This may not be that applicable to everyone here, as I presume many of you have already gotten into the meat of the game, but here's my first look at Dust Warfare.
I'm including the full text here because I don't really know the protocols on the forum However, I'm also providing the link because there are some pertinent images that are referenced in the article Here's the link: Dust Warfare First Look
Developed and written by Andy Chambers, I had a great deal of anticipation for the Dust Warfare rules to drop, hoping they’d be streamlined and well written like most of Chambers’ previous work.
They are, and then some.
The actual rules of Dust Warfare amount to about 60 pages (including all the special rules) of the entire book, with the remainder of the book devoted to the army lists for the Allies and Axis armies (the SSU will follow in the first expansion campaign book, Operation Zverograd). In those 60 pages, Chamber’s has fashioned a very tight, very easy to learn ruleset that, despite having only four playthroughs, is fast becoming one of my favorites ever.
The game is highlighted by four phases: the Initiative Phase, the Command Phase, the Unit Phase, and the Resolution Phase. Both the Command and Unit phases are broken down further into separate, player-specific phases.
The initiative phase occurs every turn and provides a really nice mechanic to determine turn order. Each player rolls a number of dice equal to the amount of units he has on the board. For each success (bullseye) he rolls, he is granted one Command action. Whichever player rolls the least number of successes is granted the initiative. Effectively, as your army succumbs to attrition and you lose units, the number of Commands you can issue decreases. However, the chances you will be the player to claim the initiative increases, making for a built-in “catch up” mechanic, giving the player with less on the board a greater chance of being able to effectively use his units. I like the options this provides a great deal; in some war games, when you have a lone model from a unit left on the board and don’t have initiative, you can pretty much write that model off. In Dust Warfare, that model is granted the chance for a last hurrah, as it were, with the ability to inflict some final damage to your enemies.
The Command phase is the second phase and provides a really wonderful level of strategic depth to this streamlined rule set. Based on the number of successes you rolled in the initiative phase, you can grant units ‘pre’ actions in the Command phase to do a few different things. Units can take a single regular action (a move or an attack action) or they can regroup.
Taking an action with your Command points allows you a bit more diversity with what your units can do, but at a cost. Taking an attack or movement in the command phase frees a unit from the worry of an enemy reaction, but also makes that unit unable to react to an opposing unit in the Unit phase. Determining if making that Command action is worth sacrificing your ability to react to your opponent is a simple, but often agonizing choice.
Taking a regroup action with a Command point allows you to, well, regroup your unit. This means you can clear your unit of all suppression and reaction markers so that they can effectively act in the following round. I have a feeling this action comes in to play a great deal more in larger scale games, as in our 200 point games we seldom used them.
The unit phase is where the majority of the drama plays out. This is the phase were you can issue your units orders, in the form of two actions per unit. The single actions are simple (move & attack) but Dust Warfare allows you to do a few things that really make the unit phase interesting.
First, you can chose to move or attack in any order you’d like. Sure, it’s a simple thing that other wargames allow, but it’s a feature that really broadens the strategic depth of the unit turn. Next, the unit phase allows you to forgo one of the two action types to do a double action in the form of a March Movement or a Sustained Attack. A March movement is just like you’d expect it to be. It’s a double move. Simple enough. A sustained attack allows you to reroll any of your misses, heightening the importance of getting your units in good firing lanes so that they can utilize a sustained attack.
Attacks are resolved in a simple manner that, for some wargame veterans, may take a few plays to get used to. Unit stat cards look like this:
Each unit has a Soldier/Tank/Flier value that determines how tough they are. A Soldier 1 unit is basically a rabble of unarmed peasants, while a Soldier 4 would be the equivalent of a space marine in Terminator armour. Rosie above is a Soldier Level 2. When attacking, you roll the number of dice listed in the matrix underneath your enemy’s unit level. For example, if Rosie was going to attack a Soldier Level 3, we’d look at her stat line
And see that Rosie gets to roll just a single dice against a Level 3 soldier. The number to the right of the slash indicates the number of damage done in the even that Rosie hits. As you can see, she’s not really that effective against infantry. However, if Rosie lands a hit against ANY Tank Level, she’s doing four damage.
Resolving damage is the part that may be, at first, counterintuitive to war game veterans. Let’s say Rosie lands that hit on a Tank Level 3, scoring four damage. The Tank doesn’t roll four armour saves; rather, the tank will roll a number of dice equal to their level for their armour save, or in this instance, three dice. Any 40k players will want to roll saves for each wound, but in Dust Warfare, that’s not how it goes down. Because Rosie hit a vehicle, you’re also going to roll all of your damage (four dice, in this example) and potentially do additional damage per the vehicle damage chart. These range from a simple Blinded effect to causing a devastating explosion damaging any vehicle occupants (imagine that) or surrounding models.
There are additional outcomes to being damaged as well. Each time an infantry unit is damaged by an attacking unit, they receive a suppression marker. Suppression markers grant the benefit of allowing you to negate a single wound rolled (as your unit is scrambling for cover!) but has some serious down side. First, any time your unit has a suppression marker on them, they lose an action. Second, if your unit has more suppression markers than it has models, your guys are running for their lives, though you can roll to remove suppression during the Resolution phase to rally your troops.
The final wrinkle of the unit phase lies with reactions, a mechanic that is effectively overwatch. A unit can make a few different reactions to the enemy during their opponent’s unit phase. If an enemy unit comes within 12 inches of your unit, you can choose to make an attack reaction or a movement reaction… if you have any action points remaining. Additionally, if your unit is fired upon, you can chose to make a “Hit the Dirt” reaction, allowing you to negate a successful enemy attack like you were in cover.
Axis Gorillas Bring the Pain…and Bananas!
The implementation of reactions in Dust Warfare is, simply put, fantastic. It keeps both combatants aware and engrossed during the game turn, but also provides increased depth to what really is a simple game. Do I use all of my actions on my turn, even though I know these gigantic close combat gorillas are going to be running up in my grille? Should I Hit the Deck here and risk adding another Suppression marker to my unit potentially causing my unit to flee?
There are a ton of choices to make during a Dust Warfare turn, but none of them are overcomplicated. Some units have special rules. Some weapons cause damage differently than others. But the beautiful thing is the simplicity of it. Dust Warfare provides a ton of tactical depth without an overcomplicated rule set. Fantasy Flight Games has what I think will be a real winner on their hands. Couple the quick-playing and fun rules with a Battle System geared towards competitive play, and I think Dust Warfare is going to have a great deal of staying power.