firstblood - dust-vikings - dust...
TRANSCRIPT
april 2017
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ContentsThe Dust Monthly Crew .................................................................................3The First Blood.................................................................................................5Updated Forums............................................................................................19Sailors out of Marines.....................................................................................20Immobilized....................................................................................................24Immobilized ...................................................................................................27Sands of Babylon.............................................................................................39Target of Opportunity ...................................................................................52Painting Challenge...........................................................................................54The Tulcin Incident.........................................................................................70Building It........................................................................................................87Dust Community............................................................................................93
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This issue of DUST Monthly Magazinewas brought to you by:
Editor in ChiefJoe McLaughlin
ContributorsKrzysztof Kaczurba
Joel HillhouseDaniel Woodley
MagnusBob Sennick
Eric L Johnson
Names and artwork are © 2015 Dust Ltd. All Rights Reserved.Dust Tactics, Dust Tactics: Battlefield & Dust Warfare and their logos are trademarks ofDust Ltd.Images and trademarks used with permission.
The Dust Monthly Crew
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editorialLast month, my local gaming group was returning from Dust World Expo. We had justspent about three days of nonstop gaming. We had spent the previous weeks play testingscenarios and getting our armies painted. We had practiced with various armycombinations to get ready for the tournament. Patrick Doty himself had spent countlesshours before and during Dust World Expo to make the event a success.
We were driving eleven hours back home, and we were tired. While stopping for lunchwe discussed what activities we would be doing in the upcoming weeks, from a gamingperspective. We all agreed that we needed a break from Dust and we would take sometime off.
That lasted about a week.
The DWE event had us all so fired up about the game, and Paolo’s presentation aboutupcoming releases refueled our enthusiasm for the game. In the past month, we havegotten several new people introduced to our local gaming group and brought back somefamiliar faces.
Patrick Doty, our resident game master, who had sworn to take a break from Dust after allthe work on Operation Kondor for DWE, was already working on his next big idea:redoing the Zverograd campaign. We just started this campaign and we are all veryenthusiastic for it. I’ll be covering more about this campaign, and Patrick’s uniquecampaign rules, in next month’s magazine.
This month, we have some great articles on painting and a few custom scenarios. We alsohave a report of another Zverograd campaign out of Europe. As always, I hope you enjoythe magazine.
Joe McLaughlinApril 2017
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the Tarmac Avenue Battle by Krzysztof Kaczurba (Dustbrothers.pl)
Intro
I have published the new battle report on my blog dustbrothers.pl mid of the February2017. I have prepared it only in Polish, thus I thought that it would to publish in the DustMonthly translated version with some bonuses and additional comments Monthlyspecially for you my Dust Friends J .
Dust1947 Zverograd Campaing
This report was about the battle which I attended under “Dust1947 ZverogradCampaing”. Before I will go to the battle report let me write few words about campaign.It was organized by Marcin Jakubczyk from Poland Dust Team to boost our localcommunity and motivate players to be more active. Aim of the campaing is dominationin Zverograd. Marcin devided Zverograd city in almost 30 sectors. At the begging part ofthe city was controlled by AXIS, SSU and ALLIES, but part of sectors were out of controlof any fraction.
By Krzysztof Kaczurba
The First Blood
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To achieve ambitious target we have to play a number of battles. Each battle is about gainingcontrol over next sector in Zverograd. Marcin proposed rules concerning army (max. 125points) and map creation (e.g. different rules for urban and forest sectors). Moreover heprepared dedicated maps for special sectors and special events which may change globalrules each week (e.g. Lack of fuel which impacts on availability of big vehicles, the weatherconditions, etc..). We like his concept and now at least few battles in week are conductedunder “Dust1947 Zverograd Campaign” scenarios.
Special Scenario – the Tarmac Avenue Battle
Battle report is about one of these battles which based on special scenario. It’s called “theTarmac Avenue Battle”. The Tarmac Avenue is main highway in the city. Fraction whichcontrol this avenue can easily attack east and south sectors of Zverograd.
Because it’s the strategic location fractions can use bigger 200 points forces. The sector lookslike the highway with four building on both sides and just a few trees. Each opponent canplace on green fields of the battlefield 1 anti-tank trap, 1 infantry cover, 1 minefield, 1 barbedwire. Players start from opposite narrower edges. The winner has to control more buildingsat the end of the 8 turn. If opponents control these same number of buildings than battle winthe player who eliminates more army points of the counter-partner army.
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Preparation
Axis send the 1st Mix Grenadier Battalion to take control over the Tarmac Avenue. Theheadquarter expected that this cheeky move may open direct access to attack south sectorscontrolled by SSU (incl. SSU HQ sector at the end of map).
But HQ made mistake cause AXIS intelligence reported presence of regular red army andsome airborne components.
