Dust Warfare - Rules We've Messed Up...

So, as I've said before on this blog, Dust Warfare has been dominating our game time in the last few months. However, in learning the Dust Warfare ruleset, there have been several rules that we have messed up or were confused by, in one way or another - mostly because we all came from playing other games, and our preconceived notions of 'how things are played' have carried over from those other games.

So, this post is intended partially as a forewarning to others starting in the game of those things that we have messed up, and partially as a way to record these issues so that we aren't doomed to repeat them again in the future. Some of these issues we figured out long ago, and some we found just recently. Either way, in listing them, some seem obvious in retrospect, but certainly weren't at the time. So, please forgive any obvious or stupid errors that I mention, and hopefully this list is helpful to keep you from making the same mistakes we have. :)

More after the jump...

• Special rules:
• Damage Resistant - this rule adds one dice to your armor roll pool. It does not add an automatic save - unlike the cover mechanic. (Main Rulebook p. 55)
• Assault - this only works when making a March move action, not for single move actions. (Main Rulebook p. 53)
• Command Squad - regardless if a force has 2 or more command squad units, it only receives a single extra order per turn. (Main Rulebook p. 54)
• Jump - vehicles with jump DO provoke reactions when they move, and cannot rotate when using a jump move. (Main Rulebook p. 55)
• Sniper - when a unit makes an attack and includes one or more models with the sniper rule, all of the units attacks ignore both armor and cover. Note that this is even though it is not listed as a shared ability. (Main Rulebook p. 56)

• Weapon Special Rules:
• Lasers - rerolls for sustained attacks do NOT carry over to any additional laser attacks. (Main Rulebook p. 58)
• Tank Killer - this rule does NOT invert your dice on an attack made against a vehicle -- only on subsequent rolls on the vehicle damage chart. (Main Rulebook p. 58)
  

• Orders:
• Heroes who are not platoon leaders may not issue orders, with the exception of heroes with the superhuman rule. (Main Rulebook p. 31 and Hades p. 11)

• Vehicles:
• When rolling on the vehicle damage chart, you roll the number of damage that the vehicle rolls their armor against - ie, after cover, but before armor rolls. (Main Rulebook p. 44)
• Spot turning - a vehicle can turn more than 90 degrees in a single move action, but only if it takes a spot turn action. (Main Rulebook p. 37)
• All in one - the suppression from all in one is ignored for vehicles. (Main Rulebook p. 46)

• Actions:
• A unit may only take any single action once in a given phase - for instance, you cannot take 2 'Medic' actions in a single phase. You can do 2 of the same, if one is performed in the orders phase and the other is in the unit phase. (Dust Warfare FAQ p. 3)

• Reactions:
• You may only react to the beginning or end of a units movement, not in the middle. (Main Rulebook p. 34)
• Attack reactions happen simultaneously with the action that provoked it. For instance, if you respond to a unit's move with an attack and put a suppression on the unit (assuming that it had none before), the unit would still have 2 actions in the phase - since the determination of the number of actions happens prior to the unit moving. Similarly, if you respond to a attack action with another - both actions happen simultaneously. (Main Rulebook p. 34)
• However, move reactions in response to an attack action happen after the attack is declared, but prior to the attack being made. So, if you respond to an attack with a move, and you can move outside the attacks range -- this would cause the attack to automatically miss. (Main Rulebook p. 34)
• Hit the dirt - this reaction may only be made by soldier unit being shot at and, unlike other reactions, CAN be made if being shot at by a unit further than 12" away. (Main Rulebook p. 35)

• Attacking
• A unit may shoot any and all of their weapons during an attack action. (Main Rulebook p. 40)
• Line of sight is determined from a unit's leader to each model in the target unit. To have LOS, the leader must be able to see some part of the model - which does not count it's base. (Main Rulebook p. 41)
• When a unit is in area terrain, it is ignored for the purposes of giving the target unit cover, but not for line of sight - ie, if you are in area terrain, and the target unit is in the same area terrain, as well - the target unit does NOT get cover from that area terrain. Conversely, in the same instance as above, if the area terrain blocks LOS to the unit - you still can't shoot at the unit. (Main Rulebook p. 41)
• Each successful armor rolls save a single DAMAGE, not a single hit. So, when saving against multi-damage weapons, each save removes one damage -- not one hit. (Main Rulebook p. 43)
  

• General Unit:
• Observer teams - each of these teams is composed of 2 radiomen in the basic unit description, so can use the Pinpoint Observation ability. (Main Rulebook p. 124, etc.)

• Axis:
• Blitzkrieg - this order may only be issued to units purchases in the Sturmgrenadiere platoon giving the order. (Main Rulebook p. 116)
• Take Charge - every unit within 12" receives a regroup order - this means that they cannot be given another order in that orders phase. (Main Rulebook p. 118)
• Weiderbelebungsserum Failsafe - this order only rolls one dice for each model lost in the previous game turn - not their total number of losses at that point. (Main Rulebook p. 120)

• Unit Upgrades:
• Vehicle and aircraft units may not purchase unit upgrades. (Hades p. 12)

If you have had any similar rules issues, feel free to add them in the comments and I'll try to keep this up to date with those rules issues that are commonly mis-understood or played incorrectly.

Caanaan