#dropzone commander

[auxryn]

Playing Mechwarrior again has reminded me how much I love the Battletech video game, and in particular the massive Battletech Advanced mod. Particularly that it lets you use land and air vehicles as well as infantry to support your battlemechs.

I'm probably the only one who would be interested, but it would be cool to rework the missions to reward/require using infantry to perform objectives.

I really appreciated that in (the tabletop wargame) Dropzone Commander. Only infantry can go in buildings, which is usually where all the Objectives are. So the game is about getting them safely to where they need to be, while stopping your opponent from doing the same.

In Mechwarrior, there are lots of moments where they say things like "we'll send commandos in to recover the mcguffin after you kill all the baddies" and it always makes me hungry for combined arms.

[teensywars]

Why Tiny-Scale Wargames?

For me, a wargame succeeds or fails based on how it makes me think. When I look down at the pieces on the table, am I thinking about strategy? About the drama of my little guys? Or am thinking about little plastic toys on a table?

The default scale for miniatures games is just close enough that you can see your individual figures doing things. That makes sense. The companies want to sell toys, so you want to make a game where the toys do cool things.

But, once you zoom out far enough that individuals no longer matter, something amazing happens. Your perspective shifts, and you begin thinking of your little tabletop battle in the same way you'd think of a real battle. The game is no longer about individuals, but lines of battle, flanks, and C&C.

Space Marines in Epic Armageddon don't win because Lieutenant Ironpecs is really good at hitting things with a sword, they win because they follow orders when other armies would be struggling with morale.

Battles in Drop Zone Commander aren't won on shooting, they're won by seeing ways to use the terrain to create a place for your transports to land.

Darth Vader may be terrifying, but in Star Wars Armada, he's one guy in one TIE Fighter among hundreds.

That's something you can't get from squad-scale wargames, and that's why you should care about games with tiny miniatures.

[enbypandamonium]

Flinging Some Paint!

Today I found some time to paint up a few of my Shaltari tanks

The detail work was particularly onerous and I painted the turrets and chassis separately but the end product looks pretty good if I was to toot my own horn a bit.

[alienbastelt]

The painted part of my Scourge Army for Dropzone Commander.

[mikesbrushwork]

They're Coming... More Scourge are finished, and there's more on the way! Above we have the first new infantry squad from my recently acquired extra starter set. I need to do their transport, but the grunts are done so... Second, a small squadron of Reaver Gunships. I've had these guys almost as long as I'd had the Destroyers, and it's taken about as long to paint them thanks to the Destroyers killing my joy for Scourge for a while. Done now though, and another jump in my counts!

Acquired:142 Painted:190

[s-punk013]

A new Challenger Approaches!

So, on Sunday I was asked if I’d be interested in taking a start Dropzone commander army off my friends hands, as he’d have one going spare. Always up for a challenge and something new, I said sure. Last night I went round to play another quest of ‘Descent’ and was gifted the rulebook and UCM start Army, as promised.

They’re so frickin’ tiny. Looking forward to painting these this week! I’ll be taking the rulebook to work to have a look through and painting will start tonight!

With this army acquisition, my count has been boosted to:

Acquired: 52 Painted: 50

For the first time this year, I’m in negative figures. It’ll not last long, I’m planning on knocking this army out fairly quickly.

As always, thanks for stopping by!

[sciencefictionworld]

Artwork for Dropzone Commander, by Patrice Rameau.

[the-emperor-protects]

GENCON 2017

Alright, so here is a general recap of GENCON 2017, the largest Con Ive ever been to and the largest GENCON ever.  this will be a long post so I apologize in advance. So ya GENCON.

....IT WAS AWESOME.

Never before have I experienced Nerd culture at this magnitude. It was truly an overwhelming experience. Just look at this map!

Not only did the convention take place in all three stories of the convention center, it also enveloped three surrounding motels and the Colts stadium featured above.(At the opening ceremony, the announcer actually made a joke about how it was pretty damn awesome that the nerds had taken over the football stadium, and that he’d never heard of the football fans taking over hte convention center.I laughed, HARD)

I was able to go to Gencon, mainly because a buddy of mine basically went to it as a kind of business trip for his Youtube Channel.

