Phant Mastik

Good point, in the ORBATS there are lists (last page), which models to use as Corvettes/Escorts IF you own old models. This is not an option to new players, just use a frigate to represent the Escort until Warcradle releases something. I hope they will release something faction appropriate.

Spartan Games ceased trading in August 2017 and Warcradle bought the IP shortly after. They took their time, not only to develop a new ruleset, but also changed the fluff (merged it with Wild West Exodus). To me it's DW3.0 - to Warcradle it's v1.0x.

As far as I remember Spartan Games published DW 1.0 with several separate Faction Starter Boxes and updated it to 1.1. They also released "Armoured Clash", which was maily for land based units. Later they published the "Operation Shadow Hunter" Set including the 2.0 rules, which were useable for sea, air and land battles - or a mix of all of them. The "Battle for Iceland" Box contained the "DW: Fleet Action" rules. A beginner-friendly, less complicated ruleset. Then they kickstartered DW2.5 and ceased trading. The 2.5 rules weren't sold officially - but some downloads might be available on the web and some of the backers have a copy of the printed rules. Warcradle Studios bought the Intellectual Property from Spartan Games and developed DW3.0, the actual HftP. Everything you can download via the official site ( www.dystopianwars.com ) is DW3.0. Everything from elsewhere on the web will be pretty sure 2.0 / 2.5 content. In the beginning DW supported warfare by sea, air and land and Spartan Games sold models for all 3 theatres. Warcradle decided to remove the land part from the game and promised to keep the air part (but did not release models/stats yet). They also promised to release stats for the old Spartan models (and did it on the last page of the actual ORBATS).

Huh, seems they did buy not only the IP from Spartan Games... It would have been nice to put the English version into the box rather than nothing. And that's why I stopped buying translations (regardless of the company). Sooner (in this case from the beginning) or later, they're stopping support and you end up with supplements in different languages, mixing game terms and special rule's names will get confusing...

I got the English version of the box. There were 3 books inside it. One with the rules, one Campaign booklet with a few scenarios and one "Read this first" with an assembly guide, reference sheet and the stat cards for the box in it. (The English Version is also available to download: Hunt for the Prometheus - Getting started ). Seems your box is missing this booklet. Get in touch with Warcradle, as far as I know, these booklets were translated as well.

The ORBAT always takes precedence. From the ORBAT:

As far as I can remember, the faction differences were addressed by the players during the BETA. This should have been enough time to manage it. Getting the models out first, is just a cheap excuse.

Thanks for your reply. I see, I need some games under my belt. This sort of alpha strike is annoying and it was my first thought reading the Union ORBAT. Concerning Guardian Generators. They remove 1 die in conjunction with a shield generator. Sacrificing a turret will get you 3 dice. But it was easier sacrificing the fourth one instead of the third.;) And as I understand, Guardians do not stack (more shields = more dice) - could have been fun.

I can't believe in sinking a Hypatia in one go. Through some stupid ordering circumstances I do not have the final rules yet - So all I'm going to say depends on the latest BETA rules (so please correct me, when I'm wrong). According to the dice pools, I assume you are playing a squad of 3 Kutsov cruisers with 2 Heavy Rocket Batteries each, which will generate an attack of 34 dice. To sink a Hypatia you need to inflict 10 points of damage - 5 to make it crippled and a further 5 to destroy it. To sink it in one go will need to generate more than 24 successes, so the Catastrophic Explosion Double Crit will happen and you "only" need to inflict 8 points of damage. To inflict 1 point of damage, you'll need 7 successes - so this totals up to 56 successes. A Hypatia has a shield generator which reduces your dice pool to 32 and is allowed to use its ADV with 8 dice (possibly expanded by Escorts and SRS cover). I think in most cases you won't roll 56 successes with 32 dice. I have no experience in DW 3.0, but in DW 2.0 a well balanced force, containing nearly equal amounts of large, medium and small ships, worked best. Maxed out - lists often failed because they are too vulnerable. I would try to get as fast as possible an Emergency Disorder token on one of your cruisers to make the whole squad nearly useless.

I hope, but honestly I think not. I plan to do the same, as soon as my set arrives - I haven't seen the sprues yet. But from the pictures it seems the Russian Cruisers differ in (long & short) prow and (long & short) stern. I fear, this will be a pain to magnetize. Please keep us informed and thanks for the pictures.

Awesome!

The starting page says, there's a new topic in News & Rumours by Broadcast( ). If I go to the subforum, there's no such topic. If I open the topic via the starting page, the forum software says I do not have permission (Error code: 2S136/V ). I think, this is what Lord Nat means and occured to me several times. Maybe this is intended. As far as I remember, this occured only with topics by the user Broadcast. The topics might be done a few days in advance and just made visible on release date.

I noticed this too and would be glad, if somebody could answer this. In addition: from where do the fire arcs emerge? Middle of the model? Middle of the side? Nearest point to target model? Point of my choice? It doesn't really matter on small models (in physical size), but is an issue on large ones (i.e. Ice Maiden)

I've read the rules, but didn't play them yet due to RL conditions (until next Friday). So I'm just talking about things I experienced in practice. Spartan Games is dead and there is no use in loosing tears. I'm looking forward to make out of this Beta (to me it feels a lot Alpha) a game, which I will like and play. If the outcome is unsatisfying – well, I got this horribly expensive 2.5 rulebook... The rules read a lot like Fleet Action, a game I didn't like because of the massive abstraction. It made Dystopian Wars from a kind of naval simulation to a dice game. Because of the company-selected Battlegroups, list building was very limited and, as a customer, I felt externally controlled (in what to use and in what to buy). Thoughts on Dystopian Wars 3.0: What I need to play is 3 different decks of cards (statcards, outfitting cards + victory+valour), a tape measure, 2 different sets of dice (Action Dice + Critical Hits), a set of tokens, a (new) set of templates and, of course, the models themselves. A lot of stuff to transport – especially the statcards. I think they are too large. I would prefer them beeing in 2,5“x3,5“, so they would be the size of the other 2 decks an would fit into card sleeves made for CCGs (i.e. Magic the Gathering). I assume, you won't be selling printed statcards – so I will have to print them myself. Please make a printer friendly version, so I can do them in black & white – or at least choose the clours according to readability. The red numbers on black background on the crippled cards is a pest (printed in b&w). One of the problems Spartan Games had, was spreading snippets of rules over the whole rulebook and repeating similar passages, partly contradicting themselves. I assume, this was a result of living rules, where new parts were amended and the „twin passage“ was forgotten to be changed too. So having an eye on writing technic would be helpful concerning readability. A word on Tokens + Symbols: The symbols do not look very - ummmmhh - appealing (to me). Especially the "Hazard" and all of the "Critical Hits" look strange to me. A more "Dystopian" design and colouring would suit my taste. Assuming I will have to roll a (not yet released nor announced) critical die in future games and must lay this yellow.....pimple.....with its shell-shocked sign next to my ship. Even now, my eyes begin to hurt...

Depending on the models, I'm interested but don't want to check the shop every other day. Will there be some sort of notification (e.g. forum post, newsletter,...)?