Taking into account this information the battalion were organized into three infantrycompanies and one mix fire support company. Additionally the fighter-bombing pack wereassigned to the battalion to secure air superiority. Structure of the 1st Mix Grenadier Battalion:
1st Company Manfred
Lieutenant Colonel Manfred Kreuzer, Sturmgrenadier Command Squad, SturmgrenadierRecon Squad, Sturmgrenadier Recon Squad, Sturmgrenadier Tank Hunter Squad,Sturmgrenadier Observer Squad
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2nd Company Lara
Lieutenant Lara Walter, Heavy Grenadier Command Squad, Heavy Grenadier Anti-Aircraft Squad, Heavy Grenadier Anti-Tank Squad, Heavy Grenadier Assault Squad
3rd Mercenary Company Tanya
Sister Tatyana Fedorova, Mercenary Cleaning Team, Nurse Emma Donovan, Wrecker
4th Fire Support Company
Herman, Lothar, Nadya (captured vehicle)
Fighter-Bombing Pack Imperator
HO-357 VII Blitz, HO-347 IV Falke
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Surprise
Axis was totally surprised when the forefront of Grenadier battalion spotted Steel Guardsand Red Guards veterans with strong heavy support. Axis had to fight with the best SSUunits which were available in Zverograd. Following units were led by Piotr and his “WinterChild” Superhero:
Winter Child, Nurse Emma, Koshka, Red Yana, Matrioshka, Matrioshka, Nadya, Natalya,Mikhail, Red Army Battle Squad,
Red Guards: Red Guard Command Squad, Red Guard Anti-tank Squad, Red GuardAssault Squad, Red Guard Assault Squad,
Steel Guards: Guai-Lo, Steel Guard Command Squad, Steel Guards Assualt Squad, SteelGuards Snipers Squad, Steel Guards Snipers Squad, Steel Guards Anti-Tank Squad, SteelGuard Tesla Squad.
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The First Turn - Reconnaissance
Grenadiers started the battle despite of unpleasant surprise. After the first turn both armiescreated front line for further actions. SSU consolidated the most of units in the middle ofavenue and left flank, while Axis tried to stretch line on both flanks. To avoid any longdistance attack by Matrioshka walkers Grenadiers used three smokescreens.
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The Second Turn – Planes Assault
Axis decided to stop march of SSU Guards using air superiority. Both machines, Blitz andFalke, were involved into this mission. Blitz were focused on attack Nadya walker whenFalke used all bombs and machine guns to eliminate Guai-Lo hero.
Unfortunately both attacks weren’t so successful as it was expected. Falke was quite closebut Guai-Lo still had one life point and Steel Guard Commando Squad wasn’t even scratch.Blitz attack brought only one successful unsaved hit which was definitely not enough to stopNadya.
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This Axis action only slowed down march of Guard forces and Grenadiers were able to gainadditional two buildings. Steel Guards and Winter Child answered on Axis move, bothplanes were shoot down and Grenadiers lost tactical advantage.
Moreover Grenadier Officer had no luck and failed all officer „Get Moving You Bunch ofMonkeys” actions. It turned out very critical for upcoming actions.
Third Turn - Manfred Suicide Mission
Steel Guards started the third turn with taking next building. That was moment when SSUand AXIS forces stood directly opposite each other. Manfred found the way how to an-swer on this situation. Together with Recon Grenadiers, using “Move&Fire” ability, heassaulted next building and eliminated Red Guards Assault Squad and one of Matriosh-kas.
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That was very risky action, cause his team was at the first line without any support. He gota few blows but stayed on position. It was mistake, rather than withdraw and use Emma tocure the unit, their stayed there for certain death. That’s how Axis lost the first assault team.
Mine while smokescreens disappeared and Wrecker was visible for SSU walkers withoutany cover. It was eliminated after one salvo of the second Matrioshka. The Recon Grenadiersanswered it using all Panzerfausts and Matrioshka exploded as well. Nevertheless SteelGuards moved forward despite the exchange of blows.
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Another attempt to stop Steel Guards was assault led by Lara and Heavy Assault Grenadiers.This action were supported by captured Nadya. Nadya frightened little but walker waseliminated by SSU Natalya, whereas Lara with her team stormed inside building with SteelGuards, eliminated Sniper team and heavily wounded Anti-Tank team. Axis still had a hopeto win…
Fourth turn – the God of War
SSU again had initiative. Winter Child attacked Lara Team and Axis squad had to moveback. Heavily wounded team was attacked again by Steel Guard Assault team. The answercame immediately and Anti-Aircraft Heavy Grenadiers kill all Steel Guard Assault soldiers.Unfortunately at this moment Natalya assaulted rest of Lara team and eliminated the secondcore assault unit of Axis.
Offensive operation led by Tanya was the last significant action conducted by Axis forcesduring this battle. Despite of high determination there was no possible to regain theinitiative. Tanya had to withdraw. After withdraw of Tanya team I had a chance to useEmma medic abilities. She is good !!! Very useful hero who will be used very oftenduring my next battles.
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During the fourth turn Axis finally used artillery but without any significant success.Moreover Axis HQ had some potential for additional skirmishes but strategic position wasunfavorable. Realistic perspective was the crushing Axis units by Winter Child, Gaui-Lo,the rest of Steel Guards and Red Guards units. In such a case Axis Headquarter decided towithdraw the rest of forces from the Tarmac Avenue which is now under elite SSU Guardscontrol.
There is no discussion, there is only one the God of War !!!
