The folks over at TTCombat have launched a kitbashing contest this winter on their Facebook page (you’ll need to be a member of their group for that link to work). The concept sounds fun and since I’ve been messing around with Dropzone so much, I’d take a stab at the contest as well.
With Dropzone Commander, as with most minis games, there are a lot of extra tools players use to help the game go smoothly. This can be things like laser lines to accurately check line of sight or one innocuous little tool that Dropzone players have been using: the stitch counter. This little device is a great way to track the damage done to large items that have a high damage value like buildings. With building destruction common in Dropzone and buildings having damage points as high as 40, a concise way to keep track of this was needed and the small footprint of the stitch counter worked perfectly. You can pick them up at hobby stores or find them in bulk online.
Almost a year ago, while participating in our local Winter Campaign of Dropzone Commander, the campaign manager came in with some nifty templates. These templates are made to act like a base for the buildings to keep them square, which is an issue because the buildings usually fold flat for storage and don’t easily spring back into shape. I was able to use them in a game and I loved them but not owning a 3D printer, I could only look on. I even tried my own hand at it with my CNC machine but it didn’t work out too well.
Thingiverse user Scooper4711 had the files up and with my friend’s 3D printer going strong, he was gracious enough to crank some out for testing.
I was able to get another game of Dropzone Commander 2e in over the weekend. This time it was just two of us running 1,500 point builds. Our resident PHR player and I decided to get some different scenario rules in play so we decided to hit “Battle for the Olympus Shipyards – Clear the Cargo Bays.” This scenario features confined caverns and storms. Confined caverns require all aircraft to make a “to the deck” roll at the start of their activation (aircraft destroyed on a 2d6 roll of 2). Also any structures, when destroyed, destroy adjacent units within 3″ instead of 1″. Storms will force the aircraft to fail on a roll of 4 or less instead of 2.
Last month, I worked up two versions of some ruined building terrain for Dropzone Commander. I was hoping the simple “primer-only” version would work but since I did a “detailed” version first, I just haven’t been satisfied enough to leave it alone. I have several more buildings from Empires at War and it was high time I ruined more kits.
With the scenario set up and the lists made, the four of us started up our game of Dropzone Commander second edition. For some of us, it was the first time using the rules while others have dabbled in the beta system for a couple of games. We rolled off to pick sides and I won so I took the side aimed at the Orbital Laser entrance. Our UCM player was my left neighbor, PHR across from me, and Scourge was to my right. I was the only one with infiltrators so I set up my Sappers in the tallest building available to me. Having never used the Pizarro walker, I decided to play him safe and hide him behind a building near my player edge.
sappers are ready to ruin someone’s day from their perfect vantage point.
This weekend, I was able to put some of my painting and terrain to work as we set up for a big four player game of Dropzone Commander. With the release of the unofficially official beta stats on Facebook, I could legitimately play my Resistance force and the rest of the group could field units beyond the core rulebook. In my mind, this means we’re officially breaking out of the old first edition orbit and setting our sights on the second edition horizon.
Not much done for the early week but I did wrap up my Sappers by sealing and basing them, cold weather be damned.
This weekend saw the last of my Dropzone Commander Wagons complete. One of the challenges I always have with Resistance models is the varied and random color schemes I feel like they should have. Since I’ve always viewed them as scavengers, having a cohesive and consistent color scheme never made sense except in rare cases. I think that is probably part of the “fun” of the faction as well but when I just want to burn through some units mindlessly, it can be annoying.
With my first successful casting of the weapon mount for Dropzone Commander’s Wagon units, I went and finished up the other two mounts. After they dried and cured, I cutoff the excess green stuff and shaved them down to size.
While the iphone image quality leaves a lot to be desired, you can tell the casts are a bit softer than the original piece up top. I shouldn’t matter as they’ll be hidden under the weapon rack itself and, at 10mm, it will hardly be noticeable.
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