Fleet Action Dystopian Wars

I had the chance to try out Dystopian Wars Fleet Action rules in a 600point Air-Force only game.
Empire of the Blazing Sun faced off against Antarctican Scientists inventions.

It was my first run through these rules and we learnt a lot about the rules and suspect that some minor aspects we didn't get correct. While the rules are much better in my opinion than the full blown version 2 rules and make for an improved experience. In my opinion some clarification or re-wording could help this game further though.

We ended the game prior to the on table conclusion but it looked like the Blazing Sun might prevail.
However it turned out that the Antarctic forces only have 1 Small air force option (as do my Blazing Sun) but that small choice are only small bombers so had no role to play in this game. Had I known beforehand I think it would only have been fair to make an allowance to include a small naval choice as an alternative. Even though that breaks the rule books force construction requirement.

The Antarctic forces seem to have a large amount of defensive ability when they are targeted. The Blazing Sun has great Long Range options.

Cheers from Brendon

Islands just for decoration. They played no part.

Tetsubo Interceptors and Blazing Sun forces.

Antarctic Scientists getting ready to blast.

More of Charles amazing painted details.

Yep....Amazing detail and freehand design by Charles.

Detailed Dystopian Wars painting

Dystopian Wars has released a smaller, faster version of the rules (Fleet Action) which my local club is just starting to play. I went down to my local club (Darwin Tabletop Gamers) and was introduced to Charles who had these marvelous examples of extreme detail painting. Amazing work I think you will agree.

It was the first time in a long time I attended the club. Here in the North of Australia winter has been awesome. Northern winter is our fun time to get out and about. The Dry Season. So camping and long Road trips have taking up most of my time and painting or gaming hasn't had a look in for ages. We even managed a trip to Kakadu this year.
That will likely change soon as it gradually gets hotter and eventually the Wet Season begins.

Cheers from Brendon.

Crescent & Cross and other stuff

At the same time as I received the Lion Rampant rules I got the Saga, Crescent and Cross rulebook. I spent more time reading Lion Rampant than C&C at the time but C&C is a really good rule book. C&C is not so much an expansion but, Saga reborn. It's the full rules but with improved explanations and more. Unlike the first publication of Saga this version is hardback and instead of 4 Battle Boards/factions you get 6. However that does mean a price increase.

Shiny pages :(       .......Camel with tiny head :(       ........but great rules. :)

On the downside I don't like the cheap glossy paper used for the pages. The full colour design though is fantastic. I was shocked when I saw the photos of Gripping Beast camels though. Shocking proportions with small heads and smooth bodies. The riders look too big on them.
In the rules Camel riders have an edge over horses when they fight each other. Something gamers are usually only too happy to see based on our historical readings. I think these are better looking camels with riders.
It's great to see the improved rules clarification though and I would highly recommend this to Saga players even if you don't plan on a Crusades type warband.

As I am a fan of plastics I was thinking about adding a box of Gripping Beast Plastic Arab Spearmen and Archers in my 'to do' list so I was waiting to get the C&C rule book to see what battle board would suit them. Turns out that mounted options are very abundant in all the factions but a fanatical warband with an all foot option exists. They have a crazy element that includes sacrificing figures to get those battle board boosts.



Back on Lion Rampant...I have an excellent Norman collection which is perfect for use in Lion Rampant but I have had an eye on those excellent Perry Plastic sets for a while. 'The War of The Roses' sets look awesome so, I went and ordered a whole bunch of them.
My local supplier just happened to have cans of Army Painter when I visited recently. So a can of Plate Metal Primer may just speed the process considerably. Hopefully I can convince players at my local club that they need to try this game. Reception has been extremely positive so far. But in our group at the moment the flavour of the month (or two) is Version 2 Dystopian Wars with the arms race in full tilt mode. While on the subject of Lion Rampant check this army deal being worked out out.

On the paint table at the moment I have been making slow progress on 2 Mercenary factions for Dystopian Wars. It's pretty much the only game I have played for the past few weeks. We are still discovering the rules. They are not exactly simple rules I find but as always it's fun to see some stuff blown up on a games table. I am yet to construct a basic list with my Empire of the Blazing Sun that I seem to actually know what to do with in a game. But it looks like for now I will probably include the Giant Robot Attack Squid and also 2 small Frigate squadrons options as compulsory inclusions.......perhaps also the mysterious Ghost Ship (Yurei Terror Ship).

