We’re continuing as we mean to go on this year with even more exciting new pre-orders for Dystopian Wars and Warcradle Scenics. Are you ready for the legend to come to life?

The waters of the Dystopian Age grow dark, but not with evil. Instead, a shadow is cast across the waves as the mighty Avalon soars past, followed closely by the rest of its Battlefleet. The Union and Alliance are also set to make a splash as the Columbia Battlefleet Set, a dual-faction Battlefleet, offers players of either faction a mighty vessel to return to the seas time and time again.

Cannons at the ready, or should that be ‘cannon’, as the Rikhter Battlefleet Set brings all the firepower the Commonwealth could need to pulverise their foes in one large weapon. The only way to escape such devastation and enact a counterattack would be through teleportation. It seems the Sultanate are in luck as the Topkapi Battlefleet Set brings with it the ability to travel through portals to avoid and launch precise attacks.

Following the introduction of the Faction Battlefleet Starter Sets last month, the remaining four sets are coming to provide the perfect way to start a force of any faction you’re interested in. Packed with reliable units and never seen before new additions, the Enlightened, Commonwealth, Imperium and Crown Faction Battlefleet Start Sets are coming soon.

The Buckhorn Ranch Set also becomes available to pre-order as separate terrain kits this month, offering even more customisation to your wargaming tables set around a cattle-rustling conflict and more!

Due to be released at the end of February 2023.

Dystopian Wars

Hold onto your proverbial horses, as this month is massive when it comes to Dystopian Wars releases. There are four new battlefleet sets: The Avalon, Columbia, Rikhter and Topkapi and four new starter sets that are perfect for those of you who shared half your starter set with a friend but secretly wanted to start a fleet with both sides!

Avalon Battlefleet Set

Suspended on galvanic rotors, these Sky Fortresses are only made possible by the engineers at Bletchley and the wootz-steel Sturginium alloys used in their construction. Her Majesty’s amusement was shown when the Avalon-class, the Victoria, flew over Horse Guards Parade, causing the cavalry to rear up and dislodge their riders into the rain-soaked ground.

Able to fly anywhere and deploy the Defiant fighters at a moment’s notice, this mighty aerial leviathan is usually deployed with additional air and sea support. This has been seen especially around the recent conflict in Canada against the Imperium where crews of the Canadian ships have become well-versed in fighting with air support.

However, no command ship is an island and the Avalon is usually deployed with additional air and sea support. This has been seen especially around the recent conflict in Canada against the Imperium where crews of the Canadian ships have become well-versed in fighting with air support. 

While the Frontline Squadrons of the Crown Navy are used to going toe-to-toe with enemy fleets, the Support Squadrons serve a range of unique roles to aid and assist the fleet as a whole to complete their missions. 

The Hotspur Support Carriers add additional fighter Support. It is common for Hotspur captains to drive their ships at full speed towards the enemy, hoping that their large engines give their Defiant strike fighters an optimal launch position. 

The Agincourt Bombardment Cruisers are armed with the dreaded Taranis Naval Mortar, capable of hurling all manner of projectiles up to a range of over fifteen miles.

The Athelstan Flak cruiser provides a screen of anti-aircraft fire to ensure that the Defiant Squadrons hit their targets and to defend the decks of the Crown vessels. A Squadron of Athelstan's was used on the Thames to celebrate the Queen's Pearl Jubilee, firing magnesium pyrotechnics above the city to mark the occasion.

The Excalibur Heavy Destroyers are also typically found with the Victory class or other capital ships. Their role is to deter smaller attack vessels from swarming the immense Carrier as well as other large command vessels.

Built around Hawley & Barley’s devastating Vengeance Keel Saw, the Morgana class have served the Crown magnificently. Patrolling the deep waters that surround their Dominions, the Morgana Assault Submarines have sent over a million tons of enemy shipping to the deep. 

Tough and reliable airships, the Prydain has served the Crown for two decades, replacing the Glaisher class war balloons after the debacle during the Rout at Mboto Gorge. Despite their age the Prydain still prove to be more than a match for the latest aeronautic vessels of the other Great Powers.

Reliable workhorses of the Crown’s arial ambitions, squadrons of Tintagels patrol every corner of the globe. Bow mounted detectors reveal enemy submersibles to allies and embarked troops are ready to drop in and storm enemy fortifications. 

Nimble and courageous, the crews of Saxon Scout Rotors are known as the Sixty-Minuters for their rapid response and plucky attitude to death. 

