Dystopian Wars - The Second Battle of Sarigan

In the hot ocean north east of Sarigan Island near the Marianas, the French and Blazing Sun fleets continue to spar with each other.

The dominant French Admiral Brouillard du Milieu, fresh from his victory at the First Battle of Sarigan against Admiral Hara-Satsu, drew in some surface fleet support and pressed into the Blazing Sun areas of control.  The Second Battle of Sarigan was to be a more bruising affair...

Rosters (approx)

Republic of France

Magenta class pocket battleship

Vauban class sky fortress

Voltaire class heavy interceptors (2 wings)

Alma class frigates

Couronne Class Battle Carrier

Toulon Class Armoured Cruisers

A whole swarm of long range torpedo bombers

Empire of the Blazing Sun

Tenkei Class Sky Fortress

Hachiman Class Dreadnought

Tsukuyomi Class War Gyro

Tanuki class gunships

Uwatsu class frigates

Fujin class frigates

A swarm of fighters

So having taken a complete beating in our first battle, I went away and had a bit of a rethink in how to deal with the Vauban (which we're increasingly referring to as 'The Death Star').  My plan was simple; take several fairly powerful heavy ships and concentrate their fire onto the Vauban until it was brought down.  The medium and small ships would hang around on a flank until the time was right for them to leap in and kick out some serious damage.

The battle engaged in the open ocean and both fleets advanced in line abreast with their strength on the northern flank.  The Blazing sun medium and small squadrons headed south east at an oblique to loiter on the south flank ready to come in when needed.

Here we see the Tanukis, Uwatsus and lightning fast Fujin corvettes gunning their engines to slice through the waves to the south east; their line astern formations protected behind a droning wall of fighter aircraft.

The French air power was flanked by its surface support and Admiral Brouillard du Milieu broadcast orders and speeches to steady his men.  The Blazing Sun fleet would be despatched in short order.

Both fleets advanced at full steam.  The French medium ships swung north to get away from the swarm of vicuos Blazing Sun frigates.

To the north, the Blazing Sun heavy ships wheeled to bring their guns to bear on the advancing Vauban.  Here the first action of the day was to be decided.  Admiral Brouillard du Milieu stood defiant on the command deck of his flagship, disdain for the enemy on his lips.

But his confidence was misplaced!  The Vauban and Hachiman exchanged heavy fire, raking each other with dreadful damage.  The Hachiman's fore control was smashed and its guns slackened.  But Captain Ishida Mitsunari swung his war gyro in close the the Vauban, bringing his full broadside to bear.  Rapid fire shells ripped through the Vauban's hull and one volley smashed into its magazine!

As his great flying war fortress listed and convulsed to a chain of shattering internal explosions, admiral Brouillard du Milieu escaped in his personal flyer (an ornate baroque ornithopter).  The sea juddered as the mighty Vauban finally exploded, broke into pieces and plunged beneath the waves.

A great cheer erupted across the Blazing Sun fleet as they felt sure the battle was theirs; but the French were far from beaten, and many hours of dreadful conflict lay ahead.

 None the less, the order was given, and the Blazing Sun southern flank swung north to join the fight.

The French surface fleet, together with a seemingly endless wave of torpedo bombers, were far from beaten and despite the loss of their Vauban flagship, they ploughed forwards through the waves.  The Hachiman had been badly crippled in the earlier exchange and now the French concentrated everything they had on the mighty dreadnaught.

Finally, a line of Almas finished the great ship off and as it sank, the Blazing Sun commander's personal yatch slipped away.

Enraged and suddenly isolated, Captain Ishida Mitsunari threw his war gyro into the heart of the French ships.  Although his guns were making the French pay dearly, too much fire was hitting the flying warship.

Captain Ishida Mitsunari's desperate cries for help came too late and as the southern flank ships steamed at full speed towards the battle they were not in time.  Mitsunari's ship listed and fell from the sky into the balmy depths below.

The sky fortress was next and the combined French fire brought it down too.  The tide of the battle seemed to be turning as the French recovered from their initial demoralising loss.

 However, the day was not to be theirs.  As the Blazing Sun southern flank arrived and the vicious Uwatsus went to work up close against the French big ships, their devastating firepower shattered what was left of the French fleet.

The Second Battle of Sarigan belongs to the Blazing Sun.

All told an excellent, tight game where we were both within a hair's breadth of winning each turn.  

Ultimately my plan worked, sooner that expected due to a lucky critical hit test on the Vauban!

