Lessons Learned

  I was invited to a full 1100 point battle against the Blazing Suns fleet and it took place last week. My fleet included 1 battleship, 3 cruisers, 9 frigates, 5 destroyers, 6 corvettes 5 fighters, 5 torpedo bombers, and 5 Dorncaster medium bombers.
  The Blazin' Suns fleet included a pair of battleships, 6 cruisers, 9 frigates, the flying aircraft carrier 2 meduim bombers and a total of 16 tiny fliers.
  The strength of the Blazing Suns ships and weaponry is in driving in close and opening up from all angles. Rockets, broadsides and torpedoes that are effective in close.
  The Britannia torpedo design is an issue that they are worthless in minimum range. That is the key to Blazing Sun battle plan, drive in close and eliminate the majority of the Brit weapons. The Brit fleet MUST be kept over 8 inches from target ships.   The destroyers can unleash a damaging volley of torpedoes, but they tend to be a bit fragile. Hit & run must be employed to ensure that these are able to unleash more than one attack.   The results of the the battle was that half of the battle line was wrecked, and only two Blazing Suns frigates were out of action.  Much is to be digested before this fleet goes into action once again......And I have to finish my pair of aircraft carriers




.

Release Schedule and ship building

  The release schedule for the remaining models is available on the Spartan Games website or in the forum.  The larger medium sized fliers are supposed to be out this month or April.  Beyond that it is up in the air.  With each of the fleet listings in the book, there are several class ships that exist, stat-wise, but there are no models or even drawings of the projected models.  I have decided to engage in a little design speculation and construct a few of the smaller vessels for my own use. 

  Starting with the Corvette stats, all the ship is armed with is a forward turret.  It is also a bit faster than the Frigate. So I decided to use frigates, carve off the aft turret and the port & stbd torpedo tubes and remove the aft stack, but retain the second boiler.  My logic is that the lighter weight and 2nd boiler adds speed without altering the structure of a frigate that much.

  Second I reviewed the Destroyer stats.  Again, the aft turret is missing from the stats lines, but forward firing torpedoes are present.  I wanted to emulate the US 4 stacker destroyer design.  (the ones from that Lend- Lease deal in real Earth history) and began by splitting 2 frigates, 1 aft of the second stack, the other forward of the first and then pinning & gluing them together.  The prototype was just too long, so I removed 1 pair (stack & boiler) and reassembled. Removed the aft turret and side torpedo tubes.  The result is a 3 stacker.  I made indentations for the forward firing torpedo tubes and added this design to my inventory. 

   

  My next design is still on paper, but it is for the Escorts.  All they add is the AA value to the capital ship they are escorting, so I was figuring on using the frigate hull once again.  Following the corvette design of a single stack / boiler arrangement & removing BOTH turrets.  I then will fill in the depression between the boiler and the poop deck.  I have to configure AA mounts, but they will occupy the new flush deck from the boiler to the stern.  Prototype has yet to be completed.

 Photos and drawings will follow.

   That is it from the Irish Navy, Design Division.

The Launch

  Well, now. St. Patrick's Day seems like a perfect day to launch The Irish Navy blog. This will be a blog that  chronicles my Dystopian Wars deeds, exploits, and thoughts about the game and the world (in game terms) in general.  The game is a mix of actual human history mixed with a heavy dose of Steam Punk fiction.  The game itself has a very rich back story, including the discoveries in Antartica, that has led to the timelines radical departure for actual earth history. 
  Spartan Games is the company that has publishes Dystopian War.  It is their third game with basically the same game engine.  Firestorm Armada (space battles) and Uncharted Seas (fantasy age of sail and a little Dwarf steam) are the other offerings.  I have a Dwarf Fleet that may get discussed and shown here in the future.  I am most enchanted with the third. 
  The story line for the Brit have them invading Ireland and conquering it.  I just don't feel it happened in that simple a manner.  Since the timeline and history has taken such a radical shift, I am giving it my own twist.  In simple terms, the Brits DID attempt an invasion, but it didn't work quite as well as it might and that is where the press came into play.  Being controlled by the crown, the press was excluded war zone and was "fed" what they could publish.  The British forces remained on the Emerald Isle for quite some time, but by the time everything filtered out, the forces had departed.  Claims of victories on land and in the waters off Ireland were all too brief.  The truth will unfold later, but suffice to say, there is a rather large fleet, patrolling the waters off Ireland that have emerald green hulls, bear the names such as the Galway, the Donnegal and the Michael Collins. Now, does that sound like there was a capitulation?  I think not.  Truth be told, a secret series of negotiations occured that "allowed" the Crown to claim victory, but it established Ireland as an ally under self rule.  
  More tales of the fighting are sure to roll out of the pubs and taverns across Erin and will be faithfully reported here.