Superhero Saturday - Invaders Part 3

Spitfire, The Whizzer, and Silver Scorpion

Homegrown Thursday - Walker Bulldog, Jackson, and Weasel

I decided to go all US vehicles this week.

Hobby Wednesday - Using Pink Foam to Make Terrain

 So today I thought I would show some terrain making ideas. I like using pink foam for my terrain tool. I use a styrofoam cutter to cut and sculpt my object. There are 2 kinds of styrofoam cutters. First one is a string attached to 2 rods that allow it to heat up and cut the object this one is good for cutting out the main shape of the terrain. Second one is like the first picture below which is a single rod. This one can be used to get the basic shape and also used to sculpt.
First I would draw out the shape you want. Then cut the basic shape of the object. Next you would start cutting the edges to round the object out and add details to the object. Once your done I do not spray these with any kind of spray paint it will erode and you will not have a object anymore. Look at my examples below to show you ideas of how it's done. For the wall section I cut the basic L shape then I went in a cut a smaller wall section. Then I carved the bricks and concrete sections. next I cut the wall following a brick every other line while cutting down the wall.

Play by Play Mission: Destruction

So today's play by play is Destruction. The objective is for the attacker to make his way to the middle tile of the board. So here is the setup of the board. I am Allies and Defenders my friend Alex will be Axis and Attackers.

Turn 1 was nothing special just us moving on to the board and mode of his and my models moved twice. No firing happened in this turn.

 Turn 2 was still just a moving turn I moved closer to block off the entrance to hold my objective. Alex moved around the terrain as quickly as possible.

 Turn 3 was another moving turn almost all the units moved further in place on my side. My Hot Dog was the only unit that fired this turn he hurt 2 of Alex's Battle Grenaiders with the .50cal and .30cal MG. All of Alex's models moved close to my men.

 Turn 4 was a little more brutal but for Alex a lot more moving. My Hot Dog took out Alex's remaining 3 Battle Grenadiers. His Luther fired at my Hot Dog but not damaging it. Alex's Ludwig moved close to the objective.

 Turn 5 Alex won the iniative. His Ludwig fired at my Gunners I made 2 cover saves and lot one model. I returned fire and didn't land a hit on it. His Laser Grenadiers moved close but was block of LOS to my Gunners by his Ludwig. My BBQ Squad moved through my Gunners to unleash on his units. I dealt 2 HP to his Ludwig and 1 to his Laser Grenadiers. Sigrid took the hit. His Luther dealt 1 HP to my Hot Dog.

Turn 6 I won the iniative, my BBQ Squad Flamed the Ludwig destroying it. I also dealt 4 damage to his Laser Grenadiers. Alex killed off Sigrid and lost a guy. His Recon squad fired at my BBQ Squad killing 4 models. My Battle Grenadiers moved and fired at his Recon Grenadiers. He lost 3 models. His Luther dealt another HP to my Hot Dog. My Luther moved and Napalmed the Luther killing it.

 Turn 7 Alex won the iniative, he moved and shot with his Laser Grenadiers at my BBQ squad landing 1 HP and I took it on Joe. Joe and my remaining flamethrower killed off the squad. His Recon Grenadiers fired at my Gunners not landing a single blow and I did the same.

 Turn 8 I won the iniative, I moved my Gunners and fired then at Alex's Recon Grenadiers killing 1 of the 2 left. He returned fire not landing a hit. My BBQ squad moved in and finished off the remaining model with Joe denying him of cover. Victory to me.

Thoughts about this mission: If you are the Defender just sit and wait for them to come to you behind cover. If you are the attacker move as much as possible and fire as much as possible when you can. When I won this mission once I used the cover to my advantage and ran around the outer edges of the map. It in return made him come to me.
Hobby Wednesday will be out tonight I didn't want to spam you with 2 articles at once.

Dust Tactics Game Night in Las Vegas

No review today ran out of new units. : (
I just happen to stumble upon this but The Little Shop of Magic is having a Dust Tactics Game Night every wednesday starting tomorrow April 27th. It's on the calender if you want the info about it.

Dust Game in Philadelphia

There is a some people getting together this Saturday April 30 in Philadelphia, PA at Comics and More in King of Prussia Mall to play Dust Tactics. They want to get more people into the game and have it regularly so if your in the area and play Dust or want to learn how to play Dust show up. For more directions and phone numbers click here for the link to the stores website. It's also on the calender to more details.

