Dust – a game of Dust Warfare, Axis vs SSU

The set-up. SSU starts in the near left corner and Axis in far right.

It was a long time ago I last had a game of Dust Warfare (and then I just had a couple of practice games) and now at last Thomas and I had a go at each other at the club.

We were both really rusty when it came to the rules, but practice makes perfect and I fully intend to practice.

The good guys - the SSU. Clear based painted by me and the other by Thomas. Unfortunately some original unpainted ones as we haven't had time to paint everything... or even a small amount of what we have. I'm trying to crank out a unit a week now to rectify that.

The Axis, played by Thomas. Just one unpainted hero there. They should win...

You might think there is a certain grim-dark look of the buildings, but I’m told that that is an authentic neo-empire look was all the rage in the Soviet Union in 1947. Figures...

The SSU set-up

and Axis.

The battlefield from the viewpoint of a common Axis grunt.

What can we hit from here?

First turns is only manouvering, trying to get good firing positions. I place my BR 47 self-propelled anti-tank gun in a hull down position that proves to be extremely powerful later on. All of my soldiers in the center of the board takes cover behind a stone wall, also a good defensive place.

Axis troops walking around doing nothing much :-)

More troops taking cover behind walls and my Chinese (unpainted) volunteers prepares to climb up to the first floor. They will take heavy losses, being unpainted...

The sniper rifles of my Rifle Squad proves to be rather effective against Thomas' walker. They won't knock it out but they damage it. 

My troops in well protected positions.

Kaboom! The BR 47 pays its cost as it destroys the Axis light walker. Urrah!

And soon there after it takes out the heavy walker also. Urrah! Great performance from that cheap vehicle.

At this point Thomas starts swearing and looks rather disgusted. I taunt him, of course, and we call it a day.

A good day, if I might say so J

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Dust – Quonset Huts

Games of Dust Warfare do need lots of terrain and this set is perfect for that. You can buy Qunset Huts in sets of six and each model comprises the curved walls/ceiling and two end-pieces – one with a door and the other without.

I wanted my huts to look worn and well used and tried a couple of different ways to do that.

First they were all given two coats of Vallejo 893 US Dark Green.

I put on Vallejo Oxid Paste near the ground and in small patches on this one above. It turned out really red and I drybrushed it with US Dark Green to tone it down and let the ‘rust’ show through in recesses. The whole thing was given a wash of Army Painter Strong Tone ink.

The rest was just washed with Vallejo Model Wash Light Rust. When the wash was half-dry I used the brush to make streaks in the wash and I also put on another uneven layer near the ground.

A rather fast way to get some cover for your poor infantry on the deadly Dust battlefield.

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Dust – Heavy Laser Grenadiers and tank traps

Another quick paintjob, this time the German Heavy Laser Grenadiers. 

Painted with the same colours as the last lot, only difference being the thingies on the backpacks. I’m not sure if they are cooling devices or power packs. Anyway they got a coat of Vallejo 859 Black Red with an Army Painter Dark Tone wash. 

I will change the bases to clear ones later.

This pair of tank traps comes from one of the Dust starter sets. I painted them with Vallejo 884 Stone Grey, the debris got a coat of AP Strong Tone wash and everything was drybrushed with 989 Sky Grey.