Review: Dystopian Wars Covenant of Antarctica Fleet

Right this is the fifth bloody Dystopian Wars fleet that I now own and I swear to God almighty it'll be the last one... until the next one. Thing is when I read the background to Dystopian Wars I just knew I was going to end up buying the CoA because of the fluff. I mean what's not to like? I nation of rational scientists with kick ass weaponry and an elite military force, so many boxes and so much ticking. I was sold before I'd even seen the concept art, so luckily for me the ships don't look half bad!!! I won't be discussing effectiveness in the game during this review because I feel that's best left to people on internet message boards who can decide if they're overpowered or not.

Product description

Like all the previous Dystopian Wars fleet boxes I have purchased this box came with all the counters and cards you need to get the fleet out on the Battlefield or should that be the battlesea? Oh hell who knows, as always they require a steady hand and a pair of scissors to cut out. Unlike the other box sets though this one came with a little rules booklet for the Covenant forces as they aren't in the main rulebook, there is some nice background fluff in it as well. Like the other boxes the components are mainly resin with a few metal pieces namely the two flyers and unlike the other boxed sets most all of the turrets etc are in resin rather than metal. The box contains 1 Battleship, 3 Cruisers, 9 Frigates, 10 Tiny Flyer tokens and two metal flyers plus their acrylic stands, there is also an acrylic hull outline for the battleship when its submerged.

EotBS Work in Progress shots

Right one of the reasons I started blogging was to force myself to bloody paint some miniatures. However the fates conspired against me and I've been thrust me onto the scrap heap of society as one of the great unwashed and unemployed. Now this might seem like a good thing hobby wise, insofar that I would have more time to get some painting done wouldn't it? Ironically not! No I've spent the last two months sorting various crap things out and quite frankly my search for gainful employment has kinda become a 24/7 task... its grim out there if you're looking for a job. Seriously I've suffered more rejection than a ginger Jahovah's Witnesses going door to door trying to spread the word.

However recently I have been able to slosh a bit of paint on some miniatures with my airbrushes, I've started my Sorylian Fleet for Firestorm Armada and I'm writing up a detailed painting guide for them as I go along and I'll probably do something similar for what I'm about to show you, which is my Empire of the Blazing Sun Dystopian Wars fleet. I was in two minds as to whether I should paint my Kingdom of Britannia ships first or these Japs. I went for the Japs in the end as I just love the steam train vibe of them. Rather than going for the usual green theme many EotBS fleets seem to have I decided to go for a more traditional naval grey but with white dazzle for Arctic operations.

Here are some of my frigates, I'm quite pleased with them

Review: Dystopian Wars Ika Squid

Right before I go any further i need to make a disclaimer about this review. Firstly this miniature was given to me as a gift by Neil and Spartan Games after I recently went down to see the guys in Shepton Mallet to pick up a huge order for a gaming club I go to with a friend of mine. I think it was given because Neil is a really friendly guy and just loves chatting about the miniatures and games his company produces and when he found out I was a mainly Empire of the Blazing sun player he gave it to me as I was leaving. There was no intention that I was going to review it, and certainly no favours asked in return because Neil simply isn't like that.

I felt like I needed to get that out of the way because there are plenty of people on the internet who get promotional gifts, or just freebies of any kind and review them without ever mentioning they've got them for free. Then there are the other people who are honest about it and give you the reader all the information and let you make up your own minds. I think its fair to say that I fall into the later camp and although I think the following review is a fair analysis of what I think of the model, some of you may take the decision in the light of the fact that this miniature was given to me free that the review and me the reviewer have been influenced in some way. I just want to make it clear that if I EVER review anything that has been given to me I will ALWAYS make it clear from the outset.

Product Description

I've added the EotBS Battleship for a size comparison

Its a mechanical squid for use in the Empire of the Blazing Sun fleet (the greatest fleet ever I'll have you know!!!) and it comes in 6 parts. There is a submersed base and then a surfaced base, there are also 4 metal tentacles that attach to the surfaced base that flail off to the front on the miniature, two have big shooty cutter thingies on them and are longer than the other two arms that look like they are there to hold whatever poor ship ventures too close in place while those other two arms do their work.

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

Review: Dystopian Wars Prussian Empire

 
Or as everyone I know calls them... the blimp faction!!! Lets get this out of the way first, those blimps are undeniably cool. Yeah sure the Yankee faction has their own sausage blimps but the Prussians fat blimps are pure design gold. They are awesome, and for me the real reason to own the Prussian fleet, that and the iron cross motif looks cool!

Product description

Now for the downside, of all the fleets I think the Prussians are the most boring looking. They look the most like modern navel battleships and because of that I find them a little uninspired. That's my personal opinion and I know there are others who really like the militaristic look of the Prussians, and I know Spartan have to cater for all tastes... but I prefer my steam punk stuff well more punky and steamy... erm... not in a saucy way you understand!!! Still there are a few nods to steam punk I suppose with the smoke stacks, although I feel they're more reminiscent of the golden age of ocean liners. As with all the starter fleets we have 1 Battleship, 3 cruisers and 9 frigates all in resin and then the two bombers in metal. You also have the same stat cards and templates etc. again its all good and you'll be good to go with everything right out the box.

