Dust Warfare! June 2012

No league play this weekend, but Nicholas and I played a long game of Warfare. We decided on a single 200 point platoon for each player on a 4’ x 4’ table. We originally intended to play for 8 rounds, but called the game after round 5 due to how late the game was running (roughly an hour per round).

• Objective: Eliminate the Enemy
• Conditions: Secured Area
• Deployment: Advancing Lines

Nicholas’ Axis Army:

• Kommandotrupp
• Laser Grenadiers
• Axis Gorillas
• Recon Grenadiers
• Heavy Recon Grenadiers
• Sniper Grenadiers
• Hans LPW
• Hans LPW
• Anglea

Justin’s Allied Army:

• Ranger Command Squad
• Combat Ranger Squad
• Heavy Ranger Assault Squad
• Ranger Weapon Squad
• Assault Ranger Squad
• Observer Team
• Sniper Team
• Steel Rain MCW
• The Priest

Superiority Points:

• Nicholas: 5 Points
• Justin: 4 Points

Victory:

• Nicholas with 5 superiority points

This game definitely took way too long to play. The Condition of Secured Area was new to both of us and definitely slowed things down. I also attribute the excessively long duration of play to lots of measuring, pre-measuring, re-measuring, trying to determine LOS, such a small paying surface, etc… These are some of my least favorite aspects of table top gaming, and a large contributing factor to why I left similar games in my past. The minefields were also a contributing factor in slowing the game down.

The Axis won the first two initiatives and made good use of the Blitzkrieg order to position the gorillas and the unlimited range indirect fire capabilities of the Hans LPW. Not to mention the indirect fire from a Granatwerfer ignores cover! The Allies took up position behind the main building, but a minefield located in the doorway of the opposite side limited its usefulness as a safe staging area. Angela’s 36” range also did much in covering the center of the map, damaging the Steel Rain to one-half health early in the game, and eliminating two out of three of the Heavy Ranger Assault Squad. The Allied Command Squad spent a majority of the game healing their units, and issuing regroup orders to keep a heavily suppressed and hurt Combat Ranger Squad from retreating off the board.

Turn 3 and 4 saw the initiative fall to the Allies. The Gorilla’s fell to the Combat Ranger Squad when they attempted to approach the Steel Rain from the roof of the main building. Angela and her Sniper Grenadiers traded some blows, and damage with Preist and his Assault Ranger Squad. In an attempt to finish off the hurt Priest and Assault Ranger Squad, she missed entirely!! The response from the Allied unit drew the same result!! Two major hitters with a chance to finish each other off with minimal damage, and one with an inverted die roll, came up empty!!

Eventually the Steel Rain fell to reactive fire from Angela, but the Steel Rain was able to finish off the Sniper Grenadiers. The Laser Grenadiers made a dash up the middle, through a dummy minefield, and took some fire from the Steel Rain before it fell, and was finished off by the Gunner Rangers, before they fell to the Heavy Recon Grenadiers. The Priest sacrificed himself for the sake of the Assault Ranger Squad, and a fully healed Heavy Ranger Assault Squad took the fight to the Axis in a last ditch attempt to eliminate a Hans and finish off the Recon Grenadiers. In the final turn, the Ranger Command Squad concentrated all of their fire onto Angela to at least get some revenge for their fallen brothers. Her hard cover and armor were not enough to keep the final hit from getting through to eliminate Angela from the battle.

It was a long game, but I did still have a lot of fun. There are many aspects of this game that I like very much. Tank Killer weapons, Artillery not ignoring cover, Armor 2 Zombies, Snipers ignoring cover, Blackhawk with a good range, and a few others. Both factions seem balanced with unique and exciting options.

After looking at the battle I realized we did a few things incorrectly, which greatly changed some decisions and the course of the game.

• Reactions are limited to 12”. Angela’s reaction on the Steel Rain was from about 34” away, and ended up eliminating the unit with the help of the Spotter, who was eliminated in the Attack. Angela shouldn’t have been able to fire until her unit phase, where she would have been without the benefit of a Spotter!
• Close Combat differs greatly from a standard attack. They cannot be done simultaneously. Either a unit uses its ranged weapons OR its Close Combat Weapons. Units cannot “move” react to a Close Combat Attack. Units may only react to a Close Combat attack with Close Combat Weapons.
• The Steel Rain’s Petard Mortar is an indirect fire weapon, but still limited to 24”. Much strategy was planned around the weapon being unlimited range when fired indirectly, much like the Hans’ Granatwerfer.
• There is no Command Pool die available for a Hero that is attached to a unit.
• Block Line Of Sight versus Obscured Line Of Sight. Soldiers don’t actually block or obscure L.O.S. for Vehicles, and only obscure L.O.S. for Soldiers. It also seems that a Defender will always gain the benefit of cover as long as they are obscured by terrain in between an attacking unit and a defending unit’s base, regardless if they are actually in the terrain.

I look forward to future games and exploring different strategies. There are many different options and combinations to try before I can make a full review and fair assessment of Dust Warfare. I hope my satisfaction with the game will increase with each experience. Good Gaming!!