# Dropzone Commander: Available to pre-order.



## GrizBe (May 12, 2010)

Hawk Wargames website for Dropzone Commander is now live, and the models are availible for pre-order for shipping from the 23rd of July.

Dropzone Commander Website

Dropzone Commander is a 10mm scale wargame designed for large battles based around dropships. Rules and FAQS are availible via the website.

Theres too many models to give pics of them all, so here is a brief selection. Its defiantely worth a look!

PHR Odin Heavy Walkers.










Shaltari Ocelot Warstrider.










Scourge Despoiler Heavy warship.










UMC Condor Medium Dropship.


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## jams (Sep 19, 2009)

I've been following the progress on this very closely. The models are awesome but I wanna see the rules before I fully commit to yet another game system


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## Khorne's Fist (Jul 18, 2008)

A very interesting looking system. Some really nice models there as well. Unfortunately Flames of War is taking up my small scale gaming slot at the moment.


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## GrizBe (May 12, 2010)

jams said:


> I've been following the progress on this very closely. The models are awesome but I wanna see the rules before I fully commit to yet another game system


Not the full rules, but the rules FAQ on the website does a decent job of covering most things you'd ask about them:

http://www.hawkwargames.com/pages/rules-faq


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## Eleven (Nov 6, 2008)

looks neat. Maybe in three years from now when a landraider costs $140 and this drop zone game is coming into it's own I'll be playing that instead.


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## Loki1416 (Apr 20, 2010)

I like a lot of the models, but am disappointed they are 10mm. Could see converting a few of those for my armies if they were bigger.


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## Insanity (Oct 25, 2011)

I can see some interesting Tau conversions in the Odin.


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## bitsandkits (Mar 18, 2008)

those are some nice looking models, really like the two walkers.


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## nevynxxx (Dec 27, 2011)

The models look cool. Now if the rules were made OGL they'd be onto a *real* winner....


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## GrizBe (May 12, 2010)

bitsandkits said:


> those are some nice looking models, really like the two walkers.


Theres a bunch more on the website. Those were just a random grab of pictures.


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## jams (Sep 19, 2009)

I've just had a look the FAQs and I'm liking the look of the whole thing more and more


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## Cypher871 (Aug 2, 2009)

Looks really nice...have you checked out some of the prints on the site...the pictures have quite an atmospheric feel to them.


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## mattjgilbert (Feb 28, 2007)

I saw the models up a Salute. They were stunning. The rules need to really be good too though as he's pitched himself at 10mm which might put people off get the models for other systems if his doesn't work. I'm sure it will though - the effort that's been put in to this is immense.


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## Sothot (Jul 22, 2011)

Damn...this is a very cool looking game. I personally like the scale a lot... I wonder if it will catch around here somewhere, because I would certainly enjoy trying it out.


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## maddermax (May 12, 2008)

Cypher871 said:


> Looks really nice...have you checked out some of the prints on the site...the pictures have quite an atmospheric feel to them.


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## mattjgilbert (Feb 28, 2007)

That city shot looks amazing.


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## khrone forever (Dec 13, 2010)

i love the models, looks such a good game. i really want to see a copy of the rules to check them out, now to persuade my friends to look at it


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## imm0rtal reaper (Jul 15, 2008)

I love the look of this game. I won't be picking it up becuase I already have way too many models for this year (famous last words), but I hope it really takes off and does well!


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## bitsandkits (Mar 18, 2008)

this looks really good, that city scene is amazing, reminds me of epic 40k which i have to say i love, nice models, anyone know the scale?


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## nevynxxx (Dec 27, 2011)

bitsandkits said:


> this looks really good, that city scene is amazing, reminds me of epic 40k which i have to say i love, nice models, anyone know the scale?



10mm so a bit smaller than Epic, which I think was 15mm....


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## GrizBe (May 12, 2010)

Whats nice is, if you red the website, they're gonna make all the correct scaled scenery and sell that too along with the rest of the models. So you'll be able to make that city scene yourself.


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## mattjgilbert (Feb 28, 2007)

Epic was 6mm!