Conclusions & lessons learn
That was one of the best battle, which I ever played. First of all I like games when bothplayers play fair-play with full respect and friendship climate, and that’s always when I playwith Piotr (Our SSU Master). We had lots of fun that February evening. I thank you for thisopportunity and look forward another challenges.
Dust 1947, especially with bigger army sets opens new possibilities. Both armies haddifferent components and at least two platoons. For sure it impacted on whole game, somesurprising cases and plot twists. Of course it wasn’t my perfect game concerning strategicaland tactical moves but it’s only game J
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At the end I have listed the lessons learnt conclusions:
· Sometimes it’s good to withdraw unit in aim to heal or repair. Manfred couldmake more if he would stay longer.
· If you play against Steel Guards don’t distracting fire. Both planes should attackGuai-Lo to eliminate him.
· Emma is great and very useful hero.
· Smokescreens are very important, they can changed battlefield. It’s worth to use itand be ready to use again after two turns.
· I recommend Axis Sturmgrenadiers and Heavy Grenadiers platoons if you playmore than 100 points. Higher probability to reactive unit in these platoons rebal-ancing cost of units versus cheap but less protected Specnaz, NDAK, etc…
· Always batter is to have several alternative scenarios for your forces on table. Icouldn’t use Lothar artillery so I placed smokescreens where it was possible.
· Dust 1947 is much more advanced vs. Dust Tactics and much more attractive withseveral additional elements like platoons, fractions, special rules, etc. I’m prettysure that now it’s game for table-top maniacs and casual player like me as well.
I hope you like this article. If you have any suggestions or comments don’t hesitate tocontact with me via my blog Facebook profile(https://www.facebook.com/dustbrotherspoland/ ) or email ([email protected] )Regards
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We have had the Dust Monthly Forum up for several months now. A few months ago, the site begangetting a lot of spam attention, both in the form of a deluge of membership requests and ininappropriate content being posted. Keeping up with this spam was becoming a serious challenge forme, as I was also busy working on the magazine and several other projects.
Fortunately, I was rescued by a fellow member of our Dust Community.
Magnus, who goes by MaGoff on the forums, reached out to me and offered assistance. He had donesome work on setting up other forums, such as the Dust Vikings forum, and was familiar with theforum software and spam prevention. I readily accepted his offer for assistance and granted him adminprivileges and freedom to make whatever changes he liked.
Magnus did a great job. He cleaned up the spam and eliminated the constant bombardment ofspammed membership requests. He also changed the layout of the page to something more appropriatefor color blind challenged users. Finally, he added an event calendar and a photo gallery.
We are going to continue to add more content and material to the forums and Magnus definitely helpedme get the forum out of a slump. Thank you Magnus for a great job and I hope all of you reading thistake an opportunity to check out the updated forums.
The forums are available at: www.sacdust.com/SMF
By the way, you can hear Magnus on the Dust War Chronicles podcast, which just released its fifthepisode.
By Joe McLaughlin
Updated Forums
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Dixie cups made easy
I know the title sounds a bit like an episode from a cooking show
When I started working on my USMC I had decided I wanted a few Seabees and aCorpsman represented in my force. Historically they would wear the same gear asMarines and for the most part indistinguishable but I was going for a comic book look soI wanted the sailors to look like Sailors therefore they needed their iconic Dixie cup hats.Looking around online I was unable to find any sailors in 1:48 scale to pilfer the headsfrom for conversions. The only thing left to do was make my own, so it was off to getthe green stuff and sculpting tools.
The basics of how I do my head swaps can be found in the September 2016 issue of DustMonthly. I also won't be going into the basics of working with green stuff since there areplenty of videos and guides to be found online using a little Googl-Fu but for those ofyou already familiar with the tools, let's get cracking.
By Joel Hillhouse
Sailors out of Marines
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Step A) roll a little ball of green stuff about the size of the top of the head.
Step B) Flatten the little ball of green stuff over his head and roll it down over the top ofthe forehead and down the back and sides a bit. You want to wind to with it appearing tohave a bowl haircut and looking like Moe from The 3 Stooges. Don't worry about it beinga little too thick on the sides or down too far as we’ll be trimming it later. Leave the greenstuff to sit for 5 minutes or so to set up a little
Step C) Now that it's set up a bit smooth the surface with a little water. Then using asculpting tool (or Xacto knife or needle) lightly scribe lines into the top to represent theseams of the hat dividing it into evenly spaced wedges, and up near the top of each wedgepoke it to represent the vent holes. Then set it aside to finish curing, you want to make surethat it won't still be a little soft and mush up your work so far I usually let it set for at least12-24 hours.
Step D) one the green stuff has completely cured take your hobby knife and trim the GSaround the sides, front and back almost flush with the head. You may also want to neatenup any bits that went too far down.
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Step E) roll out a ribbon of green stuff on a smooth surface with just the tiniest bit ofVaseline to keep it from sticking. Make sure not to get it on the upper surface since youwant this to be a little tacky to attach to the upper part of the hat, I only use a tiny bit ofwater for this. Cut the ribbon into lengths long enough to wrap around the head without tomuch overlap on the ends.
