A Guide to Kickstarting Games

1.What is Kickstarter?

This is Kickstarter.

Kickstarter is an online platform that allows you to pledge money for products and projects that needs the fund for various reasons.
Usually there is pledge levels offering you  some products when the project is completed or some kind of return on investment.

2.What do you benefit from kickstarting a game?

Dust Hades Campaign: Game 1

Schnell 203! Ze enemy is weakened!!

The super-nice facebook group (Dust Tactics Quebec) and myself decided to play the Dust Warfare Campaign from the latest book Hades.

Les Jeux: Le futur des commerces de détail

For english readers: dear valued reader, this is only a french translation of this excellent article by Llew that you probably read before. I only wished to make it more accessible to fellow frenchmen and quebecois as it is generating interesting discussions on our local forums. WNT team will post more articles for you next week. Thanks for reading us!

A Whole Nation (Part 1)

Why do new projects always show up before weeks of exams?

'Early adopter' Derek (and his blog) convinced the already weak-minded (when it comes to miniatures) '2nd generation early adopter' that I am to spend my money on...

Dystopian Legions

With a ''Federated States of America'' (aka FSA) starter.
Just for you, dear reader I'll do a quick review of what you get in a FSA starter.

DUST (why play it + pictures of my allies)

Hello all,

As usual, a very late article with some very real life delays that prevents me from posting all I'd want to so I thought it would be a good idea to talk about Dust Warfare.
beware: it's going to be a LONG ARTICLE, if you find a part uninteresting, just skip it.

1.My Past with Dust

Dust Models, a line of models created from Paolo Parente's mind from mixing WW2 stuff with his imagination, conversion skills and Aliens.
Paolo did some of my favorite Magic: The Gathering artworks so I knew the art direction for the game could only be awesome (if not more).

At Gencon 2010, a big coffin box of Dust Tactics was for sale and there was demos of the game.
My friend Eric and I sat at a demo table and managed to wipe our two opponents on 1st turn, the demonstrator asked us politely to leave our seats so others could try the demo.
Despite a super small taste of the game with the allies, we both really liked the quality of the models (especially the walkers).
(Side note: I even met Paolo and took a picture with him! Man is he fun!)
Later that year, the box was available in store and I bought one.
Played a game or two of Tactics with my little brother...and that was it, as usual, I got distracted by other games.

At Gencon 2011, I got a taste of Warfare (and managed to destroy Eric on 1st turn, oups!) Didn't really like the feel of the vehicles damage chart...the worst of 40k in a promising game (but keep reading!).

Then came the ''Revised Core Set'', with it new units and new campaigns, I bought one, was so impressed with the models inside that I prompted a friend of mine to split another one so I could get more axis reinforcements...and that was it, again, I got distracted by other games and left Dust collecting (bad pun censured).


Then came these guys: Dust Tactics Quebec a group of players with one I already knew, that plays from time to time in many Montreal stores and more importantly form a community and have beautifully painted armies.
I didn't needed much more than pictures of their models on Facebook to motivate me picking up mine and start painting.

2.Dust Warfare vs Dust Tactics

Now I got the chance to play both games:

similarities:
-They both use the same models

differences:
Dust Tactics:
-Tactics uses a grid for movement, this means a world of differences = the game plays way faster and LOS is easily determined.
-easy to remember rules and all additional rules available in free PDF
-Unit cards, making it easier to keep track of what's happening.
-A more dynamic system thanks to alternate activation of units.
-Tactics seems deadlier
-Benefits from campaign systems (!! This is a real plus!!)
-Perfect for a fast game: a 300pts game is played within an hour.


Dust Warfare:
-Has a rulebook and plays like a regular wargame (= measuring tape required)
-There's list building restrictions to limit powerplays...It also adds som fluff.
-slower, units seems to be tougher to kill
-Order system and use of suppression and reaction make for a more realistic game (and a fun one!)

3.Dust Warfare

I went with Dust Warfare because it plays more like a regular wargame, in fact, it reminds me A LOT of warhammer 40k...if WH40K was more dynamic and used a clever 2 activation phases system coupled with a really interesting use of suppression.
It would take me too long to explain all the rules (and their subtlety), lets just say that if you can try Dust Warfare, try it!!

Add to that a really nice rulebook and you have one of my favorite game system for that size.

4.Why play Dust?

Other than for the simple but effective game system, there is a lot of advantages to playing Dust:

-The Models. They are awesome...and cheap!! 15$/5-men unit, 30$/Walker/Tank 40$/Heaviest Walker/Armored thing

-Model Conversion Opportunities: the Dust universe is set in an alternate WWII era, this allows you to buy any WWII modelling kit and adapt it very easily to the universe (just make sure they are the same scale as your models!)
All Dust models are plastic. You can open walker hatches with a knife ;).
All models are on a 1/48 scale (which, while not only being a very common scale for tabletop, allows them to be mixed with some more conventional historical model kits.

