Hullo all!
While most people call me Foolish, I used to be called TheFool1972 over on EN world. Actually, over there, I still am…
First, I would like to offer some comments on why I chose dust over the current 300lb gorrilla in the room, better known as warhammer.
- Reason number one is price. After looking at the $99 starter set for Warhammer 20k, then the prices for every set of units and vehicles, AND combining this with the cost of codex books for each army, I figured the entry cost for two armies to be at least $300. After thatm it starts to get expensive. Dust has a reasonable entry cost of $79 for the box, plus $40 for hte book, and… That's it. It has expansions, but those cost around $20-$30 each, either for the books or units. Some tanks cost a bit more, but like I said, average. Lower cost is a REALLY favorable selling point.
- Nazi zombies. Seriously. What else needs to be said?
- After having two people tell me why I would be a fool to play anything other than warhammer 20k, and that if I didn't play their factions, I was an even bigger fool, and then watching it devolve into a fight… Yeah. Nuff said. The local dust players, on the other hand, said "It's cool. Easy rules, you can learn it in a day. Cheap too. Want to play?" <raises an eyebrow> Pretty much sold me right there.
- Nazi Apemen. C'mon. Say it with me. "Zombie APEMEN!"
- A Wierd World War II setting is much easier to mentally capture for new players. Compare to trying to explain the nuances of the half dozen factions of Warhammer 20k…
- Terrain fixtures are easier to get due to the above mentioned reason… You know, WWII? Tons of refs? Easy to build from scratch?
Anyway… I just got the hardback about a week ago, and grabbed the basic set as well. I thought I would give some of my starting opinions I've run into while getting ready for play.
- Hardback should mention that the Dust Tactics starting set armies are NOT balanced for Dust Warfare play. Axis has 20 more army points than the allies. While you can just give advantages to the allies, still not optimal. I bought another unit of recon boys to fill out the allies (all the store had, really, at the time).
- Takes a bit of work to realize that you have to build your sides based on some very arbitrary rules on command structure, and not just point scales. Was new to me. I thought I would just buy tanks and troops until the point scale was ready ansd run with it. Nope. Gotta use the unity sets they advise for hte first few sets. Command and first support unit. No biggie, I guess.
- I needed terrain fixtures, and cardboard squares really seemed kinda… Sad…
Okay, I have armies, so i went out and grabbed some things.
- Green terrain mat. the kind with the rough green surface. 3'x5'. Looks nice for a start. No hills yet, though.
- Tone of craft wood. You know the stuff, tongue depressers, pop sticks, dowel rods, things like that.
- Sculpty clay. Nice stuff.
- Hotglue gun, rubber cement, and white cloth glue. The white glue works just like elmers, but is water-resistant after it dries. Love that stuff.
- Dremel I already had. Was VERY useful.
- Small rocks, sand, tiny gravel, and green flocking (or fake grass)
- Thin wire.
- And a half ton of other small items…
Over the last few days, I've been building barb wire fences, wood fences, barracades, telephone/electric poles, tokens for vehicle damage, and sandbag walls. Tons of them. Seems when motivated, you can build a lot of terrain in a short time.
Maybe some time soon, I'll actually play a round of the game… <rolls eyes>
, but still beats the crap out of 40K, at least for me.
