I'm currently loving Dust Tactics with 3 of my friends… we're all dad's so time is an issue, sort of… we generally have from 8-12 to play our games once a week… Dust Warfare looks like it might add some depth and strategy to our game… can anyone make a good case as to why or why not I should pick this up… As it stands now I'm thinking it would be a good purchase for my group… Thanks

Well, I'm a happy Tactics player, with no intention to try Warfare. But if you're curious about Warfare, it's just a relatively cheap book, so if you end up not liking the game, it's no big waste, just go on playing Tactics.

the core book is only what $20? its really fast to play as well and otherwise you already have everythink you need

They are worth a try if you want to play something completely different, but be warned the units play completely different between the two games. The Axis don't have grenades and the Laser Grenadiers are probably now the worst unit on the table, Zombies are now A2 and the cannons of the Heinrich are no better, if not worse, than the MG's of the Wildfire. If you are a wargamer and a Dust player I find it confusing to play DW as some of the concepts are the reverse of what I'm used to, the automatic removal of hits instead of cover saves and rolling a number of dice equal to the A value of your unit to make armour saves instead of rolling for each hit you receive takes some getting used to, and our group haven't got used to it yet, as a bunch of wargame veterans it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks

DW is also more challenging to play, with DT you really only need to think on what unit to activate one at a time but with DW you have to plan on every units move for your entire turn, mainly the laying down of suppression fire.

If you can get over the differences of units between the two games, DW does give a good game.

DW can/is a longer play. If you have limited time maybe play a bigger battle with more units to make the games more challenging or try building your own scenarios. MM is right DW though its a much different game and a little less intuitive to play quickly.

I haven't played DW yet, but the only thing I see interesting from it is the idea of unit configurations, although those that do have DW say they aren't well thought out or are too limited.

If you want to play DT as a "true" tabletop game, the original DW concept should do the trick. Simply consider each "square" to be 4" or 6" on the table top.

So Move 1 would be 4" or 6" and Range 4 would be 16" or 24" and then the game converts fairly easily.

I'm also a father so I understand the time constraints. In all honesty I have both Tactics and Warfare, but find myself playing Tactics more simply because set up/break down is faster and the games don't last as long. If you decide to get into the Warfare side of things, keep in mind you will have extra things to deal with like command phases, reactions, suppression, etc and it does lengthen the game. That being said however, Dust Warfare is a fantastic product and worth buying if only for the background info and a new look at how to play Dust

I happen to agree with the previous posters on just about every issue. Dust Warfare takes longer to play, but is a bit more stragtegic especially in light of having to consider all your squad movement.

My reasoning behind enjoying Tactics is the defined movement. I think it speeds up the game overall. Every game that has measured movement takes longer and has a some time or another had an argument develop surrounding the measurement. I am not saying that this is a nightmare but I have witnessed a few heated moments that frankly has ruined a gaming experience for me.

I'm in the same situation and totally agree with Wolfscout, but I'll add : have you thought about the scenery?

Yes, DW is longer and has more elements to challenge you as a tactician, but what makes the game longer, as Moses hinted at, is the playing field. Longer to play and longer to prepare + put away, not to mention the actual modelism part! Don't get me wrong, I love that part of gaming. In fact, even though I mostly play DT, I usually play it with 3D scenery. The thing is that in DW it's part of the game, you have to measure out everything and fiddle with the minis, trying to get them to fit into buildings or around trees in a forest, etc… which in DT, you don't really care, as long as everything still fits in the square. Also think about storage space and, in case you want to play somewhere else, how the heck are you going to carry all that scenery? Then again, being a family man, you might have an SUV : problem solved.

This being said, I have both games and I do suggest you pick up DW. Heck, at 20$ for the pdf, it isn't worth passing it by.