So my order for Dust came in today and I am most pleased with the quality and detail of the units, and that you can use the boxes as carrying cases is a huge plus. Having planned this out as a starter force of about 150 AP for the army I find all of my sections full with only support options to be picked. I am going for an IJA themed force using the Axis Sturmgrenadier platoon list in the core book with a focus on Jungle fighting, basing my knowledge off of books and movies on the Pacific theatre. This comes in where I want to add a Panzer Walker in the force to have a good rounding to deal with ally or other axis walkers.

I have 101 AP so far in my starter list and that leaves me about 40 AP to work with for supports, which is perfect because I want to add either a Ludwig, a Luther, or a Flamm-Luther to the list.

The Ludwig is just plain sexy as far as walkers go and I could get away with including it by referencing the little Lend-Lease bit they have in the beginning of the Core book but my issue is that it seems to be a poor fit in the island jungle fighting that was prevalent in the Pacific theatre, so there is one issue.

The Luther would work just cause the plain fact that it could indeed work in the close up jungle fighting of the pacific islands and i could squeeze in a sniper team with it, adding more fluffiness to the list.

And finally the Flamm-Luther because it would work perfectly in the theme i want to run just because it has two flame throwers [the lack of flame throwers is something i can understand but don't really like due to my theme]. I am leaning heavily towards the option but my issue is that I have to shell out the 15 USD for the Op Zverograd book and then another 20 for the Flamm-Luther! This is compared to the 15 i would have to give for the Ludwig or Luther, a little disheartening when I picked axis because, even though i really wanted to do SSU, it was overall cheaper. [the store i use doing 10 USD for Recon squads, a focus in my force, which is compared to the 12.50 USD for the SSU Rifle Squads which was the focus of my wanting to do SSU. Let alone the book in addition]

So I came to the forum for your two cents to see if you can help me decide.

I really like the Flamm-luther its a very solid choice to build an army around, but if the extra 20 is too much the Luther or Ludwig are good choices as well. Overall though I think if you are only going to be playing 150 points its probably better to save the Flamm-luther for the next time, as playing at 150 you would likely never face more then 2 tanks the Wotan from the kit would probably sit, but its very easy to swap in a luther for a ludwig and also bring the Lothar into the mix.

TLDR: buy the luther kit if you want flexibility, but the Flamm-luther kit if you plan on running the same list every night.

I don't really intend to run only 150 AP all the time, just as a start really, I only really need the support to finish out this platoon and then I am thinking about either another SturmGren platoon but based around Battle Grens and more Walker support, an Anti Tank focus if you will. I figure I can fit the Ryu in [Wotan-AR clone if i recall the web page correctly] the platoon and be a bit more fluffy. The term fluff still means lore in this game right? Had a run in with a GW district manager once who chewed me out about the term. The next group probably being Mannfred [on that note which expansion can I find him from tactics in?] with three Battle Gren Squads with the extra Schreck and the Extra Panzer support option to maximize, this is where I can fit in the Ryu, normal Wotan and Ludwigs I am thinking. The idea may change after the first few games, but its a thought anyway.

It's not that bad to get the Op Zverograd book but unless I run SSU [which I might anyway for the idea of a Chinese volunteer heavy force for a more historical opponent lend list or just to have fun] i am not sure if i really want to, but is it worth it for the three Panzer Walker rules and stats on it's own?

Look at it this way: You are going to face SSU eventually, and you want to know what they can do right? Get the book for the intel AND for the rules for your extra unit.

You can also download the PDF for less $$$ if you want to go cheap.

PDF's are cool and all but I prefer to have the actual book on me when I do stuff. I've decided to go ahead and get the book, will probably get it by the end of today and may have a list up by tonight.

TBH the stats of the Flamm-Luther are the only unknown to me to see if i want to get it or a Ludwig for this platoon

Flamm-luther is move 1, armor 5, DC 6

it has 2 flame throwers each with 8" range that can be "combined" (fire only 1 flamer for +6" range so half the dice for a nice range bonus) and and mg 44
the damage profile is the same as the fireball for the flammers. can thus far only be taken as support in a sturmgrenadiere platoon.

I kinda bought the book since my last post and read the stats before i checked the forum…

the Flamm-Luther seems totally worth it but I think for this platoon the support will be a Ludwig.

The list I have so far with my theme is

Sturmgrenadiere Platoon (141)
Command Section: Kommandotrupp
1st Section: Recon Grenadiers
2nd Section: Laser Grenadiers
3rd Section: Recon Grenadiers
4th Section: Laser Grenadiers
Support: MPW II-B "Ludwig"

PS i know the lasgrens suck, but I like the short range power fire theme, I believe that it fits in the Idea of close in Jungle warfare and I am trying to keep the amount of human skin i need to paint down as I try to notice differences for colours in painting Imperial troops and Reich troops as far as skin goes. The second expansion for 300 AP is

Sturmgrenadiere Platoon (152)
Command Section: Manfred
1st Section: Battle Grenadiers [upgrade]
2nd Section: Battle Grenadiers [upgrade]
3rd Section: Battle Grenadiers
Support: MPW II-B Ludwig"
Support: MPW III-D "Flamm-Luther"

How does that Look?