Dropzone Commander

So last week I received my Dropzone Commander starter set. Let me state first, the contents are amazing. You receive two starter armies of around 500 points, and the details on the models are spectacular. This surprised me, as I didn't expect too much detail out of 10 mm scale models. I understand how they get the gorgeous pictures in the main rulebook after seeing the models in person. The rulebook itself looks great, and the rules seem fairly solid. The layout of the rules isn't spectacular but it is functional. I wasn't a huge fan of the fluff, but I think that this could improve after additional fleshing out. Considering the age of the game, I can forgive it. The other contents are fairly top notch. Cardboard counters and templates are included for everything you could need. Other incidentals like dice and a tiny tape measure are also there. But the real winner in my opinion is the scenery. You receive several cardstock skyscrapers of various sizes and two foldout street layouts. This makes for a great gaming surface with quick pretty terrain. You can tell they really thought through how to demo this game with the contents of this box. Further, it really jump starts you into playable situations.

Here is the starter kit laid out by the Beast of War guys

I also managed to get a couple of games in. For those unfamiliar, the starter set comes with two almost identical armies from two separate factions: the UCM and the Scourge. The UCM are essentially the good guys of the setting (not perfect, but definitely better than the Scourge), and they kind of remind me of the Imperial Guard from Warhammer 40k. The tanks are fairly long ranged compared to the Scourge and are more heavily armoured but are significantly slower. The Scourge on the other hand are fast and short ranged and slightly harder to hit when moving. It makes for an interesting balance between the two armies. I think the UCM have a slightly higher learning curve, as you really have to set-up firing lanes and on a congested board that can be difficult. The Scourge are a little bit more forgiving in that re-deploying isn't as difficult with the higher movement rate. And really re-deployment seems to be what the game is about. From my brief experience everything is won or lost through your movement. You can actually move fairly fast as long as you don't mind risking getting your drop ships destroyed. Putting them anywhere near your opponents anti-air appears to be suicidal for flyers. But they are the only reason you can reasonably move around the map, so still 100% necessary.

Whoops, wrong rating system

So how do I rate the system? Two huge thumbs up. The games I played only gave a small taste, but it feels right, it looks great, and it was fun. So if you are considering picking it up, then I suggest you do so.