Dropzone Commander Review - The Rule Book, Part 1

Dethtron- Howdy, folks, the kind people of Hawk Wargames were kind, insane, or stupid enough to send us a few copies of their 10mm scale Futuristic Fighting game set in the 27th Century, "Dropzone Commander."  To that end, we, by which I mean Lauby and myself, have gotten together, gotten drunk, played a sample game or so, and written a review.

Our actual review copy!

Lauby:  We read the rules and everything!  Now, why drunk you may ask?  Let me answer your question with some more questions:  Who are you to judge me?  I can stop anytime I want!  Also:  I'm of the opinion that if you can't play a game with a good buzz on, what's the point and why is it so complicated?  Your move, internet.

Dethtron- Today we'll be talking about the book itself.  There are some huge wins in this one and some crashing nadirs as well.

Lauby:  And we absolutely mean that - there is a pretty wide gulf in between the things done right and wrong.  We, however, will be starting this series on an extremely positive note!  This is, hands down, one of the prettiest and most artistically evocative rule books we've seen.  It really gets the imagination firing (and me making pew pew noises while reading).


Dethtron- You're right, the art is amazing in this book.  All the photography puts other mini rule books to shame.  The level of detail on the scenery (and don't worry asshole who's going to bring this up and  is all ready for a flame war in the comments- we're aware that the building kits for this are priced pretty highly [we'll address this later], but we're also aware that you're an ignorant fuck...so there's that) and all of the vignettes is amazing.  If you look really closely, you can see a freaking basketball court in the city featured on the cover. 

No basketball court here, but still rad as hell.

Lauby:  Yeah and the crazy thing about all this is that this is the FIRST edition of this book.  I remember when I got my first Warmachine rulebook (pre-remix even) and what that looked like.  Or even the first edition of Malifaux to an extent.  The level of talent and effort represented in Dropzone Commander is pretty astounding.

Obviously the presentation of the models is always going to be a huge selling point for a wargame.  Bigger, more established companies spend tons of money on in house painting teams or Ángel Giráldez (or both). The guys at Hawk Wargames, right out of the gate, have produced the kind of fully painted models, terrain and battle scenes that are absolutely up to par with the likes of Corvus Belli, Games workshop and Privateer Press.

Dethtron- Yeah, I can't figure out how their art crew pulled off a bunch of those paint jobs either.

Lauby:  I know, man!  Each of the four factions had a page or two of alternate pant schemes and there were a few that we just absolutely could not figure out how to replicate with any kind of accuracy (though I'm guessing that an airbrush is involved).  I really hope that a first expansion has some sort of hobby content  - if not for our own selfish reasons, than because I know it would be a hit with the fans.  Or at the very least some downloadable stuff over at the mothership.

Make sure you click on this for the full size version.

Dethtron- As far as the book is concerned, it's your standard softcover 152 page affair.  The binding seems pretty tight, so it should hold up pretty well.  I'd have liked to have seen a hardcover available since they lay open better, but it's still nice to see a fledgling company not cheap out and print something that will either fall apart after one read or more closely resembles low quality vintage Swedish porno mags. I'm looking at you tiny starter rulebooks made by everyone else.

Lauby:  It smelled nice too.  Recognized by bibliophiles the world over as a true mark of a good book.  Which is why, to this day, I still consider shelling out money for Forgeworld books for this very reason despite the fact that my Eldar Guardians have seen more action as PanO Fusiliers than they ever did as glorious space elfs.  But despite the pleasing aroma and excellent glossy pages, a book - a rule book in particular - needs to be judged as a source of information.

Dethtron- Then there's the layout of the book, I feel like that's something that needs to be addressed.

Lauby:  Agreed.  But we'll save that for next time.