Evercreech 2014 #2 - Dystopian Legions

So last Saturday I headed over to SG to play some DL with the new alpha-stage rules.

Into reception....

Then through the warehouse to the office and into a large 4 vs 4 game of Dystopian Legions. Here the game is being set up with Chris from SG on the right going over some rules basics.

So I was playing a Federated States of America force, facing off against some Prussians. Next to me were  more FSA troops, again facing Prussians. Next along were Brittanian troops facing Empire of the Blazing Sun, and Covenant of Antarctica facing the French. The other side won initiative and chose to go first, Ben (of SG) moving his infantry and Luftlancers up around the bocage...

The other Prussians (including two Teutonic Knights) then crashed through a gap in this terrain and lumbered towards us.

The Empire of the Blazing Sun  moved their ground and air infantry towards cover...

Whilst the French advanced confident that engagement range was not yet upon them (the cavalry are in fact proxied air units!)

Then it was our turn! I advanced my troopers over the bridge, with my air gunners jumping up to the river;

My FSA colleagues also advanced, hugging cover...

Whilst the plucky Brits and the cold steel of the CoA forces advanced out in the open.

And yes, the CoA troops ARE being led by a Penguin! So state of play after movement;

We then won initiative, and my FSA troopers moved over the bridge, where they could see the Teutonic Knights, loosed off a concentrated volley of fire and managed to put a wound on the mighty concoction!

More FSA troops moving up...

And Brits...

And robots...

Unfortunately on the enemy activations my neighbour suffered at the hands of the Prussians...

Although the iron men of the CoA did rather better against the French, destroying most of the aerial troops for just a single wound.

The next initiative went against us, and the Prussians were not kind - the Knights and infantry chopping my fly-boys to pieces;

My neighbour suffered similarly;

Whereas at the other end of the table the French were pinned down in a farm building (probably searching it for wine?)...

Time for revenge! My FSA troops advanced firing into the Luftlancers....killing a single man! Terrible!

My comrades in arms were not having much luck either...

Kingdom of Britannia and EotBS forces still testing each others mettle somewhat...

Whilst things weren't looking good for the French...

Now was an important time to win initiative, and we did! My FSA troops advanced steadily, cutting down the Luftlancers to a single man, who fled in terror - hurrah!

Meanwhile the FSA armoured troops that were left took up defensive positions and picked off a Prussian infantryman...

...but they didn't fare so well against the return fire...

I was also subjected to an intense barrage of German guns...after which I wasn't in too good a shape. My battle was done, as was the other FSA players - against Prussians we were seriously outclassed.

 On the other side of the battlefield, the CoA were taking the odd casualty, but grinding the French into mayonaisse...

But for me the most memorable duel of the match was this stunning attack by the elite flyers of the Japanese against the British. They attacked....18 dice...

....and had one of the worst dice rolls I've ever seen! 3 successes from 18 dice! Not a single six!

The Brits replied with;

5 successes! Take that, evil minion of an imaginary steam-powered nation!

The KoB flyers chose to break off, and then torch the remaining Japs....not really cricket, but very effective!

Meanwhile back on Ben's Prussian front, this is the last view they took of my troops before dowsing them in electrical mayhem.

Whereas the single armoured FSA trooper stood his ground against overwhelming German force, before being mowed down in a hail of Teutonic lead.

Still, I had to feel for the French, two men and an officer sitting in a farm cottage with an implacable army of automatons advancing towards them...time to go home, methinks!

The game was called at that point, we had some lunch and then broke into individual games with armour, where my FSA troops once more became fodder for the German guns, though my tank proved to be completely indestructible!

All in all it was great fun, and was followed by a meal and a couple of pints at the pub the DL guys (sorry I can't remember all your names to list them here - "DL guys" will have to do as a catch all for now!) were staying over at. 

Dammit, another game to collect minis for! 

Dystopian Legion Starter Set & Character Unboxing - Prussian Empire & Federated States of America

So having recently received the Prussian Empire and Federated States of America starter sets courtesy of Neil and Ben at Spartan Games, I thought it only fair to share a proper unboxing with you all.

To start with, each set comes in a nicely presented glossy card box showing a coloured rendition of one of the figures on the front, and a rear showing renders of all the miniatures contained within.

On opening the box you find it's very full!

All these goodies spread out;

So there are the minis (all nicely wrapped up in protective bubble-wrap bags), bases, accessories, dice (in three colours), cards, stat sheet, tokens and a mini-rulebook. That's a LOT for such a compact box! Now, what I was really interested in was the minis themselves. Here they are;

Great castings,and although there are various air escape and moulding spurs, none seem to interfere with any of the detail on the figures and they're easy to remove. I also had a character - Major Beauregard and his Clock-o-dile!

Really looking forward to putting that beast together!

The Prussian Empire set and character are of similar ilk in terms of box contents and quality;

The difference here is that you get two huge Teutonic Knight figures in resin;

Plus the Prussian infantry and officers, of course;

So after my usual light detergent wash and brush-up, I assembled the minis and put them in their bases for painting.

This led me to notice two things;

1) My Vierling specialist was slightly miscast at the back of his head and needed quite a bit of metal removing to remedy
2) Some of the arms on the metal minis are a B***H to get to stick together! Notably the FSA scouts (as you'll see when I get to painting them later!). Pinning such tiny model parts is not going to be easy either.

Still, overall the figures are extremely nice. A quick coat of white primer, and here they are;

Next up is painting, but I'll save that for another entry!