Dystopian Wars: Starting Out

So you're interested in Dystopian Wars, or have already decided to give it a shot. Here's a bit of general advice and things to watch out for.

Rules

Everything you need to play the game is available free online at dystopianwars.com. The tab Resources holds the game rules as well as printable versions of the templates and cards you need. Under the tab Factions, the ORBAT button leads to the rules for that particular faction. The orbats (Order of Battle) tend to get updated when new units are released.

Dystopian Wars does use bespoke dice, but they map directly onto a standard D6, so you can play without them if necessary.

Listbuilders

No dedicated software currently exists. There is a battlescribe dataset maintained by a kind soul on the discord. Since lists in this game are quite simple, I personally use excel for the point calculation and then put together a cheatsheet with all the needed rules.

Game Size

The standard size the game is balanced for is between 1500 and 2000 points. For new players, a good starting game size is 1000 points.

What to Buy

Generally speaking, the new one player starter boxes are a great deal for starting out. They include approximately 1000 points of models and all the tokens, templates, cards, and dice you need to play. If you can split a two player starter, or are interested in both of the factions, the two player starter boxes are also great. Note that the two player starters only include one set of templates.

The large (6 sprue) boxes depend on the included flagship for their starter box potential. If it’s in the 300 point range, it’s generally good to start with, if it’s more than that it tends to be too expensive or not balanced for 1000 point games. The large boxes will usually get you to a 1.5K points list out of the box.

Assembly

Warcradle makes absolutely beautiful models, especially for such a new game. Details are crisp and on par with current GW offerings. Their resin casts so far have been perfect as well, with very little flash and a good fit between pieces. A bit of gap filling has occasionally been necessary.

Assembly instructions are available on their website linked above, under the tab Factions, button Assembly Guides. These are a bit more simplistic than what you might be used to, but they get the point across and Warcradle has been good about correcting them when an issue is found. I often find that the order in which you should assemble subgroups differs from what is shown, so dry fitting is essential.

Most kits assemble well, but there are the occasional issues. Certain sprue gates are placed in areas that need to be flush to get a proper fit, so removing any burrs or mold lines is essential. On certain builds, there are issues with pieces not lining up out of the box, which can be solved with cutting off some of the pegs (The bridge on Scandinavian Cruisers and the backpack on the Imperium Hochmeisters come to mind).

To get the flexibility for some very diverse options out of the same kit, cruisers tend to have very small gluing points for the hull panels. Adding the deck provides stability to the finished model, but this can be a bit of an issue during assembly. Don’t rush and dry fit is always a good idea, but I’ve also found that using your work surface to align pieces can really help. Pre-gluing some sub-assemblies can also help on some builds. The end result is great, but getting there can be a challenge.

Magnetize your weapon options. I tend to use 3x1mm magnets in the turret mount and 2x1mm on the weapon itself. For the weapon, I cut off the mounting peg and glue the magnet to the resulting surface. In the turret mount, it depends on the particular model. Almost all have a 3mm hole, some with a floor that you can just glue the magnet to, others you might need to add one with a bit of sprue first. In some cases, it can be better to sink the weapon magnet and flush mount the turret mount magnet. If you're unsure, asking here or on the discord should get you a workable solution.

Magnetizing between different ship versions is possible in some cases, but I would generally just proxy instead.

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