Dropzone Commander Escalation League - Round One

A NEW ESCALATION LEAGUE FOR A NEW SYSTEM - DROPZONE COMMANDER!

This week sees the start of the ten-man Escalation League for Dropzone Commander, run by my friend and local Talon Simon. A series of five increasingly large games, with points for winning and for painting, the Escalation League follows a similar format to the Leagues run for Infinity in the past, and should be a good excuse for me to play some more games and get some more models painted for the Resistance! 

The first game used only Starter Boxes, so for me this was the following...

• Two M9 Hannibal Main Battle Tanks mounted in an AT-77 Lifthawk with AA Cannon
• Three Gun Wagons mounted in an NT-1 Kraken Hovercraft
• Three bands of Resistance Fighters mounted in MT-90 Jackson Halftracks, carried by an AT-77 Lifthawk with AA Cannon

This is a fairly solid force with the foundations for a good Resistance force in place. The Hannibals are probably the weakest element given their slow speed and relatively short range, but the Lifthawk would help with this. The first mission was the basic Targets of Opportunity...

THE GAME
My opponent Peter was running the standard UCM Starter Set, so I knew what to avoid - the Rapiers! The game started cagily, with both of us moving slowly toward the Objectives. Peter split his two units between two buildings, so I piled two units into one while holding the third back - the tanks and Lifthawks would soften the building up first, and hopefully my opponent would not roll a lucky six!

The Condor transporting the infantry was destroyed first, and then through falling masonry and CQB his infantry were slaughtered, but the Resistance simply could not find the Objectives. Some lucky rolls saw another Condor and one of the Sabres destroyed for the loss of two Gun Wagons, but the game ended with neither side even finding any of the Objectives - a 10 - 10 DRAW.

The game was interesting, all based around careful positioning and committing at the last minute without exposing ourselves to enemy fire. Overall it did not pay off, as neither of us rolled the dice when they counted, and so the game ended in a Draw. Nonetheless, I was happy with the performance of the Resistance, and won overall on Kill Points (not that it mattered). CQB is always fun, especially with hordes of Resistance Fighters!

THE FUTURE

In order to earn full Hobby Points, I need to keep painting new things for the force - and ready for the next game, I am considering my NT-5 Thunderstorm Custom. Failing that, it will be the easier Sappers or Scout ATVs, but I am not sure at the moment.

The latest model on my painting desk is the named character Gunnar the Ferryman, and his modified Lifthawk. Crammed with detail, this model has been vexing me for some time now - I need a solid afternoon of painting to break the back of this model and get it finished! More words and pictures to follow on this subject soon enough.

Thanks for reading,

George