Dystopian wars at the Masterton Marauders

I played my first full game of Dystopian wars on Sunday at the local club in Masterton with a gentleman by the name of Craig i used my FSA (Federated states of America) and Craig used the Empire of the Blazing sun (Japan). We played 750pts as I'm still new to this I wasn't quite equipped to field a full 750pts list so Craig lent me some of the FSA's Freedom Mk2's which are flying robots these would be attached to my commander's Valley airship which is the company command. The company commander always goes in the biggest Unit In your battle group. Each Battle group must have at least 1 large, 1 medium and 1 small component to it.

My Fleet:
Commodore's Flagship
1x Valley (Airship) - Aer. Large
3x Freedom MkII (Escort Robot) - Aer. Small
----------------------------------
2x Lee (Scoutship) - Aer. Medium
2x Lee (Scoutship) - Aer. Medium
3x Augusta (Frigate) - Nav. Small
3x Augusta (Frigate) - Nav. Small


Craig's Fleet:
Commodore's Flagship
1x Raijin (Command Gyro) - Aer. Large
----------------------------------
2x Inari (Scout Gyro) - Aer. Medium
2x Inari (Scout Gyro) - Aer. Medium
2x Nakatsu (Light Cruiser) - Nav. Medium
3x Tetsubo (Small Flyer) - Aer. Small
3x Zarigani Mechanical Squid (Small Naval Robot) - Nav. Small

The Setup - Craig moves his 3 Tetsubo fliers forward but is out of range.

After a few more moves my Lee class scout ships fire a rocket salvo and blast 2 of his Tetsubo fliers out of the sky.

In Return 3 of my Augusta class frigate's are sunk and one damaged. One of the Mk2 Freedom's has also taken a hit. Meanwhile i damaged one of his Zarigani Mechanical Squid's and a Inari Scout Gyro.

The empire's Flagship with its massive gun battery flanked by 2 Nakatsu Light Cruiser's

My fighters move in and kill off this dive bombers my 2 Lee scout ship's open their bomb bay doors and heavily damage Craig's cruiser. But i don't go unpunished as his guns open up on me and take me to within 1 HP of dieing on one of my Lee's.

By now very few ships are undamaged one Lee has a raging inferno on board. One has damaged weapons other ships have had HP damage and some crew killed (which affects boarding actions). At this point I have lost 5 frigate's, 1 Lee, 2 Freedom Mk2's. Craig had lost 1 Inari Scout Gyro, 1 squadron of dive bombers and all 3 Tetsubo Small Flyer's.

The 2 capitol ships broadside each other doing some damage to each other but nothing the can't handle.

The game ended with a few more losses on each side but Craig winning but getting the objective on his secret objective card i was only a few models away from getting mine. So not too bad for a first game.

Well I didn't find it to hard to pick up so that was good which meant for not too many holdups. the only thing that slowed me down was checking the stats for ships weapons and movement. I thoroughly enjoyed the game I'm glad i decided to take this up as Ive always like Ariel and naval games. Now just need to find some people in Lower Hutt to play this with.

The Hutt club ODO FOW comp Game 3

Game 3 was Dust up Vs fellow blogger Paul Waechter @ reddogofwar he was running a British armoured force. I wasn't sure how i would go in this one as my 2 M10s would struggle to take out 6 Sherman's but you never know till the dice are rolled.

NZ Div Cav

HQ 2 x Stuarts (C/V)
Div Cav Plt 3 x Stuarts (C/V)
Div Cav Plt 3 x Universal Carriers, two with extra MGs (C/V)
Heavy Armoured Plt 3 x Sherman's (C/T)
Heavy Armoured Plt 3 x Sherman's (C/T)

Deployment I had TD's dismounted mortars and a platoon of Stuart's on. Paul had his 2 platoons of Sherman's on.

Turn one Paul moved up but nothing was in sight so it was quickly my turn. I decided to spring my TD's now hoping to get a few lucky shots off first all did though was bail 1 tank.

Paul's Sherman's remounted and returned serve hitting home knocking out both M10's. But in response i got some side shots on the Sherman's with my 37mm guns using stabilisers knocking one out and bailing another.

With his one Sherman not remounting and the others failing to land a blow on the Stuart's I quickly redeployed closer to my objective and bailed another Sherman.

My reserves came on in time to link up with my other Stuart's and knock out his 2iC but failed to make any more inroads on the Sherman's. At this point my CO had to pass 2 bogging checks to get to Paul's objective just to contest it to keep the game going. But i knew this would only give me 1 turn.

Paul's Stuart's and carrier platoon arrive on table and dispatch with my CO meaning after my next turn it would be over ans i couldn't get close enough to contest the objective. On the other flank Paul's CO and a Sherman killed 2 Stuart's and bailed another forcing them to rout.

