Strap in for takeoff this month; you won’t want to miss the latest pre-orders coming to Dystopian Wars, Wild West Exodus and Warcradle Scenics!

Following the launch of the Oriflamme for Dystopian Wars, the Latin Alliance embark on an aerial assault with the release of the Magenta Battlefleet Set. Meanwhile, the Sultanate are deploying a more grounded reinforcement plan this month with the Sultanate Support Squadrons to back up any Sultanate navy.

Grizzled by the Ore War and impelled by hatred, the Quantrill’s Raiders Posse rides into Wild West Exodus to enact violence against the Union first and take names afterwards.

In the depths of the Bayou sits the Black Lake Manor, a once luxurious estate that has laid dormant for many years now. Bring life, or death, back to the manor and bring your battles to the bayou with the Black Lake Bayou Set from Warcradle Scenics.

Due to be released at the end of July.

Dystopian Wars

A whole new dimension of combat opens up this month as the Magenta hovers high above its opponents to cause trouble for those below.

The Sultanate, seeing the need to rally their forces, calls for more reinforcements this month with the Sultanate Support Squadrons.

Magenta Battlefleet Set

Named after the Alliance victory against the Imperium in 1859, the Magenta class is the pride of Napoleon’s levant fleet.

These powerful battlecruisers are capable of hovering a hundred metres or more above the sea bringing their powerful heat lances or other weapons to bear.

The Saint-Michel Levant Assault Carrier is often the centrepiece of a Levant focussed battlefleet. Flight crews of the fighter craft that launch from Saint-Michel are often known as ‘Anges de la Mort’ as a matter of pride. The agility of the skimming Levant Carrier allows it to surge to great heights then descend upon the enemy as scores of ‘angels’ unleash the wrath of President Louis-Napoleon.

The mainstay of the Levant style of ships is the Chasseur Levant Strike Cruiser. Their ability to soar above their enemies if need be makes them hard to precinct as does their various ways of being outfitted. Gun batteries, heat lances or force multiplying generators; even seeing a Chasseur on the horizon makes no guarantee what you might actually be facing in battle.

No captain wants to see an enemy craft soaring above them but the Furieux Levant Grand Corvette make ones blood freeze in terror. That could be the last time the crew feels cold as the Furieux releases deadly thermal cluster bombs. Even the bravest crews know to be rightfully scared if they spot a Furieux rising into the air ahead of them.

As fighter pilots rise in the ranks they may be promoted to become flight crew on a Voliere Levant Support Carrier. The launch catapults put greater strain on pilots and landing on a Levant that could be at almost any height takes incredible skill.

Despite this, pilots elevated to this level are often competing with each other to gain more confirmed kills so they can be promoted once again to become the Angels of Death aboard a Saint-Michel Assault Carrier

Part of Napoleon’s modernisation of the French navy, the Sirene is a powerful attack vessel able to close undetected until it surfaces with its deadly heat Lancette in range to do maximum damage to the enemy.

The tactical counterpart to the Sirene class, the Epaulard, uses its secretive deployment to surface at a distance and employ its magnetic bombard to deadly effect.

This box contains:

• 1x Battlecruiser (can be built as either a Magenta or a Saint-Michel Class ship)

• 2x Levant Cruiser (can be built as either a Chasseur, Furieux or Voliere Class ship)

• 2x Epaulard Artillery Submarine

• 2x SRS Token

Sultanate Support Squadrons

The flight crew of Constantinople Carriers are rightly proud of their assignment. It is said that "the blood of a wingman is thicker than the water of the womb" and that is certainly the case for these pilots.

These aerial combatants are like a close-knit family as they know they can only rely on each other once the fighting starts and they don’t let outsiders forget it.

The Mihrimah Flechette Cruiser is armed with a weapon unique to the Sultanate. It can unleash a torrent of Orichalcite Flechettes from its bombards at a target. These light and razor-thin fragments are so sharp they can puncture steel hulls at close quarters, though air resistance prevents them from being effective at longer ranges.

While they can certainly cause damage to cruisers, they are deadly against squadrons of smaller ships. A cloud of flechettes can easily envelop multiple vessels and shred through steel and flesh alike.

While the Ferik escort skiffs of the Sultanate are ubiquitous in their battlefleets, they need frequent maintenance to keep their repulsion engines in working order; that's where the Konya comes in.

A bay at the fore of the ship allows a skiff to be loaded in and repairs to be made. Though a commodore knows that a Konya lacks firepower, they never regret having one close by.

An Aydin Supply Cruiser is a welcome sight to other crews. Knowing they won’t run out of vital necessities at a moment's notice is a huge boost for morale and for this reason alone they are constantly on the move, heading from fleet to fleet, only heading ashore to resupply themselves.

Morea Minelayers have become more common as tensions escalate. Sultanate commanders understand that they must keep their holdings around the world at any cost while Order advisors push the fact that anything to advance the greater good is necessary. While the merchant navy of the Sultanate might dislike the sea being mined, they are slowly being fed stories that prove how vital they can be.

