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Heavy Armour

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THE RESISTANCE ROLLS OUT THE TANKS!
After the success of the converted Aegean Dropship and finishing Salakahn, Tyrant of Atlantia some weeks ago, I thought it was time to paint up some of my spare Hannibal Battle Tanks, and then add a new Commander to the Resistance. The obvious choice was the Broadsword Heavy Battle Tank of the UCM - converted and modified to suit the crazed minds of the Feral Resistance!
The Meat Grinder leads the rusted fist of the Resistance
Festooned with spikes, saws and grizzly trophies, the Meat Grinder is monstrous to behold
Only the broken imagination of a Feral Resistance mechanic could dream such madness
A rudimentary howdah mounts machine guns and rocket launchers for foes who venture too close
The pieces of the immense vehicle laid out - each track section is bigger than a Katana
The forsaken souls of the Tanis Resistance can field some impressive armour pieces
The conversion was simple - spikes, some chainsaw pieces on the front of the vehicle, a new weapon for the turret and then a mini-howdah on the back in the style of the Battle Buses, packing some machine guns and rockets. Rules-wise, this could count as the Chainguns and Grenade Launcher found on the Alexander, but mainly I did it to look cool. Just don't ask how it fits onto a Lifthawk!
Piles of abandoned vehicles litter the ruined city
Different classes of Battle Tank available to the Resistance forces, including the impressive Mehmed Siege Tank
Heavy armour rolls out!
The War Party sallies forth
Will I use this monster? Perhaps, especially if Hawk can make the Alexander a more tempting choice in the future. I am interested in playing some unusual Defender-Attacker scenarios soon, so perhaps it will appear there. Also, if I run Salakahn as my Commander I can field Alexanders as Heavy choices - running all three of my big tanks could be a lot of fun!

Thanks for reading,

George

Cities of Death

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STARTING ON THE RUINED CITY FOR DROPZONE COMMANDER

The past week has seen my spare time dedicated to painting up some of my terrain pieces for Dropzone Commander - buildings that have sat unassembled and unloved for a very long time! Finally biting the bullet on Monday, I soon discovered these pieces were quite fun to paint, and bashed out the set in a couple of days.

These pieces were a mixture of prizes, Christmas presents and random leftover parts (the cars), so at the moment the board has been quite cheap to put together! Of course I need another ten or more big buildings to run the "correct" density for Dropzone, and at the moment it looks like a big order from Blotzis coming soon!

Anyway, onto the pictures...
The ruined city starts to take shape
Rival gangs of survivors skirmish in the streets
The first building to be featured is the Terrace from Hawk Wargames. This expensive resin construction was a prize from a recent tournament, where my force won the Best Painted award. Wonderful, but a nightmare to put together!
Beautifully detailed, this piece took the longest to paint as each section of the terrace has different materials and details
The roof section is detailed with airducts and vents, as well as a pair of rusted advertising boards taken from 4Ground (another prize from another tournament!)
The price of this piece is enough to buy several larger buildings from Blotz, so as much as I would love to build a board with lots of these, I do not want to spend the money or the time constructing them!
Construction was... unpleasant, and the result are far from perfect. Weathering and overgrown bushes cover all sins!
The Terrace - a gorgeous piece of kit and a lot of fun to paint
The small Residential Building from Blotz
An incredibly simple piece of kit, this building is dwarfed by the larger offices and will not play a big role in future games
Mehmed Siege Tanks hunt for larger targets
The Office Building from Blotz, detailed with some vents and airducts from Hawk Wargames. This building was a gift from Coxer, finally constructed and painted!
Weathering and rust covers some damage done to the MDF during construction
Not quite 6" tall, this is a good Medium-sized building
Another Office Building from Blotz, this time featuring an extra floor and a helipad on the roof. Again, detail has been added with resin pieces from Hawk Wargames
This larger buildings was easier to build as I was more experienced and confident after the first Office Building
The roof is overgrown, obstructing the helipad
This piece is over 6" tall, and can easily work as a Large building 
Resistance forces roll past
Diner and Gas Station from Blotz
These two pieces are far smaller and would not really work as Small buildings. They might, however, work as Bunkers - secret entrances to Resistance tunnels
These buildings will not survive a bombardment for long
Lastly some scatter terrain - piled car bodies and burnt out hulks
Four small piles can be arranged as needed
I think they look great alongside the rusted Diner and Gas Station, and can break up the clean roads nicely
The city starts to form
Wildly different heights and sizes offer something interesting to fight over
King Crow surveys his kingdom
Resistance fighters encounter a roadblock
To fill the board, I think I will need to paint ten or so more buildings, plus some more light scatter terrain. Current plans also include a small park to add something different
The collection so far!
What's next? Not sure at the moment, but I do have one more piece of Dropzone Commander terrain sitting on the painting table - something a little more violent. Watch this space!

Thanks for reading,

George

You May Fire When Ready

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THE AEGIS ORBITAL DEFENCE LASER DROPS IN


Something a little more violent for the growing Dropzone Commander terrain collection - the Aegis Orbital Defence Laser brings not just a piece of terrain, but a vital objective and the option for special scenarios
This item was a gift from a very generous friend, and though it may be missing the entrance bunker, I'm not going to argue with free toys! 
The growing city
The Defence Laser was painted with a small amount of nrust and weathering as I wanted it to represent an abandoned position, captured by the Resistance forces and used for their own ends. It also covers a lot of my mistakes during the painting process!
Until I have some more terrain this will do as a nice stand-in for a Medium-sized building
Instead of bright silver I decided to paint the laser a burnished gold, with verdigris/turquoise detail. I am much more confident with getting a smooth finish with these colours
Transfers from the Warhammer 40,000 Imperial Knight kit add some detail to the housing of the laser
More detail and weathering on the back, while still looking fully armed and operational!
This is the first major military installation for the Dropzone city, and I am pleased with how it turned out. Next up - more abandoned buildings and something a little more jolly
Thanks for reading, 

George

Captain Deadpool

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WADE WILSON REGENERATES WITH NEW GUNS AND A NEW PAINT JOB

After twiddling my thumbs waiting for the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants to drop, I went crazy and started thinking about my Deadpool model - specifically his guns. Basically, I was not happy with the initial conversion, and soon began planning to swap the guns for something a little better
In the process of changing the weapons, significant damage was done to the rest of the model, and I resolved to repaint the entire thing! Cue a few hours in Nitro Mors, some rebuilding with the new parts, and he was ready to be painted once more
The latest paintjob is pretty much exactly the same, though I went for a different shade of brown on the pouches and straps that I am happier with
The main difference is the guns, which I am much happier with
I think the matching guns, which are also slightly smaller, improve his silhouette and balance the miniatures nicely
Ready for gaming once more, I am much happier with him now and have scratched the itch that was bugging me for some days
Wade can't decide which of Cyclops' bikes to steal
Captain Deadpool ready to shoot up whoever his employers need him to
Thanks for reading, 

George

Gone Fishin'

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TIME FOR THE HOLIDAYS! BUT WHAT'S NEXT ON THE PAINTING TABLE?
This week I disappear for some time on my summer holidays, but I have prepared a number of projects for when I return - let's have a look!

