Dystopian Wars

Dystopian Wars is a tabletop wargame made by Spartan Games. Set in 1870 with the industrial revolution having happened decades earlier than in our own history. There are currently seven core factions available to play with, and numerous allied nations being released at a later point in time. The game uses similar rules to its sister games Firestorm: Armada and Uncharted Seas. The game is played with 1/1200 scale resin models.

Background

Singapore, 1864. The East India Company had become world leaders in trade, and didn't like the Japanese traders coming onto their turf and made their opinions known. The Blazing sun representative ignored everything, was caught with his pants down, and was evicted along with his delegation from Singapore. Suicide shortly followed and his name was stricken from Imperial records.

The mans uncle was a newly appointed commander in the Imperial army, and personally begged Empress Shinzua to allow him to restore his family honor by striking at the East India Company. He was given command of the Third division of the second Imperial army, named Wani, and went straight to Singapore, also casting off his name until family honor was restored. People would remember him as Oni. The city fell in a month, but Oni wasn't satisfied as the East India Company was still active. Empress Shinzua called him back before he could destroy more cities. Two weeks after the fall of Singapore the Britannian 45th Expeditionary Force, led by Lord Duxford, landed in Malaysia demanding reparations. Lead by Oni, Blazing sun forces destroyed the 45th, though Lord Duxford managed to escape.

Britannia declared war on the Blazing sun and sent its full military might into Malaysia. Empress Shinzua sent envoys to the Prussian Emperor Frederick Grunder. One month later the Prussian Empire launched assaults on Britannian colonies and gassed London. While Prussia, Britannia, and the Blazing sun slugged it out, the Russian coalition attacked the Prussian borders, managing to drive far into the Prussian Empire before being stopped. Prussia called on the Republique of France and League of Italian states to attack Britannia and the Russian Coalition respectively while they rebuilt.

At this point, the Federated states of America decided to expand their control of the pacific and sent the fourth federated fleet to invade Japan. The fourth fleet ran into a Russian Coalition fleet intent on the same thing. Both fleets attacked, thinking the other to be part of the Blazing sun. Hours later both sides accused each other of provocation and declared war on each other, forgetting about Japan. The Covenant of Antarctica, outraged that advanced technology that they helped develop was being used for war, promptly declared war on everyone and went on a war footing.

tl;dr: Shit went down in Singapore, everyone declared war on everyone else WWI style.

Getting Started in Dystopian Wars

Basics

Games of Dystopian Wars are generally played on either a 4'x4' or 6'x4' surface, using 1/1200 scale miniatures produced by Spartan Games. Dystopian Wars accommodates war at land, sea and air, and while it is certainly fine to have all 3 going in a single game it is more often the case that games end up being either navy + airforce or land + airforce. Generally, naval games are far more popular and are the main attraction to the game for most players. Games are perfectly playable at 700 points (equivalent to a battle group box), with most games tending to be 1000-1500 points. For reference, a little frigate would be about 25 points while most aircraft carriers cost around 130ish points, and dreadnoughts tend to be around 230 points.

A naval battle group box for any faction is an ideal place to start. Each box comes with 9 frigates, 3 cruisers, a battleship, 10 tiny flier tokens and two bomber aircraft; as well as all the tokens and templates needed to play and the faction-specific rules.

Is it expensive?

The core rules often are the only ones you need to buy in order to play. It contains all the lore of the setting and the core rules, plus military force rules for the Prussian Empire, Kingdom of Britannica, Empire of the Blazing Sun and the Federated States of America. It costs 20 British Pounds or 40 American Dollars RRP. The faction rules for Covenant of Antarctica, Republique of France and Russian Coalition are included in the battle group boxes for the respective factions, or can be purchased seperately for 2.50 pounds each.

A naval battle group makes an ideal starter, containing enough miniatures for a satisfying game in their own right. They go for about 32.50 Pounds or 50 US Dollars each. You can also get aerial and land battle groups, but they cost a little more and probably aren't as important for a beginner to have.

Is it complicated?

The layout of the rules in the core book are a little notorious for being arranged oddly or strangely worded at times, but the current 1.1 edition book is a large improvement over the old 1.0.

