for your continued enthusiasm and feedback. Since Dropfleet’s release, we’ve been watching and listening to the community as it gets to grips with this new and exciting game. As always, balance, competitiveness and enjoyment are extremely important to us and going forward we intend to always work to keep the system as good as it can be - To that end, we’re always open to making changes if they will improve the gaming experience. The aim is always to make every unit viable and to give players many and varied routes to victory.
Normally (as regular Dropzone Commander players will know), we release rules changes and errata online as the system evolves. We have already released the first Errata and FAQ documents for Dropfleet and after taking in sufficient feedback, we feel it’s time to make some adjustments. Since Dropfleet is a brand new system, we’re making this document experimental and optional. If you like, please try these new adjustments, mull them over, talk about them and give us feedback. These are in no way final and are open to changes! In this new experiential format, we’ll run through our rationale behind many of the proposed changes. Once we’ve taken in this feedback, we’ll re-release this document in a revised and official form. Changes #1 and 2 would be incorporated into the official Tournament Pack rather than in Rules Changes.
Thanks again for your support and enjoy the game!
David J Lewis and the Hawk Wargames Team"
We look forward to hearing your thoughts on these experimental updates!
Whats Next
We have a range of campaign material that we are working on, in addition to the backer content that we are preparing. This will also start to be disseminated over the next month or so. Alongside that we have a number of tournaments and organised play events popping up around the world, and will have more information about this available on our website in the next few weeks.
We have our first official Hawk Wargames run Dropfleet Commander One Day Tournament at UK Games Expo on Saturday 3rd June 2017. For tickets and for more information about this event, click here >
We also have a Dropzone Commander One Day Tournament at the same venue on Friday 2nd June. We are excited about both events, and of course exhibiting at the UK Games Expo as well.
In the UK Hawk Wargames will also be attending the Salute 2017 and Carronade 2017 over the next few months.
In the US, we will be at AdeptiCon 2017, Origins 2017 and GenCon 2017.
We look forward to seeing many of you at these shows.
Lastly, we are also working on the remaining sectors that have not yet been released, and are happy to show how these are looking:
Thank you again for all of your continued support, and for sharing some of the amazing games, painting and construction that you have been doing! We look forward to seeing even more and starting to share some of it in the Gallery on our website.
Kind regards
The Hawk Wargames Team
If they have any new goodies on display at Adepticon this week, I'll be sure to get some pics!
-
Anxious to see any pictures. I've got three Saratoga CL's and a box of the UCM and Scourge corvettes ordered but I'd really like to know when we'll see the Battlecruisers.
-
Anyone up for some thread-necro?
I have painted a 750 point fleet, played one game, and was completely destroyed by the end of turn 4. We are hoping to get together for another game this weekend, and while I have not painted any more ships, I have been reflecting on why I lost so hard against some Scourge - the Great Enemy.
• I think my current 750 point fleet is not spread out enough around battlegroups - I underestimated the importance of each battlegroup's Strategy Rating (SR). SR makes a big difference for which models go first, and especially in a smaller game where you only have so many models, going first can change the game.
• I am not sure the Osaka light cruisers in a squadron of 3 are worth it in this size game - although I do think there is credence to the idea that more hulls are a better choice than better armor. Ships die faster and more often than I was anticipating.
• Unlike DW or Firestorm (which probably informed my list building more heavily than I realized), having full squadrons does not seem so advantageous. Spreading around frigates across battlegroups may be a better choice than having larger squadrons, to reduce SRs and/or to provide flexibility for orders like active scanning, etc.
• Launch assets are about as powerful as I expected, and then next ship I paint should be either another fleet carrier or battlecruiser with launch assets.
Here is the fleet list I ran last game:
--------------------------------------
Basic Skirmish Fleet - 745pts
UCM - 3 launch assets
SR15 Line battlegroup (258pts)
3 x Osaka - 258pts - M
SR7 Line battlegroup (196pts)
1 x Seattle - 132pts - M
+ UCM Commodore (40pts, 3AV)
2 x New Orleans - 64pts - L
SR6 Pathfinder battlegroup (111pts)
1 x Madrid - 79pts - M
1 x New Orleans - 32pts - L
SR4 Pathfinder battlegroup (140pts)
4 x Toulon - 140pts - L
------------- dflist.com -------------
TL/DR: I need to paint more
-
The Scourge are like a silent Shotgun killer – they creep up on you with silent running and jump out of hiding with a double shotgun blast to your face. If they hurt you enough with the first attack they will obliterate you.
