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.   

The issue from version 1. 

The first version of Dropzone - while a masterpiece - had some things that after a time could improve. It had been severely tested (sucessfully) as a tournament game and had many types of missions that can be described as fun and casual. Some balance issues was shown as well as some power creep. An new edition was inevitable. But what was version 1 lacking? 

• It was missing rules for woods with similar rules as the buildings. 
• Fast movers' models was completely pointless. You tended not to use the models even as markers. 
• The amount of battlegroups was a little to high. 6 in a battle meant that many people used "dead activations" where they didn't actually move anything into the table. 
• I always thought that the "double tap" was very effective. And boring. You have one large Battlegroup that you activate last in one turn and then first in the next making sure you get a double activation with that squad causing lots of problem. 
• Walk-on-demolish was a little to effective. This was countered with variation in missions but it was still a little over the top. 
• Focal points was a little to much focused on killing the opponent. I did a lot of rants about how Recon and Target's of opportunities usually gave the victory to the person with least kill points. Meaning they had played the mission instead of focusing on killing the opponent's models. 
• We saw an increase of special rules. For instance, the main tank in the four first factions was pretty similar and had only slightly small changes. You had the Standard tank from UCM, the skimmer version with short range in the Scourge, the Skimmer version with passive save and longer range in Shaltari och Walker with double DP, less armour but better weapon in the PHR. The new models tended to do several things at once. Being AA and a capable Anti-tank. Being both AT, AA and Scout. And so on. 
• Then we of course had many smaller things that could be addressed. 

The good with version 2. 

So when version 2 came I was very eager to see on how the game were going to be improved. And in many aspects of the points above they did alright. 

With the new rules the addition of woods as Garrison you can really have a very versatile gaming table. Area terrain woods are still some of the easiest way to make terrain. Have a piece of square base and place a tree on top. Done. Not the best looking but darn effective. Now we have the option to play in a woodland scenery. 

Fast movers are now models being used. We can discuss how good those rules are now but overall they aren't bad per say. Just different and the models are important as the placement of the models are important. 

Focal points changed a little so now there is a point to be first on them. I like this one. Though I think they could be 1 for holding and 1 for having the most within 6". 

Walk on demolish is pretty dead now. 

The CQB in the first ed was something that often came up as problematic. Many new players found the calculations a bit tedious. It was quite an awkward activation then. The change to activating and just shooting at a target squad is much easier to grasp. I think this is a good step. 

And the game is as beautiful as ever and with the addition of new models like the small HQ models it really shows TT have a interest in the game. 

Might have stolen this picture from TT-Combat

Version 2 came up with the idea of moving transports separately from the transported units. While we are still getting hang of it as we are quite stuck in version 1 (where transports and the units transported activate at the same time), I like this. You pick a squad - no matter if it is a transport of the squad inside - and activate it. Then move on to the next squad. I think it works well and is quite logical. The free disembark rule with the air-transports works well and forces people to actually land once in a while. 

Overall that was the improvements in my opinion. Some important aspects there which I really like. 

The smaller changes that always happen

This part is about the things that we see in any game. Changes for the sake of changes or tweaks that makes a bad rule going worse or better. Or a good/bad rule getting ditched. They are not major parts but adds up to something. I will of course not remark on all changes but I think some are noteworthy.

The way E v s A works now is for me more awkward than the old system where same energy and same armour meant 5+ to damage. The old system was easy and while we can all say that E7+D6 will give a value to beat armour 8-13 it is still a calculation to be done there. Many, many times in a game. I actually find it harder. A weapon can now damage on 2+/3+/4+/5+/6+ as well as double on 2+/3+/4+/5+/6+. Meaning you need to calculate everything double up. 

In the old system, something damaged on 2+ they always doubled on 4+. Easy. 

It also becomes more complicated as there are many times the double damage rules doesn't kick in. Most often with Garrisons. So it actually becomes a bit awkward doing lots of calculations - even though they are easy if we just look at a single calculation - than to have a chart and a bit more standard way of doing damage. This can of course be from my long time as a 40k player but I had no problem transition to original DZC's "equal Energy and defense meant 5+" instead of 4+ (as in 40k). But I have a problem getting the hang of the "E+D6 should equal or beat the armour and if 2 better than required to double damage". 

Another thing that is just a change is the way LOS works. Now aircrafts can get cover. And in contrast are much easier to spot. All in all it is just a change that anyone can live with. Still we house-ruled away the 3d range-checking. It is still stupid in any miniature game - just assume the range of the AA weapons take the height of the target into account. Epsecially when you can have any height on the stand (kind of). However there is a inconsistency as range is still measure to the center of the model. So you can clearly be seeing a model almost 50%, be in range of most the hull and not reach. Old system was a bit easier.  

The skimmer bonus coming automatically is a thing I see works pretty well. Because it was a memory game before. But it damn makes them much more powerful. Also changing skimmer bonus to Evasive kind of makes sense. 

I miss the Hot LZ rule. It was awkward in the old game but I really wanted to see a expansion instead of loosing this rule. Not being allowed to land nor disembark or embark your units within 3" of an enemy unit would have been really interesting. And effective. Then have several Hot LZ cards to make sure you could get your people out would have been awesome! But I understand why it was removed. It was not used to much effect in version 1 but could have been a awesome rule. 

Larger chance of surviving crashing transports and the chance of surviving crashing buildings are two good examples of changes that I don't feel either way to. There are both positive and negative things about it. I understand why they did it and it is just a matter of adapting from my perspective.  

Another thing I think they over-did was to kill off the move onto the table and shoot. They could have just ignored all the new rules and just say that all units are at +2 to hit turn 1. Making it a real "deployment turn". But it was a serious problem before and I do prefer this way instead of the old but a middle ground would have been better. 

So! Any dreamy parts of DZC 1 you long back to? Anything you still have nightmares of? Any tidbit of new rules you read and fel "Meh - I am surprisingly neutral to this." 

Part two where I whine about version 2 come in a few weeks. It will also have my "Perfect Egge-Dropzone" layout as well. Just remember opinions are just opinions.