Dystopian Wars Gets Major Update
December 21, 2011 by brennon
We are loving Dystopian Wars right now here at Beasts of War. A great mix of steam-punk and science fiction with just the right amount of historical clout to make a great game. So, when Spartan Games released information on major changes we had to have a look at what's been happening and how it will effect the game in the future.
In a post on their blog Spartan Games discussed the 'State of The Nations' and a few more interesting rules for the countries battling for global domination. Check out a few of them below...
From this point onward ALL Prussian Empire Tesla and Tesla Coils weapons have the following Model Assigned Rule (MAR) associated with them (regardless of whether it is listed on the Stat Card owned by the player, or not):
REDOUBTABLE: Any weapon with the Redoubtable Model Assigned Rule only reduces its Attack Dice (AD) by 1 for every 2 Hull Points (HP) of damage taken.
From this point onward ALL Empire of the Blazing Sun Naval models have the following Model Assigned Rule associated with them (regardless of whether it is listed on the Stat Card owned by the player, or not):
SHARP TURN: This model can Turn during the minimum move made at the beginning of its activation, rather than moving DIRECTLY ahead.
As well as this, the Kingdom of Britannia has been granted access to new Guardian Generators. These allow for shielding just like the normal Shield Generators but also cast out an aura of defence to protect other members of the fleet. You can read more about the rules in detail on their blog post.
So, as well as some of the countries getting technological advancements a mass of Errata has been done for the game detailing changes both simple, and more complex in 'Fate of the Nations'.
From now on, all ships will have to make their minimum movement straight forward unless otherwise stated on their cards. As you can see this is why the new clarification had to be made for the Empire of the Blazing Sun. This however, is one of the more soft changes to the game.
Spartan Games have also released a mass of pdf documents detailing changes to Stat Cards for ships in every fleet. You can find all the links at the bottom of their blog post here, effectively clarifying the rules from previous iterations. Model Assigned Rules have also been changed and clarified, making things easier for us as gamers in the long run.
More changes are on the cards for Tiny Flyers, Morale Tests and Field Orders.
Don't forget, there are also a selection of Mega Bundles on sale from Spartan Games to get your fleets ready for the Christmas season!
What do you think of these new changes, is there anything you have spotted that really changes your game plan? Let us know below.
The models are fantastic but the rules are rubbish. Lets be honest, we all wish they would scrap the current rule set and start again because we just love the models. I have kept my models hoping that one day the rules would get a major revamp, a bit like going from V4 of 40K to V5.
Maybe I will have to wit until Version 5 before I have another game of DW.
You could try your models with the Land Ironclads and Aeronef by Wessex.
After watching the BoW coverage I was quite interested in this game, why do you think the rules are rubbish?
I enjoy the rules actually, to be fair the rule books are not the easiest to digest (industry wide problem there though) but once playing its mostly smooth sailing.
The guys in Spartan recognise the rules are a bit fluffy though so tightening them up for competitive play seems to be a big one on the to-do list.
good! I have the rulebook in my hands and its REALLY hard to digest. It needs streamlining down. thanks for your attempt to clarify the rules!!!!
The navel rules are some of the best rules you can find. It’s the land that weakest at this point. Time will tell where they will go with them.
smooth sailing, ha tesla power that how my ships “steam” by,
i love the game but we play only naval with air units, ok the book is a bit of a strange read, but when playing the game, you very quickly learn it is a very fun game to play.
We had no one that played the game before, but still quickly learn by playing the game. and after a game of 3 you know probaly allready 70 % of the game rules.
the models are just epic.
I’ve been playing (well, trying to play) the game within my group for about a year now, and the rules themselves are pretty darn decent, actually; it’s their presentation in the rule book that’s troublesome. Heck, it’s the rulebook itself that’s actually pants! The layout, editing… pretty darn poor. The models are brilliant, and the game fun, but when it literally gives you no option for setting up a game… bad design, guys. At least under the optional you could give a “beginner’s Scenario,” or a few more tangible directions for setting up the board, deployment, etc. I’ve actually been… Read more »
Hi ironmonger. Is there a place where we could get your player’s edition? I’m curious how you put that together… coz I’m trying to do it myself for my gaming group but in polish 😉
Just for fun, here’s the working Player’s Edition section on setting up a game of Dystopian Wars: Set-up Before a game of Dystopian Wars can be played, a few things need to be worked out… like picking a fleet and setting up the battlefield! Within this section you will find how to select your fleet of models for an engagement, how to set up a gaming table, what terrain is and what types can be used, and how to deploy your forces. There are a number of steps in setting up a game of Dystopian Wars: 1) Determine what type… Read more »
I’m sure this’ll be on here before too long, but my and player’s like myself’s prayers have been answered: http://www.spartangames.co.uk/resources/downloads
The final download section are MUCH needed amendments to the rules, included a MASSIVE clean-up of the tiny flyer tokens a la my post above concerning waves of TFT. They call them wings… close enough. 😉
SG: thank you for listening to your fans. I’ll be first in picking up the reprint of the rulebook.