Rota Razvedki vs German Pioniers

Every year, the day after Christmas, Luke and I always play a game of Flames of War. We leave the setup entirely up to the dice. We decided on Late War, and flipped a coin between Western front and Eastern front. We got Eastern Front. I then randomly set up the board using the modified V2 terrain rules from the FoW website. The mission we rolled up was Pincer.

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Bolt Action - The Tale of Three Painters

Happy New Year, everyone! Something a little different this week, patrons of The BAR - Tim (TJSKI from the forum) and his crew have a challenge going on in their corner of The BAR (Arizona). He's here to tell you about it, and there's no reason you and your crews can't do the same! He's included some pictures of his group's previous works, so I hope you enjoy, and I hope it inspires you and your group! - Judson 

Welcome to a tale of three average gamers in Phoenix Arizona who are going to each build a new 1000 point army for Bolt Action in a four month paint challenge. Here are the details of our little challenge and you can follow our progress on our respective Blogs.

TJSKI's vehicle submission from the painting contest.

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Minecraft - Herobrine's Mansion Part 1

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Dirty Jon Goes Early War: Part 6 - THE LIST!

In Part 5, I completely dodged actually getting a list together for my Flames of War project for Early War.  Well, I finally got around to getting the list set, so here we go!

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Bolt Action - Review: Black Tree Design LMG Team

Over the holiday, I managed to get another unit painted for my Bolt Action army.  This time, I tackled the Black Tree Design US Infantry .30 cal team.

Again, the figures were nearly flash-free and looked very good out of the package.  I could tell right away that these were from a different line and/or sculptor, as the faces are a different style.  I decided to go for a more correct looking color for the '41 jackets and chose Russian Green from Vallejo - I think it turned out well.

A little ding in the barrel, which has been corrected.

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Zvezda BA10M

I have thought about a Soviet Armoured car company for some time. Unfortunately, I am afflicted with deep pockets but very short arms so I am always on the lookout for a bargain. Along comes Zvezda with their plastic kit at just over 1/3rd the price per model of some of their competitors and suddenly the project is a go.

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Star Wars X-Wing - Battle Report: Corvette Battle (Capital Ship Rules Test)

I wrote an early draft of some Capital Ship rules for FFG's X-Wing, and was eager to try them out.  So Sean and I setup a quick scenario to give it a go.  The Rebels have a lot more than the Imperials here.  They have the Blockade Runner "Orin", an X-Wing squadron lead by Wedge and fully kitted with proton torpedoes, and a Y-Wing squadron lead by Garvin fully kitted with Protons and ions.  

 The Imperials were a bit lighter on the line- with just a single TIE Advanced (which we reasoned was launched from the Pursuant) and 3 TIEs lead by Howlrunner.  Obviously the Rebels massively outweighed the Imperials here, so the mission was for the Rebels to get off the long edge with as many fighters as possible.  Of course the real goal was to give my capital ship rules a thorough test.

Y Wings

TIEs

The Capital Ships play chicken

Later in the game.  Y Wings line up on the Imperial Corvette as critical hits start taking their toll!

Proton torpedoes rip into the Imperial Corvette!

The Corvette's fast tracking turrets knock out Garvin.

But the Corvette is pummeled by the Blockade Runner and the Rebel fighters

While the Blockade Runner is significantly damaged as well, the fight is clearly going to the Rebels

The Imperial corvette goes down hard

At this point we call the game.

We played for quite a while!  Only a single Y-Wing goes down, although the Rebel ships did take a beating from the Corvette.  Next, the Rebel fighters would make a break for the board edge, but we were satisfied with the rules test and decided to call it.

The rules held up pretty good- I'd give them a solid B.  A few tweaks need to be made, and a few areas tightened up- but we succeeded in having a great game!

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Bolt Action - The Painting Contest Entries

I have to admit that I wasn't sure exactly what to expect when I kicked off the painting competition. Being a newer site, the best I hoped for was that we'd get some participants, my biggest fear being an arrival at the deadline with no submissions.

And then the BoltAction.Net community absolutely blew me away! I had no idea so many people would get involved. Even more amazing, I had no idea the skill level of the painters perusing our humble corner of the internet! Incredible painters submitted in three categories: Best Painted Squad, Best Painted Team, and Best Painted Vehicle.

