Konflikt '47 - Rulebook review and first impressions!

If you play any of Warlord Games' systems like Bolt Action and don't live under a rock, you will have heard about their newest game, Konflikt '47 made in conjunction with Clockwork Goblin Miniatures and Osprey Publishing. There has been a bit of hub-bub about this game recently, as it takes the great Bolt Action system and throws in a dash of the weird, bringing in 'mechs and power-armoured infantry alongside zombies and werewolves. Well we are going to crack open the Konflikt (forever known as K47 from this point onwards) rulebook and delve into how the rules differ from Bolt Action, while looking at some of the new units you can expect.

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Bolt Action - Ghost Army Podcast Episode 18

Ghost Army Podcast: Episode 18

The GAP is back! The first half sees Patch and Anfernee welcome new guy Casey to the BAA family along with special guest Dan, before they jump into talking about what they hope to see in the upcoming Konflikt '47. Then in the second half, Bryan returns from his trip to the land of the free and joins Anf and Tristan to talk about the games they've been having and upcoming events.




Find this episode in your friendly neighbourhood iTunes store or HERE.

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Bolt Action - AAR: D-Day Double Game Special

Nearly 2 months ago, I got to attend a very special event up in Sydney, Australia, hosted by the gracious Bryan Cook and the Company of Dice gaming club to commemorate the battle for Normandy on D-Day and the days following it. I drove up from Victoria (a 9-hour drive) and met up with Baconburgers, Tristans and Rob who had flown up from Melbourne and we all spent the weekend enjoying Bryan's gracious hospitality.

In the lead up to the event, there had been a lot of good-natured friendly banter between the players from both sides and we knew this was going to be something special. Unlike your typical open style event, this was a team focused, scenario driven event, very much rooted in the historical aspects of Bolt Action. It consisted of 2 rounds, played over the one day, with 13 players per side, battling for control of the Normandy beaches and surrounding landscape. While I was initially excited to give my Canadian Airborne another run out on the tabletop, I ended up playing Germans to help balance the numbers on the both sides.
My first game was to be on the stunning table below, made by the talented Joseph Simeon, as part of a 2v2 game. We were using the Gold Beach scenario out of the Battleground Europe theatre book which proved to make for an interesting game. As a German commander tasked with holding the beaches, what else could I take but an Ostruppen horde?

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FoW Scenario analysis - Defensive Scenarios Balance

Hello Everyone, time for another gaming article by Sexy Sixes :)

This time, I would like to share some of my own thoughts on how Flames of War Defensive Battle scenarios are balanced.

It actually occurred to me while preparing some materials for the ETC pairings that all of the scenarios with the Defensive Battle rule in Flames of War can be described with a set of characteristics. These features, can then be used pretty much like ratings to define who has an edge in a given scenario. By knowing who is more likely to win a game in a given scenario and understanding how these characteristics work, lists can be tailored to be able to mitigate the connected risks and capitalize on the opportunities.

Sooo, what are the characteristics that I was talking about?
I divided them into two separate sections: defender advantage and attacker advantage to clearly point out who do I think benefits from each of them.

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Visiting The Imperial Shrine of Yasukuni - A Picture Bonanza For Japanese Players

I have recently returned from a week long visit to my old stomping grounds in Tokyo. A sucker for historic sites and museums, I had the opportunity on this trip to visit the famous and extremely controversial museum attached to the Imperial Shrine of Yasukuni. Just like when I got to visit the National World World 2 Museum in New Orleans, I thought I would write up what I found and post a pile of pictures for anyone interested in Japanese armed forces during and around the 1930's and 1940's. Beneath my write up, I have included pictures of Japanese weapons, vehicles and gear with the accompanying name plates describing what is shown in the main pictures. 

Without further ado, here is the shrine itself:

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Bolt Action - Review: Rubicon Models M5A1 Stuart/M5A1 Recce Kit

By Garratt


As far as plastic kits go, we have come to expect Rubicon to produce high quality, easy to construct vehicles. Does the M5A1 Stuart / M5A1 Recce kit live up to the name?

The box states that it allows the choice to build either a mid or late production M5A1 (Stuart VI) with 37mm gun or for those who like a lower profile, the M5A1 (Stuart VI) Reece / Kangaroo.

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Team Yankee: SU-25 FrogFoot Tips and Tricks #5

Howdy Hi!  Next up in the tips and tricks is the SU-25 Frogfoot Aviation Company (TSBX09) for Battlefront's Team Yankee version of Flames of War.

Bottomline up front...this will come as a shock to some who think me a "BF Fan Boy," but this boxed set was a little disappointing.

