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Made in gb
Willing Inquisitorial Excruciator






Most my time on the SG subforum here seems to be spent answering the question "Hey, I like faction X what does it do/what is good to buy/ how does it do against faction Y" etc. So I think I will do one large comprehensive thing. Probably do with a new title and getting it stickied possibly, but there we go. And if this goes well I'll clean this top bit of intro up.

Firstly, what is Dystopian Wars?
DW is a steampunk style game of naval, aerial and land based warfare in the year of 1870. The Industrial Revolution happened in Cromwells time, scientists discovered Alien tech in Antarctica and now the world is paying the price as WW1 comes early. The fluff (at least the start of it) is available free from the Spartan Games website http://www.spartangames.co.uk/games/dystopian-wars (clicking the nations to the side will bring up their specific fluff). The rest of the fluff is available via the DW expansion campaign books, Hurricane Season and Storm of Steel, and the story is progressed in each new books, as well as various stories on Spartan Game's blog.

What do I need to start playing?
You need two things to start playing (not including D6 and what have you). The DW hardback rulebook, and a fleet. The rulebook is £20 via spartans store, and the expansion books each cost another £20. The expansions certainly aren't necessary (infact they're more of a group purchase personally), but as well as story progression and campaign scenarios, they include the stat's for more units, and special rules to add into the game (for instance Reinforced Squadrons, Allies etc).

A Naval fleet starter is the thing you should look towards next. They all include a Battleship, 3 Cruisers, 9 Frigates, 2 Heavy Bombers and 10 Tiny Flier tokens. As well as a selection of card tokens and card turning templates. This is by no means the only way to start out, but it IS a good way. It gets you everything you will need to start playing for £35 retail. All fleets contain the same classes and amounts of ship regardless of faction. There is also the option of Land fleet starters for £31 if you wish to play towards a land theater, or supplement the naval force for larger campaign style games with mixed theaters of war. The Land starters contain Card tokens and Templates, 1 Landship, 6 Medium Tanks, 3 Medium Bombards and 10 Small tanks.

Also of note is their recent additions of supplement box sets. The do mixed varieties of Armoured Clash boxsets for land forces that come in at roughly £65 and include bits of scenery too. Though the contents varies between faction. They also look to be starting a trend of "Flottilas" for around £30-39 each. These look to be built as supplements/instant additions to starter sets rather than additions to existing armies.

Exploding Dice and other mechanics
Dystopian Wars (and certainly SG's other games) run on the "Exploding Dice" system. Put simply, when you make an attack, roll for your shields, intercept incoming torpedos with Concussion Charges or some other action, you roll dice like in any game. Rolls of 1-3 are duds, failures. 4+ however is where it gets interesting. 4's and 5's are counted as a single success, where as 6's explode. They count as two successes and even generate another dice to roll. To put it to example, let's say we roll a ships turret attack of 12AD (attack dice). This simply means we get to roll a hand of 12 dice. Let's say the first half are duds, 1-3. The other half however come up with two 4's, two 5's, and two 6's. So far that puts us at 8 successes (1(4)+1(4)+1(5)+1(5)+2(6)+2(6)=8). But it doesn't stop there, we now get to roll two more dice due to those two exploding sixes. These rolls come up a 5 and a 6, Huzzah! Our score is now at 11 (8+1(5)+2(6)=11). And of course, we now get yet another roll of a dice! This time it comes up a 2, so the attack stops there. But from this you can see how even though half of the initial dice were fudged, the attacker still made nearly a full attacks worth of successes. It's more than possible (and is often the case) of getting more successes than even the initial AD of the attack is worth. Handy, and enforces two principles. The first, Everyone gets lucky. The second, Life is rarely fair. That 300 point dreadnought ship of terror may be scary looking, but don't forget that that 100 point frigate squad is still capable of sending it up in flames.

The next mechanic I want to touch on is turning. With the exception of Tiny sized craft which move much like in any other miniature game and just pick a direction and a number of inches, the majority in of vessels in the game use the Turning Templates to move around. These come in 3 sizes of template for each ship class, Small, Medium and Large (Massive ships using the Large template). Put simply, after moving a minimum number of inches straight forward (Usually 2"), a ship can then begin to use the card to start turning around the semi-circular template. There is also a 45 Degree template. Rather than small turning inches like the others, Submersibles and Flying units are able to make a straight turn of 45 degrees after their minimum move. It also handily shows a ships Broadside arc when laid next to it. Turning is important in DW, it makes the difference between showing the enemy your shiny broadside gun barrels, and crashing prow first into a sister ship.

