In order to go on missions for the Return to Zverograd (RTZ) narrative campaign, construct a battle force according to Dust 1947 rules and rules specific to the campaign.

First, you will need to create a commander for your force. Your commander will be the leader of your force and a required unit in your Core Platoon. Usually this will be your Command Unit.

Every force needs a Core Platoon which are drawn from the list of platoons from the Dust 1947 as well as platoons created for the RTZ campaign. You can of course have other platoons in your force according to the Dust 1947 rules.

Commanders can be either Heroes or the officer/NCO in a command squad. As this is a shared narrative campaign, we can’t have the same Hero leading 2 forces simultaneously. Instead, you create a Hero based on a Hero Archetype.

A Hero Archetype will serve as a template to create your own named commander. Your commander will have the same attributes of the Hero Archetype and cost the same AP. The looks and name of the commander is decided and customised by you. Have fun with this! Create a memorable commander and develop his character as you wish! This will help you if you decide to submit a battle report to tell an interesting story.

Here’s an example:

Lena Winter (Hero Archetype: Sigrid, AP 8)

Lena was one of the proteges of Sigrid Von Thaler, trained to be an emissary and representative where her mentor could not be. Part of Sigrid’s inner circle, Lena’s loyalty is first and foremost to Von Thaler, then the Blutkreuz and lastly the Axis.

Only 14 and orphaned when she was recruited, the now adult Lena adopts the figure-hugging outfit of her mistress, you might even mistake her for Von Thaler if not for her red hair instead of blonde.

Even as the Axis withdraws mainstream troops from Zverograd, Lena leads a Blutkreuz Korps special ops force for purposes unknown except to the highest level of Axis command for Zverograd, and sometimes, not even then.

Her mission to Zverograd is the most dangerous one for Lena yet and the stakes have never been higher. She will succeed in her mission or die trying.

Here, Lena Winter is the commander of a battle force based on the Sigrid Hero Archetype. Mechanically in the game, she is equivalent to Sigrid.

Both your commander and your Core Platoon cannot be changed for the duration of the campaign. As the campaign progresses you can swap out individual units in your Core Platoon but you must always field your Core Platoon where possible. There might be special missions that change this.

Blutkreuz Elite Laser Grenadier Platoon is chosen as the Core Platoon. Here is what a sample 60 AP force lead by Lena looks like:

Lena Winter: Special Forces
Axis, Blutkreuz Korps
65 / 60 (+6 AP)

| Elite LASER Grenadier Platoon |
Command: Lena Winter (x1) [Sigrid (II)]
Combat(1): Laser Grenadier Squad
Combat(2): Laser Grenadier Squad
Combat(3): Heavy Laser Grenadier Squad

Gorilla Squad (x2)
Zombie Squad (x3)
Grenadier X

For the duration of the campaign, Lena and the Core Platoon will not change. However, Combat Squad 1 to 3 can be changed from week to week as allowed by the Platoon.

You can add a Hero Archetype to your force as a typical unit, just name the Hero as desired. Grenadier X above is an example of a Hero Archetype, which you can rename for your force (e.g. Gunnar, the Grinner). You are still limited to one Hero of each type as per Dust 1947 rules in your force.

Not every Hero serves as a Hero Archetype; they cannot be added to a force without permission, and they are unique in the campaign. If a player wants a specific Hero, he will need to request for that from their HQ, who must specifically assign and allow the Hero to be fielded by the player, on a mission by mission basis.

Units Restrictions

Certain units are not available for the campaign without it being assigned to you. Other restrictions as follows:

• All Aircrafts and Vehicles of class 6 and above cannot simply be added to a force. If you need a specific Unit, you will need to request it from HQ and get their explicit approval. Does not apply to Mythos creatures of Vehicle class 6 and above.
• Infantry - maximum of 3 units per unit type unless required to form a legal platoon.
• Vehicles - maximum of 2 units per unit type. Platoons that require more than 2 units of the same type cannot be fielded for this campaign.

Mercenary units

You can add Mercenary Units to your list as per normal except for Mercenary Heroes. Mercenary Heroes need to be requested from various fixers who conveniently make themselves available to your respective HQ. There is a Mercs Hero requisition form to fill up where apart from indicating the Hero you also indicate the AP you are paying for him. The minimal is the AP he cost and no upper limit.

The mercenary Hero will go to the highest bidder (unless story reasons) and you must pay for the AP even if you choose not to use the Hero in your force. The use of the Mercenary Hero is only for the campaign Round it is approved for. If you wish to use the Hero in subsequent Rounds you must request for the Unit again. In case of a tie for highest bidder, the Mercs Fixers decide.

Size of Forces for Missions

The RTZ campaign is designed to allow players at different stages of their collection to play, simply agree with your opponent on the Army Points total you will be playing at and go for it! For RTZ we have categorised them as follows:

Size of Game

Patrol: 30AP
Skirmish: 40-60 AP
Battle: 80-100 AP
Big Battle: 120 AP and above

At the start of the RTZ campaign, forces are starting to trickle back to the doomed city after the unleashing of the Mythos, Skirmish would be the most common mission size. We recommend you start with Skirmish, it is a lot of fun and great way to start off the 6 weeks campaign.

Information for the Hero Archetype and Platoons will be on the individual Bloc pages for the campaign. As follows:

• Axis
• Allies
• SSU
• IJN
• Mythos
• Mercenaries

• dust
• rtz
• zverograd