"Working in the merchant navy has always been tough but now it's worse than ever! Used to be we'd have to cope with months away from home, the physical labour of dealing with cargo and whatever wet hell the weather could throw at us. I've lost too many mates off the cape and had to tell their families the news without everything else that's been going on these last few years. More and more of our jobs have needed military escorts to keep us from being boarded by sky pirates and the like. I've seen huge mechanical squid in the Bay of Bengal, been attacked by great hovering discs of steel in the South Atlantic and even huge metal men flying across the Mediterranean. Don't let them fool you, it's getting harder and harder to be an honest sailor. I'm getting too old for this nonsense!"

Part of an interview with Able Seaman Richard Miggins for the Freeport Gazette

Contents:

• 2x Titan Passenger Conveyor (may also be built for Freight or Oil and also as Olympia Class)
• 2x Merchant Ship
• 2x Escort
• 2x Small Ship Token
• 2x Cargo Token
• 2x Ground Assault Detachment Token

Please Note:

• Miniatures are supplied unpainted and some assembly will be required.
• Unit Cards are not included and can be found on the Dystopian Wars website.

Ever since the coronation of Sultan Mustafa, Princess Scheherazade has kept herself amused using the funds she received from the government of her brother to continue her research as a member of the Covenant of Enlightened. She was instrumental in funding and developing several Covenant projects and served as a Covenant ambassador to several capitals during the early years of her brother’s reign. Exactly what role she played in the Covenant’s Schism is unclear – as is our understanding of the event.

In any case, her talents as both a leader and a strategist called her to explore other avenues for profit and adventure – and she expanded her own ‘Promethean Complex’ into a veritable armoury, developing many different advanced weapons for sale to the Great Powers or for the use of Enlightened forces. Her contact with the Covenant’s “warmaster” Schneider fostered an interest in military activities and the romance of a mercenary life. It is no surprise that the Princess established her own mercenary outfit early in her Covenant career. [Postscript: We believe the princess is operating from somewhere in Morocco, although that is pure conjecture. I would ask that we consider a detachment of Iapetus or Astraea to investigate.]

This ‘Crimson League’ is dismissed as a vanity project so far as I gather amongst the halls of power. Staffed uniformly by noble adventurers and outlandish aristocrats, the organisation has nonetheless developed a reputation amongst certain quarters as highly effective. Reports garnered from their operational activities indicate a technologically advanced force of unique aerial vehicles and experienced crews, capable of working together despite their flamboyant personalities and wreaking havoc in their wake. [Postscript: A contract with the Crimson League can run into expenses of hundreds of thousands in Sterling so I am told.]

The Crimson League has become a thorn in the side of the Sublime Porte – frequently striking at perceived threats to the Sultanate without the government’s blessing at the whim of the Exiled Princess and frequently making a diplomatic nuisance of themselves. There is a more worrying side to these concerns however, if the Sultan were to fall, would his infant son be able to rally the military to his side against the might of the House of Gold? And would the Exiled Princess simply sit out and allow her nephew to succeed to the throne that she believes is rightfully hers? And if she did intervene – would she bring the Crimson League with her? [Postscript: I believe a comparison with the Commonwealth’s Black Wolf and his proximity to the Tzar’s court would be apt here.]

An excerpt from a file sent -
FROM: Sir Humphrey Attlee, Permanent Secretary GCB, KBC, MVO, MA (Oxon)
TO: The Rt Hon Richard Bickerton Pemell Lyons, GCB, GCMG, PC
17th May 1873

Contents:

• 1x Lyceum Aerial Dreadnought (may also be built as the Badroulbadour)
• 4x Nasr Skyship (may also be built as Awsbiri or Muharib Class)
• 4x Hirka Skycutters
• 4x Alsaqr Skybarques

Please Note:

• Miniatures are supplied unpainted and some assembly will be required.

Tales of the Honourable Eclipse Company had spread through the military forces of the Union of Federated States over the past few years. Being a largely aerial based force they had influence over land battles, naval conflicts and particularly in air based assaults. Opinions were largely varied. For some, they were a welcome reinforcement, arriving just in time to save the day. For others, a logistical complication. More traditional strategists were annoyed that the HEC operated with their own autonomy, frustratedly figuring out how to incorporate them into the larger operations while still allowing them creative execution of their orders. Then there were some that hated the apparently “honourable” mercenaries. Those men who experienced what it was like when the paycheck ran out. Soldiers whose last look at the HEC was as they withdrew from battle without warning. The contract was over and damn the eyes of whoever had the misfortune of fighting alongside them. Fortunately for the Honourable Eclipse Company, survivors in this instance were rare and few lived to spread word. Besides, the press offices of the HEC did great work making them look good.

Contents:

• 1x Custodian (may also be built as Excelsior or Venture Class)
• 3x Steward (may also be built as Constellation, Republic, Ticonderoga or Ranger Class)
• 5x Bogota Carryalls
• 5x SRS Tokens

Please Note:

• Miniatures are supplied unpainted and some assembly will be required.

Black Wolf is the nickname of the former Russian Commonwealth submariner and Commander of the prototype Death Bringer submarine, Volodymyr Nikonov. Though he usually operates under contract to the Commonwealth he now runs a large and powerful mercenary outfit. Funded, in part, by the Tsar himself, the Black Wolf Company have a reputation for daring assaults and sudden ambushes that make them a force to be feared the world over.

Nikonov has a lifestyle and status that he believes befits him. He can see a future where he marries the Tsar’s daughter, Anastasia and claims the throne for himself. When not at court or in action Nikonov operates out of a converted gigantic Murmansk class vessel near Novo-Arkhangelsk. From this fortified harbour-ship he not only has safety but has established a planning room to help with the execution of even more daring raids for pleasure and profit. The Tsar’s favourite story features the Black Wolf in a daring exploit to sink the Union battleship Hornet and Crown carrier Wessex. This attack was all the more thrilling (when Nikonov retells it) as the commanders of the two vessels were allegedly discussing a potential alliance and that the Black Wolf had to infiltrate the heavily-guarded Thames Estuary in London in order to sink them.

In between carrying out missions for his future father-in-law, Nikonov has the latitude given to his growing fleet of submarines and assault craft to allow them to be deployed as mercenaries alongside many rival nations around the globe. Each battle adds not only to the coffers of the Black Wolf but also his prestige at court, even when to some observers such raids do little to further the Commonwealth.

The Black Wolf Battlefleet Set builds nineteen multi-part plastic and resin miniatures;

• 1x Anastasia (can alternatively be built as a Murmansk Mobile Stronghold or Tobolsk Mobile Stronghold)
• 1x Death Bringer (can alternatively be built as an Akula Grand Submarine)
• 1x Akula Grand Submarine
• 4x Khyzhak Attack submarines
• 4x Piranya Hunter Submarines
• 4x Khatanga Cryo Assault Cruisers (Each Cruiser can alternatively be built as either a Morosko or Pravda Class)
• 4x Stoletov Ekranoplans
• 4x SRS Tokens