by Staring at his screen, Lieutenant Tallard felt a drop of sweat trickle down his temple. He could have sworn he’d seen an echo off the port side signaling an enemy ship a second earlier. Should he report it to the Captain? She was already busy coordinating the firing of the remaining cannons and the repairs to the fighter launch decks. Suddenly, the green indicator appeared again on the black background of his monitor, very close. Too close. “Captain…!” Tallard watched with horror as his screen showed the characteristic indications of a Furnace cannon about to dig a burning hole in the side of his ship.
A few hundred thousand kilometers below, on the surface of the small planet that had once been a thriving human colony, a squad of Sabre tanks was preparing to attack a position held by Scourge troops. Their Albatross transports had dropped them off a few minutes earlier before withdrawing out of range of the aliens’ anti-aircraft weapons. As always before combat, Tank Commander Campbell had to remind himself that the enemy soldiers had long since ceased to be human. Prisoners of their own bodies, controlled by alien neuroparasites, death would be deliverance for them. They had to strike fast and hard before the enemy redeployed their own tanks to this part of the battlefield. “Fire!”
The drop universe
History
The year is 2673, and humans have been scattered across space for 150 years by neuroparasitic aliens called the Scourge. They are trying to reclaim Earth. It’s time for revenge! Fleets of gigantic ships clash, spitting out swarms of fighters and landing craft. Battles rage across the former human dominion, from the surface of planets to the highest orbits of former colonies.
The factions
Scourge
The Scourge has attacked Earth by surprise and enslaved most of its population. The lucky ones work as slaves in factories for the alien war machine. Others have been parasitized, forced to obey the will of the alien that controls them. Scourge troops are fast and devastating at close range but fragile. They are masters of the lightning attack and rapid redeployment.
UCM
The UCM (United Colonies of Mankind) was founded by survivors of the invasion. Those who managed to escape the massacre took refuge at the far reaches of known space. The colonists have worked tirelessly for over a century to rebuild a fleet and army capable of rivaling the Scourge. This highly militarized society has only one goal: reconquest. The UCM’s troops are well-equipped, numerous, and motivated. Their starships are heavily armed and versatile. Over a century of technological innovation, humans have developed weapons capable of defeating the Scourge, and they intend to use them.
PHR
Shortly before the parasite invasion, a white sphere promised those who followed it into space would escape slaughter by a then-unknown enemy. Thus, several hundred human ships left Earth and its colonies, despite the efforts of the armed forces, and headed for an unknown destination. Now their descendants make up the Post-Human Republic (PHR), a cyborg race that fights the Scourge. Their technology is the most advanced among humans. Although few in number, their soldiers are formidable cybernetic fighters, and their combat walkers pack a powerful punch. Slow and well-armored, the PHR prefer to eliminate their enemies from a distance.
Resistance
Some Earthlings have managed to survive on worlds dominated by the Scourge. Hidden underground, they form the Resistance. They have been waging guerrilla warfare against the invaders for over a century and a half. They have even managed to cobble together spaceships to confront the aliens in the void of space. Armed with their courage, equipment from former human armies, and cobbled-together civilian vehicles, the Resistance has no single leader, no government, and nothing left to lose. Their forces fall upon their enemies by surprise.
Shaltari
A mysterious race of proud warriors with enigmatic motives, the Shaltari possess the most advanced technology any human has ever seen. Their weapons are devastating, and while their ships and vehicles are fragile, they are capable of protecting themselves with nearly impenetrable energy shields. They can even teleport their troops directly onto the battlefield. Longtime enemies of the Scourge, they are also not allies of any human faction. It seems they even arrange for the conflict between humans and the Scourge to drag on…
Dropfleet commander
Atypical space combat game
Unlike many space combat games, Dropfleet Commander simulates battles in orbit around planets, not in the void of outer space. Opposing fleets start the game in high orbit and can drop to low orbit. Some ships can even descend into the atmosphere, which provides some protection from orbiting ships, as they are harder to target.
Being close to a planet allows for a kind of little game within the game: the objectives (cities, industrial complexes, etc.) are on the ground and you have to land troops to capture them. Destroying the enemy’s ships will therefore not be enough to achieve victory! Of course, nothing prevents you from placing your battle in deeper space. Replacing the objectives with mining stations in an asteroid belt, space stations or lunar bases will do the trick very well. The “atmosphere” level can then become a dense asteroid zone, a gas cloud, … let your imagination run wild!
You’ll really feel like you’re commanding a fleet of ships, which you’ll have to organize into groups. Each has a “weight” based on the ship categories it contains, which affects its chances of acting quickly. And all elements of a group act at the same time. Intelligently composing your combat units is therefore an important part of the strategy.
