No Show Off Friday

Haven't had time to paint any figures due to trying to release the Red Blok Cards tomorrow and haven't seen any online to post about. If you have any painted figures take pics and email them to me.
Email is adamdeuell@gmail.com

Something Nice I Found on the site Dakka Dakka was a custom posed walker from His Master's Voice

The link to his gallery on Dakka Dakka is Here

No Homegrown Thursday

First off since the last couple of articles were posted a while ago, sorry if you affected or know someone who was affected by the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear problem in Japan.

Second there will not be new cards today for a reason. Saturday I am coming out with all the Red Blok vehicles from AT-43 for Russia, a fourth card for the Axis in the box, some new Dust models that I found for sale in Japan.

Third there is a Japanese hobby website that sell Dust models and right now they are having a sale. The pictures may not work or the website may be down due to the rolling black outs in Japan and they will be back up later. Make sure when you buy them you buy 1/48th ones not the 1/35th they will be too big and definitely not playable. Here He is also charging an extra 2% right now to support the victims in the earthquake and tsunami.

 The Baking Dog

Otto

 

Bergeluther

Mickey AFV

Hobby Wednesday – How to make your own board for extending your dust tactics battlefield

Things Needed:

Foam Core board bigger than 28cm x 1/4-1/2” thick

12”+ Rulers with metric units on it

Exacto Blade

Pencil or Pen

Laser leveler or another ruler
So today I thought I would show how to add extra tiles to your game.

1) Measure a 28cm by 28cm square on the board.

2) Measure 2 points on each side at 9.3cm apart on each side of the square.

3) Take your ruler and a pencil and draw your lines

4) Measure 4.6cm in the middle of each square on the sides.

5) Use the ruler and the laser leveler or another ruler and line up the points and put a dot where the 2 lines cross each other.

6) Cut the square out with an exacto blade.

You’re Done. For the most part you have a simple tile to add to your board. You can also add extras to the board if you would like. Prime it with white and lightly dry brush a blue on the white to give it a cold look.

Tips

- You can also make a tile yourself in Photoshop or some another art program and get it printed at Officemax then glue it to the board instead of painting it. I’d used rubber cement works well on paper and if the edges come up real easy to pull the edge back reapply glue and put it back down.

- I used foam core board (stuff presentations for science projects in high school are put on), you could also use masonite, thick plastic board, particle board, or just wood, but remember some of these materials can get really heavy if you have a lot of them. So remember to get thin boards rather than thick ones. If you want to get really fancy you could also use 11” x 11” canvases if you can find that size, this would make it somewhat framed, but you would have to do a whole new board.

A Few Updates

1) Put up some new scenarios I made. They are in PDF format and are on the Rulebook page. They are more for equaling out the game for tournaments and not having one sided games also one of them people should get a kick out of. I don't want to spoil it for you check it out yourself it the last one on the list.

2) New Game League for Dust Tactics starts March 26th at Game Master in Rowlett, TX on Saturdays starting at 11am. I put the information up on the Google Calender didn't see a website but they have a phone number and address.

Tuesday Review – Operation Cyclone Walkers

So today I am discussing the Lothar, the Mickey, and the Steel Rain. Each of these are the new artillery for Operation Cyclone.

Lothar

Pros:

Is an artillery walker

Can indirect fire

Does a devastating damage to both units and infantry

Cons:

Needs a unit with artillery strike ability to do indirect fire

Has a minimum range but has MG 44

Steel Rain

Pros:

Is an artillery walker

Can indirect fire

Does a devastating damage to both units and infantry

Can shoot the Missiles and can do a one shot at 12/1 to either tanks or units.

Cons:

Needs to reload

One dice for anti tank

Needs a unit with artillery strike ability to do indirect fire

Cannot Jump

Has unlimited range only on missiles

Has a minimum range but has .30cal MG

Limited Missiles

I plan on making the extra card they should have added to the Axis with the Luther that Sigrid uses but less armored that they have on dust models website.

Discussion Monday – Allie Army Building for Tournaments and Game Leagues

So today I thought I would discuss army building, since there has been some time for people to get units that are coming out and people are acquiring more than one box of dust tactics.

I went to a tournament a couple of weeks ago and it was 150pts and I brought Joe 2 recon squads 1 bot hunter and 2 pounders.  What did I learn by playing this? I should have taken the BBQ squad instead of the 2 recon squads. They would have brought a faster paste to my army and allowed me to win certain games. I played Destruction and I was 1 tile away from winning and even though I tabled my opponent I didn’t win the game. The only negative to my using the BBQ Squad would be that I have 2 troops instead of 3 and the recon squads took a look of fire power so my Bot Hunters and Walkers could do their job. If it was 200pts I wouldn’t have worried because I would have added a squad of The Gunners and a BBQ Squad.

There are some other options that probably wouldn’t be as affective would be 13 squads of Recon Boys and Joe or 5 Pounders.