This box contains:

• 1 x Avalon Skyfortress

• 2 x Agincourt Cruisers (Each Cruiser can alternatively be built as either Athelstan or Hotspur Class)

• 4 x Excalibur Heavy Destroyers

• 2 x Morgana Submarines

• 2 x SRS Tokens

• 2 x Prydain War Rotor

• 2 x Tintagel Battle Rotor

• 4 x Saxon Scout Rotor

Columbia Battlefleet Set

At the close of the Ore War, Confederate President Davis commanded his forces to stand down. Though General Robert Lee carried out this order, Fleet Admiral Elizabeth Buchanan refused and withdrew her battlefleets southwards to find a safe haven in the Socialist Unity of South America.

For the vessels of the Union fleet, while they had served well during the civil war, the fleet was in need of modernising and expanding if the nation was to fulfil its Manifest Destiny as the preeminent Great Power of the Dystopian Age. Newer designs became more common and began to take on frontline roles such as the Constitution, Yorktown and Farragut classes.

The Columbia class was the most powerful vessel found in both the Union and Confederate navies during the Ore War. 12 of these vessels were maintained by each side in the conflict though their rugged design allowed several of these prized vessels to be returned to service after sustaining catastrophic damage.

Occasionally this saw Columbia class ships returned to battle in service to the opposing navy. After the CSS Merrimack was sunk by the USS Monitor in the closing stages of the civil war, she was repaired and recommissioned as the Union vessel USS Virginia. That ship, like all Columbia class vessels, was recategorised as a Heavy Battleship, post-war.

Gettysburg heavy monitors underwent a modernisation programme and had their electrical systems updated to be able to take generators and newer weaponry. The rugged design of these ships along with their lengthy battle honours made them highly desirable postings.

Saratoga class vessels were reclassified as litoral cruisers in the new fleet. Their rear landing pads in particular were updated to allow the use of the latest iteration of the Talon Multi-Mission autogyro. The early marks of these Pitcairn-Cierva manufactured aircraft had been crucial to both sides in the Ore War deploying terminators and pacifier units to assault the decks of enemy vessels or storm fortifications.

With hundreds of Providence class landing ships in various stages of manufacture across the Union, the hulls were refitted as Sumter class assault ships. Designed to rapidly move troops and armour to key strike points, the Sumter also made use of the trusty Talon autogyros.

The remaining Providence ships were reclassified as merchantmen and tasked with accessing difficult logistics and supply routes. Essential work for a young expanding nation with the world arrayed against them.

The Confederate navy did not fall into despair and disrepair, however, despite the predictions of the Union's analysts. Instead, Admiral Buchanan accepted a seat on the council of the Latin Alliance and put her considerable fleet and experienced crews at the disposal of the Socialist Unity of South America (SUSA). 

The Confederates found surprising common ground with their new compatriots with their refusal to yield to the aggressions of the Union, The fleet was modernised with the best engineering and weaponry available to the Alliance. Within a few years of the Ore War, while the vessels appeared superficially to resemble their Union counterparts, their internal systems and armaments were distinctly a product of their new allegiance to the Alliance.

While SUSA lacks most of the engineering marvels that are becoming commonplace in the north, the Union's continuous martial footing that it has maintained since the end of the war has caused a small but constant flow of disenfranchised or disaffected military personnel and their families to flee southwards. In SUSA they find former brothers and sisters proudly defending the seas of the South-Western Atlantic, swelling the crews with new blood and ideas.

It is no surprise that within twelve months of the Providence and Sumter class refits in the Union that similarly renovated vessels were in service to SUSA. Even the Mark II Talon autogyros from the Ore War have slowly been replaced by locally manufactured variants that are the equal of the Mark VI in use today by the Union.

This box contains:

• 1x Columbia Heavy Battleship (can alternatively be built as USS Virginia or Monitor Class)

• 2x Ore War Cruisers (Each Cruiser can alternatively be built as either Gettysburg, Providence, Saratoga or Sumter Class)

• 4x Springfield Corvette

• 4x Escort

• 2x Talon Tokens

Rikhter Battlefleet Set

Mounting the largest naval cannon in the world, the Rikhter class relies on kinetic dampers to absorb the massive recoil from the weapon. A void engine is used to translocate the colossal atomic munitions from a fortified stronghold deep in Siberia. The shockwave alone will utterly pulverise any crewmember foolish enough to be on deck when fired. 

With enviable state rooms and extensive supply facilities, the Prezidium is a vital command ship. With these well-armed vessels as flagships, the Admiralty of the White Navy can conduct operations anywhere in the globe with the surety that they are well resourced.

Pride of the White navy, the Moskva class Heavy Battleships are a potent combination of heavy firepower and crews that exalt the finest traditions of the Commonwealth.

