Happy Friday everyone! The UCM are approaching, it’s time to get out our binoculars and see what they have to offer.

Today(!) sees the release of 10 new Battlecruisers (2 variants per pack) for Dropfleet Commander, and it’s the UCM’s turn in the spotlight. Although they had to wait until last, they don’t have to share!

So let’s not delay and get stuck into it.

UCM Rome

On the more offensive side of the Battlecruiser, we have the Rome.

Straight away you can see the main inspiration behind the Rome’s design: the Kiev Destroyer. A fan favourite, the Kiev’s triple prow hasn’t been seen outside of the Destroyer hull until now! The Rome isn’t just inspired by the one Destroyer though, as Dave took inspiration from the Havana as well.

The Rome’s primary armament are two massive torpedoes. Although limited in their availability, they’re definitely deadly!

These are new Heavy Torpedoes, exclusive to the Rome (at the moment anyway, who knows what the future may bring). With double the Damage of the standard UCM Torpedoes (remember: Torpedoes have seen a recent update in the 1.2 digital rulebook), these things pack a big punch! A potential 16 damage on one Torpedo, that’s enough to take down anything smaller than a Battleship in one go. And that’s ignoring the extra Mass Drivers and Shark Missile Bays. Ouch!

UCM Venice

The alternate build from the UCM’s new Battlecruiser set is the Venice.

The Venice is extremely sparsely armed, with only the traditional Mass Drivers and Close Action weapons. But the Venice is a dedicated command ship. It’s pretty pricey, but it is a ship that you can build your fleet around.

Visually Dave wanted to bring in a slightly different aesthetic. By leaning heavily into the antennas of the UCM ships and closing up the front to combined the top and bottom prows, you have a ship that’s very obviously UCM, but also very obviously slightly different and less offensive than their usual fare.

The Venice very much lacks in offensive power, but more than makes up for it by supporting the rest of the fleet in a way we’ve never seen before.

The Venice has 2 key rules. Command Deck means that you’ll be drawing even more Command Cards, which will keep the UCM fighting harder than anyone else, and give you plenty of tricks up your sleeve to counteract the naughty Shaltari and some of the other weird weapons you’ll be facing.

It’s a good thing you’ll be drawing more Command Cards, because the UCM Battlenet rule makes great use of them. If you have a card you might not want to use, you can discard it to get bonuses. This represents the your admiral dedicating time and resources to directing the fleet, using their martial prowess to  get the most out of their battle-hardened navy.

When you discard a Command Card you get access to 1 of 3 bonuses which apply to a whole Battlegroup – whichever ships are using Special Orders for the turn. Note that any ships in that group on Standard Orders don’t get the bonus, so make sure to setup your plays properly otherwise you’ll be burning through Command Cards for very little benefit.

This skill is a real game-changer! A careful player will be able to get loads of bonuses, but you’ll be broadcasting to everyone where your commander is, and to get the most out of it you’ll want a high level commander too, which will be a lot of points in quite a vulnerable chassis. Keep the Venice at the back of the board and try a group of Destroyers or Monitors to protect it.

These new Battlecruisers (and all the other factions’ Battlecruisers) are all up for pre-order later today on the TTCombat webstore. We’ll have all the details here first, so stop back soon!