Discussion Monday – Army Building with Operation First Strike Models

Today’s discussion is the 2 heroes for Operation First Strike Johnny and Stephan. These 2 are extras I would add to your army. First Johnny I would take his badass ability make you have unlimited UGLs or Demo Charges. You can put him with a BBQ Squad and allow them to just go on a fast frenzy of taking out walkers. While Johnny can be pretty useful Stephan can be just as useful. Give him to a Recon Grenadier squad and they have an anti tank weapon with them using his flamer and can double their movement in a single turn. I would never trade Joe or Sigrid for these 2 heroes but I would add a second hero if I needed to.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone if you celebrate it. I have a play by play to put up today I'll do it when I get to it later going to see relatives today.

Invaders Part 2

So next line up of Invaders. Part 3 will be next Saturday

Announcements - Weekend Events

Don't forget if your in Calinfornia, Pasadena area there is a tournament tomorrow at Game Empire.
If you are in England there is a Dust Tactics Demo going on all day saturday at Static Games in Glasgow.
If your in Virginia, Williamsburg area and Hampton Roads area there is a tournament at Groovy Gecko's Comics and Games. I will be attending this one.

The details for all 3 events are on the calender for phone numbers, addresses, and web addresses.

Homegrown Thursday - Churchill and Challenger

So today's tanks are 2 English tanks. Enjoy.

Hobby Wednesday - Flak Luther and Loth

So today is a simple technique flipping the arm so you can make a loth and a flak luther. Its really simple just pop out the pieces off the arms and turn them around to make them opposite arms. That way you can still make it a regular luther. I also as you can see figured out how to pop the hatches for the axis model I just rammed a nail through the hole in the bottom of the torso and lined it up with the hatch. I also bought and applied small stowages to the models also to give it more realistic look to them.

Tuesday Review – Command Squad

So today’s review is the Command Squads the Boss and Kommandotrupp both are equals in abilities and guns as their each other. The only difference is the amount of shots of the StG 47 versus and the Victory MG.

Pros:

Is a squad of guys rather than just a hero.

Has an officer who can reactivate a unit.

Has a medic who can fully heal a squad or hero.

Has a radioman.

Has a mechanic who can repair vehicles.

Can order indirect fire.

Decent Anti infantry

Cons:

Cannot be joined by a current hero to add wounds to the unit.

Can only have 1 (currently) for armor 2.

No anti tank.

They can only issue 1 order a turn.

Cannot heal itself.

If the radioman is removed some orders don’t work.

Tactics: Keep in them back behind cover for defenders. When a unit gets low move them close to the unit and let the command squad heal the unit. For attacker put them behind a walker and move them forward. That way the walker blocks LOS.

Discussion Monday – Army Building with Operation Cyclone Models Part 1

So today I am going to discuss army building with the new Expansions. Set aside the basics I discussed in the previous army building I would choose some of the newer walkers over the previous ones. The ones I would choose over the other is I would choose the Mickey over the Hot Dog, Bot Hunters and Panzer Killers over the Gunners and Battle Grenadiers, and depending on the points the MG squad and the Command Squad. So let’s discuss the first of the expansions, the Cyclone box. It comes with 2 Heroes, depending on which faction you choose is which one you can have in your force. I personally still like Joe over Rosie, his 4 dice for seizing the initiative. She is nice to use in your force she can repair a tank once per game and she has a 1/4 Bazooka. I just see Joe being more important. I would take her when I can afford 2 heroes. Manfred is a little different when choosing over Sigrid. They both I would say are equals in choosing. His assault and unlimited Panzerfaust can come in handy, while she has berserk and a laser pistol. When choosing these 2 I think I would go with Manfred because he’s cheaper, can damage Vehicles and once per game can make him and an entire squad more double. For the vehicles it’s a little harder to pick each one is so unique to use. When using the command squad I would pick Lothars and Steel Rains over Hot Dogs and Luthors. I would never choose a Steel Rain or Lothar over a Pounder or Ludwig. It all depends on your strategy though. Whether you want to move quickly to attack your opponent or wait for them to come to you. Defenders I would take Pounders, Hot Dogs, and Steel Rains, Attackers I would take Pounders, Steel Rains, and Mickeys. For the troops I would definitely choose the 2 Missile Launcher squads over the 1. They are only 1 or 2 points more than the other and they get 2 Missile Launchers instead of 1. Part 2 will discuss the command squads and the sniper squads when they are released.

