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
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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
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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.