Dust

Risk is a classic wargame that has been around for more than 50 years, provided countless hours of entertainment for probably millions of people, and is still very much alive today, with numerous variations and editions.However, for serious board gamers who want a similar game that is deeper and more strategic, Dust is the answer.The main idea is the same as Risk: each player controls their own army of units, occupying different territories on a map of the earth, and the goal is to march your armies accross the continents and oceans, conquering opposing armies as you attempt world domination.

Dust takes the game several steps beyond Risk.Instead of one type of unit that represents an army as in Risk, Dust uses 5 different types of units, each with varying production costs and combat attributes:Tanks, Fighters, Submarines, Mechs, and Bombers.This change alone adds much strategy, where you decide which combinations of unit types you will build.The way the turns work is also quite different, where each player chooses a card from his hand for the turn, and this card dictates turn order, combat points, movement points, production points, and one Special Ability that may be used during the turn.The battles still come down to dice rolls like Risk, but Dust allows players to better ensure the outcome using tactical advantage and superior units, instead of simply using overwhelming force.

Dust offers two play modes the Premium and Epic versions.It is suggested to learn the game with the shorter Premium version (which can still take 3 hours or more with 5-6 players), and graduate to the Epic version if you want an even more complex game that is a couple hours longer.

This is a terrific game to look at.The pieces are first-rate, and there over 800 of them!The board fits together like a jigsaw puzzle and is large and glossy.The cards are decent with great artwork but one problem is that they identify the card's Special Ability by a picture instead of text, so you either must memorize the 11 abilities, or copy the descriptions in the rule book to use as player aids. The rules are pretty good, but be prepared to spend an hour or so reading them before trying to play the game.The box art is amazing, but the theme it suggests is nowhere to be found inside the game once you start playing the game, the science fiction theme is all but forgotten.

It's definitely a fun game.Prior to playing Dust, our gaming group primarily played Euro strategy games like Agricola, Puerto Rico, El Grande, etc., but we had not played any wargames.We decided to give Dust a shot, and everyone loved it.The first time took almost 5 hours, but we are notoriously slow and we did play with the maximum 6 players.The next time we played, we got it under 4 hours, and now that we know how to play, I'm sure that subsequent games will be played in 3 hours or less.Dust is a great game, and a winner with our group!

As others have mentioned, Dust is like a beefed-up version of Risk where you can drop Mechanized Armor Units from the sky and send strategic bombers on a grand tour of alternate history WWII. It's fun, it's easy, and it requires just enough imagination and skill to keep you interested for hours.

The game itself comes with 2 rule books and about a million game pieces.The good news is, these pieces are actually kind of fun and more often than not you'll find yourself organizing units together as your opponent figures out his next move.Dust also comes with two different rule books, one for Premium and one for Epic.This is just shorthand for "long game" and "longer game". Along with these items, players also use cards to determine what types of moves they'll make and what special abilities they'll be able to bring into play with each turn.

If I only had one complaint with the game it's that it doesn't really capitalize on its theme all that much.Sure you get a great map of the apocalyptic future-scape, a ton of pieces representing everything from submarines to Mechs, and a card system that provides some pretty great artwork, but overall the whole idea of this "alternative history" World War II is all in your head.You don't really follow any stories, so most games end up being a large-scale RISK that doesn't suck as much as its predecessor.

All in all, I recommend this game for nothing else than being fun and entertaining.

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DUST is a strategy board game. Some people compare it with RISK, and I think that's pretty fair.

However, I think it's superior to RISK. Also, the game end fairly fast (the Premium version will take two hours maximum, in most cases). Rules are simple and the game has the usual high standards of Fantasy Flight Games when it comes to design and attention to detail.

However, it has some of the usual pitfalls of games like this one. Each player makes all of his phases at once, generating great waiting time for the next player to have his turn. Also, the number of dices being rolled is sometimes "outrageous", so many of them. Also, the combat system is cruel: be sure to attack strike first, otherwise you generally will be smashed before firing a single shot back.

Anyway, a good entertainment.

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Dust is a fun game that can be learned and played in a short period of time.If I don't have a whole day to play board games, I can squeeze in two to three plays of this in an evening.A few notes on the game that I've come across through playtesting:

Setup can be kindof annoying due to how you MUST place capitals.Try to play with 3, 4, or 6 for a more enjoyable game.

This is a game of attacking.People that like to turtle are going to have a hard time doing so.

If this game becomes a regular staple of play, you will want to make "cheat sheets" for characters on the card.It is way to easy to know what someone is going to play by watching them scramble for the book.

An enjoyable, fast paced game!

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After getting dust tactics a few days ago i found this! I got this and set it up and me and my roommate thought WE CAN USE THIS AS A WORLD MAP! But we just played it normaly next time ima put it in with tactics and make a whole epic dust game!