Dust Warfare is set in alternative universe WW2 era where the course of history is

altered by the Axis powers discovery of alien technology in Antarctica which they are
eventually able to sufficiently reverse engineer to develop an understanding of how to
exploit a new mineral known only as “VK” as an unprecedented power source allowing
the development of a wide range of new technologies for application to the battlefield.

As the Allies and the Soviet Union suffer many losses facing the new walkers and other
technologies the Axis powers have gained from exploiting this new power source, they
eventually come to understand it themselves and apply it to their own militaries. This
sets the stage for an ongoing world-wide war where the Axis have assassinated Hitler
and purged the Nazis from within their ranks; the Axis now only cares for power,
control of VK resources, and their goal of unifying the world under their rule. In turn,
the Soviet Union, having suffered losses far beyond those they already experienced in
our history’s WW2, come to feel betrayed by the Allies when they actually entertain the
Axis’ attempts to convince them to abandon the Soviet Union. They react by joining
with communist China to form the Sino-Soviet Union (SSU) and gain footholds in
South America and Africa where communist revolutions in many nations lead them to
join the SSU.

This is a world where fully 90% of Earth’s nations have ultimately come to be unified
under one of the three major powers and where as of 1947 the global conflagration that
began with Germany’s invasion of Poland still rages on.

My Thoughts: I really enjoyed the background section. The quality of writing is clearly
a cut above the usual hackneyed prose you often find in the fluff sections of many a
wargame’s rulebook. Mind you, to that end the game developers have a bit of an easier
world to work with given the much more real-world nature of the universe for this game
than many others, but still, it was pretty well written and had my attention captured long
enough to read it all the way through and not just skip to the rules.

Unit Stats and Basic Mechanics

I’m really glad they carried over the unit stats mechanic used in Dust Tactics with
minimal modifications here as it is one of the most elegant designs for working out a
unit’s abilities that I’ve seen in any wargame. Units are mostly defined by 4 stats: Their
move rating tells you how far they can move (in inches), their damage capacity tells you
how many points of damage they can take (each for soldier units) and their type/armour
rating determines how hard they are to damage with various weapons as well as their
armour save.

The fourth stat(s) are the special rules that unit has, which are all listed clearly in a
special section in the rulebook. These range from abilities that allow you to re-roll
missed attacks, to special movement rules, rules that make units more resilient to
damage, and rules that allow units to shrug off the effects of morale (one in particular
that amuses me is simply called “Badass”).

In addition to these basic stats, each unit has stats for each of its weapons which clearly
show how many of each weapon the unit has, what it’s range is, and how many to-hit
dice it gets against targets of each armour type, and how many points of damage each
weapon does for hit. Of course, there are also special weapon types which have
additional rules (i.e. artillery, burst weapons, laser weapons, etc.) and these are also
clearly explained.

Both Dust Tactics and Dust Warfare use special dice marked with “hit” symbols, but as
both G and myself have mentioned previously, we don’t really like these dice and just
use regular d6′s instead. Oddly, the Dust Warfare rulebook suggests using 5 and 6 for
hits on d6 but as the hit symbols on the custom dice are on opposite sides, we prefer to
use 1 and 6 as hits to be consistent with that.

Line of Sight in Dust Warfare is treated slightly differently for blocked LOS and
obscured LOS. Blocked LOS is determined model by model using true line of sight
principles (so the an attacking unit can only attack with models that has LOS to at least
one model in the enemy unit, and only enemy models in that unit at least partially
visible can be removed as casualties). Obscured status, used for the cover mechanic,
instead are traced from the attacking units leader to the models in the target unit. Here
slightly more abstract area terrain rules are used that are detailed in the rulebook.

One last thing of note in Dust Warfare’s general game mechanics is that the rulebook
explicitly notes that pre-measuring is allowed. This is something I always like in a
wargame because I feel it places the emphasis more on tactics in terms of what you are
trying to achieve with your units rather than your ability to eye-ball distances more
effectively than your opponent.