Review: Dystopian Wars Empire of the Blazing Sun fleet

 
I have to say that if my funds at the time of purchasing the mega bundle had been strictly limited I'd have really struggled to have picked between the Kingdom of Britannia fleet and these guys. Lets face it these ships look really cool.

Product Description

The Empire of the Blazing Sun fleet does have a very distinctive look to it, with its sharp, sleek looking bows and the cylindrical structures on top of the hull. They look like steam engines in a way and although they do look boat like they don't look like boats shapes we'd be used to and this unique aesthetic does strangely look eastern and oriental. Like the Kingdom of Britannia fleet before it, this boxed set contains a hell of a lot of bang for your buck!!! 1 Battleship, 3 Cruisers, 9 Frigates all in that same nice resin. There are also the two metal bombers acrylic flight stands and 10 resin flight tokens and all the card tokens, counters, stat cards and templates etc. In short its a great little starter set for your floating ninjas and samurai.

Review: Dystopian Wars Kingdom of Britannia fleet

Those of you who know me well, will know that although I'm fiercely patriotic I am in no way jingoistic!!! I love my country for the great things we've done and yet despise ever so slightly the country we're becoming; but hey, we have great little companies still like Spartan Games who can still churn out great little game systems and great little miniatures to go with it... rule Britannia indeed!!! So where better to start my reviews of the Dystopian Wars fleets than the Kingdom of Britannia?

Product Description

Some people have said to me that the Britannia fleet lacks say the character of the Federated States of America or Empire of the Blazing Sun fleets, or that it doesn't have the great individual pieces of say the Prussians... I say poppycock Sir!!! I love them, you see I think the Britannia fleet actually evokes the mental images I conjured up when listening to Jules Verne stories being read to me or indeed later when I read them to myself. The Britannia fleet does this much better than the other fleets. There's also something very quintessentially British and Victorian about them, the big smoke stacks and bulky, brash and clunky design with iron girders that says made in Britain. I think they have bags of character and they don't have to rely on one individual design element to look British, unique and cohesive, they borrow heavily from the architecture of the time and that adds to their allure and familiarity. Out of the box you get 1 Battleship, 3 Cruisers, 9 Frigates, 10 flight tokens all in resin and 2 bombers in metal and a few turrets and nick knacks to go onto the ships also in metal. There are also the usual high quality card components you've come to expect off of Spartan Games, including ship profile / rules cards, counters, tokens and templates. That's right everything you need in one box to get you started. I love that about Spartan Products.

Things that I (will be) play(ing very soon): Dystopian Wars

Website ( Spartan Games )

I was a huge fan of two Games Workshop specialist games Man-O-War and Battlefleet Gothic, before they kicked them repeatedly in the head. I suppose having one blue sea board and one black space board didn't fit too well with Games Workshop stores Feng Shui!!! So eventually they were ditched faster than your annoying work colleague on a night out with your mates!!! So I've always kept an eye out for any decent naval or space combat games. Then along comes Spartan Games with Dystopian Wars which combines a solid Naval combat game with a victoriana-steam-punk universe, whats not to love? The miniatures are very reasonably priced highly detailed resin pieces (which I'll review)... and the game? Well I haven't actually yet managed to play any games because all my fleets are sitting in their boxes unpainted, and I've not been able to find time yet to create a lovely blue seas board, plus I'm not too sure it'd fit with the Feng Shui of my gaming room... but from reading the rulebook it looks a pretty comprehensive little game system.

Spartan Games, small but perfectly formed!

Right I'm going to be positive about something again now, because the negativity is getting me down a bit... Spartan Games are a relatively new games company that has been around for roughly 3 years now, based in the southwest of England near Glastobury in the lovely county of Somerset (and no I didn't just attempt to say that in the accent... honest). However in those 3 glorious years this little UK company has done a hell of a lot, including releasing three fantastic little game systems, two of which I've brought into and one I know I'll buy into eventually... I just can't help myself. The success of these 3 game systems can almost certainly be seen at gaming clubs the world over with people playing games and with that success comes growth and I hear that Spartan are having to expand and move into new premises!!! This as I know from talking to many gamers is a big thing, you all want to know that the companies behind the games you're buying into aren't going to disappear over night, I think its safe to say after chatting with Neil Fawcett that's not bloody likely for Spartan Games... and that makes me happy.

So why are Spartan being included in Finecast (resin) month? Well you see the primary substance they produce their lovely little miniatures out of is a really high quality resin, some small parts are made with pewter, like turrets and things, but in the main they work with resin. Hopefully though this week I'll have some pictures up at some point to try and show you just how insanely 'fine' and high quality the resin they use truly is. Because the detail it picks up on the Dystopian Wars miniatures blew my fragile little mind, just a tiny little bit. I'll also be hoping my order of Firestorm Armada stuff turns up, mainly because I like the warm fuzzy feeling I get when new toys arrive!!! If it does I'll get the pictures up as soon as I can.