There are a couple of things I would think of in this game.

1) Mobility – If you need to claim an objective you want to be as fast as possible otherwise you will never get there.  That is where the BBQ squad and models with fast and assault come in handy.

2) Fire Power – Your probably want an equal squad of anti tank and anti infantry. This is a tough one to make because almost every squad is one or the other. Things to consider would be using The Gunners rather than the Bot Hunters against a large infantry army. Those grenade launchers can add extra against troops.

3) Balance – You don’t want to focus on one type and have your opponent be the complete opposite and beat you every time you face him. Try combining as much as possible a good tool to go by is look at the starter box 1 hero 3 troops and 2 walkers. That way you can have a little bit of everything in the army.

Show Off Friday

Today's show off is from theguildllc on FFG forums. His non winter color scheme is really nice and gives some vaeriety in painting models. I also like the rocket squad with the Warhammer 40k heads they also give a variety and make each model unique.

Hobby Wednesday

There will be no Hobby Wednesday from me. Further note I will be out from today until Sunday going to Connecticut. I will try to get some cards done and schedule them before I leave so you guys can have some fun with those. Also I figure I will leave you with one of my favorite basing your model tutorials, its from Game Workshop and it is Winter basing.
Here

Tuesday Review - New Rules

FFG just posted this on thier site, it's the ruling for Badass.

The Allies’ Johnny One-Eye knows that sometimes the winner of a firefight is the one who brings the most bullets. His Badass skill means that the squad he commands will have plenty; anyone in his squad that would normally have limited ammo instead gains unlimited ammo! This does not, however, affect the number of weapons that can be used per activation.

with this being said Johnny now makes a really nice addition to your Recon Squads or Flamer Squad (But remember if he joins the Recon squad they lose fast) and give them unlimited UGL or Demo Charges. Too bad Axis doesn't have something like this.

Also the new rules for Operation Cyclone are out. A few things I noticed artilery will be nice in missions where you want your mech to sit behind cover and indirect fire. The multiple ammo is also nice you can fire all the missiles at once on the Steel Rain. The new tiles are very interesting and I like how they can add to the game play. The only thing I have against the expansion rulebooks is why would they repost some of the old rules. Like agile the only differences is that they put MOVE instead of the move symbol. Also command squads can only have heroes if the hero has Commander ability. Some other clarifications are brought up about the command squad also.

Also the new ruling for Tournaments requires atleast one hero in every army. That is kinda nice because it force people to take infantry for that hero to back them up and people cannot just use walkers or just use a recon squad and did any one notice both axis' and allies' female hero are the most expensive hero in thier faction I though thats was kinda funny.

Discussion Spot

Something I am not sure if people have noticed but I have a discussion section on here. It's for people to talk about Dust and what nots. Link is on the bar.

Late Sundays Play by Play

So here is the setup for the mission. I have to get my men to the 4th row of squares closest to my deployment at the bottom and hold there for 8 turns. While he has 3 squads to start off with and a Ludwig coming later.

I enter the table from the 3 squares at the bottom. MY friend deployed his laser squad with sigrid in the middle and the rocket and MG squads on each side.

So I decided to show turn 1 and turn 2 because it was just a bunch of movement. I only shot my pounder at the laser squad knocking most of the squad out. My flamer squad decided to chase the MG squad. My rockets try to come around and kill his rocket guys and my MG squad goes up the middle.

Turn 3 I win the objective and use my flamer squad to take out his MG squad. His rocket squad fires at mine and kills 3 guys. I return fire killing 2. Then his laser squad moves into hiding. My Hotdog moves closer to the rocket squad and kills another model. My pounder moves to the right to help the flamer squad with the second wave.

On turn 4 He win the iniative and fires his lonely rocket guy at my rocket squad failing to get a hit. I return fire killing the last guy. His laser squad moves back where they were and fires at my MG squad. His got hits on all my guys but I made 3 cover saves. I tried firing at the laser squad but no luck on getting a hit. His ludwig moved into position and fired at my MG squad but also no luck on getting a hit. My flamer squad double moved behind cover and my Pounder moved closer to the Ludwig.

Turn 5 He won the iniative and killed my MG squad. My flamer squad moved back a squad and his Ludwig double moved. My Hotdog double moved and the rocket squad moved behind them. My Pounder fired at the Ludwig not getting a Hit.

On turn 6 I won the initiative I moved my Hotdog closer and his laser squad popped out and the heavy  laser and used berserk to take it out with some lucky shots. My pounder fired its cannon at the Ludwig and the MGs at the laser squad. Killed the laser squad but did only one hit on the Ludwig. His ludwig returned fire killing my pounder. My rocket squad and flamer squad moved around the bored.

Turn 7 I moved and fired my flamer squad at the Ludwig not landing any hits. His ludwig fired at my flamers dealing a lot of hits but I made all by 2 for cover. My rocket squad stayed in place to win.