Pictures E-F) Using your tools blend the two ends together and then flatten and smooththe rest of the brim of the hat. Use a flat edge to go around the top and smooth it out. Lastgo around the top and make sure there is a separation between the brim and the top like inpicture H. Any minor imperfections and corrections can be sanded later after the greenstuff has hardened.
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When that's all done all that's left is to pop the head on the figure and paint it up.
USN Corpsman Brian Sherry with his warface on ;)
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Story
There was a major armored battle all day yesterday and into the night. The battledragged on for hours until both sides withdrew from the battlefield with no clear victor.Your infantry company has received distress calls from friendly vehicles that aretrapped, immobilized on the battlefield. They report enemy infantry with anti-tankteams in the vicinity. They also report several enemy vehicles likewise immobilized inthe area.
Your orders are to enter the battlefield and defend your friendly vehicles whiledestroying as many immobilized enemy vehicles as possible.
Summary:
Each player has two friendly vehicles on the map which are immobilized. Similarly, theenemy has two immobilized vehicles on the map. The objective is to protect the friendlyvehicles while destroying the enemy’s disabled vehicles.
Force Selection:
· Each player will choose 100 points for his force, plus any bonuses for a factionarmy.
· Players cannot have aircraft in their list.
· Each player must have exactly two vehicles in his army list. This can be any vehi-cle (including captured vehicles) except for vehicles with command abilities orartillery.
· Aside from the two vehicles, the remainder of the list must be infantry, of anytype.
A Custom Scenario by Joe McLaughlin
Immobilized
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Victory Conditions:
· If one player destroys both of his opponent’s vehicles, and still has one of his vehicles operational, he immediately wins the game.
· If the game goes to turn eight and both players have vehicles still on the table, thenvictory is calculated by adding up unit points. Each player calculates his victorypoints by doing the following:
o Add up the value of all surviving friendly vehicles.
o Add up the value of all destroyed enemy vehicles.
· The player with the highest victory point score wins the game.
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Special Rules:
The vehicles in this scenario are all immobilized due to damage. The crews have donefield repairs to get them back to full hit points and all weapons are operational.
It is not possible to “fix” the vehicles to make them mobile again.
If a vehicle takes damage and becomes immobilized due to this damage, ignore the result,but do not reroll for a new result.
The vehicles can still take turns, but obviously can only take attack actions.
Vehicles are still affected by under fire, suppression, stunned, etc.
Designer Notes:
Since this is supposed to take place after a major vehicle battle, use other vehicles asdestroyed vehicle terrain pieces. These destroyed vehicles will have no game impact, butbe simply terrain pieces for aesthetics.
Force selection is going to play an important part of this scenario. One player mightselect to minimize his vehicle choices so that he can maximize his infantry footprint. AnAllied player might select two Wildfires as his two vehicles. At 7 points apiece, he stillhas 86 points for infantry.
However, the Axis player might pick a Hanomag (5 points) and a Konigsluther (20points). He only has 75 points for infantry, but he has a tremendous advantage in thegame. At the start of the game, he’s winning 25 to 14. (Adding the cost of his survivingwalkers) Even if the allies destroy the Hanomag, he’s still winning 20 to 19. All hereally has to do is sit back and defend his Konigsluther.
If the Allied player changed one of his vehicles from a Wildfire to a Pounder, he wouldstart the game losing at 25 to 20. However, now all he needs to do is destroy theHanomag (or the Konigsluther) to win the game.
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This scenario is very interesting as it places a big restraint on army selection and forcesyou to make an important choice, how many points to commit to your immobilisedvehicles. One strategy is to opt for very low AP vehicles, allowing you to field a largeinfantry force in order to overrun your opponent. The danger of this strategy is that ifyour opponent does come within range or your vehicles they will likely be destroyedvery easily.
Alternatively, by committing a lot of your AP to the vehicles you can ensure that theyare far harder to destroy, but that's going to leave you with less infantry to work with anda lot of points invested in vehicles that may not directly participate in the action.
Pre Battle Axis - Graystoak
I opted to invest my points in one large and one medium vehicle. I also took theopportunity to field two walkers that I had not used before but felt would be able todefend themselves well against the inevitable waves of infantry that they would befacing.
Battle Report by Daniel Woodley
Immobilized
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With this strategy in mind my first choice was the Sturmkonig.It's high output against infantry combined with the 'Advanced Reactive Fire' rule shouldallow it to defend itself against units attempting to engage it.It's expensive at 22 points but the cost may be a benefit if I keep it alive!
For my second vehicle I selected the Flakluther. For a reasonable 15 points this vehicle hasdecent armour, can take a fair amount of damage and will be putting out a lot of diceagainst any infantry who try to engage it.
I based my infantry selection around my usual Sturmgrenadier platoon as I knew thatevery unit would be capable of targeting the enemy armour if required, and I felt that theirplatoon advantage of a free reactivation attempt might come in handy. I also added aHeavy assault Grenadier squad to defend my walkers from the waves of Soviet infantry Iwould be facing. As all of my units are from the Wehrmacht I also gained the 10% Herobonus which I used to include my favourite hero, Manfred.
