Dystopian Wars AAR: Sun, Fun and Guns in the SoPac!

Last Saturday Zig and I got out the Dystopian Wars toys for another installment in the ongoing battle between His Majesty's Navy and the Imperial Navy. I mixed things up a bit this go-round and used a few things we'd not put on the table yet, building a bit of a scenario into the proceedings.

I used the Steakhouse of Doom  (a Blazing Suns Bunker Complex) and a fun mix of naval and aerial forces. It's not up to tournament specs as far as point distribution but Z didn't care. Zig used his recently updated (new Orbat!) Australians. We both had 1200-points worth of stuff.

The setup was this - the Australian flotilla was out hunting the Japanese carrier group in the Solomons when it stumbled upon the recently completed Bunker Complex. The carrier Kane was indeed also present as was the heavy airship Okami. Never one to flee when there was a fight to be had, the Commodore McRath pressed forward.

 Deployment. The black-primed Aussies blend in very well. We rolled terrain randomly and got an unusually high SIX islands!

A better look at the Australian stealth ships and weird deployment. My bunker's mines bothered Zig so he stayed far away from them.

A damned Monitor pops one of my corvettes early. 

But revenge was very swift. The Temple of Doom blasted the tar out of one of two Pocket Battleships, the HMAS Wagga Wagga. Two volleys of rockets caused major damage.

Not to be outdone, the Japanese Armored Cruisers unload another massive barrage of rockets into the stricken Wagga Wagga. Blackness engulfed the great vessel for a moment, then it reappeared hundreds of yards forward, inverted and burning out of control on a nearby island. 

My little Tetsubo flying machines got in on the long-range act and set a flanking Kestrel rotor aflame with a veritable wall of rockets. Fighters from the nearby Kane also closed on the enemy fliers.

This is how it looked after turn 1.

We continue to exchange fire. My Gunships knocked out a mini-sub with torpedoes and continue to cause headaches with gunfire and rockets. One of the Gunships became a favored target of the Australians and was taking heavy damage.

One of the Monitors finishes off the Gunship. Bah.

Japanese and Australian small ships brawl mercilessly towards the right as the aircraft battle on the left. Jade Chrysanthemum Squadron finishes off the damaged Kestrel.

A Sub Tender is offered up to Neptune.

Frigates continue to make an impact, accounting for a Japanese Tanuki!

Japanese Corvettes cause major damage to one Monitor and launch an ill-fated boarding attempt against another.

The last of my Gunships is captured by the godforsaken Crocodiles. I had killed three of the things!

  

Kane's broadsides finish off the second Kestrel (not pictured)!

My Nakatsu Light Cruisers enter from the flank and the end of turn three and offer a textbook display of ineptitude. Six zillion high-dice shots, fuck-all to show for it. I went on to win the initiative on turn four and activated the Nakatsus immediately so they could redeem themselves. They repeated their prior garbage performance. A Sub Tender, HMAS Wogglepong, rammed one of my cruisers just 'cuz.

The Corvettes show my stupid Light Cruisers "how it's done" and kill off the Wogglepong.

The HMAS Cockburn unleashes a close-range beating on my Nakatsu squadron, cirtting all, flaring one into what would really be a useful position, all things considered.

I failed to take any pictures of the massive amount of damage that the Cockburn began to take from the Okani and the Temple O' Doom.

By the end of turn four, I'd managed to fulfill my objective requirements of destroying 70% of the enemy force, just barely. I had 850 points and Zig had managed 645, but hadn't come close to bagging my Commodore's vessel, the Kane.

Another brutal game of DW! It was contentious and a lot of fun, although the dice gods were in my favor that evening without a doubt. The Australians are still nasty as all get-out and I do not enjoy facing them. The Monitors, Battleships and Crocs are all high on my list of units I despise. Ziggy seemed to be pretty irritated that I was targeting his subs as much as I did with torps and CC. I'm a fan of the Bunker Complex - it is a solid use of 170 points. I'd take it again in a minute. My carrier did well, but that was as much a function of deployment as anything else. 

Looking forward to the next one!