My Thoughts on Dystopian Wars

Back in the mid 1990s there was a lovely little computer game called Total Annihilation. It was not my first strategy game but it was by far my favourite.

When I started into the war gaming scene I was hoping to get a little of that feeling that I got from Total Annihilation translated onto the table top. When I first heard about Dystopian Wars from Spartan Games I was very excited. I ordered the first starter set for Kingdom of Britannia and spent weeks researching navel camo patterns to paint them up with.

The thing that grabbed me about the game was the scope of a battle played out on a 6'x4' table. You could have naval, air and land unit all in the same game at the same time.

The potential for this game was and still is huge. I remember seeing a huge game on a website that depicted a land assault, the table must have been 15'-16' long.

I had some great games mainly sea battles. Massive robots wading through the sea, submarines, tiny fighter squadrons and massive aircraft carriers. The rules where fun and made sense however the rulebook was a pig to navigate.

Again life got in the way of hobby and game time for this. I was getting married around the release of the second edition of the rules and I lost touch. Smaller games and board games took over. This was the major hurdle for myself in getting games. A lesser reason but still a significant one was that very few people were playing the game. Bolt Action was taking off and has a strong player base in my area. (I'll get into why that game doesn't appeal to me in another post)

I've never got back into it. Mainly because I can't get a game of it. The weeks I'm free to game people who play can't make it to venue. So it's on the back burner for the foreseeable. I've looked at the rulebook for second edition and felt a little overwhelmed with the amount of stuff that needs tracked. I'm sure I would get used to it but for someone who is just looking for casual games it implies a commitment I don't feel like making at the moment.

I still like the game. Love the models (however the steampunk setting hasn't really enamored me), love the mechanics of the game and most of all the scope.

If I could find a game that gives me this is a Sci Fi setting I think that would be the game for me.