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UCM Condor Medium Dropships

The fellows over at HAWK Wargames were kind enough to send the WWPD dudes some promo Dropzone Commander stuff, and we're eating it up!  I received the UCM starter (I immediately went out and bought the PHR starter as well- what can I say?), and figured there's no better place to start than the core element of the game: the dropships!

The Condor is the workhorse medium dropship of the UCM.  

 [Flavor text from the Hawk Wargames Website]: A lighter, faster cousin to the Albatross, the Condor is typically employed for spearhead operations. With a smaller transport capacity, it also finds extensive use with specialized sections that do not typically take to the battlefield in vast numbers.

 Designed with a similar philosophy to the Albatross, the Condor is a low cost unit with moderate armoured protection, and is best employed beyond the reach of enemy air defenses.

 Due to its higher combat speed, it is often called upon over the Albatross to ferry mechanized infantry formations to flashpoints. In any case, UCM military doctrine discourages the transport of over 30 men in a single unit. This limits the risk of high casualties should a dropship be lost, making the Condor the UCM’s premier infantry transport.

 These were a lot of fun to paint!  They're a strange plastic-like resin (I'm not sure what it's called, but it's a flexible resin).  I had some problems with some details getting a bit muddled, but on the whole the casts were really quite good!  cleanup and assembly was simple.

 I spray coated them black, and then painted them in VALLEJO Cam. Olive Green (70894) (the same color I use for Russian armor in FoW- I tried to find a spray can of that color but they seem to be sold out everywhere still).  The highlight is VALLEJO Russian Uniform (924).  Then I added some gunmetal, red and blue bits, and black where appropriate.

 Though their stands come with a neat adapter, I decided to magnetize them for the hell of it.  Be careful assembling the stands- you need to push the post into the base.  Be sure to apply the pressure evenly to keep one of the stands from snapping.

 I found myself making lots of dropship noises and saying things like "We are in the pipe five by five" while painting these.  I am looking forward to getting them on the table (hopefully alongside Scott's excellently painted models).

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Choppers on patrol in Vietnam

There's somethin' happenin' here

 What can I say?  I've been drafted into 'nam.  Frankly, I have so much WWII stuff now, I was excited to paint something a little different.  These choppers were a blast!

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Santa's... Jeep?

From the WWPD family to yours- may your dice roll nothing but 6s*!

(unless they aren't D6s- in which case may they roll high!)

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Bolt Action - Bolt Action Radio Episode 6

Episode 6 of the BAR is here!

Dano and Judson get after it again, this time diving head-first into the Armies of Germany book. They also go over an upcoming Bolt Action tournament (Cold Wars!) before Dano absolutely tears into Judson's Commonwealth list. In between, Dano breaks into song, waxes philosophical, and at least once reverts to Olde English. Episode Six is like watching The Hobbit! 

000:00 In!

002:50 Cold Wars Bolt Action Tourney

008:46 Armies of Germany Shop Talk - Infantry

076:15 Break!

077:14 Armies of Germany Shop Talk - Everything Else

115:27 Dano Gives Judson's Commonwealth The Once-Over

159:44 Out!

Judson's Commonwealth:

095 Regular 1LT + 2 Men

020 Regular Artillery Observer + 2 Men

093 Regular NCO + 6 Men, 1 LMG, 1 SMG

093 Regular NCO + 6 Men, 1 LMG, 1 SMG

070 Regular NCO + 6 Men

133 Veteran NCO + 6 Men, 1 LMG, 3 SMG

065 Veteran Flamethrower

040 Regular PIAT

305 Regular Crocodile

084 Veteran Bren Carrier + MMG

998

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Store Review: Borderland Comics and Games in Greenville, SC USA

I live a blessed life.  I recently had to travel to South Carolina and visit my parents.  While there, I made a quick trip up I-85 to Greenville, South Carolina and visited Borderland Comics and Games.

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Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays from Outpost Zero!

Because every tree needs some more Skavens...

