A new edition of Dystopian Wars is almost upon us, and David from the Development Team cannot contain his excitement as he delves deeper into the best tool in your arsenal, the Rule Book!
“What’s that cresting the horizon? Ensign, my telescope! Is that…? Yes, it is.”
“See how sleek it looks, even from afar. How powerful, sunlight gleaming off its machined finish, like a Ferdinand Advance Cruiser in a world that has known only Bluchers. And that’s just the rules.
My name is David Guymer. I am a writer and editor, and the newest member of the HMS Warcradle and her crew. It is my job to ensure that the finials are all polished and the decks swabbed, and that the hard work of the Games Development team is translated into the clearest and shiniest of words. And believe me when I say that a LOT of blood, sweat, and polish has gone into this edition of Dystopian Wars.
The past few weeks have seen a steady stream of blog posts picking out the nuts and bolts of everything from the new-look Victory & Valour deck to how the size of your games is going to influence the way you play, but today we’re going to talk about something a little bit different. We’re going to gaze into our instruments in awe and wonder for a while longer while we examine the new Dystopian Wars Rule Book.
I am, of course, ever so slightly biased, but I hope that by the end of this article, you will be every bit as excited as I am. “
If, however, you are here because you want to know what to expect from your new Rule Book and how you are going to be interacting with it in your games, then you have certainly come to the right place. Come aboard, my fellow Admirals, and let me show you the marvels of the modern age!
Same Boats. New Look Rules!
Our first priority with the new edition was to take what already existed and streamline things as much as possible. We followed the same principle with the Rule Book. It is intended to be a trusty manual, something that every Admiral, whether newly commissioned to the rank or a veteran of the Dystopian Age, will want to keep by their bunks at night and consult often in the heat of battle.
How did we go about doing that?
The first thing you will notice when you open your new Dystopian Wars Rule Book is its great use of colour. This is not just to make it visually appealing (though it does look appealing) but to make it easier to read and access, leveraging all the tricks and experience we gained from last year’s Armoured Clash.
You won’t see any big blocks of text here, just small, easy-to-navigate paragraphs with plenty of pictures, diagrams, box-outs, and handy subheadings to get you where you need to go. Additionally, making the transition from battlefield to open water requires page references. You need never look up the rules for Attack actions in the Index, only to spend the next five minutes hunting down how Action Rolls work.
After all, what is the point of making the best new game since Armoured Clash if your players are spending more time in their Rule Books than they are with their ships?
As an additional step towards improving the accessibility of our rules, we have split the Rule Book into two handy sections: one for Core Rules, the absolute basics of movement and shooting that you need to play a game of Dystopian Wars, and one for Advanced Rules. These rules fill in some gaps, add some depth, and introduce different types of units, but aren’t strictly necessary if you’re more interested in learning the ropes.
The Core Rules give you just enough to get some ships on the table without worrying too much about complexity. Whenever the Core Rules skip over something that is covered in the Advanced Rules, this is clearly marked and colour-coded so you can easily find what you need later, once you decide to introduce these features into your games.
This is all, of course, entirely optional. If you are a battle-hardened miniatures wargamer with a fleet lying in wait, and want to leap in two-footed with a 2,500-point game, then by all means go for it. No one is going to stop you!
In the Advanced Rules section you will find everything you need to start fielding submarines, flying fortresses, and mighty colossi, rules for smashing your enemy’s ships to smithereens with ramming actions, launching swarms of attack aircraft from your carriers and lots, LOTS more.
And That’s Not All!
You can, of course, play your games however you like, but the final section of the Rule Book offers six example Encounters; essentially common scenarios that battlefleets in the Dystopian Age might find themselves in, introducing specific victory conditions to add variety to your play.
You will also find a thorough Index, Quick Reference guide, and (my personal favourite) several dozen pages of juicy background lore for all eight Factions of the Dystopian Age, alongside a ton of brand new art.
That’s not the end of the story, of course.
As with Armoured Clash, we will be releasing a Rules Glossary containing all of the information you need to get the most out of your models and weapons. This will be freely accessible online. And even though everyone’s Faction will be fully supported at launch, we will be fleshing out and updating their ORBATs over the coming months. But more on that later!
For now, we’ve seen all there is to see. I hope to meet you all on the high seas very soon. But don’t forget your trusty manual.
David Guymer