As Xenogenik said: instancing that is now in 4.11 can really help out!
In our project We Come In Peace… with 4.11 we were able to keep draw calls to around 80 with each wave of UFOs being one draw call (6 in a wave). Another tip to reduce draw calls at least with any menus / UIs is to use 3D widgets - they are also only 1 draw call 