Agreed, from the looks of it, the units had some quality control issues at the factory because they've been stuck "at the factory" for some time. The biggest problem? No announcement from FFG that they had been delayed. Oh, it probably won't cost FFG anything in the long run, but I've noticed that the longer I wait after release before buying, the cheaper it all gets from retailers. Of course, if something else comes up, then my gaming budget will go elsewhere.

While I love the game, the long lag time for the SSU, the lack of a SSU army box (which they actually have enough of now to push) and general lack of communication has cost and will continue to cost FFG some short term money.

Does having to wait an extra month suck, sure…. Does it make me want to say I quit on the game just because this one box is a month late… of course not. Hell, other forms of entertainment such as movies and video games are regularly delayed a year or more from when they are set to release and sometimes never ever see the light of day at all…. Models from pretty much every other miniatures company around have delays, a lot of time a hell of a lot longer than a month after the unit is even possibly playable. And the reason why FFG has a tight lipped policy and why they don't even talk to forummembers at all even more is because people cried and cried and pissed and moaned non-stop everytime they made any announcement… so we have no one but ourselves to blame as to why we will never again here another word from them. People can say they want the company to tell them when things will be delayed and keep them informed, etc., but when a company does this they are brutalized with internet trash talking about how could they do this and I'm taking my money and going somewhere else, blah blah blah… If after 6 months, this game is trash because there are 3 boxes out of 100 that you have to wait a month extra to play with, then I don't see that it matters where you decide to take your gaming dollars too… because they won't be able to please you either… no one will… odds are you will end back in GW 40k land where kits take 6 months to never to be released after a codex comes out and cost twice what they should cost…..

The SSU are plenty competitive even without those 3 boxes. The game has only existed for 6 months and the Zverograd book that introduced those units just came out. To wait a month after the book comes out to get the final 3/12 boxes available for use with the faction doesn't sound like a disaster to me. GW takes months and months and months to sometimes years (or even never) to have all the models available that they put in their books, and most of the time, those unreleased models that you have to wait 6 months or more to be released are the best units in the new book.

Seriously… the models are only a month behind the rules to use them…. whats the big problem here? The game warfare has only been around half a year… show me another game that has this many models available for it in its first 6 months of existance… you won't find one… The day the Dust warfare rulebook came out, every single model inside was already available (thanks to Dust tactics). Upon release of Zverograd 11/14 kits that were in that book (with the new allied and axis walker kits) were available the day it was released and the final three are only a month behind….

Warfare has only existed for 6 months… In six months you are already sick of the game? If that's the case, how the hell are 2 choppers and 3 heroes going to keep you interested?

I swear, its like the whole **** world has ADHD… a term that didn't exist when I has young by the way, and the world was in better shape then than it is now…

Somehow I ended up in the tactics section instead of the warfare section… wtf? Oh well… My post makes alot less sense now… I still think poeple cry too much so I'll just stick to what I said.

People complain it's our rite. I think Lska hit the nail on the head, just wait until you have the product before you start to advertise it. Let alone put a release date out.
As for all of the comparisons to GW, I could not agree more. The things you listed and more are why they don't get my toy money anymore.

No game company in the world would succeed if they didn't preview products. Everyone does it. No one shows pictures AFTER they're ready to sell, that's silly. And Tactics has rarely been late when they've actually given a date. SSU got slighted a bit on release, not badly. The Hades stuff is already on the boat.

And delusional? If you think you need attack choppers to win a game, then you need some better lists, SSU have plenty of teeth in their current state.

blkdymnd said:

While SSU are playable, they are at a significant handicap when faced up against heavily armored enemies. They currently lack in anti-tank weaponry, pretty significantly too. They desperately need the RG anti-tank squad and some sort of armored anti-walker unit, like the attack chopper or fury of Ivan. Other than that I agree SSU are playable, but ultimately not on a competitive balance with the axis and allies.

I guess that when we see the Witer Child, and next the units shown at gencon they will be no less than competitive. And i'm more and more sure that we will see no A3 squads for SSU in the nearest future.

xBeakeRx said:

As an SSU player, I don't find your statement true, Helicopters and Frakeli are more than capable of taking down tanks and tough units and the advantage of the SSU is that every unit can damage A3 infantry even in close combat, even more so now they can have unlimited Molotovs thanks to the Commisars.

For those who are impatient for the rest of the Zverograd SSU units, they are available in Premium form from Dust Models website now:

dust-models.com/products.php

Major Mishap said:

I don't really see how helicopters are good at taking down armored vehicles…the can only damage walkers up to armor 3. Anything A4+ is impervious to the helicopters machine gun. Back to my original statement, if you have an enemy fielding 3 or 4 medium walkers the SSU will be hard pressed to take them down.

I think this point is mitigated in smaller point games where the enemy can't field more than a couple medium walkers/tanks, but in anything 200+ points I think SSU really start to suffer in the current meta. I currently use 2 transport heli's and 2 fakyeli in my 300 point list, and have a hard time taking down enemy armor. Once they focus fire and take out the fakyeli there isn't much left to bring them down and they get free reign of the battlefield.

Again, this is just my experience, you may have a different opinion within your gaming group, but this is just what I've found to be true in the current state of Dust Tactics.

Helicopters carry the Fraks to the target so they arrive in one piece.

Major Mishap said:

Well the 20th of August has come and gone and still no releases.

Panzer soldier said:

On the 20th, the premium editions went up for sale on dust-models.com

Not sure if that's what was meant by the release date, but they are technically available for purchase, for those who want pre-paints or who are just really impatient and have the extra cash.

Some online retailers have dropped the preorder flag on them as well. Maybe some LGS's just haven't received them yet.

My premium order shoud be arriving tomorrow

Seblys said:

Someone on the Facebook group got theirs as well and snapped a shot of the heroes. Looks pretty good.

Picked mine up from the post office today, very nice. I wonder why they're starting to include all the weapon options with the premium sets now? Would be nice if they went back and did that for all the previous vehicle releases.

So my question is how long after they release the premiums, does FFG usually release the regular models?

One of you old timers must know or have an educated guess. Loop Hole, Major, Gimp any one?

Panzer soldier said:

Normally it's a consistent release. Usually when Dust Studios release theirs for sale, the FFG stock is normally on the way to stores

So now August has come and gone and still no SSU units? I preordered most of the units five months ago. WTF!!!!

Panzer soldier said:

Read the newest news article (came out today)

This information would have been nice to know four months ago.

They still have not addressed the SSU heroes at all. The choppers were listed as on the boat, but fate of the heroes are unknown.

So are we going to have wait another six months to learn their fate?

The SSU heroes are already starting to show up in stores. I've read a few reports now of people picking them up.

I know months with no infoe at and now they just show up out of the clear blue???

Well folks here we are its October and still no Assault Helicopters or Transport Helicopters and walker combination.

They say they are coming soon but do they know what soon means?