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Miniatures Adventure => Future Wars => Topic started by: Melnibonean on June 19, 2017, 05:29:07 AM

Title: Delving into Dropfleet Commander - Shaltari Added
Post by: Melnibonean on June 19, 2017, 05:29:07 AM
Recently my interest in sci-fi wargaming has been revived with Firefight. I've also been attracted to the idea of spaceship gaming and decided that Dropfleet Commander looked like a viable system to start with. I really like the look of the models and the starter set seemed like good starting point.

So, here are my first attempts at painting some of The Scourge models. I quite like them and they look very nice in the flesh (so to speak).


(http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg91/ikhemm/Scourge_1_zpsivco1nqi.jpg) (http://s246.photobucket.com/user/ikhemm/media/Scourge_1_zpsivco1nqi.jpg.html)

(http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg91/ikhemm/Scourge_2_zpstjaif1le.jpg) (http://s246.photobucket.com/user/ikhemm/media/Scourge_2_zpstjaif1le.jpg.html)

(http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg91/ikhemm/Scourge_3_zpsnnxdtix1.jpg) (http://s246.photobucket.com/user/ikhemm/media/Scourge_3_zpsnnxdtix1.jpg.html)

(http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg91/ikhemm/Scourge_4_zpsc7v2mc7g.jpg) (http://s246.photobucket.com/user/ikhemm/media/Scourge_4_zpsc7v2mc7g.jpg.html)

(http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg91/ikhemm/Scourge_5_zps3mt2jmio.jpg) (http://s246.photobucket.com/user/ikhemm/media/Scourge_5_zps3mt2jmio.jpg.html)
Title: Re: Delving into Dropfleet Commander - My First Spaceships
Post by: Codsticker on June 19, 2017, 07:36:08 AM
I like the models and the metallic-looking colour choice.
Title: Re: Delving into Dropfleet Commander - My First Spaceships
Post by: Vampifan on June 19, 2017, 09:50:16 AM
Superb paint-jobs!   8) 8) 8) 8) 8)
Title: Re: Delving into Dropfleet Commander - My First Spaceships
Post by: smirnoff on June 19, 2017, 02:08:12 PM
Superb bit of work
Title: Re: Delving into Dropfleet Commander - My First Spaceships
Post by: Hobby Services on June 19, 2017, 02:58:26 PM
Very nice.  Good subtle shading effects with those washes.  You planning on doing any of the other fleets?
Title: Re: Delving into Dropfleet Commander - My First Spaceships
Post by: AllenW on June 19, 2017, 03:55:12 PM
Beautiful painting.  Almost got me interested in the ships until I priced them.  Out of my budget.  Seems strange that one battleship costs as much as 3 cruisers and 4 frigates.
Title: Re: Delving into Dropfleet Commander - My First Spaceships
Post by: Hupp n at em on June 19, 2017, 05:34:09 PM
Woah, those are really cool models.  You've done them proud  :)
Title: Re: Delving into Dropfleet Commander - My First Spaceships
Post by: Melnibonean on June 20, 2017, 12:51:49 AM
Thanks for the positive responses. I enjoyed painting this lot.

Quote from: Hobby Services on June 19, 2017, 02:58:26 PM
Very nice.  Good subtle shading effects with those washes.  You planning on doing any of the other fleets?
I'm currently doing the UCM ships from the starter set. They require a bit more detail work so they'll take a little longer to do. I'd like to try doing the weird orange ones too.

Quote from: AllenW on June 19, 2017, 03:55:12 PM
Beautiful painting.  Almost got me interested in the ships until I priced them.  Out of my budget.  Seems strange that one battleship costs as much as 3 cruisers and 4 frigates.
Yeah, not something that I'm very keen about. If I can, I'll try to get any of them second hand and I can't see myself investing in more than one.
Title: Re: Delving into Dropfleet Commander - My First Spaceships
Post by: OSHIROmodels on June 20, 2017, 02:02:13 AM
Cracking colours  :)

cheers

James
Title: Re: Delving into Dropfleet Commander - My First Spaceships
Post by: Hobby Services on June 20, 2017, 10:48:20 PM
The battleships cost what they do for a number of reasons.