I think the mediums and small ships needed to turn in and come to the battle perhaps a turn earlier, but the basic plan seemed to work well.

I've got to say, the Uwatsu is one of the best Blazing Sun ships - fast, powerful, and at close range difficult to hit.

Dystopian Wars - Battle of Sarigan

In the hot ocean north east of Sarigan Island near the Marianas, a small French air fleet under Admiral Brouillard du Milieu encountered a roving Blazing Sun surface fleet under Admiral Hara-Satsu.  The contested waters meant a battle was inevitable.

Rosters (approx)

Republic of French

Magenta class pocket battleship

Vauban class sky fortress

Voltaire class heavy interceptors (2 wings)

Alma class frigates

A whole swarm of long range torpedo bombers

Empire of the Blazing Sun

Sokotsu class battleship

Tanuki class gunships

Uwatsu class frigates (3 squadrons)

Fujin class frigates

The Blazing Sun fleet mustered to the south of a small islet and watched tentatively as they caught they first sight of the French ships through the clouds.  

Admiral Brouillard du Milieu had standing orders to destroy any Blazing Sun cruisers and gunships encountered, as well as damaging any ships he could.  Admiral Hara-Satsu had simpler orders to destroy any French presence in the area.

Hara-Satsu issued orders to keep the fleet in a tight formation behind his flagship.

 I knew I was facing a brutal French fleet that was so far unbeaten in our club.  I won the deployment and chose to start on a short edge, maximising the distance between my EotBS and the French.  My plan was to use the space to maximise shooting at each range band as the French closed in.  My heavier ships would creep forwards while my frigates loitered in the rear waiting for the time to leap forwards and swarm all over the enemy.

To the north over a large sandbar, Brouillard du Milieu mustered a line abreast with his main strength around the Vauban.

Brouillard du Milieu signalled his airships forwards; they gunned their engines and with a whine and crackle of Sturginium they advanced into the heart of the Blazing Sun.  The French fire concentrated on the Blazing Sun gunships, tearing great chunks out of the vessels.  The return fire shattered the French Almas, which crashed beneath the waves in great cascades of burning steel.

The opening exchanges went well for me.  While the French were after my mediums for their victory conditions, and the Tanukis took a bit of a battering, I managed to combine Tanuki and Uwatsu fire to destroy the Almas.  The Voltaires were now bearing down, closely followed by those fearsome swarms of torpedo bombers...   

Hara-Satsu issued congratulations to his fleet, and then directed them to concentrate their fire on the approaching Voltaires.  Everyone was trying to ignore the lumbering nightmare of the Vauban fortress.  It was closing far to fast...

A vicious exchange of fire saw the remaining Tanukis sunk.  Brouillard du Milieu was greatly satisfied, having mostly achieved his standing orders.  He instructed the Voltaires to withdraw but too late!  The Blazing Sun battleship and shark-fast Fujin frigates blew the interceptors out of the sky. 

The mid-game was a brutal exchange that saw my Tanukis shredded, but in response I managed to down all the attacking French units.  The next wave to engage would the the torpedo bombers.  This is was not looking forwards too!

Brouillard du Milieu ordered a hard to starboard turn and brought the Vauban into threat range of the Blazing Sun flagship.  At that moment, the torpedo bombers descended from the clouds and unleashed a mass of deadly missiles.  Most were destroyed or missed their mark, but they finally managed to sink the remaining Tanuki, and damage the Sokotsu.

 Hara-Satsu finally ordered the frigate swarm forwards, and the Uwastus powered their engines.  Their ack-ack raked the French fighter bombers as their turrets chattered across the hull of the Vauban.  The Sokotsu joined in and great holes tore open in the Vauban hull.  

But time was not on the Blazing Sun side.  The Vauban banked into the heart of their enemy and unleashed a merciless and devastating broadside.  The Sokotsu juddered and buckled as shell after shell pounded into it...

Then...suddenly...the Sokotsu generators ruptured and in a massive crackling blast of Sturginium energy it popped out of existence.  The sea, suddenly empty of the vast hull that had been there only moments before slapped shut in a great rush.

The remaining Blazing Sun fleet turned and sprinted away, leaving the French victorious.

Well, it was a tense game and great fun.  My basic plan was to try to maximise my damage across the various range bands and to keep the frigates out of harm until the fleets closed.  In past battles i've found it a very successful tactic as the heavier ships soak up the damage on the way in, and a full unit of Uwatsus giving a solid broadside can really ruin and enemy battleship's day!

Everything was going well.  We'd exchanged losses but I was definitely ahead.  Then the Vauban got into RB1...

