Dropzone Commander – too expensive?

[Universal Head]

I recently got myself the Dropzone Commander 2 player starter set, and at NZ$124 it’s pretty good value, with a couple of small starter armies, and thick colour rulebook, paper game mats, and ten card buildings; even a keychain tape measure. I was excited to get into a bit of 10mm miniatures gaming, having enjoyed long-ago games of Epic 40,000.

I’m in the process of painting up the starter set miniatures so I thought I’d check out what can be added to those starting forces. One article recommended I add a command miniature to each side, along with each side’s deck of 40 Command cards. Imagine my suprise when I added this small addition up and it came to NZ$95! This is just to add 1 large tank mini with an extension bit (the Kodiak ACV), a large-ish flyer mini (the Scourge Devourer), and 2 decks of cards. And these are not huge miniatures by any means. The Devourer is 40 bucks on its own!

At that rate, filling out these forces to make two small armies is going to cost an absolute bomb.

What do you think? Anyone else playing this game? Perhaps I should wait around until they start making their minis in plastic instead of resin, because these little ships are too pricey for me.

[briscoe999]

Wow – I don’t have or play this game; but i looked up the prices on Miniature Market….and this game is indeed pricey if you want to go down the rabbit-hole!!!

It is funny you mention Epic 40K, as supposedly GW may be re-releasing some form of Epic 40K in the not too distant future.

I have heard fairly good things about DCommander, but looking at the prices I dont think i am going to dive in at this point.

[Universal Head]

Wow, I’m really struggling now. I just discovered Planetfall by Spartan Games. A slightly larger, chunky scale, better miniatures, a slightly more expensive starter set but cheaper figure prices overall.

Of course, search the internet and you get about a 50/50 split of people preferring DZC or PF.

It’s a tough decision!

[CK Lai]

Decisions, decisions, eh UH? 😉

I’m glad I’m closing my eyes to all the new shinys that’s available right now as I play with my new games. One can go crazy wth so many choices and a limited budget 😛

[Universal Head]

I should be getting Fireteam Zero soon. Perhaps I should just put the 10mm stuff aside and go paint my Hadross.

[8th]

It might just be me, but ‘go paint my hadross’ sounds like a euphemism!

[Universal Head]

Yep, it’s just you! 🙂

[8th]

Doesn’t sound as bad as me going to paint my Circle Orboros!

[CK Lai]

@UH: go paint your Hadross so we can all watch a new WoK video in a couple months’ time! 😀

[CK Lai]

@UH: here’s something to make your choices even harder:

Fleet Commander – Genesis

Pre-painted minis!!! 😀

[8th]

That’s more Star Wars Armada scale. Dropzone is ground assault with 3d terrain.

[Universal Head]

Well, I feel like a bit of an idiot, but I went and ordered Planetfall. I haven’t even played DZC yet, but the miniatures are beginning to irritate me as I paint them. They’re small, plastic, and basic, and the cost of buying just a couple of extra tanks is exorbitant.

As I looked at Planetfall the figures looked much chunkier, imaginative and exciting, and while it still sure ain’t cheap, it’s more affordable to expand than DZC, and you can expand in nice little chunks called ‘helixes’.

Oh, and the DZC infantry figures are really crap: static and toylike. The Planetfall ones have far more personality and come on textured bases with little bits of scenery.

Also, I believe DZC is more strategic and ‘heavy’ and Planetfall is more fun and easygoing, and the latter is more my gaming style.

Anyway, it’s been an expensive exercise, but I might finish painting up the DZC figures anyway and sell them to cover some of my costs.

[Author]

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