Dropzone missions in combination lies strength part 3 Swedish search

 Swedish search

During DZC 1 I held several tournaments and one type I really liked was the variation in DZC that came with the "pure" missions. Now that have changed as I think DZC 2 really need to have mixed objectives as Target's is such a fast mission. But back then I usually had the following missions (in no special order):

1. Target's of opportunity or Military complex. 

2. Focal points or spearhead or Bunker assault.

3. Recon or swedish recon. 

4. Hold ground or the Swedish hold ground.

5. Swedish Search.

The overall result was that players were forced to have a good balance in their armies. Sure, they could demo in some missions, but that would suffer a lot in others. You could have a lot of infantry, but those would have suffered in missions where it was a question to hold specific points. And so on. I really liked this. Many times, I changed nr 2 or 4 to a mixed mission with critical locations or focal points together with Mobile Hidden Objectives. But most likely you have noticed the important part:

"What is Swedish search?" No one asked. 

"Tell me more about Swedish Search!" A person with no interest of it never asked. 

"It sounds awesome as it is both Swedish and Search in the same mission!" A completely made-up person stated.  

Well, since you are so eager, let me tell you about it. 

Review of Dropzone missions TT's calendar 2021!

 This is a good one. TT-combat just re-releaed the reconquest scenarios. I thought to review them quickly. 

https://ttcombat.com/pages/dropzone-commander-resources

You have the link to them above as well as the rest of the resources at TT Combat. Read them before this review so you know what I am talking about. 

Dropzone missions in combination lies strength part 2

So in the original DZC 2.0 book we had a lot more missions than what is in the current version. I don't know why this is as it would have pretty easy releasing a scenariobook with lots and lots of missions. But I thought to write down several missions as I remember them as well as give several ideas for variations and my opinion on them.

I will use the below as a template which clearly can be seen done in a professional program (paint) with perfect scale (I shot from the hip). It gives a good template for missions though. 

  

Dropzone missions - in combination lies strength part 1.

The variation in missions has always been a important part of the Dropzone games. When the first ed came out people were mind blown by the missions as they tended to lean towards objectives instead of killing the opponent's models. Later on the focus became a little more on slaughter. Version 2 changed the missions quite a bit, both by the rules changes but also how you will need to handle the objectives with the new ed. 

There are only a few missions in the rulebook as it is now but it is very easy to change them while keeping the balance but still give a very good variation. 

Dropzone commander 2 my thoughts (part 2)

As with everything you need to take my comments with a little perspective. While I am vocal about my complaints on version 2 it is good to have the game there. If TT combat wouldn't have taken over then most likely we would have seen a community driven game. A version I think would have died eventually. 

Part two, the last part, about my opinion of Dropzone version 2 is a bit more whiny. While the second edition have some good points there are many things that changed the fundamental positive things with first ed that I really really miss. 

Tiny commanders walkthrough

When I think back on version 1 of Dropzone Commander I would think that it would be cooler to have some cheaper and smaller HQ available. That is one thing that TT Combat have released and I thought to take a look at.

I thought to go through the smallest command choices in each faction and discuss a little bit about them. 

Dropzone Commander game, Shaltari vs PHR

 

We had a game of Dropzone Commander and it was really ages since I played this game and first game of second edition for me.

It was a really fun, lots of mistakes were made rule wise but it mattered little for the overall feel of the game.

My Shaltari would face Filips PHR.

And damn, I really missed playing this game. The feel for the game, the atmosphere and the combination of infantry, tanks and walkers with dropships and air power.

In the end it was a small victory for the forces of the Shaltari.

Dropzone Commander 2 - my thoughts (part 1)

 Dropzone commander ver 2. My opinion   

As version 2.0 of Dropzone came out the game basically died here. Several changes felt like a step back from the game I had come to love and I wasn't alone in thinking that the new version screwed up many things of what I liked about version 1. 

I thought to describe my opinion about 2.X. while I think that version 1 is clearly superior I still think that version 2 did several things right. Note that all this are of course just subjective opinions. There are as many opinions as there are people.   

Third Author arrives

 After years and years of complaining on Engel and Jinx to be allowed into their Blog I have finally been allowed a place among gigants! 

As a competitive Dropzone Commander 1 to 1.2 player, I had a small blog about DZC which later on died out making me seriously considering my life as I had put in quite a lot of time into those 350 blog posts. That was because version 2 came. And I didn't like it and it died off. But lately we have started to play version 2.2 and while I do not agree on many of the game´s changes from the first edition it is still the best looking game to date. 

So as my introduction on Nidavellir Shipyard I would like to talk a little bit about why I started to play the game again. And show some pictures on my games. As it is fun with pictures.

Planetfall

After some time the forces and ships constructed in the Nidavellir shipyard been reinstated under overall UCM control and are as we speak heading out for the Reconquest and making planetfall.

I have moved my older Dropzone Commander post from my other blog to this blog, combining everything related to Dropfleet/ Dropzone Commander in one place.

And I actually played a Dropzone Commander game recently, a small battlereport of this is in the making.

I really love the Dropfleet/ Dropzone universe and hopefully more games will follow.

So with this post, we got boots on the ground.

Santiago class Corvettes

 

I just love the design of the Santiago class Corvettes.
The sleek twin winged light craft with its large air intake for atmospheric combat. 

Painting wise I went for a little darker grey with a tint of blue as the base with red markings.
All the lenses are painted with florescent paint making them shine under UV light. Unfortunately I didnt take any pictures of that.  

The casting of these wasnt perfect and you can see the lines from the 3d printing from the mouldmaking.

I really really like the design of the Santiago and I think its one of my favourite in the the whole Dropfleet Commander universe.

Why I painted five when they are sold in a blister of six you say.... Dont know. Somehow thats whats got primed at the same time and I just went with it.

On this closeup you can see the lines on the frontal wings from the moulds, it makes it much harder to get a smooth colour modulation, harder to wash and highlight and making the transfer stick or blend into the model better.
Its not the biggest problem as on the gaming table they are not to be inspected this close. So from afar they still look good.
But it bothers me as more of a painter then a gamer.

These will join the previously painted Corvettes.
http://nidavellir-shipyard.blogspot.com/search/label/Corvette 

Osprey class Cruiser

The Osprey is a cruiser design to engage the enemies at large distance.

Named after a bird of prey from earth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osprey

The Osprey is lightly armoured but heavily armed, combined with its advanced scanner arrays it can pick out the enemy and engage them hopefully before they can engage it, unleashing a heavy barrage from her three N-11 Artillery Cannon turrets.
The N-11 artillery turrets were especially chosen in the Ospreys design phase for its low powered ability, requiring little energy and combined with its subsystem network she can unleash a hailstorm of artillery shots with little effort.

She was really really fun to design and build. Some extra cutting and playing with parts made for a unique design that I really like. I should really get more of those Resistance ships to convert just for the parts alone.

Rule wise I intend to play her using the Resistance rules for an Cruiser, using its four options with three N-11 artillery cannon turrets and the Scanner array upgrade.