Monday, April 23, 2012

Dust Tactics League Night! 04-22-2012


April 22nd saw the start of the Portland Dust Tactics Group’s first League Campaign. We chose to start with Operation Blue Thunder v2.0, available in the Terrain Tile Set. This includes 3 extra missions, making the total number of missions 11. Each player in the league will play through each scenario twice, once as attacker and once as defender. That’s a total of 22 games for each player in the Blue Thunder Campaign! There will be a “League” tab added soon so that we can communicate League Nights, as well as a leader board for the campaign, etc… The rotation is simple and allows for new players to enter the league up until the 6th mission. We will be tracking the Blue Thunder Campaign for our leaderboard, using the standard tournament scoring system. In addition to the Leaderboard we will have an overall tracking system during this time for each player in the league who chooses to submit any games fought during the duration of the campaign (ringer armies, demo games, etc…) so those who are putting in a lot of games can be recognized for their efforts. There is much more to the league, and stay tuned for more updates soon!

Now, enjoy the battle report!!

Unfortunately our first day of league play also saw our first absence. Mr. Sisk was unable to make it, but his battle reports will be coming next week as we catch him up on his games during the week and next week’s league event.


This first rotation was Nicholas vs. Justin in Scenario 1, Reconnaissance: 
  •  Attacker:
    Nicholas – AXIS: 93 points
    Heinrich Light Walker – Kommandotrupp – Sturmpioniere
  • Defender:
    Justin – ALLIES: 80 pointsHoney Light Walker – BBQ Rangers – Bot Hunters
The first few rounds were fairly quick and uneventful. Turn 4 saw the Allies take a bold move and run their BBQ Rangers up to the Heinrich and Kommandotrupp. The Advanced Reactive Fire on the Heinrich scored a few hits on the Rangers before they could attack. They scored no hits on the Heinrich, but nearly eliminated the Kommandotrupp, leaving only the Commander alive. The Honey and Bot Hunters had a decent exchange with the Sturmpioniere’s, which eventually saw them eliminated, with heavy losses to the Bot Hunters. By turn 6 the Heinrich was in a good position to eliminate the Honey, leaving only a single M9 Bazooka on the board for the Allies, which was eliminated before the end of the turn, securing a victory for the Axis.
Victory Points:
  • Attacker: 80 points
  • Defender: 27 points

The second rotation was Justin vs. Nicholas in Scenario 2, Patrol: 
  • Attacker:
    Justin – ALLIES: 250 points
    Action Jackson – Bazooka Joe – The Chef – 13 Foxtrot – BBQ Rangers – BBQ Rangers – Corps Officers – Crack Shots – Crack Shots – Red Devils – Steel Rain
  • Defender:
    Nicholas – AXIS: 250 points
    Grenadier X – Lara – Markus – Stefan – Totenmeister – Axis Gorillas – Axis Zombies – Axis Zombies – Beobachter – Heavy Recon Grenadiers – Heinrich
Blood was drawn from about the second or third placement of the first turn and pretty much didn’t end until turn 4. Totenmeister and her Zombies came on the board and immediately went to attack the Crack Shots, eliminating them with little effort. However, Chef and his BBQ Rangers would not stand for this brutal overkill and came in ready to fight. With 3 flame throwers and 4 shotguns at their disposal the undead unit was easily dispatched! In their blood lust Chef and the Rangers made a fatal error… They should not have moved onto the board in the open. They should have gone behind the wall to gain the cover advantages and absence of LOS to the enemy deployment zone! I say a fatal error because Lara and the Heavy Recon Grenadiers placed and quickly eliminated Chef and his Rangers, who were sitting ducks to the 5 MG 44 zwei’s saturating their position with fire… Markus and the Gorillas saw themselves eliminated at the end of the first round by Joe and his BBQ Rangers who rushed their position looking for a fight! Turn 2 saw Lara and the Heavy Recon Grenadiers repeat their previous performance and eliminate Joe and his Rangers, who were also lacking any form of cover. 13 Foxtrot brought artillery down upon Lara and the Heavies, softening them up a bit. Turn 3 saw the end of 13 Foxtrot, while the Corps Officers were taking care of Stefan and his Beobachters, as well as the Axis Zombies belonging to Grenadier X’s command. But then Lara and her Heavies made short work of the Corps Officers, making her unit the MVP of the game! However in turn 4 it was finally Action Jacksons’ time to shine with what was left of the Red Devils after a brutal beating from Lara and the Heavies in turn 2. Revenge came down upon Lara and the Heavies, ending their mighty 3 turn reign of terror. While the Heinrich made easy work of the heavily wounded Action Jackson and Red Devils, there was nothing it could do to hurt the Steel Rain! Moving within 3 squares of the Steel Rain rendered the allied vehicle useless, so the rest of the game finished with little else happening. In the end the Allied forces scored more points, and therefore gained a victory!!!