First up is the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants - finally, some bad guys for the Marvel Universe Miniatures Game!
These models look superb, and I'm really looking forward to painting them. My favourite by a long way is Sabretooth, but all five of them are impressive. My initial concerns with Toad have settled down after seeing the artwork posted above - ruffs can be scary after all!
Some more terrain for the growing Dropzone Commander table also awaits construction - a large Residential block and a large amount of scatter terrain will help bulk out the collection. Not pictured is something else, something a little more special that I want to finish before showing off 
Bus stops and Subway entrances will make the city look a little more realistic. These pieces have been sprayed with textured spray paint like all of my buildings - this gives the battered and weathered effect. It looks strange without paint! 
Thanks for reading,

George

Fun At The Fair

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MORE TERRAIN FOR THE DROPZONE
After short holiday, I have returned to the painting table at full speed in an effort to get this board finished before Dropfleet Commander arrives. This week I have painted two large additions - a Residential Block and the Ferris Wheel, and several smaller pieces of scatter terrain - Bus Shelters and Subway Entrances. Let's take a closer look!
The city as it currently stands - minus the Defence Laser of course
Five buildings, lots of smaller pieces and the Ferris Wheel bring some life to the streets, but I am still some way from finishing the table
The incredible Ferris Wheel from Blotz Terrain is something I just had to pick up
This is not a fun piece of kit, and took a long time to put together. Painting was hardly relaxing either! Nonetheless I am happy with the result, and especially like the effect of the smothering plantlife wrapped around the rusted supports
This piece is crucially over six inches tall, enabling flying units to hide behind it!
A small cabin also comes with this set
The second major addition was the Residential Block, which I constructed with an extra floor. Unfortunately this does not bring it over six inches in height, so it will have to work as a Medium building
The individual terraces were annoying to assemble! I added an advertising board from Blotz and air ducts from Hawk Wargames to add detail to the roof
I am quite happy with the plant growth on this corner of the building, but did not want to overwhelm the finished piece
A rear view of the Residential Block
Three Bus Shelters and four Subway Entrances work as scatter terrain
Buses always travel in pairs!
Here we see the scatter terrain in action - not dominating the table or restricting landing zones too much, but making the city feel more realistic
The collection so far! I currently have three more buildings on order, which should bulk out the collection nicely
The big upcoming projects will be an elevated road system, some more exotic buildings like a hotel, and a multi-storey car park, filled with abandoned civilian cars
Thanks for reading, 

George

Warmill Elmor Road Mega City Set

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WINNER DAVE FINISHES OFF HIS ROAD SYSTEM

I'm coming up to running my third infinity event at my FLGS, where we tend to play games using the 20:20 mission pack to remove the absolute need for specialists and an HVT.  The group I play with are not a competitive lot and the very thought of a tournament is enough to put some people off. With that in mind they have become organised play events, with a nominal fee to the shop for the use of their facilities.

So far I've been very lucky to be able to get my hands on enough terrain to provide some cool looking boards.  This is all thanks to our local warcor (and a chap named Sean) who doesn't mind dropping off boxes of terrain when we need them. I then do my best to provide what terrain I have, which is slowly growing and slowly getting painted. I'd like to be able to provide two complete boards, one a typical city fight board and the other a desert military camp.

Enter the Warmill Elmor Road Mega City set. This is not a high demand item, so I don't think the Warmill guys keep it in stock, there was a slight delay as a fresh one was cut.  I bought the biggest set, that is not elevated.  I think I went too big, this is a lot of board coverage and I can't see me using all of it.  Here it is shortly after construction, it dwarfs my double Warsenal building.

With regards to construction I found the pieces a very tight fit and despite what the instructions say I found trying to push bits out of the frame with just my thumbs of fingers typically lead to tares or frayed bits.  It wasn't long before I stopped that pursuit and went to using a knife.

The road sections connect to each other by use of these small connector parts, which sit up proud of the road. This design makes them fiddly to put together and liable to come apart mid game, which is kinda annoying.  It reminded me of my younger days, playing with electric train sets, spending most of my time fixing and re-fixing the track as connectors came loose.

I wasn't happy with this and decided some modifications were in order.  Rare earth magnets rule the day, so I ordered a bunch of 5x5x2mm. Now that was hard frickin' work, especially when it came time to do the T-Junction pieces. That solution seems to have worked well although it's yet to face trial by combat.

With the construction phase mostly done, it's time to start painting. I bought six cans of Auto Extreme grey primer from eBay. Cheap paint, that does the job.  Not as thin or as nice a finish as a can of Rustoleum but at a fraction of the price.

Add caption
It's quite a nice grey, a little darker and a little bluer than I'd hoped...it doesn't immediately yell road, but this is the future so anything can happen.  Time to break out the airbrush and maybe tone the grey down a bit.

True to form I went back and forth with schemes and technique, which meant getting the road set complete took me a while.  Having a deadline really helped as I wanted it ready for the third Infinity Games day at Entoyment.

The complete set

The future really is orange
Hector and company holding the junction
Man the walls!
Here's a couple of set up shots from the Games Day.
Busy streets!
We used the SWAT van as the central objective for one of the 20:20 missions.  The vehicles aren't mine (although I wish they were).


My terrain collection is certainly getting there in terms of amount, but I feel it's lacking cohesion and doesn't really tell a story.

My next project is to pimp out the road with accessories in the form of road blocks and a fleet of vehicles.

Thanks for reading, suggestions are always welcome.

Dave

Dropfleet Prepares To Drop

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THE KICKSTARTER IS DELAYED... SO HERE'S SOME ARTWORK!


As I type this, Hawk have opened their communication lines, reassuring us that Dropfleet Commander is on the way! Shipping will (all being well) start before the end of August. Fantastic news! The forums and social media pages were starting to get a little unpleasant, but for now the wailing and gnashing of teeth can calm down a bit.

Today is the Dropfleet Commander :Pre-Release Event at Firestorm Games, an event I am sadly not attending. To all those who are, good luck and I hope you take a lot of pictures! I've already seen a few pictures and it looks great.

I'm not above being a little impatient sometimes, but in this case I'm not too worried. I have a dozen other projects on the painting table, and have experience waiting for Kickstarters - as a veteran of the Alien versus Predator Kickstarter a couple of months is nothing. Receiving the models in September is pretty good for me, as it gives me a deadline for getting the Dropzone Commander terrain and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants completed, as well as a unit of Typhoons and Thunder Wagons for an upcoming tournament. 

