Review: Dystopian Wars – The Covenant of Antarctica Naval Battle Group

If you’re not familiar with Dystopian Wars, do your self a favor and follow that link back there…go ahead.  I’ll wait…

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Okay, back?  Cool right?  Yeah, that’s right steampunk combined arms (land, sea, air) mini game.  If you’re a fan of steampunk and not a hater, and like miniature wargames, then this may well be the game for you.  Spartan games has a history of really good navel games in Firestorm Armada and Uncharted Seas, and their latest offering of Dystopian Wars continues that quality heritage.

The newest fleet to hit the tables is the mysterious and utopian Antarctican Fleet.  Led by renowned scientist Lord Barnabas Sturgeon, the one who discovered Sturginium (the material responsible for much of the technology available to the world), the Covenant of Antarctica held itself in reserve from the conflicts between the major world powers for as long as they could.  But now churning from the far southern pole, aided by contacts in every nation acting as undercover assassins and spies, the forces of the Covenant come seeking to stop the atrocities being committed through the ignorant abuses of the technology they created, leaked by the traitor Markov, and any who refuse to see the enlightened path of free science.

The Covenant of Antarctica naval battle group comes loaded with fleet rulebook, FIG’s for each squadron, battleship, nine frigates, two bombers, three cruisers, and ten fighter tokens and retails for £32.50 ($51.38 USD).  In addition there are the flight stands, battleship marker, status token sheets, turning radius templates, and mine\tesla templates.  All the ships and fighter tokens are made out of high quality resin and the bombers, interestingly, are made from metal.  As a side note my battle group came with an extra set of nine frigates, for eighteen total, not too shabby.

The quality of the status tokens, mine explosion\tesla, and turning radius templates is a nice thicker glossy card stock.  Nothing similar to say a thick, almost cardboard stock found in Fantasy Flight board games, but thick enough to get the job done nicely.  Strangely, and perhaps because of cost involved, or the actual card stock used, the tokens and markers did not come perforated so they have to be cut out manually.  Not the best solution, but not the end of the world either.

The Covenant of Antarctica manual is filled with lots of details about the Covenant and some great reading if you’re into fluff.  There are of course also the data sheets in the back covering all the units’ available, special rules, and the like.  It also has solid visuals in the book and over all is a nice portable size.  You feel like your getting something good, but not something that’s been inflated just to drive a cost up.

The mini’s are really great.  This was my first time getting to handle some of Spartan Game’s models, and I can’t say enough about them.  There were two places on the battleship where there was some slight discoloration in the resin, but nothing that would cause a problem painting.  The amount of flashing (extra resin) on the models is relatively low, except for the fighter tokens, which admittedly had a pretty good amount of excess around the edges, though it would be very easy and quick to clean.  And unlike the fine examples you might be familiar with from companies like Forgeworld, there were no warps of chunks missing from any of the ships.  I actually wonder if the resin type isn’t a stiffer type because of this.

The model quality is really great in terms of most of the detail.  Overall the Covenant has a very Jules Vern\10,000 Leagues look to them.  Likewise I have to say the fighter tokens do look a little like a winged version of a certain male genital at first glance, but I’m betting some paint will clear that right up.  The thing that is impressive to me is the overall quality and attention to detain on the ships.  They will make for a really nice looking fleet on the tabletop.

So if you’re interested in the newest hotness for Dystopian Wars, go out and grab a battle group for the Covenant of Antarctica from your FLGS and unleash the power of reason and idealism upon a close-minded world.  And just remember…