"A First look at Dropfleet Commander from Hawk Wargames" Topic

After a long time of hints and veiled comments we finally have some solid info about Dropfleet Commander and a look at some models for the UCM fleet.

It looks to be very different from the mainstream spaceship games available today that are all more or less age of sails in space. DfC has a more modern approach and designer Andy Chambers has talked about it in terms of ECM vs ECCM and how stealth plays a big part.

Battles also exclusively(?) take place above a section of a planet with one side trying to land troops into cities while the other try to prevent it. There's three levels engagement, high orbit, low orbit and atmospheric. All in all it sounds really interesting and has made me hold off on getting into Star Wars Armada until I've tried Dropfleet.

I've put together a lot more info and some decent pictures on my blog here: link

Sounds interesting and I really like the ship models.

You can hide in space?

Great looking models, though!

Pretty interesting, always been a fan of Andy C, ships look great so far and rules sounds interesting. Can't wait.

@billthecat – No, but I'm happy to see any mainstream-ish miniatures company do a space based game that is NOT sailing ships in space.

Besides, the way I understand it it's not stealth as in "you can't see me against the inky blackness of space" but rather "you can't see me against this against this exploding ewar cacophany".

You really are the first person I've heard claim 'sailing ships in space.' WWII in space, yes.

What do you mean?

Doug

Nice models!

I'll use whatever system I settle on…probably Full Thrust.

Looking forward to seeing the rules as well….

…and I am more than happy to suspend disbelief… a cacophony of ECM is still MUCH easier on the imagination than sailing ships OR WW2 in spaaaace.

…but will there be fighters?

Thanks for this. I'd forgotten it was in the works and was getting tempted by Star Wars: Armada. (Star Wars: Armada just doesn't seem like good value: $100 USD for the starter and only three ships?!) So you've strengthened my resolve. And like you I like the thought of the combined planetary invasion. Take the orbitals, then in go the drop ships.

@billthecat: There are supposed to be fighters (according to Andy Chambers). I do know the ground combat game has them (some beautiful models too), so it would be odd if they weren't in the space game.

The larger ships in that fleet are interesting, the smaller ones are pretty meh. Like nvdoyle, I might use them for Full Thrust, or maybe Squadron Strike.

EDIT: Ah, I see the smaller ships are actually meant for atmospheric operations, their look makes more sense now.

-Will

If there aren't going to be battles in deep space, then fighters and small gunboats make sense.

Color me *very* interested in this!

We'll just ignore the claims of realism and just get to the meat of it… Those ships are sexy.

I'm with Balthazar on that point. Daaaaaaamn sexy!

Andy Chambers has confirmed that there will be carriers and fighters, which seems right, given that the idea is an orbital action, with fighters launching to counteract defending air assets, and deliver suppression to the landing zones, etc.

I was humming and ha-ing about getting into a new space combat game, and I'm deeply disappointed in SW Armada. This just might be my new resin addiction…

Quick update with some info and pics from Gencon.

First off, here are the Scourge:

Second – the game will be kickstarted in (probably) October to allow for a two player starter in plastic rather than resin. Fullfilment in April or so. I'm a bit tired of kickstarters myself, but Dave at Hawk Wargames is incredibly well structured and has a great eye for detail so I think this will actually be a very smooth experience. Also.. plastic, yay!

Each cruiser sprue will have enough parts to assemble it as either of four different variants.

Some additional pictures at Fire Broadside: link