In the mean time, here is some beautiful artwork posted onto the Dropfleet Facebook group by Steve Perry and Paul Williams. I love these pieces - atmospheric and gorgeously detailed, they even make me like the Shaltari vessels!
Glorious PHR ships
Sinister and brooding UCM 
PHR vessels entering the upper atmosphere
More UCM vessels
Searching an abandoned space station - getting some great Aliens vibes here
Roll on September.

Thanks for reading,

George

High Rise

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THIS IS NOW A TERRAIN BLOG


Apologies to everybody for the communication breakdown! Painting all these buildings has driven me insane, and the taking pictures/writing blog posts side of the hobby has suffered as a result. Normal service to resume shortly! In the mean time, here's a few pictures of the latest projects - some tall buildings, and some small buildings!
The latest additions
This small Residential Block was quick and easy to paint
Vents and ducts bring some detail to the flat rook
This tall Residential Block with Shops brings another tall building to the collection - extra floors bring this over the crucial 6" mark
The different sections of the building bring some more colour to the city
The Dubai Skyscraper - tallest building in the city so far, this monstrosity stands out from the rest 
This model easily passes six inches in height without needing any extra floors 
Some colour was added to make it look even more unusual amid the Art Deco-style city
The Cross-shaped Shop building was painted in light colours
The large flat roof should be easy to land on!
The two small buildings together
The city takes shape! This picture was taken before the cross-shaped building had its roof repainted

Next up - three more slightly unusual buildings, a ruin and some elevated roads!
Thanks for reading!

George

Long-Term Residents

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TWO MORE BUILDINGS LAND IN THE DROPZONE

A couple more pieces for the burgeoning city - a very important flat Residential Block that clears dominates the skyline at over 6" in height, and a large L-shaped Residential Block that will take up a good area of the battlefield. These pieces were painted in the standard neutral tones to match the rest of the collection, and then covered in moss and tufts. As with the grand majority of my buildings, they were purchased from Blotz Terrain, a fantastic source of affordable and well-detailed 10mm terrain.

Both of these pieces were painted in the same day, while listening to the Hardcore History podcast "King of Kings." Fascinating and pleasant listening, until I realised I had been painting non-stop for an entire afternoon and evening! Not great for the health I am sure, but an enjoyable way to spend a rainy day.
The latest construction work
Overwhelmed by wildlife, these two buildings add more colour to the ruined city
The L-shaped buildings has a huge surface area, and took a long time to finish
Covering every surface in clumps of foliage was tedious, but gives a great result
The flat building offers more colour

The roof is dominated by vents, air ducts and a rusted billboard
Add height and depth, these two will be fine additions to the collection
The city so far! So much done,but so much more yet to do!
Next up, a multi-storey Car Park and some damaged buildings...

Thanks for reading,

George

Drive-In

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YET MORE BUILDINGS FOR THE DROPZONE TABLE!

Today I have finished another pair of buildings for the abandoned city, two of my favourites! The Cinema Complex and the Multi-Storey Car Park bring some amenities to the city, and should fit in nicely with the rest of the collection. It was a pleasure to paint something quick and small like this, something a little different from the massive Residential Blocks.
The abandoned Cinema, overgrown and rotten
This sculpt is less detailed than the rest of the Blotz terrain range for some reason, so I added some vents and air ducts to add some more detail and colour. Large growths of plant life also add interest to the rather flat surfaces
The overgrown Multi-Storey Car Park, still in better state than some of the car parks in my local area
As mentioned above, I intend to add a few more cars to the various levels of the Car Park to add some more detail and colour
The pair together
The new additions alongside some of the other buildings
Thanks for reading,

George

Wrecking Crew

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ADDING SOME BATTLE DAMAGE TO THE CITY

I realise everyone must be getting bored of my terrain updates by now, but trust me, we're nearly there!

In addition to the piles of Office Buildings and Residential Blocks, I acquired a pair of Blotz' damaged/ruined buildings to add something a little different. The detail of the damage is rather simplistic, so I spiced them up with some spare pieces of MDF, pieces of slate and sand from some old basing kits and a spare Typhoon Attack Helicopter!

The purpose of this was to make them appear more interesting and ultimately, more realistic. After painting the rust and broken masonry I went nuts with the overgrown plantlife, trying to match the look of a favourite piece of Dropzone artwork featuring a crashed and overgrown vehicle of (presumed) EAA origin. Piles of rubble piled around the edges of the building add something to really give the impression the buildings have been through a (small) war.

I spent a lot of time looking at pictures of abandoned cities, both real and imagined, to get an idea of what they would look like. Chernobyl was a particular influence, as it is relatively untouched by human hands, simply abandoned to nature. I realise I could have gone a lot heavier with the battle damage, or with the plantlife, but ultimately wanted them to look a little more whole.

In any case, in the future I intend to make several pieces of scatter terrain to add to the feel of the ruined and abandoned city - piles of scattered rubble, more abandoned vehicles, and perhaps some trees.
Resistance forces move through the ruins
The devastation has been overtaken by Mother Nature long ago
The first piece finished was a truly smashed building, detailed with girders, pipes and rubble, as well as a crashed Typhoon Attack Helicopter! 
I was tempted to paint it as a "fresh" crash, but decided to go for an older wreck instead
The second building is the wedge-shaped Residential Block, with the upper floors ruined
Plant life has overwhelmed the ruined upper levels
As with the smaller building, plasticard and rubble was added to the bottom floor - the rubble does not magically disappear after all! 
Mehmed Siege Tanks patrol the area
In addition, I have painted three Thunder Wagons for an upcoming tournament. A pair of practise games have seen them perform very nicely, so I look forward to their first appearance fully painted!
The final stage of the terrain project will be the elevated road system, which I hope will be fairly quick, and the additional scatter terrain. Not long to go!

Thanks for reading,

George

Reconquest: Phase II - Resistance

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LOOKING AT THE NEW TOYS AND TACTICS FOR THE RESISTANCE

I've had Reconquest: Phase II in my possession for a while now, and recently finished painting at least a representative of all the new units available to the Resistance (not counting the Famous Commanders, unfortunately). Obviously it was time for a quick breakdown and review! This book has been as eagerly awaited as the Dropfleet Commander Kickstarter for me, and now I have read it front to back, I am a happy man.

The background has taken some bold steps forward, continuing as I expected with the Reconquest itself, but then adding some extra flavour (and warzones!) at the very end of the book. This was a great direction to take the fluff in, and I am pleasantly surprised. It would have been so easy to keep the background in a fairly predictable course, but they've expanded it in a way that I like a lot - the next round of fighting will certainly be bloody!

