Monday, 31 December 2012

Gathering Warclouds

One of the great things about a blog is it gives you a record  to look back on. I've been writing Alea Iacta Est for a bit over a year now, and it's been interesting to see what game systems I focused on during 2012. At the start of the year the usual suspects were all keen on Dystopian Wars and the South-East Asian campaign. Around mid-year I got into space marines for Epic:Armageddon, a project I've been wanting to complete for a few years (although they still need some Thunderhawks...). Then towards the end of the year attention turned to a mix of 28mm World War II (trying a couple of systems, eventually settling on Bolt Action) and Epic: Moderns.

But now my first project for 2013 has brought me full circle - I was quite pleased to see that Warclouds Over Woolston (the annual CWC wargaming event) was this year including a Dystopian Wars section. Not having played DW for a while this seemed like a good event to enter. Having a quick read of the fleet composition rules (and skimming to remind myself of the rules and fleet list) my initial plan is to field this;

The Istvan Battlegroup

The dreadnought SMS Szent Istvan as the core of the fleet, escorted by 3 squadrons of destroyers, one squadron of frigates, and a squadron of Pflichts.I have almost all the models I would need for this fleet, and the painting is 70-80% done. A tournament provides a good incentive to finally finish things off.



For my small allowance I'm going with 3 destroyer units and 1 frigate. Most Prussian players rate the frigate as the best small choice. I don't disagree, but IMO the destroyer is very nearly as good and it's a cooler looking model. The frigates and two squadrons of destroyers are painted, leaving just the last destroyer squadron to go.



My 10 small flyers are unpainted, save for a prototype to try the colour scheme. Usually I field these guys as pure fighter units and play the air battle defensively.

The Pflichts are a relatively new addition to my fleet, but they've had some good (and admittedly lucky) results so far. The center one is completely finished, the leftmost needs some washing/drybrushing, and obviously the rightmost is barely started.


Finally we have the centerpiece of the fleet, the SMS Szent Istvan. She is fully painted, but for such an important model I may go back and see if there is anything I want to improve on. Next to the dreadnough is my landing craft, which is mostly done but could use some extra drybrushing. This isn't strictly part of the fleet list, but I figured I'd bring it along in case any scenarios need a random ship or objective marker.
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2 comments:

  1. Shaffer2 January 2013 at 23:35

    Hello!

    Still watching the blog, and being a avid DW Prussian player I think I can give some advice.

    First, is the tournament at 1000pts? (as the small allowance is 40%)
    Second, is the tournament using the 1.1 rules? Since the scoutships are air and the fleet is naval-core (and so missing the compulsory medium naval for being tournament legal in 1.1).


    Anyway, I'm inclined to agree on most of the choice you made, except for the under strenght squadrons..in my experience, full squadrons fare alot better.

    Keep also in mind activation count. at 1000pts 8 activation may be a little too few....getting a Rhine or Imperium in place of a small squadron may be something to think about!

    Cheers!

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    Replies
    1. Than3 January 2013 at 16:23

      Hi Shaffer,

      Thanks for the advice. This tournament is using non-standard composition rules. The restrictions are;

      - Each fleet has 1000 points to spend, with all models capable of operating on, above or under the water (i.e. no land-only models).
      - Each fleet may have up to 50% large, 60% medium and 60% small models. No more than 50% of a fleet may be Flying class models.
      - Each fleet must have ONE large or massive model, ONE medium class and ONE small class.
      - Only ONE each of Dreadnought and Carrier class model is permitted per fleet.

      I agree full squadrons are best, and all my squadrons are full strength. (On re-reading I see I didn't actually say this in the post).

      Activation count, I agree this is less than ideal. But I'm fixed on the dreadnought and Pflichts (they are the best massive and medium Prussian units IMO) and I don't have enough frigate models to field more than two squadrons, so I can't see any way to increase it. I'll just have to hope it doesn't turn out to be too much of a disadvantage.

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