Dropzone Commander: UCM Katana

Dropzone Commander UCM Katana

My son and I have gotten into Dropzone Commander over the last months and with a new wave of goodies being released for the month of January I thought I'd take a closer look at the UCM Katana release.

This is the Official Hawk Wargames blurb about the Katana

The Katana is built upon a lighter, nimbler version of the more common Sabre-type chassis. In a further effort to save weight, UCM military engineers have also adopted a less power-hungry weapon system; a twin high-velocity cannon, the UM-88T. This armament has a superior rate of fire to the more common railgun, although it does not have quite the same punch or range.

The nice folks at Hawk Wargames also provide a link to the experimental rules for the Katana here

Packaging:

The blister pack is pretty nondescript. Your standard small clamshell blister pack ith foam backing.

Each pack comes with 3 Katana light tanks.

The Models:

Each Katana comes with 2 parts, the hull and the large turret. Both are in resin and are on par with the other exceptionally well detailed miniatures in the Dropzone Commander range.

Clean resin, great detail - click for larger picture

I've got to say I love the resin used on these miniatures, it's a hard resin but not brittle and does have some bend to it. It holds detail well and even at this tiny scale you can pick out all kinds of amazing detail on the models.

The Katana's hull is slightly different from the Sabre/Rapier, obviously showing the lighter armor reflected in the Katana's stat line.

Rather then the neat Articulated Cannon found on the Sabre the Katana has a more conventional revolving turret with twin guns. It looks cool but it is not quite as dynamic as the Sabre.

Game Wise:

The Katana fills a light tank roll and is best evaluated by comparing it to the Sabre main battle tank.

Pros:

• Faster (by 2 ")
• 2 shots instead of one
• Smoke Launchers

Cons:

• Weaker Armor (by 1 point)
• Weaker Gun (by 1 point of E)
• Can't be paired with the Rapier AA tanks in an Albatross

I'm not a big odds guy but it seems that the Katana's  two shots at E9 are probably a little better then the Sabre's one shot at E10. Effectiveness would also depend on the target. Low armored Shaltari are going to hate the Katana. Higher armored PHR not so much.

Of course the slightly improved firepower is off-set by the slightly decreased armor value (9 versus 10).

Another cool addition to the Katana are smoke launchers, once per game they can fire and give the Katana the benefit of cover (Skimmer bonus) and make them harder to hit.

This means that brazen UCM Commanders can drop these bad boys closer to the action and use the smoke on the turn they disembark to cover them until they start shooting on the next turn.


Here is my Katana unit, painted in my standard UCM scheme. Not a bad looking tank at all!

Cute little tanks

Katana with the Sabre.

Katana with Plastic Sabre

Top view. Plastic Sabre on Right

Tank Platoon ready for action!

Conclusion:

The Katana is a great addition to the UCM and I can see them being replacements for Sabre Tanks in many players lists. The models themselves look great and fit in with the rest of the UCM design aesthetic.