Dystopian Wars - Singing the Bleus

Z and I got together for a bit of holiday-week shoot-em-up yesterday. He'd just recently picked up a bunch of new British stuff for DW and I'd been wanting to put my French on the tabletop since finishing them up.* We played a 1000 point naval game and as usual forgot to determine mission objectives prior to playing through a full turn or so.

The French (moi)
La Rochelle Heavy Battleship w/ Cloud Generator   215
Magenta Battleship w/ Cloud Generator   175
2 Cherbourg Battlecruisers   220
3 Alma Frigates   90
2 Epaulard Submarines   100
3 Marseillie Light Cruisers   180

The British
Ruler Battleship w/ Guardian Generator   205
Regent Battle Carrier w/ Guardian Generator 160
Lord Hood Battle Cruiser   115
3 Doncaster Bombers  180
4 Bastion Escorts (for carrier and BB)   100
4 Attacker Frigates   120
3 Orion Destroyers   120

Our starting positions. Very sparse terrain this game. My two battle cruisers were in the "Advance" zone whilst the light cruisers and frigates were flanking. As I read this I realize I cheated and had over 40% of my force in the "Strategic" group. 

First shots are from one of my Cherbourgs nails the British Lord Hood with some heat ray goodness.

A single point of damage and three cooked boarding parties thanks to "piercing."

The Lord Hood return fire and dings one of the Cherbourgs while my Magenta sinks a far off frigate with its fore turret.

My subs surface, lob some rounds at the distant carrier and submerge again. The volley was ineffective due to the Guardian Generator on the carrier.

The end of turn 1. Zig's battleship lingered in the back - he should have pushed it forward more. While outclassed by two opposing battleships, it could have absorbed some shots and kicked out some of its own at the front of the formation.

One of my Cherbourgs opens up on the Hood at range 2. It was ugly for the British ship which suffered a Weapons Damage crit in addition to being set aflame and taking lots of damage.

Things spiral out of control quickly for the Brits as my subs hit the carrier with their corrosive mortar rounds, the the Magenta "crosses the T" and causes three further damage including the dreaded Weapons Damage again. That fleur-de-lis marker on the carrier is the corrosion marker... :)

The distant Ruler finally gets a hit on a French ship causing a single point of damage to the Magenta. The Cloud Generators and Retardant Armor caused Ziggy fits all game. Some method of disabling the clouds would have server them well.

It kept getting worse for the Royal Navy as "The Beast" opened up on the carrier with its Heat Lances causing a Sturginium Flare which dropped the harried vessel right in front of the French Heavy Battleship.

The other Cherbourg piles on the hapless Lord Hood, taking its shield generator offline.

And then the Almas appear from my right flank, destroying one Attacker and damaging another!

Insult, meet injury. The corrosion finishes off the carrier during the end phase.

I began turn 3 by pulling the light cruisers in, ambushing the battleship. I hit it for a crit - a Hard Pounding. Not exactly awesome, but good enough. 

Ziggy and the Brits get their first taste of revenge, dropping a solid bombardment on La Rochelle. A crit is scored, another Hard Pounding. 

My Magenta finishes off the Lord Hood.

The submarines take shots at the battleship, not harming it at all. They then attempted a boarding action against one of the Doncs and were terribly ineffective.

The Orion Destroyers appear on my left flank and unleash a hail of gunfire and torpedoes at the already damaged Cherbourg, causing a good deal of damage and reducing its speed by half.

The big battlecruiser got its revenge sinking two of the Orions.

It would have been pointless to tally up the score at this point. Zig had just two frigates, three Doncasters and a wounded battleship left to my Magenta, full-strength Cherbourg, damaged Heavy battleship, three frigates, two subs and three light cruisers. He still hadn't destroyed any of my units. A stunning French win!

I'm not sure what happened there - that went as perfectly as you could ask for, for me and completely miserably for Zig. The dice hated him and loved me. Having the battleship stuck in the back didn't help things - I was able to crush the carrier quickly by broadsiding it with both of my battleships which left him with only one strong unit. His poor Lord Hood got worked over badly by my two battle cruisers - outnumbered and damaged before it even got a chance to move.

I really enjoyed using this fleet. Heat Lances are nasty, Cherbourgs are nasty and Heavy Battleships are really nasty. I was concerned about the lack of SAS, but came out OK - the three extra fighters off the La Rochelle helped a lot. I'm sure Zig is ready for some revenge - he's got a Heavy Battleship of his own which I imagine I'll be facing next time around.

Merry Christmas, Readers! Oh and thank you to Ziggy for my Christmas prezzie:

A French Aerial Force! These will keep me busy for a while.

* Of course they are never "finished." I've got a carrier and frigates on order now.