Great Danes: Fistful of TOWs AAR

By Mitch Reed

Having spent many years training for “nuclear combat toe-toe with the Ruskies”, I find that gaming the what-if the Cold War turned hot fascinating. While many games test if we can get a different historical outcome via game play, World War III gaming is open to review and interpretation as you review your results.

Anyone who has read about my games knows that I sometimes play with a group of local gamers who focus on very historical based Flames of War scenarios. Thus, you should find it no surprise that this game was set up by the same group.  With the lack of responses for the Friday afternoon game the week before Labor Day, our game master Jay Mischo decided to change the weekly FoW game to a game using the Fistful of Tow’s Version 3 ruleset, which many who game the modern period swear by. 

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Star Wars X-Wing - Green Squadron: Mission Three: Rescue the Rebel Operative (X-Wing)

Green Squadron, we've received an urgent distress signal from one of our Rebel Operatives in the Omicron belt near Nulan VII. Scans indicate he is being pursued by enemy fighters! Get those birds in the air, and get that ship out of danger!

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Bolt Action - Review: Warlord Partisan Squad

By Anthony "Anfernee" Mason

  Today I am going to take a look at one of the Warlord Games Partisan Squads and talk about the possibilities available when using these cool models. I will also look at how I used them to start my Lithuanian Forest Brother partisan force for Bolt Action.

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Preview :Battlefront's Great War Additions: Part 2 The Americans and Germans

By Mitch Reed
In my last article I previewed the new Great War additions that are about to released by Battlefront.  In this article I will preview the new American list, the German Stosskompanie list, and the new missions that are in the new Great War book.

The Americans
For the first three years of the war the US publicly proclaimed neutrality, however behind the scenes the US did fund and supply the British and French in their fight against imperial Germany.  After the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare and the German courting of Mexico to attack the US, the nation could no longer stand by and the US entered the war in April 1916.  While the Americans had a level of resources and manpower that the nations of Europe envied, they had a very small army that lacked many of the modern weapons and training that were needed to fight in Europe.  While everyone knew this fact, the Allies told the US to send the troops over so they could be trained and equipped in France. While the above statement may seem out of place in a preview, it does explain why the US list looks like it does in the new book.

The US list can be built either as Confident Veteran or Confident Trained.  The rationale for this is that many of the US Army’s regular full time units were made up of professional soldiers who have seen combat in Mexico, the Philippines, Cuba, and Central and South America.  The 1st Infantry Division was the first symbol of the American precipitation in the war and was made up of soldiers who had years of service in the army to they are rated as Confident Veterans.  The other big source of manpower for the US was the extensive National Guard system, in which troops trained part time and could be used by their state in case of an emergency.  A prime example of these men is the 42nd Rainbow Division which was an idea of then Major Douglass MacArthur, to take assorted National Guard units from all over the nation and form them in one division that covered the nation, hence the use of the rainbow nickname.  This new unit was mostly made up of part time soldiers who have the rating of Confident Trained to reflect their level of training.

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Star Wars X-Wing - You Rebel SCUM! A Review of Heroes of the Aturi Cluster for X-Wing

By now you've either heard or read about the exploits of 'Green Squadron', and their efforts to return peace to the Outer Rim Territories. Their relentless attacks on the Empire and their cohorts, are just a small part of 'Heroes of the Aturi Cluster'. It's a co-operative campaign using the X-Wing miniatures rule-set with a twist. You now have the ability to play with your friends on the same side, focusing on the same objectives to complete missions. Meanwhile, the Empire is completely controlled by a well written set of predetermined rules that control pilots, their ships and their actions during the course of this campaign.

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Intensify Forward Firepower Episode XI: Salivation Station

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In this eleventh installment of Intensify Forward Firepower Easy, Steve, Dan, and an intoxicated Moff preview all the new ships set to arrive soon with the long awaited second wave for FFG's Armada. Lobrad spins the engine discs up from within the depths of the terrifying FSD so the crew can discuss their initial reactions on most, if not all, of the previewed cards and ships. What does Dano love? What does Judson hate? What color are the bounty hunter's eyes and where exactly on the fence is Steven sitting? Find out in this MEGA IFF Episode 11: The Arrival!

Want to join the conversation? Please sound off in the comments below, or let us know on our forum!

