Dusting of the Warfare, SSU Steel Guard

Hey guys I am back with some freshly painted Dust Warfare minis and my thoughts on the state of Dust Warfare to share with you.  Dust Tactics and Warfare have been in the mini gaming news a lot recently.  Last July Fantasy Flight Games decide to discontinue distribution of Paolo Parente's Dust Tactics and their own spin off, Dust Warfare.  Thankfully Battlefront, makers of the superb 15mm WW2 warfare game Flames of War, decide to pick up distribution rights.

However Battlefront didn't realize until it was preparing to release its updated version of the Dust Tactics rules system that it had full rights to Dust Warfare, so they have been scrambling to keep the Warfare guys happy while pushing their revamped Dust Tactics rules.  One way they are doing this is by releasing Unit Cards for both Warfare and Tactics (they are similar to the ones used by games like Warmachine and Hordes from Privateer Press, with all the units stats, special rules, and points cost listed on each card; making for easy in game reference).  Besides the cards however, not much new stuff is on the horizon so far.  There is a new wave of models that has been slowly trickling out but the Warfare rules are still in the beta test phase (thankfully it is an open beta so we can use them in league games).

I recently finished up 3 new units, all of them from the beta test that I wanted to share with you today. The are from the beta-test SSU Steel Guard Platoon list.  Think of the Steel guard as a cross between 40k Terminators and Dreadnoughts, each suit holds an injured veteran soldier that has been able to return to the battlefield thanks to the Steel Guards Heavy Power Suits.  In game terms they are Type 4 Infantry, meaning most guns will only roll a couple of dice if any at all against them and with 4 Armor Save dice they are very hard to kill.

SSU Steel Guard Command Squad

SSU Steel Guard Assault Squad (the US and German markings on the next 2 squads are Kill Markers)

SSU Steel Guard Snipers Squad

So where does the uncertain status of Warfare leave me?  Well I am worried, but I think that it is going to be a good thing Battle Front has the Dust License. Yes they have screwed up when it comes to Warfare but at least we are getting unit cards (In February Hopefully) and though we will probably have to wait a while, I think Battle Front will continue to support Warfare.  What I really want is a v2 Rulebook with some slight tweaks and better explained rules interactions in a few places (which battlefront can definitely do) and Army Books for each of the factions that puts all the unit information and special rules in one place for each of the existing armies.  Will we get these? Definitely not any time soon, but it would be a good way to assert control over Warfare as a Battlefront brand.  We will have to see.

More as I have it...