At both Origins and Gen Con, it has been my pleasure to interact with the staff of Fantasy Flight Games and their demonstration teams. Their staff have always treated me well, done a great job explaining their games, and provided suggestions on strategy and replayability.
I try to make it a point to try out at least one of their games at each convention I attend. At this year’s Gen Con, I sat down to play Dust Tactics. (And like many Fantasy Flight titles, it can be hard to get an open seat to sit down and play!)
Dust Tactics is set in an alternate Earth history (during World War II). In this alternate history, a mysterious ore has been discovered which has enabled the creation of giant, walking weapons of mass destruction. The Axis powers and the Allies are at war in this alternate history, just as they were during World War II… only now they have "mechs" to battle with.
Dust Tactics Core Set Game Board and Miniatures
Although Dust Tactics takes place on a game board, it plays much more like a traditional miniatures game. Combat takes into account features like cover, armor, weapon types, range, and line-of-sight (features we don’t generally see in board games, which tend to "abstract" these elements out).
Players move their units around the board, getting them into position where they can attack enemy units to their best advantage. Infantry units try to avoid armored units until they can get in close enough to destroy them. Armored units will tend to seek out infantry units to quickly destroy them if possible. Units will move to take advantage of cover and remove that advantage from their enemies.
Special six-sided dice are used to determine hits, misses, and cover saves. Four of the six sides are blank. Two contain a "target" icon. During the firing phase, target icons represent hits on the enemy unit. During a cover save, depending on the kind of cover (soft vs. hard), either the blank or the target images determine if the unit takes a hit. For infantry units, a "hit" represents the loss of a miniature. For armored units, a "hit" removes one more hit points from the unit’s total. Remove enough hit points, and the armored unit is destroyed.
The miniatures offered by Fantasy Flight are shipped with a basic primer which is gray for Axis units and green for Allied units. Fantasy Flight encourages players to paint the units to make them more realistic and unique (again, trending toward typical miniatures gaming rather than board gaming). The core set includes a small number of units, enough to play a variety of scenarios. Additional units can be purchased from Fantasy Flight to expand the scope of a scenario or campaign. Keeping track of the capabilities of a given unit is easy, given the printed card provided with each unit.
Since I enjoy both board games and miniatures games, Dust Tactics was a game that I definitely enjoyed playing. Given the varying capabilities of the infantry and armored units, I can see where a variety of interesting scenarios could be assembled and a challenging campaign put together from those.
Since the miniatures arrive "semi-painted" (in addition to the base coat of primer, there are a small number of markings to help differentiate the units), it would be easy to setup and play Dust Tactics without the assembly and painting of a fleet of miniatures. On the other hand, if you wanted to take the time and effort to personally paint and customize your miniatures, they’re ready to go – already primed.
Dust Tactics Unit Reference Card
With the basic reference info printed on the card with each unit, you could probably play a fairly large battle or campaign without referring a lot to the rule book. That would make for a much more fun experience overall, and minimize the need for "rules lawyering" that some miniatures games are famous for.
Close-up view of a painted, customized Dust Tactics miniature
Like all the Fantasy Flight titles I’ve played, the production values (materials, artwork, etc.) in Dust Tactics are among the best in the business. The plastic miniatures look good enough to use as-is, but of course can be improved with a bit of painting work. The core set is a nice starter collection.
Having said all that, Dust Tactics isn’t a game I plan to add to my collection. That’s more a personal matter than a problem with Dust Tactics itself. Investing $80-100 in the core set and much more to acquire additional units to use in larger battles or campaigns, Dust Tactics could represent a fairly significant gaming investment. It’s probably a much lower investment than a miniatures game like Warhammer 40K, but far more than I’m willing to invest given the number of times I get to play a game like this outside the game conventions (maybe once or twice a year). As I say, this isn’t a reflection on Dust Tactics. It’s also not a criticism of Fantasy Flight’s pricing (which is competitive with many miniatures games). It’s just a decision on my part to invest in games I would expect to play more often.
Fantasy Flight’s Gen Con Exhibit Hall Demonstration Table for Dust Tactics
I definitely recommend checking out Dust Tactics if you get a chance. It’s a nice cross between a traditional board game and a more mainstream miniatures game.
Amazon currently offers the Dust Tactics Core Set for $81.87, which is well below the MSRP of $99.99. They also offer many (if not all) of the additional miniatures and materials to go with it, most of which are similarly discounted.