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Bolt Action - Review: Rubicon StuG III

By Anthony "Anfernee" Mason


 Anfernee here. I am back again with another great product great. Today's review is on the Rubicon StuG III Ausf G.

 Like all Rubicon kits, it's a multi-sprue plastic kit with a plethora of options available, including the ability to make the StuG III Ausf G as either early, mid or late war variants or as the dreaded, StuH 42. This includes 2 mantlets and 3 different muzzle breaks to pick from, as well as optional Schurzen and much, much more.

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Star Wars X-Wing - Green Squadron: Mission Two: Combat Patrol. (X-Wing)

The second mission assigned to Green Squadron saw Greens 1, 2, 5 and 6 sent out on another escort mission to protect a convoy in the Parnel Sector. 

Welcome back, Greens 1 and 2, I apologize that there's no time for a debriefing from the last run you made, but we've got to escort a supply convoy to our hidden base in the Parmel Sector and a group of potentially hostile signals has been detected in a nearby asteroid field. I need you two to check it out before our vulnerable freighters are set upon by Imperial ambushers.

The good news? Well, I'm not sure if you'll consider it good news, but two new pilots calling themselves Tenthumbs and Hotshot have arrived on the last reinforcement shuttle. I'm assigning them to Green Squadron. Dismissed.

GREEN SQUADRON INTRODUCTION | PREVIOUS MISSION | NEXT MISSION

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Hiding In Plain Sight: Camouflage and Color in WWII

Since the beginning of time, man has tried to disguise himself and his intentions on the battlefield. Whether it be a Trojan Horse or covering vehicles and installations to hide from aerial reconnaissance, other armies and it's troops; camouflage has played an important part of warfare.

This Tiger may need a little more to help hide it......what do you think?

As with everything else, the art of hiding a tank while also trying to use it as a tool of war is a careful balance of planning and color. We take for granted that many of the period pictures from WW2 are in black & white. It's easy to forget or even difficult to discover what colors were actually used during this period to cover the bare metal and primer that was used during this time.

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Product Review: Battlefront's Navy SEALs (VUS782)

by Jeff Flint

What can I say...Navy SEALS...need I say any more.  Go buy them.  Now.

Ok...A little more in the review.  US Navy SEALS (VUS782) have hit the Nam in  Battlefront's Vietnam era book release, Brown Water Navy for Flames of War  .

The SEALS add several new options for the US player.  First they are a very adaptable force.  Even though they are only 7 stands you can configure those teams to be all SMG or M16 teams or have up 2 of those teams be Shotgun teams, MG teams and/or M79 Teams.  Add to that their special rules of "Complete the Mission" (similar to Mission Tactics), UDT Training (gives the Pioneer skills when attacking bunkers, and crossing/gapping wire) and special Insertion options that change how they enter the game...By Sea (enter on a PBR), By Air (enter on a UH1 Slick) or Land (enter on ANY table edge)  If you only use 1 squad of 4 teams they also get Recce!  All this 170 points for 1 squad of 4 teams or 235 for 2 squads.  Oh, did I forget to say they were Fearless Veteran?  Well, they are   OUCH!

The other option the add is that they bring with the first Nam raiding mission!  Battlefront has added a Raiding mission called Reliable Intel Mission where a small SEAL force infiltrates a VC hideout does their thing and then exfiltrates.  I am looking forward to playing this over the next few weeks.  Rest assured, there WILL be BatReps.

All right SEALS   Fall...IN!!!  Open Ranks,,,MARCH!!   Dress right DRESS!!!  Sir, the Platoon is ready for inspection.  Ok, lets talk about these troops.

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Preview :Battlefront's Great War Additions: Part 1 The French and British

 By Mitch Reed

It is no secret to many that the Great War is a subject I am fascinated with.  I have written a few articles in the past not only about gaming the Great War in general, but also about Battlefront’s summer 2014 release of their new Great War line.  In the months since this release I was able to get on Battlefront’s development team for the next wave that that will expand the Great War line. I was excited to work on this project with Wayne Turner and feel the final product will appeal to not only Great War fans, but other Flames of War players who have yet to discover how great this period is play.