He Reviews new and exciting boardgames .Awesome dude and an awesome channel to which I'm grateful he let me tag along for the trip. Heres a link to his channel if any of you all are interested! Link

The other buddy of mine I went with also has a youtube channel devoted to boardgame kickerstarters called Hivestate:

his channels fairly young but he makes really good content. hers a link also if you want to check him out. Link

But enough with me being a billboard for these guys, back to GenCon.

So the first day of the Con, as I sad I was very, VERY overwhelmed. I come from a fairly small city that's pretty well spaced out, so seeing that many people in one place was...JARRING to say the least.

I'll say this though, the entire time I was there, I didn't hear of a single event where someone got assaulted or anything bad like that happening. and there were about 166,000 people the first day of the con I believe, Speaks volumes for our hobby and the community.

BUT:

LOOK

AT ALL THESE

NERDS

My people :’)

Anyway, the first day within like ten minutes of entering the dealer's hall I managed to loose both Mitch(Kwarenteen) And Zack(Hive State) to which I remember just uttering “well shit” as soon as I realized I was alone. After that though, the week went smoothly.

The coolest thing that happened to me the first day was I ended up meeting Uncle Atom from  Tabletop minions, to which I made a complete fool of myself but its ok I got to meet someone whose videos have helped so much in my short wargaming life!

Super chill dude too, it was great meeting him!

Carrying on, Demo’d a game called Dropfleet, a low orbit fleet tactics tabletop game

 I picked up Dropfleet on the spot. Did I mention the MINIs ARE FREAKIN GORGEOUS.

  Cool thing about this game is it also can be played beside or in sussecion with another game called dropfleet commander, which is the ground side version of the game. 

Dropfleet and Dropzone gave me a very Halo vibe, so I'm diffidently looking forward to playing the crap out of the game.

The second day was equally crazy, Demo’ed more games, and saw even more awesome stuff. That day I also got to meet the creator of Kingdom Death Adom Poots. Awesome human being, and very VERY passionate about his game and the future of said game.

Also, as a Warhammer 40000 fan I found a booth that was selling bits by the BUCKETS. If id been left alone there Id have spent all of my funds for the con there. They even had I believe like first edition imperial guard minis and a really old looking Land Raider.

actually forgot to buy that book while I was there...

After the dealers hall closed on the second day we split up again, Mitch went to some after party thing he had to go to and Zack and I went and got some food and expored downtown Indy. Got a message from Mitch though and I, well I nearlly doubled over when I saw the picture.expored downtown Indy. Got a message from Mitch though and I, well I nearlly doubled over when I saw the picture.dealers hall closed on the second day we split up again, Mitch went to some after party thing he had to go to and Zack and I went and got some food and expored downtown Indy. Got a message from Mitch though and I, well I nearlly doubled over when I saw the picture.

Apparently, he came in second in a sexy nurse costume contest style thing. I envy this mans courage XD ( hes the one in the red dress)

Rest of the week was about the same. Came to the Con, Demo’d games, wished I had more money, and saw amazing Cosplayers.  Here are just the rest of the general pictures I took at the con. Various minis and games. Ill make a seperate post about the cosplayers I saw as I have way too many to put in this one post.

(THIS WAS AMAZING IN PERSON)

(Didnt pick this up but it lookd cool so I grabbed a pic)

(Fallout boardgame looked like its alot of fun, didnt get to demo it though )

Another Miniatures game I intend on getting into called Wild West exodus:

the models are absolutly beautiful, my crappy phone does not do them justice.

(Eagle is gorgeous)

(Another game i bought into called BUSHIDO. I am weak with money when it comes to miniatures...)

(Mitch before entering the Con.)

(MITCH, LOCKED AND LOADED FOR THOSE SWEET BOARDGAMES)

(Another shot of the peoples of GENCON. Just, wow)

(GENCON’s famed Cardhalla.)

(Game called the Godfather.)

And here is my loot at the end of Gencon!

So ya that was GENCON for me. Had an absolute blast and I already can't wait to go back next year. Truly was an amazing experience.