Painted Dropfleet Commander Scourge painted up (first kitbashes added 12/12)

[The_Beast]

Yep, look good enough to eat. I'll start the water boiling... 

Doug

[The Voivod]

Lovely stuff.

[Hobby Services]

Thanks, all.  I've been really enjoying my excursion into Dropfleet, and I'm starting to look at conversion and kitbash projects for it.  The game's not utterly flawless but it's solid and innovative, and I can see where most of my minor beefs could be easily addressed with expansions and a bit of errata.

Latest Scourge painted, a Pathfinder Battlegroup's worth of ships.



That's a full strength Group of Strix light crusiers and either one or two Groups of Harpy frigates.



The Strix are fast, lightly-defended close-action specialists, capable of throwing a terrifying amount of plasma at point blank ranges.  There isn't a  ship in the game that can eat 6d6+12 dice of fire with Scald and a 3+ lock value without going crippled or dying outright.  Real glass cannons, but a little more resistant to counterpunches than their close action frigate counterparts generally will be.



The Harpies are the "standard" combat frigate, with hard-hitting oculus beams that have excellent fields of fire.  Like all Scourge frigates they're atmosphere-capable, and they rely on ducking in and out low orbit to help them stay alive until they have a good chance to jump a key target.  They're also fairly versatile.  Fielded as a full Group of four you can maximize their close action secondary weapons, giving them a punch that threatens even cruisers.  Fielded in minimum Groups of two you can use them as backfielders, with one frigate using Active Scan each turn to illuminate targets for the rest of the fleet.  Sort of a poor man's Lima.

[Major_Gilbear]

Looks great - and I'm surprised that you got your hands on the battleship already (as I thought they weren't quote out yet?)! 

[Hobby Services]

Looks great - and I'm surprised that you got your hands on the battleship already (as I thought they weren't quote out yet?)! 

All four have been on ebay for a couple of weeks now, which is where I got (and sold, after painting) mine from.  Still have to do the UCM one, and I have a PHR BB on the way.  Still not quite sure what MSRP on them is, but I'd guess somewhere between $35 and $50, which doesn't seem unreasonable given the size, quality, and number of parts.  Then again, I didn't mind paying $35 for the Battlefleet Gothic BBs fifteen years ago either. 

[The Voivod]

My usual supplier has the battleships on pre-order for 32,49 Euro.
That's usually a bit of discount from them

[Hobby Services]

And the inevitable kitbashing begins.  Three Nickar-class hunter killers, built out of spare Scourge parts and some putty:



Tiny little things, smaller than a frigate and built for hunting strike carriers down in the atmosphere.



They have rules in the core book but not even a concept art drawing, and they haven't appeared on any release schedule that I've seen as yet.  Given how important a role they fulfill, lots of people are looking at bashing their own models rather than wait.



These are a little rough, but adequate.  They're certainly the right size, and the design aesthetic seems to fit the rest of the fleet.



I expect the official models won't look anything like these, but for the time being they're good enough to practice your "hunt the dropship" tactics with.

[Hobby Services]

My usual supplier has the battleships on pre-order for 32,49 Euro.
That's usually a bit of discount from them

That's what, about $31 US?  Assuming a 20% discount or thereabouts, sounds right.  Might be a little cheaper in Europe than the US, Hawk is a UK company.

[Omac 247]

I'm just waiting for my rulebook and two UCM Cruisers to arrive as my taster.
I hated all the ground combat stuff, but really like all the Dropfleet ships as the four fleets are so different from each other.

Sooo tempted to get some Shaltari, as the Battleship looks like a beast !

[Hobby Services]

I'm just waiting for my rulebook and two UCM Cruisers to arrive as my taster.
I hated all the ground combat stuff, but really like all the Dropfleet ships as the four fleets are so different from each other.

Sooo tempted to get some Shaltari, as the Battleship looks like a beast !

Shaltari are the only fleet I haven't tried out yet, although my PHR stuff is still unfinished while I finish some more UCM for sale.  They look like interesting models to build and paint, and they certainly have a very alien aesthetic.  Mechanically they look a little worrisome, mostly because of the teleport mechanics.

[Omac 247]

Nuts !

Just heard my cruiser order is going to get refunded as the supplier doesn't know when he'll have any stock.
That probably puts my painting plans off until after Xmas, unless I can find somewhere near to Notts with stock.

[Hobby Services]

Nuts !

Just heard my cruiser order is going to get refunded as the supplier doesn't know when he'll have any stock.
That probably puts my painting plans off until after Xmas, unless I can find somewhere near to Notts with stock.

UCM starter boxes are pretty common on ebay, but I don't know of anyone selling just the cruisers by themselves.

[Omac 247]

Yeah, I was just dipping my toe in the water, I didn't really want to splash out on a whole fleet yet.
I've done that three times with Firestorm Armada, and never got all the models finished before I lost interest (Hobby Butterfly) in the game, or a new edition hit.

I really like what I've seen about Dropfleet though and hopefully I can snag some stuff in the New Year.

[Major_Gilbear]

To be honest, the starter fleet boxes are very manageable in scope - even for a hobby butterfly.
Three cruisers and four frigates, and that gives you about half a fleet in rules terms. For the cost, that's a typical (discounted) saving of £12 on the £44 to buy the equivalent contents separately - and a bigger saving at full RRP.

[Omac 247]

Yeah, as I mentioned in the Dropfleet Commander review thread, I'll almost certainly crack and buy ships, I was just hoping to get a couple of models to practice on before the hell that is Xmas engulfs us all.

Will probably get the UCM starter box , then I'm torn between the PHR and Shaltari as my second fleets.