Dystopian Wars

Dennis, Rick and Zig came over Saturday for some Dystopian Wars and we ended up playing a bombing run mission of Rick's invention. The basic setup is that the attacker (composed solely of air units) is performing a fly-over bombing run, while the defender, with land, sea and air units tries to defend said objectives. The objectives can only be damaged by bombs, so rockets and big guns are right out. If you know me, you'll know that I have a distaste for high-point-value games but in the interest of science and playtesting, we put two, roughly 1500-point forces together. Rick used his FSA boys, while I used the combined forces of the Blazing Suns and the Pussian Empire. Ziggy and Dennis defended - Ziggy with his KoB fleet and some AA towers and Dennis using Antarctican land units (plus two Icarus). Apparently the rest of the world was trying to break up the Iced-Tea monopoly that the Brits and Ants had going.

Forgot to get a pic before we started, but all I have moved to this point was my Gyros. There is a squadron of  FSA Dive Bombers next to a red token (objective) which they had just blown up.

The Gyros line up shots against an Icarus in the distance. Their AA guns were very effective against my rockets.

Three Brit frigates (just barely in frame on the left) and the AA tower blast one of my Gyros into the waves. Sadness.

Geiers and Ami bombers make an entrance. The Geiers sink all three escorts protecting the Battleship. No matter, the thing can protect itself just fine.

The FSA bombers unload a swarm of torpedoes at the HMS Hood but fail to harm the monster.

My rocket bombers arrive and fire off a bunch of fireworks at the walkers on the beach, causing exactly no damage.

The Prussian Zeppelin arrives along with the John Henrys. The mighty airship unleashes a mighty bolt of lightning at the AA tower, as does the robot causing massive damage. The other robot at the far end of the table causes severe damage to the AA tower down that end.

Finally the American airships arrive and completely dominate the far end of the battlefield.

Turn two got going and the attacking force was on a roll...

The American airship unloads on the Agincourts and finishes off the flak tower on the right-side island.

The Geiers line up shots against the Atticus walkers at the beach. Two lightning bolts, two crits. Four ones. Yes, I critted twice and rolled snake-eyes twice for the crits. 

British fighters swarm the already damaged Graf Spee. It had taken a pounding from the Atticuses and Socrates and was now putting along at 3" speed. 

The center teems with bombers and other airships!

We played out two full turns. It was a slow lengthy affair, one of the reasons I don't like big games. That said, I had a blast and the scenario itself was quite enjoyable. Thank you Rick for bringing it over!


What I learned...
A squadron of fighters close by a laden carrier completely dominates the carrier. Rick and I made the mistake of taking all of our tiny fliers as DBs, to be useful against objectives. The defenders took only fighters which had their pick of easy targets, hitting on 3+. Once Ziggy got a squadron of fighters nagging the Prussian airship, it was locked down. If I'd launched planes, they'd have been pounced quickly. If I'd taken AA shots at them, they'd have gotten free shots back at me. It was really the rock / hard place situation.

Rick and I will work on the scenario a bit - there are a handful of things that need adjusting. It was a playtest and a darn good one at that.