This box contains:

• 2x Support Cruisers (can be built as either a Constantinople, Mihrimah, Konya, Aydin  or Morea Class ship)

• 4x Escort Skiff

• 2x SRS Token

Wild West Exodus

Rage boils over in the Wild West this month as the Quantrill’s Raiders Posse are back to fight for the Outlaws in the name of the Confederacy, but this time it’s personal.

Quantrill’s Raiders Posse

To think that William Quantrill was once a teacher is almost impossible to believe. The man driven by hatred and violence is now spoken about only in hushed tones, often by the weeping widows he leaves in his wake.

To him, the Ore War never ceased and he will only be at peace when the yankee blue-bellies are purged from this land in flame and death. At least that’s what he tells people who are brave enough to ask.

There is a darker truth behind his eyes. Even before he was critically wounded in a Union ambush, he was known for the massacre of men and boys. He simply enjoys causing pain and terror to any who stand in his way. The story goes that it was only purest hate that willed him to survive the almost fatal wound he received at Wakefield Farm, though Enlightened medicine surely played its part.

Now he has vowed to take revenge on every last member of the Union that he can. Soldiers or civilians, loyalists or former Confederates, Quantrill will have his pound of flesh and then some.

Georgia Maddox grew up in the south and joined the Confederacy at an early age inspired by her brother. She wasn’t overly violent at the start, performing her necessary duties as a soldier with stoic resolve. However, due to her proficiency on an Iron Horse and her connection to her brother Richard Maddox, she was assigned to the newly formed unit that would become Quantrill's Raiders and her life started to change.

To begin with she baulked at the shock tactics they employed, more used to straight fights against line infantry. Over time, as the war drew on, William Quantrill’s repeated speeches and the fervour that the unit felt during their missions inured her to the horrors of war they committed.

Eventually she became indoctrinated to their terrible way of doing things, so much so she gained the honour of flying the unit’s banner into battle. Since Quantrill’s rageful resurrection, she has only become more willing to perform atrocities in the name of the dead Confederacy.

Where William Quantrill is a brutal madman prone to fits of rage, Richard Maddox is cool, calm and collected. This doesn’t make him any less of a threat, however. His hate burns as deeply and he is just as capable of causing pain as his commanding officer.

Most see him as Quantrill’s right hand man and he is often the tactician behind their lighting raids and civilian ambushes. Maddox is just as at home behind a set of technical schematics as he is behind a battle map… a useful skill to have when your Iron Horse is constantly in the field. He even adapted his own personal Iron Horse, arming it with a pair of flamethrowers running from a high capacity fuel tank. Richard Maddox may not be a physically violent man but he loves the smell of RJ in the morning.

This box contains:

• 1x William Quantrill

• 1x Georgia Maddox

• 1x Richard Maddox

Warcradle Scenics

Bring a bayou themed backdrop to your wargaming battles and host shootouts through rundown corridors and half-sunken boats with the Warcradle Scenics Black Lake Bayou Set.

Black Lake Bayou Set

Built many years ago when the French had colonised the local area, the Manor at Black Lake was once a place of opulence where the well-to-do would dine and socialise. Since the Ore War, it has certainly lost its shine.

While still an imposing building, it is now for a very different reason. Rumours of it being haunted and the now overgrown local flora make it creepy rather than captivating. The ‘ownership’ of the building has changed hands many times over the past years with everyone staking a tenuous claim from local moonshiners to Confederate remnants of the Ore War to Mme. Marie Leveau and her entourage. This last entry being the source of many of the macabre tales that seem to centre around this former location of luxury.

While in the grounds of the Black Lake Manor, this Boat House is rarely seen in the same place twice. This is made all the stranger given that no one seems to live there. Clearly someone does but no living person is ever seen boarding or disembarking this crudely built dwelling.

Even when gunfights break out between local bandits and lawmen, no movement is seen across the deck. If anything does make this haphazard construction its home, it seems to be able to sense trouble before it arrives and make its way elsewhere.

The Black Lake Summer House has fallen into a state of almost total decrepitude. Years ago it might have been considered a picturesque folly for effete members of the family to make their dalliances, though like those once young and beautiful people its best days are far behind it.

Now it is only home to wildlife and whatever transient creatures traverse the bayou at night. Very occasionally, the tree growing through the roof is used as a dead drop between whoever might be up to nefarious deeds and do not wish to be disturbed.

The Paddle Steamer in Black Lake must have had a name at some point but that is now lost to the lake, as is a large section of its hull. Whether by war, accident or the simple passage of time, no one seems to remember but it is now scuppered with anything of use torn from its rotting carcass.

Despite this, there are still determined souls willing to risk their lives delving into the submerged hold, hoping to find the gold that was the prize in a forgotten poker tournament. No one seems to know if this was even real or not but those who search for it often find the bodies of those who went before them. Like those decaying corpses, this Paddle Steamer will eventually be consumed by the bayou, never to be seen again.

This set contains:

• 1x Black Lake Manor

• 1x Black Lake Boat House

• 1x Black Lake Summer House

• 1x Black Lake Paddle Steamer

This month is packed full of so many exciting new pre-orders for Dystopian Wars, Wild West Exodus and Warcradle Scenics. What are you looking forward to the most?

Make sure you don’t miss out when these go live for pre-order on the 24th of June 2022 from 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.