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kenshin620 wrote:In a bit of agreement with CT. I'm not saying it'll flop like it, but while I enjoy Tactics I feel an "AT43" vibe from warfare. Neat game with some nifty ideas, but severely lacking in the hobby aspect

I think the main problem is though that FFG isnt really well known for miniature wargames. They're a board/RPG/Card game company first and foremost

As to the hobby aspect I gotta say that I disagree. I have just finished painting my first unit of 3 tank buster jet pack infantry. I'll post a pic later. For me the minis were great to paint. No assembly, good poses, and bloody fast for what I consider to be my tabletop painting. Ironically, the new Citadel line makes this 40k replacement hobby even better. Wash, layer, drybrush, base and varnish. As someone with less and less time due to family, the construction, complicated list building, magnetizing, priming and base coating of my SM army was taking forever. I realize there's a lack of choices regarding war gear, but...these models get be painting much, much faster.



I will say that I wish the plastic was harder. Mold line removal kinda sucks. Love the sculpts though, and for me this take on the hobby couldn't be more helpful to my schedule.

The ruleset is really, really elegant IMHO...the reaction system, the suppression system, the ability to retreat without getting totally mown down. I really hope they integrate 1/35 tank models...I'd love to see mixed armor.

I like the concept here, but overall in terms of marketing, strategy, etc. I have a feeling that this game is going to end up being the next Starship Troopers, not a real competitor to 40k or Warmahordes. I hope I'm wrong and it succeeds, though, since in general adding strong systems and greater competition is good for the hobby as a whole.

Couple of differences from Starship Toorpers...first, three factions as of right now. ST only had two. Second, Dust Tactics is already a reasonably successful little game so that limits some of the financial stress of launching a new system. Third, the damn game is sold out of the rule book, and anecdotally selling really well per guys on their forums looking for models. The D6 Generation review was stellar, and that's what got me to get Core Revised.

It's a really elegant ruleset...for nothing else, spend $20 grab the PDF and give it a read...I'm just loving the tactical possibilities alongside the super easy combat resolution system.

YakManDoo wrote:Couple of differences from Starship Toorpers...first, three factions as of right now. ST only had two.

Say what

The playable races of Starship Troopers include the United Citizens Federation (UCF), the Arachnid Empire ('The Bugs') and the Skinnie Hegemony (or just 'Skinnies'). Each of these races, besides the Arachnids, is further divided into different playable armies:

Mobile Infantry commanders, for example, can choose from a wide variety of different platoons. These include Light Armoured Mobile Infantry (as seen in the film adaptation), Marauders (large bipedal vehicles), Power Armour platoons (as seen in the Roughnecks cartoon), Pathfinders (elite commandos loosely based on the PC game) and Exosuits (based on the original book by Robert A. Heinlein).

Skinnies are based on a tribal society, and so the abilities and choices available to a Skinnie army depend greatly on the choice of tribe leader. Arachnid armies are extremely versatile; all Arachnid units are usable and are limited only by the hive's ability to breed them. In this way, the player develops their own personalised colony.

kenshin620 wrote:

YakManDoo wrote:Couple of differences from Starship Toorpers...first, three factions as of right now. ST only had two.

Say what

The playable races of Starship Troopers include the United Citizens Federation (UCF), the Arachnid Empire ('The Bugs') and the Skinnie Hegemony (or just 'Skinnies'). Each of these races, besides the Arachnids, is further divided into different playable armies:

Mobile Infantry commanders, for example, can choose from a wide variety of different platoons. These include Light Armoured Mobile Infantry (as seen in the film adaptation), Marauders (large bipedal vehicles), Power Armour platoons (as seen in the Roughnecks cartoon), Pathfinders (elite commandos loosely based on the PC game) and Exosuits (based on the original book by Robert A. Heinlein).

Skinnies are based on a tribal society, and so the abilities and choices available to a Skinnie army depend greatly on the choice of tribe leader. Arachnid armies are extremely versatile; all Arachnid units are usable and are limited only by the hive's ability to breed them. In this way, the player develops their own personalised colony.