Big kudos to the guys over at Orbital Bombardment. Their breakdown of how the different Factions have fared with the release of this book has been invaluable. I always intended to write a review of Reconquest: Phase II from a Resistance point-of-view, but these guys got there first! I've tried not to copy their work, and as ever my experience differs from theirs, but a lot of our points are the same and I am sorry for that (sorry they got their first! ;)). 

Onto the unit breakdowns!
Scout ATVs and a captured Wolverine look to interfere with the enemy plans
SCOUT ATVs
A nice little unit with some powerful possibilities, Scout ATVs once appeared in many of my lists. Now they are more expensive, and with the more limited range (a good choice, I must say!), they often hit the cutting room floor. Distinctly frustrating for my opponents, they are a lot of fun when presented with the right targets, but die a little too easily for me to rely on them.

The new addition of a Kraken transport for only two units is a bold choice, and makes them attractive once more, but I can't really find the points in my standard tournament lists.
Attack ATVs - a mixture of bikes and a stolen Wolverine are featured to add some variety
ATTACK ATVs
When these were initially released I had great fun with them, causing a huge amount of trouble for enemy infantry before flooding the buildings with massedResistance Bands. The Chem Grenade mechanism is different and I like it a lot, but with their finalised stats they are short-ranged, die easily and so need a Kraken to get them where they are needed in one piece. This gets expensive - especially considering how they might not even be that useful in certain scenarios! Breaking the 150pt mark with a transport puts them out of my standard 1,500pt lists I'm afraid, but in a larger game I would love to run them for a laugh.

I did have a lot of fun running them in smaller games (750pts or less) as they would cause havoc for opponents running fewer infantry units.
Sappers - the large boxes represent stockpiled munitions and add some more detail to the base
SAPPERS
This is a unit I have not tried yet, and one that has received a lot of praise as versatile, cheap and game-changing (or influencing at least). I'm sure I could find the points somewhere, but for the past few games I have not made that sacrifice - do I want to drop some infantry in exchange for Sappers, or find the seventy points some other way?

Their three different bomb types are all useful, and though it is a shame they are all Limited it makes perfect sense. I particularly look forward to triggering a Cluster IED on some freshly deployed skimmers or bunched-up Apollo Walkers.

Thinking about the unit, would I get more use out of them than three Thunder Wagons? Or would they be destroyed all too quickly and buried under the rubble? Definitely worth trying - time to get painting the other bases!
Thunder Wagons take a rest
THUNDER WAGONS
On first seeing this unit, I was not impressed. Three shots per game (and only one per turn), no Countermeasures and no ability to move and fire? Ouch. The Medium template is not ideal for hitting multiple targets either. Now they are cheaper I bit the bullet, and with E11 they have served me well in a couple of games. It is nice to have something throwaway that may or may not cause some serious damage without impacting the effectiveness of the rest of the list.

As a building demolition unit they are fine, nothing incredible when you have Barrel Bombers, Thunderstorms, Mehmeds and Typhoons around, but sometimes you want that extra four (or more!) points of damage to really put your opponent under pressure, especially those home Objectives.

My best experiences have been against ground-based armies (funnily enough...), and in my last game they were particularly accurate, destroying an Erebos, Helios and Apollo with three good missile strikes. Not game-breaking, but bloody useful for a unit costing less than seventy points!
Mehmed Siege Tanks search for a target
MEHMED SIEGE TANK
Move aside Hannibal, you have been replaced. The short range monster that is the Mehmed Siege Tank is a great release for the Resistance, cementing their demolition power and bringing some serious high Energy on a survivable chassis. I've run these a couple of times, and though they have not managed to do much damage, they have scared my opponents enough to draw a LOT of firepower. That's a win, right?

The sheer power of their demolition is something to bring the Allied forces back in line with the Barrel Bomber-toting Feral Resistance. The finalised rules put them up a few points, which is fair.
Typhoons negotiate the narrow confines
TYPHOON ATTACK HELICOPTER
My new favourite unit, ever. Their initial rules were ridiculous, sitting at the same points as the Cyclone but with four shots per Gunship. Back then, I ran them three times and they slaughtered everything they could see. Now they are more expensive, and with less shots, but I would still drop the Cyclones for Typhoons in a heartbeat. A pair of games with their finalised rules sees them sitting pretty as my MVPs, though I realise a player with better AA will deal with them fairly quickly.

Their weaponry is perfect for my playstyle, but to be honest I think I would have preferred something closer to the Hellhog's Focused Fire chainguns. Three Energy 10 shots is really, really great, but makes destroying ground targets almost too easy!
The Skulltaker and a horde of Berserkers
SKULLTAKER ASSAULT TRANSPORT
The exciting new transport making everyone else envious! This beast is fast, packed with weaponry and hauling Horrific Cargo, and I like it a lot. Flame on a transport is really useful, while the Berserkers are not a unit I have run often in the past, but will probably try now. The price point feels a little high, but it does come with a lot of toys. Not an auto-include (though I do tend to play Feral more often), but a great alternative to the standard outfit of Resistance infantry I usually run.
Krell
FAMOUS COMMANDERS
I'm not going to go too deeply into these until I have the models and the cards in hand, but they look really interesting. Two new Commanders with two new vehicle mounts bring more shiny toys for the Resistance! Krell and his giant clawed walker of doom is especially cool, and I cannot wait for that!
Thunder Wagons and pursuit vehicles charge through the old car park
RIVAL FACTIONS
At time of writing, I do not have a huge amount of experience against nearly half of the Factions in Dropzone - Scourge and Shaltari are rarely seen on the battlefield in my local gaming group (in fact I have only played Scourge at tournaments!). Nonetheless, from what I can tell both of these Factions have done very well out of this book, and really expanded both their damage potential and their options in Objective-based missions.

The Scourge Overseer and Corrupter stand out to me as game-changers, both as force multipliers (literally!) and killing power. The Oppressor, Eviscerators, Vampires and Screamer/Raider have been out for a while and should be surprising nobody, but they are no less potent.

Shaltari receive the awesome Pungari, Ghariel, cool Ronin and Samurai, which again have been present on the battlefield for awhile, as well as the interesting Firebird and Crocodile. I like both of these units. The Leopard and Panther, however, can both get stuffed.

The Panther offers three shots at 2+ Accuracy, Energy 8 and with unlimited range. Even with the Slow Traverse rule (making it less accurate when Reacting), this is still going to murder anything it wants to. Running more than one, or perhaps supported with other AA units, and most Commanders will have their entire aerial game ended. I'm pretty horrified by this unit, and am struggling to think how to deal with it given the Resistance tendency for short range - at the moment my plan is to feed it Typhoons and hope some of them make it through the fusillade. Not likely. Better pray for a lot of 6" tall buildings.