I think I'll get myself a UCM starter force and a rulebook.


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## nevynxxx (Dec 27, 2011)

mattjgilbert said:


> Epic was 6mm!
> 
> I think I'll get myself a UCM starter force and a rulebook.


Ahhh, intriguing, that could be fun...


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## Pandawithissues... (Dec 2, 2007)

I have the basic Shaltari set, the Bear APCs and Raven Type A dropships (which I will forever more be referring to as 'Fatbird 1 and Fatbird 2') ordered, along with the rulebook.

As has already been stated, this guy's basically done all this himself, including the urban terrain which looks fantastic, and I was quite happy to order some of the fantastic models purely as an initial gesture of support for the effort he's gone to.

In addition to that, the detail on these looks ridiculous, and it will be really interesting to see if the model quality holds up 'in hand' as it were. There are a lot of comments about the resin too. People have been saying you can chuck the Shaltari gates at walls with no damage etc. We've heard this all before about 'revolutionary new material', but it will be interesting to see whether this is true too. - Early signs are promising:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/690/446566.page

Post by Divine Tyranny, midway down the page where he demonstrates the resiliency with painted sprue.


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## GrimzagGorwazza (Aug 5, 2010)

I'm definately going to be investing in either a PHR or Shaltari force. Maybe i can convince one of my other gaming friends to go for one of the other forces. They just look too nice not to buy.


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## GreatUncleanOne (Apr 25, 2011)

I am pre ordering a blister of the scout walkers for the PHR as a taster and the rulebook to plan what I want and to see if how good the rules are.

I hope they are awesome because the models are fantastic!!


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## Pandawithissues... (Dec 2, 2007)

http://theshellcase.co.uk/2012/06/24/a-first-look-at-drop-zone-commander/



> Yesterday I had the extreme pleasure of going up to the nerve centre of Hawk Wargames in Kent and having a play of Drop Zone Commander.
> 
> The first I noticed when I stepped into Dave Lewis’ office was just how hard this guy works. His desk runs the length of the room with a computer at each end and in between the surfaces are covered in proofs, bits of models, piles of rulebooks from which to draw inspiration. Dave’s commitment is incredible and I’m not exaggerating when I say he works 19 hour days every day to bring his vision to gaming tables everywhere.
> 
> ...


More info


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## Pandawithissues... (Dec 2, 2007)

http://6inchmove.wordpress.com/2012/06/25/a-wild-dropzone-commander-appears/



> The subject of today’s post is somewhat of an echo of what Phil from the Shell Case posted up over the weekend. I’ll start out by saying it was a genuine pleasure to meet both him and Lee, as well as being able to have a good banter about all things gaming. The reason that the four of us were suddenly thrust together in suburbia was a rather out of the blue invite from Dave at Hawk Wargames to have a tour of Hawk HQ and get our hands on the goodies and see the game for ourselves.
> 
> Not ones to pass up an opportunity to drive half way across the country with an eye-watering early start; Carabus and myself fired up the thrusters on the floating citadel and went on a merry jaunt southwards. Upon arriving we got to fawn over the painted models again that we’d seen at Salute. Amid scattered parts, print outs and various books DzC comes to life in Dave’s office. Before I even talk about the game itself I’ll just have to say that Dropzone Commander deserves to be a roaring success if for nothing else than the amount of blood, sweat, tears and torture of his long-suffering girlfriend that has gone into realising something that most of us within the gaming fraternity do nothing but dream of. We were regaled with tales of just what Dave has sacrificed to bring his vision to we eager and ever-hungry gamers and I’ll doff my hat to him for the tremendous efforts he’s expended.
> 
> ...


http://theshellcase.co.uk/2012/06/25/dropzone-commander-a-follow-up/



> Following on from my previous post about the up coming Dropzone Commander by Hawk Wargames there has been a few questions both on Twitter and the comments section of The Shell Case regarding the size of games, the length of games etc so I thought rather than field every question I’d write a follow-up post, so here we go…
> 
> First off the size and duration of the game. This is tricky because the version of the rules I saw didn’t have points values in it but I’m assured all the points values are locked in. However, the game we played was roughly the equivalent of the large army starter set. That’ll give you a good-sized game and access to all the cool shit.
> 
> ...


