Dystopian Wars is a Victorian super science-fiction miniature wargame with steampunk elements published and manufactured by Warcradle Studios. It is set in an alternate timeline in 1870. In this world, technological advances have occurred over a century before they would in our timeline, which has had dire consequences for the conduct of warfare as technology is far advanced, and in many cases, unrecognisable.
Dystopian Wars uses a range of resin models in 1:1200 scale.
The original IP for Dystopian Wars was created by Neil Fawcett and Alain Padfield and published by Spartan Games. The original artwork was created by Sally Taylor followed by Robin Carey and the original background - over 250,000 words - was written by writers Neil Fawcett, Franco Sammarco, and Lukasz Furmaniak. The designer behind the first raft of models was Chris Drew and the team was later expanded with Chris Peacey. In total this team of model makers created an array of miniatures in 1/1200th scale covering the ground, air and naval theatres of war.
Following the 1.1 version of the rulebook games designer Derek Sinclair joined the creative team, heralding a surge in the expansion of the game. Later the writing team was expanded with the addition of Josh Le Cheminant. One of the most notable aspects of the game was the way in which the rules attempted to embrace three theatres of war simultaneously.
With the closure of Spartan Games the IP for the game, along with other games such as Firestorm Armada, were put up for sale and were acquired by Warcradle Studios. At this time the company merged its own steampunk game product with that of Dystopian Wars. The game is now being expanded with new rules and models.
Background
In 1845, scientist Barnabas Draynes Sturgeon led an expedition to Antarctica searching for a rumoured treasure trove of technology of unknown origin, either alien or from a lost technologically advanced civilisation. His expedition found it in a location called The Vault. Sturgeon wanted to use this technology to bring about an age of peace and bring about a scientific utopia. Instead he was betrayed by an assistant, Markov. Markov fled to Russia where he sold the technology to other nations, such as Tesla directed energy weapons to the Prussian Empire, and helped modernize the Tsar's armies. Sturgeon founded the Covenant of Antarctica to continue his mission of scientific progress, and to end the terrible war that has been unleashed by the new technologies.
Because of Markov's betrayal and the discoveries of the Vault, the nations now go to war with highly advanced vehicles and weapons. Tanks the size of castles, rockets, airships, submarines and robots all march in this new industrial war. Particle beams and lasers are used as offensive weaponry while nuclear fusion is used to propel tanks, airships, planes, naval vessels, rockets and submarines. The Covenant of Antarctica practices both covert operations and military intervention in the affairs of other nations to ensure that no side develops nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction, but its technologically advance forces are hard pressed to contain the Great Powers. Gravity Nullification Engines allow ships to skim above the surface, and Time Dilation technology permits the teleportation of units across short distances. Burrowing vehicles vie for control of battlegrounds with massive mobile airfields, whilst in the skies above, flying sky fortresses and warships engage in deadly duels for aerial supremacy.
There are some political developments that also preceded comparative events in our own timeline, or else diverged. The earliest point of divergence is that Commonwealth of England industrialised in 1650 under the guidance of Oliver Cromwell, although the monarchy is apparently restored as normal later on, as Queen Victoria rules the Kingdom of Britannia in the Dystopian Wars present. Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France, died in 1804, leading to a collapse of the French Empire into civil war. The Prussian Empire was strong enough at this point to launch an aggressive campaign of expansion, analogous to the Napoleonic Wars, that ended in defeat at the hands of the British Army at Waterloo in 1815. Despite this defeat, where the first landships (massive tanks) were used in battle, the Prussian Empire remained strong and forged a united Germany sooner than occurred in our timeline (including Austria). Italy, whilst not unified, is a similarly powerful League dominated by the 'Tetrarchy of Princes': the Doge of the Republic of Venice, and the Kings of the three Kingdoms, Sardinia, Lombardy and Sicily. The League took advantage of the Prussian expansion and the 1804 collapse of Austria to take back many Italian territories from other European powers. Louis Napoleon (Napoleon III in our time line) was elected president of the Republique of France in 1866, not 1848 as in our timeline.
Japan, as the Empire of the Blazing Sun, broke its geographical isolation earlier than was the case in our world and occupied Korea sooner than 1910, suffering a major defeat but learning in the process. The South won the American Civil War in this timeline, a war fought over mineral wealth not slavery (which had been abolished in 1825), and reconfigured the Union as the Federated States of America in 1864. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is not part of the Tsarist Russian Empire analogue, the Russian Coalition. Egypt overthrew French rule in 1804 and Australia is not a British colony, although India and New Zealand are. The Socialist Union of South America formed as a barrier to the expansionist objectives of the FSA and is communist in ideology. The FSA also took over the Caribbean islands and Central America, but not the Philippines, which implies that the Spanish Empire was far weaker than it was in our own timeline. The Chinese Federation and Ottoman Empire are stronger political entities in this timeline than they were in our world due to effective leadership.Glover. J. & Walpole. A. (2012). Dystopian Wars: Global Warfare in a Victorian Sci-Fi Age. Spartan Games: Somerset.
