Perfect Camouflage

I was impressed by the match between the paint scheme on my Uusual Opponent's CoA ships and the Dreadfleet play sheet we like to use as the table surface for our Dystopian Wars naval games.  This was not intentional, but the perfect camouflage was evident when my Opponent, during turn 2, actually lost track of where he had positioned his frigates.

The Glorious 6th of November

Dystopian Wars VA Autumn Event 2011

We had more than a dozen players for our DWVA Autumn Event which included three rounds of a Dystopian Wars tournament with 10 registered players and a 3-way exposition game of Uncharted Seas.

Here are the full rankings for the DW tournament:

1. Andy - Prussians

2. Kyle - CoA
3. Steve - CoA
4. Brian - CoA

5. Dave - KoB

6. John - Prussians

7. Trevor - KoB (with French leanings)

8. Greg - FSA

9. Nate - KoB

And, last but definitely not least, and only a mere 2 points behind Nate....

10. Jack - Empire of the Burning Sun

The first three placed players won store credit, and Andy also took the Best Painted Fleet prize. 

The runner-up for best painted fleet was our winner at the Uncharted Seas event last year, Mike with his incredible Orc ships.

Battle of Castle Rock Island

A mist forms above the cold, still waters of the Sorylian Sea around Ratrap Island.  Ships take shape in the mist, black smoke belching from their stacks, the hiss of steam from engines, as two Dwarven fleets approach Castle Rock on the island renowned for the presense of a sinister mage.

Our first proper game of Uncharted Seas in more than a month, we started by setting out the sea mat and islands to play Dreadfleet, but we decided to break out the reliable old fleets instead.  800 points in each fleet, no composition rules and no special objectives.  I placed my Shroud Mages along the southern edge of the space, a pair of frigates to the north scouting for a battleship, then a pair of heavy cruisers, the flagship Lightbringer, a squadron of Adept Destroyers, and, somewhere, a Ripper Submersible lurked beneath the becalmed waters.  And barely three feet away, suddenly appearing as the fog lifts slightly, and just within long range, was Admiral Redhammer's fleet of Iron Dwarves with battleship, flagship, heavy cruisers, destroyers, and their Cursed Bellows Skyships.

Start of Turn 1:  Iron Dwarves to the North and Shroud Mages to the South.  Note the coffee mug from the Blogger's favorite used bookstore just beyond the southwest corner of the board; not for any good reason, I was just very pleased to be sipping hot coffee from my Powell's mug while playing my usual opponent my favorite tabletop naval game on a new sea mat during a comfortable Sunday afternoon.  No harm in recognizing the pleasure of having the time (and cash) to enjoy this hobby.

Our First (and Last) Game of Dreadfleet

My usual Dwarven opponent, the one that usually sinks my Thaniras Elven fleet, stopped by last night to try Dreadfleet.  We just played a trial game, the Dwarven ship proxied by his Iron Dwarf Dreadnought against the Shadewraithe which I had just started painting.  We started on opposite sides of the map, about 36 inches apart, and our respective ships closed, each opening broadside failing to scratch the other.  On the first turn both ships were pelted by a rain of sea snakes which were swept from the deck out of hand.

By turn 3 my Shadewraithe had pulled alongside the Dwarven ship and fired a volley which managed to damage some crew, but then the Dwarven ship moved into a stern raking position, and canonballs smashed the mizzenmast into so many splinters (corporeal or otherwise), reducing the speed of the Shadewraithe by several points.  Meanwhile, according to Fate, a Bone Hydra (represented by the beautiful yet unpainted merfolk) emerged from the waves and attacked the Shadwraithe.

The Shadewraithe's crew finally repelled the Bone Hydra which slipped back between the waves, but not before the Dwarven ship approached to ram the port side.  A brief action ensued with the Dwarven captain wounded by the Shadewraithe's Wraith-Captain, and the Shadewraithe managed to successfully escape jeoopardy and, the grappling hooks from the Dwarven ship slipping through the ghost ship, slowly started around the south side of the volcano island.  But the Dwarven ship took immediate action, repaired damage, and by turn 5 the two ships were again trading broadsides at point-blank range before a ferocious boarding action ensued.

We finally called the game, deciding we would have preferred to spend the hour playing Uncharted Seas.

On the positive side, both of us enjoyed playing on the sea mat, and we agreed it was equivalent to a twenty dollar value of the total cost.  Also, my opponent wanted to buy the Dwarven ship, still on the sprue, for ten bucks.   Despite the fragility of the models, compared to the certain heft of Spartan resin & metal ships, we determined each model worth 8-12 dollars just for the detail alone.  And the assortment of islands are cool, not to mention the measuring stick which I've been painting bleached bone white with brass highlighted inch numbers.  So, in the end, I feel the price was worth the ship models, islands, play mat, and the inspiration provided by the Fate & Damage cards to develop my own "perfect" tabletop naval game.

The Grand Alliance

Since I started tabletop wargaming with some passion two years ago I've had my eye on Games Workshop, specifically the Warhammer Fantasy Battles, and I even went so far as to sign up for a forum for players with a preference for Wood Elves, even tinkered with some Mantic elven spearmen figures in some Autumnal colors, but I never purchased any new GW products.

Until now.  When I saw the news of the Dreadfleet release I started looking for information on Man'O'War in a way I started looking for information on Battlefleet Gothic when I bought and started playing Battleship Galaxies two weeks ago (and BG was the first Hasbro game I've bought in decades).  Sure, I read the hype along with the skepticism, but critics of everything produced by GW remind me of the days when I was involved in the live rock music scene when I lived out on the West Coast with cool dudes talking about bands selling out because they got a record deal.  Dreadfleet caught my interest because it's a fantasy naval game, and I can't seem to get enough of those lately.

I bought a copy of Traflagar a few months ago, a bit late, but I was interested in how the system compared to Uncharted Seas as well as some other historical naval games I've played, like Wooden Ships & Iron Men or Flying Colours.  I suppose my used copy of Trafalgar was technically my first GW purchase, but with Dreadfleet my money when directly to GW through my FLGS.  And I felt justified by my purchase, especially after I opened the box.  Sure, there were an awful lot of skulls on those islands, but nothing a little flocking couldn't help, and the models certainly looked better in person than they did on the Beasts of War video I watched the previous week.  The scale was about right, and I saw no reason why I couldn't incorporate most of these ships, wrecks, and islands into my regular games of Uncharted Seas.

But the system, simple enough, really grabbed my attention with the FATE and DAMAGE cards.  Sure, Uncharted Seas is designed for fleet actions, fun and fast, but Dreadfleet looks like a game for a few big ships firing broadsides into each other at close range.  So, why not take the system for a spin?