Hey all it's Morelion here again to share my thoughts on Dropzone Commander. Hopefully some of you read my thoughts on the hotly debated support choices and enjoyed it.
Before I go into the armoured might of the United Colonies I'd like to offer my congratulations to Dave and the guys over at Hawk Wargames. The reason I truly feel this is a great game is because of all the time I sit and spend writing army lists. I always end up wishing I could of fit in this or that unit but never want to drop anything. I feel it is a true testament to how well a game is designed.
Anyways......
The UCM has three main battle tanks, the Sabre, the Katana and the stunning Gladius.( I'm not going to go into the Fireblade as it's job role is clear as a killer of infantry.)
First up the Sabre.
The humble Sabre is where the action is at. Armour 10 and a 24" E10 gun all for 37pts is great. This tank is always under estimated, cheap and cheerful this tank should be taken in numbers. Oh, don't be afraid of infantry in buildings, with machines strafing the walls the main gun usually knocks two points off as well causing more damage to infantry inside. No one's going to hang around once you start pounding that building with 6 of these bad boys.
The Katana.
This is the Shaltari Killer. With a faster movement of 6 and two shots at E9 the Katana excels in hunting the weaker armour of the Shaltari tribes. The extra shot forces more passive saves and help negate penalties for shooting those pesky skimmers. Word of note though on skimmers, Scourge Hunters love Katanas. Whilst E9 doesn't sound so bad compared to the Sabres E10 it makes a load of difference. Against most Shaltari you'll need 3+, against the Scourge it's a 5+. None the less the speed of these guys with the ability to pop smoke on deployment makes them very tempting, may a squad of three to go advance building demo duties.
The mighty Gladius.
The Big Mac daddy of UCM tanks at 57pts it comes in slightly cheaper than two Sabres with equal fire power and damage points. Your opponent will need to damage these guys twice to silence one of these bad boys and I've lost track of the times I've had them limp around on 1dp dishing out the pain.
Another great point is that you can fit two in a single Condor making them great reaction units despite their slow movement of 2".
The only downside is that they can sometimes be overkill. Two Sabres could engage two separate targets with their rail guns whilst the Gladius's 2 shots must be fired at the same target. Not a problem against the big multi Damage point walkers but not so useful when facing six single dp tanks heading your way.
Well, I hope you all enjoyed and found this article useful, next time I'll back with a update of how my forces are coming together for Invasion(hopefully my new case will be here too )
Keep the home fires burning,
Morelion.