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So! Just like in the title, I'm thinking about getting myself the Core Set along with maybe a couple other boxes. I have already started identical thread on FFG forums related to Dust, but they're mostly dead so I assume noone looks there while some people here might have had some experience with the game!

The game is basically non-existant in Poland as far as I know, at least it is in my city, so it's not like I'm looking to build some huge armies, but I love to buy starter sets and expand them a little to have a collection of tabletop wargames to play with an odd guest interested in trying one out just like some people have collections of board games. I already have forces for WarZone: Resurrection, Warhammers, Warmachine/Hordes, Dystopian Wars (man, that's a lot of "war"!), X-Wing and Armada and I look forward to adding more games to my collection and given the fact that I'm somewhat in the mood for WWII lately and I always loved the concept of alternate history and weirdwaffe I thought that maybe I would consider Dust Tactics rather than go for just generic WWII Bolt Action game as I love the design of the robot tanks.

But yeah, I literally know nothing about the game or how it's played, all I know is that nazis found alien ship and new super-element and used it to progress, and other factions joined soon. I don't know anything about the mechanics, how it all works, how does it play without the tiles etc. Any kind of info from people who played it will be very welcome, especially on those matters:



1. is the game genuinely fun? Is it a good skirmish game? Is the system well-designed?

2. are the starter forces balanced? Is it hard to expand them further?

3. Would the task force boxes (the "Joe" and "Stefan" ones) be a good way to expand the starter forces and, more important, are those task force boxes balanced towards each other and, say, could be played separately against?



I was considering just grabbing those two force boxes along with Core Set for some fun mech tank mayhem aided by a couple infantry units. Is such scale of battle okay for the game? Isn't it too big/cumbersome, bloating the gameplay? I'm asking about this because I have no idea how all this stuff works and some skirmish games tend to get really slow and cumbersome with battles that have more models than they're designed to work with, and I don't know what's the "average" force in DT.



Thanks in advance for any information!

Hi Klerych,

Let me answer your questions:

1. I have played many miniatures games over my years, and can safely say Dust is one of the games I have had the most fun playing. It's even fun playing with yourself (that sounded...wierd...)

2. The starters are pretty balanced, but you get few models in them to really get a feeling of the game - it gets alot better with more unit and more tactical choices.

3. If you combine starter with taskforces you have some really neat forces. I can also recommend the new Babylon forces where you get 1 hero, 3 squads, 2 walkers and 1 heavy vehicle. Really good value in those boxes!

I know there was a pretty big Dust tournament in Poland this summer, so it is far from dead around there If you want to check out the gameplay, I have a Youtube channel going: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCC85VdcPs1NUFTYoVwq6ckA

Good luck, you will not be disappointed with the game if you decide to give it a go, and it flows really well even with huge forces.

Do we know if anyone in the EU will be selling the new Babylon starters?

Out of all the war games / board games I play and own, I rank DUST Tactics as the best. I find the campaign missions are very well thought out and balanced. The game mechanics forces you to make decisions and the right one can pay out big time, or you can miserably fail. What I like about the game is that the balance of who is winning can swing on a single turn, and even if you’ve lost half your force, you can still win. Some of the best wins I’ve had is when I thought I’d lost and most of my units had been removed from play. This I suppose, is because you are then under pressure to make better choices.

There is an element of luck involved, like your Command Squad successfully issuing an order, but it is a well balanced game if you play it correctly. It can become unbalanced if you use the wrong units. E.g., If you are playing the Operation Cyclone Campaign (the first Campaign released), you should only use units that were available at the time this was released (they are listed in the campaign books). If you used units from the next Campaign, Operation Seelowe, the balance swings. E.g., the Allies can win scenario 1 in 2 turns and the Axis have no defence against it. So it’s important to only use units that were available at the time the Campaign you are playing was released.

On the whole I describe this game similar to Space Hulk. It’s easy to learn, difficult to Master. Really, really makes you think about the choices you are making.

Oh my, I honestly didn't expect anyone to reply, let alone with more than two sentences.

I gave in a week ago and bought two fairly large forces for Allies and Axis. So far I haven't had a chance to play it, but I am going to soon and I can't wait - the rules are very simple and nice, the combat looks very fierce and fast with all that damage and the option to "dustify" WWII model kits to use them in the game? Awesome stuff!

Welcome to the wierd war, mate! Let us know how you like it after some games!

Dust was great.... then the kickatarter fiasco arose where dust studios won't give backers their product for whatever reason. After that the tournament and gaming scene in wisconsin dried up and our minis are collecting dust.

If you play the board game version, you will have fun. Be careful not to dump too much money into this as the game is dying/dead.

To be fair, no one knows who is at fault in all that mess. Depends on which company you like more and who's side you believe.


But I like dust. Good game, good miniatures.