Superhero Saturday - The Invaders Part 1

So today I thought I would do the Invaders. They are Captain America's first team and they fought the Nazis in the WWII. Since I already did Captain America I thought I would do his Sidekick Bucky. Also added is the android Human Torch and his sidekick Toro.

Hobby Wednesday and Show Off Friday

So today is a terrain piece I have been working on finishing to show you is a blasted Sherman tank. So what I did was take a sherman and put it together fully. Then I took some pliers and bent the track wheels on one side. This was to make it look like one side was severely damaged and one wasn't. Then I cut a track big enough to cover the length of the damaged wheels on the bottom wheels. I glued the whole thing to a base and started cut and gluing small track pieces to the base. Next I took a drill with a really big bit and on the good side I drilled 3 holes into the side but they were just enough to make an indention into the model not to pierce the model. Next I took a smaller drill bit and pierced the hull of the tank in the middle of where I made the indentions with the other holes. Then I took a dremel tool and a cutting blade and cut a asterisk looking cut into the damaged side's hull. I then took pliers and bend the plastic out to give it a look like the metal bent in the explosion. When I glued the turret to the top but slightly offset it. Then I bent the barrel.

And there you have it a nice looking 3D terrain piece for your Dust Tactics figures to fight on. I plan on using this as a 2 square tank trap.

Tips

I used a Tamiya Sherman model you can use what ever you want.

For the base I used tiles plastic card. If you get the right size you can just bend off the size you need without having to cut plastic and just use the other side of the tiles.

You can add tank stowages and more rubble to the terrain. I just left it bare for the instructions.

Homegrown Thursday - Axis Vehicles

So this week's vehicles are the Panzer I, the Puma Armoured Car, and the StuG III

Announcement

Sorry for the delay on articles. My girlfriend came to visit and I got a little distracted. I will post the cards tonight when I get home and I will post a hobby article tomorrow instead of some painted models. The reason is because the hobby article is a little bit of both.

If you would like to write some articles for tactics, battle reports, hobby stuff, cards, or anything about Dust send me an email.

Tuesday Review – The Mickey

So today’s review is the Mickey. The story about the Mickey is that it is named after Mickey the scientist/mechanic who developed the Allie walker that all the Allie forces use. This was the first of the walkers and was named after her by Joe because she designed it and because she sacrificed her life to save Joe and their force against Sigrid.

Pros:

Only new walker from cyclone that does not need to reload.

Has Fast ability.

Has Self Repair ability.

Very durable for anti-troop and anti-vehicle mostly vehicle.

It’s the cheapest walker so far.

Cons:

Range 5 on the Howitzer which can be countered with the Fast ability.

Only new walker in cyclone that doesn’t have indirect fire.

Sort of weak against vehicles.

Tactics: If you have a choice between a Hot Dog and a Mickey take the Mickey.

Discussion Monday – Upcoming Operation SeeLowe

So today I thought I would discuss Operation SeeLowe. It consists on Fast Walkers, a Space Marine and I Zombie Gorilla. The 4 new walkers coming out look amazing a lot different than any other walkers we have seen before for either side. For the axis they have 2 walkers the Heinrich and the Hermann. The Heinrich has 4 canons mounted to it while the Hermann has a huge laser cannon attached to it. I can only imagine what that thing will do to tanks and infantry. The allies have the Wildfire and the Honey. The Wildfire has similar armaments as the Heinrich. The Honey has 2 phaser weapons. Who knows what these are going to do but I would assume something awesome. Next on the list are OZZ 117 and Markus. OZZ 117 is a space marine looking Hero. He has a Flamer and a Rocket Punch aka Powerfist. It is a combat weapon with 1/2 on tanks. He has move 2 and Jump which I am not sure why he would need Jump unless armor 3 cannot fit through small spaces. Markus on the other hand is a brute. His fist do the same damage as OZZ. He has charge and 6 wounds that’s going to take a lot to get rid of him. Both of these Heroes have armor 3 which reduces some weapons damage to only 1 or 2 damage per shot. So far Operation SeeLowe looking really interesting and I can’t wait to see more.

Superhero Saturday - Last Members of the JSA Sandman, Spectre, and Hourman

So today I thought I would finish up the remaining member of the JSA. There will be a Play by Play tomorrow but, no articles from Monday to Wednesday have something to do those nights.

 

Show Off Friday

 Check out what theguildllc from the FFG forums painted and converted models. British Cruiser Tank styled walkers. They are really nicely converted. Another conversion he did was the British Rangers at the bottom using gas masks and British helmet heads. These are amazing models.