So in my final throw of the dice my 37mm AA guns came on but they were too late to be of any great use. My 3 remaining Stuart's fired at weakened Sherman platoon and killed another forcing them to pack their bags giving me a point.

Paul out muscled me 6-2 with a bonus point for the win i think if i where to do this again i would drop the M10's, mortars and recon and put a Sherman platoon in for the better firepower and staying power.


Simon McBeth was 1st, with Bede getting second place and Paul finishing third (I would like to think i helped him lol) it was a great days gaming as there isn't much this time of the year i look forward to the next one.

The Hutt club ODO FOW comp Game 2

Game 2 was No retreat vs Russell Briant i had played Russell at 3 other events this year plus a few friendlies. He was running an infantry company so i knew i would be attacking so with the speed of my light tanks i wanted to get in quickly before his reserves arrived.

Russell's list

New Zealand Motor Rifle Company (C/V)

HQ
Full Infantry Platoon
Full Infantry Platoon
Carrier Platoon with 2 x carrier, 1 x carrier with PIAT
Ant-Tank Platoon 4 x 6pdr
Anti-Tank Platoon Royal Artillery 2 x 17pdr
Field Battery Royal Artillery 4 x 25pdr

Russell started with 25pdrs, 6pdr portee trucks (in ambush) and a infantry platoon on table. All my Stuart's raced up to the objectives ready to assault the few men that where there weathering the few 25pdr shots in defencive fire.

After the defencive fire and assault i had lost 2 Stuart's and 1 bogged. But i captured the 2 25pdrs and killed the stand of men that where by the objective. In Russell's first turn he sprung his ambush and returned fire.

The ambush finished off the Stuart platoon which had assaulted and my recon mopped up his CO and platoon commander from the infantry platoon.

The 3rd turn i sprung my TDs but only killed one 6pdr portee and their platoon command but not before Russell knocked out my 2nd Stuart platoon. And with both the portee's and infantry needing platoon morale checks which failed. This meant that the company morale would fail as the CO had been killed already.

 So a second win 5-3 with a bonus point could of been different if my assaults had of failed in turn 1. A good result in game 3 would mean a possible podium finish and it would be dust up for the mission not one of my best missions but ill give it a red hot go.

The Hutt club ODO FOW comp Game 1

The ODO (One day open) comp the Upper Hutt war gaming club ran was a Flames of war 1100pts Mid war comp with the only restriction being that No top armour 2 tanks were aloud. There was a bonus VP for a win meaning a max of 7 points on offer each game.
I decided to run with my Americans as i havent used them much this year. This was my list.

US Tank Company (C/T)

HQ 2 x M5A1 Stuart
Tank Platoon 4 x M5A1 Stuart
Tank Platoon 4 x M5A1 Stuart
Armoured Mortar Platoon full strength with .50cals
Recon Platoon 1 x M2 Halftrack with .50cal, 2 Jeeps + bazooka
Self-propelled Anti-tank Platoon 2x M10 3in GMC
AA Artillery SP Platoon 2 x T28E1 CGMC (37mm)

Game 1 Free for all

My first game was vs Bede who kindly run this fun event he was running soviets.

Soviet Tank Battalion

HQ 1 x T-34 (F/C)
Medium Tankovy Company 4 x T-34, 3 x T-34/57 (F/C)
Light Tankovy Company 5 x M3A1 Stuarts (F/C)
Light Armoured Car Company 3 x BA-64 two upgraded to hull mounted PTRD-41 (F/T)
Assault Gun Company 4 x SU-122 (F/C)

Deployment i was on the right bede on the left and my recon move up behind the church.

On the far flank i soon learned some lesons about the american TD's and when to spring their ambush. The stuarts down their hold position and the ones in the middle move so they can go where needed. My AA recon and 2iC at this end of the table moved up under cover.

My mortars smoke the T-34s keeping them moving so their hen and chicks could help me as my lack of AT couldn't. The Stuart's fall back to regroup

I start to surround the SU122's putting the prussre on this flank knowing the other flank wont hold long. Bede's stuars in the centre come in to help the SU122's from over the bridge

After some lucky dice my M5 stuart's dispatch with inferour M3 Stuart's quickly my 2iC kills an assault gun. My recon moves up ready to unload the troops and go in for an assault.

Meanwhile on this flank things get worse with needing to contest the objective I move my M5's into the woods only to have 2 bog down. Leaving only 2 tanks to try and fend off 7 T-34's and with me unable to kill his recon yet my TD's are nowhere to be seen.