Original mechanics
The game also has a rather unique approach (at least at its release in 2016) to space combat. The basic principle is that in space, while it is theoretically possible to hit a target at a virtually unlimited distance, it is much more complicated to locate that target. All weapon ranges are therefore variable depending on the ship’s detection capabilities and the strength of the signal emitted by the target. This signal is a mixture of various emissions from a spacecraft: radios, thermal, etc. The addition of the shooter’s detection and the target’s signal determines the weapon’s range.
The various actions performed by ships will often cause this signal value to vary. This is an essential element to consider in strategy. A ship firing with all its weapons will be much easier to spot than a ship that goes into “radio silence.” There is a submarine combat aspect, where detection plays a key role, which fits perfectly with the theme.
Finally, just like in Dropzone Commander, a deck of cards with tactical actions specific to each faction will spice up the game. This element is completely optional, and while I highly recommend it to help maintain tension and a dose of unpredictability, it’s best to skip it for the first few games.
The 2nd edition: an uneven rock-paper-scissors
A v2 of the game was released, keeping broadly the same DNA as its predecessor. However, this version eliminated some elements that I regret the loss of. Battle groups no longer exist, which was an important strategic element, and nothing really replaces it. Goodbye cards, but we have admiral abilities instead… which are more like special rules. The weapon types have been revised, with more nuances in ship resistance. Each ship has 3 values, one against each type of damage. Often these values are quite good, with re-rolls added. In short, if your ships last longer, the game is generally slowed down.
The main problem with this edition for me is the uneven distribution of weapon types while defenses are generally increased. The Scourge has mostly energy weapons and the UCM has kinetic weapons for example, it fits the game universe. But any notion of balance between the factions has flown out the window. Depending on the factions present on the table, there is a good chance that one player will have a much harder time damaging their opponent than the other.
My advice: go for the v1
While the first edition has some flaws, such as the handling of ground combat, it was more balanced and strategically interesting. And for those who want to, there are many in-house tweaks available online to fix certain rules and cards. If you can get your hands on a copy of the first edition (and ideally also the “Battle for Earth” supplement), I highly recommend giving it a try if space combat piques your interest.
Dropzone commander
A strike teams game
In Dropzone Commander, combat takes place on the ground and in the air. You’ll rarely play a static force defending against an attack. More often than not, both sides have objectives to seek in buildings. The game emphasizes troop mobility, and transports are of paramount importance. As the name suggests, the troops have been dropped onto the battlefield. You command a task force, not troops on a front line. To reinforce this, almost all scenarios begin without a model on the table. Your troops can board a transport, be moved by it, and then disembark in the same turn!
The geometry of the game evolves with every move. Exploiting a weakness in the enemy’s system can be done very quickly, and from very far away. The game encourages rapid positioning, lightning attacks, and emergency redeployments. Feints and circling are key with every move. This isn’t a game where the two sides’ battle lines are gradually eroded until one side gives way.
A matter of scale
Since the miniatures are 10mm scale, the tabletop feels large. Especially since the troops themselves aren’t very fast. A unit that loses its transport vehicles far from the action will spend several precious turns redeploying. Of course, each faction has differences in speed and ideal engagement distance. This is precisely what balances the game. At one extreme, the Scourge has fast troops and transports but their weapons have limited range. At the other extreme, the PHR moves like a century-old tortoise but has the longest ranges. In the middle, we have the UCM, which is reasonably mobile and has weapons with decent ranges.
On the tabletop, the troops move a few inches on their own, as in many wargames. Well, apart from the PHR, those are armored snails armed with superlasers… But the scale of the miniatures gives the impression of slowness, accentuated by the high movement speed of the transporters.
Other notable mechanics
Dropzone allows you to destroy scenery elements. What better way to prevent your opponent’s infantry from finding an objective than to bury them under the rubble of the building they’re searching? Troop complementarity is also crucial. A great way to win is to create and then exploit a gap in the opposing army. No more anti-aircraft on your side? Your flying units will be able to dictate the battle! No more tank destroyers on your side? Drop the tanks! Dropzone is not a game for those who like to focus on one type of troop and ignore the rest.
2nd edition, a game that goes astray
The infantry takes but no longer holds
In this game, even in the first edition, the infantry’s primary mission is to capture objectives. Meanwhile, tanks, planes, and other types of units take care of the enemy elimination part. In my experience, games are often won by an infantry assault on an objective whose armored vehicles have somewhat softened up the defenders. Nothing to complain about there; it’s actually quite common in wargames.
