There are several possibilities (some were already mentioned by others). As you said you had most of the expansions, you could play with 4 different teams (2 heroes and 1 trooper each) on 1 board. You could split up 2 factions for this or use all 4 existing factions. You could also play with 4 normal-sized teams on 2 linked board so that 2 players start on each board. You could also play a 2 vs. 2 variant this way where the 2 allied players start on different boards of course. Or you could do as Moebius suggested and play a tournament where every player chooses a team and plays against every other player. This could even be the best option because gameplay would be faster than in a 4 player game. Furthermore, a player that suffers from a bad start in a 4 player game or looses all of his characters soon would have a bad playing experience in a drawn-out game. That could be avoided by playing several 2 player games.

Finally! I got the Matriarchy troopers! Now I just have to find the time to actually play them ...

My suggestion: Just take turns with your opponent while placing the door tokens, so one door circle where no one wants to place a door token stays free. You could either place the tokens completely at random (so no player knows what kind of door he places on the board) or you could give each player the same stack of tokens (doors) and take turns placing them so that each player can choose what kind of door he places on a certain circle. Whatever you do, one circle stays free because no player bothers about placing a door there.

marcemtp said: My son doesn't take Hoss or Herman. So its earier for me to beat him. You can actually play Reich without Hoss or Herman? Wow! I didn't even know that!

Okay, now I know that the RCS is indeed unbalanced so I know what to expect in my first games and what tactics to use. Furthermore, I've learned that a Mickey, the Grim Reapers or the Tank Busters could probably even things out a bit. Thanks a lot to everybody who helped by posting here, and if you've got any other hints, please go on!

Now that the troopers are actually available, I'm pushing this topic so everyone who has tried a new team with them can tell us about it.

marcemtp said: every time i use the union against the reich the union gets owned, but since the shogunate release the reich doesn't stand a chance against them. I thing the matriary are overpowered but they have their down falls against the unoin. So everything seems the be balanced out in the scheme of things. I'd also say that the Union has a hard time winning against the Reich and that the Matriarchy is really powerful and hard to beat. I am, however, very interested in your Shogunate team if it can actually beat the Reich. I have put together several Shogunate teams and they were almost always wiped out by anyone else. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Maybe I choose the wrong equipment packs, maybe I'm using the wrong strategy. Whatever it is, I'd like to hear about your team.

I noticed this forum more or less by accident and don't really see a point in it as well. What could the users actually talk about that couldn't be said in the regular Dust tactics forum? They could say again and again that the painted miniatures look cool, okay. But if that was said several times in the regular forums, maybe it would even generate more interest in the Premium edition, so more sales for FFG. Hmmm, the more I think about it, the less sense this forum makes ...

As I am going to get the RCS in a few days (birthday present), I am rather interested in an answer as well. Are the two sides really that unbalanced? If they are, can you do anything about it? Do you need to play a special strategy, or do you just have to buy another Allied squad to even things out? If you know or have any suggestions, please answer. Please!