Game Turn Mechanics

Each game turn begins with the Initiative Phase where both players rolling a number of
dice equal to the number of units they have on the table. In a very interesting wrinkle to
the usual way this happens, here it is the player who rolls the lowest number of hits that
becomes the first to act in each phase, however, as you gain the ability to issue a
number of orders to units in the Command Phase equal to the number of hits rolled, the
player who acts second will be able to issue more orders to compensate.

Next comes the Command Phase where the “Initiating Player” (IP) (as the rulebook
calls the player who acts first in each phase) can issue a number of orders equal to the
hits rolled in the Initiative Phase (plus any additional allowed by special rules) such as
taking a single action (which I’ll cover shortly), regrouping (which removes negative
effects on units from morale effects) and special orders that different types of lists for
each faction can issue (each list-style or Platoon Type in Dust’s parlance gets a unique
order that it can use). Actions in Dust Warfare mean a unit can move up to it’s
maximum move distance or attack with all of its weapons as a single action. Thus, units
given a “take action” order in the command phase can either make a single movement
or attack once with all of their weapons.

The purpose of allowing units to be ordered to take action in the command phase is to
be found in Dust Warfare’s unique reaction rules, where units may react to actions
performed within 12″ of them by enemy units during the Unit Phase, thus there is some
needed tactical flexibility to be gained from being able to take an action in the
Command Phase where enemy units cannot react. After the Initiating Player has issued
all the orders he can/wants to, the “Responding Player” does likewise with his orders.
In the Unit Phase, the IP activates each of their units once, performing up to two actions
with them in any order (i.e. you can move then shoot, or shoot then move). You can also
perform a double move action which gains the ability to ignore difficult (but not
dangerous) terrain, or a double shoot action where you still attack only once with all of
your weapons but gain a re-roll on the to-hit dice. Once the IP has activated all of their
units, the RP then activates all of their units.

The exception to this is reactions. Any time a unit moves within 12″ of an enemy unit or
declares an attack against an enemy unit within 12″, that unit can elect to react (as long
as it isn’t suffering any negative morale effects). This reaction can either be a single
move action or attack action. A move reaction can put the target unit out of line of sight
meaning they cannot be shot at by the unit that provoked the reaction. Attack reactions
happen simultaneously with the attack that triggered them, however, so an attacking unit
will always get to use all of its weapons before it can suffer casualties from reaction
attacks. Also worth noting here is that a unit may only make a single reaction per turn
and gains a Reaction Token once it has done so, meaning it will have its number of
actions in the controlling players Unit Phase reduced by one. This also applies to units
issued orders in the Command Phase, so a unit that receives an order in the command
phase both cannot react in the opponents Unit Phase but will also have one less action in
the controlling players Unit Phase.

While using move actions with infantry units, they can rotate freely during their move
and their facing is irrelevant at all times as they have 360 degree LOS and can fire in
any direction. It’s different with tanks. Tanks have a 90 degree firing arc, measured
from the center of the base (or model) and can only move into their forward arc (or
reverse up to 3″). Additionally, tanks can only rotate up to 90 degrees and only
either before or after they move. This makes vehicles require a little more forethought
for positioning than is necessary for soldiers.

When using an attack action in the Unit Phase, a unit can split its fire however you like
with all of its ranged weapons. You then compare each weapons profile with the armour
rating of the target unit and roll the number of dice corresponding to what the chart tells
you. For each hit you inflict the amount of damage specified by the weapon. Next your
opponent gets comes cover saves, which are handled in a very unique way in Dust
Warfare. Rather than rolling a d6 for each squad member and passing or failing based
on what you roll, cover simply reduces the number of hits inflicted based on the cover
type. Soft cover reduces the incoming hits by one, hard cover by two. This makes hard
cover (i.e. trenches, low walls, etc.) drastically less effective protection than it is in Dust
Tactics, though that is partially offset by units getting armour saves in Dust Warfare.

