PDX Dust League Returns!
Our first official game was the DUST Warfare game we played on July 29th, 2012 that will be featured in the upcoming full Warfare Battle Report! The League report will group the games together based on whether or not it was Dust Warfare or Dust Tactics, with each section describing the games in more detail. Check out the updated League section to learn more about the new PDX DUST League.
Our first official game was the DUST Warfare game we played on July 29th, 2012 that will be featured in the upcoming full Warfare Battle Report! The League report will group the games together based on whether or not it was Dust Warfare or Dust Tactics, with each section describing the games in more detail. Check out the updated League section to learn more about the new PDX DUST League.
While in the comfort of a house that was at least 100 degrees at it lowest point, we dove into Operation Cyclone and played the first mission Standing On The Beach. The game lasted a little under an hour so we decided to open the Dust Warfare Zverograd Campaign Book and played 2 three-way battles. We also had a visit from Olympia's Dust Group and played a 4 player Warfare game!
Nicholas and I decided to start playing through the Dust Tactics Campaign Books. Operation Cyclone was the obvious choice as it follows Operation Blue Thunder, and is the only other campaign book with the original point system (4 points for vehicles and 2 points for infantry).
Additionally Nicholas and I played 2 games of the Ambush Scenario, which will be featured in an upcoming blog article. John Sisk and one of our newer league members, Jeffrey Durkauff, played 2 games of generic Dust Tactics scenario's. Jeffery built an Axis force and John built an Allied force, then after the first game swapped forces and played through it again. John came out victorious in both games.
Unfortunately we don't have many pictures or details outside of the Operation Cyclone games.
Unfortunately we don't have many pictures or details outside of the Operation Cyclone games.
Date of Play: 08-05-2012
Justin v. Nicholas
The objective for this scenario is for the Attacker to get 1 unit into the enemy deployment zone, and have it survive until the end of the round. The Defender must prevent this at all costs. The game is limited to 8 turns, however the game may finish before the limit is reached if either side achieves their objective. The Attacker gets 300 points to begin with, where the Defender cumulatively stacks 40 points each turn to purchase units and defend their territory. 4 Tank Traps and 4 Ammo Crates are available for cover and must be placed in the marked squares.
- Attacker:
Justin - Allies: 298 points
OZZ-177 - The Priest - 13 Foxtrot - BBQ Squad - Corps Officers - Grim Reapers - Recon Boys - The Hammers - Cobra - Rattler - Steel Rain - Defender:
Nicholas - Axis: 159 points
Turn 1: Ludwig
Turn 2: NONE
Turn 3: Lara - Heavy Recon Grenadiers - Recon Grenadiers - Recon Grenadiers
Turn 4: Recon Grenadiers - Axis Gorillas
This game was over in half the Turn limit. This scenario would have been much more difficult for the Attacker to when the only units released for Operation Cyclone were the Original Core set, each respective factions Medium Walker expansion with Artillery Units, Specialist Units, Command Squads, and Bot/Tank Hunters. This was pretty much a lock with Heroes like OZZ-177 and move 2 infantry. Granted Panzer Walkers could be used to block the movement of the jump troops, but that also keeps them very exposed, and less able to utilize the support of other units.
The Axis units made sure to place at least 2 Tank Traps directly in front of 2 landing crafts, making it difficult to deploy the Allied Walkers. The Cobra made short work of a single Tank Trap in Turn 1 to eliminate the need for the Walkers to Jump over the obstacles, where Turn 2 brought more advancement by the Allied force while taking fire from the Axis Ludwig. Turn 3 saw the Destruction of the Ludwig by the Steel Rain, while OZZ and his Grim Reapers were getting in position to take the objective in Turn 4. The Allied force was able to eliminate a unit of Recon Grenadiers in Turn 4, and helped to secure a good path for OZZ and his Grim Reapers to make a Heroic Attack and land safely in the Defender's Deployment Zone. The rest of the turn was played out, even though the Axis had no chance to eliminate the Allied unit before the end of the Turn. The Hammers, 13 Foxtrot, and The Priest with his BBQ Squad did not survive the round after Lara with her Heavy Recon Grenadiers along with the Axis Gorillas took what revenge the Axis could.
- Victor: Justin - Allies
With the recent release of the Zverograd Campaign Book we decided this would be a perfect opportunity to try a 3 player game. We decided to play the Standoff Scenario provided by the Dust Warfare Zverograd Campaign Book. After the end of the First Turn of the game we realized that we forgot to implement the Scenario Conditions, which are Limited Visibility and Off Target Shelling, so we ended up playing 2 games using the same Army List.
The objective of the scenario is for the Attacker to eliminate the Defender's VIP, the Defender to eliminate the Opportunist's VIP, and the Opportunist to eliminate the Attacker's VIP. Each player selects one of his Command Sections to be their VIP after all players have deployed their forces. If a player eliminates a different VIP than assigned, then the player assigned to eliminate that VIP is declared the winner. The scenario is played for 5 rounds, and if no VIP is eliminated by the end of the 5th round the game end is a draw. Each player will receive 25 points to spend on Fortifications.