Hi everybody! I didn't develop a new custom character myself this time, I merely put together Lance's great ideas concerning a Zombie master character. Both the Zombie master and his Zombies are completely different from those I suggested here, but I absolutely love them. As I said before, the game mechanic using Corpse/Zombie tokens is wonderful. Enjoy the character, and thanks again, Lance! Lance’s Zombie master Faction: Reich Skills: Archaeology, Command, Hand-to-Hand Combat, Sangfroid, Strategy AV: 5/4/4/3 SV: 5/5/4/3 MeV: 5/4/4/3 MoV: 6/6/5/4 Special object: Raise the Dead: Ability, Occult. Whenever a character (except a mechanical being) dies, you may place a Corpse/Zombie token with the Corpse side up on the circle where the character died. If you share a path with a Corpse/Zombie token and there are less than five Zombies in play, you may spend your action to flip the token over so that the Zombie side is up. Combat pack: Walther P38 (disposable): Weapon, Pistol. Zombie Lord: Ability, Occult. At any time during your first activation, place two Corpse/Zombie tokens on your path with the Zombie side up. Zombie frenzy: Ability, Occult. Each Zombie rolls one extra die when making attack rolls. Stamina pack: Walther P38 (disposable): Weapon, Pistol. Zombie Lord: Ability, Occult. At any time during your first activation, place two Corpse/Zombie tokens on your path with the Zombie side up. Zombie toughness: Ability, Occult. Each Zombie receives one automatic success when making a shock roll. Command pack: Walther P38 (disposable): Weapon, Pistol. Zombie Overlord: Ability, Occult. At any time during your first activation, place three Corpse/Zombie tokens on your path with the Zombie side up. Zombie charge: Ability, Occult. Each Zombie receives +1 to his Movement value. Zombie AV: 3 + X SV: 3 + X MeV: -- MoV: 4 X = Number of other Zombies in play Zombie special rules: Each Zombie (that is, each Corpse/Zombie token that has the Zombie side up) may either move or attack immediately after the Zombie master’s activation. Zombies may not perform other actions then attacking. Zombies are always equipped with a Hand-to-Hand weapon. Zombies may use Command points like normal characters.

Artemus Maximus said: i'll just play based on how it's printed - it's less to remember that way and there's already plenty of stuff to keep track of You're right, even IF they messed it up, that will be the only way to go. And as I said, I don't think it's a mistake.

Maybe it's no mistake at all. The colors just show that a character standing on the blue/yellow circle in the room can see and be seen by any character on a blue circle outside the room. Given the position of the blue/yellow circle behind the door, it could just make some sense.

Hi Lance, I really like your ideas concerning the Zombie master. Although I wanted the Zombies to be actual miniatures (mainly because I wanted to have cool Zombie figures lurking around on the board), I think your idea to represent the Zombies with the double-sided tokens is great: It's simple, elegant and certainly unique. And you can easily have a large group of Zombies to boot! I'd really like to form a new Zombie master character including your ideas if I find the time. However, I'm still unsure of one thing: The Reich basically gets all these Zombies for free. Even if the number of Zombies is capped at 5, that could be 5 additional attacks! Even if you aren't able to max out the number, you can possibly count on having 1 or 2 extra attacks per turn. That's really powerful, maybe a bit too powerful! Although I have to think again about this said point, your ideas are very cool, especially the one concerning the double-sided corpse/zombie tokens. Thanks a lot!

Here we go again! Here's a character based on an idea I had some time ago and that has spent some time on my desk in one version or another. It's a mercenary again, not a powerful, flashy fighter this time but a support character who has several skills to accomplish missions and who gives every faction access to some important equipment tokens. And he's quite good at managing resources! John Smith Faction: Mercenary Skills: Dexterity, Hand-to-Hand Combat, Mechanics, Strategy, Weaponry AV: 5/4/4/3 SV: 5/4/4/3 MeV: 5/5/4/4 MoV: 7/6/6/5 Special object: Superior Resource Management: Ability. Once per game, if you use a token from your inventory that has to be discarded or placed on the board, you may instead discard this token or place it on the board. Combat pack: Luger P-08 (disposable): Weapon, Pistol. When you attack with this weapon, your target may not counterattack. F1 Fragmentation grenade (disposable): Grenade. AN-M11 (disposable): Smoke Grenade. This token follows all of the rules for Smoke Grenades. However, instead of placing Smoke tokens, this weapon places Fire tokens. Each time a character enters a circle on the same path as a Fire token, he suffers three Automatic Successes. Stamina pack: Luger P-08 (disposable): See Combat pack. M15 (disposable): Smoke Grenade. First Aid Kit (disposable): Hardware. As an action, discard this token to dial up your health indicator token or an adjacent character’s health indicator token by up to two rows. Command pack: Luger P-08 (disposable): See Combat pack. Last-ditch effort: Ability. If you did not attack during your activation, you may discard this token at the end of your activation to get another complete activation after all other characters have been activated. Support specialist: Ability. Add +2 to your side’s initiative rolls. Additionally, you may discard this token at the beginning of any turn to automatically win the initiative roll.

