So the SSU hit local stores this week. Oddly enough without their :Warfare book . . . methinks someone has been surprised by the game's popularity. Our local store got the helicopter with the Chinese 'Volunteers', the command squad, the close combat squad, and the machine gun squad. With the Zverograd Campaign box you can also get the character and her medium walker.

So obviously we don't have any :Warfare rules for the SSU yet, we don't know Platoon Structure, or special rules, or upgrades, etc. There are also some unit abilities and the like that are new, and we can't know exactly how those work. Also soft are things like weapon dice and ranges.

However, with all of those holes in our knowledge, we REALLY wanted to get the SSU on the table, so last night we roughed our way through a small game, around 200 points . . . roughly . . . more or less . . . with one of each squad boxes and the character/walker. It was fun, and a close game, and we can't wait to see how completely wrong we were about how everything works, how many points it all costs, etc

It was the Axis vs the SSU, in an Eliminate the Enemy mission with the walk onto the board deployment and obscured vision conditions.

The Axis fielded a Blutkreuz platoon with command squad, heavy laser squad, 2 zombie squads (and Grendadier X), and the AA medium walker, and a sniper team.

There was as small river down the center of the board, with a bridge in one half and a ford on the other, ruined buildings along both sides and the large church towards the middle.

The helicopter, or at least the Frankenstein's Rules Monster we used last night, was very cool as it puttered around the board with its chin-mounted quad machine guns doing some serious damage to a couple squads, while the zombies ran up either flank, ripping up Gran'ma the medium on one side, killing one guy in the command squad before getting gunned down by the close assault squad deploying out of the helicopter.

The helicopter was a bit of a problem, as the only thing the Axis fielded that could literally have any effect was the medium walker . . . but in turn 4 it DID finally go down.

In short we had a LOT of fun with the new models, and the rules for them that we could at least extrapolate from the Dust: Tactics versions in the campaign book.

Now if we could just get the Dust: Warfare book soon, we'd be great!

~Craig

Craig in NH said:

When theory-hammering lists together I tried to stay mindful of this. Both sides have a distinct lack of ways to mass AA in their lists. Think we'll be seeing a plethora of Allied and Axis light AA walkers on the battlefield 'till all forces have equivalent air power or dedicated AA infantry options (like rocket-powered panzerfaust troopers from the comic!).

I don't know, man! I don't know about the Allies, but when I saw what was happening, with the "Luther" chasing the Helo around the board, I started flipping through the book . . . both the Heavy Recon and the Heavy Flak (both units I LOVE), are actually VERY good against Aircraft 2 (and the Flak are even decent against Aircraft 3!), throwing NINE dice per unit at the thing. Short range, I know, and I've already set a Light Walker aside . . . and looked longingly at my Sturmkonig . . . but neither throw as much dice as either of those two units above . . .

I think the Helos are going to add a very cool new element to the game . . . I hope, anyway . . .

What did you think of the helicopter as a model? When I first saw it I thought it looked awful, I could see where they were going (Mil Mi-4/Ka-25 mix) but it simply looked too toy like to me. However, seeing the other two and, especially, seeing them from different angles has made me a cautiosly optimistic.

Still, what's your take on it?

My favorite comment about the copter last night was "If I was hiding from the Commies in the mountains of Colorado and saw three of those come busting up over the horizon . . . I would keep eating my orange"

But I have to admit, on the table and in and amongst the terrain . . . there's a kind of forced-perspective design concept going on that I really started to like. I think it looks a little goof to start with, but it really grows on you. By the end of the night I was enjoying just standing back and looking at the table with the helicopter hovering over the ruins . . .

Hehe! Ok, that's good to hear. I'm looking forward to the heavy transport heli (and walker) in particular. The attack version looks fun as well though.

Craig in NH said:

Awesome to hear! We have two guys wanting to start Commies so our tables should feel a bit like "Red Dawn" soon! Any pictures?

Gordon

Jeremy took some pictures but I was busy running between my Dystopian tournament and the Dust table, so no time for pictures for me. I'll see if I can get Jeremy to join up here and post some . . .

Im working on a dust table now started with a rubber game mat (zuzzy) have you see these yet as a fellow "terrain junkie" I had to share..lol

Hello all,

Here are said pictures, though not too many, from last night's game. I am very excited about the SSU, picking up everything that came out this weekend. Really can't wait for the book and Medium walker to arrive. Who's idea was that? He he.

Enjoy!

Captain Mysto Out!

@GamingSherpa

Thanks for posting those, Jeremy! Too bad you didn't get a really good one of the trippy walker!

And yeah, Gordon, those Zuzzy mats are cool. I got one of the 3x3 boards for Malifaux when I realized Wakelin was playing 4x4 with everyone with his uber shooty Guild list They're great, and might be just the thing I need to look into for a decent base for my Dust terrain . . .

Craig in NH said:

LMAO! After seeing the pics I can see why. I had wondered what the SSU pre-primed color would be. Had some crazy thought it'd be a maroonish color, not sure why.

After having seen pics of both the regular and the premium versions, it looks like my wallet will be hurting. I just would have a difficult time not painting the regular version to look like an ice cream truck, and begin every game stating…

"Comrade, in mother Russia, winter is so cold, we turned our ice cream trucks into helicopters with auto-cannons to keep the driver's feet warm!"

The premium painted ones however don't look as silly to me.

Choice ruined buildings in both sets of pictures! Who makes them?

Hubby

the brick buildings are Armorcast, although they are currently unavailable as they update their molds and upgrade the product to include more rubble along the bases.

The church is made from Pegasus Gothic kits, which I think are discontinued but you can still pick them up here and there around the web.

Thanks for noticing!

~Craig

Craig in NH said:

Some of my people still have a ton of them kits in stock in thier invantory just did a good sized restock of thier stuff including the 1/48 scale ME-262 and V2 snap kits they make and a UFO they make should all make for some cool dust scenry Ill let you know when they arrive if you like Craig, we can meet some play secret no one needs to know…LOL one terrian junkie helping another brother out LOL

looks great craig ! im going to the warstore tomorrow to play some dust . they have all the ssu stuff you metioned . im going to pick some up and start painting them up . i want to paint them russian green like the t-34 tanks with pro commie slogans on them like they used to do on the eastern front . glad to here the choppers give a whole new dynamic to the game . ill post pics from my game tomorrow nite too !

Craig in NH said:

No, the book is just wrapping up Playtest this week and will be off to the printers in no time!

Gobbo said:

Crappy, so a month or more out still?

Ahhhhhh

That makes me a sad gamer . . .

Me too, except I got to playtest them…

That should have been timed a whole lot better, now Warfare players just get to look at their SSU stuff on the shelf for who knows how long?

I am looking forward to my SSU getting here, I expected the book to take a while so I pre-ordered all my stuff in two waves from Miniature Market. After reading through the Zverograd rules they mention the next Operation, Hades. I imagine it will be the SSU Infantry3 units and maybe the heavy SSU Walker/tank after reading Nikolai description and his IS-5A Karl Marx. What points values are you guys using Craig and what ranges for the SSU weapons? I am guessing 16 for the MGs, 12 for the Submachine guns, but it be nice to see what others are using.

Gobbo said:

In Mother Russia, you would be labeled, "Cheater-Head!"

Unless of course you confirm some ranges or other abilities for us non-Playtester team types. Then you'd be known as, "Comrade Tovarisch!"

Shadow4ce said:

Guess I get to be "Cheater-Head!", as the NDA will not allow me to confirm any such things…