Letter from Sea

My brother-in-law and had massive 6,500 point battle last weekend. I plan on writing the battle report soon but in the meantime I am publishing a letter recovered before the battle.

March 25th, 1871

My dearest Lyra,

It has been 7 days since we left port in Venice and not a day has passed that I have not missed you. I pray that you an dour children have been blessed with good health in my absence.

Four days prior we passed through the Suez Canal. The canal and port were a wonder to behold. I met with a Lord Aslan Bast and was able to arrange for the fleet's passage. The new alliance forced by the Great War and our relation with Prussia does have some benefits.

I have been filled with sadness for having not been able to write to you sooner. I had to ensure that our passage occurred with the utmost secrecy. We should be arriving tomorrow to the rendezvous point with the Chinese Ambassador. I have heard that Sun Feng is a shrewd tactician and diplomat. Hopefully we will be able to reach an agreement that will benefit both of our great nations.

I am afraid I must cut this letter short my Love. I can hear some of the crew on deck calling out something on the horizon. I will likely not be able to write again until after my negotiations with the Chinese Ambassador.

I would like nothing more than to be home at our manor with you, my Love. Unfortunately, my loyalties to the Pope, the Doge as well as to my crew must be served here first. I will return as soon my work here is done. Pass my love on to our children.

With all of my Love,

Leonardo

Hope everyone enjoys the letter. I will try to get the battle report up soon.

Dystopian Wars Short

Just a fun little short story my Brother-in-law and I took turns writing from the perspectives of our fleet commodores. We had a lot fun writing it, hopefully its fun to read too!

Margrave Leonardo DiMarcus paced the observation deck of his flagship pensively as he listened to the staccato booms of cannon fire in the distance. The lone Arronax class sub had been quite a surprise when it surfaced near the Venetian Fleet's perimeter. Ignoring several warning shots as it closed on the screening cruisers, he had had no choice but to order its destruction.

It just didn't make any sense, the Covenant were not known for throwing away their military so carelessly he thought to himself. "My lord!" A breathless young sailor ran into the observation deck. His silent pondering cut short, he turned.

"Yes?"

"Unidentified vessels approaching from the west!" The surprise attack by the Submersible seemed less surprising suddenly.

"Battle stations!" His mind spinning through a whirlwind of possibilities he looked out the observation windows and caught a glimpse of the Arronax slipping beneath the waves under heavy fire from several Italian cruisers and frigates.

***

And only seconds after it slipped beneath the waves, it rocketed upward through the mid section of one of the Italian cruisers breaking it in half, kraken style. Moments later it opened its massive maw and poured an iridescent beam of power into a frigate squadron, blowing it and its terrified Italian crews to tiny glowing bits.

The fires of burning life boats are a oddly pretty sight on her majesties waters...

"Ahh, peaceful" said Admiral Ponders, with a grin.

***

Margrave DiMarcus mourned the loss of the brave sailors. A brief smile touched his face as the trap was sprung.

Appearing to almost gloat over its victory the arronax was unaware when the waves of Italian torpedo bombers struck, followed by Ucissore torpedo craft and Atlas Assault craft. The scene was beautiful, similar to a ballet, for a military mind. The lithe little triplanes and small assault craft dancing nimbly around the ponderous Aronnax. A death by a thousand cuts thought DiMarcus. The great beast finally exploded, a sickly green explosion, as a sturginium reactor was punctured by a torpedo.

***

"Sir?" asked his second, gazing at the Aronnax.

"Plans within plans." Replies the admiral of the New Londoners with a wolfish grin, watching as the final remnants of the enemy fleet dog piled the flailing Aronnax.

"What?" replied his second quizzically. After a brief pause he continued "Ahh".

Coalescing out of the invisible shadow of the Camouflage field, he was suddenly able to see the battle ships along side and carriers above of his captains fleets as well as the decking under his own feet once again, It was a most disturbing contraption, this generator of Lord Ponders newest allies.

"Shall we show these Venetians the meaning of fire power?" Asked the Captain rhetorically.

"Fire" He said softly.