Work in progress. Two Black Wolf large subs and other toys slowly getting to completed stage.

I got a great email Newsletter from War and Peace on line store here in Australia. 50% off Judge Dredd rules and figures! What a shame I already have the rules but I had to make an order for figures almost instantly. I am a big fan of the Comic series even though I don't collect it any more but there was a time when I did. It got me re-reading the rules and they really are good for a skirmish detail game. Move, shoot and fight really is easy to get to grips with but each figure can have it's own bonuses through base stats, level, weapons and special talent skills. So it something that may be familiar to role players than wargamers even though this is a tactical game and not a RPG. Campaign mode really is about making hardcore heroes. A good fit for a comic book world. My plan now is to create a collection for hosting games. Two forces made for the excellent variety of missions in the rules. Yet just another project in my 'round to it' list.....

Get us painted CREEP! Or face time in an Iso-Cube!

Last minute addition...I created a banner for my Viking collection from art I found on the Internet through an image search. It is a Tattoo design and the artist who created it actually left a comment on my post. I am happy to say my use of the image was approved. Go check out more of his incredible art here. Thanks Zele.

Cheers from Brendon (The Kiwi)

6 player Dystopian War

We had a HUGE battle at our club. 3 players per side each with 900 points of Dystopian Wars Naval madness and supporting technological marvels. The game went for a long time and was probably a draw. I am probably happy at this stage to stay out of multi player games for a while now as we have been playing a fair few lately and whilst it's great fun it requires a certain amount of patience. Different play speeds and off topic talking etc can slow it to a grind. But rules learning with more people is really beneficial to get players up to speed or pick up on mistakes made and I get to know people a bit better that I haven't really had that much interaction with. We did not include the TAC card option but did include the Objectives but only rolled up 3 of them. They add another random bit of interest to a game.
I tired out a whacky list with some of the more exotic options and some for the very first time. At the bizarre and unusual end of the spectrum my Blazing Sun forces have a few interesting choices like the large Ika Robot Assault Squid, Ziragani small acid squirting Robot squids and the mysterious Yurei Terror ship with it's Ghost generator. I really enjoyed how it worked and may have found a good combination that works for me on the table. Not dominating by any means as I think the game is far more balanced now but it will hopefully cause a few hard choices for my opponents.
Anyway here are some photos.
Cheers from Brendon

Australian Navy (opposite my fleet).

My deployment and the mysterious Ghost Ship

Lots of Ocean

whoooooooo...ooooooo...oooooooo. Spooky!

Those crazy scientists from Antarctica.

Ottoman skimmers vs French skimmers at the other end of the table.

Aussies on the attack!

Unpainted wars. Who's who? I can't tell but the circles are big storms. Crazy technology strikes again.

Arise to the surface my Robot Squid and DESTROY!

Mwah mwah ha ha ha! Tentacle guns to the FACE!

???

End Game! No more time!

Dystopian Wars Mercenary Painting Progress

Prior to the arrival of the Lion Rampant rules I started work on addition to my Dystopian Wars forces. I decided to start an alternate force from my Blazing Sun fleet and looked at the Mercenary forces. I started with a Black Wolf box and after looking at the rules they can have access to a Landing Strip fortification. It functions like a Carrier except it can't move. They can be placed on the Ocean surface like a giant oil drilling platform. After taking a while in deciding a suitable layout I glued the buildings on the big clear plastic deck then sprayed black. The set actually comes with two bases so another one is now in the 'round-to-it' file.You get a good variety of detailed buildings including two really big towers but I only plan to place one on the next platform. The air strip has some etched markings that I used for painting the runway markings.