Victory Points:
  • Attacker: 224 points
  • Defender: 212 points

Two other games were played that do not count toward the Campaign, as they were out of rotation.

Justin vs. Nicholas in Scenario 1, Reconnaissance:
  • Attacker:
    Justin – ALLIES: 80 points
    Honey Light Walker – BBQ Rangers – Bot Hunters 
  •  Defender:
    Nicholas – AXIS: 93 points
    Heinrich Light Walker – Kommandotrupp – Sturmpioniere
The Axis pretty much stomped the Allies with ease in this game. Turn 3 saw the death of the Honey at the Hands of the Sturmpioniere’s, Bot Hunters eliminated by the Kommandotrupp, and BBQ Rangers eliminated by a reactivated Sturmpioniere. That was literally all that happened in the game… Victory to the AXIS!!!

Victory Points:
  • Attacker: 0 points 
  • Defender: 80 points


Nicholas vs. Justin in Scenario 2, Patrol:
  • Attacker:
    Nicholas – AXIS: 250 points
    Grenadier X – Lara – Markus – Stefan – Totenmeister – Axis Gorillas – Axis Zombies – Axis Zombies – Beobachter – Heavy Recon Grenadiers – Heinrich 
  • Defender
    Justin – ALLIES: 250 points
    Action Jackson – Bazooka Joe – The Chef – 13 Foxtrot – BBQ Rangers – BBQ Rangers – Corps Officers – Crack Shots – Crack Shots – Red Devils – Steel Rain
This was just as bloody as the previous run through, but lasted much longer. Action Jackson had a good game with a kill on the Heinrich in turn 2. Chef and his BBQ Rangers were able to score a finishing blow on a hurt Grenadier X and his Axis Zombies at the beginning of turn 3. Joe and his BBQ Rangers were boosted in turn 2 with a stim pack and made a very unsuccessful attempt to eliminate both Totenmeister and her Zombies in conjunction with Stefan and his Beobacthers. Turn 3 saw an the end of an exhausted Joe and BBQ Rangers. Turns 4 and 5 saw Lara and her Heavies eliminate Chef and his Rangers, a successful reactive fire attempt by the Corps Officers to eliminate a Charging Markus and Axis Gorillas, and Totenmeister and her Zombies eliminating the Red Devils and leaving Action Jackson sorely injured. Action Jackson was able to get revenge on the Zombies, but Totenmeister remained elusive, but he came to an end when Lara and her Heavies split their fire 3 ways to eliminate the Allied hero and both units of Crack Shots. Turn 7 saw Lara and the Heavies eliminate the Corps Officers, but not before they did a heavy amount of damage. The Steel Rain was useless except for its .30 cal. Machine Gun, which was enough to finish off Lara, but not the Heavies. Turn 8 ended with the Steel Rain on the board for the Allies, but 1 Heavy Recon Grenadier, and Totenmeister for the Axis, giving them the victory!

Victory Points:
  • Attacker: 215 points 
  • Defender: 200 points
Enjoy the pictures! We will be back on Sunday the 29th at Red Castle catching up on League rotation and on the look for new players!

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Dust Day Olympia


Dust Day in the Pacific Northwest at Olympic Card and Comics in Lacey, WA. Included in this post will be pictures from that event, a small write up from Jason McFarland (event organizer) and army lists from each player. The Portland League had a wonderful experience at this event and look forward to the Regional Event next month. Enjoy and Good Gaming!!


April 14th, 2012 saw the fantastic phenomenon known as Dust Day reach into the Pacific Northwest, specifically Olympic Cards and Comics in Lacey, WA.  We continued the trend originally started in Argentina.  The tournament had 12 people in all compete for the Golden Hot Dog trophy.  The event also included a painting competition, a Dust Tactics demo table, and a table that featured other Dust related merchandise such as their 1/6 figures, graphic novels, and the original Dust board game.

The Dust board game saw a bit of attraction and the demo table saw a lot of action and helped develop a few new players in the Olympia area.  

The painting competition saw some great models.   Bill Stanchfield's diorama like units and heroes were the talk of the competition.  He walked away with the awards for both Best Hero and Best Unit.  John Sisk's 'KV-1' took the prize as the Best Vehicle.

