Athens class Light Cruiser

 

 

 

"... The Athens-class light cruiser was presumably developed as an evolution of the Osaka-class, much as the Saratoga was for the New Cairo. Borrowing design cues from the Saratoga, the Athens featured a unique hull superstructure, reduced power requirements, and a significantly reduced crew compliment, making it more efficient than the Osaka; however, these traits have also made the Athens more difficult to produce... "

https://dropfleet-commander.fandom.com/wiki/Osaka_Light_Cruiser

The Athens class Light Cruisers have been produced by the massive Nidavallir shipyard. Its a smaller ship, perfect for escort roles of larger ships or for patrolling.
They are needed in large numbers.

I got these event exclusive ships some times ago and thought it was time to give them some love.
They are painted dark gray with red details. I added white markings inspired from designs of ancient Greek shields because of the name of this class of ships.

Starting a DZC Army: The typical army for beginners

Since Dropzone is a rock-paper-scissor game it is fairly important to get the units right. You need infantry to find objectives, dropships to get the infantry there, anti-aircraft tanks to take down transports, anti-tank to get those anti-aircrafts, flamers and elite infantry to stop enemy infantry from doing anything they want, Scouts to get the Command cards out and more. 

While each player have a different taste all armies need to consist of these things in a fairly balanced way. But what that balance is can be quite hard to gauge as a beginner. So I intend to give you a baseline for a 1500 point army without actually making the army - just describe what each army should consist of and slightly discuss variations. If you go by this "template" you will have a solid playable 1500 points army in DZC. Most likely you will need to change something to suit your style or you have found you want another balance between units but the army you get with my rules will make it very playable for basically all missions.  

And then you can go wack with whatever you want change.  

So lets start:

UCM Shinano, Atlantis class Battlecruiser

The UCMS Atlantis was the predecessor to the Johannesburg class. Originally concepted as a testbed for future warship development, the Atlantis was built off a cruiser hull and shares many of the same components. Her actions during the Wolfrum Penal Insurrection, as well as limited engagements with the Shaltari, proved the battlecruiser concept sound, paving the way for future vessels of similar scope. However, the UCM's pivot to a new hull design resulted in the Atlantis becoming the first and only member of her class, as despite having equivalent firepower, her hull was significantly more expensive to produce and maintain. Regardless, the Atlantis is still in active service with the UCMF.

https://dropfleet-commander.fandom.com/wiki/Johannesburg_Battlecruiser

Yeah... so that might not be entirely true...
The Nidavellir shipyards have evidently constructed atleast one Atlantis class Battlecruiser making the ship number of this class more then the prototype ship that bear its name.

The UCM Shinano is yet to see heavy action, only smaller skirmishes, patrols and as a smaller localized show of force missions. And that might be the reason she is not known to the greater UCM or the other  factions.
So if the Atlantis being one and only ship is a lie then the might of the UCM might be more numerous then previously thought. No doubt because of the ships from the Nidivellir shipyards starts to sneak into the UCM forces to supply those numbers.

For the colour inspiration for this ship I looked at ww2 Japanese carriers. So I painted here as a ww2 Japanese carrier.
Dark red bottom as seen to mark the waterline for ships, white stripe on its top with an arrow and a red sun.
In the end I skipped some smaller detail step to speed up the painting time but that is smaller things only I will notice.
In the end I am rather pleased none the less.

The UCM Shinano is seen here escorted by two Santiago class corvettes.

And when I painted the UCM Shinano I also painted two small civilian satellites. The plan is two have them as terrain, objective or just to make the tabletop look better, adding another detail.
I dont remember who made them so dont ask. They are rather cute.

Seen here for scale.

Cheers // Eng