My strategy was to play the long game. I would deploy in a refused flank formation withone of my walkers tucked as far into a corner as I could get it and the other positioned theminimum 24" away covering the far flank. The infantry would deploy defensively aroundand between the two walkers.If Fil advanced his infantry towards me I would target them from my defensive positionwhere my range advantage would quickly tell on his units. Once I had softened up his in-fantry I would advance my own in order to deal with his vehicles as necessary.
This strategy would rely on my opponent having to come to me early on and by investing alarge chunk of points in my vehicles this was a likely possibility. However, having playedFil for many years, one thing I know is that he is something of a 'Tread Head'. My concernwas that Fil might opt for two Super Heavy Tanks and that their combined cost would begreater than the cost of my own vehicles. In this instance I would be forced to go to him inorder to win victory points. For this eventuality I had a plan B.
If the SSU didn't come to me then Manfred and the Sturmpionere would go to them. Thisunit/hero combination is a favourite of mine. The 'at the double' rule allows for rapidredeployment, ensuring the unit can get into a position where they pose the maximumthreat. Once positioned Manfred's 'move and fire' skill combined with 'fighting spirit'allows you to get the drop on your opponent and hit them hard. Four Panzerfaust and, if itgets into range, a flamethrower, will make short work of any vehicle, even a super heavyone!
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Sturmgrenadier Platoon
Manfred (free -9)Command Squad - 12 (Platoon Leader)
Recon Squad - 10Recon Squad - 10Tank Hunter Squad - 8Engineer Squad - 9Heavy Assault Squad - 14
Jagdloki - 15Sturmkonig - 22
Pre Battle SSU - Fil
So, for the first time my regular playing partner and I are going to try a new missioncreated by the editor of this very magazine, Joe McLaughlin. Aving read through the briefa couple of times I felt that I would struggle a bit with this one as my troop based anti-tank weaponry is quite short range.
I first started with my choice of vehicles. I always have at least one Natasha in my lists,always. This time, seeing as I was limited to 2 immobilised vehicles that had to survivethe whole game, I thought I’d look elsewhere. I started by looking at IS tanks. The IS-5AMao tank seemed like a very good choice, rolling lots of dice in attack but what drew meto it was the advanced reactive fire and of course damage resilience. However 22 pointswas a lot to sink into an immobilised vehicle and I wasn’t sure I would be getting LOS.For my other vehicle choice I decided to stick with my fateful Natasha. So 31 points onvehicles on to the troops.
Here I started by making a quick list of all the troop choices I owned, I also had an ideato try and fit a platoon in somewhere. I quickly realised that I didn’t have enough troopsin any faction for the 10% bonus without using more vehicles than allowed. I started byadded my normal first choice units, a command squad, 2 close combat squads and abattle squad, 32 points. I had a quick glance at the Steel guard, I have multiple units and Ihave been itching to use them, however not only are they high in points but their specialrule is not really necessary on a cover heavy board. So I had a good long look at theplatoon rules and came across the Red Guard Platoon. 3 turns of “wave attack”, yesplease. A command squad, 2 anti-tank squads and an assault squad were jotted down,also 32 points in all!
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So totalling up I’d spent 93 points, almost there. Then, I had a thought. I didn’t really havea lot of anti-armour options. The only troop units I had left were Spetsnaz. I thenremembered that it would be a cover heavy board, great for solder 1’s. So I had a look atthe cards, anti-armour weapons everywhere. A kill squad weighed in at 7 points, perfect.But what about the anti-tank squad and the Saboteur squad, seemed a bit of a shame toleave them out. Hmmm!
At this point I must confess I opened a cool beer and stared at my list for a good 15minutes trying to form a tactic in my head and all I could think is how on earth am I goingto be able to hide a IS tank from Graystoak’s vehicles and could I justify spending 22points on an immobilised vehicle, albeit a tough one. So, just to put my mind at ease Iswapped out the Mao for a second Natasha to see what else I could get. This freed up 13points, hang about, how much did those 2 Spetsnaz squads come to, 13 points you say,Hmmmmm!
So repeating my last I opened another beer and had a think on a plan. I felt much betterwith the second list and a plan quickly formed. The 2 command squads would move towithin range 1 of the vehicles, from here I could repair them if needed between issuingorders. The rest of my army would rush forward and move past my vehicles to attack theenemy, using as much cover as possible. My plan is not to engage the vehicles at first butGraystoak’s troops, I should massively outnumber him, once I have slowed his advance,hopefully I’ll have enough left to deal with the immobilised tank objectives.
Here is my list in full.
2 Kv47 Natasha’s 18
Red Guard Command squad 112 Antitank squads 141 Assault squad 7
Red Army command squad 102 Close combat squads 16Battle squad 6
Spetsnaz Saboteur squad 5Spetsnaz Kill squad 7Spetsnaz Antitank squad 6Once we had exchanged Army lists a couple of things became apparent. Firstly Fil’s unitsoutnumbered me almost two to one! This meant that, secondly, I would be playing plan Aafter all. I would also be saying “pass” a lot!
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While the sheer amount of infantry I would be facing was daunting, the SSU’s ability todestroy armour 5 & 6 walkers was limited. Fil would have to throw his units into the meatgrinder in order to get the few units that could harm my vehicles, close enough to do so.My Sturmkonig alone was worth more than the two SSU walkers combined. Fil wouldeither need to kill it or kill the Jagdloki without losing either of his Natasha's. Thisseemed like a tall order so long as I kept my cool and prioritised the Sturmkonigssurvival.