Sorry, meant at launch...I could def be wrong and probably am. I thought they only had 2...DW has 3 basically at launch....apologies.

I only show stats for two factions in my rulebook. I know they have the third faction, but it's not in DW yet.

robertsjf wrote:I only show stats for two factions in my rulebook. I know they have the third faction, but it's not in DW yet.

Yea, the SSU drops a whole month or two after its initial release.

Pretty excited to see how the SSU shakes things up.

Dust Warfare kicks major butt. Very solid feel.

Play it a few times and it become second nature. Great hobby too, and love the models for their funky WWII / Scifi vibe.

YakManDoo wrote:Couple of differences from Starship Toorpers...first, three factions as of right now. ST only had two. Second, Dust Tactics is already a reasonably successful little game so that limits some of the financial stress of launching a new system. Third, the damn game is sold out of the rule book, and anecdotally selling really well per guys on their forums looking for models. The D6 Generation review was stellar, and that's what got me to get Core Revised.

It's a really elegant ruleset...for nothing else, spend $20 grab the PDF and give it a read...I'm just loving the tactical possibilities alongside the super easy combat resolution system.

You forgot to add that its not made by Mongoose who has a pretty much proven track record that they never have a problem snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory when it comes to mini games.

Not everyone is going to like this game. But those who do are ape over it. Most people I know locally and on forums own all three armies. Can't say I see most people owning all armies from other systems. They might want to but Dust is somewhat affordable still.

Just because it's cheap doesn't mean it's lousy. I avoided it for almost a year because of the preprinted models and the cheap price point. Once I got the models I actually couldn't believe how good they look. I was expecting board game quality, not wargame quality.

I've beenfollowing this thread for a while now and wish to chime in now that I have read the rules and got a game in.

First I think it is a very fun game. A lot of subtle tactical challanges to it. The rules really dont show that. They come through on playing. It "punishes" stupid moves very hard and rewards "correct" military tactics. The rules are very well laid out and most every question we came across was easily found in the rulebook. The couple of questions we did have were over terrain which were soved by d6ing it. played it at 180 points, because that is what we had, and left me wanting more. The rules were logical when models hit the table and felt right. A good feel of what 40K could be if released from its current restraints. Like the reaction system. One reaction per unit makes it controlable, unlike Force on Force (which I like also) where the chain of reactions can get a bit unwieldy. The command phase is a unique feature of this game which I also like. Several times it helped make things a bit easier during my turn. It allowed me to pull units out of dangerously overextended positions or allowed a shot by a sniper to push my adversary into unteniable positions. Very smooth game and quick also, which for me with my limited time, makes it very attravtive.

Now the bad. It does promote a rush to the middle. Similar to 3rd ed. 40K, without the beating each other swords though. This opion may change once I get a few more game in and some of the scenarios disprove it. The ranges help promote this feeling, being very short compared to board size. One thing is that snipers seem very overpowered. The range, ingnoring cover, ignoring armor, and having a built in unit leader all seem a bit much. NO list should be without one, and an early loss of one can hamper your plans. Heros seem to be underwhelming. THis may be intentional though. They seem to be little more than extra wounds for a unit, especially for the 3 man units. Add on hero and bam the unit goes from 3 wounds to 7, more than double. A platoon lead by a hero will be in a bad way. Especially since they wont have a radio. I also think that teams having their own unit leaders seems a bit wrong. SOme scenarios require you to have unit leaders in contact with things to get points to win. With the small 2 man teams with leaders essentially allow them to grab and objective and hide the retof the game and help win it for you or at least force a tie. This happened in my first game where my objectives were held by a sniper team and a radio team. His objctives were held by a radio team and a ranger section. It felt a bit gamey to me. Those teams are for support, not to hold things. OF course this feeling may change as the points go up and there mare units to play with.

I like radios, and will always try and upgrade a platoon with improved comms ability. For 5 points is get a second radio in my command group. Being able to give orders to 2 units without worring about bunching around the command group is very good. NOw with the small points we played it did not make a huge difference, but in larger games it will become much more potent.