You get a solid resin body and white plastic-styrene nose piece and armaments.  The resin seems a little rough around the edges and requires cleaning at the all the edges. The white plastic was stunningly disappointing. I have built 6 of these by now and all are the same.

The nose cone detail seems all miscast and doesn't fit well.

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Team Yankee - Easy Guide to painting Soviet Armour

I have been asked by a few people how I painted my Soviet armour, so hopefully this guide will help you out. It is an easy technique and will get you an effective tabletop quality force in a very short time. The technique is nothing new but it may help out those that are not aware and just starting out in the magical world of painting.

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The LRDG II: Episode Five

The LRDG II: Episode Five 

Welcome to another Bolt Action only episode of the LRDG II. In this very special episode Old Man Morin talks to two very special guests. 

In the first half of the episode, Old Man Morin faces off with the formidable David "Uber Gruber" Hunter, from the Down Order Podcast, to talk extensively about the history of and listing in 1939 Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union. With these two guys on the mic, expect an opinion or two to get dropped!!!

In segment two, Brad is joined by the author of Konflikt '47, the newest game in the Bolt Action family. Chris, from Clockwork Goblin Games, drops serious preview information about the world of Konflikt '47, changes to the BA rules, new units in the game and things to expect down the pipe. It is a gloriously revealing interview!  

We hope you enjoy listening to the episode. As always, please contact the guys on the LRDG Podcast FB if you have any feedback, positive or negative. We LOVE to hear from YOU!

Remember you can also find this episode in the iTunes store or download it directly HERE.

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FOW: Pushing past the wall, Pt 1

We've all been there. We learn the rules, well most of them - that Flames of War rule book is LONG - we paint our models, we build our lists, and we keep losing. The other guy is putting kill rings on his tanks' barrels, while our tanks are smouldering hulks on the battlefield of dreams.

After recently relocating across the USA  from the country’s midwest to the far west coast of North America I received an email from a fellow player out of my old area - one at my skill level and time involved in the hobby - grousing about his inability to get out of a slump of losses, I had to ask myself if this was normal? Have most of us been there? In a broad way, I’d say yes. 

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Bolt Action - AAR: Australian vs. Hungarians, Envelopment

Recently I had a 1000 point game against a friend of mine named Mikey and his Australians. I was using my Hungarians, although neither of us used the BAA PDFs for these forces (both of our army lists were older ones we had written up on Easy Army before either PDF had been released). We randomly rolled which scenario we would play from the rulebook missions and got Envelopment. I got the choice and decided to be the attacker for a change, leaving Mikey to defend. The table was set, the battle lines drawn and little did we know, but Bolt Action was definitely set to happen in this game.

The first 12" of either side of the table had very little in the way of hard cover, so my opponent deployed quite far forward, planning on moving up to the hard cover and trying to hold me back, as I tried to run my army of his table edge. I decided to not outflank with anything, as it's a bit of a lame way to try and win Envelopment, so I bought everything on in the first wave. We rolled for the prep bombardment and I did a smattering of pins and killed a single Commando with the artillery fire.

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Team Yankee - A Look at the new West German Miniatures

I was extremely lucky to be given an early look at the new West German (Federal Republic of Germany) range from Battlefront consisting of, in the first phase of release, the Leopard 2, the Marder, the B0-105 Helicopter and the Panzergrenadier Zug. This is the first national expansion for the game outside of the US and Russian lines, bringing with it a huge range of new miniatures.

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FoW Battle Report: HG Assault Guns vs 12 SS Panzergrenadiers 2/5

Hi Everyone,

I think it is time for the next battle report of me running my HG Assault Gun Battery list. So here it goes.

After the first game I thought I did a pretty good job stopping a US Tank company from overruning my positions. This time, I was about to be involved in some maneuvers against the 12 SS Panzergrenadiers. The mission was Dust Up. My opponent's list was:

We started off by rolling who gets to be the attacker and it was my opponent who got to choose his table quarter and nominate his reserves as well as deploy the first platoon. In fact, when he saw my assault gun horde on the opposite side of the table, he immediately deployed very defensively, putting his all his infantry with attached gun carriers and Barkmann on the table. His Brummbars, armored mortars and 8-rads were employed as reserves as he probably knew that he had to concentrate mainly on defending his own objectives as well as having mobile reserve units that could avoid annihilation by the ravenous StuGs :)

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More Guild Ball Action: Fishermen vs Butchers!

Steven and Andrew are back with some more Guild Ball! Again, Steven captains the Fishermen's Guild while Andrew plays as the Butchers.

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The Weight of Plastics; Adding Heft to Plastic Models.