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Darqueling's World of Tanks Let's Play: Ep. 105

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Dust Warfare: Intro to Dust! Part 1

Hey guys and welcome to my first post here on the WWPD Network.  My name is Jay Powell but some of you may know me as HuronBH on the WWPD Forum or from around the web.  Starting with this post and moving on into the future I will be sharing with you insights and cool models, from the large variety of games that I play.  While the majority of my posts will show up here on Outpost Zero; I do also play Saga, Bolt Action, and occasionally Flames of War; so you may see posts from me occasionally in those sections as well.  Enough about me, now on to the topic at hand: DUST WARFARE!

What is Dust Warfare?

Dust Warfare is a conflict level game (my term for games with armies sized between skirmish and mass combat), set in a science fiction take on World War 2, produced by Fantasy Flight Games. It is based on a comic book series created by French Artist Paolo Parente. In Dust Warfare you build armies made up of several 3-5 man squads, weapons teams, heroes, large walkers, tanks, and other vehicles using the miniatures from the popular 1/48th scale board game, Dust Tactics. Dust Warfare moves the miniatures from the board tiles onto a more traditional war games play mat and provides rules for things like moving, shooting, assault and terrain features such as barbwire, minefields, trees, and buildings.

Dust takes place in 1947. Thanks to a mysterious substance known as VK Ore and the discovery of crashed alien technology, the world has been divided into a battleground by 3 major factions; the Allies, the Axis, and the SSU.  National identity has fallen away, as powerful new weapons have been introduced at increasing speed forcing the governments of the world to band together to create the ruling bodies of the 3 major blocks.  The Allies are formed from troops from North America, the British Isles, the Free French, and Australia. They control most of North America, Brazil, a large portion of Africa, sections of the Middle East, India, and most of Australia.

The Axis, having killed off Hitler in 1943 and the Nazi party with him; are formed from Germany, Italy, and Japan.  They control all of their home countries, most of continental Europe, Scandinavia, Libya, sections of China, Manchuria, the East Indie islands, and Australia.  At the end of 1943 the Axis and Allies met in secret peace talks (that prove to be indecisive) in order to discuss a peace on the Western Front.  Upon learning of the peace talks, Stalin, in a fit of rage pulled Russia out of the Allies and in 1944 along with China forms the SSU. The SSU currently control most of Eastern Europe, Siberia, Asia, and South America.  They also have taken over the coast of Alaska, Cuba, the southern tip of Florida, Madagascar, parts of Africa, and a few islands in the East Indies.

Currently only Argentina, Spain, Portugal, and Turkey have managed to stay neutral in a conflict that now spans the entire world.

What do I need to play Dust Warfare?

You will need an army made up of Dust Tactics minis.  Currently there are models available for three factions; Allies, Axis, and SSU.  In addition, you will need The Dust Warfare main rulebook:

Inside you will find all the rules you need to play the game along with force organizations and rules for multiple units, walkers, and heroes for the Axis and Allied armies.  In addition to the basic rules (of which an overview is provided in Part 2 of this article, coming soon), and the rules for the Axis and Allied armies, you are also provided with a very well thought out scenario builder for playing pickup and tournament games, and a series of themed missions for you to play as well.

Also available are 2 campaign books.  The first is called Operation Zveograd, and it includes new expansion rules that let you to included Flyers into your games:

In addition to the new flyer rules, this book also introduces two new walker types for both that Axis and the Allied armies. But most importantly, it includes all the rules you need to play SSU Defensive and Commissar Platoons.  Included with the SSU rules are new special rules for heroes to pilot walkers and other vehicles.  The SSU are also the first to receive flyers and have 3 types of helicopters including an infantry transport helicopter, a walker transport helicopter, and a ground attack helicopter (which has 4 different variations).

Also included in Operations Zveograd is a series of three player missions allowing players from all 3 factions to play in one game.  The Second Campaign book is called Operation Hades:

Operation Hades includes additional new models for all 3 factions, including the first Super Hero character, Winter Child for the SSU.  Also there is a 3rd platoon type for the SSU (bringing the total for each faction up to 3 different platoon types), the Red Guard.  Another cool feature of the SSU expansion is the inclusion of the 4 tracked vehicles in the game, 4 heavy tanks (one of which is pictured on the cover of the expansion). These heavy tanks provide a heavy support element for all 3 SSU Platoon types.