Sorry to reactivate this old topic, but I will get some Dust tactics stuff as birthday presents and would like to know if there are any new great combinations of heroes and squads that I should care about, considering a lot of new product has been released or is to be released. Additionally, I've noticed that Rhino, Lara and Manfred are mentioned next to never (or even not mentioned at all). Anything to say about them?

I think the rules aren't really clear on this point. One could argue that the Magnifier rules state that the circles adjacent to Voivodes are adjacent to Zor'ks "for the purpose of Magnifier attacks", meaning they aren't adjacent for any other purpose, overwatch for example. Of couse, one might also argue that the overwatch attack is made with the Magnifier, so it is a Magnifier attack. You could argue both ways here. Some months ago, I'd have said: "Send the question to FFG." But they have given some strange answers some time ago, and then have stopped giving answers at all, so no help here. By the way, I have never even thought of placing Zor'ka on overwatch. I prefer to march forward with her and attack targets of my choice every turn instead of having her standing around and hoping that a character of my opponent's choice triggers overwatch.

Asteros with Reich support won again against Natalya and Zor'ka. I switched Natalya's equipment pack back to Stamina to give her better survivability against Asteros, but it didn't work. With some help from Hoss's Reichdoktor, Asteros overwhelmed every enemy he could reach, attacking of couse as often as possible and also using his special Bull Rush against weaker characters. When he and Hoss stood against a lone wounded Natalya in the end, I waited for a good attack roll and improved upon it with Reichdoktor, bringing Asteros to his last row but killing Natalya. Now I think that a team including Asteros (Sta), Hoss (Cmm) and Heizinger (Sta) could work even better because Heizinger can heal a character up to the top row.

Yula's strenghs and weaknesses have been debated on this forum several times, and the majority of Tannhäuser fans keep on saying that Yula is powerful. I still agree with Moebius in the point that she's weaker than other Reich characters and her abilities won't work often enough. If you want to field a powerful Reich team, you'll certainly field someone else. But before everyone flames me again, read on: Powerful or not, I like to see Yula reprinted because lots of fans wanted her to be reprinted. I understand that someone who doesn't have her wants to complete his set with her, and I really like to see that FFG does what the fans asked for. They really listened to you, and that's a great thing to know!

Basically, Moebius has covered the important points. Barry really is powerful and can gun down enemies in a single turn - but only if he's able to see them. Heizinger and Zermann with their respective Command packs mean that Barry won't be able to enter Heizinger's path while Zermann can shoot him with his out-of-path attacks. As Moebius pointed out, Eye of Horus on Heizinger wounds Barry and a Schocktruppen on overwatch can attack anyone who manages to enter the path. Heizinger with Combat pack supported by Zermann (Command pack) and a Schocktruppen (Combat pack) also works nicely. Zermann shoots from out-of-path with 6 dice, anyone who enters the path will be attacked by the Schocktruppen on overwatch several times. Heizinger also has Sha-ha-na in this pack. Although it's a once per game item and has a stupid name, I once managed to kill an uninjured Barry with it. Just to repeat another thing Moebius pointed out: Patmos amulet also works great against the Union. If your opponent isn't prepared for it, take control of Barry and gun down other Union characters. Best setups are: Control Barry and gun down MacNeal or control MacNeal and gun down Barry. If you manage to do that once, it will not only win you the game. It will also force your opponent to plan his moves carefully in following games, not willing to risk his important characters. Thus he'll be giving you kind of control of the game flow and the time to set up your strategy.

