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!

Dropzone Commander - Post Human Republic Starter Force

Hawk Wargames have VERY kindly sent over a Post Human Republic (PHR) Starter set for Dropzone Commander to check out here on ToaTS. I have been eyeing up these models since I first spotted them at Salute 2012 and was very happy to get my hands on a set.
Lets have a look at what's in the box

Post Human Republic Starter Force

The packaging of this set is very nice. Painted pictures of everything included, contents lists, info about the models and everything you need.

Inside the box it gets even better. The set comes packed in a KR Multicase foam accessories tray with the DzC logo. How good is that?

Taking everything out of the box you can see it includes a deck of Force cards, 3 Neptune Dropships with flight bases, 2 Ares Walkers, 2 Phobos Walkers, 2 Juni Tanks and 2 bases of Immortals troops.
That is quite a bit for a starter set. Even if it is 10mm scale. The cards are standard size so that should give you an idea of the sizes of all the parts.
Lets have a closer look at the different units included.

Neptune Dropship

The Neptune is a medium sized dropship.The model is fully resin and comes in 5 parts, 2 sections of main body and 3 engines. It also come with a flying base and 'widget' so the model can be easily removed from the base for transport.

The detail on these models is amazing! Small and intricate but very sharp.

The side engines do have a couple of lumps of resin on that need removing and a quite thick mould line down one side. The main body joint had to be cut out a little to be a flush fit and some lines sround the edges needed scrapping off. Abit more prep work than I am used to but for the detail level I didnt really mind too much.

After cleaning the model went together quite well. All the parts just slipped together and the 3 engines can be faced in which ever direction you want.
To get a flying angle I had to move the top of the flight stand a little but you cant notice as its under the model.
Overall, I quite like it. 

Ares Battle Walkers

The Ares Battle Walker is a fully resin mini again. You get 2 hull parts, 2 legs and 2 weapon/targetting arms.
The front top of the main hull had a large piece of resin sticking out of it. I didnt think this was too bad until I tried to remove it. As its on a curved and angled piece, it was a pain in the backside to clean up afterwards without damaging the shape. The other side of the hull also had a rough area where it is meant to be smooth. this was close to cast line so wasnt easy to get rid of without damaging the detail.
The weapon arms also had some resin tabs on but this came off quite easily without and damage.
The legs had mould lines running down the front armour plates over some vents so these didnt come out very well. The joints in the legs were also partially filled with resin that had to be cut out to reveal the detail. 

Once cleaned up, and revealing some bubbles, it was time to build the model. The parts ment together VERY easily and it is an impressive, highly detailed piece. I really hope I just had bad luck with the casting but I checked the other Ares and that was the same.
Sorry Hawk, but I have to be honest with what I find.

Phobos Battle Walker

The Phobos has the same hull, waist and legs as the Ares but with different weapon options. Unfortunalty this meant it had the same casting, tabs, roughness and bubbles issues!
Agian it is a stunning piece in amazing high detail but the faults let it down. By this point I was starting to wonder if it was just bad luck as 4 walkers had been the same.

Juno A1 IFV

The Juno is again a resin model. It comes in 3 parts, 2 halves of the hull and a turret.

The detail is as high and sharp as the other minis in the set. Where the hales of the tank meet there was some raised resin that needed cutting off and there was a mould line around the thin edges of the turret that unfortunatly went over a lot of detail so couldnt be removed without losing it.

The tank halves have ball and socket joints inside to line the sides up bu 2 of these were covered over with resin that need to be removed. Once that was done it went together ok. Well, I say ok.
One half of the tank is ever so slightly shorter than the other (Top half in first of the above 3 pics)
This meant that each end was out a little. To top it of, where the halves meet there seemed to be a gap and a dip that will need some filing. Luckily this was on a bare section so wont harm the detail.
Unlicky casting again? I dont know. The second tank was the same.

Immortals

The Immortals were the only metal models in the box. 5 on a sprue in different poses was nice and they sit in a resin base.

A closer look at the models shows that even on this tiny scale, they stil have good detail and proportions.

These just clipped off of the spure and stuck straight into the base. A little file on the base edges and they were all done.
Easy is good!

To give you a better idea of the scale, here is one of each model next to the 'Doctor'. A 28mm model on a 30mm base. When I heard 10mm, I thought they would have been a lto smaller than this. Impressed by the size.

A nice added touch is the fact the the tanks and walkers actually fit underneath the dropship. They both have fittings on that match up with the ones on the bottom of the flyer.
when turned the right way up they didnt hold though. Maybe magnets are needed but I think that would affect the look of the joints. Are they meant to stay together or not?

Price - This has been a talking point online for a while now. £70 for the set does seem acceptable for everything thats included. IF the casts were better.

Overall - I like the high detail, the mount you get and the general design. Unfortunatley, the casting issues leave a lot to be disired and put me off this set. For a top of the line range I would have expected much better.
I really hope I was unlucky and had a bad box as a one off. Although the fact that all the models were the same makes me doubt that.
Apologies to Hawk Wargames as you were amazingly kind to send me these goodies but I have to be honest.

4 out of 10 Badger Points.

In a few days we will check out the scourge Starter Force. I can tell you now, the casting is MUCH better.

Hendybadger awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!