Spartan Neil Interview

New episode of the D6 Generation podcast includes an interview with Spartan Neil about what is in store for both DW and Uncharted Seas:  D6G Episode 83

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.

Airships!  Landships!  Giant Robots!

Our informal association of players enjoys all aspects of tabletop gaming, meeting at the Game Vault on Sundays to play Dystopian Wars.  Register on our local forum to participate in the discussion of the game and events in the northern Virginia area:  http://www.etcinversus.com/dw/forum/ 

PIRATES!

This past weekend I discovered the old Pirates collectible card game from Wizkids.  Sure, I was aware of it to some degree, and I was even interested in a tabletop naval game using plastic card cut-out ships, but I never invested myself in the game until I found a box of 20 card packs on sale at Target for ten bucks.  What the hell, I picked up a box, brought it home, and started putting inexpensive little model ships together.  Incredible that they seem to be the equivalent scale to Uncharted Seas, and they will work in a pinch to play with the Trafalgar rules I bought last year but haven't found any models... until now.  Here is a comparison shot with some of my Elven ships.  The pirate ships are about the same size as a frigate or cruiser.

We tried to interest some kids in playing US or even DW during our last teen gaming event at our local public library, but I think Pirates is just the thing to get some of them moving model ships around on the table.  The rules are ridiculously simple, but all the elements of a game is there, and the ships are cheap.  And now I have some ships to use for playtesting the moderate naval rules I've been toying with writing.

Playing Actual Games

I met two DW players at the GV on Sunday.  One player is new to the area and still doesn't have his Britannia fleet shipped in, so I brought my Shroud Mages for him to try a game of US against my Elven fleet.

We had 600 points each, a submersible on his side and a dragon on mine so he could see how the flying and Defensive Fire rules worked compared to DW.  But my destroyer squadron was no match for those Dwarven frigates at ramming range, and he took two of mine as prizes.  I conceeded after five turns.

More Uncharted Seas, please!

I have heard several gamers at my FLGS say to me in recent months that Dystopian Wars is effectively the improved game system from Uncharted Seas.  But after playing a few games and reading all the thread discussions about AA & CC, I wonder if many players really equate all the additional rules and dice to roll as an actual improvement of a beautifully simple & elegant game system, because I see DW as effectively the same game but with so many extra dials, gauges, knobs, and levers.  I realize I find myself playing DW only because I can find more opponents for the game, but I wonder why I don't agree that DW is the better game system.

Today I met my regular opponent for a quick game with 400 points each.  We even had some flying units involved.  And the entire game, from set-up to counting victory points, on a 4x4 foot square board, five turns, took us 45 minutes to resolve.  It was a fast game, it was fun to play, and it felt like we were simulating a fantasy naval conflict with some sense of narrative as my elven fleet concentrated on taking out the dwarven airship only to end up on the losing side of a boarding action after closing too much with the enemy battleship.  Really, it was refreshing to play a game where we didn't need to consult the rule book or roll a dozen sets of dice to resolve all the attacks from a single squadron.  And although I like the concept behind the Break Tests, it just seems to add another step of dice to roll without providing any truly dramatic effect to the game.

Today:  I selected and moved a squadron, declared a linking fire attack, counted dice, rolled them and counted the hits, and then my opponent registered a hit or invited me to roll on the critical hit table.  After the activation I considered how I should have moved differently or chosen a different target, as I always second guess myself, but by then the turn was over and it was time to plan for my next set of moves for my fleet.  The game moved so fast that I never had the time to stand around and snap some pictures to include with a battle report.

I enjoy playing DW, but I realize now that I enjoy playing US more.  Oh, I've also heard players say that DW is better because it features combined arms between naval and ground forces.  But I don't see why my Blazing Sun walkers and tanks can't work using US rules to support a Shroud Mages invasion force (drop the AA & CC stats, and why not?).  And, in the end, a "snake eyes" result on the critical hit table is just so much more dramatic as a magazine explosion in the Uncharted Seas.

New Blazing Sun Ships

The Destroyer, Escort, and Dreadnought Class ships are launching from drydock.