AAR: Dystopian Wars Returns

 It's been close to year since the last game, but Zig and I broke out the Dystopian Wars toys on Saturday. We decided on a land battle and because they've haven't gotten any play time in recent memory, I used my Prussian forces. Ziggy brought his Polish. The scenario was a nothing-special shoot 'em up. We decided on 1200-point forces and we use the "Fleet Action" rules which Spartan put out right before they closed up shop. It's a much quicker, nicer game that retains 90% of the awesome while reducing the frustration by 100%.

Our setup. I had trouble locating my Prussian air units so I had the Honorable Eclipse Company mercenaries lend a hand. My "big units" are on the cheap side and a shorted a couple units resulting in having a couple extra units compared to Zig's Polish. That ended up making a difference as things progressed.

Early in the going, Ziggy is doing his best to re-create the Led Zeppelin I album cover.

A view from the right flank. We'd been mauling one another pretty well by this point and still only in turn 2.

Stompy heads toward the hated Polish airship.

But it was the H.E.C. interceptors that streaked in to finish off the monster! It's always a relief to see that thing get taken off the table.

Twice I attempted boarding actions with my medium tanks. Both times I was thoroughly smacked and sent packing, resulting in a massive build-up of disruption markers on the unit.

The Rarog Landship is looking a little lonely over there with a massive walker right there, the big Prussian tank as well and the H.E.C. Sky Fortress cruising into blasting range.

Final shot of the game. The Sky Fortress unloaded on the big Polish tank, bombers smash into a medium tank and that was all it took. Ziggy's force was thoroughly decimated and we wrapped the game there. 

What a nice afternoon of gaming! The win was a bonus, but DWFA really does deliver an entertaining experience. It's not terribly deep or thinky, but sometimes you just want an excuse to blast the hell out of each other and roll loads of dice. I'm glad I never got rid of my stuff and boy oh boy do I need to find my Prussian fliers!

AAR: Dystopian Wars Returns!

 Ziggy and I pulled out the Dystopian Wars models last evening for what's become "retro gaming" for us. Some of the earliest posts on this blog from 13 years ago were of Dystopian Wars! The Fleet Action rules that were published just as Spartan Games was closing its doors are the example of the game at its finest. Those are the rules we use. Our game was a 1200-point naval engagement, Republic of France vs Kingdom of Britannia. I made a comment about using the Statue of Liberty model that had never gotten any game time and Zig gave it a thumbs up. I painted that monster nine years ago!

I put together a naval-only force of French vessels; I think it's the first time I've ever played DW without using ANY fliers at all! Zig had an assortment of surface and aerial vessels.

My tiny fleet. Madame Liberte eats up a lot of build points.

That way, mes amis!

It wasn't long before some Orion-class destroyers located a target, one of my two battlecruisers. A quick torpedo volley and she was in pieces at the bottom of the sea.

On my right, my Alma-class skimming destroyers were mauled and three of the four were taken out easily by Zig's flying machines.

A view from my left.

I didn't get pictures of the sinking of my carrier, but Ziggy killed it and my fourth Alma-class. My graveyard was looking grim.

Revenge was swift though. my other battlecruiser and Madame L were right on top of the British fleet and caused a considerable number of casualties in short order

Finally, some results! A cruiser, battlecruiser, four frigates and two destroyers accounted for!

But it wasn't to last, Zig killed the other Cherbourg then unloaded on the statue.

The old girl only has two hull point left!

Clearly, the play is to ram the British carrier, right? With a massive cacophony, both mighty vessels form the basis of a new reef. My French were done. All I had left were two cruisers. Zig still had all his aerial assets.

Well, I'm here to tell ya, the Robot-Deadnought was awesome. Loads of fun to push around and wreck stuff. Glad to finally get it on the tabletop for sure! The game itself was a blast and hopefully it will be less than a year before we pull it back out. Be well and good gaming!

Islands in the Stream

After the last game of Armada, I began making some better looking islands for my sea-themed games. A trip to Michaels craft store also provided a bit of inspiration.

 Step 1... some DAS modeling clay on cheap wooden oval plates. 

BRAAAIIINNNNNNSSSS

Step 2.... Liquidex modeling compound waves. By far the worst part.

Step 3.... some ultra fine sand carpenter's glued to parts of the islands. The best sand I've found is at the pet store and is intended for sand-loving lizards.

Step 4... slop and go el cheapo paints after a black primer coat.

Step 5...two layers of highlights on the waves, light blue then white. Some drybrushing on the islands as well.

Step 6... finished drybrushing. Added some OD flock here and there for a bit more visual interest.

