Hawk Wargames Reveal More Details On Dropfleet Spaceship Game!
May 1, 2015 by brennon
Hawk Wargames, in their Latest Newsletter, revealed more details about Dropfleet (work in progress) which will be their new take on the spaceship games we've all been loving over the past year or so. See what you think!
UCM Fleet Reporting!
The fleet above and below are for the UCM and they're looking insanely awesome. What I love about them is that they have the tried and tested 'brute force' look of the rest of the UCM that you see in Dropzone Commander but with a bit more of a High Sci-Fi Edge to them...
Brilliant models I think you'll agree and it should be interesting to see how the other fleets develop too. I can't wait to see how the PHR turn out and what kind of ships they get!
Dropfleet Info
Here's the information we got from them in the newsletter...
- Dropfleet will be an Orbital Combat game in which the vast majority of your games will take place in orbit above a planet's surface. The game has been designed for this from the ground up by Andy Chambers and is an entirely new and unique ruleset.
- A typical gaming table is 4'x4' and will show the surface of a planet rather than the more typical 'starfield' style space combat table. The area covered will be around the size of a large European country/US State.
- Delivering your troops to targets on the surface will be crucial for victory and most missions will be tactical and objective focused. Space stations, static defences, ground troops, cities and other scenery play an integral part in the game.
- Three altitude layers (High Orbit, Low Orbit and Atmosphere) are present in games and have various effects. Only certain ships (such as Strike Carriers) can go atmospheric and each layer has advantages and disadvantages in different tactical situations.
- Weapons range is neither absolute nor fixed. It can change based on the power of your ship's scanners, the enemy ship's signature and the enemy's actions (firing several weapons greatly increases a ships signature for example). Stealth is frequently crucial!
- A framework for linking games of Dropfleet and Dropzone will be present in the rulebook, opening up many exciting possibilities for campaigns and narrative settings.
...which all sounds awesome!
New Units!
As well as all the cool news about the Dropfleet game there are some new units coming your way for Dropzone Commander including sprues for these folks...
...and some new Commander Units too which will be fantastic to see come to life in new and interesting forms.
I think the new Commanders offer a nice new look at the factions for this game and the Scourge beasts in particular are not only going to be superb models but also a painters dream I reckon. I also love that dude with the big cannon!
Avenger Build Diary Coming Soon
Also, do you remember this?
Well, we're going to be working with Hawk Wargames to put together a mini-series showing off how this monster was built so watch this space for that one.
Are you loving the look of the new ships?
"...we're going to be working with Hawk Wargames to put together a mini-series showing off how this monster was built so watch this space for that one."
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You malignant bastards! when are we supposed to be able to paint all that??
lol. Beautiful stuff.
‘s like poetry.
Here’s hoping for a value plastic starter.
Lovely starships. And a game designed by Andy Chambers.
Really cool.
So much awsomeness… Hawk Wargames yet again creates beautiful minis! I have high hopes for this game and considering Hawk´s track record, I´m not going to be disappointed.
Now longing to see the other factions in Dropfleet, since I only intend to shoot down the UCM-fleets that gets in my way. 🙂
They are absolute awesome! The more I know about Dropfleet the more I want to know xD
Those sweet sweet spaceships, come to papa *drool intensifies*
Lovely; gorgeous. What else is there to say apart from saying I’m looking forward to how the rest of the range looks?
Worth mentioning that Andy Chambers (who had a part in Battlefleet Gothic) is helping to design this game?
If that is how good the UCM fleet looks, one has t wonder what the others will be like. Great looking minis.
Those are truly beautiful models. I can see some really strong and well chosen influences in their design, including the Sulaco from Aliens and perhaps just the slightest dash of Mass Effect mixed in for good measure, while all the while retaining a distinctly UCM aesthetic all their own. The rules system also seems to be exceptionally strong and with great potential for tactical play revolving around managing your vessels’ energy signatures and trying to lock on to opposing starships, which would make using active sensors, opening up with powerful weapons or going full speed ahead options that must be… Read more »
Very pretty ships, sadly i have no real interest in DZC, so this game is of no real “value” to me, and the fact that it’s sole theme is orbital landing means it’ll almost certainly be very unwieldy if you try to run a fleet battle with it. If the ships are cheap enough, I can see myself getting them for FT or similiar game though.
I think there will be great campaign opportunities within a “system,” with fleet actions, and of course the inevitable appearance of troop transports that need to be protected until their cargo can be dropped. I’ll likely pick up some of these ships to go with our Traveler RPG game. Mongoose Publishing’s High Guard contains all the naval rules for ship-to-ship or fleet-to-fleet battles, and you can plug in your naval characters to enhance your ship, or even engage in some good old fashioned boarding actions. The Fire, Fusion, and Steel supplement is fabulous for designing anything from a 1kg drone… Read more »
They look awesome I don’t play but I do buy the models for my family as I love the models and then they play. These look so good
This is one of the things I will be following the most closely during 2015, my expectations are really growing fast. The ships are truly magnificent.
Looking nice….
There are a number of established fleet games out there all with good models, but these minis are exceptional. I saw them in the flesh at Salute, and once again Hawk have raised the bar. On the strength of the minis and the article above, I’m excited to see the game when it launches later this year or early 2016. Bugsy resistance!!!
Wow!!!! Looks stunning. I like the idea of Dropfleet and Dropzone being linked. My brother has recently been putting led’s in his 40k models, i think this would work well on these spaceships.
The ships look absolutely menacing! Fantastic.
Blows the Halo fleet battles game out of the water in terms of design and detail in my opinion, easily the ‘giant space ship’ combat game with the most potential at the moment, the minis are just GLORIOUS!
WOW brilliant love the ships. o and WOW.
sounds like I’ll have another weekend with “In the navy” looping on my stereo once this game is out 😛
Looking forward to seeing the PHR for the game
Those are by far the best spaceship miniatures I think I’ve ever seen, bar none. They look more like movie props than gaming miniatures to me, and no I’m not confusing them for the large Avenger model (which also happens to look like a really good movie prop!)
Also I love how they have differentiated it from other spaceship games by having it in low-orbit – giving the gaming boards much more variety and more interesting, as well as a good idea gaming-wise really. Actually I think the whole idea is just genius.
Hawk just shutupandtakemymoney!
When I saw your coverage at Salute about this game, I thought I’d scratch my space combat itch by brushing off my Battlefleet Gothic ships. Now that I’ve seen these ships! They’re amazing!
Got to get into this once it’s launched.
Beautiful models, this will be the tipping point for getting into Dropship I think
The spaceship models are amazing. I might switch from Scourge to UCM for this game, unless the fleets to come are even more awesome.
I’m also very curious what the new commanders are exactly and how they will play. They look quite different from what we’ve seen before. And I can’t even begin to guess what the model on the top-right is meant to be, or for which faction.
Great to see more info coming out. I wonder if they are going to do a lysandser class as well. As it is mentioned in phase 1 book.