February 2017: The Last “Solid” Wave
The first releases for DW in 2017 came out in February. The first part of the releases consisted of the modular battleships for the Russians, French, and Covenant. As with the American, Britannian, Blazing Sun, and Prussian versions of the ships released in December, each model came with the parts needed to make either version.
These ships were interesting in a number of ways. First, they each brought their own twist to the aesthetics of their faction, and in a number of ways they also foreshadowed the direction the ships in their respective nation’s upgrade box from the Kickstarter would take. Their modular nature also made them a flexible addition to a players fleet. And, oddly, they marked the brief return of blister packaging; each blister came with one hull and all the bits needed to make both of the variants for the design. However, the fact that their release happened at right around the same time as the Kickstarter meant that many players probably forewent purchasing one for their fleet in favor of beefing up their pledge. As a result, the modular battelship designs are fairly rare, and it is uncommon to see one for re-sale on eBay and elsewhere.
The other part of the February releases was another new 2-player box set, the Corsican Incident. This box set reflected a conflict between the League of Italian States and the Black Wolf. While much of the set consisted of existing models, there were a few new sculpts included.
NOTE:
Before we go too much farther, I should state that February’s releases were the last items for DW that were “fully” released. From that point on, Spartan announced a number of new products, took some pre-orders, and started shipping some models to Kickstarter backers. However, what products actually shipped and when is a bit uncertain.
May 2017: 2.5 Releases
In May, the PDF for the new 2.5 rule set and the compatible stats for the various nations were posted online. The hard copy books were not scheduled to arrive for some time yet, but at least players could begin playing with the revised rules in the mean time. I covered the changes between 2.0 and 2.5 in some detail here on the blog. Overall, I felt it was a great evolution of the game, and that it addressed a few of the serious issues with the existing rule set. The main weakness of 2.5 is that the updated model stats were more of a band-aid then a cure; they had some balance and accuracy issues that needed to be addressed. Again, however, it was expected that would happen over the course of the summer.
June 2017: Kickstarter Items Begin to Ship, and a New Pre-Order
In June, Spartan began shipping some of the Kickstarter items to backers. It was revealed that one of the hold-ups with shipping was that the printer Spartan worked with for printed materials had gone out of business, forcing them to scramble to find a replacement company. This reportedly impacted mainly the hard-back rule books, which meant that those backers who only got soft-cover books were able to get their models. Also in June, Spartan announced and begain taking pre-orders for a new two player box featuring the Scandinavian Teutonic Order and the Dominion of Canada, along with fleet boxes for those two factions. This represented a major expansion of those two minor powers, on a scale not really seen since the Chinese got their various fleet boxes years before. These products were expected to ship in August, but that was not to be.
August 2017: The End of Spartan Games
Over the course of July and August, there was a steady stream of updates as Spartan continued to ship out Kickstarter backer pledges in dribs and drabs. No additional new product was announced, though major bundle deals were offered in early August on bundles for existing DW models. In the middle of August, Spartan launched their third Kickstarter, this time for Firestorm Armada. Then, on 25 August, the company announced that it was suspending operations immediately. It’s difficult to determine with any accuracy just what was shipped before Spartan folded and what wasn’t. At least some of the Ice Maiden box sets and core nation boxes from the Kickstarter were produced and delivered. Some Egyptian and Crimson League sets also seemed to have made their way to the public. However, none of the North Star models appear to have ever been publicly released, though it seems some of the pre-production Canadian models made it into private hands. Regardless, there were many orders and Kickstarter pledges that would never arrive.
Since 2017: The Rise of the Dystopian Age
For about a month after Spartan shutdown, the fate of its game properties was in limbo. Approximately a month later, it was announced that Warcradle Studios has acquired the IP for Dystopian Wars, Firestorm Armada, and Uncharted Seas. Since then, there has been a 2-year beta testing program, multiple show appearances, and previews of models shown for Warcradle’s take on the Dystopian World. Warcradle produced their own version of the Ice Maiden super carrier, and has also periodically re-released old Spartan models for sale on their store. In a magnanimous gesture to the community, Warcradle also finished deliver of the already-printed 2.5 hardback books to backers, and has also offered existing players of the game a free copy of the new 3.0 rulebook when it is ready.
These measures strike me as stop-gaps intended to provide some measure of limited support for the existing community, but they are appreciated. The wait for the new edition of the game has bee long, but as of this writing we are hopefully just months away from the release of DW 3.0, and a re-birth of the game.
Great recap. Thanks for putting it together.
I’d spoken and worked with Neil and company on the Firestorm Armada side in the few months before they shut down. I know that his health had contributed to a lot of the problems, just in not being able to commit all the time needed to run so many projects.