Anyone tried Dusk: Tactics?

[Col_Festus]

Hey guys, as the title states, has anyone tried Dust: Tactics? With the price increase of GW I was looking for something modern that was a little bit more skirmish style. I heard rumors that they are branching outside of the video game with aircrafts and other units being introduced? Anyone with information on this would be greatly appreciated.

[lattd]

I've played 4 games in the same time it would take me to play 2 2000 points games. I have to say it is fantastic and very tactical, and very quick to pick up rules wise.

The first game i played i was giving strategic advise to the guy teaching me so that shows how easy it is to learn.
Aircraft is coming I believe, however the rules are very flexible, apparently our club has made rules for necrons and eldar to play dusk.

[energongoodie]

I love dust Tactics. It's very different to 40k so there is no confusion or 'thats not how GW do it'. It's pretty fast and pretty brutal. It is still in it's early days which is fun as new units are being released quite regularly. The website over at Fantasy Flight Games is pretty good and their forum is building a bit of momentum now.
I'd be happy to answer any questions you've got if I can.
I've only had 11 games so far but I have read the rule books and campaign books thoroughly. I've posted a few bits on BOLS about it before. Just search for Dust Tactics on the forums and see what comes up.

I'm gonna be starting a Dust Tactics painting log as soon as I get some time off work.

[Col_Festus]

Thanks for the quick replies guys!

A few starter questions about buying things.

1) Do you have to use a gaming board? is there a way to make your own board or do you always need the hex map?

2) Are there more than just 2 armies? I saw on their website something about soviets?

3) Are there fixed scenarios or is it just kill/be killed?

4) are they planning to expand this into a full fledged miniatures game? It seems almost like they are testing the waters with the box set.

Thanks!

[lattd]

The starter kit provides a tiles which make a board. However its two different boards in one and you can build scenery for it.

Only two armies but a lot of flexibility in the models they have produced so far.

Fixed scenarios theirs a campaign in the book which is good.

It is a fully fledge game but is very new hence why it seems a bit small they will be expanding it in soon i do believe and they are pumping out minis.

[The Green Git]

Thanks for the quick replies guys!

A few starter questions about buying things.

1) Do you have to use a gaming board? is there a way to make your own board or do you always need the hex map?

2) Are there more than just 2 armies? I saw on their website something about soviets?

3) Are there fixed scenarios or is it just kill/be killed?

4) are they planning to expand this into a full fledged miniatures game? It seems almost like they are testing the waters with the box set.

Thanks!

Dust Tactics is fantastic and refreshingly fun to play. Easy to learn, hard to master!

To answer:

1. The base box comes with the base board which is squares. There's nothing to stop you from marking 4" squares on as big a mat as you want. One guy used bed sheets and made 4x6 game boards that fold up!

2. Two armies to start, Axis and Allies. There are planned expansions.

3. There are campaign books both in the base game and in the expansion set. There's also rules for random games set up.

4. There are persistent rumors of a full fledged free form miniatures rules set coming out, but frankly you could easily adapt the base game with some simple rules additions. It is likely but truth be told the rules with the square tiles are elegant, simple and keep the game flowing quickly. No need to measure range, movements and LOS is easy to figure out. Why complicate things when they work well already?

[energongoodie]

1. It is a board game at the end of the day so the bored is important. Each board section is made up of 3x3
3inch squares (I think) and you put these together to form bigger boards of squares. Movement and range is based on squares. There is no reason you can't make your own though.

2. At the minute there are only the Axis and the Allie forces. It is based on the Dust Universe as seen in comics and the board game Dust ( not Tactics) so we are hoping for Russian and Japanese forces.

3.There are scenarios/campaigns in the boxed game and the expansion, Operation Cyclone. You can just play to kill or tackle the campaigns set out in the booklets. The new expansion will also have scenarios/campaign as well as introducing suped up **** gorillas and powered armoured yanks.

4. If you check the website [url]http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_minisite_sec.asp?eidm=123&esem=2[/url]
you will see all the expansions so far, including extra tanks, snipers, commanders, artillery tanks etc.

I'm lovin it

[Lane]

It's a board game, great minis but still a board game.

Movement is from grid square to grid square.
Line of sight is from square to square.

you could play just as well with scraps of paper marked with the squad type.


Would like to see it expanded to a real war game and options for vehicles other than walkers.

[energongoodie]

you could play just as well with scraps of paper marked with the squad type.

Hows that different to anything else? 40k would still work with card board cut outs of figures on bases. You could have a shoe box as a Land Raider. Figures make the game a lot more fun and dust has some nice figures.

[wittdooley]

We bought this the other day, and it passed the "wife test." She really enjoyed playing it, and went out and bought a walker expansion on her own. She will not play 40k or Warmahordes, though she does dabble in boardgames with me. I didn't expect her to like it, and she really did.

I think D:T is a GREAT intro to the hobby. The games are fast enough that you can play multiple in one session, or can play a quickie for some filler. The rules are very clear with good examples (the rules overview insert is great; I wish they'd have provided two instead of one) and the game looks nice on the table.

Further, the expansion boxes are really, really reasonably priced. Online, you're looking to pay about $2 per minature, which we all know is super-low for this hobby. Sure, they're not as nice looking as the new GW plastics, but they look plenty nice (think AT-43 quality, as they're nearly the same). The walkers are also really well priced, and can be had at less than $20 online.

I'm actually going to demo it for a buddy tonight, but I wholeheartedly recommend it. It doesn't replace any of my measure-and-move miniatures games, but it fills a void quite well.