With a thunderous roar of sound that was felt as much as heard, over a hundred massive gun barrels belched flames and whoosh as the water before the fleet became streaked with the paths of more torpedo's then one could count streaked toward the Venetian vessels desperately trying to bring their small guns to bear on the massive British navy.

Moments later the Venetians evaporated in a cloud of actinic fire and staccato series of explosions as the torpedo's blew the shattered ships in to ever tinier pieces.

"What about DiMarcus's Carrier?" Asked the second, watching the large pontooned ship turn about to flee at the destruction of it remaining ships.

"Wait for it." Replied the Admiral.

With a terrible grating and rending of metal, the massive Vengeance class submarine burst from the waves beneath the Venetian carrier slicing off the starboard pontoon. Slowly almost gracefully the large ship leaned to the side and flipped into the water as it began to sink, spilling planes and Venetians into the sea.

Lord Ponders mouth turned up in a smile at the curses in Italian drifting over the wind.

***

Margrave DiMarcus sighed in frustration as the Venetian Carrier, Atlas, slowly capsized. Its shield generator had done little to nothing it appeared to protect the majestic vessel. The loss of life would be tremendous, not to mention the loss of resources to the Doge. He was not however, surprised by his opponents use of camouflage generators nor the sudden use of brute force in response to the sinking of his beloved Aronnax. He had thought the Atlas would have had a little more time to get away before Britannian fleet arrived.

"Time to move our timetable up a little", he spoke quietly to himself.

"My Lord?" The noble captain standing behind him asked. DiMarcus turned to face his subordinate.

"Radio our allies Captain, tell them the time is nigh."

"As you will, my Lord." The captain turned and gave several quick orders to the crew quietly working on the observation deck.

A deep rumble was all that signaled the arrival of their new opponents. Brittanian ships began to break formation as they realized too late what was descending from above. The Vengeance was caught completely by surprised as the Austrian Airships massive Bomb bay doors opened and dropped their massive payload onto the hapless submarine. The great submarine appeared to almost shutter as it was wracked by explosions from the Austrian bombs. Finally the punishment was too great and with a great sigh the great submarine shattered into several pieces before sinking beneath the waves. In the darkness the Margrave could make out the small shapes of Brittanian sailors deperately trying to find something to cling to in the cool waters of the Ocean.

Lightning continued to arc from the great airships fore Tesla Coils and jumped between numerous ships within the Brittanian fleet. The AA fire from the Brittanian vessels was impressive but didn't seem to affect the great airships as they cut their way through the enemy fleet. Chaos and disarray ran rampant through the Brittanians, several of the smaller vessels collided causing more damage as they attempted to allude the Austrian assault. DiMarcus caught glimpses of fighting on the decks of several of the enemy cruisers. The famed Austrian Luftlancers must have already deployed in hopes of securing some prizes. The Margrave smiled to himself as he watched the Brittanian fleet fleet disperse before the Austrian Airships.

EIMC Harbor part 1

Tonight I focused on painting the buildings for the small island first. Once I have everything done for that I will move over to the larger island. I thought that a company meeting hall would be perfect on top of the small island hill. It would give great views and show off the wealth and ingenuity of the EIMC. I then thought that the mountain/hill could be housing sturginium so I place the storage silo on the island. The dock and crane came naturally after that. I also added some vegetation to the small island to give a little bit of an overgrown look. I added the fort to provide some protection for this hidden outpost.

I have a few more buildings to place on the small island, a refinery for the sturginium and small barracks. Both of which still need to be painted. Hope everyone enjoyed the progress update. I will try to update again soon.

First of several terrain posts

Again, I must apologize for the long delay between posts.

Recently, I began work on a secret EIMC harbor for use in future Dystopian Wars games. This harbor was inspired by a previous game where we had put together a small port/base for a game. If I can find a picture of that game I will post it. The harbor looked and worked really well for not bring painted.

This one will actually be painted. I have attached a photo of the initial island set up. I am currently working on painting and staging the small island. Then I will move on to the large one.

