System Wars Review Part 1 - Sorylian Ships

Back to the Alliance of Kurak now, and the Sorylians. The lizards differ from the other fleets in using Battelcruisers as their primary invasion ships, which ties in with their expertise in making excellent cruiser-sized and down ships, but not being quite so hot on the Large side of things. Splitting their forces into fast Battlecruisers seems like a logical and pragmatic step for them, so they lead their assaults with the Amentum.

The Amentum is very comparable to the Hasta, it has one less HP, an extra AP and PD, but otherwise it's the same. In second-line stats it has no WC like the Hasta does, but it packs an extra Shield - the highest baseline shield stat of ANY Sorylian ship - they're serious about protection on the Amentum! It's weapon is a standard Sorylian Fore-fixed scatter gun similar to the power of a heavy cruiser, but more of a gunship type profile. It also has the Reinforced (Port/Starboard) MAR, which is very Sorylian and helps longevity.

So far, the Amentum is looking OK, but then you see the big sell of this unit - the price. The Amentum starts at 85 points. Then you look at the Hardpoints and Upgrades, and things get nice very quickly! First, it gets to choose up to TWO Hardpoints, and it has a lot of options - it can get faster, turn better, get that 6th HP, more Planetfall or more AP - that's a lot of variation, making it a very flexible ship. The non-Planetfall version exchanges the MAR for a decent set of Fore Torpedoes.

As for Upgrades, this again makes the ship builds even more interesting - you can change those scatter weapons for Kinetics, which changes their threat profile a lot. You can also buy them Weapon Shielding, and add Bigger Batteries - a nice thing when they start with a base 6PD.

You also get accompaniment options for both Planetfall and non-Planetfall builds at lower points. Firstly, you can take a Katar, which both boosts the potential planetfall value, increases the offensive and defensive power of the squadron and thus makes it harder for the enemy to kill the squadron and swing Battlelog. The Falcata does a similar thing for a non-Planetfall build, especially with some weaving to join its broadsides and torpedoes with the Amentum. A non-Planetfall Katar also makes quite a boarding threat for either form too (remember non-Planetfall accompaniments don't come out of your extra Planetfall ship points...).

Anyway, I don't see Sorylian players complaining about the Amentum, it's a solid ship in many ways and for Heavy-Cruiser cost, it feels like a bargain. For a non-Planetfall force you could even take a base Amentum and reserve it for Shunt-deployment, and maximise your Tier2 and 3 build options. I get the feeling, however, that we'll be seeing quite a lot of the Amentum in fleets going forward!

The Katar is a pretty straightforward vessel - it's a Heavy Cruiser without the HP, CP and weapons. It has the same fixed fore as a Falcata, giving a squadron decent RB2 AD. Hardpoints are simple - make it a bit tougher, a bit faster, or a dedicated assault ship for non-Planetfall. With 5AP stock, it can provide an impressive 15AP assault, which with Thermal controls will hurt a lot - It feels very Sorylian!

The Corvus is another incredibly tough small, with cruiser-like stats and a shield. As it's Sorylian, it has a high movement and large squadron size, which makes it good for a swarm approach to invasion missions. As a non-Planetfall build it gains PD Barrage. Not particularly useful by itself, but with an extra PD, it becomes both an excellent SRS sweeper (something the Sorylians don't really have), but also an additional anti-small potential

A closer look at Battlecruisers....

So once again I spent my Saturday over with the boys at SG, plus 6 Dystopian legions players (hi guys!) to throw some dice and unleash various mayhem (more on that in another post!). Whilst I was there, I took the opportunity to get some more shots of some of the battlecruisers for you. Remember these are just painted for playtest, though I still think they look pretty good!

So, here's the Marshall;

The Cataphract;

The Deterrent;

and the Raptor

I also took some shots of some of the other new Directorate ships too, as I've not got a starter set as yet. Here's the Battleship;

The fantastic Liquidator;

And the new escorts - I love the way they draw elements of the old Punisher, the Liquidator and the Hostility into the design...I now also know which Patrol fleet I'm getting next!

Another trip to Spartan Games...with Dystopian Legions

Hello everyone and welcome to February! I started off the month by a visit to Evercreech Junction to catch up with Neil and Ben at Spartan Games, as it had been a few months since (before Attack in Reading back in November). Of course, they've been ever-so-slightly busy with FSA v2.0, which they tell me actually overtook Dystopian Wars as their number one game with the new release! Tremendous news for an SF geek such as myself, and I'm really pleased that it's been so successful - it certainly deserves to be.

Whilst chewing the fat, I also got to see the new battle-cruiser models in resin form, all painted up on one of the Studio's gaming tables. These are VERY nice, and (as always), the renders don't do them justice (and Neil wanted to remind everyone that these are the play test minis, so paint jobs are quick ones - though I don't think he need's to worry, they've done a bang-on job!);

I took plenty of the Hasta as I know the controversy on the community about it, but it's actually much better looking than you might imagine from the renders. I rather like it.

The Marshal is an absolute beast!

The Cataphract is also a mean-looking ship - it looks like it's out searching for a fight!

I also got a sneak peek of some of the Planetfall stuff that will be coming out later on in the year, including the 10mm & 15mm infantry of the Terran Alliance and Dindrenzi Federation, but of even greater interest to me was one of the Relthoza walker battlesuits - oh they look sweet!

Unfortunately they're not ready for general exposure - they're only prototype/first casts, so I can't show them to you...sorry guys! Yes, I know that was cruel....but I couldn't resist...(!)

Neil was talking a lot about the upcoming Dystopian Legions releases, and even though I'm not a player I've always kept an eye on the releases and admired the renders. What I'd not really appreciated is the quality of the minis Spartan have made (though why wouldn't they, the other stuff they make has always been top-of-the-line?), and how extensive the range is now. Whilst I'm not a fan of steampunk at all as a genre, this is actually a rather nicely fleshed-out skirmish game.

Here are a set of Prussians, and as you can see, there's a lot of options here;

Infantry, walkers, tanks, flying guys, battle suits and a monstrous, towering robot!

Facing this monstrous set up were a few plucky Brits with a very "Rorke's Drift" spirit;

I was also really interested in the Covenant of Antartica models;

So, a couple of starter sets later and I'm visiting the world of DL for the first time. I'll be looking at unboxing posts soon of the Prussian Empire and Federated States of America starter sets, plus the Characters of Major Beauregard and his Clock-o-dile (which is a great name!) and the rather mad-looking Professor Gustardt (Who I'll probably look like after more model assembly and gaming!).

Give Dystopian Legions a look, people, it's a much more detailed and expansive game than I ever realised - there's probably a faction or two that will take your fancy.