The iconic ship of the White Navy, the Kutsov is on the recruitment posters throughout the Commonwealth. For many sailors, their first posting is to a Kutsov where the cramped confines and deafening roar of the guns make the glamorous poster image a bitter irony.

Powerful and dependable, Norilsk class Heavy Cruisers have been present at almost every major victory for the Commonwealth since they first entered service over two decades ago. 

The Commonwealth are famed for refusing to give ground once it has been taken in the name of the Tsar. Oleg class Monitors are ideally suited to this mentality, offering unglamorous but determined resistance that deters all but the most persistent of foes. 

Sacrificing armour for speed, the Sineus enables the Commonwealth to respond quickly to rapidly changing situations. A squadron of Sineus still carry enough firepower to break through blockades or disrupt supply lines if necessary. 

The influence of Admiral Andrei Popov’s design philosophy can be seen in the wide body of the Rurik frigates. This broader beam allows for a shallower draught enabling squadrons to unexpectedly come inland by using rivers and other waterways.

Utilising the repulsion field generator obtained by Helsinki Markov in 1856, the Irkutsk Skydrill is often heard approaching, long before it is seen. The buzz of the overcharged field generators and the roar of the Semyenov assault bore spinning up to full speed makes of a terrifying cacophony.

The Selivanenko pattern Aural Dissonance Array (known more commonly as a Shockwave Generator), is a standard weapon on the Giyena. This armoured hovercraft moves rapidly across uneven landscapes, marshland and the open sea to bring this potent device to bear.

This box contains:

• 1x Dreadnought (can alternatively be built as either Rikhter, Moskva or Prezidium Class)

• 2x Cruisers (Each Cruiser can alternatively be built as either Kutsov, Norilsk, Oleg or Sineus Class)

• 4x Rurik Class Frigates

• 2x Skydrills (Each Skydrill can alternatively be built as either Tunguska, Irkutsk or Saransk Class)

• 2x Hovercraft (Each Skycruiser can alternatively be built as either Yak or Giyena Class)

• 4x Nikel Escorts

Topkapi Battlefleet Set

The twin-hulled Topkapi carrier provides an excellent platform for Sultanate Commodores to operate from and deploy air cover for their forces. Topkapi crews train to provide a dramatic tactical choice for Commodores with their Sabiha fighters using portals to cover vast distances and strike.

Referred to by the Sublime Porte as a Supremacy Cruiser, the Nemrut is in essence a heavy bombardment vessel built on a catamaran hull. Its Flechette Launchers, Torpedoes and Rocket salvos make it an optimum vessel for conducting operations at range. Turkish naval tactics see these rare vessels deployed sparingly where their firepower can best achieve victory.

This Box Contains:

• 1x Topkapi Class Battleship (can also be built as a Nemrut Class)

• 2x Portals

• 4x Ferik Escort Tokens

• 2x SRS Tokens

Faction Battlefleet Starter Sets

More Faction Battlefleets are on their way this month, adding to the four from last month to create an option for any faction you wish to start. These boxes contain all you could need to start a new fleet, offering an excellent way for new and existing players who are drawn to a specific faction a way to get started. If the Crown, Imperium, Commonwealth or Enlightened have piqued your interest, these Starter Set fleets are for you.

Crown Starter Set -  Faction Battlefleet

Find strength in the men and women of the Albion; those who have seen the rise and fall of the Crown through traitorous plots, tyrants and petty Kings. Led into battle by the Britannia, take back the world in the name of the Queen

This Box Contains:

• 1x Britannia Battleship

• 2x Frontline Cruisers (Each Cruiser can alternatively be built as either Albion, Lancelot, Picton, Bedivere or Sabre Class)

• 4x Caliburn Frigates

• 2x Support Cruisers (Each Cruiser can alternatively be built as either Agincourt, Athelstan or Hotspur Class)

• 4x Excalibur Heavy Destroyers

• 2x Morgana Submarines

• 2x SRS Tokens

• 1x Rulebook

• 1x Victory and Valour Deck

• 20x Action Dice

• 6x Critical Dice

• 1x DA Token Sheet

• 1x DA Template

Imperium Starter Set -  Faction Battlefleet

Become a part of the mighty colossus of central Europe, the Imperium, and go not shrinking into the darkness. Instead, enforce your rule in blood and iron with battleships and brute strength.

