Tuesday 6 December 2016

Dust Warfare - Latest update

Hey dusters!

Another one of those long interval posts. Lots of personal stuff been keeping me busy away from this project, along with the evolution of the game. On that topic heres a big shout out to Gregory Withrow for what he's doing with Dust Warfare 2.0.

I've been following quite closely what the new license holder of  Dust Warfare, Gregory Withrow has been doing to update Dust Warfare. From what  I've seen Gregory has been working ass off, to craft a new set of re-balanced stats and rules the will build on top of the core rules to refresh this game to a whole new level. Very responsive to community discussions on the rules and discussions what we've gotten so far is exactly what we've all been waiting for, for years!

Here is a little bit on the project from the man himself:

"Ladies and Gentlemen,

The revision of Dust Warfare is well underway and is playable as it stands. What does this really mean?

Yes. I possess the license for Dust Warfare and therefore the rules are official. I work in conjunction with Dust Studio and what I produce is done with regard to pending releases and the Direction in which Dust Studio is moving. This does not mean that units used in Dust '47 are going to possess entirely the same abilities as those produced by Dust Studio for Dust '47 (the latest revision of Tactics/Battlefield).

Working copies of revised rules are available in the Dust Warfare DropBox. Also available in the DropBox are all the cards as they are produced as well as all of the original rules for your use. Anyone can access the DropBox by contacting me on Facebook or emailing me at gregory.withrow@gmail.com.

Why don't we have a website? We are working on one, but the priority is to provide the revised rules and playable cards immediately. With that said, we have a function card app in development and it will be available for the public as soon as I get the SSU cards finished and can update the spreadsheet which drives the app.

Cards and rules that have actually been play tested with regard to feedback from the community. We have play testers on at least four continents.

Also, I want to capture players contact information so we have a grasp on just how many players are out there - and the DropBox helps me do that. For those of you who remember the days when there were no cards, you know how much that sucked. Now, you have really good cards at a decent price available on DriveThruRPG.com.

Currently, we are working are working toward completing the update of all cards from original units as well as for newly published units.

Currently Available from DriveThruRPG:

Allies:
- Rangers: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/195841/Dust-Warfare-47-Cards-Allies--Rangers

- USMC: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/195907/Dust-Warfare-47-Cards-Allies--USMC

- Vehicles & Aircraft: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/195926/Dust-Warfare-47-Cards-Allies--Vehicles--Aircraft

Axis:
- Wehrmacht & Blutkreuz: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/195865/Dust-Warfare-47-Cards-Axis--Wehrmacht--Blutkreuz

- NDAK: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/196255/Dust-Warfare-47-Cards-Axis--NDAK

- Vehicles & Aircraft: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/196097/Dust-Warfare-47-Cards-Axis--Vehicles--Aircraft

Also, we are working on an App which will contain all cards and allow you to make favorites lists for ease of reference during game play.

Currently, the rule updates are divided into sections for my sanity. Check the New Rules Compendium for general updates and look under each faction folder to get a more specific information on your favorite forces.

What are some of the rules that have been revised?

1. Air Drop. All factions now have access to Air Drop at cost, but certain platoons gain the ability for free. But Air Drop mechanics work differently and incorporate drift as well as damage upon landing. Yes, this means you can land within reaction distance of an enemy unit, or perhaps on top of that unit. Airborne Rangers,Spetsnaz,Fallschirmjaeger, Paramarines and Red Devils are new platoons which incorporate Air Drop free of cost and actually act like airborne units.

Wait? What? New Platoons?

2. Yes. There are new platoons. In, all the factions have a variety of new platoons, and even company level elements have been incorporated into Dust Warfare. Armor platoon are actually armor platoons now.
New platoons and companies have faction based themes and abilities.For example, if you want to play a Polish Cavalry Reconnnaissance Platoon, you can do that now and garner a different Special Order or Special Ability than a Canadian themed Cavalry Reconnnaissance Platoon.


3. Available Cards:
New and revised cards for the Allies, including Rangers, USMC, Vehicles, Aircraft and Bunkers/Strongpoints are now available.

New and revised cards for the Axis, including Wehrmacht, Blutkreuz, NDAK, Vehicles, Aircraft and Bunkers/Strongpoints are now available. Fallschirmjaefer/Luftwaffe cards will be available in the near future.