The crown jewel of the day was definitely the Golden Hot Dog Open.  3 Swiss rounds, 250 points.  It was a very competitive field. The split was 5 Allied players and 7 Axis. The lists showed a ton of variation from one player to the next.  The 3 rounds saw a Take And Hold mission.  This mission had an objective counter in the middle of the battlefield which yielded 10 extra victory points to whoever controlled it at the end of each turn.  The second mission was called Breakthrough.  This mission allowed double victory points to the owning player for each of his units he was able to get off his opponents deployment edge.  The last mission was Escort.  This mission gave a 'diplomat' to each player to attach to one of their units.  The mission was to kill the opponent’s forces, but keep your escort alive.  If the unit that your escort was in was destroyed, the attacking player received triple victory points for that unit.

The competition was fierce, but in the end Portland Oregon's own Justin Tyrrell walked away with the Golden Hot Dog trophy.  Justin was one of two undefeated players on the day, both undefeated players using Allied army lists.

We had a good mix of players with the main group who plays in Olympia/Lacey, a couple players from Tacoma, WA, and 3 players making the drive up from Portland, OR.  Big thanks of course go to Gabrielle Shepherd-Trautmann and the staff at Olympic Cards and Comics for supporting our event.

No rest for the wicked though, as May 12th will be bringing the only West Coast Dust Regional Event to the same venue!  See you there next month!

~Jason McFarland 

Contests, Prizes, and Other Goodies:




Dust Day in action:



Awards:

Tournament Winner - Justin Tyrrell 

Hero and Unit Painting Competition Winner - Bill Stanchfield

Vehicle Painting Competition Winner - John Sisk

Army Lists and Placement:

1st Place - Justin Tyrrell (Allies)
Record: 3-0 
944 total VP
Bazooka Joe - OZZ-117 - Rosie - 13 Foxtrot - BBQ Squad - NCO Command Squad - Crack Shots - Grim Reapers - Fireball

2nd Place - Craig Gelhert (Allies)
Record: 3-0
580 total VP
Rosie - Mickey x 2 - Pounder x 2 - Steel Rain x 2

3rd Place - Larry White (Axis) 
Record: 2-1 
751 total VP
Grenadier X - Markus - Totenmeister - Axis Gorillas x 5 - Axis Zombies x 2

From here, we just have the placement and army list:

4th Place - Axis 
Record: 2-1 
704 total VP
Angela - Lara - Markus - Sigrid - Axis Gorillas - Beobachter - Heavy Laser Grenadiers - Laser Grenadiers - Sniper Grenadiers - Heinrich - Ludwig

5th Place - Axis 
2-1 
652 total VP
Markus - Sigrid - Axis Gorillas x 2 - Axis Zombies - Heavy Laser Grenadiers - Laser Grenadiers x 2 - Ludwig

6th Place - Allies
Record: 1-2
664 total VP
Action Jackson - OZZ-117 - 13 Foxtrot x 2 - NCO Command Squad - Crack Shots x 2 - Red Devils - Tank Busters - The Gunners x 2 - Steel Rain

7th Place - Axis
Record: 1-2 
654 total VP
Angela - Sigrid - Axis Zombies - Kommandotrupp - Laser Grenadiers - Sniper Grenadiers - Strumpioniere - Heinrich - Ludwig

8th Place - Allies
Record: 1-2
638 total VP
Rhino - Grim Reapers x 2 - Tank Busters - The Gunners - Honey - Hot Dog - Steel Rain - Wildfire

9th Place - Allies
Record: 1-2
572 total VP
Johnny One-Eye - Death Dealers x 2 - Grim Reapers x 2 - Hell Boys - The Boss - The Gunners x 3

10th Place - Axis
Record: 0-3
499 total VP
Axis Zombies x 8

11th Place - Axis
Record: 0-3
384 total VP
Grenadier X - Lara - Sigrid - Stefan - Axis Zombies - Battle Grenadiers - Heavy Laser Grenadiers - Laser Grenadiers - Recon Grenadiers - Sniper Grenadiers - Strumpioniere

Ringer army due to odd players. This was his:

Axis
Heinrich - Lothar x 2 - Ludwig x 2 - Luther x 2

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Dust Tactics Game Night! 04-01-2012



The Game Night this week found most of us somewhat under the weather. We had a total of 3 games with minimal coverage and some pictures to share. This was our last Game Night until Dust Day Olympia on April 14th. We look forward to this event and enjoyed play testing our armies these last few weeks. Stay tuned for further updates, we'll be back to league play on the 22nd of this month, and Good Gaming!!

