dystopian wars

when i learned about this game i was intrigued by the victorian style and that somehow they managed to combine ship, land and air combat. after watching a few basic battle reports, the game felt quite shallow. i wasn't even sure what gave me the impression. it must have been a mix between intiative declaration and card game. all battle reports took place on an empty ocean map, facing off the ships one by one, strategically trying to take out specific units.

[1] dystopian wars official

in my wargaming bubble (most play infinity the game primarily) there are other systems that occasionally pop up. recently that's conquest, and before that a huge hype around the song of ice and fire arose. those games vanish after a few weeks and we're back to infinity. the reason for this is mainly the complexity and balance it offers. it's hard to match.

[2] infinity official

[3] conquest - the last argument of kings official

[4] a song of ice and fire - the miniature game official

now me, i like world war 2 war machinery for whatever curious reason. not tanks and other ground vehicles, but airplanes. and ships/submarines. there are certain pc games that come to mind, but now that i sold my primary gaming machine in favor of an rpi4 to save energy and be less wasteful, most of these games are not playable anymore and have never made it onto a console i could emulate. so where does this leave me? with a craving for tabletop games that feature airplanes and ships. in the airplane category i am settled and as there are hundreds of crazy enthusiasts out there, it's not hard to find a game you like the miniature of and grab a simulation ruleset from a third party.

on the water combat front, this is arguably not so easy. air combat in world war 2 is very specific. there's no power creep, and no lore. it's spot-on and appeals to a very tiny crowd in the wargaming demographic. naval is also targetting a specific crowd, but since i am not so bent on sitting in a world war 2 era, it opens up the options. not by a lot, there are not that many games after all. to choose from is age of sail, modern and fantasy/scifi. and this brings me back to dystopian wars and ship combat. the miniatures look badass, i am pretty sure they are not as strict with the painting as for instance warhammer 40k is (infinity has a "do what you want" kinda mindset, i love that), the naval combat is sorta reasonable from what i understand, so i'll be looking at more complex battle reports to see if they can bring up more than convoy, sink-the-enemy and take-this-marker regarding missions to play.

maybe you'll be seeing some miniatures from me some time that are either airplanes or ships! stay tuned!