Vive la France - Dystopian Wars French

[Naotaka]

Bonjour peeps !

Spartan Games has piqued my interest since they have begun making their naval inspired mini's. Their intrigueing 3d pics previews that turned into models fascinated me. But not enough to paint anything. My friend, who is a fan of everything dystopian, doubly more so when it involves crazy steampunk stuff, managed to convince me. So, a couple of us have been buying forces. My first idea would be to go Prussian Empire but that was already claimed so I was left pondering . . .

And then the French previews came. I waited for months and when Republique of France were finally released I was not dissapointed. I like their looks, the crazy idea of their flying ships and of course I could not resist twisting my moustache and horrifying everyone with my bad French accent. So here we are. I just painted the French Naval Battlegroup to a fast gaming standard. Still need some bases but they were mispacked and I believe Spartan Games are sending new ones.

Republique of France naval battlegroup
1x Magenta Mk II Class Pocket Battleship
3x Marseille Class Cruisers
9x Lyon Class Frigates
2x Voltaire Class Heavy Interceptors
10x Small Flyer Tokens

Magenta Mk II Class Pocket Battleship with Heat Lance


Magenta Mk II Class Pocket Battleship


Marseille Class Cruiser


Lyon Class Frigate


Voltaire Class Heavy Interceptors


Small Flyer Tokens

[cornonthecob]

Nice paintscheme, have you thought about any of the land stuff ?

[Naotaka]

Hmmmm....

I'm not too sure about land based stuff for Dystopian Wars. For now, I won't be buying anything since the naval stuff is just too darn interesting for paint & play. Should I ever do land based stuff, I would paint it the same for a unified feel. I ordered 1 unit each of the rest of the naval models and they have just arrived. After this I will get the rest of the aerial stuff and probably call it a day. Seeing that these ships are generally a tad bigger I think I'll put a fleur-de-lys and french flag on the bow of every ship apart from the really tiny ones like I did with the battleship.

(the buildings I ordered will be used to scatter around the islands I'll build for immersion)

[Satan]

Hey, those are wicked cool! Where are the buildings from?

[Naotaka]

Those buildings are produced by Spartan Games. I ordered them from Maelstrom. This is "town". There are also military garrison, weapons platform, industrial dockyard, airfield. You can find them under "hobby" for the general stuff. Every faction also has a faction specific bunker complex and towers set.

I'm very impressed how complete a service Spartan Games are delivering. Because of that I'm actually a little surprised they didnt make any islands really

[Naotaka]

I was painting with my friend Wooster yesterday evening. I was working on my Orks and he was busy painting the Prussians. Intrigued I asked if I could paint one and he agreed. Some frantic brushing later I present you with the result. I went for a greyish green, but unfortunately did not have German Fieldgray (830) paint at hand.

I hope this is now out of my system, I don't need two fleets . Even though many of their models are absolutely awesome and they have the BEST zeppelins !

[Wooster]

to be honest: I was not really painting but more kind of struggling with my Prussians. I am not a speedpainter but thanks to Naotaka I got a good impression of one. Now its my turn to follow in his footsteps and tonight I progressed up to drybrushing. Anyway, thanks Naotaka!

[OnnO]

Rubbish, all of it!

NAh, just kidding mate, brilliant work
My Japanese will follow soon, yours is inspiring work!

[Naotaka]

Just agreed on my first game of Dystopian Wars ! We both read the rules and I wonder how many mistakes we will make :P

It will be ze arrogant French vs ze Proud Zjermans !

[Steam_Giant]

If I didn't have FSA and EotBS on my plate I would definitely paint some french... and russian too

Nice paint scheme.

[Naotaka]

I just played my first game of Dystopian Wars. We enjoyed the game tremendously. How interesting ! I am looking forward to re-reading the rules and planning the next battle. Listed below some pics of our engagement. I think it looks cool !

[Naotaka]

We agreed on a new game of Dystopian Wars for next Wednesday. The three of us will have some fun ! I stuck together the rest of the fleet and hope to finish a couple of extra ships to show to the boys.

[Satan]

Awesome! Looks mightily impressive with those fleets lined up against one another, but didn't you guys use any terrain?