At this point I had managed to kill the SU122's and recon before Bede claimed the objective forcing a company morale check which he failed if he had passed i would of lost as i couldn't drive him off the objective. So in the end it was a 5-3 win to me but i had to work for it and sweat a bit as well.

Dystopian Wars FSA aka Federated States of America

Well I have bought myself some of the Spartan Games Dystopian wars models specificly The FSA (Federated States of America) There is quite a few Nations to choose from there is -


Core Nations

• Empire of the Blazing Sun
• Federated States of America
• Kingdom of Britannia
• Prussian Empire
• Covenant of Antarctica
• Russian Coalition
• Republique of France

Alliance Nations (The following Alliance Nations some are yet to be released)

• Commonwealth of Free Australia
• Kingdom of Denmark 
• Dominion of Canada
• Chinese Federation
• League of Italian States
• Ottoman Empire 
• Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
• Republic of Egypt
• Socialist Union of South America (SUSA)
• Free Republic of Chile
• Spanish Republican Confederacy (SRC)
• United Kingdom of Romania
• Free Hellenic Kingdom
• Belgian Royalist Rebels
• Portuguese Empire

Dystopian Wars is a steam punk war game set on a alternate time line in the1870's. There is Naval Aerial and Ground forces to collect some nations excel at some types of forces better then others. Ive only played one game so far and a was hooked a gentleman by the name of Craig from the Masterton marauders club had set up a game as i had expressed an interest in the game. And from then on i was hooked the models look great and just look cool massive flying fortresses huge aircraft carriers in both the sky and on the sea. Ive always liked naval games but never found one that i liked until now. From what iv'e seen its isn't widely played yet but the comunity is growing. It was played at Natcon this year for what i'm sure is the first time with 8 players most from the south island.

So going with the FSA i bought my stuff from Wayland games in the UK as they had a sale on some of the stuff. So along with getting my FOW Remagen book i bought A Blister pack with 6 Augusta class frigate's, An Aerial Battle group box set which had 1 Valley class Airship and 4 Lee class scout ships. Some of the packs come with little Refrence cards for the ships which show hit points, movement, Weapon stats and so on.

Lee class scout ship

Valley Class airship

The 3 type's of ships i have

My total current force as you can see they come as a white resin.

Call to arms Battle report Game 5

Game 5 - No retreat

The 5th and final round was a technically blue on blue vs Alex Martin with his German motorcycle recon army. Although give it a year or two and the Russian's and German's will be fighting anyway might as well get it out of the way now.

German Kradschutzen

• Kradschutzenkompanie HQ, 2 Motorcycle SMG
• Krad Platoon, 9 Motorcycle MG, Motorcycle light mortar
• Krad Platoon, 9 Motorcycle MG, Motorcycle light mortar
• Krad Machine-gun platoon, MG, 2 HMG Motorcycles
• Panzer III Platoon, 1 Panzer III G, 2 Panzer III H
• Anti-tank Gun Platoon, SMG, 3 Pak38 5cm and Transports

The objective i placed at the rear covered by the 20 stand infantry platoon.

The objective Alex placed covered by the 30 stand infantry platoon with 1 platoon of 45mm AT guns in ambush.

After recon moves Alex dismounts and continues to move forward. I spring my ambush on the Panzer 3's not being able to bring all 4 guns to face one of them faced the other flank. After firing at full ROF all the panzer's came out untouched although the other gun killed 2 of the 3 Pak38's.

Tanks return fire killing most of the guns the infantry assault and finish them off taking 2 stands of infantry with them.

Tanks move around the side of the platoon and start to assault taking a few stands each time. I really need my reserves.

On turn 5 finally get 1 platoon on so i bring on the Battleships it would be their 2nd turn on before they could do anything. Mean while the Panzer's keep chewing through a few more stands of men.

One of Alex's infantry platoons advances to link up with the panzer's to help land the killing blow on my by now battered platoon.

After 2 assaults i force both his tanks and infantry back while my kommissar keep the men in check.

The 2 Maxim HMG's from the second platoon open up on the infantry in the street killing off 5 stands of men. The T-35s move up into position with a hail of MG fire killing a few more infantry.

By now the rest of my force had arrived with Alex just moving onto the objective after killing my infantry platoon i needed to act fast. My AT guns move up and fire killing 1 bailing 1.

The T-35s move in to contest the objective my infantry platoon wave attacked although the game was to end due to time being up. So they played no further part in the game.

 The game ended in a 5-2 win for me with just the loss of just the AT gun platoon. After not being able to deal with the panzer's with my ambush i had no way of dealing with them as i couldn't seem to hit the broad side of a barn even in assault. So i counted myself very lucky to get away with that game.