This Box Contains:

• 1x Battleship (can be built as either an Elector, Heidelberg, or Kaiser Class or the SMS Brandenberg, SMS Holtzendorf or SMS Tirpitz)

• 2x Frontline Cruisers (Each Cruiser can alternatively be built as either Augustus, Schaumburg or Blucher Class)

• 4x Arminus Class Frigates

• 2x Support Cruisers (Each Cruiser can alternatively be built as either Reiter, Volsung or Konrad Class)

• 4x Destroyers (Each Destroyer can alternatively be built as either Sigimer or Toten Class)

• 2x Blitzen Bomber special Tokens

• 2x SRS Tokens

• 1x Rulebook

• 1x Victory and Valour Deck

• 20x Action Dice

• 6x Critical Dice

• 1x DA Token Sheet

• 1x DA Template

Commonwealth Starter Set -  Faction Battlefleet

Stand as a beacon of hope for the oppressed and victims of failed conquest, a new democracy spanning from the centres of Poland-Lithuania to Siberia, the Commonwealth! Prove your loyalty to the Tzar with the Borodino and it’s fleet and showcase to the world the perseverance of man.

This Box Contains:

• 1x Borodino Class Battleship

• 2x Cruisers (Each Cruiser can alternatively be built as either Kutsov, Norilsk, Oleg or Sineus Class)

• 4x Rurik Class Frigates

• 2x Skydrills (Each Skydrill can alternatively be built as either Tunguska, Irkutsk or Saransk Class)

• 2x Hovercraft (Each Skycruiser can alternatively be built as either Yak or Giyena Class)

• 4x Escorts

• 1x Rulebook

• 1x Victory and Valour Deck

• 20x Action Dice

• 6x Critical Dice

• 1x DA Token Sheet

• 1x DA Template

Enlightened Starter Set - Faction Battlefleet

Serving the goal of chasing the pursuit of scientific advancement, take control of the many marvels Enlightened fleets have to offer and demonstrate your technological superiority to the world! Deploy the Descartes and a range of submarines and machines to tear your opponent asunder.

This Box Contains:

• 1x Descartes Class Battleship

• 2x Support Cruisers (Each Cruiser can alternatively be built as either Plinius, Tacitus, Quintilian or Claudius Class)

• 2x Submarines (Each Submarine can alternatively be built as either Praxilla or Diogenes Class)

• 2x SRS Tokens

• 2x Physeter Tokens

• 2x Advanced Cruisers (Each Cruiser can alternatively be built as either Newton, Origen, Vesalius or Zumeena Class)

• 2x Assault Machines (Each Machine can alternatively be built as either Ketos or Lotan Class)

• 2x Enlightened Escorts

• 2x Orca Tokens

• 1x Rulebook

• 1x Victory and Valour Deck

• 20x Action Dice

• 6x Critical Dice

• 1x DA Token Sheet

• 1x DA Template

Warcradle Scenics

Fortify the frontier this month and protect your land from wannabe cattle rustlers and outlaws as the Buckhorn Ranch Set becomes available to pre-order as individual terrain kits for even more customisation potential.

Buckhorn Ranch Farmstead

Buckhorn Ranch is a typical example of life on the frontier. It's changed hands many times over the years, occasionally sold by a family who've grown too old to look after the place but more often through nefarious means. The Farmstead on Buckhorn Ranch is a comfortable home for a family as well being the place where folks gather after a long day of work.

This box contains:

• 1 x Buckhorn Ranch Farmstead

Buckhorn Ranch Barn

Part of Buckhorn Ranch, the well kept Barn houses all the hay needed to supplement any cattle feed as well as being somewhere they can calve.

This box contains:

• 1 x Buckhorn Ranch Barn

Buckhorn Ranch Scatter

Scattered around the ranch there’s a hen house to keep the workers in fresh eggs, a well and water tower to keep them watered and the one piece of engineering, a tractor for any big jobs.

This box contains:

• 1 x Buckhorn Ranch Scatter

Buckhorn Ranch Stables

All this work needs cowboys and cowboys need horses, that’s where the Stables come in.

This box contains:

• 1 x Buckhorn Ranch Stables

Buckhorn Ranch Silo

The great Silo can hold enough grain to help keep a herd of cattle fed through the winter months.

This box contains:

• 1 x Buckhorn Ranch Silo

Buckhorn Ranch Lodge

The Lodge is usually reserved for trusted workers to stay while they’re working the ranch. It’s often the last chance for them to rest in an honest to goodness bed before they hit the cattle trail. 

This box contains:

• 1 x Buckhorn Ranch Lodge

February looks to be another massive month, with those four new Battlefleet Sets, four new Faction Battlefleet Starter sets and individual Buckhorn Ranch terrain kits! What are you looking forward to the most? These pre-orders will go live on the 27th of January 2023 at your FLGS or Wayland Games Online.

Keep up to date with all the latest news and releases on the Warcradle Studios Blog and socials, including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.