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. 

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 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. 

Dropzone Commander tournament game 2, Shaltari vs Resistance

This is a small AAR from the second game of our Dropzone Commander tournament.

As with the last AAR, it is in no way representative on what actually happened... Mostly Shaltari propaganda.


My Shaltari would be facing the Resistance forces under the command of Linus.

Shaltari Braves survey the area as the gates take cover behind the large buildning...

Enemy attack choppers moves in...

I used the Pungari aggresivly, pushed them into the centre building.

I pushed the elite Firstborns aggressively into a building at one of the flanks, thinking this close combat unit would scare the enemy from enter the building.

Those enemy heavy dropships moves up, with barrel bombs, troops and a AA gun mounted on top. These look really cool and if I would get Resistance anytime in the future they would be a must.

Enemy veteran infantry enters the same building as the Pungaris and a unit of bikes enters the triangular building on the flank.
Those motorcycles were really quick.

An AA tank are located and my Warstrider takes it out...

I could not take out the attack choppers with my AA fire and would be facing them in the next turn.

Barrelbombs and guns... The large buildning takes a beating...

A unit of quadbikes with gas canisters clear out the building with my Firstborns... Damn... that was a nasty suprise...

I moved in some Braves to support those small Pungaris from beeing totaly slaughtered by the enemy veterans.

Moving to close to one of my gates the choppers are hit by the charged air and one of them explodes in the air.

Those enemy veterans slaughters my poor Pungaris as his trucked aa guns takes a beating from my guns. A unit of Braves takes the control of the triangular building from the bikes as they moves out.

The enemy commander heavy tanks move out again, trying to shoot my other warwalkers in the flank as my commander already had taken up fire position at the same terrain piece. Early on in the game I had given that commander a bloody noose, having retreated and made field repairs he was now bold enough to show his face again.

Warwalkers pushes forwards as the infantry hold its ground even when really nasty veterans beats them down or the building they are occupying are filled with gas...

This stoicism is what the Shaltari can do, they are given an order, they follow through, and that was what gave me a victory in the end.

This was a really tight game and If I remember correctly I think it was something like 4 or 8 points difference in killscore.

Wow what a game, his army was particularly nasty with all that AA ,and not having played against Resistance before he had some nasty surprises up his sleeve.
Interesting army, lots of aa to keep my gates at bay and hindering me from using my troops at the maximum ability, nasty gas grenade quad bikers that cleared houses, those veteran infantry were good and the fact that he had almost no real ground units meant that most of my anti tank units had nothing to shoot at and thus indirectly had paid points for a gun that they couldn’t use.





Here are some pictures of the other peoples games.

An update on the map and how the the controll of the areas are distrubuted after the second game on the tournament.

Gaming mat for Dropfleet Commander

I order a gaming mat for coming games of Dropfleet Commander.

The mat comes from Deep Cut Studio but was order through Alphaspel, a great Swedish reseller that sent the order the same day it was placed which meant I had the miniatures and this gaming mat the next day. https://alphaspel.se/

For these pictures I noted while using our round kitchen table that gaming on a round table could be a interesting way of representing a small planet...

Dropfleet Commander AAR, UCM vs PHR

Here are a short AAR from my second game of Dropfleet Commander and again against my friend Filips PHR.
We got a little more  brushes of paint on the miniatures since last game and we managed to read some more in the rulebook which did speed up the game.
I know we missed some rules but we are slowly getting better and didnt have to flip the rulebook as much as last time.

UCM fleet moves out...

The PHR close in on the humans.

My Berlin class cruiser and its two Toulouse frigate escorts.
A better picture of the nose art at the end of this post.

My New Orleans close in on the middle cluster to deploy troops with the Berlin and the two Toulouse in close behind, the Moscow class heavy cruiser sneaks behind some debris and the Seattle class carrier closes in.

Enemy deploys fighter protection but I elect to send bomber squadrons against a bigger ship.

A closer look at my Seattle class carrier, its still work in progress but the "Battlestar Galactica" symbol can be seen. :)

The Moscow closes in...

 Ships are getting ready to deploy ground troops...

Enemy deployed a armoured formation so I elected to deploy an armoured formation on my own as well as infantry in another sector do capture the military base with its guns so I can shoot at enemy spaceships from the ground...

I played way to aggressive with my Seattle and the PHR used this to take her down. My Moscow had instead moved to far and she moved past the PHR faster then I would have liked with all those big guns...
This would be the theme of this game, the Moscow was constantly badly placed

The Berlin finishes of the already damaged enemy heavy cruiser.

In the fight on the ground my tank formation was triumphant and I actually managed to take out the enemy ship, granted it was badly damaged before but still...
So a total success at the middle sector.

The Berlin goes down burning...

The Moscow class heavy cruiser totally dominates the space above the sector with its massive tonnage, giving me the points for the aerial control.

And here I did something wrong... I deployed troops after moving full speed with a special order. You can only deploy assets if you are able to shoot with guns but the movement special order stops you from shooting that turn.
I would still have the aerial control with the New Orleans resulting in a victory, but just.

A small small victory for the UCM, huzza...




Here are some work in progress pictures of my UCM fleet.

Moscow class heavy cruiser with "tiger mouth" nose art.

Berlin class cruiser "Hot Babe" in the middle.
The Seattle class carrier got the "Battlestar Galactica" logo painted in read on it.