-The Era: I always was fond of WWII (thankfully I didn't had to take part in it, I would probably hate it otherwise) and the beginning of mechanized modern warfare. Walkers are nicely designed to have that era's feel to them.

-The Distributor and the producer: Fantasy Flight Games is providing a nice support to the game so far, it isn't as good as the biggest wargame companies out there but above average, Dust benefits greatly from FFG's weight. As for Dust Studios, producer of the game, they've been churning out new models out of their factory like shermans during WWII and they keep having nice new model concepts.

To sum it up: Dust is Cheap, set in an interesting era, with really nice models offering lots of conversion possibilities and with good support of both its distributor and maker. Add to that a growing internet community (the best being Dust War Forums and Blog and of course, FFG's own forums, divided sadly between Warfare: FFG Dust Warfare Forums and Tactics: FFG Dust Tactics Forums

5.My Dust Warfare Armies:

Well, since I got a taste of Warfare and bought two books for it, all I can say is that I'm so sold to that game I even bought more models for it!

I'll share with you some pictures of my Dust armies and their (unofficial) fluff:

5.1 Allies:
The Allies are in the Wargaming Ninja Turtles' blog colors  Trollblood Base and Trollblood Highlight, they were painted in a low tabletop quality in a week and two days.
I played two games with them and lost both...but had so much fun and learned a lot!!

Here comes the 148th Airborne

-Captain Montreal:

 

What happens when an ex Montreal's biker gang member gets enlisted in the allied army?

This model is converted.

What happens when an ex Montreal's biker gang member gets enlisted in the allied army? He does what he does best: smashing skulls with a chain to punish the Axis and SSU soldiers from preventing him to eat poutine (the food! wiki that!) and being a biker.
He is ultra patriotic, quite though and uses a ''No turning on the right on red lights'' sign as a shield an souvenir from Montreal.
In game terms, he uses Rhino's stats and joins a unit of ''hammers''.

-Bazooka Joe (here with a squad of rangers)

He came in the starter, I hate using heroes in almost every game where I have a choice not to but he acts as a cheap HQ choice and allows a squad to survive a lot more than it would without his help.

-Heavy Assault Rangers (aka: Hammers):

These guys have a huge casualty rate in their ranks but its for a reason my opponents keep suppressing them and try to wipe them off the map: once in close combat, most tier 2 units are utterly unable to fight them.

-Assault Rangers:

The cannon-fodder, they are there to capture objectives. Always surprise me with the amount of bullets they can send flying into the enemies' face.
Flamers didn't impress me at all in Warfare. (they are quite hard to use)
Okay, I admit it, the paintjob on these 5 guys is far from my best...

-Grumpy Patriot and Liberty Prime (aka: Allied Medium Walker ''Mickey'' class)

Liberty Prime on the left and Grumpy Patriot on the right

these not only look beautiful but also do an excellent job

My two anti-infantry super-fast jumping medium walkers. They are insanely efficient at devastating infantry and very poor at dealing with any armored target. Extremely maneuverable, they make for a very interesting game experience.

-Dr.Manhattan (I know, I already used that name for my Earthborn Dire Troll)

What is blue and drops from the skies? An Allied Heavy Walker with the ''Airdrop'' platoon upgrade!! This tactic seems so strong and vicious that I've yet to use it against any of my opponents.
I had a lot of fun to paint this walker and even painted a turtle (this Blog's animal) in a freehand.

Thanks for Reading

I forgot to do a group shot but I'll try and fix that soon and will also try to add some of my Panzerjaeger Axis  Platoon on the blog.

If you're close to Montreal and want to get games of Dust going, join this group: Dust Tactics (and Warfare) Quebec.

Edit 1: Thanks to Stefan T. and Jean-Sebastien C for their comments, allowing me to better describe and differentiate Dust Tactics vs Dust Warfare.

guru

Buying Time!

Hey Kids, it's that time of the year! Yeah you know: it's buying time Christmas!

I'm going to try and make a little guide as to what to buy/ask for depending on what you like to play with, look at and paint.

Alright, take a paper and a pen and let's start the test!