Deployment
I won the initiative roll and decided to choose table edge and deploy first, placing theSturmkonig as far into the left corner as I was able. This position gave me quite a goodfiring line, forcing Fil to deploy his Natashas further away. After he had placed his firstvehicle far on the left I placed the Jagdloki in my centre before Fil placed the 2nd Natasharight of his centre.
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Turn 1
The game began with Axis holding the initiative but I passed as many times as I could tosee where the SSU would position their units before committing my own.
The Spetsnaz units, accompanied by one of the Red Guard Anti-tank squads, pushed downthe SSU left flank in order to manoeuvre around the Jagdloki's fire arch.The Red Guard Assault squad and one of the Fakyeli moved to the forest concealing theNatasha on the SSU right while the rest of the SSU units positioned themselves in thecentre of these two groups.
Seeing this deployment the Axis clustered around the Jagdloki as it was clear that it wouldbear the brunt of the SSU assault.One of the Recon units screened the Sturmkonig and Manfred positioned himself behindthe forest along with the Sturmpionere, from where they could react to any SSU units thatbroke cover.
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Red Army Command entered the field and attempted to reactivate the central RedThunder Unit but failed. Axis Command move on behind the Jagdloki, injecting movestimulants into the HeavyAssault Grenadiers. The last unit to enter the battlefield was the Red Guard Command.Moving onto the SSU left flank and also attempting to reactivate the Red Thunder unit, tono avail.
Turn 2
Winning initiative again the Axis made a series of passes, leaving the SSU to repositiontheir troops in preparation for a push on the Axis position in turn three.
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The Red Army Assault squad (aka Fakyeli), in the centre pushed into the forest ahead ofthe Axis position drawing fire from the Jagdloki. Two troopers went down to the sustainedassault.
Red Army Command immediately reactivated the wounded squad who rushed from theforest to engage the Sturmgrenadier assault squad. The Axis unit were ready for such anattack, reacting with one action they wiped out the remaining three troopers.The Red Guard Assault squad (aka Red Storm), now advanced through the wooded areainto firing positions to target the Heavy Assault Grenadiers but were unable to penetratetheir thick armour. The return fire from the Axis elites caused a whopping 21 hits, 17 ofwhich were saved by cover! This took down four of the infantrymen but due to the RedGuard Platoon advantage two replacement troopers immediately joined the unit to bringthem back to a total of three.Now Battle was joined the Red Guard Command squad ordered the Anti Tank squad in thecentre to "Get Moving...". They advanced to the tree line and fired on the Jagdloki and theRecon squad, killing three of the Grenadiers but missing both shots on the walker.
The Recon squad were ordered to activate again by Axis Command and returned fire.After cover saves they only caused a single wound but once again a replacementinfantryman stepped up thanks to the SSU Platoon Advantage.
Manfred move his unit to fire on the troublesome Red Thunder squad again but only man-aged a single kill.
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As the final action of the turn the remaining Fakyeli unit ran from the forest to standbehind the rocky outcrop right in front of the Axis position!
Turn 3
Fil's last move had been bold but it paid off as the SSU won initiative. The Fakyeli sustainfired on the Axis Heavy Assault Grenadiers who were not in cover from their position.They were wiped out.
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Concerned that the unit would reactivate Manfred moved the Sturmpionere to torch theunit, killing them to a man. This move however took the Axis hero out of cover whichwould prove to be a fatal mistake. Activating the Red Thunder unit Fil sustain fired on theJagdloki, which saved the hit against it and Manfred's unit, killing all but one of thetroopers and leaving Manfred on his last wound.
The remaining Recon Grenadiers fired on the Red Guard again to no avail. With the mostdangerous of the Axis units disabled the SSU began to close in, drawing the ReconGrenadiers assigned to the Sturmkonig into the fight in order to wipe out the Red Storm,only to be wiped out by the Red Army Battle Squad.
Turn 4
Though the Axis manage to win initiative the situation was looking dire. The Jagdlokiactivated first and finally killed the Red Thunder squad that had caused so much trouble tothe Axis lines. The Red Army Battle squad managed to draw a line on Manfred removinghis final wound while the Sturmgrenadier units did their best to take down the advancingenemy. The Spetsnaz Anti Tank squad entered the forest previously occupied by the RedThunder and fire all five of their RPG's at the Jagdloki. Fortunately for the Axis walkerthey only score a single hit which causes four points of damage to the walker. The secondRed Thunder squad and Spetsnaz Kill Squad now rush in, adding their Bazookas andRPG's to the barrage.
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The Sturmgrenadier command squad are forced to repair the walker as best they can andit ends the turn with just two points of damage remaining.
Turn 5
Winning initiative the SSU descend on the Axis, destroying the Jagdloki, Recon and TankHunter Grenadiers. With the Axis in an unenviable position and closing time fastapproaching, we end the game on an SSU victory.