Step 7... Gloss up the waves and try to ease up the gloss level on the islands proper. Job's done!

With a couple of DW ships and an Armada ship.

They're not massive but they're a very pretty upgrade from my other islands. I might do at least one more much larger one. It can't be any more difficult than these four. Be well!

Game Necromancy - Dystopian Wars!

I checked in with Zig on Friday to see if he was up for a game Saturday.When he said he was, he asked which game. For some reason Dystopian Wars popped into my head and he was up for it. It's been over a year since we played so it was great to put it back on the table. Our last outing was a land battle, so we of course wanted a naval affair this time around. I put together a force of Empire of the Blazing Sun (Japanese) and Zig brought out the British - our original fleets.

Ziggy's fleet looks much the same way it did nine years ago. No new paint recently! We did a straightforward 1200-point free-for-all battle.

Some first turn maneuvering.

My Armored Cruisers get things going early with a massive salvo of rockets at the British carrier! The flattop is hit hit hard and loses four hull points. It's halfway to the bottom of the channel already and we're just getting started.

One of my little destroyers was wrecked by cruisers opposite them. My cruisers steam in a line, launching rockets at the armored cruisers in the back corner while my massive War Gyro floats steadily forward.

Towards the left, the Magnate Battleship and Hood Battlecruiser combined to sink one of my Armored Cruisers and damaged my carrier! The heavy destryers, obscured by Zig's hand damaged one of the light gyros.

We went out for wings and beer between turns two and three. When we came back, the scrum began in earnest with massive close-range salvos going both ways across the waves. My frigate squadron off to the far left got the better of their British counterparts. My light cruisers on the right had a terrific round of shooting, wrecking their opposite numbers!

In the middle of turn three, my War Gyro drove in the nail. If drifted right into the middle of the Britsh fleet, dropping bombs on a cruiser, rocketing a distant cruiser off to the right, and smashing the carrier with gunfire killing three capital ships in a single round of fire. Now that's getting it done! 

We played out the rest of the turn but Zig threw in the towel. We tallied up the scores it was 26-20 in favor of the Japanese. A tough battle a it felt good to get one in the W column! We're hoping to get DW back on the gaming table a bit more in 2021. It's always a fun time that doesn't require much of a rules refresher at all.

AAR: Dystopian Wars?

Since it's been a year and a half, Zig and I decided it was high time to put Dystopian Wars: Fleet Action back on the table. DW used to be a very regular game for us and it just sort of fell off the hot list. Last night we kicked it back into gear on the ol' 6x4 and had a quite entertaining battle featuring French and Polish land forces in an alternate steampunk past.

The forces arrayed. We put together 1200-point groups. and essentially the scenario was just a slaughter-fest.

My two landships both started the proceedings by getting just pounded. Grrr.

French scout fliers pass over a wood. Their broadside fire would silence one of the three Polish artillery pieces.

A view from the other end of the table.

Ziggy decided his Rarog landship should empty the tubes into my Liege-class and checks the range.

Thar she blows!

Turn 2 was a bad time for the French, as they lost their big bomber moments later. Mon Dieu!

I got a bit of feel-good, but ultimately worthless revenge moments later by having my light tank squadron blast the airship. They caused solid damage, but it would be the only damage done to the monster for the rest of the game. That volley and their presence would have been better used in the center. Oh well.

Part way through turn 2.

The photography became less regular as the battle ground on. I parked my landship carrier in front of the Polish landship and blasted away. Fortune was not with me as many shots simply tore holes in the earth instead of the steel beast straight ahead!

The center continued to devolve into a real mosh pit. Polish flame attacks caused quite a few "disruption" hits which become real hits after a short time if they aren't dealt with. Boarding actions we undertaken by both sides with generally poor results all around.

Turn 4 - almost done! The center has thinned out a lot. Ziggy parked his light tanks behind my carrier for a coup de grâce. Would they get it?

Of course.

After four turns I only have three things left. The Polish took a real beating too, but of course still had their two big vehicles left and I had three mediums that wouldn't have given them much resistance.

Final score - 44 to 35. Actually closer than I expected and the carrier that blew up at the end was worth 9 points.

It was great to have these minis on the table once again. They're beautiful models and DWFA is a solid, fun set of rules. As it turns out, this game was very similar to a game we played three years ago with almost the same forces! That game was played with the regular Dystopian Wars rules but otherwise was very similar (and with similar sad results for me!).

I hope everyone's having a good New Year. I know I've been silent on the blogging front lately. I've been busy with other things and there's been precious little gaming. Zig and I did play four or five games of C&C:A a couple weekends ago and had a blast.

Be well and good gaming!