My first experience with plastics in my Flames of War hobby was a few years ago when I cracked open a copy of the Open Fire! starter box. The Shermans left me disappointed which prompted me to straw away from plastics...that was until I recently bought Grimball's Beasts. WOW! Battlefront has really stepped up their game. Every piece was easy to assemble and to be quite frank I really enjoyed it.

That being said there was still ONE issue. The weight. The minis just felt fragile and cheap. I love the "heft" that some minis have. This may be personal preference but can be a very effective defense against those stray dice that come rolling across the gaming table.

Today I am going to show you how I weigh down my plastic tanks. Along with a comparison of weights between different Sherman models.

To start off I have an M4A1 I acquired way back when V1 was alive and well.

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Bolt Action - Review: Rubicon Models SU-85/122 kit

I recently got my grubby little mitts on one of the new Rubicon Models SU-85/122 kit and all I can say is, wow! Not enough to go on for making a decision on if you want one of these kits for yourself?


Okay, then I will delve into this gorgeous kit in detail, but be prepared because this is one of the best kits I have seen for World War II yet. Rubicon has been delivering great kits for nearly 2 years now, and in keeping with their previous entries, this kit gives you the option to make two different vehicles, the Soviet SU-85 Tank Destroyer or the Soviet SU-122 Assault Gun.

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Team Yankee Soviets vs Americans in Counter Attack

by Luke Melia

I have been waiting to play another game of Team Yankee in 15mm for quite some time and today we squared off with Soviets versus Americans in Counterattack.  We decided on one hundred points per side for our game.  Now please keep in mind that we are still relatively new to the game and we are bound to make a mistake here or there.  We did stop to look up rules on a regular basis, because although there is a Flames of War feel to the game it is definitely something different.  We are also bound by what models we currently have, so if you are thinking to yourself "why did they bring that many T-72's?" or "why not bring this unit instead?"  The answer is we probably do not own it yet or it is not painted.  Un-painted figures do not get played on my table and I always find this a great motivator for painting.  So until more models are completed, we are making do with what we have like so many of you out there.

Here is a breakdown of the forces:

Soviets

1x Command T-72

4x T-72

4x T-72

3x T-72

3x Carnation Artillery

1 BMP-1 Spotter

5x BMP -2 Recon

5x BMP-2 Infantry

4x Hind Helicopter

2x Frogfoot Strike Aircraft

Amercians

1x Command M-1
4x M-1
4x M-1
2x ITV
4x VADS
2x Cobra Helicopters
2x A-10 Strike Aircraft

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Star Wars X-Wing Progression Series Missions 5 & 6

Continuing on from Missions 3 & 4, Steven and Easy continue to play through the X-Wing Missions. In game 6, we have a BRAND NEW X-Wing player face off against Steven.  The force is strong with that one. Mission 5 (Preystalker) and Mission 6 (Undeniable Assets).

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Bolt Action - Greatcoat German Project

 

I have always liked the look of Germans in greatcoats, but there are only a handful of figures on the market. They range in quality from poor to great, come in a limited number of poses, and usually cost more than your average figure. I've seen several people mix the plastic Winter Soviets and various plastic German kits from Warlord Games to make their own greatcoat Germans, so I thought I would give it a try.

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Team Yankee: SA-13 Gopher Tips and Tricks #4

Greetings and salutations! This time we're going to talk about Battlefront's SA-13 Gopher SAM Platoon boxed set (TSBX06) for Team Yankee . This continues the series on Team Yankee Soviet vehicles and is a little bit of a review but mostly me sharing my thoughts and tricks and tips on this model.

Bottomline up front...Battlefront has another great metal and resin kit here.

- Flash on the Tracks, missile pods and pedestal.

Lots of flash in between the road wheels

The flash on the tracks can be cleaned up very easily, and there was a good amount between the road wheels. The missile pods had just a couple of flash whiskers in the corners that trim off easily. The pedestals all had a little extra "nub" of resin on the bottom.  It was bad enough that it had to be removed on all the pedestals because they would not sit even on the hull. I had to get the Dremel out for that task. Word to the wise, you need to wear a mask any time you sand resin like that.

- Missile Pod Placement. This was fairly easy.  Just dry fit first and make sure you have the pods even

Build Plan. These are the old school resin style. Mount the pods to the pedestal and the tracks to the side of the hull and you are done!

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Lists we Play - British Armored Cars

When I first began to play this game five years ago, I was faced with the same choice many of us were. Which nationality to choose?  I signed up with the Brits.  No one else in the club had done it yet and they looked like quirky underdogs, so I began to amass the basic models. Shermans, Cromwells, an Infantry box. Then one day,  while leafing through "Hell's Highway" (The old paperback before it became part of the "Market Garden" Compilation) I came across an armored car company.  The 2nd Household Cavalry or the 2HHC for short. They looked adorable....

