Short Review of "Dust"

"Dust", published by Fantasy Flight games, plays like a mixture of Risk and the
original Axis & Allies. Instead of area
movement it a uses point-to-point movement and combat system connected by lines. There
are costs for building certain types of
units with points, which can be affected by the number of factories and capitals you have.

Combat is based on special 6-sided dice, with two "hits" marked on them, the
other four sides are blanks. Every hit is a kill,
and combat is NOT simultaneous. The Player with initiative rolls first and inflicts hits,
then the other Player gets to roll in
response with any survivors. So if you play your combats right, you may wipe out your
opponent's force on the first roll.
Plastic units come in flavors of Tanks, Mechs, Fighters, Bombers, & Fleets. Mechs and
Bombers get two dice, all others one.
Mechs, Bombers, and Fighters each provide a point of initiative, the most initiative lets
you roll combat first. (Mechs as in
Mechwarrior, not Mechanized Infantry, so yes, there are little tiny plastic Mechwarriors.)

There are also cards, when played, indicate how many moves and how many combats you're
allowed in a Turn. Each card also has a
special ability, but I won't go into that.

Victory is counted in points, and typically it is a 40 point game, with the lead taking
the win. There is the long and short
game, the major difference is the method in which points are counted. Points are counted
for Capitals, who has the most Sea
spaces, who has the most land spaces, who has the most factories, and the number of Power
areas. The short game is typically
two or three hours. The long game is estimated about six hours.

This is a story line behind it, and it looks like someone took the production criteria
from the "Command and Conquer" video game
and applied it to a boardgame. Factories are the sources of units, but the amount of
production depends on the amount of Power
areas one controls (Tiberium?.) Even the star on the Cover Art seems like the GDI faction
star in C&C and the factory pieces
look like the factories in C&C, including the ramps.

Retail cost is about $60, USD.

Printed in Italy, the glossy box cover art was done rather well, with buxom women in
leather jump suits prominently displayed
over various armored vehicles and interspersed in the rulebooks. The box was also cut
with a close fit, so it almost seals air
tight. They conveniently provided ziplock bags so your pieces won't jumble in the box
holding bins between games or during
transportation. These bags also had a little hole punched into them so you don't get the
bloated bag effect when sealing them.

Sometimes the little things speak out to you when it comes to a quality product.

Tracy Johnson
(This year's Atomic Comics Emporium Game Club President in Hampton Virginia.)

[ Auf dieses Posting antworten ]