As to the question of the inititave phase and going first or second. In this game it did not have an overwhelming twist to the game. In fact there was a couple times where I wanted more orders to give and was willing to give up on going first in the move phase. More orders allowed me to position units to take advantage of things later in the turn or allowed me to mess up his plans. Plus it makes snipers even deadlier. Fire in the command phase, kill something adn place a suppresion marker. First activation of my turn and fire again and mess with another unit. I think that most people who argue about the inititave pahse and going first discount the rules of suppresion and dont realize how disruptive they can be. Just my opion there but being an old Epic:Armogedon player, i see possablity with that mechanic which MAY not be seen by others.

So to sum up this rather long review. I like this game. I can see a lot of GW heritage in it and like the changes made to it. Andy CHambers has done a good job of takeing the best of 40K, SST, E:A and has produced a very nice ruleset. It is tight and plays well on the table. While there are a few stumbles, snipers and the 2 man support teams, on the whole it is a very enjoyable game that plays fast and rewards good, tactical play. It joins a very few games in my inventory which will get a fully painted force fairly quickly.

Have you had the pleasure of meeting Axis Gorillas with Markus yet? Those will make your snipers cringe. I play 300AP games and with the volume of units at that point value, I think Snipers might get bum-rushed pretty rapidly, especially in some deployments where the aforementioned gorilla unit's 21" threat range will get you just about anywhere.

em_en_oh_pee wrote:Have you had the pleasure of meeting Axis Gorillas with Markus yet? Those will make your snipers cringe. I play 300AP games and with the volume of units at that point value, I think Snipers might get bum-rushed pretty rapidly, especially in some deployments where the aforementioned gorilla unit's 21" threat range will get you just about anywhere.

Not personally no Im sure there are counters to a lot of things. I was just giving some of my thoughts of my first impressions of my first game. From just reading I knew gorillas with the hero would be tough. Most soldier 3 with a hero in the same armor are going to be tough for any single sniper. But combine some supporting fire with the snipershots will stop slow them down.

Still cant wait to play some more and check out more theroies.

em_en_oh_pee wrote:Have you had the pleasure of meeting Axis Gorillas with Markus yet? Those will make your snipers cringe. I play 300AP games and with the volume of units at that point value, I think Snipers might get bum-rushed pretty rapidly, especially in some deployments where the aforementioned gorilla unit's 21" threat range will get you just about anywhere.

I hope there are more things to balance out snipers then one particuar unit combo only available to one particular army...

CT GAMER wrote:

em_en_oh_pee wrote:Have you had the pleasure of meeting Axis Gorillas with Markus yet? Those will make your snipers cringe. I play 300AP games and with the volume of units at that point value, I think Snipers might get bum-rushed pretty rapidly, especially in some deployments where the aforementioned gorilla unit's 21" threat range will get you just about anywhere.

I hope there are more things to balance out snipers then one particuar unit combo only available to one particular army...

Well yeah there are... he was pointing out that snipers if not used right will die quickly and looks like he trying to have a little fun why pointing it out (the guy even responded in kind). Play the game get stomped, learn form mistakes, and plan better next game. Then you wouldn't even have to ask that question.

Noir wrote:[ Play the game get stomped, learn form mistakes, and plan better next game. Then you wouldn't even have to ask that question.

Or... we could acknowledge that this is a discussion forum and utilize for it's intended purpose: to discuss games and related. Then you wouldnt have to make posts like above.

Yea, Markus is one example. Another would be any concentrated firepower or Air Drop elements, for example.

Plenty of balance in the game, just takes time. For a game so knew, I have yet to encounter anything that has proved too game breaking.

I did not want to create a new thread so I will post here on another opinion of the game regarding company support.


I bought a German mech on ebay (used) it game with a busted machine gun.

FFG replace the machine gun for FREE!

no cost, no shipping charges.

Just sent it to me.

I heart you FFG

It seeems cool