Dust War has announced the next tournament in their 2013 series, called “The Good, the Bad, and the Dusty”. It’ll take place at Hit Point Hobbies in Aberdeen, NC on July 20, 2013, and will be a 300 AP event.
For more information, have a look at the announcement on Dust War’s Facebook page, and if you’re logged into Facebook be sure to ask any questions you have about the event.
At long last, Dust War has opened a YouTube channel! The first video is an unboxing of the Allies P-48 Pelican, in which OldHat takes a look at the new jet due in stores any day now in the US and in the next couple of weeks around the world.
The more Dust content, and support for that content, on YouTube, the better! Be sure to subscribe to the Dust War channel as it looks like more videos are on their way.
Last night, Dust War’s Levi Hill broke the sad news that Cameron Akers, co-founder of Dust War and known in the community as Iron Joe Galka, has passed away.
Akers was a pillar of the Dust community and helped to make Dust War one of the biggest, if not the biggest Dust resources on the planet. He was also instrumental in helping the Dust Warfare scene take off in the south-east of the US, including the organisation of two large tournaments, and was an enthusiastic SSU player, writing many articles about the Red Machine for Dust War.
He will be missed by many. Rest in peace, Iron Joe.
Iron Joe Galka has posted an article on Dust War about the recent announcement of Battlefront taking on Dust duties from FFG.
There are some conflicting reports whether Battlefront is taking over the ruleset for D:W, but information that I have received from trustworthy sources state that they will. The other option seems to be that Paolo Parente’s Dust-Studios will be taking over the ruleset – Olivier Zamfirescu posted in the official Dust Tactics group on Facebook, but didn’t really address either point.
The agreement with Battlefront kicks in on June 1st, and it seems Dust players are in for interesting times ahead!
OldHat has revisited another army list over at Dust War, this time the Chainsaws and Molotovs list for the SSU. However, it seems that molotovs (and, indeed, chainsaws) are out of fashion among SSU high command, and pincers are the new black.
While this new list sports less chainsaws, it does however have some nasty new tricks I think might make it viable. In fact, the new changes may well make it a viable option – certainly not the most competitive, but at least able to handle an all-comer style environment more favorably than its predecessors.
Have a nose at the list over at Dust War. Would you run it?
At Dust War, OldHat has posted a theorycrafting article which looks at a way to get multiple P-48 Pelicans, the new Allied aircraft from Campaign Book Icarus, on to the table.
That being said, this list struck me from the get-go as a rather unkind approach to the air war – total domination. Well, more correctly “Air Supremacy”, I suppose. The list uses this wonderful little upgrade to get itself not one, two, or three, but four attack aircraft on the table. A feat no other army can currently do! So now the Allies will rule the skies, as befits their fluff.
As of today the Pelican isn’t out yet (it’s still “on the boat”), but the article is worth a read anyway. The Pelican is definitely more than a match for the SSU and Axis aircraft!
At Dust War, Reichsmarschall Grot has posted an informative Spec Ops article in which he looks at artillery in Dust Warfare.
Yes I know it’s not in Spec Ops, but rather it’s a weapon rule. Regardless, Artillery is today’s topic. I’ve always thought the rules page for it was a bit too “wordy”, so the idea is to break it down a little. With 2 new mortar teams being released for Allies and SSU, and the Long Tom Mk2 I figure it’s a great time to freshen up on how to do it good and proper.
If you’ve scratched your head on how to use artillery weapons, or maybe haven’t tried the delights of indirectly raining down upon your opponents, hopefully the article will help you out!
Zombie Clown Car is an Axis list that, despite the wacky name, has a decent idea: put some zombies into a transport, move them up the board in safety, unload the transport, unleash the zombies. Now, Oldhat has revisited the list on Dust War in the wake of Icarus’s release.
Sigrid seldom finds a home in lists I work on – the main reason was because Laser Grenadiers were pretty awful and she seemed wasted elsewhere. Now though, her abilities as a wound-sink and point saver are nice, but that Berserk ability is just gravy. With the Suicide Squad tossing out Panzerfaust shots at any vehicles within 16” when they hop out of the Sturmprinz, you can’t go wrong having them re-roll, can you?
Of course, an example revised list is included. Interesting reading for fans of the weirder side of Dust Warfare, especially those who play Axis!
Over at Dust War, Iron Joe Galka has written an insightful article into the ups and downs of organising a Dust Warfare tournament.
