Tag: Dust Battlefield

The Dust bug is still with me. Also, the plan to paint units before playing with them is still working at this time.

My latest force was changed to take out some close combat units (all the Zombies) and to put in more firepower.  Firepower doesn’t come much graceful and effective than in the smooth lines of a jet fighter…

The working shots show my progress up to the day before our planned game and I paused as I was unsure as to what to do with any weathering on this little lass.

I have weathered all my other walkers and tried to make them look battle worn (see my Ludwig below).  Again, the night before our game, this little walker (a Herman light scout walker with oversized Laser Cannon) was finished awaiting a wash of inks and rust.

I found some stencils for kill markings and added a dash of colour to contrast with the grey scale of the main body.

The resulting force was far more balanced than last game. The plan was for my jet to go zipping about the table, engaging my opponents SSU walkers on their own table edge, while the main force slowly advanced across the table.

The figures were painted and ready as planned for our game, so the resolution appears to be working at this point…

The table was set and the Axis troops began their invasion of yet another town.

The game played to a draw in the end as attrition was a telling factor in this game. My jet was a great benefit and gave me an edge in the first half of the game. The SSU, with their 2 officer units, were able to call in twice the number of reinforcements that I could with my singe hero.

Next game I think I may try to add in a new heavy infantry unit. This will allow me to make use of the platoon rules for them. I still think I need to add some more regular infantry to the force too. An extra command unit will be essential as well. If our games continue to rely on officer commands as much as they have done, I cannot afford not to add a second hero or command squad.

What do I take out though, what can I lose to make room for these new units? Can I really play a game without my Apes???

I have always been one to flit between projects.  This blog is proof of that I guess.  So I have decided to try to change one thing this year. Call it a new years resolution if you will.  I have decided to only play Dust with painted models from now on…

This blog has documented that I have quite a large mountain of plastic that is Dust related…   It also shows that I have painted some of these figures but the ratio of unpainted to painted remains quite embarrassing really.  I plan to set this right…

To start the ball rolling I have worked tirelessly (well, I’ve spent the odd evening at it), to produce a force that equals the 125 points needed for a full game of Dust Battlefield (the table top version of Dust Tactics).  This went fairly well as I already had all the Zombies and Apes done as well as a unit of Laser Grenadiers.  To finish this little force off, I painted up a couple of walkers and a unit of heavy infantry. A hero to act as an officer completed the force and I was set.

My Ludwig medium walker lends its heavy guns to the force fulfilling a long ranged antitank role.

The Panzers, with their officer Lara, are a heavy infantry unit armed with their very effective twin MGs. Each man (or woman) rolling a good sized handful of dice against infantry of all classes and laying down some serious suppressive fire.

Little Hans is a light scout walker, and likely to become my favourite unit, even with his very short ranged capabilities. If he does get into range he can do some serious damage. The grenade style weapons he carries can take out both infantry and other walkers with ease.

So far the force is a bit uneven (make that VERY uneven) with over half the force only capable of attacking in close combat (the Zombies and Apes). The majority of the remaining units also have a very short range.  This is something I will need to rectify before the next game I play.

That is the plan though…  As I want to play a new unit I HAVE to paint it first.  It’s worked so far so. If I switch out 1-2 units each game to try new units I will get a new force and learn some new rules and tactics.  It also makes the painting more achievable (unlike staring at the plastic mountain and aiming to paint it all).

I have yet to have enough units of any one type to allow me to play with the platoon rules so that may be my next step.  So, what to play/paint next..?