Friday 31 October 2014

Dystopian Wars Battle Report - Russian Coalition vs Prussian Empire




My Russian Coalition fleet gained very little experience during the first months of Dystopian Wars 2.0, as I fought my early battles and the Belgian Championship with my RoF fleet. 

Recently, my French-Japanese alliance was recently defeated by Ureel's very same Prussian fleet that is featured in this Battle Report. Would the Anglo-Russian fleet be more successful than their Imperial Bond counterparts?

The opening moves of the battle. Only the right flank has seen casualties. The Khatanga moves up and forms a little icy screen. 

Prussian Empire:

Blücher dreadnought
Sturmbringer large submarine
Emperor battleship
1 Köningsberg with attached Donnerfaust
1x5 Saxony corvettes
1x4 Arminius frigates

Russian Coalition

Khatanga heavy battleship
Borodino battleship
3x Suvorov cruisers
3x Myskin bombers
2x4 Novgorod Frigates
(allied KoB)
Eagle class large flyer
5 Merlin Interceptors

With three heavies, the Russian Coalition carries quite some weight in big ships, but the Prussian Empire is even more top heavy with a Blücher Class dreadnought. A week ago, this fleet was quite effective against my EotBS + RoF fleet, which failed to make a fist against the big ships.

This time, a small aerial group of the Kingdom of Britannia will partner my Russians. The Eagle looks reasonably attractive on paper with rugged construction and two piercing turrets. But it also brings things the Russians lack. Some quality (elite!) marines and a long-range guardian generator that my two biggies will love to mimic.

Will this sum be greater than its parts, or are more Russians a better idea? 

During fleet orders, I draw "commodores discretion", and obviously I go for "break their backs". With a mere 11 hull points divided among two ships, mediums form the weak link in the Prussian chain today.


First turns

In an attempt to mask my true intentions (killing the mediums), I decided to go for the smalls on the right flank as my opening move. My Merlin interceptors had nothing to intercept anyway, so I send them on a corvette hunting mission. From obscured, they failed to hurt a single ship. The Arminius and Saxony's fired back at the Merlins. By the end of turn 2, the last of the interceptors was boarded. Their large Britannian brother faired even worse. It was destroyed at the start of the second turn.  

The Khatanga used the indiscrimate attack from its mortars to great effect on the Arminius, killing two. The turn after, the attack on the Prussian Mediums was even more effective. A critical on both the Donnerfaust and the Köningsberg.

Capturing the submarine paves the way for a Russian victory

Turn three. Having been manoeuvred into position the two turns before, my Myshkin bombers went for glory. They succeeded with quite a margin in capturing the Sturmbringer while it was still on the surface. The accompanying bomber raid was less successful. The prized sub gave the necessary victory points for the win, but I still had to take down the two Prussian medium vessels. The Borodino unsuprisingly succeeded in scoring two critical hits on the ships, sinking them.

A big melee in the centre resulting in a draw

The battle in the centre had meanwhile evolved into a melee. The Suvorov squadron and the Emperor exhausted each other, the Russian Novgorod left their shelter and joined the battle. Eventually, Prussian destroyers concentrated on the Prussian fleet order: destroy all smalls. A combination of shooting, boarding and long range firing from the Blücher sank all my round frigates.

Prussia and Russian coalition both held their objective firmly by this time. Even some salvaging wouldn't alter the tally. The battle ended in turn 3, with a draw.




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