The problem is that the 2nd edition of the rules has significantly changed the mechanics of infantry assaults. To the point that it is no longer interesting to be the first on the objective! The defender now has very few advantages over his attacker. Especially since in general the latter will have taken care to copiously bombard the defender before launching the assault. It has reached a point where an elite infantry unit has almost every chance of completely massacring non-elite defenders. Suffice it to say, with a few rare exceptions, the only infantry worthwhile in this v2 is the assault infantry. Worse still, it is no longer necessary to have expelled the opposing infantry from the building to be able to attempt to recapture an objective.
How to confuse speed and haste
Overall, this edition places even more emphasis on speed. But this time at the expense of strategy. It’s now possible to disembark a transport and fire on your opponent in the same turn. This leads to a situation where the first striker gains an advantage, whereas previously the advantage went to whoever positioned themselves best before launching their attack.
It’s a real shame because this edition brought some changes that some people were expecting. For example, transports are separate units and can therefore transport almost anyone. This was not the case in v1, where transport was included in the unit without the possibility of being used by other troops. This gave rise to rather absurd cases of units without transport not being able to use the only surviving vehicles of another unit right next to it. Transporters are now replaceable when they were a vital resource to protect. Once again, an important strategic element has been sacrificed for the speed of the game.
My advice: mix them up
The rules of both editions are sound, depending on whether you’re looking for a quick or more strategic game. However, the assault rules of v2 need to be revised. Conversely, the transport rules of v1 can be combined if you find them too strict.
Ideally, try to get your hands on the first edition rules and allow transports to pick up any troops of the same type as their parent unit. Either by making transports separate units (like in 2nd edition) or by attaching them to the unit they last carried.
If you prefer 2nd edition, or simply don’t have v1, give some defensive bonuses to infantry dug in a building. It’s also better to set the difficulty of reclaiming an objective based on the number of turns a unit spent in the building, as in v1. In v2, it’s the turn number that counts, which leads to a race to the objective at the end of the game that is otherwise a real slaughter. This will probably take you a few tries to find the balance that works for you. But trust me, the game really benefits from it.
“Drop Commodore”
It would be a bit of a shame to have two such complementary games in the same universe and not combine them, don’t you think? Here are three ideas, the first two of which were tested by your humble servant.
The alternating campaign
This is the official version, in the sense that it is proposed in the “Battle for Earth” rulebook. The principle is simple: a scenario tree is determined in advance. Depending on whether the attacker or defender wins, you follow the left or right branch, which leads to the next scenario of either game. Progression is also done in terms of the number of troops; you start with a small force and gradually increase the size of your armies until the last scenario of the campaign.
So this is a great system if you want to start playing both games at the same time. However, it’s best to have a regular playing partner who does the same. Otherwise, you probably won’t make it to the end.
Dropfleet as a backdrop
If you want to blend the two games even more into one, you can start with a game of Dropfleet Commander and instead of resolving ground battles with a die roll, make it a short game of Dropzone! This requires you to know the rules of both games well, as you will be switching between them. Unfortunately, it takes much more time and twice as much space. On the other hand, you will give context and stakes to your Dropzone games. Give each Dropfleet troop counter a point value and you will have the army sizes for each Dropzone game! Don’t hesitate to take shortcuts with the Dropzone rules, such as not using the tactics cards, to save time.
This variation is especially enjoyable if you have the option to pause the Dropfleet game for an extended period of time. During each game session, play a bit of Dropfleet until you reach the resolution of a ground combat. Pause and play the Dropzone game. Once it’s over, resume the Dropfleet game.
Multiplayer
One last possibility that involves at least four players. The idea here is not to play the two games in succession, but rather simultaneously. The principle is that the two games respond to each other.
In a 4-player game, the Dropzone table represents the entire combat on the ground, and the Dropfleet table represents the entire combat in space. Both games start at the same time, but events on one will affect the other. Capturing an objective on one table grants a bonus to the other table. For example, capturing an objective in the Dropzone grants a bonus to the ground combat roll for an objective in the Dropfleet. And a captured objective in the Dropfleet would grant additional support in the Dropzone, such as reinforcements or the activation of an air unit.
With more than 4 players, it even becomes possible to make direct links between tables. With a single Dropfleet table and several Dropzones, a given objective in Dropfleet is linked to a given Dropzone table. It is also possible to pair Dropzone/Dropfleet tables. You are then playing an entire offensive on an entire planet! The side that wins on the most tables will have control of the colony.
Conclusion
If this presentation has piqued your curiosity, I can only recommend giving the games in this universe a chance. The most recent rules are available for free on the website of the current publisher, TTCombat. While these games will never dethrone the essential wargames that dominate the genre, they share enough principles that switching from one to the other isn’t too difficult, while still offering unique and refreshing mechanics and concepts.
What do you think of the Dropverse games ? If you have given them a try, tell us on our Discord !
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