Armour saves are rolled with a number of dice equal to the armour rating of the unit, for
the unit as a whole. Let me emphasize this, because I’ve seen some confusion about it
online: The armour saves are rolled for the unit as a whole not each model in the unit.
Thus an armour 2 soldier unit would get two dice in total for armour saves for the whole
unit. Between this and cover saves it sounds like a pitifully small chance to save your
units from incoming attacks but you have to remember firstly that most attacking units
only hit with 2/6 of their attacks, and secondly that most attacking units don’t put out
that large a volume of fire. Conversely this makes walkers much more survivable
against incoming fire than they are in Dust Tactics as an Armour 4 Walker will now get
4 armour save dice as opposed to the zero it would get in Dust Tactics (walkers also will
have an easier time getting cover in Dust Warfare because they can gain cover from
being in or completely behind most area terrain).

For each unsaved point of damage remaining after cover and armour saves, the targeted
unit suffers one point of damage. As most infantry have a damage rating of one point,
this means they will lose a model for each unsaved point of damage. In Dust Warfare
the player who’s unit suffered casualties can elect to distribute them however they like,
subject the restrictions that the models removed as casualties must be in LOS of the
attacking unit, and models not obscured must be removed before obscured ones.

Any unit that suffers any hits from an attack by an enemy unit (or is fired at by certain
weapons don’t have to hit to inflict this) gains a suppression token. Suppression tokens
are basis of the morale system in Dust Warfare. A unit that has any suppression tokens
on it has its actions reduced by one in the unit phase (stacking with reaction tokens) and
if it has a number of suppression tokens that exceeds the number of models in the unit,
it will retreat (basically be forced to move directly towards the closest board edge to the
platoon’s command unit up to and including running off the table and becoming
casualties). At the beginning of a unit’s activation it can roll 1d6 for each suppression
token it has and it removes one per hit. Unit’s also automatically lose one suppression
token at the end of each game turn. Finally, the regroup order I mentioned above can
immediately remove all suppression and reaction tokens from a unit given the order
allowing them to act normally in their next Unit Phase.

Game Set-Up

Another area where Dust Warfare is quite unique from the wargames I’ve seen is in its
game set-up design. The first thing is that the rulebook specifies what the table size
should be based on the points values of the armies being used quite explicitly. For
example, sub-200 Army Point games should be played on a 5′ x 4′ table, while 201AP-
400AP games are for 6′ x 4′.

Once the size of the game (and table) has been determined, can choose the scenario for
the game in one of two ways. First they can simply choose one of the pre-defined
scenarios given in the book’s campaign section, or they can use the tournament scenario
mechanic Dust Warfare includes (where games are fixed in length at 5 turns).

In the tournament scenario system, each player starts with 2 scenario points. Both
players roll 5 dice and the player with the fewest hits must spend their first point, then it
alternates until all 4 points are spent. These points can be spent to influence the
objective type, deployment type, and special conditions for the game. Each point spent
in these three categories (from 0 to 3) results in a different outcome. For example, the
deployment matrix at 0 points results in deployment zones 9″ deep from both long table
edges, while if 1 spent on it by a player, the deployment then becomes 24″ from
diagonally opposite corners of the board. This is set up so that players can use each of
their two points trying to manipulate the game type to their advantage, with a total of 64
combinations possible.

Of course in friendly play you could just pick the scenario, but the poker-esque bidding
principle to control the battlefield is uniquely attractive.
For example: Chris and Erik are playing. Chris doesn't want to play in the mist as he has
long range guns - so bids 1 point in Conditions. Erik's army is a close combat army, so
he favours players starting close to each other - he bids in Deployment to move it up to
the next deployment catergory. Chris then bids in mission so that players have to secure
terrain (hoping it will force Erik to leave units behind). Erik then bids again in
deployment to move it up to the 2nd point deployment that favours him.

Some scenarios also include the ability for both sides to spend a limited number of
points on additional fortifications they can place to their own advantage (such as
foxholes or minefields).

Victory conditions depend on the specific objectives of each scenario, from number of
enemy units killed to objectives claimed or units able to reach the enemies deployment
zone and assassination of important units (all from the tournament scenario builder) to a
variety of mission specific objectives for the campaign missions. Ties are broken for
tournament scenarios using number of enemy army points killed.