The eight small Black Wolf ships became tests for a colour scheme I had in mind and this is reflected in the airstrip base. I am also working on a East India Trading Company Merchant fleet as well in the same dark colour scheme. The idea of course is for them to form one combination force of The Black Wolf Vodka and East India Pale Ale fleet.  
Just two quick pics I took on my painting table. When I have some more completed I will take some more pics with them on an ocean surface rather than making waves across my table.
Cheers from Brendon (The Kiwi)

Rams and Collisions in Dystopian Wars

In one of our games of Dystopian Wars V2 we had a ram and collision situation that we hadn't encountered during a game before. It took a little reading but I think we got the hang of it. Below is my demonstration of the rules with illustrations. I will assume you have some knowledge of the game and scores to hit. Let me know if it is incorrect. (P.100) refers to a rule page number in the Hard Cover rulebook.

Welcome to a demonstration from the The Empire of the Blazing Sun. This will illustrate Ramming and Collisions. Let the simulation commence.

Three Medium Cruiser Gun Ships (A,B, and C) are in an opposing force against Four much smaller Frigates.
The Gun Ships activate and Ship A declares a Ramming Action.
Why do this? By declaring an intentional Ramming Action and if it is a Ram Ship A gains the Crushing Impact MAR. Booyah!
This means that if this attack exceeds the DR of the Frigate its is a Critical Hit. Double the DR and its two Critical Hits. Nice!
Ship A must qualify however for this to be a Ramming Action as opposed to a Collision (even if Ship A would really like it to be a Ram. Of course he does. Wouldn't you?).
Here is the checklist in short.
- Declaration ....TICK
- IR is greater than 0 .....TICK
- Same height level ....TICK
- Target in front 90 degree arc ....TICK (backing in to ships would be a collision).
- Have moved at least Minimum Move ...TICK

All are ticked so it's definitely a deliberate Ram with the engines stoked, crew ready and bracing, and best impact point calculated.
Ship A moves and it stops at the point it touches the Frigate. The Frigate is not capable of changing it's height level (it's not a Diving Model nor a Flyer). It can not attempt to evade.(P.101)
Now Ship A rolls as many dice as it's IR (Impact Rating) statistic allows. At the same time the Frigate rolls as many dice as its IR in hope to damage the much larger Gunship.
Ship A sinks the Frigate with a Critical Hit (only 2 Hull points). Fortunately for Ship A he didn't roll a Double One (Magazine Explosion that could potentially damage Ship A as the Frigate explodes. Frigate does no damage to Ship A from rolling his IR dice. Now what?

Ship A survived with no damage so is free to move in a straight line only if it  has movement left. The crew are elated no doubt but there is no longer the possibility to declare another Ramming Action as they are so busy high fiving each other. Ship A ends it movement.

Now Ship B is moved and the captain neglected to tell his crew he is making a Ramming Action (bit of an oversight). So unlike Ship A he misses out on gaining the Crushing Impact MAR (dumb ass!) and it is considered a Collision.

The Frigate and Ship B roll respective IR dice against each other.
The Frigates dice explode out and incredibly he manages 1 damage on Ship B.
Ship B rolls like a drunken sailor and manages 1 Damage on the Frigate. Wow!
Bad news for both of them as now they must roll on a Damage table (P.102). Incredibly they both gain the Engine Failure Critical Effect.

Now the rules move to Disengaging (P.102-103). The Frigate being smaller must Disengage from the collision. It does this by making a Low Speed Maneuver (P.99-100) but does not receive a token for doing this. The rules say that the Frigate should be in a position that it will not have a further collision with Ship B. The Frigate moves backwards and Ship B moves a little further straight ahead and stops.

Ship C not wanting to do the mistake of Ship B declares a Ramming Action but unfortunately for him he is so close to to the Frigate that he can not travel his minimum move before making contact so it will be a Collision instead.
By now you know that it is simultaneous IR dice rolls against each other.
Ship B gets a Critical Hit and destroys the Frigate outright while Ship B suffers no damage.
Ship C now may only move in a straight line. It moves forward so it's turret can get line of sight at another of the Frigates.

So that's the end of the Movement Segment of the Gunships Squadrons Activation. Brutal.

Cheers from Brendon and let me know if this makes sense.

Dystopian Wars Version 2 force build tester

Some wargames can make things seem complicated at first. They can be the first few times you work through a detailed sub-set of rules. Dystopian Wars version 2 could perhaps be a hard slog for those completely new to wargaming but the scenarios in the intro 2 player box set could be a great starting point for newbies.
However for someone like me who has played in the previous edition I found the force build rules a ...."Holy computations Batman!" moment. To get it all figured out into a what does it all mean I went to a spreadsheet format in Excel and came up with this below.