Turn 8 I tried again on firing at the Ludwig flamer failed but the democharges did 2 damage. He returned fire and killing 2 of the 3 left from last turn. Game ends and victory goes to me.

Operation Cyclone Rules

So operation Cyclone rules are out still no idea on want badass is for Johnny One Eye guess we'll have to wait and see and hope for the next one.

Here

Also new points for tournaments for the operation cyclone models.

Here

Also had some internet problems yesterday due to weather I am currently at work when I get home a play by play for yesterday will be up.

Discussion Monday – Dust Strategy Board Game

So today I thought I would discuss the other Dust game the “Dust Strategy Board Game”. This game came out before Dust Tactics has the same theme but is like Axis and Allies meets Risk and Stratego with some other rules add. The purpose is to gain mineral deposits to gain more units. The objective is to build up an army and conquer your opponents’ capitals and/or gain 70 victory points. The game has a bit of an RTS feel to it also due to all units cost points and you need to harvest these points. You can build land, sea, and air units to help you win your game. There are also cards these cards can help you win a battle or give you a special ability. These abilities can vary depending on the unit it’s being used on.  They also have neutral cities that have their own militia to defend from attack. If you like Dust Tactics and games like Risk I’d recommend picking up this game.

This game could also be easily used for a Dust Tactics campaign using the board game and a campaign rulebook like Warhammer 40ks campaign rules or something alike. You can make it to where each unit you build is represented by a unit on the board. You could start in areas only where the dust tactics map has you located. I currently am in the process of making one and will be posted on a future Thursday for rules and fun. A home rule map may need to be made due to the fact that currently Dust Tactics takes place in Antarctica and there is no Antarctica on the board also could make more spaces for a more exciting longer campaign.

Superhero Saturday - Flash and Green Lantern

So I bet when you saw Flash and Green Lantern you were totally thinking it was going to be the modern one, but you are very wrong. This is the JSA which the comic was in production right before WWII and is still in production.

Show Off Friday - Wolverine

Wolverine from HeroClix with military uniform on.

Homegrown Thursdays - Hellcat and Panzer II

Today is a little light on the tank side.

Hobby Wednesday – How to pop open your walkers’ hatch

Things you will need:

Your turret for or torso from the walker

a small blunt object like the end of a nail or something metal

Super Glue

1/48th Scale Figure or a Dust Tactics figure

Really simple but cool thing to do with your mechs. Just take your walker and use the nail and push the hatch on the top of the turret. It should be hinged so just pose it tac glue it to hold it in place. Then take a figure cut him in half and glue in the hatch to look like the tank commander.



Haven't gotten the Axis hatch open yet but still trying.

Dust League Night Tomorrow

Don't forget Dust Tactics League Night Tomorrow at Groovy Geckos it is a 6 week event every wednesday starting at 530pm and ends at 8pm

Tuesday Review – Johnny One Eye and Stephan

So today I am going to discuss the pros and cons of Johnny One Eye and Stephan from the game league kit.

Johnny One Eye
Johnny is a pretty sweet addition to the game.  So far we have no idea what Badass special rule is but he has a machine gun like the recon boys. The recon boys might be a perfect spot to add him in to the game.
Pros
The mysterious Badass rule
Machine Gun
Medium range weapon Hero
Good addition to a anti troop squad
Cons
No idea for now what Badass means
No anti tanks

Stephan

Stephan could bring a sweet strategy to your army. You could assault units quicker for one turn or move up to 4 squares in a single turn.
Pros
Flamer
Anti Tank and anti troop
Has assault ability which is nice for that flamer and can bring a unit with him.
Cons
Very short range weapons
Assault is once per game.

Discussion Monday – Dust Wars Comic

So I got the 2 other issues of Dust Wars the other day and decided to read them. It is pretty interesting because it shows Russia and Allies teaming up and not as enemies like in the actual WWII. This comic is a bit more PG friendly that Paolo Parente’s Dust. It has a little bit of blood and gore but nothing risqué as the other comic. It’s about mostly Bazooka Joe, Mickey a mechanic that’s working on building the robots for the allies, and a Russia pink hair female captain, Captain Koshka who is in love with Joe. This is when Joe and her first meet. You find out Joe was a bit of a prankster and a gambler. He was a cook for the secret military base in Europe. Mean while Mickey is trying to develop a walker for the Allies under secret while Joe tries to find out himself what she’s up to. While that is happening Koshka is patrolling a city when she gets attacked by a Gunther. It takes about 5 or 6 of the Russia walkers to take it out. Later Joe gets in trouble with the bases commander for gambling with the bases money, and is sent on patrol.  While on patrol Joe and Mickey are ambushed by Koshka who thinks they are Axis. They both find out they’re one the same side when it come to Sigrid and the Axis and they both  team up and ambush Sigrid’s convoy and stop her.

The artwork is top notch like the other comic series and the story it good for background knowledge of the heroes, especially Joe.