Nach wie vor bleibt die Lage in der Ostsee angespannt

Nach den mysteriösen Vorfällen, die sich im Februar auf der Insel Raippaluotto zugetragen haben (unser Korrespondent berichtete), scheint sich eine Eskalation anzubahnen: der schwedische Hilfskreuzer 'Makrill', der verlässslichen Quellen zu Folge maßgeblich an den Ereignissen auf Raippaluotto beteiligt war, wurde vor der nordschwedischen Küste gesichtet, augenscheinlich manövrierunfähig.

Es nimmt nicht wunder, dass die Marine der Drei Kronen alles daran setzen wird, der 'Makrill' habhaft zu werden, und dementsprechend bereits Verbände in diese Gewässer entsandt hat.

Beunruhigend ist allerdings, dass der Deutsche Orden nun offensichtlich daran interessiert ist, dem Geheimnis von Raippaluotto mit robusten Mitteln auf den Grund zu gehen. Starke Ordensverbände wurden im Anmarsch auf das fragliche Küstengebiet gesichtet.

Es steht zu befürchten, dass die kleine finnische Insel der Funken werden könnte, der Feuer an das Pulverfass legt, welches Orden und Kalmarer Union im Baltikum gepackt haben.

Diese Geschehnisse werden wir auf dem Trave Spieler Treffen am 6. und 7. September spielen.

BattleFleet Baltic - Updated Ship Sheets

We have continued our play-tests for BFB. The rules are pretty much done, expect for minor tweaks and clarifications, but the mechanisms as such are sound now.

The Teutonic Order and the Kingdom of Sweden an Denmark (a.k.a. the Union of Kalmar) have a fair few ship classes stamped green, i.e. the stats will not change anymore.
Swedish-Danish Fleet (British in Dystopian Wars)
Fleet of the Teutonic Order (Prussians in DW)

The New Finland Fleet has seen initial play-testing. The general shape of the stats is there, but details will change.
New Finland Fleet (Antarctica in DW)

The remaining fleets are statted, but have not been tested. Expect to see substantial changes in revisions.
Fleet of the British Commonwealth (French in DW; on the painting table, therefore next to be tested)
Fleet of the Novgorod Commune (FSA in DW)
Fleet of the Hanseatic League (Italians in DW)
Royal Polish Fleet (Japanese in DW)

Feel free to download, test and give us feedback.


On the horizon, CBDR:

• Point values for Teutonic Order and SweDenmark
• A report on the BFB presentation at Trave Spieler Treff in September
• An extensive battle report. 

BattleFleet Baltic - beta version

The rules for BattleFleet Baltic have proceeded past the initial test phase, and will now be made available to the general public (that's you out there), for play-testing, feedback, ranting, what have you.

What's all this 'BattleFleet Baltic' malarkey then? Simple: I bought a bucket full of Spartan's Dystopian Wars ships when they came out, because I loved the models to distraction (and still do).
When I got hold of the rules and tested them, however, I found that they do not agree with a hoary gamer like yours truly: they are too fine-grained for my taste.

To avoid the embarrassment of committing yet another consignment of lead (well, resin) to the bottomless storage shelves, there to gather dust until Judgement Day, I decided to cook up my own rules for them.
Having shanghaied a couple of gaming mates, we set out to design rules, sketch out a background set in 1912 in an alternative history Baltic Sea, and run initial play tests. The result of which labours you may download below:

Downloads

BattleFleet Baltic rules - The booklet containing the complete set of rules. You will also need some of the ship sheets below to play, as they contain the ship statistics.

Baltic Gazetteer (background) - An overview of the nations that form the faction in BattleFleet Baltic. As such, the first instalment in a number of essays that will detail the alternative history setting for this game.

Ship sheets for the Teutonic Order - These use the Dystopian Wars models for the Prussian Empire. The file provides you with everything you need to play all models in the Prussian starter box and some beyond that, based on our model collection. The file is in .pdf format.

Ship sheets for the Royal Swedish-Danish Navy - Same thing for the SweDanes. Again, the file has all you need to play with models from the Britannian starter box, and some more besides.

