Hi

I wanna buy dust tactics premium version.
Does it change a lot with the unpainted version??

whats best to buy after the main game?

How you actually make your army, is it like a point-system like in warhammer, or tell the scenarios which units you have to use.
Do you have to buy all expansions... ?? if not how you keep it balanced. so which axis units i should buy, and which allies i should buy??

any advice would be helpfull.

The only thing that changes with the Premium edition is that, well, it comes pre-painted. You can still play perfectly well with the unpainted versions, since the ally models are green and the axis models are gray. The only thing is that sometimes (especially during setup) it might be a little bit troublesome telling the different squads appart, specially when you're new to the game.

The general consensus seems to be that the first expansions one should get, the units that change the game up the most, are the Command Squads and Artillery Walkers. After that maybe the Special Ops units...

Building your army is a very loose thing. Each scenario has a set limit of points you can use and each unit has a point cost. Simple as that. In most scenarios you can use any unit you want, though a select few of them have some restrictions, like infantry-only, vehicle-only, heroes-only, no artillery or command squads mandatory. Other than that it's just a matter of having enough units to meet the total army point limit for each scenario (though if you don't have enough units, it's not a big problem to play with fewer units).

You certainly don't have to buy all the expansions. You already have a perfect game in just the Core Set. Everything else is optional, but you'll want to see the game grow and change.

If you have enough funds available grab a copy of the big box core set that has just gone out of print and a copy of the new revised smaller core set just hitting the shelves. This will give you 2 heroes, 6 squads, 2 medium walkers and one light walker for each faction. Then like loophole says, grab a command squad for each faction and you will be set up to play the game in a big way. If you are in the UK this will cost you about £145 and I think if you are in the USA it will cost you circa $125. After this you will probably then look to get the snipers/observer box for each faction and some artillery, then you will be looking at the more recent releases e.g. apes, zombies, grim reapers etc plus the Cyclone & Seelowe expansions.

That will teach me for keeping my finger on the button while the mouse is over the publish button

All good advice ... but when it comes to the standard versus premium sets, I prefer to paint my own. Just my choice. If you have the money the premium sets are very well done.

Easy way to tell the squads apart, buy some cheap paint and slap a color across the base, using different colors for different squads. The first two times I played it was a royal PITA because some of the squads have models that are exactly the same, in the same poses with the same weapons except one has plain helmets and the other has a pair of goggles on top of the helmet or some other such tiny detail.

The only big problem I see (although the models are still boxed, so I may be wrong) is that the twin Bazooka squads have cards, but do not have the correct models except for the two Bazookas.

However, getting two of the original Core sets sets you up real well, especially when you grab a pair of medium walker boxes. This gives you the ability to field 2 of any walker (I haven't checked to see if I can reverse the 5cm gun as well as the claw to give me two Loth options, plus the ability to make two "left" and two "right" clawed Luthers) as well as the ability to field up to six of the Luther/Lothar or Pounder/Hotdog walkers. The only trick here is to not glue down the weapons and if they start getting a little too worn to hold by popping them in and out, then get some magnets.

On the light walkers...I'm not so sure of either of them. I don't think a lot of the AT versions, but the AI versions probably are useful.

I had no problem switching the claw arm ...

madmaxknick50 said:

Did you swap the gun also?

Algesan said:

It's no problem at all, it looks best if you totally disassemble the gun shrouds and put them back together as matching pairs as there is a slight difference between the claw and gun shrouds.

Major Mishap said:

Good, I just happen to have a pair of arms to experiment on....