UCM have gained a few new units in addition to their older experimental units finally becoming official. The infantry and the Phoenix are looking as good as before, albeit with some cuts to the Hazard Suits and the Demolisher value on the Phoenix missile system. This is a shame as I feel we will see less Hazard Suits on the table, and as a concept I think they are fantastic - they alone almost made me collect UCM!

In terms of new units, I love the Seraphim Retaliator for its look more than the rules (though it is more attractive than the current Seraphim), while the Falcon-B is a fine addition. Aerial AA, without being over the top. I've played against them, and was impressed with how annoying they are! Great addition to the game but not something I can't handle. The Broadsword and the Crossbow are cool, but will they appear in many lists? I don't think so, not outside special Attacker/Defender missions (where they would both really shine!).

Lastly the PHR, my old foe. They finally secure the Valkyries (with a points hike), the Medusa and Triton (with some debuffs), Nemesis Command Walkers, Longreach Rifle Teams and Menchit A2s, all of which I think are fine and make solid additions to the PHR arsenal. The Valkyries are a standout - I would question anyone not taking at least one unit, while the rest are really nice choices.

In terms of new units, the PHR have done well. with a pair of new skimmers (the Angelos A2 and the Aether) that offer some different (flame or blast templates), a Barrage-heavy tank called the Thor which was initially unimpressive until the Energy 11 actually hit me, and the missile-toting transport the Njord, which seems to have divided opinion! Personally I like the ability to transport four walkers, like the missiles, but think the cost is a little high. Certainly not an auto-include.

Lastly the Hera has become a new HQ choice for the PHR - fantastic! I love the model, and think a gang of Apollos led by a Hera is a brilliant concept. I have played against a unit of three Apollos with two Heras leading them several times now, and have been consistently impressed. In my mind, it is a solid alternative to the Zeus, and if I was running PHR would be hard-pressed not to run one every time.

Overall, some great new units for the opponents of the Resistance! The Shaltari have cemented their positions at the top, while the Scourge are fast climbing with their pretty Corrupters and enhanced plasma. The UCM additions are cool but nothing to worry about, while the PHR choices have really expanded their game, and will keep you guessing until deployment!

For a better breakdown, I really recommend the series of articles over at Orbital Bombardment. Their breadth of experience and varying playstyles give a depth of analysis I am really unable to give here.
King Crow and his charge advance
NEW MISSIONS AND CRITICAL LOCATIONS
The handful of new missions look worthwhile - I'm especially happy with the changes to Intel and the Ground Control-style missions. I have to play aggressively, so these do more to reward me and punish those players who hang back off the board, or just shoot from a distance - great!

The other missions incorporate the new style of scoring points - Critical Locations. Once again, I am all in favour of these, as they reward armies that can move, and especially those that keep the pressure up all game. Resistance tend to play their best in the second half of the match, so Critical Locations have proven very useful for me to drag back some Objective Points and win games. Looking forward to playing more with these, especially in combination with Focal Points.

Fauna and environmental conditions are really cool. I hope they release a pack of models to represent all the different creatures in the future. I will snap that up!
Typhoons spread through the city
So there we are! A rather blunt, short and biased view of how the new book has affected me. Some powerful new units for me and my opponents, some great new scenarios, and a heap of good background. Well done Hawk!

Thanks for reading,

George

Coastal Assault Preparation

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GETTING READY FOR AN UPCOMING DROPZONE TOURNAMENT

Next weekend sees myself and Adam head to Coastal Assault Tournament in Brighton (held at Dice Saloon), the second of these tournaments this year. Over the past few weeks (and especially since the release of Reconquest Phase II) we have been furiously practising, discussing lists and painting to get ready. Only the pair of us are attending this time, so the risk of playing someone from our own gaming group should be lessened!
The Resistance out in force!
Here is the list I am intending to run, honed after four or five hard-fought games...

NT-5 Thunderstorm Custom with Leader (CV3
Three Typhoon Gunships 

Two bands of Resistance Fighters mounted in Battle Buses (one with Rocket Battery), carried in an NT-1 Kraken Hovercraft
Three Thunder Wagons

Three bands of Resistance Fighters in MT-90 Jackson APCs carried in an AT-77 Lifthawk with AA Cannon

Three Gun Wagons mounted in an NT-1 Kraken Hovercraft

Three Gun Wagons mounted in an NT-1 Kraken Hovercraft

Two M20 Zhukov Battle Tanks carried by an AT-77 Lifthawk with AA Cannon
Barrel Bomber with AA Cannon

This list has been tested twice, and something similar two or three times before that. The majority of these games have been against Adam and his PHR, with a couple against Rich and his UCM forces, and performed well! The list had a nice speed, with a lot of good guns for land and air, and though the infantry was a little mediocre, my preferred playstyle was to smash buildings and shoot down enemy transports before CQB could even be considered. 

As usual, the scarcity of common opponents in my local area is telling - I feel confident against PHR and UCM (to a degree), but Shaltari and Scourge will give me a headache! Should I face them at the tournament it will be first time I have played them for a looong time. 

The main commentary on this list looks at the overwhelming amount of anti-air (too much?), but I hope this will serve me well against Air Cavalry UCM or the incredibly fast forces of the Shaltari and the Scourge. So much AA allows me to play more casually with the Gun Wagons, often sacrificing them to draw fire and bring down a key Raven or Triton - denying the enemy their Objectives

I was disappointed to only reach Command Value 3 and not find any points for Scouts to assist the Thunder Wagons, but the list is tight! The expense of the Typhoon Gunships really stretches the points, especially when Zhukovs are already on the board. Previous lists with the cheaper Cyclones allowed for a higher Command Value. 

I decided to keep the Gun Wagons alone (rather than adding the Support slots like the Barrel Bomber and Thunder Wagons) as I decided I needed some lighter Battle Groups that could act as throwaway Activations. Ultimately nothing in this list is really superfluous except perhaps the Thunder Wagons - everything else is important to the missions (blowing up buildings, blowing up the enemy and securing Objectives), and this has caused me problems in the past! Making the decision of what to activate and what tricks to hold closer to my chest has been a real problem with his list, as with most of my Resistance lists.
Three of my favourite new models, the Thunder Wagons were painted in an afternoon. I decided to paint the rockets clean and white as a massive contrast to the rest of the force
Three Typhoons were painted up for this tournament. The basic scheme is exactly the same as the Cyclones, but their chainguns were painted to simulate distress from the heat - orange, red and finally blue glazes give an appropriate effect
These decidedly unfriendly Gunships should cause a lot of trouble for anyone on the ground
The converted Aegean King Crow will make his first tournament appearance, carrying the precious infantry bands. Hopefully he can avoid being shot down! 
Thanks for reading,

George

Lady Mastermind

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THE BROTHERHOOD OF EVIL MUTANTS RECIEVE THEIR FIRST RECRUIT


Following several weeks of Dropzone Commander terrain madness, I have been rather lax with painting the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants for the Marvel Universe Miniatures Game. Transitioning from 10mm scale terrain to 28mm (35mm?) highly detailed miniatures is tough - apparently battering them with a drybrush does not give the best results!