The Axis and The Allies

The Army building rules:

The rules for building an army seem to have been carefully thoughout to avoid the silly
situation of an all-tank army up against a poor infantry army. So whilst seemingly
restrictive, they actually encourage military thinking - you pick a command section, a
few infantry sections and then add support tanks.
Every unit has a points value and a unit type. You can spend points freely, but certain
platoons restrict what types you can have.

For small games (about 150 points): you get 1 Platoon, and up to 1 hero.
For standard games (300 points): you get 2 Platoons and up to 2 heroes.
The games scale up from there.

A Platoon consists of:

1 Command sections or hero
4 Sections chosen from the various infantry options open to a platoon
up to 2 support tanks - 1 per 2 infantry sections.

There are 3 types of platoon: all rounder platoons, heavy weapon platoons, assault
platoons. Depending which one you pick, you get a special order you can make. This
further helps shape the army you create. For example, Allied all-rounder platoons can
call in an artillery strike, where as assault platoons can auto rally retreating troops.

Allies have different platoon orders to Axis, but the basic platoon structure is the same.

In addition (for even more customisation), each power has upgrade points they can
spend on a platoon to grant it a special ability - such as wire cutter for barbed wire, or
reload magazines etc. You pay for these out of your points but they're not compulsory,
you could just buy more men, but they help if you find the platoon structure limits your
points or you want carry out a certain plan.

As an example of points required to play the game, the Core set contains about 120
points of Allies (3 Infantry units, 1 hero and 1 Walker) along with 125 points of Axis (3
 Infantry units, 1 hero 1 walker). A medium walker is about 50 points, whilst a heavy
walker is about 100.

So it doesn't seem that expensive, and the game seems to scale from small skirmishes to
larger battles anyway.

My Thoughts on the Game System

From what I’ve seen so far, I’m really impressed with Dust Warfare. The rules are very
clearly written and explained, with little or no head-scratching necessary (though a
double take was required to understand the armour save rules because of how unique
they are). The game system as a whole looks very promising and I am very interested to
see how the reaction mechanic interacts with the comparatively short range of most
infantry weapons (usually up to 16″ tops). I am also really impressed with the elegance
of the rule-set as a whole, the mechanics are fairly straightforward but are clearly
designed to allow a great deal of tactical depth. As a competitive gamer I am also
thrilled that the rules were designed with tournament play in mind from the get go,
rather than the disdain with which competitive gamers are often treated some other
wargame makers *cough* GW *cough.*

On the other hand, I am less sold on the lack of alternating unit activations. This is
something I’ve gotten so used to in games outside of GW that I’m not sure how much
I’m going to take to going back to using all of my units at once. I’ve tended to feel that
the alternating activation mechanic allows for some really interesting interlocking
tactics to develop over the course of a turn as the situation develops based on already
activated units on both sides. Mind you, I can also see there being some appeal to
the manoeuvre tactics that open up to you when you can move all of your units into
position together.

I also really like the idea of the orders and reaction mechanics for adding another layer
of tactical depth in this game. Between these two mechanics all sorts of feints and other
types of skull-duggery will be possible.

I was already a big fan of the fluff and the units in Dust Tactics and Dust Warfare has
just added to that in spades. Heavy infantry are badass as hell, and the new light and
heavy walkers (the Luther, Pounder, etc. of Dust Tactics are Medium Walkers) are
really neat models, and with the upcoming introduction of the SSU there will be the
introduction of aircraft to the battlefield.

Finally, the rulebook itself is beautifully designed and put together hardcover with great
design, lots of wonderful pictures, and writing that didn’t make me roll my eyes once
(ok, well, until I got to the zombies in the Axis units…). That the rulebook is only 140
pages long in total, and that includes the full army “books” for the Axis and Allies is a
testament to the tightness of the rule-set.

While I can’t give a definitive opinion until I’ve had a chance to play-test this game,
what I’ve seen so far looks very promising. If you’re interested in wargames at all then I
would highly recommend checking out the Dust Warfare core rulebook at your favorite
local games store (LGS) or of course online from Fantasy Flight Games.
That’s Yo “THE AXIS CAN TAKE ZOMBIES AND GENETICALLY ENHANCED
GORILLAS WTF?!” Garbage!