I was wondering if it'd be possible to get a recipe for your prussian ship? I was going to start painting mine on sunday but haven't decided if I'm going more gray-ish or prussian blue yet, so I'd love to know what colours you used for the french as well.

[Naotaka]

Hey bud. Thanks for your post. This should be just in time for your Sunday painting. I had to paint a ship to record the recipe . We did not use terrain since we are just learning the rules. Since 70% of the world is covered in water it's not really a big problem, we figured it was an open sea engagement. When our fleets are basically done we will get together with a wire cutter, some thin polystyrene, some detailing for model train terrain and make a bunch of islands, a couple of coastlines and a peninsula or two.

German Ships
step 1. Undercoat: spray Chaos Black
step 2. Basic metal: Warplock Bronze (Tin Bitz) basecoat, drybrush with Leadbelcher (Boltgun Metal)
step 3. Detail metal: Wetbrush with Hashut Copper (Dwarf Bronze)
step 4. Paint decks Mournfang Brown (Bestial Brown), leaving black lining in between planks
step 5. Wetbrush decks with Bestial Brown with Skull White mixed in for a highlight.
step 6. Paint hull with German Green (Vallejo color).
Step 7. Highlight hull with German Green with Skull White mixed in
step 8. Dab inside windows with Zamesi Desert (Bubonic Brown)
step 9. Finishing touches: ink the whole model with Agrax Eeathsade (Devlan Mud)

French Ships
step 1. Undercoat: spray Chaos Black
step 2. Basic metal: Warplock Bronze (Tin Bitz) basecoat, drybrush with Leadbelcher (Boltgun Metal)
step 3. Detail metal: Wetbrush with Hashut Copper (Dwarf Bronze)
step 4. Paint decks Zamesi Desert (Bubonic Brown), leaving black lining in between planks
step 5. Wetbrush decks Ushabti Bone (Bleached Bone) for a highlight.
step 6. Paint hull with Kantor Blue (Regal Blue).
Step 7. Highlight hull with Kantor Blue (Regal Blue) with Skull White mixed in
step 8. Dab inside windows with Moot Green (Scorpion Green)
step 9. Finishing touches: ink the whole model with Agrax Earthsade (Devlan Mud)

I am painting a lot of ships at the same time now. I think this means the fleet will be three times as big when it finishes. When that is done, all I need is the big airship, some flyers and a couple of more Submarines for good measure. I guess the only things I won't have are the ground troops and the zepellins since I don't really like the French zeppelins.

[Naotaka]

Get ready for more pics after tonite. My friend is bringing his Japanese. I wonder if we will make less mistakes :P

[Naotaka]

We played a three way game this time around. It was a slow game again but mostly because we are taking the time to learn the rules and understand what is going on. My friend OnnO brought his freshly painted Japanese Fleet and good times were had. We also played the BioShock sound track for much fitting old tunes it was very interesting to see how different that Japanese fleet played compared to Germans and French.

I have nearly finished the rest I bought and now the last order for the French is away leaving me with a fleet that will take a full day to play a game with.
My other friend ordered Russians that I'll be painting for him so watch this space.

Sorry the pics are bad but night time photo's really don't work out well with miniatures.

[Satan]

Those Blazing Sun ships look great! Really great use of spot colours.

[OnnO]

@Satan; thanks!
I was rather happily surprised to find these models easy to paint quickly with enough details to make them stand out. This lot took me approximately 10-12 hours from unpacking to varnishing.
I had a blast painting these and when my submarine is finished I will definetly order some more ships and planes, if only for the joy of painting these.

[Satan]

I'd say 10-12 hours is pretty fast! Though I'm somewhat slower it still feels like my Prussians are coming along fast...

[Naotaka]

I have got some nice progress to show you. I have painted my second batch of French. Now all that is left are 4 more submarines, 3 interceptors and 1 sky fortress that is in the mail.

I am enjoying this project quite a bit. The models are great, the painting is easy and the game is just very interesting.

Chevalier Class Destroyers


Ecuyer Class Support Cruisers


Magenta Mk1 Class Pocket Battleship


Toulon Class Armoured Cruiser


Couronne Class Battle Carrier


Epaulard Submarines