While not a true mechanic, at some point "RB", or rangebands will crop up. Rather than having a broad swath of ranges for things "This is 4", this can hit at 15" while this goes as far as 43" " for example, measurements (mainly regarding weapons) are simplified into Rangebands. Put simply, 1"-8" is RB1, 9"-16" is RB2, 17"-24" is RB3 and 25"-36" is RB4.

What faction does what?
Here I will attempt a breakdown of the factions. It's by no means final and all factions are capable of throwing out surprises or have some degree of variation depending on play style.

Kingdom of Brittania The British Empire under the rule of Her Britannic Majesty Queen Victoria rides across the the sea on waves of...well torpedos. The british make a good gunline force, with an excellent mix of Gunnery (at last count their Dreadnought has I think 6 turrets), Torpedo mastery and worse yet, they can cover everything in shields. Played right you will be rolling through Shield Dice just to hurt their frigates. Even managing to get through that and into the late game, chances are you have taken a few hits yourself and you're gunnery has lost AD, not so for the British. Their torpedos stay strong regardless of damage, and even get stronger as you close in on those Range Bands.... All is not lost however, while they have their strengths, they have their weakness's too. KoB boarding ability isn't exactly top notch, and their air force leaves alot to be desired in terms of stats.

The Prussian Empire Oh those pesky Prussians, causing trouble even in 1870. The Prussians favour Blitzkreig tactics, fast ships with the best boarding abilities in the game. As if that wasn't bad enough, their powerful Tesla Weaponry will be killing off your marines as well as damaging your ships even before they get within jetpack range. As if that wasn't enough,they field some very fun generators that can force critical effects onto ships, and have an Airforce full of Zeppelins. The icing on the cake though is very much "Herr" Metzger. A towering colossus of a robot, it can wade from dry land into the ocean and proceed to toss boats about as if they were toys.

The Empire of the Blazing Sun The noble Japanese samurai, strict codes of honour and rocket-spam. Sleak maneuverable ships will always out turn your opponents, and the faction is firmly in the middle ground in terms of specializations as a Jack of All Trades, Master of None. They're as at home boarding in close as they are hiding back launching Incendiary rockets at their foes. Lot's of elegant ships and one of the nastiest robots on the waves, the Ika Submersible Robotic Squid will chew up enemy vessels for supper. Banzai!

The Federate States of America The South rose, The South Won. A very straight forward faction in terms of play with a "riverboat steamer" aesthetic in mind. For the most part their ships have a choice to make, Speed in the form of the Kinetic generator, or safety with the aid of shields. Added on top of this some of the strongest long range gunnery and simple to play, they make a great gunline force. So what if the other guy gets fancier toys? Let's see them last under a hail of fire while we sit comfy...

The Covenant of Antartica Those pesky scientists, penguins, whatever you wish to call them. An entire faction themed around special rules, Alien technology and shenanigans. Unique Energy weapons, Teleportation technology and floating unmanned aerial drone factories will win the day, or at least show those uncultured swines what for.

The Republique of France Viva la Resistance! The French are about class, one upping the peasant nations and owning the skies. Of course, even though they OWN the skies doesn't mean they can do much with it in terms of bombing runs. Easily some of the classiest looking ships in the game, they have some fun special perks going for them. Not only do their battleships fly (well hover, but it's something!) they can also put out an ungodly amount of AA fire. Not to mention wielding some impressive close ranged laser weaponry, their generators can set fire to swaths of enemy ships that dare get too close, or help conceal them behind the very clouds. Who said the French had to fight fair or surrender?

The Russian Coalition The Big Dogs of the sea, the school yard bully twice the size of the other kids and twice as slow. Easily some of the largest ships in the game with turret power to rival the FSA. However don't be fooled, they're by no means as simple to get the swing of as their American cousins. Those giant cannons may be some of the single most powerful guns on the waves, but they won't be reaching far. Short range and slow speed are the price you pay. In return you get some serious heavy hitters with some serious armour forcing the enemy to get a critical before they can even start damaging you. As if that wasn't enough, get too close and they will start throwing your torpedos and rockets back at you instead of shooting them down. Did I mention they can create they're own Icebergs? The more you know, Comrade Admirale.

Where to go from there?
The fun doesn't stop there. You have your fleet and a few games under your belt, but there's still more. First up is the DW Fog of War cards. £6 gets you a deck of cards to add a little more tactical depth to events. They're by no means game breaking or mandatory, but being able to throw down an Incendiary token, or increase your Marines fighting spirit at the last minute in a boarding action certainly spices things up.

There's also the Alliance nations. These are the Minor Powers of the war to the core nations Major Powers. Australia, China, Prussian-Scandinavia. By no means are they full fighting forces in their own right, but they all are able to add that little something new to your list. The PE suddenly get some very scary Mine laying ships to add "forcing their enemies movement" to their list of dirty tactics with the aid of the Danish, while the KoB suddenly find themselves rivaling the French in terms of AA power with a little Canadian engineering. Rules for Alliance Nations can be found in Storm of Steel.

