CRUZ CHRONICLES #005

We’ve recently concluded the first Dust Tactics tournament here in the Philippines and boy, what a blast!

Special thanks to all the players who attended and participated: Jojo, who was crowned Champion, Vic, Best Painted Army Awardee, Dax, Bin, Raven, King and Magic Mike. Thanks to Sir Freddie Tan and the rest of the staff of Neutral Grounds Glorietta branch. And last but definitely not the least, to Paolo Parente!

200 Army Points, eight players, three rounds, a whole day of fun, fun, fun! We had an equal number of Axis and Allies players (sorry, we’re yet to get our hands on SSU units here). As expected, I fielded an Allies list. And no, after further calculations, I decided not to go with my Double Scout list. Here’s what I used instead:

13 Foxtrot x4 – 20

Crack Shots x2 – 20

Corps Officers – 35

Ozz 117 + Grim Reapers – 50

Steel Rain – 38

Rattler Amp – 36

TOTAL = 199

Ozz: "Let's go, boys!"

It’s a 200-ized version of the list I used on Issue #001! This list gives me a lot of options. 10 Activations mean I will outnumber most, if not all of my opponents. A good balance of Infantry, Vehicle and even Aircraft hate packed. You would think that I would always go for Area Control or Key Resources for Scenario but this list can actually handle Attack and Defend surprisingly well.

Round 1 – Jojo (Axis)

Lara + Heavy Laser Grenadiers – 51

Recon Grenadiers x2 – 32

Sniper Grenadiers – 10

Beobachter – 5

Heinrich – 26

Ludwig – 40

Lothar – 36

TOTAL = 200

THAT LOTHAR!!!

Fun Fact #1: I’ve never won a game of Dust Tactics against Jojo.

I won Deployment so Jojo chose our Scenario. He picked Attack and Defend.

Biggest mistake you can commit against this guy, being impatient. That’s just what I did. I was able to out activate him during the early turns. I got greedy though and yeah, impatient, when he took his Heinrich out. I should have waited it out until the next turn and used indirect fire to take the light panzer out but no, I took the bait and let my Steel Rain be his Lothar’s lunch.

Another mistake which bore out of my impatience was my Rattler’s position on the board; it came in on the corner when I saw an opportunity to attack Jojo’s Grenadiers. I should have deployed it where it can position itself easily and maximize water terrain.

Result, 0 Win, 1 Loss.

Round 2 – Bin (Allies)

Rhino + The Hammers – 48

Bazooka Joe + Recon Boys – 33

Johnny One-eye + The Gunners – 36

13 Foxtrot – 5

Pounder – 40

Steel Rain – 38

TOTAL = 200

Bin's Pounder-Steel Rain tandem in position

Fun Fact #2: Superior Reactive Fire is well, superior.

This time around I get to choose Scenario. Seeing Bin’s number of units, I picked Area Control.

My game with Bin went a lot better compared with my last one. I was able to maximize on positioning and the functions of my units.

I got to create a kill box with my Rattler, thanks to its Superior Reactive Fire. I was able to foil at least 2 attack attempts with it, with one being an Artillery Strike call by his single Foxtrot unit.

For some reason, Bin had Rhino separated with his Hammers which proved to be a fatal decision on his part. His Hammers were able to take out one of my Sniper teams but my Rattler took out his Rhino while my Ozz-lead Grim Reapers made sure his Hammers joined their leader.

When time was called, I’m controlling almost half the map; bagged my first win for the event.

Result: 1 Win, 1 Loss.

Round 3 – Raven (Axis)

Sigrid + Laser Grenadiers – 47

Lara + Heavy Laser Grenadiers – 51

Axis Zombies – 31

Battle Grenadiers – 21

Hans – 24

Heinrich – 26

TOTAL = 200

Raven's Zombies and Hans leading the charge

Fun Fact #3: “Marc’s favorite game is Area Control” – Bin

It’s the 3^rd and final round of the event. I ended up facing another Axis, this time against Raven. I’ve never played with Raven before but I’ve seen his army in previous sessions against Bin and Vic.

We were in the middle of setting up our game when a huge surprise (no pun intended) came into the shop, Paolo Parente!

After almost an hour of taking photos, having cards and stuff signed, and receiving tons of freebies and extra prizes, Paolo had to leave. He awarded Vic with Best Painted Army and what best to give as a trophy but a Premium Skysweeper. He left me with two other awesome prizes for the players, one of which is not yet released for retail!

Eyes up here, soldier!

After wallowing in geeky awe and pleasure, and cleaning up all the drool all over the place, back to the game!

I won the roll for Deployment so Raven picked our scenario. And to my surprise, he picked Area Control.

With the scenario in mind, I immediately positioned my Foxtrot teams to cover as much tiles as possible. Raven was on the hunt very early, having his Zombie squad pushing forward while Lara and Sigrid followed suit. His 2 light panzer walkers were poised to outflank my forces from my left hand side.

Seeing his plan, I took action and called an Artillery Fire on the Hans, taking it out of the equation. My major infantry units, Ozz and the Corps Officers stationed themselves in a nearby structure, waiting for the best opportune to unleash the Stimulant Kit. My Rattler on the other hand moved forward, securing the entrance to the building on my right hand side.

Raven’s forces took the loss of their Hans seriously and continued marching forward, eliminating a Radio and a Sniper team of mine in the process. My Rattler threw some bullets at the approaching Zombie squad but Damage Resilience negated them. A few more turns and I am out of Sniper teams. My Rattler failed its Superior Reactive Fire against an incoming Battle Grenadiers and was brought down to 1 wound left. However, I was able to take out his Zombies and his Sigrid-lead squad on two successive Turns.

We were on our 6^th Turn when time for the round was called. Raven immediately shook my hand, acknowledging my victory.

Result: 2 Wins, 1 Loss. Not bad!

AND THE WINNER IS…

After three fantastic rounds, we crowned Jojo as the Champion of the First Philippine Dust Tactics, ending up with a 3-0 record. I somehow landed at second place due to tie-breaks (Yey!). I took home the Dust Premium Long Tom II from Mr. Parente and a squad of Heavy Flak Grenadiers from our drafted Revised Core Set.

Paolo Parente's signature on Ozz' stat line: Priceless!

GAME AFTER THOUGHTS

I’m really satisfied with how my army performed. Superior Reactive Fire with a ‘U’ range is really something. I was also surprised to realize that I only used the Stim Kit on Ozz once during the entire event. Some points to ponder on for my future lists.

Outside of that, the event itself was a lot of fun, whatever place I may have ended up at (remember: SUCCESS). I can’t wait for the next Organized Event we will have. Now time to brush up on my Dust Warfare rules.