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In the Dark of Zverograd, the Rats' War Begins

Announcing the Upcoming Release of Operation Hades for Dust Tactics

Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce the upcoming release of Operation “Hades” for Dust Tactics!

When invading Axis forces descended into the sewers of Stalingrad to move about the city unimpeded, the Soviets sent their own troops underground to stop them. The bitter fighting that took place there marked the beginning of the RattenKrieg, or “Rats’ War.” The confined spaces and narrow sewer tunnels became a hellish battlefield, unlike any before seen in the history of warfare. The claustrophobic environment was perfect for traps and ambushes, and every squad knew that death could be waiting for them around the next corner. The Rats’ War may have come to life in Stalingrad, but it plays an even larger and deadlier role beneath the city of Zverograd.

Scheduled to arrive in the fourth quarter of 2012, Operation “Hades” introduces new rules for subterranean warfare, superhuman soldiers, new skills, and richly detailed information about the city and battleground of Zverograd. It also brings you thirty-one tiles, a Zverograd city poster, a map of the Zverograd metro, six new scenarios, and over two dozen objectives to serve as the basis of your own scenarios. Finally, Operation “Hades” marks the arrival of Winter Child, the game’s first superhuman soldier.

War in the Underground

Operation “Hades” introduces new rules for underground fighting, as well as rules more specifically designated for scenarios fought in Zverograd’s sewers and metro.

During underground combat, troops must cope with dim lighting and confined quarters. There is very little light beneath the city of Zverograd. Units can hear enemies coming,

but they are hard to make out in the darkness. As a result, it’s not uncommon for soldiers in such tense conditions to fire blindly into the shadows ahead of them when they hear enemies approaching. The darkness of the underground grants a unit increasing levels of cover the farther it is from an attacking unit, and units cannot target foes with four or more spaces between them.

Additionally, there’s not much headroom underground. In caves or in the sewers, the ceilings are very low. It’s only slightly better in the metro. The stress and darkness may cause troops to waste ammo, firing blindly into the dark, but troops are also limited in their movements. Units cannot use the Jump skill while fighting underground.

With these rules (which we’ll explore in greater detail later), players can experience entire scenarios set in Zverograd’s sewers and metro, or they can join two or more boards together and designate locations where units can exit one map and enter the other. Altogether, the subterranean combat of Operation “Hades” opens up exciting new dimensions for the battles of Dust Tactics!

Winter Child

For years, Earth’s major powers have been working on different ways to create superhuman soldiers. Many of these research programs began long before the war, but

they received considerably more funding when it began. The SSU were years late in the discovery and practical applications of VK, but while the Axis were creating the first combat walkers, the SSU spent their time working on ways to create superhumans by enhancing the powers of the mind.

At length, their trials bore fruit, but the SSU were unable to duplicate their results. Thus, Colonel Ivan Vasiliev, the first SSU superhuman, remains a hero apart from the rest of humanity. In his magnificently crafted battle armor, Colonel Vasiliev, also known as “Winter Child,” towers above those around him, but few of them expect that their fantastic hero wears such armor not to protect himself, but to protect them from the inhuman energy he constantly radiates.

Operation “Hades” introduces new rules for superhumans, and these powerful units function like heroes, except that they cannot join other squads. Still, their tremendous abilities, defense, hit points, and attack lines are likely to make superhumans like Winter Child an exciting part of Dust Tactics as the game moves forward.

Your Dust Tactics Campaign Toolbox

Operation “Hades” comes with six pre-built scenarios that thrust you squarely into the tense action of underground fighting. However, the possibilities are all but endless when it comes to the scenarios that can be generated within the besieged city of Zverograd.

Going beyond the basic scenarios, Operation “Hades” provides you a wealth of information, which you can use to create your own custom scenarios. You can learn about the city’s layout from a poster, map, and pages of detailed information on a number of key locations. Meanwhile, key objectives are scattered throughout the city, each with its own special properties and tactical advantages, and many are linked to each other by Zverograd’s metro tunnels and sewer lines, creating unique combat situations both above and below ground.

Operation “Hades” encourages players to create their own scenarios in the war-torn city of Zverograd, and it offers numerous Gaming Notes to help spur your imagination.

Dust Tactics Premium Edition

As with all our Dust Tactics products, players will have the opportunity to pick up Operation “Zverograd” in either the unpainted Dust Tactics version or the masterfully pre-painted Dust Tactics Premium Edition version.

The Premium version of Operation “Zverograd” brings you a Winter Child professionally painted in loving detail, according to the art direction of Vincent Fontaine, the head of Dust Studio. With his fine metallic armor and the pulsing blue of his radiation beam, the Premium Winter Child is an intimidating presence on the battlefield and a stunning addition to any SSU army.

Winter Child comes unpainted in the Dust Tactics version of Operation “Hades”  (left), where the Dust Tactics Dust Tactics Premium Edition version comes with one Winter Child miniature and two heads. You can choose whether to fully enclose Winter Child in his armor and helmet (center) or to remove his helmet to give him a more personal view of the battlefield (right).

War is Hell

Despite soldiers’ bravery and the inspiring leadership of an army’s greatest heroes, war claims its toll. Now, as the fighting in Zverograd moves toward the terrifying enclosures of the city’s sewers and metro, the darkness is everywhere, and the sounds of gunfire are inescapable. Is that a zombie’s guttural growl you hear through the darkness? Is that the echoing footfall of an armored soldier? Are those words of Russian real or manifestations of your fears?

Get ready for some of the tensest, deadliest, and most thrilling battles of Dust Tactics when you explore the wealth of options brought to you in Operation “Hades.”

The fifth campaign expansion for Dust Tactics, Operation “Hades” is scheduled to arrive in the fourth quarter of 2012.

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Source: In the Dark of Zverograd, the Rats' War Begins (http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3412)