First Game:
  • Justin's Allied 300 Point Army:
    Pounder Assault Walker - Wildfire Light Walker - Bazooka Joe - BBQ Rangers - The Chef - Hell Boys - Johnny One-Eye - The Gunners - Corps Officers - Recon Boys - Crack Shots - Crack Shots - Grim Reapers
  • Ed's Axis 343 Point Army:
    Ludwig Panzer Walker - Luther Panzer Walker - Markus - Axis Gorillas - Heavy Laser Grenadiers - Angela - Sniper Grenadiers - Sigrid Von Thaler - Laser Grenadiers - Kommandotruppe - Tank Killers - Beobachter - Manfred - Sturmpionere
The Pounder was able to score 3 hits on the Ludwig before it was destroyed in the next turn. The Heavy Laser Grenadiers also saw some early hits when the Wildfire attacked the squad upon placement, though they also fell early in the second turn. The Corps Officers used the Stim Pack early on by injecting The Chef and his Hell Boys to retaliate for the destruction of the Grim Reapers by Sigrid and her Laser Grenadiers. The combination performed a Move+Move+Fast for their first action, and a Sustained Attack for their second action. This was more than enough firepower to eliminate Sigrid and her squad. Though Markus and the Axis Gorillas charged in afterwards and scored heavy damage and The Chef and Hell Boys. Eventually the Wildfire and a squad of the Crack Shots were eliminated. Johnny and The Gunners helped to clear out the Gorillas, while Joe and the BBQ Rangers kept The Tank Killers, Manfred, and the Sturmpionere's at bay. Eventually the Allies were able to overcome the Axis and the game was called to an end at the end of turn 6.

Victory Points:
  • Allied: 338 points
  • Axis: 100 points 


Second Game:
  • Justin's 350 Point Allied Army:
    Fireball Heavy Walker - Steel Rain Assault Walker - The Boss Squad - Corps Officers - Rosie - Crack Shots - Bazooka Joe - Death Dealers - Ozz 117 - Tank Busters - Recon Boys - 13 Fox trot - Crack Shots
  • Major Headcase's 350 Point Axis Army:
    Sturmkonig Heavy Walker - Heinrich Light Walker - Sigrid Von Thaler - Laser Grenadiers - Lara - Heavy Recon Grenadiers - Stefan - Sturmpionere - Recon Grenadiers - Recon Grenadiers - Recon Grenadiers - Laser Grenadiers - Heavy Flak Grenadiers
The action began early with this game. The Allies won the initiative on the second turn and the Steel Rain was able to do a sustained direct attack on the Sturmkonig and scored 7 hits! Though the relation of the Sturmkonig saw the destruction of the Steel Rain. The Allies also saw an early kill on the Heinrich from Joe and his Death Dealers. Ozz and the Tank Busters also followed up and scored the killing strike on the Sturmkonig. The Axis did some damage early on, by also eliminating 13 Foxtrot, an elimination on Joe and the Death Dealers late in the second turn by Stefan's assault with the Sturmpioneres. The Allies also soon lost Ozz 117 and The Tank Busters, but not before doing enough damage to unit of Recon Grenadiers that the Fireball soon finished off. The Recon Boys, NCO Command Squad, and Boss Squad soon eliminated Stefan and the Sturmpioneres, but now Lara and her Heavy Recon Grenadiers were tucked away in the building ready to deal some serious damage to the Allied forces. A well placed Smoke Mortar kept their damage to a minimum. In the end the Axis were able to eliminate everything except the Fireball and NCO Command Squad. The Fireball was fully healed by Rosie before her demise, however the remaining Axis forces had no unit remaining that could damage the Fireball! The game was played through the end of turn 6, and the victory was called for the Allied Forces.

Victory Points:
  • Allies: 233 Points
  • Axis: 233 Points






Third Game:
  • Justin's 250 Point Allied Army:
    Pounder Assault Walker - Blackhawk Light Walker - Bazooka Joe - Hell Boys - Johnny One-Eye - The Gunners - The Gunners - Corps Officers - Recon Boys - Recon Boys - Crack Shots - 13 Foxtrot
  • Jiltedtoo's 250 Point Axis Army:
    Ludwig Panzer Walker - Heinrich Light Walker - Markus - Axis Gorillas - Angela - Sniper Grenadiers - Sigrid Von Thaler - Laser Grenadiers - Beobachter - Lara - Heavy Laser Grenadiers
The Axis made very short work of the Allied Army in this game. Markus and The Axis Gorillas made an impressive charge at the beginning of the second turn, severely injuring Joe and eliminating the Hell Boys, and drawing necessary fire from other targets to ensure their destruction. This led to Lara and the Heavy Laser Grenadiers taking up a prime position in some hard cover with a perfect vantage point for bringing havoc to the Allied lines. The Corps Officers also took hits early on, severely limiting their effectiveness. The Gunners were able to get an attack off on Angela and her Sniper Grenadiers and remove them as a threat. The Heinrich was able to rain fire down upon the Blackhawk for the kill. Sigrid with the Sturmpionere's and Lara with her Heavy Laser Grenadiers had very little trouble eliminating the remaining Allied forces. The battle was over by the end of turn 4.

Victory Points:
  • Allied: 137 Points
  • Axis: 250 Points