For this reason, there has not been a huge amount of progress - but today I bit the bullet and got to work on the "easiest" of the Brotherhood, Lady Mastermind. Dominated by black, skintones and a few details, the paintjob was deceptively difficult. These are aspects of painting that need to be done well, as they make up a huge proportion of the model. I was particularly concerned with the skintone, as I wanted her to be pale without making her ghoulish or translucent.
Regan Wyngarde, daughter of Mastermind and one of the foes of the X-men
Casting telepathic illusions to confuse and trick her foes, Lady Mastermind is considered extremely powerful
Telepathic war as Jean Grey challenges Lady Mastermind
Colossus and Nightcrawler try to bring her in, but can they trust what they see?
Joined by Emma Frost, Lady Mastermind takes on the Wolverine and Gambit
More psychic wars! But Lady Mastermind also has a gun...
Deadpool is probably too deranged to pull any of these tricks on
Neutral mutants Gambit and Emma Frost can work with Lady Mastermind
One down! Let's see if I can get the rest done before the next round of releases from Knight Models!

Editor's note - I'm pretty unhappy with how these pictures have turned out. The extreme highlights on Lady Mastermind have thrown off the white balance of the camera, and I'm struggling to correct it. She has many fine details that are blurred here. More pictures in better light conditions to follow! 

Thanks for reading,

George

Enemies of the X-Men - Toad and Pyro

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THE BROTHERHOOD OF EVIL MUTANTS EXPANDS

Last week saw the first of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants painted - Lady Mastermind. In the days following, I have completed all five, and can now field all of the Mutants available in the Marvel Universe Miniatures Game! I am happy with this achievement, and anxiously await the next set of releases. 

In the mean time, I think I might try some terrain specifically for this game - I have ordered a Comic Book Store from TTCombat and look forward to putting that together. Combined with some Infinity terrain I should be able to field a full table or two. 

On to the models - first up, Pyro and Toad!
Looking rather different to their movie counterparts, Pyro and Toad are nonetheless faithful to the comics and animated series
Pyro is especially flamboyant, with his billowing flames and bright outfit
Burning up Cyclops' prized motorbikes!
St. John Allerdyce may have bitten off more than he can chew here
The Incredible Nightcrawler will have to get out of the way fast!
The foul Toad slinks forward
Originally I was not a fan of this model at all - it's very different from the movie version and the giant ruff is pretty stupid. Nonetheless, it is faithful to the comics! Since painting him I have come to really like the model
Mortimer Toynbee better act fast with his foul spit to stop Jean Grey pasting him
Magneto's goons take on the finest of the X-men... oh dear
Thanks for reading,

George

Coastal Assault II Tournament Report - Resistance

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THE RESISTANCE HIT THE TOURNAMENT SCENE ONCE MORE
This weekend Adam and I attended a Dropzone Commander tournament in Brighton, a small sixteen-man affair (for most people) to get ready for Autumn Invasion next month. This would be the second Coastal Assault Tournament I have attended this year, and after the fun last time we were both looking forward to it. New opponents and new Factions to test ourselves against are always welcome!

THE TOURNAMENT AND LIST
The tournament itself had sixteen players, with the missions announced about a week before. Military Complex, Surging Strike and Careful Advance - Objectives, Focal Points and Critical Locations. Sweet! All three were missions I had played before, and was confident my list would be okay in all of them. My demolition crews didn't care about Armour 8 buildings, the list had a lot of ground pounders for Focal Points, and both speed and staying power for the Critical Locations.

The spread of different Factions was largely even - three PHR. three UCM, four Resistance, five Scourge and one Shaltari. Nice to see so few Shaltari as I was sweating about Panthers, but all of the Scourge players were running the new Overseers. Interesting!

There was a good number of new units from Reconquest: Phase II (myself using two units) which was nice to see. The spread of players was wide - some veterans of many tournaments, some new. Unlike the last tournament we had attended, the Orbital Bombardment crew and Hawk themselves were light on the ground.
Resist!
THE TERRAIN
The eight tables present all looked good to play on and did not feature anything too outrageous - aside from a couple with some bloody big flyovers! My Thunderstorm was not looking at them too happily. I can't complain about these too much, however, as I have a set of these elevated roads on my painting table as we speak. It would be interesting to play with them for the first time.

Also present on a lot of tables were forests - something we have not used in our club games. I was looking to add some trees to my own board, so it was nice to see how they worked with the game - not bad at all! Nice to try something new.

The majority of the buildings were cardstock from the City and Ruinscape, but there was a fine selection of 4Ground, Blotz and DarkOps terrain that gave me some ideas for even more building projects. Not a huge amount was painted, unfortunately, but at least it was undercoated in appropriate colours.

GAME ONE - MILITARY COMPLEX
My first match was against Alex from Orbital Bombardment, who was using Scourge. I had played him once before, back in Autumn Invasion 2015, where I had suffered a close loss. This time I had a few more games under my belt, and was more confident with the mission. This was my third (ever!) game against Scourge.

Alex was running an Overseer, four units of Warriors and one unit of Eviscerators, a Corruptor, several units of Minders, one of Monitors, and a large formation of six Hunters, three Reapers and a massive Despoiler transport.

The game opened with the Resistance crippling the enemy home Objective building and moving aggressively forward, while Alex used the power of the Overseer to put the pressure on. After we both secured our home Objectives, the game was decided by several key moments.

Firstly, the second turn saw the Barrel Bomber survive a round of shooting from the Reapers before flattening the central building, while the Zhukovs survived six Hunters and promptly shot down the Overseer! A brutal spat of luck for the Resistance!

Later, I had spread my demolition between the left and central buildings, so Alex poured his troops into the right. They stayed for four turns and failed to find the Objective, before the Typhoons brought down that building too. In turn, I put two units into a building with only six hit points left. In a (frankly ridiculous) gamble, they survived the Scourge shooting, found the Objective and fled the table!

Luck abandoned Alex early, as his forces failed at every opportunity to damage me, while I secured two Objectives and then spent the last turns mopping up, By the end of the game, the Scourge foces had been reduced to a pair of Intruders and a handful of Monitors and Minders, while I had lost the Thunderstorm (on Turn Six!), the Barrel Bomber, a few infantry and a pair of Wagons.