I want to first explain that the upcoming release is not so much of an expansion as much it is a re-boot of the game.  The new booklet which is about 77 pages not only introduces the French and Americans into the fight; it also contains all of the rules and lists that came out in 2014.  The new book also has a full painting guide for all the forces found in the game as well as a new mission and adaptations of current missions used in the WWII version of the game.  So this one volume will cover all of the Great War line that has been released by Battlefront.

What is new?
The two new nations that are being introduced is something I am sure most people are excited about.  The French and the Americans make their appearance in the game and complete the list of the major combatants found in France during 1918.  Both of these nations, much like the British and Germans before, has a distinctive flair that makes playing them a unique experience.

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Star Wars Armada - Some Custom Armada Ships from Shapeways

By Steve MacLauchlan

Hey folks, I just wanted to share some painting I've done recently of a batch of custom 3d printed ships for Armada.

The Gozanti cruiser came from Mel's Miniatures while the Rebel Gunships and Light Assault Cruiser came from Space Supply Depot.

I plan to simply use the two Rebel ships as Corvettes, and perhaps use the Gozanti as the incoming Imperial Raider.

Neither of those make much sense for the armaments of these ships, but I'm not too keen on coming up with my own stats so "counts as" will have to do!

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Bolt Action - A Conversation about Conversions

By Jakob Lotz


((Jakob recently flew down to Australia from his homeland of Sweden, to play in the BAMA Bolt Action Tournament.  He brought a host of awesome converted vehicles with him, some which you may have seen in the Warlord newsletter, and we were so impressed we asked if he could discuss them with us.  So sit back and enjoy! - Anf))

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Product Review: Battlefront's Sampans from Resistance (VPABX12)

By Jeff "SonBae" Flint

In the new-ish Brown Water Navy book for the Vietnam Era of Flames of War the Local Resistance forces get some interesting new watercraft. Notably, Brown Water Navy adds Sampans to the Organization chart for the Local Forces. To help new players they have updated their old VPABX10 Local Forces with a new Local Resistance box set VPABX12 that includes all the land based Resistance teams, but also adds a Sampan option for each team.

Now if you're a new player this is great; all your Resistance options are there in one box. However, if you're on your 2nd tour of the Nam you already had land based teams from VPABX10.  Insert sad panda mode....but STOP right there mister (or miss)!!!! I will share two little tricks that can help you maximize your purchase. First, you can sell half the Sampans with the land based figures and make some of your money back, because in a river fight you can never go full Sampan. The other method is to modify your Sampans with some extra figures or, like I did, just cut the rice/straw bundles off of the land figures and add them as cargo to the Sampans

I mean the Sampans have to be carrying something...right?

This review will focus on the Sampans in VPABX12. I covered the land based teams in a this article.  Since those figures are exactly the same, I wont cover them again.

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Star Wars X-Wing - Green Squadron: Mission One: Patrol

Mission One in an ongoing series. See the introduction here.

All right, pilots, we've got reports of an imperial reconnaissance patrol nearby, and we're dispatching you all to finish them. Since you're all a bunch of rookies, this mission should be a good chance to cut your teeth, and see what the Empire's bringing to bear. Good hunting, Green Squadron. May the Force be With You.

Green Squadron Mission One: Local Trouble.

If you have no idea what is going on, make sure to Check out Heroes of the Aturi Cluster.

GREEN SQUADRON INTRODUCTION | NEXT MISSION

Participating Pilots:

Green 6: Are you kidding, Mynock? TIEs don't hold a candle to an X-Wing- especially not MY X-Wing.
Green 2: Oh yeah? Have you tested that th-
Green 1: Alright Green Squadron, cut the chatter. Three Ties on Scope. All Wings Report In.

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Star Wars Armada - Battle Report: Bombers everywhere!

In the moments leading up to prime opponent Sean and I building our lists in secret for a battle in the Lab, we don't discuss builds or tactics at all. But sometimes, there's just a listy vibe in the air, and we both settle on something similar. It happens all the time, and this game was no exception! I thought I'd do something out of character for me- a Rebel list with no Assault Frigates, no Corvettes, and B-Wings! That is like, mirror universe Steven with an evil Goatee.

Sean also decided on a bomber-centric build. I was excited to see where this thing went!