Hooboy does it lay down the damage.  In a single turn of firing it completely obliterated my battleship, and even if one of the criticals hadn't been a double 6, it would have sunk anyway.

My mediums gone and 50% of my force lost, it was all over.  A well deserved win for my opponent.

I've a feeling in future I might need a few Kitsune Class Escorts to take on the French!

Dystopian Wars - Battle of Tuo Island

'Shortly after the outbreak of hostilities between the Kingdom of Britannia (KoB) and the Empire of the Blazing Sun (EotBS), two small fleets under the command of Admiral Gordon and Admiral Haradi met at Tuo Island in the South China Sea...'

This is one of our first battles 'in anger' using the excellent Dystopian Wars rules.  Using forces of 800 points I took my EotBS fleet up against a fearsome KoB fleet.

EotBS order of battle
1x Tsukuyomi Class War Gyro
2x DFA-170 Class Bombers
1x Ika Class Mechanical Squid
3x Tanuki Class Gunship
8x Uwatsu Class Frigates
10x Tiny fliers (torpedo bombers)

Kob order of battle
1x Ruler Class Battleship
3x Bastion Class Escorts
4x Attacker Class Frigates
3x Tribal Class Cruisers
2x Vanguard Class Submarines
5x Merlin Class Light Interceptor
1x Tiny fliers (dive bombers)
(I think)

We deployed the majority of our fleets to the south of the islands.

The KoB deployed in a solid line abreast with most of its flyers lurking about to the north of the island.

Bedecked in the livery of the Royal ships, they are a splendid and terrifying sight!

I deployed the EotBS to meet this threat with most of my light and medium surface fleet.  Lurking behind the Tanukis was the Ika, trying to stay out of trouble.  I also put my flyers over the island and to the north.

All the submarines were submerged and all the flyers on both sides were obscure, flying high and ready to swoop in for the kill.

The KoB needed to kil 50% plus all my mediums, i needed 50% of his plus all his small units.  Tough going for both sides.

We opened proceedings with our light ships swarming out, and as usual, the KoB broadsides battered my Uwatsu's at range, and we streamed forwards at top speed.  The Uwatsu's needed to get into the KoB lights, to strip off a path for the Ika.

I brought my bombers and War Gyro across the island to dominate the centre of the battle, screen off the KoB flyers, and bring some pain down on the KoB medium ships chugging forwards.  It also gave them something to shoot at, distracting them from the sneaky Ika...

The KoB responded by sending those nasty sky hunter Merlins forwards to try and bring down my bombers.

The KoB surface fleet also opened up with a mass of torpedoes and gunfire, badly smashing the lead Tanuki.  My gunships responded with rockets that set one of the escorts ablaze...its not much but better than usual in the exchanges we've has so far.  The KoB AA fire simply negates our incendiary rockets.

Caught between the Tribals and Merlins, my air power took a bit of a battering but no worry...

...it relieved the pressure on my Tanukis and allowed them to make good progress into the heart of the KoB fleet.  They brought their turrets to bear up close and fired off the rockets at the incoming Merlins.

The battle was really getting hectic now with both fleets mixed up in close proximity and desperately trying to gain the upper hand.  As usual the KoB were dealing out more damage than i could, but the Ika was rumbling slowly forwards, largely unmolested.

Beginning to panic, Admiral Gordon brought his frigates forwards to try and screen off the battleship.

I sprung my trap and swarmed all over the frigates with my Uwatsus.

The KoB frigates were obliterated in some brutal close ranged broadsides, and that freed the route through the melee for the Ika.  The sea boiled as it surfaced with a great groan and raked the KoB flagship with poisoned gas.  The KoB crew were decimated as their Admiral abandoned ship in a personal flyer yacht, leaving the pride of the fleet a derelict hulk.

Meanwhile, the Tanukis lost the close ranged brawl and the Merlins shot down the EotBS bombers.  These units also concentrated their fire on Admiral Haradi's War Gyro flagship severely damaging it.

The unseemly brawl ended the final turn with both fleets in a mess.  They withdrew to lick their wounds and in the final reckoning, the EotBS gained a narrow victory on points.  Overall, another great game.  We're still learning the rules so things are a bit clunky but its definitely getting there and our fleets and tactics are developing well.