I have found it really handy so far even though I am yet to play a game. Below is examples for placing in the Light Blue lower areas. (Quick guide to limits not to exceed except the red total minimum).

And here is an example of it when used.

This may help you as it certainly helped me.









Cheers from Brendon.

Dystopian Wars Objectives

These are really something you could get creative with and make something original yourself. Especially as Spartan Games has made the card set that is used in the game with these available on line. But if you just have to have something ready to paint then the Dystopian Wars Objective box can add a lot of unpredictable fun to your games.
I painted my set as bright, shiny pieces. Sure I could have painted them with colours more fitting to whatever I think each one might be but I figure these are gaming pieces and every player wants a golden ticket to help them dominate the opposition don't they?

A mysterious box, containers, observatory, oil pumps, comms array, earth drill, ??? Who knows?

Some Blazing Sun Scouts to give you an idea of size.

I painted them brass then gave them a brown wash then a sort of dry brush with brass then highlighted with gold. Wasn't actually as quick as it sounds.
When you capture an objective in the game the card you receive is either a bankable one for use later or an instant effect type. When our group used these in a game we got a few surprises when some objectives turned out to be booby traps which resulted in Raging Fires on board ships. DOH!

Cheers from Brendon

Dystopian Version 2. Looks good!

Wahoo! Got an awesome delivery. The new Dystopian wars 2 Player Shadow Hunter box. I went halves with a fellow gamer and as I ordered the big fat rule book he will keep the rule book from this box. Hopefully that will be delivered soon.
Apart from some very cool looking new models and a rule book this game box comes with a token sheet and some very nice Island, rocks and sandbar terrain and Tactical Card decks x 2. The terrain is only flat cardboard but they will be very useful for the game. Operation Shadow Hunter is an A5 booklet with 7 missions that introduce the game. Each mission escalates the rules learnt and models used until the final mission uses all the models. Good for first timers.

Mandatory out of focus photo of some box contents.

Apart from the excitement of new miniatures which include a Ghosted version (clear resin) of a Japanese terror ship it's flicking through the rules that will keep me occupied in my spare moments. I am really liking the new rules. I could say rule changes but I will try and adopt the mindset that this is the rules of a new game and not amendments/improvements. Here is some random bits of Info that any veteran Dystopian players (or new ones) may like to see.

Dice. Red, Blue and Black
Red explode...6 = 2 hits and roll another dice (only Red dice explode). Blue...6 = 2 hits. Black...6 = 1 hit.

Tactical Cards. Each player creates a deck of 16 before the game. The cards have a value rating (VPs). You may swap Generics for Non-Generic but must be equal in value. No repeated cards allowed which is a balance consideration. You make a hand from them during each turn. Hand size depends on agreed point value of the game.

Force Build. Main Force and Strategic Force (up to 40%).
Strategic squadrons (Not Large or Massive models) must be assigned as...Advance, Flank and Reserve.
The effect is on deployment zone and when they are deployed (Turn 1,2 or 3 or before Main Force).
Not just a game of deploy everything then start moving and blasting. I like this a lot but it's going to take some practice with all the percentage requirements that you can't exceed. No biggie really....just Math.

Dodgy photo of a nice diagram in copyrighted rule book.

Crew Types. Models have 8 Crew Types. Elite is best and Non-Combatant is the worst.

Ace. Support Aircraft Wings (those tiny flyer token squadrons) can have an Ace (costs points). The Ace gets a re-roll and can have a dogfight duel with opposing Aces. Sounds ace to me. It is also required for an Ace to stand out so it's a painting opportunity as well.



So in a nutshell. Fricken awesome! Looking forward to trying this game out with perhaps a few small force games then escalating to an upsize versus the various Darwin Dystopian Naval players. I consider all the old models as new from now on as the point costs and stats have been amended as have the weapon/generator options in many cases.

Cheers from Brendon and happy hunting in a Dystopian world.

