Allied Walkers (DUST)

My painting and modeling have been very slow lately, with starting a new job and traveling to visit the family. So today I'm putting up some DUST miniatures I painted for a friend a while back.

First up a a couple of Black Hawks from the revised core box set. Once again I can only praise Fantasy Flight for how great these miniatures are. All I had to do was tape off a camo pattern the spray the model, pick out a few details and wash it, easy.
These two came together well with their winter white wash camo, they are certainly different than my German desert force.

Great looking walkers.

I don't think they will be crossing any boggy terrain with those tiny feet.

Unfortunately I don't recall them being very effective in DUST tactics.

Giant PIAT's, whats the world coming to?

Next up is my Hot Dog/Pounder/Mickey, etc. I like how in DUST a great deal of attention was paid to maintaining a consistent aesthetic for each faction. The mix of sci-fi and historical elements are well balanced, in my opinion.

The Hot Dog, ready to burn the enemy out of hiding.

The Pounder should probably have a 90mm gun instead of a 17 pounder, oh well.

I haven't played any DUST in a while, but after seeing what new models they showed a GenCon, I fell off the wagon and ordered the Heavy Recon Grenadiers and Heavy Command Squad. And let's not get into the new X-Wing game...

Panzer Walkers (DUST)

Here are a few more walkers for Dust Tactics.

They continue with my Afrika Korps theme.

I tend to collect more of the lighter panzer walkers since I figure Africa is a less important front and doesn't receive the best equipment. My force is based around a siege of Tobruk, pioneers and armored infantry for the siege work and recon to keep the desert free of enemies to the rear. But a few heavier walkers have made it to the sands of North Africa.

Including a venerable old MEDIUM PANZER WALKER ''LUDWIG'', nicknamed "Old Bones" that is a common sight around German lines. (I rarely play a game without a Ludwig in my list)

"Old Bones", one of the first panzer walkers built.

The 88's of the walker tend to be used against fortifications rather that enemy armor.

Sand and the elements have been the biggest danger to the walker, so far.

Recently received by the Afrika Korps are some of the new laser weapons, both in infantry form and walker mounted versions. High command wanted to see how the weapons work in hostile environment of the desert. The Light Panzer Walker "Hermann" mounts a large laser weapon but has proven less than useful is the siege warfare around Tobruk, its limited range and danger of overheating have relegated it to second line service. (In game terms the Hermann is my least favorite version of the light panzer walker)

The Laser Weaponry of the Herman make it a danger to enemy tanks and walkers.

But allied walkers are in short supply in the desert.

 As they have been doing since the first days of the war in North Africa, the maintenance section of the Afrika Korp have been keeping vehicles running however they can. This often leads to cobbled together vehicles and armor. One of the earliest walker modifications was the "Heinrich Mk II" they place the 20mm AA guns from the "Heinrich" on the lighter chassis of the "Hans". The anti-aircraft walkers were thought to not need the added armor, since they were not intended for the front line. So all anti-air walkers in the army are now based on the "Hans" chassis freeing up the better armored walkers to be armed with better weapons.

Heinrich Mk II with quad 20mm cannons.

Additional targeting equipment was added to the "Hans" hull.

 The DUST miniatures are still some of my favorite 28mm stuff on the market, and the price is definitely right. Stay tuned for more DUST in the future.

Infantry: heavy and not so much (DUST)

While the tanks got all the credit, what would the Afrika Korps have been without its infantry? And I say the same is true in the post alien contact, occult riven, mecha using World War II of the dust universe.

However I think most WWII grunts would have liked to have the armor and weapons available to their weird war counterparts, minus the zombies and bloodthirsty cyborg Gorillas.

First up are two of the characters I use in the Dust tactics game.

Sigrid, or my version of her.

Sigrid is nice to add a bit of punch to a unit of Laser Grenadiers. I converted a Sigrid for a friend and used the leftovers to make my own desert commander. A Forge World pistol and 1/48th scale cap gave her a different feel than the original.

Sigrid

While I have only played Dust Tactics I would be saddened to see my next character be any less bad ass in the tabletop version of the game. Lara is absolute death to anything she encounters, I place her with the Heavy Laser Grenadiers and between their lasers and her quad MG42s nothing stands a chance. Their damage resilience and her multiple wounds make them more survivable than any other combo that I know of, and place them in cover... forget about it.

The lovely lady Lara.

Maybe a helmet would be safer.

 The next group are my command squad, this is another choice I never leave home without. The Abilities to reactivate a team or bring back a dead walker or squad is to good to pass up.

The Captain is ready for some knife work.

The whole versatile squad ready to get things done.

 What would the Afrika Korp be without a good supply of pioneers, these guys can get rid of any problem you may have.

Pioneers

 And last but certainly not least are the heavy infantry. The Heavy Laser Grenadiers and the Flak Grenadiers. The Heavy Lasers with cook any kind of walker that dares come in range, I add Lara to them to deal with any infantry that strays within range and you have a group that can mop the floor with anything. As you can see I'm not biased towards this squad at all.

The Heavy Laser Grens.

The Flak Grenadiers are a little more complicated to use than just point and shoot. They can't hurt most walkers and have to spend a turn to reload, but no stationary infantry squad they shoot with sustained fire will live through it.

Flak Grenadiers.

I haven't played any games of Dust this whole year but putting these pictures up makes me want to get back into it. That means Heavy Recon Grenadiers, Heavy Command Squad, etc., etc...

Dusty Desert (DUST)

Today I'm posting some pictures of my Dust tactics miniatures. I haven't played the tabletop version of the game yet but that hasn't stopped me from appreciating the miniatures.

I painted up my force as the Afrika Korps, having always had an interest in the war in North Africa. More specifically the 3rd Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion of the 21st panzer division, mainly because of how great the light walkers look.

Here are a couple of modified light panzer walkers, I added two 5cm cannons to one of the walkers to give the recon a little more punch. The other has the large panzerfaust-like weapons for destroying strong points that the Aulfklaurung platoons run into.

The Helmut light walker

With twin 5cm drum-feed cannons

Fast and powerful

The Hans, for those pesky HMG nests or unwary tanks

A little stowage added to the back

The Dust miniatures are a great deal both for their price and the quality. I'll be posting all the rest of my walkers and infantry in the future.