4-2
Objective Points left it a 16-4 VICTORY, with a Kill Point tally of 1,420pts to 414pts. A brutal game, where a small number of dice rolls went my way and gave me a big win. I played recklessly, and was rewarded.

THUNDER WAGON WATCH - Off to a slow start, the Thunder Wagons still managed an eight point hit to an enemy-held building, and smashed apart the last Reaper. They then spent the game being chased by Monitors across the board!
The Scourge Hunters make their move, failing to destroy the M20 Zhukovs, as the Reapers fail to stop the Barrel Bomber
M20 Zhukovs under the cover of the flyover survive the Scourge fusillade and prepare to bring down the Overseer
The Resistance secure the second Objective and begin their mopping up operation
Resistance Gunships turn on the last Objective, obliterating it and all the occupying Scourge forces
GAME TWO - SURGING STRIKE
Following a big win in Game One, I found myself on Table One against a gentleman named Tim, who had scored a brutal 20-0. Ouch. He was fielding Scourge, with a similar list to Alex minus some infantry and the Corrupter, and substituting an Annihilator plus some Prowlers instead of Minders. These murderous little crabs would be my bane!

This game was almost the opposite of Game Two. My dice were appalling, as my Thunderstorm caused four points of damage to itself in the first two turns, while the rest of my force hit, but failed to cause any damage. By the time my dice turned back to normal, it was too late and the Scourge were in my deployment zone.

Small beacons of hope in the darkness were the Resistance Fighters culling two units of infantry in CQB (my only CQB of the tournament), the Barrel Bomber and Thunder Wagons blowing up six Hunters, and the Zhukov defiantly holding the central Focal Point.

Tim played spectacularly well. His Annihilator paired with the Overseer behind a building, picking off my Krakens with impunity, while the Reapers brought down the Typhoons and then ducked back to secure a Focal Point. Prowlers cut apart my Thunderstorm, using Command Cards to move with frightening speed as the Warlord tried to flee. A real low point was a lucky series of rolls seeing my infantry Lifthawk knocked out of the sky, killing all three transports and units inside with a series of 4+ rolls.

I feel that with better (average!) dice, I might have had a better chance. The first three turns were disheartening when they really could not afford to be - especially when I was hitting, but failing to damage on 2's and 3's! I doubt I would have beaten Tim with better dice... but perhaps not lost by as much!

Finishing 8-5, it ended a 5-15 LOSS, scoring 565pts to his 1,089pts. Ouch! Tim really showed me what Scourge could do when they get the initiative and don't let go.

THUNDER WAGON WATCH - landing direct hits on a pair of Hunters and a pair of Prowlers, and then securing the Focal Point at the end of the game, these Thunder Wagons did nicely!
Resistance Fighters secure the building, but the Scourge forces are deep into their territory
Fast moving Scourge forces outmanoeuvre the Resistance and force them back
GAME THREE - CAREFUL ADVANCE
The third match saw a Resistance civil war, as Stephen brought the Allied Resistance against me. His force consisted of an Alexander in Lifthawk, two units of Gun Wagons in Krakens, Rocket Technicals in a Kraken, Thunder Wagons, infantry in a Lifthawk, Marine Force Recon, Freeriders, two Typhoons and two Mehmeds with a Lifthawk.

I played cagily at the start, holding back as the Allied Resistance committed their forces across the Objectives and Critical Locations. We both secured our home Objectives, and I started my offensive late as the Marine Force Recon entered the central building. In Turn Two and Three Stephen had held both the Critical Locations, scoring himself a good number of Scenario Points, but I would not allow this to continue into Turn Four.

With both a Central HQ Directive and a Quick Thinking Command Card, the Feral Resistance wrenched back the initiative. Gun Wagons tried to bring down my Typhoons but were smashed in turn. The Alexander was overwhelmed by infantry with homemade RPGs while the Mehmeds and other Gun Wagons were forcibly removed by the Thunderstorm Custom. Allied Typhoons had been cut down by the Zhukovs, leaving my ground assets to move around freely.

Having destroying the Raven transport for the Marine Force Recon, Stephen was forced to abandon the building on foot, in an effort to hand off the last Objective and flee the board. The Feral Typhoons swiftly cut them down, and my infantry Lifthawk snatched the last Objective.

The game ended with both Critical Locations in my control for Turns Four, Five and Six, one Objective secured off the table and another held by my infantry. The Allied Resistance had been crippled, with only a handful of units hiding as best they could.

9-6
left it a 17-3 WIN, with Kill Points standing at 1,136pts to 122pts. It was a complete slugfest, with my own Resistance suffering a huge number of Damage Points. The Kill Point difference does not reflect that almost all of my units were down to their last Damage Points, or at least very badly damaged! I took a beating, holding back and allowing the Allied Resistance to commit before counter-attacking hard, and lucky for me, it paid off!

THUNDER WAGON WATCH - a cheeky rocket on Turn Two took his Thunder Wagons out of the game, while a second destroyed a Mehmed. Nice! Only two shots fired, as one of the trucks had been destroyed early on.
Raging Ferals attack the more civilised Allied Resistance, denying them their advance
Lured into over-extending their line, the Allied forces are surrounded and cut down
RESULTS
The final results table
Fifth overall, missing out on fourth by thirty seven Kill Points! Awesome, my best tournament placing yet. I was pleased to see I finished third on Kill Points, and could have scored even more if I had been more of a bastard in the first and third games. Feral Resistance do not mess around. 

Adam placed Third, as I am sure he will let you know in a future post. Well done him! My first opponent Alex won Most Sporting, and First Place went to Tim, my second opponent. Good work all round!

I also won Best Painted. Sweet! 

CONCLUSIONS AND LEARNING POINTS
I was very, very happy with the performance of the list over the day - two big wins and a loss to the overall winner of the tournament is not a bad result. Adam finishing third was very impressive, though it does continue my curse of not finishing above him in any of the tournaments we have attended! Outrageous.

Looking over the Resistance, there is nothing I would immediately want to change in the list. Perhaps the second unit of Gun Wagons is too many, but I never felt like I had too much AA in this tournament (playing Scourge will do that). For future practise games I am intending to run some more crazy crap though - stuff like the Skulltaker and Technicals need to escape the box one day soon!

Winning Best Painted was the real pleasure however, and I am chuffed. This was the first tournament for the Aegean conversion, the Thunder Wagons and the Typhoons, so it was nice to get them visible beyond the blog. I think after winning Best Painted three times with this force I will be hard-pressed to win again. Time for something new? Or just some more crazy conversions? The idea of diversifying the list to get some new, impressive models into the list is difficult as they tend to be... less powerful than the units I am currently running, and now I feel like I have a handle on the game it will be difficult to sacrifice that. Perhaps a new Faction is the answer, but I doubt I'll be able to bring as many cool conversions and play to my painting strengths with someone else. Decisions, decisions!