Dystopian Gun Ships step by step

A comment here awhile back expressed an interest in seeing a step by step look at how I paint my Dystopian Wars stuff so here it is. Good timing as well with Version 2 on the horizon.
So here is a break down of how I painted these Blazing Sun Gun Ships.

0. I have a quick clean of the model to begin with which is usually just filling or cutting away any extra resin at the water line area. These products are typically very good so it's a very minimal clean up.
Next is a good black spray primer. Once dry I paint on a base colour of Luftwaffe Uniform Vallejo paints.

1. Luftwaffe Uniform base colour.

2. London Grey semi dry brush all over

3. Wood, Brass and white windows.

3. For the wood its Khaki ( a colour I use a lot). I am not terribly careful with painting around the small hatches and other detail within the planked deck areas. The khaki spills over them but they will be fixed later. My paints are not really thinned a lot so its a one hit coat.
The same goes for the white colour in the windows. I actually didn't use pure white. Close to white colours actually cover better than pure white acrylic paint...pale grey something.
The use of Brass materials really is a Dystopian visual key to it's alternative history weirdness. So anything that looks like a pipe or other areas are picked out in brass.

4. Army Painter Strong Tone quick shade, and Blue window ink wash.

4. The detail becomes more apparent at this stage.
The depth and tone change comes with applying some runny washes over the Brass and wood planks. Once again any minor spill over is OK. The hatches and other detail on the planked areas get wash in them as I use a larger brush that holds more fluid usually.
The windows are washed with this ancient GW wash I have. The original container was so old the lid perished so I salvaged the fluid by transferring it into a new container. It could be some sort of Blue Glaze turquoise looking ink.
The washes do not behave like paint. It's basically coloured water. If you are new to it then be patient. As your brush skills improve you will come to terms with controlling it better. With a small brush I just dab it in the windows and wait for it to run off the brush (it's quick though). At first it looks like a puddle but after it drys it looks fine. So I don't try and drain it out by dabbing my brush back into it once a puddle is there.
Unlike regular paints that dry enough for you to continue painting at this point it's break time.....time to walk the dog, take out the garbage, talk to people, make a sandwich. The bottom line is I don't touch them again until the washes are totally dry.

5. I paint the top part of the funnel and the Rocket tubes with German Grey. They will both get a black wash eventually.

6. To connect my Navy to it's Air Force friends I add a little green feature. Luftwaffe Camo Green to the pointy nose feature and the ridge that extends below it. This is highlighted by mixing Yellow with the green and applying that a few times.

7. Finally it's a touch to all the spill over areas with London Grey. This is possibly the stage that I take the most care with. All those little detail bits on the planking that are not wood get a wipe with London Grey.
The good raised areas around the windows get a wipe of London Grey and it covers any remaining white or wash spill over. Basically any place that spill over has occurred from Khaki, Brass, White and/or the Washes. The only thing that remains is any protective clear coating.

You could even consider a mix of Gloss and Matt varnishing.

Cheers from Brendon

Blazing Sun Dystopian Air Force recruits

I have been really busy in life recently so I have some blog posting catch up to do. Pleased to say I was nominated for a Liebster Award in a comment by fellow blogger Kieran but I will post my reply-post with more details about that soon (it's in progress). For now it's some images of recent additions to my Dystopian collection.
My Empire of the Blazing Sun Air Force increases in size with the addition of these two Gyroscopic flying machines. Swooping in to join the fight just before a new rule book is released. Great models. One piece. Nothing to assemble. Been sitting unpainted in the collection for a while so it's good to get them completed.

I superglued the ones above into the flight stands. I will probably do the same for the top heavy metal flyers below but I might lower the height of them perhaps even make them different heights. I had 3 of these Small Flyers in my collection a long time ago but recently painted 3 more as they can fight as a squadron of up to 5. The Blisters only came with 3 in each?!
In a last minute flash of inspiration I decided to paint the noses brass. Nothings says steampunk like the inappropriate use of brass whenever possible. The Pilots probably have some sort of hip steam powered sun shade device that cuts down on any glare into their eyes from these bright beaks.

I completed some more Blazing Sun Gunships as well and a comment expressed an interest in seeing a step by step so I will publish that in the not too distant future.

Cheers from Brendon