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## Pandawithissues... (Dec 2, 2007)

http://6inchmove.wordpress.com/2012/07/06/dropzone-commander-playtesting/



> A week later than I intended but my work/life balance has been out of check and this has affected my free time, so better late than never…
> 
> So it was, an early 5.30am start, Zombiepirate and I started the long journey to the sunny south of London.Leaving the rain behind us we had the additional excitement of erratic navigation and traffic in the centre of London, always a treat.
> 
> ...


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## Pandawithissues... (Dec 2, 2007)

http://6inchmove.wordpress.com/2012/07/23/dropzone-commander-a-peek-inside-the-rule-book/


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## Pandawithissues... (Dec 2, 2007)

So, with work having calmed down a notch, I actually got a chance to look at and review the models I had ordered

Having bought a starter box and a couple of blisters, the first thing I noticed was that I'd been sent the wrong type of Raven dropships. Standard mispack, still waiting on resolution, but no great issue as long as it does get resolved.

The next interesting thing was that, while other companies have steadily moved away from packing boxed models properly (e.g. gw, privateer press, where pieces are generally just loosely tossed into some sort of generic container), the hawk wargame miniatures in the starter box were packaged in a soft, blue foam KR multicase inner, in order to prevent damage. While this might not mean a lot to most people, I thought that providing a premium grade packaging option was a very good choice since the pieces are quite small, and often fairly bendy. It helped prevent transport damage to the flexible resin.

So, on to the models themselves:

Size wise, although this is 10mm scale, the vehicles are pretty similar to the 15mm flames of war models, whilst the infantry is a little smaller.

Let's deal with the infantry first:

I only have examples of the shaltari braves (standard white metal), but what I will say is that, for the scale, these are really reasonably impressive, decent detail, a 3 of different poses, which is ok. What was really nice is they were very well cast. Hardly any mould lines or flash, with the biggest job being filing down the foot plates so that they were reasonably flat. Big thumbs up.

The BASES for the infantry however, were crap. They're made out of the same material as the vehicles, but the quality control is poor. Huge inlet feeder pipes, and one base in particular looked like it had jacked the mould apart at one end, and is a sort of wedge shape rather than flat. Cleaning these up was a useful experience to get to grips with how the resin dealt with blades, filing and emery boards, but yeah, pretty poor. I assume it's being made of the same material as the tanks to bring down costs, but I have to say, the plastic FoW bases are far far superior. Hopefully in future, these get switched. Another interesting thing is that, as a shaltari player, the braves are 3 to a stand. - I got stands with three footplate holes in them. Other armies have infantry units 5 to a stand, suggesting that there are at least 2 different base types. - Not sure why everyone didn't just get given the 5 hole option to give more choices about where they positioned their models on the stands, I guess people may not want to fill the extra holes? It doesn't really matter to me, since I'm filling the holes anyway in order to try to create some tiny scenery/dioramas on the infantry bases anyway to liven them up a bit.

So, on to the vehicles, and a discussion about the new resin material.

It's not quite the wonder material everyone is making out in my opinion, though it is significantly better than other options available on the market:

Pluses:

Really really good detail, very impressive at this scale
Takes a file/emery board really REALLY well. I bought a pack of different grade emery boards from GW for use with this stuff and they are highly effective. Unlike the privateer press resin/plastic abortion, this stuff is light years ahead. It also takes superglue really well (plastic glue ineffective as would be expected).

Plus/negative:

A sharp scalpel goes through this like a hot knife through butter. This makes it easy to clean up, but you need to be INCREDIBLY careful though, because if you make a mistake, you're fucked.

It's very flexible. I cant see these models getting broken in a case unless an elephant sits on it. I don't really want to try it, but it wouldn't surprise me if the rumours of being able to chuck at walls with negligible damage are true. As such though, thin pieces are going to bend in figure cases and on the table very easily. As the majority of the models I have are shaltari, I suspect I'll suffer from this the most, though thin tank turret barrels etc will also be highly susceptible. You'll be able to bend them back without any problems, but I can't help but wonder how this may damage paint jobs.