Gameplay
Dystopian Wars is a Victorian sci-fi game that builds upon the core aspects established by the fantasy naval game, Uncharted Seas, and the space combat game, Firestorm Armada. These systems have been advanced to allow for simultaneous combat in all three traditional theatres of war - naval, armoured and aerial.
A game of Dystopian Wars will usually last approximately two hours, but this will depend on how many players are taking part and the amount of models being utilised. Resin and pewter models from the Dystopian Wars range are used to play the game. The rules accommodate small-scale sorties into enemy territory, border skirmishes, and huge, history-defining battles. The rules can also accommodate for large multiplayer game.
The rules include the optional use of a deck of 52 Game Cards designed to improve overall game play by introducing more tactical options and by injecting some eccentric Victorian atmosphere.
Major Nations
The Great Powers are nations that are currently playable and available to buy for the Dystopian Wars game. They each have a Naval and Armoured Battle Group, and a variety of other units to field.
Kingdom of Britannia
The world's greatest maritime Empire, the Kingdom of Britannia, has firmly ruled the great oceans since the decisive defeat of the Prussian Empire under Heinrich Otto at the beginning of the 19th century.
In the process, Britannian colonists and military forces have come into contact with, and gone to war against, numerous opponents. These have ranged from opportunistic French and Prussian expeditions, to other nations such as the Kingdom of Burma and even dissenting imperial subjects such as the Australian rebels.
Through it all, however, the Kingdom has successfully retained the bulk of its holdings, and even steadily expanded them, especially around the coasts of Africa in concert with its small but dependable ally, the Kingdom of Portugal.
Prussian Empire
Despite its fall from grace under the paranoid and megalomaniacal Emperor Heinrich Otto at the beginning of the century, the Prussian Empire has endured and prospered in the ensuing decades.
Through a combination of economic and military might and pursuit of a shrewd diplomatic strategy, the Prussian Empire has come to dominate Central and Eastern Europe, and even exert considerable influence in the western and southern portions of the continent.
Now under attack from the east and pressured from the west and south, the time has come for the Prussians to throw back their rivals, make their mark upon the world and cement their dominance of Europe for another century. Austria invaded Prussia at the end of the century.
Federated States of America
One of the world's newest great powers, the Federated States of America, has only existed since 1864. Prior to that, North America was dominated by the United States, composed of a combination of old Britannian, French and Spanish territories, and a large portion of what had been Mexico.
However, in the early 1860s, a dispute over the ownership of strategic industrial resources caused a political rift between the United States government and a large number of individual states. This culminated in a bid by the US federal government to use the United States military to enforce this ownership.
Led by Texas and Mississippi, the original targets of the US government's ire thanks to their rich reserves of oil and uranium respectively, the dissenting states seceded from the Union. They formed what was then called the Confederacy.
The two sides went to war in 1860 for dominance over the nation. The Confederacy eventually won out in 1864, thanks to assistance from the Kingdom of Britannia. Nathanial Adams of the New Federalist Party, elected president that year, proclaimed the Federated States of America, and set about the process of turning the nation into a world power.
Empire of the Blazing Sun
At the cutting edge of industrial and scientific research and development, yet steeped in the traditions of a bygone age, the Empire of the Blazing Sun has risen from nowhere to challenge the dominance of the established powers.
Almost an unknown quantity until recently, the Empire of the Blazing Sun came of age in the 1830s when, after a long and gruelling war, it took possession of the Kingdom of Korea. Among other boons gained after the conquest was the secret of poison gas manufacture.
Now, as the 'Little Giant' of the Pacific seeks to expand its influence, it has for the first time encountered the industrial and commercial agencies of the established powers. As much as the Empress wishes to avoid conflict, it appears that the Empire of the Blazing Sun must employ force as well as words to win their arguments.
Covenant of Antarctica
The most enigmatic of the world's great powers was, for a few years, celebrated as a great standard-bearer for scientific and technological progress. Its founder, Lord Barnabas D. Sturgeon, discovered the extraordinary Vault, a vast repository of amazing technology. He was to use the materials and scientific wonders contained within the Vault to found his own country at the foot of the world in 1857.
For a few years thereafter, the Covenant was globally feted, with embassies in every nation, and visiting teachers and lecturers at almost all of the great universities and academies. Sturgeon and his circle of advisors shared the bounty of the Vault, but as with all things that begin perfect, corruption and betrayal soon sets in.
The Covenant even purchased South Georgia Island from Britannia, turning it into a city called The Gateway, as a means for foreigners to visit the new nation. But then, in 1866, the Covenant suddenly enclosed its borders, and Sturgeon, without explanation, halted the flow of knowledge.