The core rules are simple, but there are lots of situational factors, attributes and special rules that can make the first few games daunting or confusing. Personally speaking, I'd say the complicatedness is comparable to W40K or WFB, which is to say that there is a lot of stuff to remember for things to run smoothly. Except most of the stuff to remember in DW is in the main rules rather than in codecies or army books, so every player should have a decent familiarity with them.

What are the models like?

Highly detailed resin for almost everything except bombers and turrets, which are pewter. These things have heaps of detail on them, with portholes, piping, planks on the decks and rivets in abundance, as well as including details such as life boats. And the resin isn't too brittle so you don't have to worry about snapping anything off most of the time. Errors do creep in to models from time to time, being resin, but most of them are under the ships where they can't be seen and so make no difference to the appearance or integrity of the model. If something is broken or miscast Spartan Games tend to be pretty good with organising replacements.

Core Nations

These are the main playable factions at this time.

Covenant of Antarctica

Currently led by Lord Barnabas Draynes Sturgeon, the chap who discovered the incredible element 270 (Sturginium), responsible for the all leaps in technological advancement over the past decades that has seen the rise of gigantic vehicles and weaponry. The Antarcticans have seen the abuse of science in the creation of destructive new weapons by the nations of the world, and plan to employ their own forces to try teach them a lesson and save humanity from itself.

The covenant have limited forces, but compensate by using the most advanced technology in the world. They have a weapon capable of bending time.

Empire of the Blazing sun

Currently ruled by Empress Shinzua.

Blazing Sun ships have a very distinctive aesthetic reminiscent of steam trains. Japanese boats are very maneuverable but suffer from restricted firing arcs on their broadsides, requiring precise positioning. The Japanese employ a lot of rockets, and have some very nasty aerial units. The faction otherwise has no distinguishing strengths or weaknesses. Also, they have a giant robotic squid.

Federated States of America

Current leader is President Nathaniel Adams.

The second largest nation by territory (the largest being the Russian Coalition), the FSA is the result of the South winning the American Civil War. Slavery had already been abolished by 1825 though, so it was being fought over other issues. The FSA has experienced rapid economic and military development, and now stands to oppose the old Empires of the world in the struggle for supremacy. Adams is particularly determined to make the FSA the most dominant force in the Pacific, regardless of the British, Japanese and Russians attempting the same.

The ships of the FSA are enormous paddle steamers. The FSA probably boasts the most impressive long-range firepower in the game, with mountains of rockets and gunnery. They also have flying robots.

Kingdom of Britannia

Currently ruled by Her Britannic Majesty Queen Victoria of the House of Hanover.

The Kingdom of Britannia commands the greatest maritime empire in the world. Although not as large overall as the FSA or the Russian Coalition – at least not yet, according to the Kingdom’s more belligerent politicians – its holdings are present everywhere apart from Antarctica. The Britannians exert control over the entirety of Canada, India (through their semi-independent vassal organisation, the East India Company), the western and southern portions of Australia, New Zealand, many of the Caribbean island chains, the tip of South America, the Indochinese peninsula, half of the East Indies islands and large tracts of territory along the western and southern coasts of Africa from Morocco to the Cape.

The British have very good mid range gunnery (RB 2-3), and excellent torpedoes. Average toughness and speed, but attrition hurts them more than most because it reduces the effectiveness of more of their firepower proportionally.

Prussian Empire

Borders France in the west and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the east, also owning Norway and Sweden. Currently led by His Imperial Majesty Frederick Grunder. The Prussian military consists of a council made of five men. The master of military is Heinrich Grimm, Sire Tannhauser commands the Navy, Sire Sigismund leads the Land ships, Sire Helbrecht commands thev aerial forces, and Sire Jaeger commands all Infantry regiments. Makes extensive use of Tesla weapons.

The Prussians have very fast frigates and are the strongest boarding faction. They need to get in close before taking too much gunnery first. The faction features an enormous Zeppelin that shoots lightning and doubles as an aircraft carrier.

Republique of France

Ruled by elected President Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, stepson to Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte who died circa 1808. France's army was the terror of Europe in days of the Emperor, but after his death a series of disastrous military involvements crippled it and reduced France's Continental territories to somewhat less than it had before the Revolution, and it lost many more colonies besides. The nation has had a revival, and seeks to reclaim its prestige and glory.