This is probably both the easiest and the hardest to decide on. Fortunately, Fantasy Flight has made Dust: Warfare very tournament-friendly with the Tournament Rules/Battle Builder sheet available for download off of their web site.
We toyed with ideas for “jazzing it up” a little bit (I was quite fond of assigning Scenarios to different tables and assigning tables at random every round, but that was very quickly — and rightly — voted down) but in the end it’s really unnecessary. The tournament ruleset is pretty elegant and easy to follow, and it gives every player the same starting base.
The article covers things like format, participation and prizes, and will be useful to anyone planning to organise a local event of their own.
Two more articles have surfaced at Dust War, one about the new Allied Heavy Walkers from CB Icarus, and another about the Assault rule.
First up, veteran Allies player OldHat takes a look at the new Heavy Support Walker in all three of its forms: the Long Tom II, the Skysweeper and the Mobile HQ.
Of all the new Heavy Walkers, the Mobile HQ caught my eye first. Air Drop gives it some crazy potential. However, the most straight-forward in power has to be the Long Tom Mk II. Given an Observer Team with Pinpoint Observation, it is going to absolutely cause havoc to the enemy and force them to be very aware of units staying over 6” from one another.
Flick over the channel, and you’ll find Reichsmarschall Grot analysing the Assault special rule.
So as we already stated, Assault doesn’t give you a chance to attack but rather simply allows you to move up field and close with the enemy unmolested. There’s a few different situations where this can be handy, and one of them is major. If a normal move would leave you out of range to attack anyway, then Assault can allow you to safely close into range to react to them later.
All good stuff to increase your knowledge of the game!
Iron Joe Galka has posted a new article on Dust War in which he looks at SSU platoon upgrades from the three campaign books released so far.
Platoon upgrades. They are a very important part of the Dust Warfare process. They’re pretty invaluable in customizing platoons for your playstyle, and can add intriguing little twists in order to hopefully give your force the edge it needs in order to wipe the pseudo fascists or the capitalist armada off the table.
Useful stuff for any SSU player, especially if you’re not exactly sure on how a particular upgrade might work with your list.
Reichsmarschall Grot has posted a new article over at Dust War in which he takes a closer look at the Axis Horten HO-347 jet, aka the Fledermaus III and IV.
Here is where I feel the Axis really step up and show the world how to wage war good and proper. The Vier 20mm is still present, but the 75mm Kanone has been left off in lieu of a bomb rack. Carrying a payload of six 150kg bombs, the Horten is capable of making it rain like no other aircraft. Trading per unit payload for a higher count means getting to bomb more targets.
With Campaign Book Icarus already out in the US, and releasing around the world soon, chances are you’ll see some Axis aircraft on the table more often than you thought you would!
More content has appeared on Dust War, this time looking at cracked ground, and new troops for the Allies.
First up, newcomer to the site Zero takes a look at the Cracked Ground miniature bases from Dust Studio. These are actually made for Anastyr, the studio’s fantasy miniatures line, but they seem to suit Dust models, too.
The detailing on the bases is ambiguous enough that with a bit of color you can practically turn them into any different battlefield setting. They also work well just for basing heroes or other special units that you may want to stand out.
On the strategy side of things, OldHat sorts through some of the new Allied troops that you’ll find in your copy of Campaign Book Icarus.
On a last note for the Choppers – if you really, really want to get them into the fray, you can mount up a few onto a Mobile HQ and Air Drop it. With them riding on the outside, you can easily get within that magic 6″ range to unleash withering fire on the enemy. Sadly, this may be a one-shot thing, as they will most likely react and put paid to the Choppers. Sometimes, though, it is worth trading 13 AP for a much more dangerous unit.
OldHat does know his way around the halls of ASOCOM, and it seems the Allies have some interesting units arriving in the air war above Zverograd.
A couple of new articles have gone up at Dust War, one about the new SSU walkers in Icarus, and the other about acrylic tokens.
First up, OldHat has posted a review of the Litko token set for Dust Warfare. These are third-party tokens that match the ones in the Core Rulebook as well as the campaign books.
However, this is certainly the largest set out there and at 19mm wide, they are the smallest. The latter point, to me, was a plus. Big tokens take up lots of space and with so many effects bouncing around between vehicle damage, vehicle damage results, reactions, suppression, etc, it is nice to have a small, manageable stack of tokens over a heaping pile.