So after all the dice had settled i finished 9th equal i enjoyed the weekend made some new friends and contacts. Caught up with some people I hadn't seen in a long time and had some good fun. Managed to sell a few bits on the bring and buy table as well which is also nice.

The final scores.

1st Isaac Henderson (generalship) 30 Japanese, 3rd Sensha Rentai, RS
2nd Brett Mudgway - 25 German, Leichte Panzerkompanie, HaB
3rd Bede Bailey - 24 German, Gebirgsjager, BE
4th Mark Stanton - 23 Polish, Batalion Piechoty, Bk
5th = Sofia Chambers - 22 French, Compagnie de Combat, Bk
5th = Simon McBeth - 22 NZ, Div Cav, HaB
5th = Damien Tyson - 22 Finnish, Mannerheim Line Fortified Company, RS
8th Paul Waechter - 21 British, Honey Armoured Squadron, HaB
9th = John Fletcher - 20 Soviet, Strekovy Batalon, RS
9th = Rob Shirley - 20 Soviet, Strelkovy Batalon, RS
11th = Graham Henderson - 19 NZ, Commonwealth Infantry, HaB
11th = Jayden Howell - 19 Japanese, Hohei Chutai, RS
13th Andrew Stanton - 17 Italian, Compagnia Motociclisti, HaB
14th = Alex Martin - 16 German, Kradschutzen, HaB
14th = Ken Camel - 16 German, Panzerpionierekompanie, HaB
14th = Rhys Mudgway - 16 German, Leichte Panzerkompanie, HaB
17th Warren Hart - 15 German, SS Infantriekompanie, Bk
18th David Wilson - 13 French, Escardron Reconnaissance, Bk
19th Tony Bates - 9 German, Gebirgsjager, BE
20th Adam Trapski - 8 Soviet, Heavy Tankovy Batalon, RS

Book Popularity
Hellfire and Back! 8
Rising Sun 6
Blitzkrieg 4
Burning Empires 2

Everyone received the maximum sports vote of 25. To turn this into your overall score then, multiply your generalship by 3 and add 25, so Isaac had an overall score of 115 and Brett 100.

Best Painted
Simon McBeth 9 votes
Isaac Henderson 5 votes
Bede Bailey 4 votes
Mark Stanton 2 votes

Best Sport

Simon McBeth
14 players picked up at least one sports vote

Call to arms Battle report Game 4

Game 4 - Free for all

Round 4 found me fighting good friend and fellow blogger Mark Stanton. Its not often that mark faces an army that outnumbers his own but that's just what he had in this game. He was fielding a Polish infantry army so another good historical match up.

Polish, Batalion Piechoty

• CO and 2IC Rifle teams
• Piechoty Company with 13x Rifle teams
• Piechoty Company with 13x Rifle teams
• Piechoty Company with 13x Rifle teams
• Piechoty Infantry Gun Platoon with 2x 75mm wz 02/26 guns
• Piechoty Anti-tank Platoon with 3x 37mm wz 36 guns
• Piechoty Anti-tank Platoon with 3x 37mm wz 36 guns
• Piechoty Scout Platoon with 5x Rifle teams upgraded to Cavalry Teams
• Light Tank Platoon with 5x 7TP-dw tanks
• Light Gun Battery with 4x 75mm wz 1897 guns with added Observer Team 

I charged forward on all fronts leaving the HMG's behind from each infantry platoon on the objectives to counter Mark's Bypass rule. Which means on the roll of a 6 the platoon comes on somewhere behind my forces

Mark's tanks start to chew through my men at a few stands a turn so i quickly move my 45mm AT guns to counter them.

The left flank advance stalls with no progress being made the AT guns exchange fire with Mark's AT guns each killing a stand in turn.

The T-35s kill 2 men in the railway station with 2 lucky MG shots clearing the way for an assault to gain a foot hold on Mark's side of the table

The assault goes very well

Back on the left flank Mark assaults me with his cavalry and troops forcing me back. I later kill the cavalry with my AT guns.

After the great first assault i push once too far and lose the platoon. Mean while my AT guns killed and Bailed 2 tanks. while the rest hid behind the hill ready for the bypass to move on.

The very next time Mark rolled after i lost my platoon of infantry on the right flank his bypass came on right where needed. Only my 45mm AT guns stood in the way of Mark claiming victory.

My Wave attack roll worked for the first time but with where the enemy troops where it didn't leave me with much space to deploy and in the wrong area. Too far to save the objective and too far to claim one. The T-35s try one last assault but are pushed back.

 In the end Mark killed the 45mm AT guns and claimed the objective the 6-1 loss score line as mark said didn't reflect the blood bath on both sides that took place. It was a good hard game in the end and always have enjoyed my games with mark.