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Well that didn't exactly go according to plan! Leaving both my Heavy Assault Grenadiersand Manfred's unit out of cover cost me dearly. The amount of dice the SSU are able to putout of even an Anti Tank unit is more than a match for the Axis infantry.Once my two star units were gone I lost the mobility and range that I needed to respond tothe tide of SSU infantry. The Red Guard Platoon advantage also worked very well for Fil,saving him at least five casualties and keeping two of his key units in play.
On reflection I can see how Fil was able to capitalise on the strength of his forcecomposition. The forests allowed him to close the gap and get the drop on me, nullify theslight range advantage I was expecting to have over the SSU. Perhaps I should'vereconsidered my strategy once the board layout was known to me, an early suicide dash totake out the Natasha on my left flank with Manfred may have saved me the game.
What have I learned from this defeat? Although I think the strategy of going for heavierarmour is sound, it's perhaps not best suited to the Wehrmacht. Their infantry units aremore expensive than the other factions, leaving them heavily outnumbered. The otherdrawback is the lack of turrets on Axis vehicles. My Sturmkonig didn't get to fire a singleshot as Fil was easily able to manoeuvre outside of my fire arcs.
As such I think this tactic would actually be better suited to SSU armies. They are able tofield cheep infantry and have turrets on their Heavy tanks. If we play this scenario againI'd probably take two armour 4 vehicles which are cheaper and generally come with turretmounted LMG's. By spending less AP on vehicles I would be able to field a second HeavyInfantry unit which would give me more mobile fire power.
In spite of my loss this was a very enjoyable scenario to play and offered something a littledifferent from our regular games, definitely one to try out.
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Battle Report by Gregoire BoisbelaudSands of Babylon
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“Sir! We have discovered a possible weakness in the enemy’sdefenses. Our troops are not fully coordinated, but we must use thisopportunity to strike fast and hard before the enemy recognizes theirMistake.”
Recommended Army Size: 75-125 AP (DEF 100%, ATK 100%)
Set Up
Place two gaming mats with their long edges touching. The board should be around 30%covered by terrain of various sorts. Place two Objectives on ground level according tothe map below. The Objective squares should not contain terrain that are impassable forall Ground Units (but it can be a square with a Tank Trap or in a building for example,since those squares are not impassable for all Ground Units).
Roll off (same as rolling for Initiative) and choose entry area. Note that the player whowins the roll can choose any half of either long edge of the board. The opponentautomatically enters from the diagonally opposite long edge half.
Deployment
On the first turn of the game only half the number of units in each force (rounded up)may Activate and enter the table. The exact units to Activate is not specified before thegame, but the players should state to their opponent how many Activations they have onthe first turn. Each player’s force enters the table by the squares along half of their longtable edge as indicated by the map below.
During the second turn all units Activate as normal and may enter the table if they arenot already there (unless, of course, they were destroyed during the 1st turn, in whichcase they may not enter the table again).
By Magnus
Target of Opportunity
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Winning the game
At the end of a turn, on or after turn two, a player scores one Victory Point for eachobjective they control. A player controls an objective by having a unit on an objectivesquare, providing there are no enemy units within Range 1. A player wins by gaining atotal of five Victory Points.
If no player has scored five Victory Points by the end of turn eight, the player with themost Victory Points wins the game. If both players have the same number of VictoryPoints, the player with the most Kill Points wins, as calculated by totaling the point valueof Units destroyed.
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Back in January 2017, Bob Sennick announced his latest painting challenge:
Announcing the next Dust Challenge!
The subject this time around is OBJECTIVE MARKERS. You’ll need to create TWOobjectives for Dust using whatever materials and methods your twisted little minds cancome up with, and we’ll select our favorites. Each objective has to fit roughly inside astandard 4" tactics square (about 100mm).
Dates: Monday, Feb 13th - Sunday, Feb 26th
That gives a couple weeks to gather materials and make plans. In this case, ALLassembly and painting must be done within the time frame of the challenge. To enter,just state your intention to participate at any time. Partially started stuff won’t beaccepted as an entry point; the goal of this is to get people banging out exciting and funprojects and sharing their work with the community, proving it can be done in a limitedwindow of time! Work in progress pictures are very welcome. We all love to see theefforts everyone is putting in. As usual, I don’t care for the exact moment the challengeends, as long as you have your final pictures up when I check for them the next day.
Your judges for this round are the esteemed and much adored Seth Alan Squires, therenowned and oft-imitated Paolo Parente, and the regularly cursed and sometimesreviled Bob Sennick. Prizes will be awarded to our favorite three entries!
Entries came pouring in over the next two months. Bob announced his winners shortlyafter DWE ended.
Official results are in! Thanks to all the entrants. Paolo Parente, Seth Alan Squires, andmyself had a difficult time making a decision!
First place: Tj Van Der WerfSecond place: Robert CardaniThird Place: El Cheapo
A special mention to fan favorite Joe McLaughlin's Dust Monthly drop container. Hewasn't eligible for a win, but a great entry!
By Bob Sennick
Painting Challenge
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Alexander Sebs.
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Alexander Sebs.
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Daniel Stråth.
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El Cheapo.
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Ian Charles Titler.
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Johannes Haglund.
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John Payne.
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Pavel Berka.
Robert Cardani.
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Robert Cardani.
Tj Van Der Werf.
