Dystopian Wars, The Battle of the Sundering Straits

          A few weeks ago we played another game of Dystopian Wars, with the Prussians and Japanese facing off against the Federated States and the Covenant of Antarctica. The scenario was that the Prussians had pursued the Federated force through the Sundering Strait only to find further F.S. ships awaiting on the other side with CoA forces rapidly moving to lend a hand to the F.S. fleet. The shoe was now on the other foot and it was time for the Prussians to fall back and seek help from the Japanese fleet that was sailing to the rescue. The F.S. fleet smells blood in the water and wants to close and crush the Prussians before the CoA units can join in.  Here our drama opens;

pleased with the opportunity to chase the Prussians the FSA ships close

taking long-range shots with their powerful main guns

uncharacteristically the Prussian fleet was in disorder,

 part retreating, another part advancing

the cruiser command began the battle in an orderly manner

a larger view with the Prussians on the left and the F.S. fleet on the right

the mighty Dreadnought with its tiny escorts

the American's long-range fire began to take a toll on the cruiser squadron

the sudden appearance of the F.S. giant flying robots

(they would seem more apropos in an anime cartoon!) caught the Prussians off guard

the escorts slug it out at point-blank range as the heavy units close for the real work

meanwhile chaos reigns in the Prussian center,

 signals got crossed and the ships turned toward one another rather than away

the Dreadnought continues to fall back as the rest of the Prussians rush toward their Viking funeral

the F.S.ships made short work of the Prussian escorts,

sank two cruisers and

(hidden behind the headland in the lower right of this shot) finished off the battleship

a Prussian ship finally having crossed the mid-point of the table the Japanese fleet

could at last make radio contact and move to assist

bristling with missiles the Japanese raced to aid their Prussian allies

the full weight of the Japanese fleet moved to the center

while the flying cruisers took the flank position

a second squadron moved to the left to reinforce the initial wave

the last survivors of the Prussian fleet seek safety in the midst of the Japanese

as the CoA forces rush into combat the light units joust for position

the CoA heavies press forward covering the retreat of the damaged F.S. units

in the true spirit of the Bushido the Japanese escorts and destroyers threw themselves at the CoA lights to save the Prussian Dreadnought from the terrifying flood of torpedoes

the end of the game found the Prussians being shepherded to safety by the Japanese

as the CoA chased them from the narrows

     Another fun game, I still have to get the hang of naval games with an alternate movement system but everybody else seemed to being doing OK. I would like to run a quick campaign with these rules once we get the rest of the fleets finished and gain a little better command of the rules.   John