Dystopian Wars: FSA Battleship review

Dystopian Wars - FSA Battleship review

Dystopian Wars (DW) is the latest miniatures game from the fine folks at Spartan Games.  DW follows the footsteps of Spartan’s early games Uncharted Seas and Firestorm Armada.

Dystopian Wars treads into the popular sub genre of Steam Punk and Alternate History presenting a global conflict that takes place in the 1870s. Current participants in this struggle include the Kingdom of Britannica, the Federated States of America, The Blazing Sun and the Prussian Empire. More about the game itself, including my review can be found in an upcoming blog entry.

This entry is the first look at one of the main ships available in the game’s initial release. The Federated States of America Independence Class Battleship.

As in earlier reviews I’ll cover the model itself and then, for those that are still interested, look at it’s stats and in game performance.

I received the FSA fleet box as a early Christmas present (shout out to James, thanks buddy!)  and have yet to be disappointed with a Spartan Games release and their win streak continues with this release.

Now let’s talk about the battleship itself. Each faction has it’s own style that provides a diverse range of of ship styles. The design style of the Federated States of America hearkens back to the big paddle wheel steamers of the of the 19th Century. Also evident, in the low draft and large turrets of the FSA ships, is the lineage to historical ships like the USS Monitor.

The model itself is a beauty. It’s a little bit smaller then it’s Firestorm Armada Battleship equivalent but still impressive in size compared to the other ships and packed with Details.

The Model comes with 5 parts. The main Hull, 2 main turrets and 3 optional modules (a rocket battery, Shields or Engine boost) The ship can only hold one of these at a time but can swap them out between battles.
The hull: the resin hull is a beauty. It’s a low draft ship like all FSA ships but has pleasing lines, looking closely you can see the ship pocked with windows and hatches. The little touches really make the ship stand out. I love the ends of the smoke stacks, great detail overall.
The hull is festooned with many smaller turrets, both secondary and AA turrets are evident and easy to tell apart. Both also have a certain Steam punk charm to them. (I especially like the little AA guns with large gears)

Painting in progress... lots of wood decking!

The turrets are the only metal parts and are suitably detailed. These single barrel turrets are impressive, they are opened topped and if you look closely you can actually see the loading mechanism and the ring of shells waiting to be loaded into the gun!

The optional modules are well done as well. the Rocket Module is the most visually exciting with batteries of rockets pointing skywards, the rockets red glare indeed!

Model Rating: 5 out of 5

In Game


Stats:

the Battleships in the game are pretty similar in basic stats. The FSA Battleship has a DR (Damage Rating) of 7 which is the highest of the battleships. The all important CR (Critical Rating) is a healthy 10. Not the top of the heap but not too shabby either. Like 3 out of the 4 initial battleships the FSA Battleships defensive stats like the AA (anti Air) rating is slightly higher then their CC (Concussion Charges against subs and torps)  rating. There is no real standout advantage or disadvantage in the basic stat lines of this battleship.  In this area I would rate most battleships equal with perhaps the Prussian BB being slightly higher

MARS: This are special rules that give the ship character and flavor. The FSA Battleship has the “Maneuverable” special rule as well as “Sharpshooters”

Maneuverable: this sounds like a great bonus. Being able to use those large paddle wheels to spin in place. In practice it may be hard to use, as it commits you to at least 2 turns of NO forward movement. Further testing will bear out the usefulness of this rule, though props to Spartan for making a the FSA’s unique propulsion system have it’s own rule. Also I can see this being very handy in any games that have narrow channels of water, River battles for example, might see this rule shine.

Sharpshooters: This allows you to try to “pick off” enemy AP (assault points) before boarding. Nifty if Boarding Assaults are your game.

Weapons:


The most powerful linked attack would be the two main (Primary) turrets.
Range Band 1: 18 AD (At -1 to hit)
Range Band 2: 15 AD
Range Band 3: 12 AD
Range Band 4: 9 AD

In Range Band 1 linked attacks put the FSA Battleship in last place, with the Blazing Sun BB putting out 19 AD at RB1 and 21AD for the Brits and Prussians.
While this seems to indicate the FSA battleship is the weakest of the lot there are a couple of mitigating factors.

One, optional Modules, the other  factions (Save Blazing Suns) must give up at least one of their turrets (With a commiserate drop in total AD) to add a module. The FSA gives up their Rocket system for the same option.
For example if all 4 factions Battleships mount a Shield module then the numbers shake out quite differently. The FSA Battleship remains constant at 18 AD, the Prussians drop to 16AD and the Brits to 17AD. Only the Blazing Sun Battleship remains the same at 19AD.

Two, with one two large turrets, as opposed to the KoB Battleship's 4 Turrets, you lose less attack dice per damage you receive. For example an FSA battleship takes 2 damage, it’s main guns are reduced by 2 AD each for a total loss in 4 AD in theoretical maximum firepower. A KOB Battleship taking the same 2 damage loses a total of 8 AD (2 for each of the 4 turrets) Attrition is rougher on multi turret ships like the KOB and PE Battleships.

On the other end of the range spectrum nothing trumps the FSA battleship in Range Band 4 (24”-32” away)

FSA  RB4: 9AD
Brit  RB4: 5 AD
Prussian RB4: 4AD
Blazing Sun RB4: 4 AD



For Prussian and British Admirals sacrificing a Turret for a module the numbers get even worse.

Stats and personal experience indicate that the FSA Battleship is great in a long range run duel. Once the enemy has taken even minor damage then closing in becomes viable.


Points wise the FSA Battleship comes in on the low scale. costing 170 points to most battleships 180. Not a huge difference in points (less then the cost of a frigate) so we shouldn’t see a dramatically less powerful ship. The Savings you get with a Battleship and the even cheaper FSA Carrier means you may be able to deploy an extra Cruiser or frigate over your opponent.

All in all I heartily recommend Dystopian Wars in General and the FSA Battleship in Particular. A great sculpt and a great model in battle. It’s truly a stand out unit for the FSA!