Dystopian Wars

Naval warfare in a dystopian age.

When I was contacted by Warcradle Studios to check out their new version of the tabletop miniatures game Dystopian Wars, I was very pleased, as I’d long admired the alternative-19th-century-meets-scifi-steampunk aesthetics of the game. After picking up the IP from the defunct Spartan Games, Warcradle have reworked the rules and background to mesh comfortably with their own Wild West Exodus game, and are now releasing a flood of gorgeous naval miniatures (if you’ll excuse the pun). It all starts with the starter set, Hunt for the Prometheus.

This is one of the most impressive starter sets I’ve seen for a miniatures game, with two beautiful naval forces, the Covenant of the Enlightened and the Russian Commonwealth, made up of configurable plastic models and some stunning large resin ships. Complete with dice, cards, templates, counters, and rulebook, it’s everything you need to get into the game.

Here’s my rules summary and reference, which consolidates the somewhat wordy rulebook into just two sides of a single sheet! You can also check out my battle report, unboxing, and a three-part video series starting here showing you how to build and paint the miniatures from the starter set. Plus there’s lots more in the column of links to the right!

Warcradle are continuing to send me new Dystopian Wars releases, so look out for more as I immerse myself in the Dystopian Age and send my fleets out upon the high seas!

Making these game aids takes a lot of work, yet I provide them free of charge. If you find them useful, please consider becoming a regular supporter via PATREON, so I can continue making quality tabletop gaming content. Thankyou!

Update Log



Date Version Changelog
Jul 2023 3.1 Fixed errors in ramming and assault sections
Jun 2023 3 Fully updated for version 3.05 of the rules
Nov 2022 2.1 Put Hunt for the Prometheus unit cards back in
Oct 2022 2 Sep 2022 errata update (took out starter unit cards)
Sep 2021 1.2 New design (and updated stats) for starter set unit cards
May 2021 1.1 Fixed Initiative and Assault sections; added starter set unit cards
May 2021 1 Original release

9 Comments

  • Ed Bonthron says:

    Looks good almost a mini rule book 🙂

  • Phil says:

    would there be any chance of you putting the reference cards used in the promethious game up for download please, im just in the process of getting some new players for the game started and those cards of yours would be an ideal starter.

    kind regards, Phil

    • I have to check all the stats to see if anything’s changed (that’s why I removed them, as I don’t want to have to keep updating them). But I’ll see what I can do.

      • sid says:

        Hi. Just getting into dystopian wars

        Would it be possible for your to upload the template you use for the ship data cards? They look great and it would be great to use them to make our own datacards for our ships.

  • Dave Cockerline says:

    Hello,
    This is a great document, that i’ve used a lot. I’ve noticed a couple of inconsistencies vs the latest 3.05 Rules on the Dystopian Wars website.
    1.) Ramming: you mention the max dice for movement is +6, the rule book (p29) says +5.
    2.)Assault: You mention that the Initial Target can discard an SRS for +1, the rulebook (p24) says +3.
    I’ve looked through the latest FAQ 3.04 and Errata 3.04 on the Dystopian wars website and cant see any changes to the rulebook, worth checking and clariying. Thanks

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