Odds and Ends from Dropzone Commander

There have been a number of threads on the DzC forums that have gotten attention from Hawk Wargames, and I think anyone interested in this game should know about them.

In this thread, it's all a but shhhhh, there is a general consensus that Hawk Wargames has a perception that there s nothing new going on.  The choice of going to a monthly newsletter with little to now news in between has given the community a feeling that there is not much to keep the excitement going.  I know from my own experience with 2CE, when I started reporting on DzC he was very surprised that anything had happened since release.  If the amount of search hits LXG gets every day for DzC and I can say that there is a market for DzC news.  Unfortunately the response from Hawk was lack luster:

Sorry for the silence guys, all I can say is, keep an eye out for the next newsletter!

I feel they are doing a disservice to the community with this response, but I know there are other things coming, so maybe it's just a resource problem, ie. not enough time in the day.  One can hope that this won't always be the trend.

I found this thread interesting mainly because it has to do with costs.  What I found most interesting was that there is a perception that the start up for this game is too high.  I don't have a local gaming store with this product nearby but I found the basic starter for under $85.  You still need a rule book for $20, so the total start up is $105.  To compare Dark Age starters range from $39.99 to $79.99 and you need the $20 rule book, so a high end cost of $100.  Malifaux starters range from $29 to $46 but the v1.5 rule book is $35, so a high end of $81.  Of course the Big Guerilla in the room has starter boxes over $100, a rule book that costs just under $75, and requires army books that are about $50, so a start up of about $225?  Dzc might be more pricey than some, but they are hardly the highest.  Hawk did address the issue though, and this time much better, I think at least:

Price is something we hear about every now and again and so we are aware that the initial price point is considered by some to be too high. The problem comes from the games mechanics, you need You need the anti air or you can't shoot the dropships, you need the anti tank or you can't kill the anti air, you need the infantry or you can't find the objectives and you need the dropships or you can't get anywhere fast (and the game is called Dropzone Commander!). All of these mean models and the cost adds up.

Our solution in the short term was the card scenery, as a 10mm city is probably not in most gamers terrain box the idea was that although we could not bring the price point down on the starter sets, we could on the terrain needed to play. Yes a gw starter is cheaper and you get two factions, but you then need to pay £000s for the terrain or proxy/build it yourself.

Then there is this beauty.  2CE says that he think's my favorite part of the hobby is rumor mongering.  I love trying to piece together what is coming next from the enigmatic.  So someone got this at Templecon 2013:

1 - There is a 5th faction confirmed in the future.

2 - Dave says it's obvious who they are from the fluff in the rulebook.

3 - I think he said it wasn't mutants (UCM + Scourge in the occupied worlds)

Based on this and a quick re-read of the fluff, I vote the Lizard like aliens the Scourge were using as hosts at the beginning of the war.  Here's hoping we don't have to wait too long to hear more about this.

So there you have it, some things I picked up when reading the forums and I hope you found them as interesting as I did.  You will notice the three photos in this article.  They were taken by a member of the forums, Hightower.  I think they really showcase the new card terrain system Hawk Wargames is using for DzC.  I expect 2CE and I will be getting into this very soon.  In the meantime, Faeit212 aka. Natfka has some great videos showing of the DzC stuff.  give them a look, and until next time...

Belgarath97