Here's the update on the Union secret agent I promised earlier. I included most of Bad Dog's suggestions so the character would play quite different now. His undercover ability counts down so you have to use his abilities fast or you loose them. Furthermore, the sabotage abilities don't work on his path anymore but specifically target an enemy character and the effect lasts for the rest of the game. Mortimer Faction: Union Skills: Dexterity, Hand-to-Hand Combat, Mechanics, Sangfroid, Sneak, Strategy AV: 5/5/4/4 SV: 5/5/4/4 MeV: 6/5/5/4 MoV: 7/7/6/5 Special object: Undercover: Ability. During setup, place three unused equipment tokens on Mortimer’s character sheet. At the end of each turn, remove one token. If there are no equipment tokens on Mortimer’s character sheet at the beginning of any turn, discard “Undercover”. You also have to discard “Undercover” immediately after Mortimer performs an action that wounds or kills an enemy character. You enter the board through the opposing team’s entry point. Enemy characters may not attack you or target you with any effects that specifically target enemy characters. Combat pack: Trench gun (disposable): Weapon, Automatic. See Revised rules, page 83. Eliminate threat: Ability. If you kill an enemy character while there are no other enemy characters on your path, you do not have to discard “Undercover”. Armor sabotage: Ability. As an action, place this token on the character sheet of an enemy character adjacent to you. For the rest of this game, that enemy character rolls one die less when making shock rolls. You may only use this ability if you have “Undercover” equipped. Stamina pack: Trench gun (disposable): Weapon, Automatic. See Revised rules, page 83. Weapon sabotage: Ability. As an action, place this token on the character sheet of an enemy character adjacent to you. For the rest of this game, that enemy character rolls one die less when attack shock rolls. You may only use this ability if you have “Undercover” equipped. Armor sabotage: Ability. As an action, place this token on the character sheet of an enemy character adjacent to you. For the rest of this game, that enemy character rolls one die less when making shock rolls. You may only use this ability if you have “Undercover” equipped. Command pack: Trench gun (disposable): Weapon, Automatic. See Revised rules, page 83. Information leak: Ability. As long as you have “Undercover” equipped, the Union automatically has initiative. Diverted Attention: Ability. Once per turn, as an action, choose an enemy character on your path. That character may not perform an action this turn.

Bad Dog said: Please don't take the suggestions as criticism. Not at all! I'm really happy if someone reads and actually comments on my character ideas. You are right, by the way, I never thought about the Undercover ability in Objective mode where Mortimer would be almost invulnerable. I like the idea of a countdown for this ability so that you have him undercover for 3 turns or so and have to get as much as possible out of these turns. The transfering of the sabotage tokens is also something I'll definitely use. Look out for an update on this character later this week, and thanks again for your input!

I did 2 additional Asteros vs. Natalya games using Natalya (Cmb), Zor'ka (Sta), Irishka (Sta) and 2 Voivodes (10 MP, Repair). As you see, I only changed Natalya's pack because I wanted a better weapon for her to avoid the drawn-out game I had before. Well, it kind of worked. In the first game, Asteros (Sta) was supported by MacNeal (Cmb), Brown (Sta) and Alpha (Cmb). Team Asteros lost again, but the game was shorter and Asteros managed to bring down Natalya only to be killed by Zor'ka (the only survivor), who had again grabbed a Flash gun. After that, I switched Asteros' support to a Reich team using Artemus Maximus' team as an example. The team was: Asteros (Sta), Hoss (Cmm), Zermann (Sta), Schock (Sta). They could do out-of-path attacks on anyone who tried to back away from Asteros and had 2 First aid kits to bring Asteros (or each other) back to health. This time, team Asteros won with Asteros himself and Hoss surviving. Asteros himself brought down both Natalya and later Zor'ka while his support mainly killed the enemies' support and backed up Asteros. After these games, I've got the impression that the outcome of Asteros vs. Natalya matchups depends on the players' ability to heal or repair their main characters (so it depends on the ability to quickly dispatch the opponent's support) and it depends heavily on having lucky or unlucky dice rolls. Especially a single unlucky shock roll can lose you the whole game. Concerning equipment packs, Natalya of course has a better chance to hurt Asteros if she has her Combat pack equiped, but Asteros also has a better chance of knocking her down. I think that's why Natalya seems to be more balanced than Asteros. Not only do her stats degrade when she gets damaged, but she either has a very powerful weapon (Combat pack) or a very powerful defense (Stamina pack) while Asteros has both.