How do I PLAY DW though? The rules make no sense!
Having trouble figuring the rules out? Well maybe give these videos a try by the guys at TripleHelixWargames.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uw2DOv43Hs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8-XiioFNE8&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XA8DwY8wW9Q&feature=relmfu

Other Resources

Unit sizes (Credit to Balance)- http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Dystopian_Wars_Model_Sizes#Empire_of_the_Blazing_Sun

Redesigned Unit Statcards- http://zoom.thruhere.net/dystopian-wars/

DW Army Builder Files- http://community.spartangames.co.uk/index.php?/topic/249-dystopian-wars-data-files-for-army-builder/

Quick Reference Sheet- http://community.spartangames.co.uk/index.php?/topic/691-santys-quick-reference-sheet-thing/

Spartan Games Community- http://community.spartangames.co.uk/

DW Fleet Organizer (Doesn't work with Pages or OpenOffice)- http://community.spartangames.co.uk/index.php?/topic/279-dwars-excel-fleet-organiser/

This message was edited 6 times. Last update was at 2013/06/03 22:56:31


- 1250 points
Empire of the Blazing Sun (Combined Theaters)- 1950 points
FUBAR Starship Troopers- Would you like to know more?
GENERATION 9: The first time you see this, copy and paste it into your sig and add 1 to the number after generation. Consider it a social experiment.  
   
Made in us
Servoarm Flailing Magos







Good information.

From my meager experience, France seems to be all about floating battleships, while Russia is about ridiculously tough ships crewed by conscripts. Also, Iceberg Generators.

I've also been pretty happy with the excel spreadsheet I've found on the Spartan Games forums to act as an army creation tool, although it won't work at all in either Pages or OpenOffice.

Working on someting you'll either love or hate. Hopefully to be revealed by November.
Play the games that make you happy. 
   
Made in gb
Willing Inquisitorial Excruciator






 Balance wrote:
Good information.

From my meager experience, France seems to be all about floating battleships, while Russia is about ridiculously tough ships crewed by conscripts. Also, Iceberg Generators.

I've also been pretty happy with the excel spreadsheet I've found on the Spartan Games forums to act as an army creation tool, although it won't work at all in either Pages or OpenOffice.


Was going to get to the other two fleets as I went, took a break to lay down for awhile.

I forgot about the spreadsheet as i never used it, thanks for the reminder! Didn't know it doesnt work with those though, il include it. Anything else you spot (or anyone) let me know and il include it in the OP

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/05/06 20:22:52


- 1250 points
Empire of the Blazing Sun (Combined Theaters)- 1950 points
FUBAR Starship Troopers- Would you like to know more?
GENERATION 9: The first time you see this, copy and paste it into your sig and add 1 to the number after generation. Consider it a social experiment.  
   
Made in us
Battlefield Tourist




MN (Currently in WY)

Nice overview. i think you might want to spend a bit of time talking about the "Exploding Dice" mechanic to help people understand one of the core game mechanics.

Support Blood and Spectacles Publishing:
https://www.patreon.com/Bloodandspectaclespublishing 
   
Made in gb
Willing Inquisitorial Excruciator






 Easy E wrote:
Nice overview. i think you might want to spend a bit of time talking about the "Exploding Dice" mechanic to help people understand one of the core game mechanics.


Thanks for the idea! Will touch on the turning templates and Rangebands too.

- 1250 points
Empire of the Blazing Sun (Combined Theaters)- 1950 points
FUBAR Starship Troopers- Would you like to know more?
GENERATION 9: The first time you see this, copy and paste it into your sig and add 1 to the number after generation. Consider it a social experiment.  
   
Made in us
Dakka Veteran





In the spartan forums there is also a sticky thread that has all of the unit stats set into .pdf form.

Very useful and the user (I believe it is "YoulookLikeaNail") is pretty quick to get the new models updated.
   
Made in gb
Willing Inquisitorial Excruciator






Veldrain wrote:
In the spartan forums there is also a sticky thread that has all of the unit stats set into .pdf form.

Very useful and the user (I believe it is "YoulookLikeaNail") is pretty quick to get the new models updated.


Already included, it's the redesigned unit stat cards at the bottom of the OP, thanks though!

- 1250 points
Empire of the Blazing Sun (Combined Theaters)- 1950 points
FUBAR Starship Troopers- Would you like to know more?
GENERATION 9: The first time you see this, copy and paste it into your sig and add 1 to the number after generation. Consider it a social experiment.  
   
 
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