Dust Tactics Game Night

This week’s game night started off well. While setting up for our event 2 fellow gamers, Travis and Nick, were curious about the game so we set up the 1^st scenario from Operation Blue Thunder, Reconnaissance, for them to play since it is a great introductory campaign for new players to get a feel for the game. Ultimately Nick won the engagement, but I feel both players performed well and were able to get a good idea of the mechanics of the game, as well as the ease of play. We look forward to seeing them at future events!

 New Players enter the world of DUST!

First Game:

DATE PLAYED : 02/12/2012

AXIS Player 1: Jiltedtoo

AXIS Player 2: Nick

ALLIES Player 1: Justin

ALLIES Player 2: Major Headcase

AXIS Army 1:

Lothar Medium Panzer Walker x2

Heinrich Light Panzer Walker x2

Kommandotrupp

Manfred

Beobachter x3

Total Points: 195

AXIS Army 2:

Lara

Heavy Recon Grenadiers

Markus

Axis Gorillas

Grenadier X

Axis Zombies

Heavy Flak Grenadiers

Heavy Laser Grenadiers

Total Points: 201

AXIS Army Total: 396 points

ALLIES Army 1:

Steel Rain Medium Assault Walker x2

Bazooka Joe

13 Foxtrot

The Priest

Hell Boys

Boss Squad

Crackshots

Total Points: 201

ALLIES Army 2:

Mickey Medium Assault Walker

Rhino

The Hammers

Ozz 117

Grim Reapers

Tank Busters

Red Devils

13 Foxtrot

Total Points: 196

ALLIES Army Total: 397 points

This was very similar to a past scenario we have played. The terrain maps from the Revised Core Set were used to make a long bridge in the middle, with extra tiles to elongate the battlefield so for a total playing space of 6 tiles x 3 tiles. Buildings and a few terrain tile squares were used to help cover the placement zones. 2 of the submarine tiles from Operation Cyclone were used to create an illusion of the submarine passing under the bridge, with the objective square being on the submarine itself, and no time limits to the scenario. The rules for the objective are as follows:

•  The counter must reach 3 for the objective to “drop.” This is a cumulative amount that both attacking players roll towards.

• It costs one action to roll for the objective. Rolling for the objective consists of rolling a single combat die. On a “hit” result, the player would add 1 to the counter. A player may use both actions in their activation to roll for the objective.

• It costs one action to pick up the objective.

• If the unit carrying the objective is eliminated, the objective drops on that square and is available to be picked up by either side, at the cost of 1 action.

• A player must have enough movement points to move the unit holding the objective off of the map. Moving to the edge is not enough. 

 The combat map. The objective is to the left with the red die to mark the number of successful rolls and to act as the objective to be taken off the map.

 

The game started off fairly slow for the first couple turns.

 

In turn 3 Jiltedtoo was able to use indirect artillery fire to destroy the Allies Mickey. Major Headcase responded quickly by using Ozz 117 & The Grim Reapers to eliminate Grenadier X & the Axis Zombies. Turns 4 and 5 were definitely the bloodiest with Justin’s Steel Rain scoring a kill on a Heinrich; Nick’s combination of Lara & the Heavy Recon Grenadiers eliminating the Tank Busters, and his combination of Markus & the Axis Gorillas eliminating The Priest and a majority of his Hell Boys; Major Headcase’s Red Devils getting the revenge kill on Markus & the Axis Gorillas; Nick using his Heavy Flak Grenadiers to eliminate Rhino & The Hammers with their Burst weapons being used to the fullest extent (ouch!!) immediately followed up with Lara & the Heavy Recon Grenadiers finishing off the Hell Boys in addition to eliminating Ozz 117 & the Grim Reapers; Justin’s sniper was able to score a kill-shot on a hurt and fatigued Lara; Major Headcase used 2 of the Steel Rains artillery shots to get revenge on the Heavy Flak Grenadiers. At this point Jiltedtoo was able to use the Kommandotrupp to bring back the Axis Zombies.

Turn 6 and 7 slowed things way down and culminated with the game being called for an Axis win. The highlights of the turns were Major Headcase using the Red Devils to finish off the Heavy Recon Grenadiers, and Jiltedtoo using the Manfred & Beobachter combination to call an artillery strike on one of the Steel Rains for a successful kill.

We can see that this scenario needs some adjustments after 3 attempts at playing and it breaking down into a hack-and-slash each time. A call was made in future attempts at this type of scenario to make the objective square equal to Hard Cover (it was a normal open square in all previous games) since the units were inside the submarine looking for the objective, and not just standing around on the top waiting for something to happen. This should hopefully allow for a more successful run-through the next time we try a scenario like this.

SCENARIO WINNER :

AXIS

Victory Point Break Down:

AXIS Player 1: Jiltedtoo: 73 points

AXIS Player 2: Nick: 180 points

AXIS Total: 253 points

ALLIES Player 1: Justin: 47 points

ALLIES Player 1: Major Headcase: 150 points

ALLIES Total: 197 points

Second Game:

DATE PLAYED : 02/12/2012

AXIS Player 1: Jiltedtoo

AXIS Player 2: Major Headcase

ALLIES Player 1: Justin

ALLIES Player 2: Travis

AXIS Army 1:

Konigs-Luther Heavy Panzer Walker

Herman Light Walker

Hans Light Walker

Total Points: 145

AXIS Army 2:

Ludwig Medium Panzer Walker x3

Herman Light Walker

Total Points: 146

AXIS Army Total: 291 points

ALLIES Army 1:

Pounder Medium Assault Walker x2

Steel Rain Medium Assault Walker

Honey Light Walker

Total Points: 146

ALLIES Army 2:

Pounder Medium Assault Walker x2

Steel Rain Medium Assault Walker

Honey Light Walker

Total Points: 146

ALLIES Army Total: 292 points

This was a very quick battle! The game space was 4x4 with a combination of tiles and the terrain maps and only had about 8 or so terrain tiles to block lines of sight. It took less than 3 turns for this game to finish and was definitely an eye opener for improving Allied tactics against Heavy Walkers. Here’s the breakdown of action:

In the first turn a Steel Rain fired all its artillery at the Konigs-Luther scoring 4 damage, and two Pounders followed up with attacks totaling 3 more damage. In turn 2 the Konigs-Luther returned fire and destroyed a Pounder, which lead to another Pounder using sustained fire to finish off the Konigs-Luther. Another Pounder scored a kill on a Ludwig. However the Axis retaliated in full force and destroyed both Steel Rains and a Pounder before the end of the turn. In the final turn the Allies tried and tried, but were only able use a Honey to score a kill on a Herman. After that the Axis cleaned house by using a Herman and a Hans to eliminate both Honey’s while the Ludwig’s finished off the remaining Pounders. This is the first kills with the Heavy Walkers and Hans in any of our group games before, and also the first time we’ve been able to score a kill on a Heavy Walker. It should also be noted that the 2 remaining Ludwig’s each had only 1 hit left from their exchanges with the Pounders, so they at least got their shots in before the end.

The lesson that we learned here was that we don't want to expose our Light and Medium Walkers just to score an early kill on the Heavy Walker. The Allies had way too many units exposed to secure the kill on the Heavy Walker and it cost them dearly in the second turn. I look forward to more play with and perfecting my strategy against the Heavy Walkers. Though tank battles are a blast!! :)

SCENARIO WINNER :

AXIS

Victory Point Break Down:

AXIS Total: 292 points

ALLIES Total: 161 points