The Monitors are here!
On Saturday we took some limited stock of the new Dropfleet Monitors to Crisis in Belgium, and they were met very positively!
Not wanting anyone who could attend to wait long, we’re releasing Monitors for four factions this Friday. These ships have long been on the radar – Dave even talked about them years ago!
Monitors are slow ships that have extremely thick armour. They’re not designed for fast manoeuvres, but are excellent at shooting up out of Low Orbit. Each blister of these contains three ships, and each can be built in one of two ways, meaning this week we actually have eight new ships coming your way!
Lots of you will have seen artwork of these ships in Battle for Earth, and now it’s time to see the actual models.
The UCM welcome the addition of Istanbul and Vienna, Monitors and Escort Frigates respectively. The Istanbul is a typical Monitor. It’s slow and well armoured with a weapon way too big for its size! The Vienna is – as the name says – an escort, using its stubby burnthrough laser and Aegis to help protect battleships (or whatever you want really!).
The Scourge fleets gain the Shedu and Lamassu. The Shedu is a Monitor, using an Oculus Beam Crest to deal a hefty amount of damage, and Detector to help its fleet out. The Lamassu Barge is a different beast entirely. It’s slow and well armoured, disgorging Bulk Landers (yes, Bulk Landers from such a small ship!) when it eventually gets up the board.
The Castor and Pollux are the PHR’s version of these ships. The Castor is a Monitor toting the very deadly looking Quad Battery. With 4 Attack and Fusillade-4 it can be just as dangerous as it looks! The Pollux is another Escort Frigate, changing its weapons for a massive Aegis (7). The Castor and Pollux are office favourites, the sunfish shape looking completely different on the two versions.
Finally we have the Shaltari Silicon and Selenium. The Silicon Monitor is a bit of a new look for Shaltari, going with an asymmetrical design. It’s still got all the flowing lines (and dots) you’d expect from a Shaltari vessel, and keeps the Quad Ion Cannon (yes, just like the ones in Dropzone, except much, much bigger) to the side. The Selenium is actually a Heavy Voidgate, which should answer the requests of countless Shaltari fans! This thing is hard to kill, and gives unparalleled firepower when targeting any level. And that’s not even talking about the drop capacity of this heavy craft!
All eight of these Monitors are out for pre-order this Friday, so stop back then for more info!