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Umberto Bonomi.
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Joe McLaughlin.
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Tulcin, Ukraine, Sept. 1947. Having fled Germany during the purges after Hitler’s death,Doctor Urs Honigsman, former favorite of the Führer and infamous SS officer, has madea deal with elements of the SSU to trade his scientific expertise and a shipment of theheavy steel fists used to equip the Axis’ vile and feared untertoten- the zombies of theBlutkreus Korps!- for safety. SSU leadership refuses to allow Dr. Honigsman free reinsin his research, however. He spends five years developing and refining the“Wiederbelebungsserum”, but frustration grows as the SSU forces him to keep hisprogress theoretical. Angrily, he acts on his own, overwhelming the small contingent oftroops watching over him with help of his elite bodyguard. Having transformed theresurrection serum into a form where it can absorb into the city’s water supply, the townis quickly laid low and rises as the mindless undead, their only desire to kill the living.
Gloating from his position of power, Dr. Honigsman reaches out to Sigrid Von Thalerherself, trying to leverage his developments into a partnership. Von Thaler entertains thenotion in her response, but knows that there can be only one end for the Doctor’s plans.She contacts Oberst Prinz Walter von Ferstenwerth, moving him into position withheavy armor, backed up by a platoon of sturmpioniere led by Major Tina Baumann,recently arrived from the sands of Northern Africa. Hauptmann Florentine Engel, famedheroes of the Luftwaffe, is tasked with scouting the city before the Wermacht arrives.
Meanwhile, the Stavka, SSU high command, sends the legendary Master Sergeant Guaï-Lo Moloï at the head of the 133rd Steel Guard to cleanse the city of the infestation.Backed by heavy armor from the 25th Red Guards Division, they approach the city atdusk unchallenged, ready to wipe the zombie stain from the face of the earth.
With Eric L. Johnson!
Photo Essay by Bob Sennick
The Tulcin Incident
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This month, Ian Titler shared some pictures of his entry into Bob Sennick’s objectivepainting challenge. Ian uses clay basing to create a more 3D effect for his bases. Heincluded some pictures here of his objective entry as a work in progress and some otheritems that he created using the clay basing method.
By Ian Titler
Building It
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A few months ago, I wrote an article about how to conduct Demos of Dust in your localgame store or whatever venue you use for gaming. The idea of the article was topromote your interst in the game and attract new members (or returning members) to theDust community.
Why would you do this? Well, it’s always good to build your local gaming group. Morepeople in the group means more opportunities to play. Less times you had to pack yourarmies and head to the game store and then head home without unpacking them as yourbuddy couldn’t make it at the last minute. More players means more diverse gamingopportunities and experiences as different players will bring different strategies andgaming styles to the game.
Our local DDI Post 33 in Sacramentohas been trying to expore new ways toget players interested in joining ourgroup. We recently had some goodluck recruiting several new playersinto our normal gaming group andgetting more people coming down tothe game store to watch and askquestions.
I’d like to share some of the strategieswe have used to get people interested.
First, I reached out and discoveredMeetup.com. Although it sounds likea dating site, it’s actually a social siteto advertise events for people ofsimilar interests. People can schedulemeetups for cycling events, painting,book clubs, underwater basketweaving, and even military strategyminiatures games set in a sciencefiction World War 2 background.
By Joe McLaughlin
Dust Community
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I entered a meetup for our regular game time, every Thursday night. I had to contact themoderator for the “Board game” group to make my event a recurring event. I also had toplay some games with having my local DDI post 33 members signup for the event. Theevent won’t post until you have about four people attending, then it goes public.
Since we posted this meetup, we have had many people contact us through the site andshow up to watch us play.
So, now that you have people showing up to watch your games, how to you help them findfurther information? Fortunately, James Goldstein handled that by creating a flyer that wecould print out as we spoke with people about the games. We would have the flyersdisplayed while we play, ask the game store to post them in the window, and hand themout to interested observers.
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The best part of this is that I never realized the magazine had a motto before this.
During our games, we would entertain people who had come down to view the game anddiscuss the rules. We would comment on the game that we were playing and explain eachaction and what was happening. This gathered alot of interest and I was surprised at howlong a person would hang out and watch our games.
One last strategy for getting new playersinto your group is to help them alongwith their collections. How much is anew player worth to you? How muchwould you be willing to pay to have anew player in your group who can add
competitive value? $20? $30? $50?
Our local gaming group has manyplayers with extensive Dust modelcollections. Once you get a collectionof a certain size, there are models youfind you don’t use anymore. What doyou do with them? Take them to a swapmeet? Sell them on ebay or facebook?How much do you think you will get fora single model or squad?
Maybe, instead of selling thoseunwanted models, donate to someonejust getting into the hobby. A fewsquads of infantry that you don’t needisn’t going to be a loss to you, but willreally build up a new player’s army.
Of course, just giving models away to anyone who stops by the game store is a quick wayto find yourself out of the game. The trick,of course, is to find someone who is seriousabout the game. Maybe someone who has spent the money on a starter set and has justpainted them up. If you see commitment, then maybe it’s time to encourage them bythrowing them a few models that you would otherwise discard.
Just a few ideas for building up more of a local community.