Planetside with Dropzone Commander

Greetings and happy hump day!  As I stated in my blog's introduction, when it comes to wargamming I have a vast and varied interest in may different scales and game systems; though Flame of War is my most current "first love" or "first obsession" as is probably apparent.  As such, to expand on the content you find here I thought I would throw out a brief entry in regards to my more recent forays into the world of Dropzone Commander or DZC.  

To be honest, I purchased DZC starter set almost a year ago and and like so many other miniatures in my horde it remained in stasis until a latter time.  I bought the game with the hopes of creating and PHR or Post Human Republic army; and in conjunction with the starter set picked up a few blisters.  

developing a

Through the starter set, I was able to introduce one of my gaming friends to the system.  As he liked the PHR, I quickly gave up my primary ambition and settled on the fleshing out of the UCM components of the starter set.  

This past Saturday, Peter stopped over and we were able to enjoy almost 5 hours of gaming in which we played both a game of FOW (Fate of a Nation--which I hope to post the AAR soon) and a game of DZC.  It was only Peter's second game, but we were able to expand and explore several of the various rules that we didn't in our first game.  We played through the scenario given in the starter set and had a great time!  

Nate's Scourge Warriors have secured an objective!

The rules are far simpler than those of FOW, especially when it comes to CQB. However, they are still detailed enough to offer a lot of tactical flexibility. The greatest mechanical difference between this game and may others is the use of dropships to deploy and then redeploy your forces.  

If your deployment stinks in many other games systems, you will find yourself having a much harder time recovering.  In DZC, however, if you feel your armored battlegroup would be better off over there; simply hop in your dropship, buzz on over and bring their guns to bear where you need them!  This is especially critical in getting objectives off the board as the quickest way is to fly them off.    Furthermore, this opens up a ton of tactical options--your enemy cannot redeploy those tanks if you shoot down his dropship!

In the game, you are playing a relativity small action in the context of larger planetary assaults. DZC, therefore, focuses heavily on the finding, securing, and removal of various objectives, pieces of intel etc. In the game with Peter, for instance, though he was able to secure an objective (thus giving him 1 Victory Point) I was able to secure one and get it off my table edge (giving me 2 Victory Points).  If the game had tied, no doubt Peter would have won as he basically annihilated my army (what DZC refers to as "kill points").  Because we had to do a lot of rule-book flipping, I failed to capture any images of my contest with Peter.  However, Nate and I were able to play a quick game Sunday night after Bible Study.  In the game Nate and I played, Nate managed to do to me essentially what I did to Peter.  Though I killed most of his stuff, Nate was able to secure an objective while I failed to do anything as Nate consistently bested my troops in combat.  Through the crucible of hand to hand combat alone, Nate emerged the victor in the game by a score of 1-0; something he was incredibly proud of!

The casualties; Nate was playing the Scourge
 while I was commanding the UCM.

As a final note about the starter set and one you can tell from the pictures; the amazing feature about the DZC starter set is that in addition to getting a ton of miniatures and a full size rule-book you also receive DZC posters/mats to play on and 10 buildings!!  You literally have all you need to play the game right out of the box; no need to spend more time and money getting a great games table and terrain--it is already in there!

I have already purchased my additional battlegroups for my UCM army so hopefully in the next few weeks Peter will have his PHR up and ready to play allowing me to bring more glimpses of the Dropzone Commander universe!  As always, thanks for reading!

-Travis

The Painting Corner

Greetings and Happy 2015 to you!  Things have started to settle down after the wild holiday season so I have been able to allocate some time to showcase a few of the projects we have been working on in the Painting Corner.  The first is my Israeli Ch'ir Mamochan or Motorized Infantry platoon for Flames of War's Fate of a Nation supplement.

I have really enjoyed assembling and panting the models from this particular range.  While I have several different WW2 armies; getting to paint and play with vehicles and equipment from the Cold War Era has been a welcome change.  Furthermore, this is my first foray into a desert environment so the basing and gaming surface challenges have been a great experience as well.  

One of the FAL Rifle Teams

I primed them in black and then based coated their uniform with Vallejo 881 Yellow Green.  Their web gear, ammo pouches etc. were then picked out in Vallejo 884 Stone Grey while their helmets were painted in Vallejo 886 Green Grey (the same color I used for the IDF tanks).  I left the FALs black but the Uzi SMGs scatterd among the NCOs I picked out in Citadel's Leadbelcher. 

From this picture of modern IDF female soldiers, you will
notice the difference in skin tone among
them even now

Painting Middle Eastern skin tones was something that I experimented with a little and from the pictures you can probably see the different shades I tried out.  For the most part, I started with a base coat of Vallejo 875 Beige Brown.  Then, after giving the whole model a wash with Army Painter's Strong Tone ink, I highlighted the skin with a variant mix of Vallejo 875 Beige Brown and Vallejo 955 Flat Flesh.  Depending on the mix ratio, I came up with a variety of shades--I erred on a lighter shade 50% of the time as I can imagine many of these solders being the children of European immigrants that settled in Israel after the Holocaust and World War 2.   

The Platoon CO

The final step in painting the IDF troops was to add a final layer of highlighting.  I have tried various ways of doing this over the last few months and have sort of settled on a method that is quick but still looks pretty good. Since the Strong Tone Ink darkens/browns the model, to add a highlight I simply go over the raised areas of their clothing or equipment with the same color as the base coat.  I am sure I could have mixed in a little white to make it more pronounced, but I rather like the look just highlighting with the base color gives.  As I said, it is fast and still accomplishes what highlighting is supposed to!  The only area where I did not do this was with their helmets; for that I simply dry brushed the raised "camo net" pattern with Vallejo 884 Stone Grey.  

FAL teams supporting a M50 "French Sherman"

Once all of the models were complete, I faced my final challenge--basing.  These are the first desert bases I have done so was a little unsure of how to proceed.  After a few trials, I think I hit upon a formula that seems to work.  After gluing them to their bases, I game the top of the base a coat of PVA (Elmer's) glue and dipped it in sand.  Once that dried, I based coated with thinned out Vallejo 913 Yellow Ochre.  After that coat dried, I gave the top of the base a wash with Vallejo's Dark Brown ink followed by a drybrush of Vallejo 847 Dark Sand and then a final drybrush of Vallejo 918 Ivory.   To complete the base, I painted the sides with a coat of Vallejo 983 Flat Earth for some contrast and then added a few patches of underbrush to each one using Army Painter's Static Field Grass and some of their Highland's tufts. 

All in all I think they came out pretty good!  Here are some "textured" shots to mimic some of the grainy combat pics from the 1960's:

"Holding the Line"

 

LMG and Blincade Teams from the Weapons Squad 

"Watchers on the Wall"

Thanks for looking!  I should have some pics soon of the Egyptian SU-100s and some Egyptian infantry coming soon!  

See you on the table!

-Travis