1.  They're resin, which is always going to be much more expensive than mass-produced plastic.

2.  They have no chance of selling in the kind of large numbers the plastics do, which makes it even harder to keep production costs down.  They cost too many points, eat up extremely rare slots in the fleet org table (you can't even put one on the table in small games), and are generally kind of iffy in effectiveness compared to equal points in cruisers & frigates - although the recent rules tweaks helped with that some, especially for the New York class and as a base for your admiral (who also became more important when the command cards arrived).

3.  And lastly, they're all packed with the parts to make all their variants, and most of them can easily be magnetized or pinned to let you swap parts around and field different classes as desired.  That not only eats into sales even more, it makes them more of a bargain than they appear, especially the UCM ones (which are the easiest to do parts swaps with and have three variant classes, not two).

They do cost a lot, but you don't really need them to play and no one is ever going to need more than two (and even one is plenty for most) for any normal game.
Title: Re: Delving into Dropfleet Commander - My First Spaceships
Post by: Melnibonean on June 21, 2017, 01:16:20 AM
Hobby Services - That make sense. I can't really see the point in more than one unless you're going to play very large games. But then, it also depends on how many factions (and how large) you decide collect.
Title: Re: Delving into Dropfleet Commander - My First Spaceships
Post by: Melnibonean on June 21, 2017, 01:57:34 PM
I finished my UCM from the starter set. These ships needed a bit more detail work than the Scourge ships but the results are quite nice (although I wish I could take better pics).

Now I need to start playing!
(http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg91/ikhemm/UCM_GP2_zpslsnilopq.jpg) (http://s246.photobucket.com/user/ikhemm/media/UCM_GP2_zpslsnilopq.jpg.html)

(http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg91/ikhemm/UCM_GP1_zps0lxu5zds.jpg) (http://s246.photobucket.com/user/ikhemm/media/UCM_GP1_zps0lxu5zds.jpg.html)
Title: Re: Delving into Dropfleet Commander - UCM Added
Post by: OSHIROmodels on June 21, 2017, 03:28:55 PM
Yellow and grey, always a good combo  :)

cheers

James
Title: Re: Delving into Dropfleet Commander - My First Spaceships
Post by: Hobby Services on June 21, 2017, 10:32:30 PM
Quote from: Melnibonean on June 21, 2017, 01:16:20 AM
Hobby Services - That make sense. I can't really see the point in more than one unless you're going to play very large games. But then, it also depends on how many factions (and how large) you decide collect.

There's also the obvious possibility of using them in other rules sets that might support more ships, at which point the high cost of the battleship minis becomes more of an issue.  Playing with DfC figs in (say) Full Thrust might not be too painful, but A Sky Full of Ships or Starfire with their dozens or hundreds of ships in play at once?  Too steep for me.

Your UCM stuff looks nice.
Title: Re: Delving into Dropfleet Commander - UCM Added
Post by: Ultravanillasmurf on June 22, 2017, 08:34:08 AM
Very nice paint job, grey with yellow really works.
Title: Re: Delving into Dropfleet Commander - UCM Added
Post by: Melnibonean on August 08, 2017, 07:58:13 AM
Some more spacecraft. I thought I'd try my hand at painting the Shaltari starter and while they came out okay, I'm not keen to do any more.

More pics on my blog at: http://this28mmlife.blogspot.com.au/2017/08/shaltari-painting-challenge.html
Title: Re: Delving into Dropfleet Commander - Shaltari Added
Post by: Ultravanillasmurf on August 08, 2017, 08:37:55 AM
They positively glow.

Excellent.

Title: Re: Delving into Dropfleet Commander - Shaltari Added
Post by: Major_Gilbear on August 08, 2017, 08:58:06 AM
I think they all look excellent - well done!

With respect to the little studs all over the Shaltari ships... I think that's why washing them with darker colours over a lighter base is popular!

If you gloss varnish before you apply the wash, you can wipe the paint off the raised nodules more easily before it dries, and that saves you picking them all out again later one-by-one. Matte seal at the end to kill any gloss, although the gloss on the studs might be an interesting effect that you want to keep. :)
Title: Re: Delving into Dropfleet Commander - Shaltari Added
Post by: Hupp n at em on August 08, 2017, 08:46:59 PM
Wow wow wow.  Those are straight gorgeous.  :-* :-*  Great color choices!