From the EotBS perspective i find the KoB fleet a very tough proposition.  They dish out a lot of damage, yet seem to be immune to my return fire (being mainly rockets).  That said, the Ika is consistently devastating and pretty much obliterates any ship it boards in a single turn.  I'm also finding my light frigates to have potential.  They die in droves, but they seem to dish out far more damage than my bigger ships, and although they die easily, there's always enough that seem to get through to do some hard damage.  I think i'll try out a 'swarm fleet' at some point...

Dystopian Wars is a very nice little rule set with some lovely models.  I suspect we'll be playing more of it, especially as the other chaps are buying fleets!

Dystopian Wars - Into the Blazing Sun - Tsukuyomi Class War Gyro

As my fleet expands I've looked more at the aerial units to add some options.  Next on the list is the Tsukuyomi Class War Gyro, which is essentially a flying battleship.

So, I cleaned it up and under-coated it, but when I came to paint the model I noticed that between the gyros there was a flat layer of resin that didn't look right.  Was this a part of the model or flash to be removed?  

It was very robust and so didn't feel like flash.  Rather confused I asked for advice from the Spartan online community, and learned that it seems to be part of the model that most people 'put up with', but some file out.  It took me a while to think about but ultimately I felt the online examples where this resin infill had been removed looked better so i resolved to remove it.

With a pin vice (mini drill) it drilled out much of the resin.

Having drilled much of it out i then used an old slender bladed craft knife to chop out as much of the resin as possible.  This was surprisingly tricky as the resin was actually quite thick and unwilling to be chopped out.  I was very conscious that the actual gyros looked quite fragile and so I was careful not to cut into or put pressure on them.

It all looked pretty rough at this stage and I started to think i should just have left it all be, but no matter.  These things always look dodgy half way through.  Anyway, having chopped much of it out, I moved on to filing things off to tidy it all up.  The resin was actually very easy to file, and was almost too soft and friable, so I was very careful not to file too deeply for fear of damaging the detail.  I used a round file and a narrow flat file.

The whole process actually took about an hour which in terms of model preparation time would normally have me raging.  Poor casting and flash is a bugbear of mine and I hate dealing with it.  It always smacks to me of the figures suppliers not bothering to take pride in their products.  In this case though this was initiated by me so no worries.

OK, so, the resin filed out I'll move on to the painting.  As with all the Dystopian Wars ships I start with the decks as they are the 'deepest' part of each model.  I use Games Workshop paints so will reference their colours.  Firstly a couple of washes of Desert Yellow mixed with a small bit of Bleached Bone gives the deck layer colour.  Of course, GW recently renamed all their paints for some bizarre reason, so I've no idea what they might be called now.

As you can see, its pretty roughly slapped on.  With each layer colour I get more precise as it covers over the previous colour.  This is why I tend to work 'deepest out' and lightest to darkest, so that the colour changes become more crisp as I go.

Next I layered the underside with Adeptus Battlegrey, poking the colour through and up the sides as it'll be covered over and edge-defined by the next layer, which is Dark Angels Green. 

So that's the three base colours on, which took me about 10 minutes to slap on.  There were some fiddly bits on the upper structure that meant I needed to be a bit careful when putting the green on.  I did get a bit of bleeding onto the main centre decks, but no worries.  It wasn't too bad and the final wash would cover it over.

Next I moved on to the drybrushing stage, starting with the grey underside.  I used Fortress Grey and gave it a good going over with with a moderate drybrush, starting carefully and gradually building up the highlighting in prominent areas.

Drybrushing often brings out hidden detail and in this case, the surface of the fuselage / hull (?) appears to be ridged as if it were canvass or aluminium stretched over a steel frame.  Very nice!  These Spartan Models really are exceptional quality!

Next up I drybrushed the upper hull with Snot green (oh dear) and then a final edge highlight drybrush with Goblin Green.

Following that...well...um...I forgot to take 'action' photos, but following that I sorted out the metal bits and bobs.  The gyros, the various weapons, and the engines, propellers and funnels were all carefully layered with Boltgun Metal.

I glued on the turrets and painted them up quickly too.

Then I added the red details using Scab Red as the layer and an overbrush of Blood Red to highlight the pointy pits.

The final part was to use the excellent GW Devlan Mud ink wash applied liberally to the decks, all over the metal parts and anywhere I wanted to add a bit of 'ageing', dirt, or otherwise to cover up a ragged edge or bit of mis-painting!  The liberally use of a final wash like this also ties a figure together in terms of 'colour tone' too.

Anyway, here's the final model. 

I'm very pleased that I chose to drill out the resin as, although it was a pain to do I think the model looks better for it.  Overall I'm happy with the result.  

Now to see if this ship is any good in battle!