Review: Dystopian Wars Federated States of America fleet

 
Look away! Look away! Look away Dixie land. Yep its the Federated States of America not United States history fans, because that's where the history line in Dystopian Wars breaks with our actual history line for our transatlantic American friends. So you can indeed whistle Dixie if you chose to and it wouldn't just be a sentimental token!!!

Product Description

Well there is again a nice unique element to the aesthetics of this fleet. Its clear to anyone with eyes that they take their queues in many respects from the Mississippi paddle boats and the ironclads of the American Civil war. That's not a bad thing because again like the Empire of the Blazing Sun, this decision to go with a strong and distinct design aesthetic by and large pays off. As before you get a boat load (haha boat load, yeah OK I'll get my coat) of bits and pieces in the box. There are the obligatory 3 Cruisers, 9 Frigates and 1 Battleship all in resin along with the 2 metal bombers, 2 acrylic stands and of course those card sheets containing stat cards for the boats, tokens, counters and templates, resplendent with the Dystopian Wars artwork. Its all lovely stuff really

Character of the pieces 8 out of 10

Well they certainly have a unique 'charm' to them. The paddles on the side of the boats for the most part work really well for me and it's only really on their Battleship that I question that particular design motifs application. I just think the wheels should have been wider or bigger somehow. However the Ironclad look of the hulls is simply brilliant and I think their look is a slow grower if you will. Because at first I found them unremarkable and then slowly I decided I quite liked them one day.

Detail 8 out of 10

I'm a funny sod at times, I really like the Ironclad paddle boat look and feel that on the frigates and indeed the cruisers it looks great. But I'm not so sure about the Battleship and its look with those big discs on the side. Sometimes I love it and other times it just looks awkward. So the best I can say is on the whole the fleet looks great but I'm as yet undecided on the Battleship, ironically I think the even bigger wheels on the Dreadnought look better and work really well, perhaps they needed to be wider on the Battleship? However the surface texture and detailing is again really good. Looking at them up close you can see just how much fine little detail there is on Dystopian Wars miniatures.

Quality 9 out of 10

If you've read my previous reviews on the Dystopian Wars fleets you'll appreciate that I think the quality is good and can skip what I'm about to write. Its good. The resin as always is firm and sturdy and feels hardy enough to game with. The quality of the casting is also really, really good and again there was very little to 'clean up' on these ships. I've found zero defects and I really, really did search hard for those defects I really did. All this praise is getting to me, I want to have a moan about something, perhaps I can moan about the fact there's nothing to moan about...

Service 9 out of 10

Again once more, scoot over to my http://thefrontlinegamer.blogspot.com/2011/06/review-dystopian-wars-kingdom-of.html to check out the exceptional service I got off of Spartan Games.

Price 9 out of 10

Not going to go over old ground again £32.50, bargain if you like them well worth the dosh. Stop being a skinflint and get into a Dystopian Wars. You know you want to!!!

Overall 8.5 out of 10

For me I just don't think the look of the Federated States of America fleet is quite in the same bracket as the excellent Kingdom of Britannia fleet or the Empire of the Blazing sun although its a very close call. I think the paddle boat meets ironclad look does work on the Frigates and Cruisers but I remain unconvinced by the look on that Battleship. Although I'm not really too sure how they could have done it differently, it just looks too flat for me. I've dry assembled it with the various options and it does look better (obviously because its complete) but it seems lacking in something. Overall though they're a nice looking fleet and they too have blimps in their faction like the Prussians so those blimp fetishists out there have two factions to choose from!!! Peace out!