Feedback

So what's that got to do with you? Well, if you would like to give your DisWars ships a bit of a different spin, feel free to try out our rules. And, more importantly, we will be very grateful for any feedback you have. No matter if it is on rules, stats, background, what ship sheets you would like to see, or presentation, anything will allow us to continue our work and tune the rules while churning out ship sheets for the other factions.

Next Up

On the horizon, CBDR:

• the Gotland Incident, a demonstration scenario
• ship sheets for the Hanseatic League (French Models)
• ship sheets for the Finnish Fennoman Navy (Covenant of Antarctica Models)
• ship sheets for the Kingdom of Poland (Blazing Suns Models)
• ship sheets for the Commune of Novgorod (FSA Models)
• ship sheets for the renegade Finnish Merivoimat Marinen (Russian Models)
• 5 scenarios arranged in a narrative campaign, covering the Gotland Campaign waged by the Teutonic Order against SweDenmark, with guest appearances by other navies 
• an extension book covering submarines and introducing a new faction (hint: their leader empties his cups in one draught)
• a set of map-based campaign rules

... and the 'Vasa'

I have completed my SweDanish navy ships for BattleFleet Baltic, using the Britannian models from the Spartan's Dystopian Wars line. The last to hit the waters is the 'Vasa', so far the only aeroplane carrier comissioned by the Swedes. I chose a pretty simple paintjob, to quickly get the hull onto the table for play-testing.

BattleFleet Baltic - Historical Background

André Scheringer, who has supported me in play-testing and developing the BattleFleet Baltic rules, has put together a dossier outlining the history of the Baltic region for this parallel universe. It may be downloaded from the link below.

BattleFleet Baltic Gazetteer

BattleFleet Baltic - Teaser

Gotland in Ordenshand?

Die oben gezeigte Photographie - unlängst einem wackeren Reporter des Boten in die Hände gefallen - wirft neues Licht auf die Vorgeschichte der mittlerweile als "Gotland-Zwischenfall" bekannt gewordenen Auseinandersetzung in der Meerenge zwischen Gotland und Lettland.

Vermutlich während eines Flottenmanövers von einem Schwedisch-Dänischen Schiff aus aufgenommen, zeigt sie links im Bild das schwedische Flaggschiff 'Vasa', eskortiert von einem Rotorkreuzer der Rovfågel-Klasse, in unmittelbarer Nähe der im Bau befindlichen Kalmarium-Förderplattform No. III des Deutschen Ordens (im Hintergrund erkennbar). Auf Abfangkurs zum schwedisch-dänischen Verband sieht der geneigte Leser rechts im Bild einen Kreuzer des Deutschen Ritterordens (vermutlich die Lohengrin, ein Schiff der Sagenheld-Klasse), im Verband mit einigen Zerstörern der Stamm-Klasse. Die unverkennbar feindselige Stimmung lässt vermuten, dass es sich hier um eine Begegnung handelt, die im unmittelbaren Vorfeld des Gotland-Zwischenfalls stattfand [...]

[Hansischer Bote im Baltikum, Rostock, 31. August 1912]

---[]---

The photography shown above sheds new light on the roots of what has come to be known as the 'Gotland Incident'. The photographic image has been discovered by a reporter of the 'Rostocker Bote' newspaper in the immediate aftermath of this engagement, fought in the narrows between Gotland and Latvia.

Presumably taken in the course of a fleet maneuver from the deck of a Swedish-Danish vessel, it depicts on the left hand side the Swedish flagship 'Vasa' escorted by a rotor cruiser of the Rovfågel class, approaching Kalmarium-Förderplattform No. III (Kalmarium Drilling Rig 3) currently constructed by the Teutonic Order. A Teutonic squadron is closing on an intercepting course from the right, headed by the cruiser 'Lohengrin'. The scene transports an atmosphere of tension and imminent violence, which would place it right before the first shots were fired in this engagement.

[Portsmouth Naval Dispatches, 13 September 1912]