As I can see that some folks are actually looking into this topic (although no one is answering), here's another character I came up with. Enjoy! Henri Chauvel is the youngest scion of a family that has lived in the area of Gevaudan for generations, a family of well known and respected farmers and shepherds. Henri himself is a well known man and respected for his skills as a shepherd, hunter and guide who seems to know places and paths in the area around Gevaudan that no one else does. On top of all that, Henri is the Beast of Gevaudan. More to the point, he is one of the Beasts of Gevaudan. There have been several in the last centuries as the curse to transform into a wolf-like creature has run in his family for generations, the dark secret only being passed on from parents to children in whispers. Henri knows that he is the Beast, having transformed into a wolf (or kind of) several times since his youth and also having hunted and killed humans several times. You can’t say that he is really plagued with this curse, it’s more that he has arranged himself with it and even enjoys the thrill of the hunt. He sort of controls his transmutation as well as his action when he is the Beast, never transforming in public or anywhere where the appearance of the Beast could be linked to him. At least for the time being, he was also able to avoid attacking friends or relatives and even attacking in front of witnesses. As he knows that the bloodlust will overwhelm him if he avoids transforming and hunting for too long, he immediately jumped at the chances the war presented to him. As everyone knows about Henri’s immense knowledge of the area, he was approached by both sides of the conflict and even by the French Resistance and asked to serve as a guide and scout. Working for both sides, he sometimes deliberately guided soldiers into isolated areas to attack them. He even slaughtered every member of a resistance cell that hided in an isolated hunting lodge, knowing that in a war, casualties and disappearances are normal and often there is no time to investigate. Henri Chauvel Faction: Mercenary Skills: Athletics, Dexterity, Hand-to-Hand Combat, Sneak, Weaponry AV: 6/6/5/5 SV: 6/5/4/4 MeV: 5/4/4/3 MoV: 8/7/7/6 Special object: Transmutation: Ability. Once per game, discard this token to replace all tokens in your inventory with the tokens of the equipment pack you did not choose during setup. You may not perform an action the turn you use this ability. Combat pack (“Beast pack”): Fangs and Claws: Weapon, Hand-to-Hand. Add two additional dice to your attack roll. You may use your actions only to attack and may not use weapons other than “Fangs and Claws”. Incredible strength: Ability. Always use your best Stamina value when making Shock rolls. Regeneration: Ability. When this token is placed in your inventory, dial your health indicator token to the top row. Once per game, discard this token to dial your health indicator token to the top row. You may not perform an action the turn you use this ability. Stamina pack (“Human pack”): Hunting rifle (disposable): Weapon, Automatic. If you do not move this turn, each Natural 10 you roll deals an automatic wound instead of a normal success. Hunting knife (disposable): Weapon, Hand-to-Hand. Bloodlust: Ability. At the end of your activation, put a Bloodlust token on your character sheet if you did not perform a melee attack. If there are three Bloodlust tokens on your character sheet at the beginning of your activation, you have to use “Transmutation”. This token may not be discarded or exchanged for a bonus token.

Artemus Maximus said: sorry for going completely off topic from OP No problem - just keep those great ideas coming!

She would have gladly taken the axe, but she had neither disposable equipment nor a free equipment slot in her inventory. But whatever, it's a good idea! It's not 100% safe for Asteros to throw his axe when Natalya is around.