Had my second game of Dystopian Wars at the weekend and did enjoy it, even though we still struggled with the rules. I have been playing games now for over thirty years and even I am surprised by how many mistakes I made in reading and importantly interpreting the rules. It did make me realise the value in well written rules with clear examples. I take on a fair bit of responsibility in not taking enough time to read the rules between games.
We had problems with critical hits system, in the main forgetting about the extra 2 HP each time. I realised afterwards, as well as making mistakes with critical hits, we also didn’t play the Ack Ack and Concussion Charges rules properly. The end result was that the game too a lot longer than it should… however it was still very enjoyable.
What I did like was the tactical challenge of working out where best to place your ships to maximise the firepower, whilst minimising the risk from the opponent’s ships. It was also a challenge to decide on which order to activate different squadrons, hoping that your prospective target gets closer, but not too close to cause damage. I also really like the cards system, which adds to the game, without going overboard.
What I was pleased with was that I managed in a month to paint my Britannia Naval Group, so fast that though I took photographs, I’ve not managed to update the workbench feature on them. So I got nine frigates, three cruisers and a battleship all painted. I also managed to finish off painting the Airfield Scenery Set. Really like the idea of making scenery, well everytime I see this kind of scenery I do.
I was very impressed with Simon’s FSA ships which he also managed to get painted in the same month. Alas time constraints (blame the rules) meant that I didn’t get to photograph them (or the game).
For the next game I intend to read the rules a lot more fully, I might even buy version 1.1 so to have the same version of the rules as Simon, so difficult when wanting to read the same section and not knowing the right page number.
I have finished painting all my surface ships, well except the Olympic Liner, so thinking should I paint the airborne models I have, or get some more Prussians?
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