Their disadvantage is their low armor, huge sig and the low Hull (HP).
Their advantage is their incredible punch, their speed and their ability to lower your armor (Scald) once they are in scan range and they always hit on 3+.
Your list has possibly a couple of weak points:
- 3 New Orleans is not enough drop in a game that is won on the ground.
- The Madrid is an interesting addition, but seems like a luxury in a list that isn’t tailored on destroying enemy ground assets.
- No corvettes (yet)?
- Too few battlegroups.
I like the rest actually – now it is important how you play them.
- Watch out for max thrusting Scourge that try to get your transports before they enter atmosphere.
- Don’t forget about active scanning
- I’m using a 3 New Cairos instead of Osakas, this is really about taste and the Osakas have a better firing arc. But I’m supporting the New Cairos with two active scanning Limas on the backboard to give their targets major spikes.
- The Toulons are nice and can overwhelm an enemy (don’t forget that they attack together with 8 Close Action attacks and that the Point Defense of the enemy has to defend against all these attacks at once)
- See to it that the Toulons are spaced 3” apart to avoid chain explosions.
- Your bombers can attack silent running Scourge 24” away – no matter if you “see” (scan+sig+spikes) them or not.
- Every shot counts. You got a New Orleans in atmosphere that hits enemy ships in orbit on a 6+? Always give it a try!
This is all the smart stuff I can come up with right now… ;)
I hope it helps a little :)
-
Redditch Wargaming Society is proud to present its first Dropfleet Commander Regional Tournament!!
If you are a Dropfleet Commander player in England, and especially the West Midlands area, this is a fantastic opportunity to meet and compete with other Dropfleet players, no matter your previous experience.
This tournament aims to provide a testing ground for those planning to attend Winter Invasion 2017 in Croyden, and as such the top-ranking players from Summer Invasion (UKGE) will be in attendance. However, this tournament also provides a brilliant opportunity for newer Dropfleet players to broaden their experience and get used to Dropfleet's tournament setting. All for the bargain price of £6 a ticket!
For ambitious players, Midlands Maelstrom also provides an opportunity to further your statistics towards Hawk's World Rankings.
Sign up and ticketing details on the link below. Please contact me if you have any further questions.
http://www.hawkforum.co.uk/hawkforum/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=10227&sid=4843c4a666b3a70f184c8a6a97c9c126
-
Hey everyone!
In case anyone missed it, we've launched a UK-based Dropfleet Commander podcast, inspired by the guys over at The Hot LZ! To fill you in - we've been publishing Dropfleet Commander podcast episodes, roughly once a month, since November of 2017. We try and keep our fingers on the pulse when it comes to Dropfleet Commander news and attend as many UK tournaments as possible. Which we share to our listeners as soon as possible. Outside of exhibitions we talk about the latest news, tournament results that are shared with us, we answer any questions that come our way, and just generally discuss Dropfleet Commander.
If you get a chance check us out! Our cast members are based in the Midlands in the UK. Give us a listen, check out our episodes in the archive, our write ups on our blog site, and if you like us let your friends know!
But if you have any questions please reach out to us! We are more than happy to answer your questions, critique your lists, help you promote and run events, and anything else we can do to grow and solidify our gaming community!
Thanks!
Our Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/scannersoffline
Our Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/scannersoffline/
Our Website/Blog Site: http://scannersoffline.com/
Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/scannersoffline
Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scannersoffline
Our Email: ScannersOffline@gmail.com
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scannersoffline/
Follow us on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/scannersoffline/
Subscribe to our channel on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYHIHFd9zn4btP6Y183yDIQ
Our Podcast on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/scanners-offline/id1312292995?mt=2
Our Podcast on Google Play: http://bit.ly/2DbN0yT
-
Here are my initial thoughts on the game:
http://www.manbattlestations.com/blog/2017/02/02/dfc-first-impressions/
I was interested to read your review and wondered how matters had progressed. I was particularly struck by your comments about the integrated nature of space and surface combat. In our campaigns, we have always assumed that space combat would be around planets rather than in deep-space but have had no effective way of integrating space marines on the ground with ship combat in space. How does it work with these?
Dropzone Commander is currently at £2 on the website so this looks an interesting package. Dropfleet Commander is still at £20 and I am not sure what each of these does.
-
Some more news - A Resistance Fleet!
https://community.ttcombat.com/2019/05/21/battle-for-earth-is-here/