The objective of the scenario is for the Attacker to eliminate the Defender's VIP, the Defender to eliminate the Opportunist's VIP, and the Opportunist to eliminate the Attacker's VIP. Each player selects one of his Command Sections to be their VIP after all players have deployed their forces. If a player eliminates a different VIP than assigned, then the player assigned to eliminate that VIP is declared the winner. The scenario is played for 5 rounds, and if no VIP is eliminated by the end of the 5th round the game end is a draw. Each player will receive 25 points to spend on Fortifications.
| Player: | Justin | Nicholas | John |
| Faction: | SSU | AXIS | ALLIES |
| Command Section: | SSU Command Squad | Kommandotrupp | OZZ-177 |
| 1st Section | SSU Rifle Sqaud | Battle Grenadiers | Heavy Ranger Attack Squad |
| 2nd Section | SSU Close Combat Squad | Laser Grenadiers | Heavy Ranger Tank Hunter Squad |
| 3rd Section | SSU Auxiliary Attack Squad | Heavy Recon Grenadiers | --- |
| 4th Section | --- | --- | --- |
| Hero | Koshka | Angela | --- |
| Support Units | -Grand'ma -Natasha -SSU Observer Team -Karamazin -Derzhavin | -Sniper Grenadier Team -Flamm-Luther -Hans | -Sniper Team |
| Platoon Upgrade | Improved Command | --- | --- |
| Command Section: | --- | --- | Action Jackson |
| 1st Section | --- | --- | British Paratroops |
| 2nd Section | --- | --- | British Paratroops |
| 3rd Section | --- | --- | --- |
| 4th Section | --- | --- | --- |
| Hero | --- | --- | --- |
| Support Units | --- | --- | --- |
| Platoon Upgrade | --- | --- | --- |
Game 1:
- Attacker: John
- Defender: Justin
- Opportunist: Nicholas
The Turn 1 initiative ended with Nicholas being the Primary player, Justin being the Secondary player, and John being the Tertiary player. With the forgetfulness of the Limited Visibility the SSU player lost Grand'ma, the Karamazin, and Koshka with her SSU Close Combat Squad by the end of the first turn. However, the SSU were able to destroy the Flamm-Luther in retaliation. John placed his Air Drop units in the SSU deployment zone, ensuring that both players were far from the VIP unit.
Initiative for Turn 2 ended with John as the Primary player, Nicholas as the Secondary player, and Justin as the Tertiary player. John finished off the SSU Observer Team in the Command Phase, where Nicholas utilized his Kommandotrupp to fire the Hans' Granate Werfer, and thus revealed the VIP unit so that all players could establish Line of Sight from within the structure they were using for cover. Since Justin was the Tertiary player, his Unit phase immediately follows his Command Phase. With the Kommandotrupp revealed the SSU were able to capitalize on the situation and targeted the Opportunist's VIP unit with an All In One Sustained Attack from the Natasha. The 45mm Howitzer's ability to ignore cover, along with rolling double the attack dice with a re-roll, was all it took to eliminate the Kommandotrupp and secure victory for the SSU!
Game 2:
- Attacker: John
- Defender: Nicholas
- Opportunist: Justin
This time we made sure to utilize the Limited Visibility and Off Target Shelling conditions. The VIP for each player remained the same. John did not utilize the Air Drop for his troops since Nicholas decided to line up his force along the edge of his deployment zone facing Justin, his target for the second run through of the Standoff Scenario. Justin had his Walkers lined up to penetrate the minefield that John had placed along his deployment zone, with nearly every infantry squad ready to follow the Walkers into battle with the Allied troops, while keeping their flanks protected from Axis the oncoming Axis onslaught.
Initiative for Turn 1 ended with Justin as the Primary player, Nicholas as the Secondary player, and John as the Tertiary player. This turn also involved a lot of moving, but not a lot of shooting since most infantry units could not be seen, and most vehicles were out of range. Angela and her Snipers came out of their cover and started moving towards the action.
Turn 2 initiative saw John take the role of the Primary player, Justin as the Secondary player, and Nicholas as the Tertiary player. John was able to eliminate the Nick's Laser Grenadiers who were holding the opposite structure. John then made an attempt to move his Red Devils into range of the SSU's Natasha, but fell to Reactive Fire from the SSU Walker.
Turn 3 brought Nicholas to the position of Primary player, John as the Secondary player, and Justin as the Tertiary player. John was able to position his Tank Busters outside of Reaction range of the SSU's Natasha and scored enough hits to penetrate the armor for the kill! Justin's SSU Rifle Squad and Grand'ma took shots at the Hans, which were enough to eliminate the Light Panzer Walker, while simultaneously focusing fire on the Battle Grenadiers on the bunker near the Hans for another kill! John used his Allies to focus attacks on Angela and her Snipers to eliminate the Axis unit. The Flamm-Luther kept the SSU on the move and on the opposite side of the structure to keep the Line Of Sight blocked.