Mercenary cards are available. Mercenaries may be fielded alone or as part of existing factions.

SSU cards are almost finished and you can find examples in the DropBox. SSU cards will be available for purchase within a week, so you can get them for your holiday games.

4. Some weapon ranges have changed and so have the possibilities of hitting S4. Example: DSHK 12.7mm, .50 Cals, MG48s all have a range of 20" now and hit S4 at 1/1 - not much of a chance, but still a chance where there was one before. And, S4 should be tough.

5. Lots of units have smoke grenade capabilities now, and there is a smoke grenade template.

6. Damage Resilient for troops is now called Tough as Nails and functions as before. Damage Resilient now applies to Vehicles and works to reduce the effect on the Vehicle Damage Table.

7. Tesla has finally come into its own. The Tsep' Molniya (Chain Lightning)now jumps to every unit with 4" of a Soldier target or 6" of a Vehicle. You can even continue to target destroyed Vehicles in order to get Chain Lightning against units using them as cover. Check it out.

8. Attack Aircraft are being removed from platoons. They will get units of their own, known as Flights. Support Aircraft are still viable in certain platoons as described.

Also, check out Air Strike, which is a platoon upgrade giving you limited time with an Attack Aircraft on the table with prescribed movement restrictions for only 20AP, rather than the full cost of the Aircraft. This gets us a more realistic, cinematic application of Aircraft in the game, and keeps those expensive Aircraft from sitting on your shelves.

9. Aircraft with VTOL on the miniature now have that ability on their cards.

10. Band of Heroes: You can now form a unit of heroes.

11. Historical Vehicles: There are a variety of historical Vehicles defined for your use and are included in the platoon organizations. You will find there are a few cards already available in the DropBox or in the albums on Facebook. In the near future, certain historical Vehicle and Aircraft cards will be available for purchase. "Certain?" Yes, basically tanks and aircraft in use from 1945 onward will be included, but a variety of transports will also be available as long as they can roll or swim.

12. We are working on cleaning up the rule revisions and will compile them into one publication so you have a ready reference. After that, we will update and compile everything into a grand tome of Warfare knowledge.

I can go on-and-on all day about this stuff, but you should make the move and join us on Facebook and/or the DropBox:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/dustwarfarefans/

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Greg"

Friday 4 March 2016

Dust Swarm!

Hey dusters!

Apologies for the long silence, looks like sporadically will be the best I can do for now in terms of a posting schedule. Not that I'm not working on stuff but with the fluctuations in the game recently I want to wait for Gregory Withrow's update to Dust Warfare in Version II, which will feature an updated and expanded Rosies scrapyard - custom unit builder.We'll revisit the stats and rules in an update and then go on to new things.

But not that I've been doing nothing in the meantime.

- from old Mars Attacks card game
Couple of months back i saw someone playing some Alien swarms vs Axis on one of the Dust Facebook pages. I happen to love these types of Space-Dino-Bugs and have a large collection, though haven't played the game they are set in a while.

Just for laughs thought I'd whip up some dust warfare unit cards for swarm based aliens, feel free to use them to spice up your games.

Turned into a bit of a mission but got some I'd like to share.

The Swarm - Special Rules:

Swarm Consciousness: all units need to have at least one model with in Swarm Consciousness range of a unit with the Swarm Consciousness special rule, or will only be able to take a move action at the units max speed towards the closest unit with Swarm Consciousness. If no such unit is left in play the remaining units must move at maximum speed and attack the closest enemy unit. Does not Apply to units with the Ranging or Swarm Consciousness special rules.


Now just as is stated in the blog description, let me state this again now all credit and copyright to those who own and deserve it and I make no claims to the ownership of the imagery or anything nor am I making money from any of this... yada yada yada.

Anyways hope you guys like and find useful and fun. Please let me know what you guys think conceptually and stat/point wise.

As a last thought, Was wondering if there was anyone out there a collection of AT 43 Karmens, that would be willing to take and send through some photos to be used in the cards. Big prob at the moment is lack actual miniatures to divide into dust compatible teams. Think lots of 3 and 2 man Armour 4 units plus armour 3 aircraft.