The negatives:

All the usuals for resin. Not necessarily a lot of flash, but loads of the resin fluff and the usual crap that high quality plastic (like gw) don't deal with. The benefits of the GW plastic are that aside from the massive, obvious mouldlines, the models are generally perfect. Fewer mouldlines here, but the usual fluff and rough patches. A soft, but rigid brush is par for the course for cleaning up the fluff, and whilst the emery boards will do the trick beautifully, there's still loads of cleaning up to be done. The talk that these would take 5 minutes to sort out was just that, talk, and grossly overstated. These will take just as long to clean up as most other models, in some cases longer, due to the small scale. The inlet vents for the resin are actually vast on these models, and typically fucking poorly situated. Not great. Lots of bubbles as is typical for mass produced, softer resin. I think that the shaltari are going to suffer seriously from this, as they are the most 'spiky' of the ranges. I have plenty of filling to do. I only had one piece which I would, If I could be bothered want to send back and I think would come back in better condition, but I seriously doubt that the majority of the spine bubble issues would be better in other castings. The larger, flatter models I had - E.g. The UCM bear apcs were really well cast, no bubbles or flaws that I could spot apart from some odd cutting choices. - The apc is in three parts, a turret (yep, fine) and 2 halfs (???). Ok.... But a right half, and a left half, lengthways... It's going to be a pain to put together in a flush fit I think.

This material is REALLY REALLY soft. It is a massive pain to try and lodge it against the cutting mat to cut off some of the bits of sprue. I seriously bent a prong when I hadn't realised how soft it was, and it could be very easy to make mistakes If you arent careful. Anything with a point, well, you may be cutting in mid air, which every serious modeller knows is a last resort and bad idea.

So, overall, in terms of material, I think it's pretty decent.

Far better than:

PP plastic (pretty much the pits. Poor detail, doesn't take plastic glue, doesn't file well, awful mouldlines
GW failcast.
Forge world resin
FoW resin

Overall, I probably still prefer working with metals and gw's styrene plastics, but the detail on this new resin is better than either.

The only better produced models I've seen in a similar medium are the Studio McVey and Kingdom Death ranges, which are incredibly clean, but expensive, and not designed for tabletop use. - You get what you pay for, and in these cases, you're getting boutique, sculpture quality models designed for painting and display.

A quick note on the rulebook, which I've had a quick flick through. Full colour, quite nice. Haven't read the rules yet.

Can't seem to find obvious points values and how to put an army together. TBH, it looks almost as impenetrable as the Infinity Rulebook, which is worse than most scientific papers I have to read (Geochimica Cosmochimca Acta included). As stated though, only a 5 minute job at looking, however, in those 5 minutes, I spotted a bunch of bodges, bad grammar and placeholder text which should never have gone to press. Looks rushed, to be honest.


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## Viscount Vash (Jan 3, 2007)

The more I look into this the more I want it.

Looks like a good replacement in my life for proper Epic and Mech all in one both of which I miss dearly.

PHR looks most like my cup of tea but I might have to look into a bit of UCM just so I have a loan out force so I can always get a game without waiting for some one to buy into the system.

Now to clear some cupboard space and get some cash together...


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## Pandawithissues... (Dec 2, 2007)

Having bought into the Shaltari, and potentially because I was an early adopter, I got a bunch of models with a LOT of bubbles in. 

Loads of the spikes and fins need filling with putty, and some need completely resculpting. Having taken the time to desprue all the models I got, I've come to the conclusion that the early quality control for Shaltari at least, was very poor. It may have improved now, but I couldn't honestly recommend the shaltari models for anyone that doesn't fancy a long period of filling and sculpting.

The UCM models I got were very clean, so I suspect that the main problem is the complex shape of the shaltari models, with the fronds/spikes/fins/vanes, along with lots of thin pieces, rather than the blocky nature of the other factions.

I think that the PHR, UCM and Scourge will be fine.


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