Turn 4 saw John take the roll of Primary player, Nick to Secondary player, and Justin to Tertiary player. Nick's Flamm-Luther combined its shots to eliminate the SSU Auxiliary Attack Squad inside the blocking structure, then move into position to eliminate Koshka and her Close Combat Squad with the Karamzin. The SSU took another loss when John's Allied Tank Busters moved in on the Grand'ma and successfully destroyed the rare KV-47. Justin thought this would be the perfect time to make use of Koshka's Fighting Spirit skill. The combination of the Karamzin's PTRS-47, The Sulfur Thrower, and Molotov Cocktails with the addition of reversing the combat die rolls proved too fatal for the Axis Walker and the Flamm-Luther was destroyed! John then made an attempt to cover some distance with his Ozz and his Grim Reapers to attempt a chance to eliminate Nick's Command Section and gain the victory.
Turn 5 brought the final initiative with Justin as the Primary player, John as the Secondary player, and Nick as the Tertiary player. John realized his Ozz and his Grim Reapers couldn't cover enough distance to follow up with an attack against Nick's Axis Command Section, so he decided there needed to be a victor of the scenario and focused his attack on the SSU Command Section even though the victory would go to Nick should he succeed. However the Grim Reapers did not score enough hits for a kill and the SSU survived! The SSU achieved revenge by eliminating the Allied Hero and Heavy Ranger Attack Squad. At the end of the round every Command Section was still alive, so the game ended in a draw.
At the end nobody took the Victory. Justin was able to eliminate 5 full units, John was able to eliminate 4 full units, and Nick was successful in eliminating 1 full unit.
4 Player Team Game:
We had a special visit during our August 12th League Games. Jason McFarland, our gracious host for Dust Day Olympia and Dust Tactics Regionals joined us for a 4 player game of Warfare! Jason and Justin took the Allies, and Nicholas and John took the Axis. Each player had 200 points to build their platoon.
| Player: | Justin | Jason | Nicholas | John |
| Faction: | ALLIES | ALLIES | AXIS | AXIS |
| Command Section: | Ranger Command Squad | Heavy Ranger Command Squad | Heavy Kommandotrupp | Kommandotrupp |
| 1st Section | Ranger Weapon Squad | Heavy Ranger Tank Hunter Squad | Axis Gorillas | Battle Grenadiers + Panzerschreck |
| 2nd Section | Heavy Ranger Assault Squad | Heavy Ranger Attack Squad | Heavy Recon Grenadiers | Battle Grenadiers |
| 3rd Section | Combat Ranger Squad + Bazooka | Combat Ranger Squad + Bazooka | Battle Grenadiers | Heavy Recon Grenadiers |
| 4th Section | Assault Ranger Squad | Ranger Weapon Squad | --- | Recon Grenadiers |
| Hero | Priest | Johnny One-Eye | --- | Stefan |
| Support Units | -Rattler -Wildfire -Sniper Team | -Pounder | -Wotan -Flamm-Luther | -Lothar -Heinrich -Observer Team |
| Platoon Upgrade | Improved Command | --- | --- | Improved Command |
It was decided the each side would roll a collective Command Pool and use the orders accordingly. For the map itself we used the standard Warfare scenario generator.
- Objective: Eliminate the Enemy
- Deployment: Force Collision
- Condition: Off Target Shelling
The First Turn just saw each side advance their forces a little further down the battle field.
Turn Two brought the first bit of action with the Wotan successfully eliminating the Wildfire. The Tank Busters tried to get into a good position, but were eliminated by fire from the Flamm-Luther and a solo unit of Heavy Recon Grenadiers. The Allies did get some revenge when the Hammers jumped next to Stefan and laid waste to the Hero and his unit of Recon Grenadiers.
Turn Three saw a lot of suppression fall on the Hammers during the Command Phase to ensure the unit would no longer be threat, however the unit was eliminated by the Battle Grenadiers before the Unit Phase. The Command Phase also saw the Wotan successfully score enough hits on the Pounder to score another kill. The Allies did get some revenge in the Unit Phase when the Rattler finished off a unit of Heavy Recon Grenadiers. However, it was short lived when the Death Dealers fell to the Axis Gorillas, though they were able to eliminate one Gorilla with Reactive Fire.
Turn 4 brought the game to an end. Jason had to get going and the game was pushing 2 hours at this point. During the final Command Phase the BBQ Squad fell to fire from the Kommandotrupp, 2 Battle Grenadier Squads, the Wotan, Flamm-Luther, and finally the Axis Observer Team. The Unit Phase then saw the Priest fall, but before the end of the Phase the Allied troops were able to eliminate the Axis Gorillas.
Superiority Points:
- Axis: 6 points
- Allies: 3 points
That's all for now! The next League Game Day will take place this Sunday. More Warfare and Tactics games. Also, I spent the previous weekend in Vancouver, B.C. and played some games with my friend Christian. There will be a report of the 5 games we played and who came out on top! Good Gaming!!