Thanks for reading,

George

Master of Magnetism

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ENTER MAGNETO (AND SABRETOOTH) FOR THE BROTHERHOOD OF EVIL MUTANTS
Finally, the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants have their leader! With the completion of Sabretooth and Magneto I have completed all the available Brotherhood miniatures, and no longer have any excuses to start playing the game.
The Master of Magnetism!
Magneto is not a small model, with a huge billowing cloak and tall silhouette. He was not exactly a pleasure to paint! Starting from within and painting outward, he was completed in around three or four hours
The hardest part was probably the cloak around his shoulders and hand, and the decision on how to paint his fist. Originally I tried some source-lighting and glowing blue (like the studio model) but this did not work out well
Magneto and his snivelling servant Toad
Cyclops and Jean Grey may have to duck
Colossus and Wolverine realise the Professor may have sent the wrong X-Men for this job
Gambit's dark past leads him to temptation
Sabretooth faces the police
Unlike Pyro and Magneto, Sabretooth was a pleasure to paint. His simple colour scheme and large size make things easy
Old foes face off (literally?)
Deadpool starts to reconsider his offer to join the X-Men
Some extra pictures of Lady Mastermind
She deals with the police in a different manner
Emma Frost and Lady Mastermind combine their powers
The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants go out for dinner
Joined by Emma Frost they are a hefty 47pts - not too bad for a new Faction
Mutants face off! I cannot wait for some bigger mutants to arrive - Blob, Juggernaut and Beast will be fantastic additions to the range
Thanks for reading, 

George

Frontline Despatches

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FINALLY SOME DYSTOPIAN ACTION!

Readers of this blog may have noticed a distinct lack of Dystopian Wars in recent months, the system that dominated my painting table, my gaming table and this blog for so long. This is not fault of the game itself - I still very much admire the setting and the models, but comes from a number of different reasons.

One big reason has been the activity of Spartan themselves. Dedicating themselves to systems like Halo has been inevitable given the opportunity presented to them, and it has seemingly starved Dystopian Wars of attention.

After many months with very little movement on the forums, I had plodded along with my gaming partner Mike, recording Battle Reports for the Hunt for the Markgraf campaign and painting up some new models for that. Fleet Action offered a distraction, but around that time Mike and I both experienced changes in our schedules, and meeting for games has become difficult.

My own local club (not where I played Mike) have never really favoured Dystopian Wars - this was where I would play Infinity, Dropzone Commander and the gamesof Knight Models, so my attention turned to Dropzone Commander in a big way - as you might have noticed!

UNTIL THIS WEEKEND! Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in...
New Britannian vessels with options to work as different classes
New terrain
Frontline Despatches gives us a look at the state of the world and the game. Accompanied by an in-depth exploration of where the World War stands, it looks like Dystopian Wars has entered the End Times. The timeline has moved forward to 1875, and the world is a ruin.

Reading through what has become of the Great Nations and their allies is depressing stuff - in a good way. This truly is Dystopian Wars now, as five years of war have wrecked the environment and caused untold misery across the world. There is interesting exploration of the military developments - it seems that no longer will we be focused on untold numbers of grand ships each bigger than the last, but more effective and deadlier vessels - I imagine in a Battle Cruiser-style, bristling with advanced weaponry and veteran crews. Even the map will be changing, as the War has caused global warming and the rising of the sea levels!

A lot of this sounds completely feasible - I have recently finishing listening to the podcast by Dan Carlin Blueprint for Armageddon, laying out all the changes the First World War inflicted on Europe and the world beyond during the years of the war. It makes complete sense that a fictional conflict of this scale would lead to massive changes in all aspects of life - widespread poverty and disease, the collapse of entire regimes and the massive restructuring of production. I am greatly in favour of developing the world and getting as much background material out there as possible.

The first new front will be Africa, where the Britannian and Prussian forces are seeking to exploit new resources and secure the untapped riches from their enemies.

New models, terrain features, potential campaign books... interesting stuff!

So how soon are these wonderful things coming? Is this a bandaid to keep the Dystopian Wars players happy, or a new Renaissance for the Dystopian Wars? Some positivity will go a long way here - it is not my intention nor in my interest to waste time moaning about toy soldiers.

Rumours say something is coming in November, with greater releases in 2017.

Thanks for reading,

George

Overpass

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THE ELEVATED ROAD SYSTEM IS CONSTRUCTED OVER THE RUINED CITY

The last major project for the ruined city is finally complete - the Flyover! This massive elevated road system from Blotz Terrain is a massive construction, split into a large number of different modular pieces for easy set-up and variety. I picked up one of their modestly priced bundle deals, and added an extra Off-Ramp to give more options.

For the price, the amount of coverage this set gives is fantastic. Fully laid-out it covers the space of several major buildings, adding cover to the board and generally being a nuisance for the players as they seek to drop their troops into the warzone.

I painted it to match the colour of the roads on the mat, a really dark grey with white lines and stone-grey supports. Detail was added with rusted sections and patches of vegetation - this should match the rest of the terrain nicely. A selection of overhead signs and scatter terrain will also be placed onto the roads, but this is being kept separate for ease of transportation and potential use for other games at a slightly different scale or subject matter.

Of all the terrain pieces the elevated road system was probably one of the most boring, as it is large expanses of open road and almost featureless support struts. I am happy to have finished the set. Gaming-wise, I recently attended a tournament where the organiser had deployed some of these flyovers onto his boards - all three tables I played on, funnily enough! They are annoying in that they are slightly too small for a large LZ template, making Crazy Pilot Command Cards actually mean something! They are also a hassle for the Thunderstorm Custom to pass under, but with some careful placement they should not cause him too much trouble. My friend Adam had an issue where he had placed a model under the road and promptly forgot about it, missing out on using it for a crucial turn - whoops! From experience, they offer something new and different from the usual collection of square buildings, and should be used occasionally to give players something unconventional to deal with.

I love the idea of running a column of tanks down this road system, and playing some special scenario where they are harassed from the sky. Rules for destroying sections of the road and using the broken sections could also be considered - all the other terrain in Dropzone is destructible, so why not the roads?
Rusted piles of abandoned cars and smashed, overgrown road systems litter the ruined city
A selection of roadways match nicely with the design of the mat below
Off-ramps offer entry to the Flyover
A wide curve - additional curving section should make it tighter
The road system fully laid out - this is just one possible setup and I am looking forward to trying others
Scatter terrain like the Shackleton Escape Pod supplement the broken road, and provide obstacles below
The full set - too much to be used at once, I think! Nonetheless, I still want more...

Thanks for reading,

George
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