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Bolt Action - 1000 Point French List

By: Patch 

Early War French are by far my favorite force to run in Bolt Action, there is a quality about them which makes them my ‘go to’ force above all others (and I have a few to choose from!). For our regular readers and listeners to the Ghost Army Podcast this is nothing new, they have heard me talk and write about them in no small detail over the last few years and may have even played against them at some point. In this latest chapter of my French, I will go over a list I have put together for an upcoming event and speak briefly about how I have rejuvenated and made them feel almost new again.

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Star Wars X-Wing - Green Squadron: Heroes of the Aturi Cluster- Introducing Green Squadron

A Long Time Ago... In a Galaxy Far Far Away...

Amazing picture by Mike Evans. Actual Models of Green Squadron!

HEROES OF THE ATURI CLUSTER
In a remote sector of the Outer Rim, a small force of Rebel FREEDOM FIGHTERS is tasked with keeping the Rebellion alive after a series of crippling Imperial strikes. Striking from their sole capital ship EMERALD ONE, Green Squadron must stand toe to toe with the empire with fresh, untested pilots and limited supplies.

The Empire possesses a planetary garrison on Nulan VI, and the Star Destroyer RETRIBUTION relentlessly patrols the system. Every operation GREEN SQUADRON conducts requires a swift, coordinated strike before fading into the darkness of space. With the possibility of the RETRIBUTION dropping from hyperspace at any moment, GREEN SQUADRON must remain ever vigilant.

Heroes of the Aturi Cluster is a cooperative campaign developed by Josh Derksen and hosted by DockingBay416. You can find more information on the campaign at this link.

The Campaign allows up to 6 players to play cooperatively against AI controlled enemies. The complete campaign set (which is a free download!) includes mission cards, new terrain types, AI and Elite cards for enemy pilots, player character sheets, and a massive campaign booklet with 16 missions spread across 5 awesome story arcs.

Player characters earn experience, increase their pilot skill, and unlock new upgrades. Your pilots can become extremely awesome (more so than they could ever be in regular X-Wing) as they grow into the Heroes of the Aturi Cluster.

Judson and I had been planning a weekend of gaming debauchery, when this gem was announced just days before. We immediately became interested, got a bunch of friends excited, painted up our own fighters, and decided we had to do it.

To further the excitement, our friend Mike from Space Rocks got excited about watching Green Squadron, and decided they needed a home base. He rushed us the first Nebulon B off the production line to act as Emerald One. Though it didn't participate in any battles (The Rebels must keep it safe! it's their only home!), it remained on the table throughout play to remind us that we had a safe haven. Please check out Mike's Nebulon in X-Wing scale on his site--it's amazing! If you order one, make sure to use the code IFF2015 to save 10%!

Meet Green Squadron

All of the fighters available to Green Squadron.

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Product Review Battlefront's Panzersturm Platoon (GE848)

By Jeff "SonBae" Flint



Finally! My FLGS got the Flames of War Panzersturm Platoon (GE848) in from Battlefront. This is a follow on to the article on on the IR equipped Sdkfz251s. These carry the Infra-red night sights to the infantry and gives you a platoon of 7 Assault Rifle/Panzerfaust stands all with the "Infra-red Equipment" special rule where a German company with troops with Infra-red Equipment may take Night Attack in ANY mission and they get the Always Attack special rule if they do Night Attack. Additionally, platoons with Infra-red Equipment get Spearhead. Whoa!

Night is falling...prepare for action!

If that wasn't enough, these Vampirs get an added advantage of rolling 2 dice to when rolling on the Night Visibility Table... and if the unit they are shooting at is spotlighted by a Uhu (GBX82) (review) they don't have to roll on the table at all!  I know, their range is only 8 inches....bout you don't have to worry about rolling that 1! The target sadly is still concealed.

The night isn't safe for the allies anymore.

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Star Wars X-Wing - Space Rocks Nebulon B Escort Frigate for Star Wars X-Wing Review

Mike from Space Rocks was awesome enough to send us the first Nebulon B Escort frigate off the production line in order to make it for our epic playthrough of the Heroes of the Aturi Cluster (Be sure to remember our code if you think you might order one! IFF2015 saves you 10%). When I cracked the box open, I literally "woo'd" at the top of my lungs due to sheer awesomeness. This thing is HUGE, and it's ready to go in seconds.

The ship comes pre-painted (the painting is great!), and includes a 5 part stand. Also included, though not pictured: a very handy brochure detailing how to assemble it, and some suggested rules for use in X-Wing. The rules and additional information can be found on the official Nebulon B product page.

