Warhounds 2 Warmasters

A series following a collection of would-be Admirals taking on the challenge of building a fleet in an entirely new game system; Dystopian Wars by Warcradle.

So, I get to kick things off with the introduction article AND draw first blood with my side of things? How terribly unfair! I need to speak to the guy that makes these decisions! (Ed Note – That would also be you, stop stalling for double-points comedic effect and bloated word-count! I know your ways!)

A new game system for a selection of players from the Adeptus Titanicus (and Dropfleet Commander) community to learn, new models to build, paint and play and all in the same vein as the (probably) most popular and legendary article series in White Dwarf’s history? Sign me up!

The process of looking over the system itself, the factions available therein and the ruleset wasn’t planned out in any degree of super-detail, it was a very organic process. At key points in the growing conversation the impetus could have dwindled BUT each time a new voice would get excited and join the contagious call of ‘Boats-Boats-Boats!’ (Sorry Alex) and propel the conversation onwards. By the time we had a core group of players committed to the series it had already exceeded the classic ‘Four’, and more had made plain their interest. We began to discuss who might like which faction, with a view to having as many represented as possible (but not to the degree of restricting any duplication). As it panned out, at the time of writing we have NINE Admirals at the table and only one faction is currently not taken. I live in hope that a final literary-wannabe will step to the fore and take on the mantle, but given that we have an article a week before the introductions are complete – it feels like we have a decent degree of wiggle room!

Ok, enough waffle – what have I picked and why?

I eventually settled on the Imperium (Ed Note – this didn’t have as much of a build-up as I intended after I decided at point of publishing to name the article series as I have, go figure…). These are represented by Prussians, Bavarians and Scandinavians – each offering slightly different rules to the core models and opening up different options with regards the various types of fleets open to me, speaking of which: How do I even play this game??

Ship types are split between Airborne, Surface and Submerged. Airborne are hard to attack and can pack some lethal firepower BUT they can never be a Scoring Unit for objective play, so if you go overboard (see, nautical puns!) on Airborne you may win the fight but lose the game! Surface are the real meat of the game and the only units that can Score Objectives. They come in all kinds of different flavours and shapes and vary widely faction to faction. Submerged are the last type to consider and they are a little more nuanced than Airborne. A Submerged unit can Surface and thereby become a scoring unit or it can keep it’s little head down and wait to set itself up for shenanigans at an opportune time. Submerged are largely safe from most weapons fire whilst they remain beneath the waves UNLESS the weapon has the Submerged trait – like torpedoes – and taking damage can end up resulting in a Submerged unit having to emergency Surface and suddenly find itself open to firepower that they typically cannot survive, what with having paper-thin armour!

Ship types further break down into Flagships, Line, Patrol, Scout, Support and other types – with Fleets being comprised of X mandatory slots and Y optional slots (not dissimilar to various Force Organisation Charts across many other systems over the years but here, ultimately, better owing to being about Boats). There are Main Fleets and Specialist Fleets, you must have One Main Fleet to allow you to take One Specialist Fleet and so on and so forth. I’ll find my f(l)eet with list-building as time goes on through trial and error and endless hours of writing silliness. So, if I didn’t write a list with an idea of what I was aiming at, how did I decide where to start with my purchases?

Ice Maiden. That simple.

The Ice Maiden Battlefleet box has the gargantuan Super Carrier, 6 Cruisers, 6 Destroyers and 6 Frigate. That is a huge amount of ship for your buck and immediately opened up options. Adding an Elector Battlefleet and Ragnarok Battlefleet further opened up a host of options and gave me clear direction towards my next intended purchases. Later, I’ll need some Air and I want some more Carrier options and at least one Shield Generator Ship, so Zeppelins, Templehof and Konig are on the list for my next installment… possibly a Falkenstein set too. I’m not the type to enter a system softly or subtly – this would leave only the Scions of Jutland on my intended purchases, and those will have to wait until gainful employment once more finds me.

When the Ice Maiden box arrived I was immediately blown away by how large the ship is – it has to have a special rule (Very Large) to allow it to be deployed in the standard 8 inch deployment zones, it is THAT big! I was further impressed by how high quality the resin was – coming from a history of Games Workshop’s Forgeworld resin varying between decent and awful and TTC’s resin for Dropfleet which has been, at best, challenging for the kits I’ve had, I was astounded that it just… worked. High quality, easy to work with and so far not a single issue. I’m a convert.

Learning to build a new system’s models is always a unique experience for those that enjoy building. Prussian Frigates and Destroyers are simple enough, the Cruisers are a little more challenging until you have one or two done and from then on they just seem to build themselves. Scandinavians, on the other hand, were a significantly tougher proposition – the Jotun Heavy Raiders particularly were entirely insane in the level of parts that were needed to make the smallest of parts… after building them, though… those are some sexy boats!

So, as I find myself with a small but growing collection of ships, a few different ways in which to play them and more in the production line, the next task is to find people to play! Fortunately, my regular Titanicus playing partner, Alex, was happy to help me out by playing a game with some of my ships as proxies for some Crown forces – which was absolutely and totally not a part of him getting hooked on learning the rules and considering whether or not to buy-in. We took just over 500pts each and worked through some of the basis rules. As we finished the game, I was hooked. The exploding dice, the combined shot-pools, critical effects and momentum and limited turns! It had everything I want in a naval game and several things I didn’t even realise I wanted!

Next up on the docket was the Commonwealth. I wouldn’t want to disclose any details of those taking places at the Admirals table outside of the W2W team, I would like them all to have their own opportunity to introduce themselves, so I’ll keep this short and sweet and simply say that I tried to run a 1000pt Scandinavian fleet with entirely 10 inch weapons. My aim was to get into close range, burst those short range weapons and then try out some Boarding Parties, seeing as Scandinavians are so very good at it. Suffice to say, my aim was off and I found out how desperately effective (at all ranges) Railguns are! We both learned much from the game – chiefly that a unit of 3 Heavy cruisers fully armed with Railguns can Cripple an opposing Flagship in Round 1!

Next steps? I want to get up to playing 1500pt games in an evening session and 2000pt games on full-day sessions. I’d like to take some time out to play all of the Admirals at one point or another as I want to get context for each faction and I definitely want to try and keep to my plan of just running ONE faction! I know this has usually been something I fail at, my Titanicus and Dropfleet Commander collections bear mute witness to my continued failure to exercise restraint!

For now, I’m signing off and will loop back in with a battle-report sometime over the next couple of months and then an update on the collection progress once all of the Admirals have published their first episodes.