Damn the Torpedoes, Full Steam Ahead!

Greetings once more intrepid hobbyists, I felt that it was time to introduce you to another of my works in progress, this time my Federated States of America fleet for Dystopian Wars (by Spartan Games). As I mentioned in my last post, I have agreed to have my starter fleet plus carrier painted and ready to display by Norcon 2012 (taking place in Redding California the last weekend in July by the way!)

Now to begin, I love the steampunk genre, and I really love the model range that Spartan has created for this game. It was difficult to choose my starting force, but honestly, the paddle-wheels are what sealed it for me in the end. Also, as a history buff its important to remember that America immediately post Civil War was the most advanced military in the world, and European leaders often sent away for American officers and veterans to come to their own countries and help modernize their forces. This means that even though people immediately think of Great Britain when they think steampunk (Victoriana), this is a great period for America to be in ascendancy.

So lets take a look at my force to begin with. First, in the alternate reality of Dystopian Wars, the Civil War does take place, but do to an alliance brokered with Britannia, the Confederacy ends up as the victors and unites the country as the Federated States of America. Because of this, I have chosen to paint my forces in the grey of the confederacy, and I will include red, white, and blue as accents (and flags when I eventually add them). Aside from the grey, I am keeping the decking a yellow-brown, smoke stacks will be black with gold or brass trim, and various other details will be picked out as needed.

So here is the big beast, the double decker FSA Saratoga Fleet Carrier. I mean come on.... check out the paddle-wheels! What you will see in all of these images is a very quick basecoat. Essentially I have based the model using Astronomicon Grey, the decks are Iyanden Darksun, smoke stacks are black, topped with Dwarf Bronze, and all turrets and girders are Boltgun Metal. Over this I have given the models a healthy coat of one of my favorite washes: Devlan Mud! (Honestly, I kinda cringe when I think of how much I have spent on this one wash... it practically goes on every model I paint... and it goes on thick!)

Here is the flagship of my fleet (at least until I get the massive Dreadnought), the FSA Independence Class Battleship. The turrets are off in this picture (as they are still shiny metal or un-primed resin). One of the things that I do appreciate with these models is that they do give you options on how to load your larger ships, so a number of tactics and strategies can be developed. Me, I'm going rockets all the way!

Here you can see the same battleship with the fore and aft turrets placed, as well as the mighty rocket battery.

And these bad boys are the FSA Lexington Class Cruisers, but I consider them the true workhorses of the fleet. Though they lack the brutal strength and power of the Independence Class, these three ships put out a huge amount of combined fire, and can be counted on to take out opposing capital ships, or destroy closing frigates with impunity!

And last but not least in this collection of images is my screening force of FSA Augusta Class Frigates. Though I am still learning how to use these guys to the best effect, they are great at engaging other small enemy ships, and with Dystopian War's exploding dice mechanic, even they can do harm to enemy capital ships on occasion. My force also includes a large number of "tiny flyers" basically tokens with small aircraft on them, and also two A-17 Class bombers. The later you can see in the first image, and as they are still just primed black, I figure that they could be shown at a later date.

Well, as you can see, even with base coats, the fleet is looking alright. Over the next few months I will be adding highlights, hopefully adding flags, and getting them ready to draw interested crowds into yet another war game. The appeal (aside from the models, or the genre) is that I have wanted to play a fleet based war game for a long time. I dabbled for a very short time with Battlefleet Gothic, and though I liked the game, I really like the action created by Spartan's rules.

At the moment, only my buddy Grant (on 2D6plus) has a fleet in the works (and if you haven't done so already, pop on over and take a look at his Covenant of Antarctica... they are gorgeous!) though we are always looking for more "would-be-admirals". We have a friend who purchased a large amount of Prussian figures, but have yet to see any on the table-top. I know that our motivation for having our fleets painted by Norcon is that we would like to raise interest in the game. Already the two of us have committed to purchasing a second fleet each (I will be taking on the Empire of the Blazing Sun) so that we can have a number of forces to run demos with and let other interested players try their hands at commanding.

Well, that's the latest update. Good luck to you all, and keep those paintbrushes busy!