Squid versus Battleship

A few local DW players met at the Game Vault one afternoon last week to play a few X-Cam games.  I didn't take as many pictures as usual, but I snapped this one at a key moment when a giant mechanical squid zig-zagged through the water to attack a British battleship.

And, when it was all over, the giant squid pulled the battleship beneath the sickly green waves.

More pictures and battle reports from X-Cam games I've played in the past two weeks are posted in our DWVA section on  MAN BATTLESTATIONS!

DWVA Spring Event

Our DW event this past Sunday, the first of April, was attended by 10 registered players and, despite, my "last-minute" adjustment to the scoring system, was enjoyed by all (and I learned a few things for the next event in June).

Joe won with the most accumulated Objective Points over two rounds of play (the first round involved team-based scenarios), and the alliance between FSA, CoA, and KoB carried the day.  We had a 3-way tie for 2nd place, and Andy "Ruckdog" won the popular vote for "best-painted force" along with the trophy for most epic defeat and our Garbage Scow Captain title.

Street Fighting

I've been thinking about combining land & sea operations for Dystopian Wars in an urban environment, and I started tinkering with a scenario which features a city with several large canals and bridges.  I set up the scenario this past Sunday for two local players along with some infantry rules to playtest.

Unfortunately, I forgot the box of land templates I had cut out at home, so I pieced together the equivalent using sheets of paper and some pieces of green felt.  The objective was the single bridge in the center of the table, flanked by a clock towers which could be captured by infantry or rocket marines.  The Imperial force managed to steam up into the channel and capture both clock towers after destroying lead aerial elements of the opposing British force.

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.

Confrontation at Suez

Our group had two teams on Sunday, two players in control of FSA forces versus a pair playing KoB.

Dawn breaks over the Sinai, and the British garrison wakes to find an American Armored regiment move to the crest of some dunes to the west of the Suez Canal.  An American fleet approaches from the south, heavy warships escorting a convoy of transport ships.  Farther to the south the KoB Suez Fleet makes full steam to intercept the American fleet.  The American Commodore demands passage through the canal, but the British garrison is under strict orders to block passage, resorting to gunfire if necessary to force the FSA fleet to circle back and around the Horn of Africa.

Each player started with 900 points.  Two 4x6 foot tables were used together to create the 4x9 playing space for the scenario.  We had 15 square feet of desert for the land forces to fight over and more than 20 square feet of pea green Suez Gulf waters for the naval squadrons to engage.

Suez Scenario

The scenario is set along the coast of Sinai, in the Suez Gulf. The British have a bunker and some landships protecting the canal, but FSA forces are moving in from both land and sea and the FSA fleet commander is demanding passage through the canal without paying tolls. Will this tense encounter lead to opening shots in a new war between KoB & FSA? And is that a KoB fleet approaching from the other side of the gulf?

Two tables will be used in the back room for a 4x9 foot playing space. There will be a defensive bunker (I'm working on modelling something to represent this) along with a canal lock. The attacking FSA team has a declared objective to pass transport ships through the canal to deliver arms to their tentative Italian allies. The British just need to stop the FSA transports and maintain control of the canal. But how much of the FSA fleet will support the ground attack with artillery while it also tries to protect the arriving transports against the approaching KoB fleet?  Also, the first faction to open fire will suffer -1 VP in scoring.  VP is not awarded for damaged, destroyed, or captured ships, only for completing both declared and secret objectives.  There is not much terrain, but those civilian ships waiting in the gulf for passage are subject to random movement and block LoS just like small islands.

Here is the planned layout for the 4x9 foot table for the 4-5 player combined operations battle on Sunday at the Game Vault.

Americans meet Japanese, English Civil War on land, and a skirmish in the Uncharted Seas

Six players showed up on Sunday at the Game Vault.  We had limits on time, and half the players had limited experience, and two players had no DW fleets of their own, so we just played some casual games, 500 points in each force.

The start of the game beteen FSA & EBS, 500 points each.  My Imperial fleet was commanded by a junior commodore while I took pictures, hung flyers in the store, and helped some new players with questions.

First DW Campaign Action

This is the first game played with the updated campaign management system, and I wrote the battle report in the campaign format as an example of how encounters work.

CHALLENGE:  Commodore K- and I played our first game last night. I challenged him to a recon encounter so we drew up 400 point lists and didn't make any bids since we had no campaign points to start. My Blazing Sun Moutain Spirit Fury Force had 1 squadron of 3 cruisers, 1 squadron of 3 frigates, and 1 squadron of 2 scout gyros with a total of 395 composition points. My opponent's Majestic Britannic force had 2 squadrons each of 1 destroyer and 3 frigates, and then a medium class squadron of 1 gunship and 2 cruisers. No large models are allowed in recon size encounters. We each had 3 squadrons so we also fielded 3 pair of tiny flyers; I had 2x3 torpedo bombers and the British had 2x3 dive bombers.

Kingdom of Britannia meet the Empire of the Blazing Sun

My first big game of Dystopian Wars, using all the rules for tiny flyers, cards, etc.

Dave set up his KoB fleet opposing my Blazing Sun.  We didn't set point limits here, intending to play through a friendly, learning game with all the bells & whistles.  So, in an attempt to offset his carrier & scout rotor craft I added a squadron of FSA cruisers allied with my Blazing Sun fleet this battle.  The Blazing Sun admiral was happy to have these allies.  The basic scenario here was an all out battle, the two fleets fighting for control around a tiny rock in the Indonesian waters between their colonial holdings.  I took advantage of the Blazing Sun advantage in fast movement and long range rockets, and by the end of the first turn I had destroyed a frigate and damaged a cruiser at range band 4 while my bombers launched rockets and destroyed one of the medium scout rotor craft while scoring a critical hit on the other.  I rolled plenty of sixes this turn.