Look at that glorious beast. It's just a hair over two feet long, and stands about a foot tall. Impressive. Most Impressive.

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Bolt Action - Review: Warlord Games/Italeri Panzer III

By Anthony "Anfernee" Mason

  Hey guys,

  Anfernee here to chat about a cool little gem I picked up recently for Bolt Action. While I am usually a stickler for the German big cats, I was excited to get my paws on the fairly new, 1:56 Panzer III plastic kit from Warlord Games. This is one of the plastic kits made in conjunction by Warlord and, model kit maker, Italeri. I am a huge fan of plastics and adding in a Panzer III, gives me some new variety to add to my lists for Bolt Action.

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Star Wars X-Wing - Battle Report: TIE Phantoms vs A, K, and X-Wing.

By Steve MacLauchlan

Time for quick X-Wing showdown between myself and Andrew!

For this game, I ran the Imperials and Andrew ran the Rebels. We did not realize the Decloak had been errata'd, so we found the TIE Phantoms to be incredibly powerful. The plan was for the crummy TIE to be used to block moves/stop actions while the two TIE Phantoms swung around to chew on the enemy after being clever with decloaks!

Andrew was keen to see the K-Wing in action, but wanted to spell AKX with his ships.

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Star Wars X-Wing - Battle Report: Triple Play Battle

Andrew and I were able to play 3 games of X-Wing one night, just trying some new stuff out. I decided to not only take Scum, but to take Boba Fett. Scum is really growing on me, and while I'll never be a fan of Boba Fett in general, he is pretty sweet on the tabletop!

We decided to use the destroyed Blockade Runner by Space-Rocks as a backdrop. Make sure to read our review and use our code IFF2015 to get 10% off!

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FoW: Late War Italy 26th Panzer vs 3rd Infantry Division

By Eric Lauterbach

When Sean said "hey lets get together and play an Italy battle", I thought "great I all ready have a list!"

I happily dusted off my mid-war Panzer-Grenadier army. The problem was, when Sean said Italy he meant Late War Italy... Doh!!

So, I took my mid-war list and made it a late war.  The only real changes were the Nebs got heavier and PzIIIs became PzIVs.

My list was two Panzer-Grenadier platoons in trucks and a Aufklarungs platoon in halftracks, 4 PzIVs, a Pak 40 platoon, HMGs, Nebs 21cm, and a Tiger. Sean had a assault platoon, infantry platoon, 6 Hellcats, 6 Sherman 105s, two 57mm platoons, and recon.

We randomly rolled the mission Hasty Attack. We rolled again and Sean was the defender. With seven platoons Sean put one infantry on, the Sherman 105s and the assault platoon in immediate ambush.

One objective was in the town which could be problem so I decided to go for the one behind the hill

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Bolt Action - Ghost Army Podcast Episode 10

In Episode 10, the guys start with a live report from BAMA before heading back to the bunker to discuss their lists and games. We also take a closer look at forces that fought in The Battle Of The Bulge and talk about the future of boltaction.net.

We hope you enjoy...

You can find this episode in your friendly local iTunes store or HERE.

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Bolt Action - How To Turn An Opel Blitz Into a Maultier Half-Track Truck

By Old Man Morin

Greetings Bolt Action fans, 

Old Man Morin here with a handy dandy guide on how to turn your everyday German truck from a 6 wheeled transport into a half track truck. 

Now, you may think that this is an easy switcheroo or the rear wheel assembly and on a basic level, you would be right but...this process is not as easy as it seems.

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News from the Front - Episode 95

The guys are back with a vengeance, as Eric, Jon and Steven dive right in to an extensive Act I AAR.  We talk all things Star Wars, Flames, Chain of Command, Battletech and other stuff!  

In Act II, the guys recap the Guns of August FoW tournament, talk about building doubles lists, discuss the new Lessons from the Front and the new Battlefront Soviet plastics.

For Act III, the guys wander all over the place and talk about all (most?) of the stuff they promised to cover in this act.  Steven talks in detail about the Heroes of the Aturi Cluster X-Wing Campaign.

Click Here to Download Episode 95

After Hours

The boys talk about good movies, our favorite bad movies, TV shows, even more Star Wars, Artemis  Star Trek Continues and more!

Click here to listen to After Hours

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