Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)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!
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