The French navy is famous for its flying ships, fitted with anti-grav engines. They have unique heat beam weapons of debatable usefulness as options for larger vessels. The entire fleet features very high Ack-Ack stats, meaning that they are effective at staving off attacks by tiny fighters, rockets and boarding troops.

Russian Coalition

Ruled by Tsar Vladimir I Nikolaievich Rurik-Novy, the Russian Coalition is the largest nation in the world, claiming an entire sixth of the world's land. Its vast holdings girdle half the northern hemisphere, from the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth to the north-eastern tip of Asia; the Coalition even has borders with the FSA and Britannian Canada, as it also claims the great wilderness of Alaska at the north-western edge of the New World. Its northern border brushes the Arctic, while in the south it abuts the wastes of the Gobi Desert, China and the Ottoman Empire. It also features by far the larges population in the world, except perhaps for China.

The Russian Navy features very resilient ships. Most of their fleet has almost no long range gunnery, but devestating firepower at close range. They have very low stats for their Auxiliary weapons, making them vulnerable to aircraft. They have masses of boarding troops, who are poorly trained. The Russian airforce is generally lacklustre compared to other nations. Overall, the russian fleet's resilience and firepower encourage straightforward aggression to overwhelm the enemy.

Allied Nations

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Sandwiched between the Prussian Empire and the Russian Coalition, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth has always stood in a precarious position in the volatile political intrigues and territorial disputes of central and Eastern Europe. The Commonwealth is not inconsiderable in size – its lands stretch from the Baltic to the Black Sea coasts, with Riga its northernmost city and Odessa the southernmost. Formed from a union of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Commonwealth has a unique system of governance; the elective monarchy. The ruling King of the Commonwealth is elected by a parliamentary body known as the Sejm, which holds the real political power in the nation – in the past several kings have been dismissed from office by the Sejm which felt that their rule was proceeding counter to the best interests of the Commonwealth.

The Commonwealth has limited forces available at this time.

Ottoman Empire

Once thought to be a power in decline, the Ottoman Dominons have staged a remarkable recovery in their fortunes over the last century. Dominating the eastern end of the Mediterrenean, the Dominion occupies the crossroads of the Eurasian continent and as a result holds enormous influence on all overland trade between Europe and Orient. The Dominion’s central Asian territories also hold vast quantities of mineral oil – black gold whose significance is just becoming apparent to the other major powers. Long considered militarily backwards, the Dominion has recently undertaken a major overhaul and modernisation of its military forces under its dynamic new Sultan and his wise and experienced Grand Vizier.

League of Italian States

Not yet released.

Chinese Federation

Not yet released.

Republic of Egypt

Not yet released.

Socialist Union of South America

Not yet released.

Dominion of Royal Australia and New Zealand

The 1840s witnessed many Australians rebelling against their British rulers for independence. Not all states supported independence though, and some supported the crown. The states of Victoria, Western Australia, Tasmania and South Australia maintained their old loyalties to Britain and stood against the rebels. The Rebels attacked Victoria before being repulsed, and the loyalist counter-attack never came- having learned of the devastation of the American Civil War a diplomatic solution was reached instead, granting rebelling states the right to secede as a separate nation with little blood spilt over the matter.

The Dominion of Royal Australia and New Zealand provide food and mineral resources to the Kingdom of Brittania in addition to troops who fight in her many wars abroad. Standing armies seldom remain on the continent in the aim of maintaining the mutually agreeable peace that stands on the continent.

Commonwealth of Free Australia

A new nation birthed from the states of Queensland, New South Wales and the Northern Territory that seceded after the brief Australian Civil War. Their independance was granted on provision that the new nation did not attempt to influence the loyalist states to revolution and that they maintain peace with the loyalists. The Commonwealth has moderate agricultural and material resources, but its main source of wealth are the mercenaries it provides to nations around the world, particularly to the Empire of the Blazing Sun. This has lead to tensions with Brittania, as the Japanese are at war with them in the Pacific, meaning that Australians have fought each other in the field.