Dystopian Wars - Battle in the Baltic

 

We had another Dystopian Wars battle at the club this week.  This time, we were trialing one of the scenarios planned for the upcoming tournament - a battle for control of the Baltic (although what the Japanese are doing contesting the Baltic Sea is beyond me!)

A large strut of land stuck out towards the centre of the table, with sand banks blocking any gaps (I really need to make some more terrain,) and deployment zones stretching out from opposite corners.  The ultimate goal was to move a ship or squadron off the table via your opponents deployment zone, but we realised very quickly that this was unfeasible.  It looks like the scenario will change to awarding extra victory points for intact ships and squadrons in the opposite table half.

So far so good.  The Brits move out, lead by their gunships and carrier.

Gaz changed his Kingdom of Britannia list by replacing the Dreadnought (yay!) with both carriers and a lot of medium ships.

The big hitters move out.  Sjy Fortress, Gunships and Battleship head straight for the Brit carrier.
  

I swapped out the Dreadnought for a Battleship and extra frigates, but was still lower on activations compared to the Brits.

Due to the strut of land, I was able to deploy close to the middle of the table edge, but at the same time keep my gunships and battleship hidden from most of the Britannian firepower, in particular the torpedoes.

The Brits in disaray.  A Sky Fortress, Destroyer and unarmed bombers all that remain.

The Brits pushed the carrier and gunships forward, followed closely by the cruisers.  The carrier, however, pushed just a little too far forward and became the target of every big gun in the Blazing Sun fleet.  The following turns saw the Brit fleet decimated for the cost of only a couple frigates, a destroyer and a couple points of damage on the Battleship.

So from my point of view, the scenario was perfectly balanced. . . Only kidding, it was fairly skewed in my favour as I was able to deploy most of my fleet hidden from view, while Gaz had to sit his big ships out in the open.  A little bit of adjustment to the deployment zones and a little more terrain should solve both these issues.

  Dice. The cause of, and solution to, all wargaming problems!

My crushing victory was not purely down to dodgy deployment however.  The Brit fleet had nowhere near enough regular gunnery attacks, relying instead on aircraft and torpedoes, both of which allow defensive measures to limit their effectiveness.  There was also the fact that Gaz couldn't roll for shit the whole night!

Four weeks until the tournament.  Need to get my existing fleet finished, order and paint some gunships, try and make some terrain and, if there's time, make sure my liver is in good shape for a bashing!