This week we turn the spotlight on Dust-Day Argentina, a Dust Tactics event that was organized by fans of the game. Here to share more information about this event is Ignacio Brizzio, the head organizer of the event.

What is Dust-Day?

Dust-Day is a fan-run event dedicated exclusively to Paolo Parente´s Dust universe, related games, and products. Currently, most of the activities within a Dust-Day are devoted to Dust Tactics , but Dust Warfare will be equally, or even more important! Dust-Day also includes painting contests, conversion and scratch built exhibitions, and the Dust Strategy Board Game , another great game by FFG.

Banner for the event

Who created Dust-Day and why?

At first, Dust-Day was simply a way to promote the game locally, since there were almost no players in my country. Thanks to the promotion through the Radio Dust Spanish blog, posting in forums, and the Dust-Day Facebook page, people began to gain interest in the game, especially because of its magnificent miniatures, and also because of the possibility of a big event where all players would get together to meet and play. Eventually, we managed to gain Paolo Parente’s and FFG’s support. At this point, the idea went beyond its original purpose of local promoting.

Thanks to internet platforms like forums and social networks, the concept of a fan-created and fan-run event was spread out and grew to an international level, as the initiative gained the support of gaming communities from across the world. Dust Day’s goal is to help promote the game on a worldwide level, with the intention of making this great game we cherish the next big miniature gaming hit.

The Dust-Day community purpose is to leverage the work of fans who would like to run local events (no matter how small) and interact with each other by exchanging ideas and resources for organization.

Dust-Day team, from left to right: Miguel Federici, me (Ignacio Brizzio), Martin Insaurralde, Daniel Vachetti (a.k.a "wayward").

Where and when did Dust-Day take place?

The first Dust-Day took place on December 18th in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The second Dust-Day is already confirmed for Phoenix, Arizona. It will take place February 25th and 26th. Another Dust Tactics fan is planning to celebrate Dust-Day in Germany and Austria, and players from other states in the U.S. have shown interest in joining the initiative too.

An image of the event

What happened at Dust-Day?

There were many activities scheduled for Dust-Day Argentina. The main attraction was a tournament with twenty participants and four rounds of play. Competitors played against a different member of the opposing faction every match, and they scored points for winning or tying. In this way, and using VPs for tie-breakers, a champion for each team was effectively declared by the end of the day.

Allied and Axis teams also opposed each other throughout a series of special scenarios called "Operation Ghostlight.” Each round we calculated victory by adding up scores from players, and a winning faction was declared. The setting of the following scenario was conditional on the results of the previous battle, so the story unfolded until one of the teams won the day.

The background behind the campaign was the search of an ancient abandoned alien base by Axis forces, following info retrieved from the the Vrill ship-log in antarctica, and the subsequent interception by a team of Allied rangers. By situating the action in the southernmost tip of the South American continent, we tied our region to the game’s storyline.The Axis indisputably won the campaign on Dust-Day, with three victories and one tie, but the story is not over yet, and second part will be played next year.

The other main attraction for the event was the numerous demos run by our staff of "Instructor Sergeants." Mainly attended by visitors who wanted to try the game, they also included people who brought their own copy of the game to find opponents and experienced players who would teach them. As a last note of flavor, we also hosted a game of Dust Strategy Board Game , a big success among many contestants from the tourney who´d never seen it in person, and left eager to try it again in the future. We also organized a painting contest for Dust Tactics walkers, with a very interesting prize for the first place: a Loth axis promo walker.

Round up of painting contest competitors

Speaking of prizes, there were so many that almost everyone left with something under their arms. All players from each faction got their corresponding badges, and each team’s champion got special painted heroes and pins from Game Night Kits. There was also a faction specific raffle among players (there was no such thing as an axis player bringing a Fireball home!).

Finally, there was the biggest surprise of the evening. Our personal friend, Nam Nguyen (freelance painter and Dust Tactics guest spotlight writer), sent us a beautifully painted Allied army to raffle between all attendants of the event. Some of the units were raffled separately, and the rest of it went home with one lucky (and happy) winner!

A great shot of Nam Nguyen´s army

All in all, Dust-Day came to be very entertaining experience for us all. Time quickly flew away and a mood of camaraderie permeated the whole afternoon. Apart from the satisfaction gained, the most important result was that after Dust-Day, all the local players got to meet each other personally. Now, people from different neighborhoods, different wargaming clubs, and different hobby forums are arranging to visit each other and plan for future Dust-Days. Also, the event caught the attention of many other members of the local wargaming community and Dust Tactics is growing in popularity by the day.

And when you think of it, in the beginning it was only going to be a small get together between the few players here. So the question now is...where is next Dust-Day going to take place?

Wow! Dust-Day sounds like a great success. Thanks for sharing your story, Ignacio. Check out the Dust Tactics community forum to see what players from around the world are up to, and check back here for future Spotlight articles.