Paolo Parente’s Dust 1947 is the latest incarnation of the alternative-history World War II miniatures game, which is now being distributed in North America by Dust USA, a sister company of the China-based Dust Studio.  ICv2 had a chance to speak with Dust USA’s Gregoire Boisbelaud about the new distribution arrangement and the latest edition of the game at the GAMA Trade Show.

Distribution of the Dust line has been problematic in the past, ultimately culminating in a very public disagreement with Dust Studio’s last distributor, Battlefront Miniatures (see “Dust May be Settling Over ‘Babylon’”).  For the latest version of the game, Dust Studio has elected to set up a U.S. operation to handle sales and marketing of the game themselves.  As Boisbelaud explained to ICv2, “Dust Studio decided to go by themselves and creating Dust USA because the business relationships with other partners ended and it was the right move, in our mind, to sell direct.  The game was still there.  We had a lot of new products coming, and we wanted them available directly to retailers.”  Dust USA will be selling directly to retailers, and the product line will not be available through other distributors.

The current version of the game is an evolution of the previous editions, featuring a streamlined rules set to make the game easier to learn and reduce playing time to as little as 15 minutes.  Boisbelaud described the game. “Some of our gamers call it ‘V3.’  It’s not really a V3.  It’s really a new way of playing the game.  It’s the version that the team of Dust Studios wanted.”

“It’s really way easier to access the game.  The previous versions were a little inflated with additional rules.  This one has the base rules that you have from the Starter Sets that are really easily played in 15 minutes.  Then you can choose to morph the game into something a little bit more hardcore, where you can play with a lot of additional rules… flesh out the game for players who want a little bit more from their experience.”

The line currently includes a half-dozen Starter Sets and about 100 additional model kits, including vehicles, units, heroes, and terrain pieces.  Each Starter Set includes a hero, a unit, and a vehicle from one of the game’s factions, a neoprene game mat, 2D and 3D scenery pieces, game rules, and dice.  Two Starter Sets are needed to play the game, one for each player.  MSRP is $65.00 per set.  Model kits range from $25.00 to $65.00, depending on the size and complexity of the models in the kit, and are available either as unassembled kits, or as pre-assembled models primed in their faction color.  A line of “premium” pre-painted model kits are also available, at twice the price of the same pre-assembled kit.

Check out the gallery for a sampling of the models available.

Aware that the large range could be daunting to some retailers, Boisbelaud said “We have an offer of best sellers.  Basically, we always advise to take the Starter Sets.  Then following that we will advise you to take a few units of each, a few vehicles of each, and a few heroes of each, so that you have something around 25 SKUs maximum in your stores.”

Released last December, Paolo Parente’s Dust 1947 Starter Sets quickly sold out and will soon be back in stock. 

Dust USA will launch an in-store event program later this year, using fan volunteers to run demos and tournaments in participating stores.

Last year, Dust Studio teamed up with Modiphius Entertainment to produce a Dust/Achtung!  Cthulhu sourcebook called Secrets of the Dust (see “ ‘Achtung Cthulhu,’ ‘Dust’ Mash-up”).