Took the plunge, wallet be damned.

By Eldil, in Dust Tactics

I was playing heroscape with my nephews last week, and looking at their warhammer 40K (shudder) minis, and I was suddenly seized with a desire for a non-fantasy/medieval miniatures combat game of my own. I started eliminating possibilities:

Heroscape: Nope. Cancelled, tough-to-find, too much setup, too much of a hodge-podge of themes

Warhammer 40K: Nope. Too expensive, and I find the warhammer aesthetic to be too over-the-top, grim, and roided out.

Warmachine: Nope. I like the aesthetics for some of the factions, but too expensive (for Khador: $50 for 3 miniatures? And that's your entry-cost starter?).

Then I remembered Dust Tactics. I had played it at Gencon 2010 (actually, Paolo had showed us how to play, and by following his instructions, he had led us to a spectacular loss). It hadn't really bit, but I remembered the minis being really, really cool.

So, I checked out the website, started reading up on it. For me, the grid-based movement is a plus, because I'm not really a war-gamer. When there's a choice between a simple abstraction or a complex simulation, I'll probably go with the abstraction (which is why I like the simplicity of the cover and line-of-sight rules). And above all, the original core set seemed to be a great value (and based on the news about the new core set, the old one might not be available for too much longer). So, I set my foot on that slippery, slippery slope.

The first thing I needed to get was the core set. Done.

Oooooh, look at all these unit expansions! Snipers? Oh, I've got to get me some snipers. Done.

Wait, the snipers come with these... observers. What do they do? (looks up artillery rules) Oh, sweet. But I don't have any artillery pieces. I guess I'll get a medium walker for both sides, to get the different load outs. Done.

Command Squads? Those sound cool, but let's keep it simple for now. Most of the other units seem to be reprints of what's already in the core set, but why are the Gunners more expensive? Wait, they come with an additional mini that allow you to run them as one of two units, one of which specializes in killing the walkers I just bought? Done.

So, with even realizing what I was doing, I had bought a metric ton of Dust Tactics, and I was already eyeing my next purchase (Revised Core Set + Command Squads + Light Walkers).

So, having just said all that, I have some questions:

1. Am I missing anything absolutely crucial? I wanted to get a pool of units and walkers that allowed for a lot of flexibility and options, and not necessarily the most killer-optimal builds. I know I'm missing Command Squads, and I'll remedy that after Gencon, but is there some unit or piece that you absolutely need multiples of?

2. Does anyone have any idea what units are going to be in the revised core set? I've been scrutinizing the pictures on the FFG news posts, but I can't tell.

Cheers,

Nate

You need Command Squads and it looks like you are set.

Warmachine's not that expensive to play, $50 gets you a playable army. Warmachine can cost around $150 -$200+ and army while WH40k is at least $450.

Looks like you made the right choice to get into DUST.

1. I'd just get the Command Squads before getting the Bot Hunters and Panzer Killers. They provide a much more relevant change to the gameplay.

2.

AXIS

Sturmpionieren - Battle Grenadiers with added flamethrower

Havy Laser Grenadiers - Three heavy laser soldiers

Heavy Flak Grenadiers - Three heavy burst weapon soldiers

Lara - Armored hero with twin MG44s

Hans - Light walker with panzerfaust and grenade launcher

ALLIES

Death Dealers - The Gunners with an added Victory MG rifle

Hellboys - BBQ squad with an extra flamethrower

The Hammers - 3 heavy rangers with rocket punch and jetpacks

Rhino - Armored hero with rocket punch and jetpack

Blackhawk - Light walker with dual heavy PIAT.

[so]Rice said:

Warmachine's not that expensive to play, $50 gets you a playable army. Warmachine can cost around $150 -$200+ and army while WH40k is at least $450.

I agree that Warmachine isn't as expensive as 40K, but still, $150-$200 for a single army is still prohibitive to me. With Dust Tactics, it seems like a get a lot more bang for my buck.

