Tabletop Tales: The Giant Battle Robots of ‘Dystopian Wars’

For our previous look at Dystopian Wars, head here.

I do declare, what I imagined to be a minor event actually summed up to be rather major. With the first three “giant battle robots” for Dystopian Wars shipping out and others promised down the pipe, Spartan Games has changed the land game quite a bit! Almost every single small and medium sized Armored unit has been changed to be able to freely turn rather than require a template where larger sized models all use the large template. The result being Armored models are far more maneuverable than their Aerial and Naval cohorts now.

I’ve played a few small scale games, one with and one without the update and there was a clear difference in time spent on movement. Every single unit in a quad requiring a template lengthened each turn by a few minutes where movement was fairly quick without, even considering the turn limits. The most glaring change is for large and massive sized models, who now have large ponderous turns befitting their size. In my test game against my neighbor it became immediately clear it took several rounds to complete any meaningful turn; my Mauselle has been nerfed to hell combat wise, being more of a behind the lines artillery piece now (Versus my recently arrived Kursk Land Dreadnaught, very much a “Drive into combat” model).

They also included early versions of special battle squads that can be taken, letting you make squads of mixed models specific to each faction. This allows you to use models you own but never feel like fielding as a whole unit.  The changes to stat blocks were fairly minor, mostly tweaks to accompany the next big thing the update brought. GIANT ROBOTS.

A quick gander at the models statistics will tell you how much raw destructive power each of the three new models have. A precedent set by this release is that megazords dread-bots have access to special attacks akin to combat styles (Robots don’t board other models, they mess their day up violently) but more comparable to flashy super-moves that seem very satisfying to use. Power-wise the new models have amazingly high point values, average large model hull points, but fantastic everything else to justify the cost. Your points are going into a powerful all distance fighter capable of tearing into the enemy front-lines. Unlike massive models, they have 360 degree turns to let them stomp around.

As for my own collection I diversified into some Federated States models with a basic force for my neighbors while I invested in my first air unit: the Voltaire heavy french interceptor. The plan is, if I face another player with his own collection I want to shut down any attempts to field good air models along their land forces. An unmolested heavy bomber of any faction in your ranks is a nightmare. Though being able to shut down a land force first would be nice too, I’m currently sitting at 0-2 against people having to rely on me 100% for an understanding of the games rules.

Octobers Spartan release is purely Firestorm related, we’re probably not going to see new DW models until year’s end. I’m not one of their “Vanguard” unofficial reps, so all I have is speculation and rumor. I didn’t even know they were going to do this revamp to begin with (admittedly, if I did I would have invested even harder) since I didn’t know the extent of how much the movement bogged down land games. So far I really welcome the changes because I typically want to focus my list around medium and small sized units; I love that it’s easier to maneuver big groups of tanks now.

So I love this update, and Spartan’s continued focus on keeping the support of their games strong has sold me on wanting to get my armies painted up. Compared to other games it’s pretty damn easy to order up a playable standard army! I remember reading the Warhammer fantasy books where you are buying models in multiples of ten or twenty for some squads (not so much for others), while electing whether or not to specially equip some models. That alone would drive me crazy, if not being able to shoot at a melee in fantasy didn’t already drive me crazy.