East India Merchant Company Thoughts

I recently read the playtest notes posted by Delboy, Dystopian Wars Senior playtester, located here. Personally, I love that every ship has so many upgrades and options available to them. This instantly makes them a fleet that I would love to play for. I am also a huge fan of their aesthetics, Spartan games really did a great job when designing these vessels.

The Athea Class Battleship is by far my favorite vessel from this faction. It makes me thinking of a floating fortress. The Griffon Class cruiser has a very similar feel and appearance only on a smaller scale which can be seen from the picture above.

The Forbes Class Support Blimp is also a very cool looking model in my opinion. Bristling with 4 upgradable turrets and an internal Tesla Generator. While not the quickest unit it can pack quite the punch if utilized in an intelligent manner.

The Syera class frigates I also find very appealing due to the fact that they come convertable to three different models. From left to right you have MkII Frigate which is essentially a boarding frigate with a brodside attack. The MkIII Frigate which trades the boarding ability for a decent secondary turret. Finally the MkI Frigate which gives up the turret for improved AA, CC and bonus versus submerged models.

The tiny flyers of the EIMC even have a cool model. I love the biplane look combined with a turbine or whatever types of motors they are equipped with.

The flexibility of each Indiaman combined with their very cool aesthetic have ensured that this fleet will make my Christmas List this year. That same flexibility will also help this fleet to not get pigeon holed into a single playstyle or strategy which is very appealing to me. I will be very much looking very forward to painting them over the holiday season and fielding them against my Brother-In-Laws Russian Fleet! 

Destroyers & Bombers painted

Hi again. As promised I have some pictures of the finished Fortuna Bombers and Cinquedea Destroyers along with some "mostly" finished Scutum Frigates.

I would have to say that I am most happy with how the Fortuna's came out. While I really like the Cinquedea's they are not my favorite model aesthetically. However, their 360 degree turret and torpedoes makes them a very powerful unit when used correctly. The red and white stripes are similar to one of the fighter wings I showed with the carrier. I wanted to come up with something that kinda looked reminiscent of a World War One plane while also still incorporating the color scheme of the rest of the Italian (Maltese) fleet. The results are as you see below.

The Cinquedeas are painted very similarly to the cruisers and the battleship I have already shown off. Though they are a little more industrial due to the turret being located on top of the ships and the 6 stacks and engine block.

Here is a little preview of the Scutum flotilla. They only have their primary colors so far, no shading or detailing as of yet.

My next project is to finish up the Skaggeraks I am currently working on. I also have an old flotilla of Saxony class Corvettes that I might finish. We shall see...

Back from Hiatus/Italian Carrier Painted

Again I must apologize for the length between posts. We have had a lot going on the past few months at home and at work. Hopefully from here on out I can be a little more frequent with my posts.

About a month ago I discovered the joys of XCOM: Enemy Unknown. That sucked away most of my free time for the first few weeks after I bought it. It has a Men in Black meets Independence Day feel to it. If you like squad level turn based strategy it is definitely worth purchasing to play. I have beaten the game once and am currently playing two more games through. One by myself on Iron Man Mode and a separate play through with my brother-in-law. We just split the characters on each mission and play it hotseat.

Ok, now on to the Dystopian Wars update. I did finish the Affondatore class carrier, named Atlas, several months ago and have even fielded it once against the Russian Coalition. The results were a little mixed. While the Atlas peformed admirably, sinking several cruisers and damaging a Tunguska. The rest of the Italian fleet did very poorly. While the Atlas was able to escape the battle with some damage, the Italian fleet as whole lost the engagement.

Now on to the pictures:
The Atlas

Aerial View of the MTB Launch Platform

Overhead View

Aerial View of the Flight Platform

I haven't finished painting all of the tiny flyers yet but here is a preview of the 4 different color schemes I am using.

I am hoping to post another update tomorrow or next weekend at the latest. In the next update I will showcase my painted Fortuna Bombers, a squadron of Cinquedea Destroyers and hopefully and squadron of Scutum Frigates. I have fallen in love with the preview of the new Danish Naval battlegroup. So in preparation for purchasing and painting that fleet I have begun painting some Skaggerak Gunships I had purchased a long while back. Until next time, I hope everyone has a lovely weekend!