Cheers,

Nate

Loophole Master said:

Revised Core Contents

AXIS

Sturmpionieren - Battle Grenadiers with added flamethrower

Havy Laser Grenadiers - Three heavy laser soldiers

Heavy Flak Grenadiers - Three heavy burst weapon soldiers

Lara - Armored hero with twin MG44s

Hans - Light walker with panzerfaust and grenade launcher

ALLIES

Death Dealers - The Gunners with an added Victory MG rifle

Hellboys - BBQ squad with an extra flamethrower

The Hammers - 3 heavy rangers with rocket punch and jetpacks

Rhino - Armored hero with rocket punch and jetpack

Blackhawk - Light walker with dual heavy PIAT.

Wow. So are the Death Dealers, Hellboys, and Sturmpionieren 6-man units?

It seems like the Allies are getting more raw minis out of this set than the Axis (the Axis is getting more armor, I guess).

No, they're 5-man units. The different figures replace one of the standard weapon ones.

I just got the core set, by the time I get that all painted, the revised one will be out and I'll pick that up, then I'll plan to throw in command squads for axis and allies and then I expect I'll have 2 nice sized armies that are both about equal so games will be balanced. No one I know plays Dust so I'll have to collect both armies till friends decide it's worth it for them to invest too. When it comes to games like these there's always gonna be a big investment. but I think Dust Tactics is your best bang for the buck right now.

I also just got into it. I found a Luther, 2 Sigrids, and 2 Grenadiers on ebay cheap, liked the models, now I have 2 core sets and will start painting them as soon as someone answers my priming question:

WILL IT HURT TO PRIME OVER THE AXIS IN WHITE?

Grand Inquisitor Fulminarex said:

WILL IT HURT TO PRIME OVER THE AXIS IN WHITE?

I don't see why it would. If you're going to paint them light colours, it makes sense to prime them white.

Grand Inquisitor Fulminarex said:

IWILL IT HURT TO PRIME OVER THE AXIS IN WHITE?

Should make no difference if you do. Jut be sure to prime lightly as it will be another layer on the mini. But since you want to use the winter pea dot pattern for the axis I would ask why? It would be just as easy to paint over the grey. So far I have painted or have about 10 dust minis in various stages of progress and the basecoats make a fine primer.

The problem is Doom, I might just stick to the original white winter uniforms, even though I was intending to go for the winter peadot. I am afraid the peadot will take lots of time and come out looking poor, unless you can give me an idea of how best to do it. I was just going to use a brush and "star spatter" each one until it was dotted.

For my axis I just painted right over the gray primer, the armor is the same primer color but the clothing is light gray, and it all came out fine. But yeah if you're gonna prime white then try and do it lightly.

Grand Inquisitor Fulminarex said:

The problem is Doom, I might just stick to the original white winter uniforms, even though I was intending to go for the winter peadot. I am afraid the peadot will take lots of time and come out looking poor, unless you can give me an idea of how best to do it. I was just going to use a brush and "star spatter" each one until it was dotted.

The splattering technique will produce the wrong results as you have no control over the area of effect or size of the splatters. Im going to assume this is the effect you are aiming for

MM69-115.jpg

To achieve this using the base grey I would add irregular patches of white (preferably a slightly off white color) followed by more irregular patches of a lighter warmer grey. While painting the patches be sure to leave some of the base grey color showing. When the patches are complete go back and using a fine brush add dots of the white followed by dots the warmer grey. You could also add some of the darker but I dont think it would be necessary. Hope that helps.

I'm doing some Axis models with Pea dot soon, I'll post a tutorial so you guys can do it too.

1st welcome nah most of my painting over the years has been primed white just have a clear idea what the end reasult is to be

DoomOnYou72 said:

Grand Inquisitor Fulminarex said:

The problem is Doom, I might just stick to the original white winter uniforms, even though I was intending to go for the winter peadot. I am afraid the peadot will take lots of time and come out looking poor, unless you can give me an idea of how best to do it. I was just going to use a brush and "star spatter" each one until it was dotted.

The splattering technique will produce the wrong results as you have no control over the area of effect or size of the splatters. Im going to assume this is the effect you are aiming for

MM69-115.jpg

To achieve this using the base grey I would add irregular patches of white (preferably a slightly off white color) followed by more irregular patches of a lighter warmer grey. While painting the patches be sure to leave some of the base grey color showing. When the patches are complete go back and using a fine brush add dots of the white followed by dots the warmer grey. You could also add some of the darker but I dont think it would be necessary. Hope that helps.

That is exactly what i wanted. I will try your idea. I noticed a slightly field green hue to them too.