Dropzone Commander Scourge Starter Force by Hawk Wargames

"The Scourge are foul, neuro-parasitic lifeforms which can utterly dominate an unfortunate host, bending its life to its will. They thrive on the conquest and absorption of other races, their very mode of existence as potent a threat as their formidable battlefield technology. They are the galaxy's ultimate predators.

Their breathtaking assimilation of the central planets, including Earth itself, has made them the primary threat to the very existence of mankind. Their methods of killing on the battlefield are abhorrent to witness, but violent death at the hand of their potent plasma weaponry can be as nothing compared to the dread of being taken alive"

Today on ToaTS I will be taking a look at the Dropzone Commander Scourge Starter Force from Hawk Wargames

Scourge Starter Force

The Scourge starter comes in a quite sizable box. On the front is a fully painted force showing what is included. On the back you have some info about the force, contents lists and any other info you may need.

Inside the box it gets very interesting though. everything is packed in a KR Case accessories tray!
Now that's a bonus!

Pulling out the contents you can see that you get 1 Scourge card deck, 6 bases of metal Warrior troops, 3 Marauder Dropships with flight bases, 3 Hunter Gravtanks, 3 Reaper Gravtanks and 2 Invader APCs.
That is quite a lot of stuff! All the vehicles are in a high detail resin, as are the warriors bases.

Marauder Medium Dropship

The Marauder Medium Dropship is the spearhead of the landing forces. Bringing heavy armour into the fight

The Marauder is a fully resin model in 9 parts. Main body, 2 wings and 6 supports.
The supports can be fitted in a position to carry 3 tanks or 2 APCS.
There is a little extra resin around the 'eyes' but that's wasn't bad to clean off. The bottoms of the wings also have a tab of resin but that clipped off cleanly.

The model fits together really well. The wings fit perfectly and the supports just slide in. I chose to do this as a tank dropship with the 3 levels.
The Marauder is VERY highly detailed. After cleaning off the eyes I honestly couldn't find a single problem with the casting. All the detail is in great condition.

Hunter Main Grav Tank

The Hunter is a frontline armour vehicle armed with a massive plasma cannon.

The Hunter is a 2 part resin mini. Main body and turret. There were hardly any mould lines on the model at all. You can see 2 tabs at the front of the hull that need careful removal as they are attached at an angle. This wasn't too hard to do.
The eyes again had some roughness but easily fixed with a hobby knife being run over the front.

If you hadn't guessed, the Hunter was VERY simple to put together. Nice detail all over the model and the only but that was touched was under the tabs. This can be cleaned up in no time though.
I like it. Very nice indeed.

Reaper AA Grav Tank

The Reaper is the Anti-Air attack for the Scourge forces.

The Reaper is a 3 piece resin mini. The main hull is the same as the Hunters above and the AA turret has a pole fitting that attaches to the base.
Minimal mould lines again and a tiny bit of flash that just scraped away.

The Reaper went together well again. The gun part of the turret can be positioned how ever you like so there can be some variety between several copies of the same model.
A nice piece that will be great fun for a painter.

Invader APC

Invaders APCs are unarmoured assault vehicles that release hordes of Scourge troops via the front hatch right into the heart of battle

Invaders come in 2 resin parts. Main hull and base.
To be honest I did wonder why there was a base to begin with. Then I realised they can be placed into flying Dropships and a hollow bottom wouldn't look very good.
Apart from a very small tab on the inside of the base, this APC took NO time to clean up. That's good!

Another simple mini to put together. As the main body is one piece is keeps all of the very intricate detail without anything getting damaged at all.
I do like these a lot!

Warriors

Warriors are the core fighting force of the Scourge attack.

The Warriors come on sprues of 5 different designs that fit into a resin base.
They just need clipping off the sprue and sticking straight in. No files or anything. Some of the base have a small resin tab on the bottom but a quick cut sorts that right out.

A closer look at the sprue shows that even the smallest models in the box still have quite a high level of detail.

The Warriors look very nice once together. I would suggest some sort of flock to hide the joins but apart from that they are ready for some paint!

I was quite surprised by the size of the model after being told they were 10mm. I am used to 30mm so thought these would be very small. I was wrong.
In the 2 pictures above you can see 1 of each type in the box next to the 'Doctor' who is a 28mm mini on a 30mm base.

I wanted to add this picture quickly to show how the transports work. A brilliant way of doing things. I love the fact the tank actually fit IN in the transport. Something several other games don't consider.

Price - I have seen several thoughts on the DzC prices online and as these were sent for review for free (Thanks again HWG) I can't comment on a personal level.
The set is £70 from the Hawk Wargames Site. For everything that is included, I think that is a good price. Maybe a a little towards the higher end of the market but still good for the quality.

Overall - The Scourge Starter Force is a nice set. The high level of detail is impressive and the models to together well. They may need a little more prep work than some are used to but it is worth it in the end.
Out of the forces I have seen so far, I think the Scourge is the one I would continue with.

8 out of 10 Badger points

A bit less cleaning needed and maybe a touch cheaper (£5 or so less?) and these would make a 10

What are your thoughts on this set and the Dropzone Commander game in general?

Hendybadger awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!