Early next year we will be seeing the next expansion for Dust Warfare released.  It is called Operation Icarus:

It promises to add flyers to the game for both the Axis and Allies, along with additional weapons teams, heroes (including an Allied Super Hero), and units for all the factions.

Part 2 of my Intro to Dust Warfare will include an overview of the unique structure of the phases in each round of the game and a synopsis of the basic game play mechanics.  See you next time.
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Jay Powell is a long time Hobbiest, Gamer, and occasional Podcaster that has over 20+ years of experience in the hobby. Jay has worked for Games Workshop and Hobbytown USA in the past, and has run many leagues, campaigns, and tournaments over the years as a Privateer Pressganger, GW Outrider, and game clubs member. Jay was the original co-host of The Gamers Lounge Podcast and has appeared on many podcasts as a guest host from around the world.  You can currently find Jay, when not writing new articles for the WWPD Network, playing games at Huzzah Hobbies in Ashburn, VA or on his personal blog 24 Hour Gamer Geek.

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News From the Front Episode 48

News From the Front Episode 48

Steven is back from New Zealand, and the dudes all get a chance to catch up!  The first audio interview with Jeff from Battlefront is in the middle of the episode.  It was recorded via a phone interview, so bear with us on the audio quality!  In Act III Steven talks about the Battlefornt Office and gives some general impressions before the videos start making their appearance!

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Bolt Action - Review: Black Tree Design Americans

Black Tree Design had a really good Black Friday sale this year, so I took the opportunity to start up my Bolt Action army for cheap.  Among many things, I ordered the the US Platoon (WW2065) - let's take a look!

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Star Wars X-Wing - Spoiler Alert: X-Wing Slave 1

I recently won my local X-Wing Kessel Run Tournament.  In the final round of play my opponent and I built forces using the ships from the Wave Two X-Wing Expansion.  As a loyal supporter of the Empror I felt that it was only right for me to play the Imperial force.  So I got to field field Slave 1 and two TIE interceptors.  It was a close, hard fought fight, but I managed to pull off the win.  The top four players got to take new ships home as prizes and since Slave 1 helped me secure victory, and since I have no love for those Rebel Scum, I took it home.

The expansion forces mixing it up.

In the final moment of the game I took advantage of Slave 1's ability to shoot to its rear arc to knock out the final A-Wing.

Since Wave Two is not due in shops for a few more months, I thought I let everyone share in my victory by spoiling the contents of the Slave 1 expansion.

The Model

I still cannot believe how well painted these models are.  Check out all the detail. I have absolutely no complaints about this model.

New Cards
This missile looks awesome, my question is is the damage automatic or do the other ships get a chance to save?  I think they are just damaged.

I used this with awesome success during the tournament.  It was awesome when shooting at longer ranges, just remember only primary weapons can shoot to the rear, not the secondary weapons.

Drop one of these on a ship that has already moved and game over.

Another awesome upgrade.  My question for this card is if I am hit by an attack does it go away before my save roll?  If I save all the hits does it go away?  If I take no damage, but lose shields does it go away?  I think I may have played this wrong in the tournament and must have answers.

This is awesome against A-Wings

There are so many cool named pilots that could benefit from an increased pilot skill.

When you got to get the kill this will make sure it happens.

Giving Slave 1 even more firepower

Oh the possibilities.

Making long range attacks nasty again.

You have got to see the template for this.

Same as the Y-Wing, except it isn't turreted (no 360* fire)

Taking maneuverability to the next level.

Sweet Sassy

Not bad for a basic pilot.

This will come in handy

Kaboom Rules

These are the tokens for the bombs and mines

Not the most agile, but trust me, you don't need to be

Well there it is all the stuff included inside Slave 1.  I am not able to spoil the other ships at this time, but trust me, they are just as awesome as Slave 1.

If you have any thoughts on Slave 1, it components or have thoughts on any of the questions I posed feel free to discuss them on the WWPD forum.

“Craig Baxter is the Director of the WWPD Northern Research center in Anchorage, AK. When he’s not contributing to WWPD.net he is busy blogging, painting, modeling and rolling dice. You can find more of his work and articles at frozengamerak.blogspot.com.”

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