A few doors down, Iron Joe Galka takes a look at the final additions to Campaign Book Icarus for the SSU: the KV47 Demolition and Recovery Walkers.
Anyway, petty sour grapes aside, the R&D walkers are useful — and pretty much mirror the initial KV-47 release armament, although instead of a second weapon they have a Pincer or Monkey Wrench to enable the repairs. The R&Ds are V4/DC5 across the board and have the standard 6″ move rating.
The SSU certainly doesn’t have a shortage of unique, roleplaying walkers!
A couple of new articles have appeared at Dust War, one of which looks at the latest in zombie technology, and one that looks at falling heavy support walkers.
First up, Reichsmarschall Grot examines the latest Axis Blutkreuz Korps creations from Campaign Book Icarus, the Braineaters and the Heilige Tod.
Both units are Soldier 2 with Damage Resilient, and the Blutkreuz Ubertoten rule. This rule basically states that the unit never takes suppression markers, and that they can be joined by heroes both in the normal fashion, and by heroes with the Blutkreuz Zombie rule. So now we have armed infantry that are suppression resistant, but beyond that the purposing of the two units starts to diverge.
Meanwhile, OldHat looks at how the new Allied Heavy Support Walker can be combined with Air Drop in competitive lists.
The heart of both lists is the platoon upgrade Air Drop given to the new Mobile HQ from Campaign Book: Icarus. Inside, you put the Grim Reapers, while riding on the outside (dare I say shotgun?) are BBQ Squads w/ Sock & Tar. The former can hop out within 3” and be sure to be outside of 12” of the enemy and put down Suppression on up to three units with decent rolls.
Seems pretty effective!
At Dust War, Iron Joe Galka has a new article up in which he talks about some of the new SSU units from Campaign Book Icarus.
I’ll be talking about two “groups” of SSU reinforcements here; the Weapons Teams and what I affectionately call the Hot Wheels — the BR-47 Self Propelled Weapons Platforms. While these aren’t going to be flashy units to build a list around, they are more than adequate at fleshing out an army and increasing competitiveness. I dare say that there will be a few games played where these will determine the outcome.
Icarus isn’t just about the Axis and Allies, and the article will be useful to any SSU generals who are wondering what the new campaign book has for their army.
Iron Joe Galka has posted the next installment of the взаимодействие series at Dust War. In this one he looks at the aero walkers and what they can bring to your SSU army (and against your opponent).
The Nasty jokes tend to write themselves with the F variant, and to be sure Nastasia can be nasty to your opponent’s infantry if they wander into her 16″ death bubble. 12/9/8/7 against Soldier units can be devastating. She also does damage to Vehicles up to 5 at 5/4/3/2/1.
What Nastasia brings to the SSU forces that separates her from the non-Aero anti-infantry walkers is anti-aircraft capabilities.
A few army lists are also included to illustrate how an aero walker (or three) might fit into an SSU platoon.
Dust War has announced Dust Bowl, the next event in their 2013 tournament schedule (and nothing to do with the Team Fortress map of the same name). It’ll be a 300 AP affair and will take place on Saturday, April 20 (two days after Warfare’s birthday!), at Hit Point Hobbies in Aberdeen, NC.
Registration will be open soon for up to 24 players, so when it opens be sure to get in quick if you’d like to play! Keep an eye on Dust War and UF to find out when that happens.
If you’re eagerly waiting for Campaign Book Icarus to land in stores (I know I am!), you might want to take a look at the Icarus page previews that Dust War has obtained. One of the pages is a nice photo of an Icarus battlefield, and the other page features the new Aircraft Fortifications that you’ll be able to spend AP on.
These previews remind me of spoilers from the CCG world, and it’s great that FFG has allowed Dust War to give us a taste of the upcoming book.
At Dust War, Iron Joe Galka has posted the second part of his взаимодействие (it’s Russian for “synergy”) series, this time taking a look at the SSU’s medium walkers.
Don’t expect range from these ladies. Four of the six variants have 16″ or less range. The other two have 24″ range and artillery. I have discussed Nikita and her awesomeness before so that won’t come as a shock to anyone paying attention. Natasha brings a 24″ Howitzer on the field, but for the most part KV-47 variants get up close and personal.
A few army lists are included to give you some ideas for putting together an SSU list that includes the KV47s. The SSU walker corps certainly has some interesting options!