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Hello dakka, I recently saw a game demo for dust tactics that got me intrigued. At my old LGS I saw the model boxes collecting dust (I get it!) on the shelf. Great looking models, but nobody there knew how to play the game, so I dismissed it and moved on.

My questions are:

Where does dust fall on the border between a wargame and a tactical strategy boardgame?

Is the game still supported by the manufacturer? (Releasing new rules/models, etc)

Is the game popular enough that I may be able to find other opponents other than a close circle of friends?


Edit, damnyouautocorrect!

gealgain wrote:
Hello dakka, I recently saw a game demo for dust tactics that got me intrigued. At my old LGS I saw the model boxes collecting dust (I get it!) on the shelf. Great looking models, but nobody there knew how to play the game, so I dismissed it and moved on.

My questions are:

Where does dust fall on the border between a wargame and a tactical strategy boardgame?

Is the game still supported by the manufacturer? (Releasing new rules/models, etc)

Is the game popular enough that I may be able to find other opponents other than a close circle of friends?


Edit, damnyouautocorrect!

There are two flavors of Dust: 1) Tactics and 2) Warfare. The latter is a wargame, like 40k. The former is a tactical strategy board game with minis. I was not terribly interested in Tactics and went straight for Warfare.

Dust is now distributed by the folks who make Flames of War. Since it was taken over by them last Summer, new models have been released. However, Dust Warfare has not been well supported by them.

The game is not popular, thus finding opponents is a problem.

I have no problem finding opponent's. I love the game (DUST:Warfare). It is being supported, they just released new cards just for warfare.

I really only play Tactics with friends, so I can't say how popular it is locally but Warfare has a pretty good following here. I would say that's probably somewhat true most places just due to the nature of the games. Board games are easily played at home, but not everyone has room or the desire to have a 6x4 gaming board at home, and thus have to play at stores. That said, playing it in store can spur interest, as you yourself can attest to.

Both games are supported and distributed by Battlefront, although they are also still available from Fantasy Flight Games while they still have stock. New rules for Tactics are coming in the not to distant future, but the current rules come free in any starter set and can also be downloaded online for free.

I would recommend giving it a try. Models can be found cheap on ebay or online retailers and a decent sized army can be had for around $100 if you shop around.

 spaceelf wrote:


There are two flavors of Dust: 1) Tactics and 2) Warfare. The latter is a wargame, like 40k. The former is a tactical strategy board game with minis. I was not terribly interested in Tactics and went straight for Warfare.

ok, can the models of dust tactics be applied to dust warfare?

 Starfarer wrote:
I really only play Tactics with friends, so I can't say how popular it is locally but Warfare has a pretty good following here. I would say that's probably somewhat true most places just due to the nature of the games. Board games are easily played at home, but not everyone has room or the desire to have a 6x4 gaming board at home, and thus have to play at stores. That said, playing it in store can spur interest, as you yourself can attest to.

I saw the Beasts of war demo on youtube. sadly, key west, florida is a gaming (of any kind) deadzone. my wife and I are thinking about getting the core box set and seeing how we feel about the game from there.

Something to remember about game popularity - it swings wildly between countries, states, cities and even stores. Two stores in one city could have two completely different games be the primary system. It gets even more muddied when you consider clubs and other gaming groups.

If the game is gathering dust on the shelf of the store he's looking at, it's a fair bet it's not popular there. But that doesn't mean it's not popular at all in that city, you just need to look harder.

Warfare uses the models from Tactics. Tactics however can't use all of the units from Warfare as its a Skirmish game, not a large battle. In Warfare you have larger walkers, artillery pieces and tanks in more common use.

When Tactics first game out there was interest around here for it. Since then I haven't seen a game of it played in ages. My flgs recently sold off all of its stock for the game at something like half the price of its original price just because it'd been sitting on the shelves unsold for so long.

I played Tactics twice. I prefer wargaming, and didn't enjoy it much. Warfare's probably better, but I haven't looked into it. Some of the elements of the fluff struck me a little dumb too*, but I guess they could be overlooked in that its Weird War game.

There's a thread in News and Rumours btw and presumably a few discussions in the tabletop board if you're looking for more information on the games.

 Wyrmalla wrote:
Warfare uses the models from Tactics. Tactics however can't use all of the units from Warfare as its a Skirmish game, not a large battle. In Warfare you have larger walkers, artillery pieces and tanks in more common use.

That simply isn't true. All the models released as part of the Dust range can be used in Dust Tactics and Dust Warfare.

In the past the rules for new units came out for Dust Tactic first and two months later for Dust Warfare. This is now changing and with Operation Babylon the rules for both games will be released at the same time so that players of both game systems can make use of all the models on the day of their release.

One thing to keep in mind is that Tactics is going through a bit of a rough upgrade cycle with the rules right now. I have no doubt that it will get sorted, but this is probably the worst time to be a new player with Tactics. Warfare on the other hand is not going through this.

Floris wrote:

 Wyrmalla wrote:
Warfare uses the models from Tactics. Tactics however can't use all of the units from Warfare as its a Skirmish game, not a large battle. In Warfare you have larger walkers, artillery pieces and tanks in more common use.

That simply isn't true. All the models released as part of the Dust range can be used in Dust Tactics and Dust Warfare.

In the past the rules for new units came out for Dust Tactic first and two months later for Dust Warfare. This is now changing and with Operation Babylon the rules for both games will be released at the same time so that players of both game systems can make use of all the models on the day of their release.

Yeah, just to reiterate, any model released works for both games. Dust tactics can be scaled up as large as you like if you have enough tiles to make it manageable.

A recent issue of Wargames Illustrated had free starter rules for one of the two Dust games (unfortunately, I don't remember which off the top of my head).

The transfer of Dust from FFG to BF has apparently caused some issues with the supply pipeline. Reportedly, due to an agreement between the two companies, BF can't restock old product until FFG sells off its existing stock of that particular product.

My local store stocks the game, and there's a small group of players who can sometimes be seen playing the game.