Dust at Gencon 2013

So today at Gencon Wienas and I got a chance to sit and talk with Paolo for probably an hour or so at the Dust table at Gencon while he set up the teaser models.  He was very accommodating of our excessive number of questions about the future of Dust, and told us a couple very interesting things.  Note that these bullets are my memory of abour 90 minutes of discussion so they may not be 100%.  :)

• Around Christmas this year, there are going to be 3 new boxed armies to support the Babylon campaign, which will be taking place in North Africa / the Middle East - the Axis Afrikakorp (NDAK), the Allied Marines, and the SSU Spetsnaz.  It sounded to me that all of these boxes would have primarily Infantry 1 models for each of the factions.  The new models he was showing were the Afrikakorps,  which can be seen below.  The Axis boxed army is supposed to contain 3 infantry units (although we discussed it and there were 4 shown in the pictures) and 3 walkers.  Paolo said that these releases would originally be boxed, but that most of the models would be available separately later - implying that some of the models may be limited releases.  Also, from our discussion, it sounded like the Spetsnaz line would be getting Infantry 2 models at some point.
• Along this same line - he described that several of the existing walkers will be getting the 'desert' treatment like the medium walker in the picture below - open cockpits, sand filters, extra armor, etc. 
• Of the 'new' models in the pictures, if I remember correctly, the Axis command squad and the Axis heavy walker were going to be released separately and the other new Afrikakorp models were going to be part of the boxed set.  The only new Allied model shown is the Infantry 1 hero, which will be in the Babylon campaign box.  The gorillas with the gas masks are evidently alternate NDAK heads for the Pionere squads.
• The next faction will be sometime next year and will be the Japanese.  I inquired about the Japanese being described as part of the Axis in the background, and Paolo said that a faction of the Japanese are / have split off and will be the new faction.  In this same discussion, he mentioned that the campaign will move into the Pacific for this release.
• The Vrill were described as being 'sometime' after the Japanese - it sounds like Paolo has some interesting ideas for the models and said that it was an 'engineering problem' to be able to produce them.  For example, he said producing the new SSU Steel Guard took 6 months to get right, and he described it as a similar design and engineering problem in getting the design and production correct.
• Paolo reiterated that starting with Babylon, the Dust Warfare rules will be in the campaign boxes.  When I asked about the Warfare rules for Achilles, he said that we should see them 'soon' and implied sometime this month or next, if I remember correctly.

It was awesome getting to talk to Paolo, and he was very accomodating of our incessant questioning - I can't wait to see what else he comes up with.  Also, earlier in the day, Mack Martin also dropped by the Dust table trying to find Paolo and we also got a chance to chat with him about the game and his thoughts on its design - it sounds like he is very much looking forward to Battlefronts contributions to the game.  Some days, its good to live in Indy.  :)

Here are the aforementioned pictures:

First the new Afrikakorps models:

Then the Wave 2+ Achilles units:

I'll probably try to put up a post tomorrow with pictures from the Dust Warfare tournament.