Question 1: What Style do you like?
a) Historical (WW2, Napoleonic, etc...)
b) Alternate History (sometimes to the point there's almost nothing recognizable)
c) Fantastic
d) Modern
e) Sci-Fi/Post-Apocalyptical
f) Steampunk
x) you don't care about style

Question 2: What Scale of miniatures do you like?
a) Small, 1/100, 1/72
b) medium, the regular 28mm
c) bigger, 35mm
x) you don't care about model's scale

Question 3: What Scale of game do you want to play? (aka: how much money do you want to spend)
a) Skirmish (low model count 5-10, usually not that expensive to get in)
b) Medium Skirmish (from 15+ to 50 models on a table)
c) Big Battles (50+models in most armies)
d) Huge Battles (100+ models being the norm, usually with some gigantic centerpiece)
x) you don't care about game size

Question 4: How much time do you want to spend playing?
a) From 30minutes to an hour
b) From 1h to 2h
c) 2h to 3h
d) 3h+ to even days!
x) you don't care about game length

Question 5: How complicated do you like game rules to be?
a) As simple as it can get
b)With some extra rules per factions
c) With lots of extra rules per models
x) you don't care how easy or complicated a game can be

It should now give you a code, I'll try and put games I know into the code I hope fits them best and you would like most. note: ''x'' count as any letter (you were playing scrabble and didn't even realize it!).

aacbb	Flames of War
ba(bc)ca	Dystopian Wars
bbaac	Helldorado
bbbbb	Dust Tactics
bbbbb	Dust Warfare
ca(bc)ca	Uncharted Seas
cbaac	Anima Tactics
cbaba	Super Dungeon Explore
cbccb	Warhammer Fantasy
eaabb	X-Wing
eabbc	Heavy Gear
ea(bc)ca	Firestorm Armada
ebaaa	Mercs
ebabc	Infinity
ebbbb	Dark Age
ebccb	Warhammer 40k
ecaac	Eden
fbaac	Heroclix
fbabc	Malifaux
fbbba	Dystopian Legions
fbbbc	Warmachine

xxxxx             Santa might not appreciate that you've been this naughty! You'll probably end up like me and play most games.

Note 1:This Test is a work in progress but I'll release as is so I can get some help to make it good. Ultimately this will become a very useful tool to help people choose games.
Note 2: It is really hard to categorize most games as they try and touch as many ''style'' and ''scale of games'' as possible in order to increase their sales and boost the gaming experience they offer.
Note 3: You know a game that I haven't played (there's lot!) and would like to incorporate it in the test? Leave a comment! (thanks!)
Note 4: You think a game has been poorly categorized? Discuss it and leave a comment. (Thanks!)

On another note, I got a camera!! Expect LOTS of pictures soon!
Thanks for reading,

guru

Infinity Fun

Hey guys! Its been a while since I posted, I hope you didn't miss me too much.
This week I have been on a painting blitz to get some commission work done and in the process I picked up some inclination to paint my own models! Agast, what is this tomfoolery!? Well I asked myself the same but you can just say inspiration just bit me... or you can say I finished XCOM: Enemy Unknown and had nothing else to do. Whatever the reason, I come to you now with my miniatures for a Infinity Nomad Force. If you look at the Bakunin Jurisdictional Command on the Corvus Belli website, they are all on nyce plain ship deck bases with not too much frill to them. As my LGS had no special bases for my models I decided to go for the same ship deck style but in my own style.

The bases are plain in that I glued a double diamond textured plasticard to a magnetic 25mm base. I trimmed away the excess plasticard away from the circular bases and primed them black. I then painted them in a layer of Citadel Leadbelcher. Once that was dry, I drybrushed a layer of 1:1 Citadel Snakebite Leather and P3 Khador Red Base. I then drybrushed another layer of Citadel Snakebite Leather before slapping on a wash of Citadel Agrax Earthshade. And voila! Quick and plain bases. (You can check out a similar base project in Yaumasta`s post about his Dragon Forge Design custom bases here)

Now on to the miniatures!

Nomad Zero

Nomad Wildcat Multipurpose Tactical Unit

I had a plan to do all my Nomads in a Blue/White scheme with a glowy green effect on any gem pieces. And in sticking to that plan, you can see with the Wildcat Multipurpose Unit and the Zero, the armour consists of a white porcelain effect for the solid pieces and blue for the clothes. The porcelain white was based in Citadel Celestial Grey, while the clothes were based in P3 Cygnar Blue Base. I added progressive coats of diluted Citadel Ceremite White over the armour plates to raise the highlights. For the clothes, I first washed the base with a layer of Citadel Druchii Violet, then worked up to a 2:1 mix of Citadel Ceremite White and P3 Cygnar Blue Base by wet blending with P3 Cygnar Blue Base. The ribbed sections of the clothes were washed with Citadel Nuln Oil and drybrushed with Citadel Celestial Grey. For the gems, gun sights and miscellaneous sections I based them in a 1:1 mix of Citadel Moot Green and Citadel Flash Gitz Yellow, then highlighted in a 1:1 mix of Citadel Flash Gitz Yellow and Citadel Ceremite White.

There you have it, the beginning of a Nomads Squad of Ass Kicking. Two down, fourteen to go!