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Hello,
I was wondering a few things about Dust Tactics. If I've put this into the wrong area, please kindly redirect.

1) Are the normal boxes you get prepainted?

2) What's a normal army size in terms of models? I know there are infantry and walkers/etc., but just curious.

3) What would you say the average cost of a good sized army. If a normal game of 40k is 2000 points costing around $400 or so, what's the equiv. for Dust Tactics?

Just picked up a batch of this stuff myself, and have asked the Local store to get thier hands on both a new and old starter set for me.

The quick answers-
1. No. They come able to paint right out of the box, but the basic box is not "prepainted in the same way as AT43". There are however some prepainted boxed sets out there, that the company discuss that cost a bit extra. (usually in specific units.)
They paint up relativly easy, and as usual- I recommend Vallejo paints with the mix of GW that they discuss in the You Tube tutorials.

2. 28mm, but they are a little larger then 1/48 scale,but not heroic at the ridiculous GW "HEROIC" scale. They have thier own sort to speak 28 mm, and I don't honestly know if they are measuring them from thier head to toe, eye to toe, or base to head or whatever. They are on a 2-3mm base that seems a little in lines with one of those bases from Heroscape- the game from Hasbro with the prepainted figures on the bases by a peg, and the figures are put together in a way that the heads come out on little pegs, the feet are pegged to the base, and the bodies are pegged to the waist so they turn. I haven't tried to take the arms off yet, but I would assume that they come off in some way, but don't quote me. ( you know what they say about ASS U ME.) I don't really plan of fooling around with the arms if I don't have to.

3. I picked up two squads for Germans, and two for Americans. "The Recon Boys" were around 19.90-22.00 plus tax. The Combat Squad of the recon guys have an extra guy in it to make them into Bot hunters, or the combat squad. As of now, those guys look to be the basic of the basic and they are around 21.50-23.00 plus tax. The Axis equivilent is called the Recon Greneders, Panzer Killers, and Battle Greneders.

The Mechs look to be around 25 to 30.00, and there are a few of those larger sets with "Expansion" stuff in them around 30-45.00 plus tax. Prices may very, but they seem to be on level depending on where you get them.

( as an added, If anyone knows a place to get them cheepers, please PM me. The guys I got were on the level at the basic 5 man squad boxes, I know I'm going in for around a hundred for the basic box, and around 80 or 90 for the new basic core box, but the expansions ..... Expensive is a matter of how much you want to go in for. ) 25.00 Times 5 or 6is going to come up at around 100-150.00 base, then twice that for both armies, so at around 300 bucks you can get a base army for two factions.

I will be putting together armies based at around 30 guys a side and a couple of walkers, then I plan on adding more as the time goes by. THIS will be my game that I play the creep game and see how it goes. A few units here, a few there, some stuff off of Feebey.... I plan on milking the gak out of them, and try to be as cheap as I can to get as much as I can.

As of now me and the youngster are painting our respective teams up, I bought one of the buildings that is getting primed up in a little bit, then we're going to start up when I get back from the hot place for good. I plan on either one or both of the starters being there at the time, and we will be getting in on this one with the additional crews. The ruskies seem like an interesting faction, and in the future, if the game plays well, we may or may not decide to get in on that one.


I saw a russian tank right out of the box the other day before I picked up the squads. These vehicles are compairable to Tamia model tanks, and they have additional attached weapons to upgrade, or change the vehicles to different varients. I may or may not be magnaitising them, depending on how our first vehicles look when we get them.



Hope that helps. It is am impressive game, but even more so then the AT 43 craze from the same game designers that petered out last year. (The DUST guys are on par with the AT43 minis but without the paint.)

What I meant by "size" was actually model count. My mistake for the lack of clarity.

Roughly how many infantry/walker/tank models would a typical good game have in it. Something along the lines of whatever the equiv. to a 2000 point 40k game is.

Force structure is entirely disimilar to how you build a force for 40K.

Dust uses a system where you build a platoon of up to 5 "sections" (or some other term).

A command section and "first" section are mandatory, then you may choose which of the remaining sections you take.

If I remember correctly Walkers/Tanks/Flyers (and other support elements such as spotters and snipers) are "unlocked" as options once you have a minimum of two sections, so your mandatory selections are all you require before the Walkers/Tanks/etc are unlocked, but you are normally limited to a Single Walker/Tank/etc per platoon.

Each section allows you 3 unit options, but you may only build that section from the options available.

Each option will vary per type of platoon: each army (or "codex" if you prefer) has 3 distinct platoon types - this may be increased since the publication of the "Operation: Hades" expansion but I don't own that.

There are strict unit sizes based on the "type" or "level" (eliteness) of the section.

Elite infantry sections are composed of 3 models, Standard infantry sections are composed of 6 models, Tanks or Walkers or Flyers are composed of 1 model, Observers and Snipers are composed of 2 models.

Special characters may add one model to a section, and in the case of Commisars will also allow two sections to combine - but I believe they still count as two sections for the purpose of building a platoon.

So, how many models are in an army depends upon the type of platoon and the number of platoons you have agreed to play with. Standard "tournament" games are usually 300 points, with each platoon being 150 points.

Total model count for a 300 point army is usually less than 60, with maybe 4 Walkers/Tanks/Flyers maximum.

This is my general recollection of what I have read from the basic rules and the "Operation: Zverograd" expansion and some details may not be exactly correct. I have not yet purchased any miniatures....

So roughly how much do you figure the models themselves would cost in $$ total? Not incorporating rulebooks/etc.

You could use the prices from Grot6's post with the numbers from my post to get a general idea.

Certain sites offer deep discounts - see the following:

http://www.miniaturemarket.com/table-top-miniatures/dust-tactics.html

Cool. This game looks like a lot of fun. Time to call my LGS and see if people around there play it.

It does look cool. Thankfully my FLGS has a Dust night so I can go see what it's like.

A little on question 1... There is the standerd box that is pre-primed, and the pre-painted models that cost2-3x as much. All FFG released Dust Tactic/Warfare units(same models different rules) can be bought in both form.

SAD PANDA!

My LGS said that nobody plays it.....

The game is fantastic and not a bad price!

thewarsmith wrote:
SAD PANDA!

My LGS said that nobody plays it.....

Well, at the moment those nobody include you. Take the leap.

If I had the time to be at the store and promote it I would