I mean look at them?!

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Able Kompanie's Crossing the Rhine Tournament Report

Able Kompanie held a LW 1625pt. "Crossing the Rhine" Tournament at Sinclair Games in Carmel, Indiana on Saturday June 25, 2016.  Generally we like to run themed Tournaments and felt that limiting the event to Market Garden, Bridge by Bridge, Nachtjager and Bridge at Remagen might bring out some interesting lists we had not seen in a tournament setting.  We ended up with 6 Allied and 6 Axis Players.  No one brought a list from Nachtjager but we did have a good variety of lists from the other books.  The Germans tended to favor lists from Bridge by Bridge while the Americans chose Remagen and the British chose Market Garden.  Sinclair Games has two different gaming areas in addition to a well stocked store so our tables were split between the two spaces.  Several players brought terrain to augment the store's stock.

 The Upstairs Room

The Back Room

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Bolt Action - AAR: Russian vs Germans

Bryan recently traveled up to the frozen north to play Bolt Action. One night we got in a great game. We themed the game around the fighting near Kiev in 1941, with tenacious Russian defenders trying to halt Army Group South's advance.

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Flames of War - Analysis of Unit Rarity in Flames of War

During the course of World War II, both the technology of warfare and how war was conducted changed greatly. The importance of combined arms - infantry, armor, artillery, and airpower - quickly became obvious to all major powers as the German Blitzkrieg rapidly subjugated much of Europe and spread into North Africa. Rapid technological advances in tanks, aircraft, guns and rockets quickly rendered what had once been cutting edge designs obsolete - necessitating ever more capable weapons.

This technology race, combined with often desperate conditions at the front, resulted in a number of unusual or rare weapons being fielded. In some cases these weapons were expedient conversions of existing vehicles to fill a specific battlefield role. In other cases, prototype or limited production vehicles were committed to the front. Various gaming systems deal with the more unusual weapon systems in different ways, but this article will be primarily focused on how these units are fielded in Flames of War.

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Bolt Action - K47 - Getting some German vehicles ready to roll, or walk, out!

To say that the team at the Bolt Action Alliance are a little excited about the impending release of Konflict 47 (K47) is an understatement. Walkers, jet packs and heavily armoured soldiers fighting against or along side occult figures like Vampires, Zombies and Werewolves just sounds like a great amount of fun. We recognize that it will not be for everyone but we hope that there will be a lot of crossover and it can sit alongside the more traditional game, perhaps even bringing in some new fans to the greater Bolt Action genre.

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Team Yankee: Carnation Tips and Tricks #3

Doom dadoom dada doom doom...Doom...Doom dadoom dada doom doom, sa Son Son SonBae...too cold...too cold

All right stop...

Collaborate and listen.

SonBae is back with a brand new invent...article... I'm back with a brand new article.

Yeah, that's it.  This time we're going ot talk about Battlefront's 2S1 122mm Carnation Battery boxed set (TSBX07) for their Team Yankee version of Flames of War. This will be a little bit of a review and me sharing my thoughts and tricks and tips on this model.

Bottomline up front...This is a great resin kit.  This is a solid resin and metal kit where the turret and hull are resin an dthe main gun barrel and tracks are white metal.

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Guild Ball Video Replay: Butchers vs Fishermen

Good morning Guild Ballers! Steven and Andrew have been hitting the pitch lately, and playing some fantasy sportsball! In this game, Steven captains the Fishermen's Guild while Andrew plays as the Butchers!

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WWPD: LIVE from Historicon 2016

I know some gamers can’t get enough of hearing about the games we play so we have decided to go real time with providing you the latest info to feed your gaming addiction (My name is Mitch and I am an addict).  For years I have been an avid user of Twitter, which I use to keep up with the Washington Capitals.  I discovered that while at a Caps game Twitter keeps me informed of the things that the TV and radio folks hear as the watch; I like to know why a player went back to the locker room, why a certain penalty was called, and of course to tell the fans from other teams how much they suck. So much like how I use Twitter to keep informed of things in real time, we plan to keep you informed of what we are doing.  Also, 144 characters is a lot easier to read than some of my long and boring articles.  Plus, via Twitter you can shout back at us as well.  I would love to field some questions from you to talk about during our podcasts.

So with all this said I will be live tweeting from Historicon next week.  I will post on games (only if I did well), the great models I see, the stuff I want to buy, and even some great gamers I will get to hang out with.

We have several Twitter accounts you can follow.  We regularly tweet updates and give sneak peaks for WWPD Events, announcements and articles.
@MitchWWPD 
@WWPDLuke
@SJMacLauchlan
@WWPDWhyWeFight
@WWPDPodcast

If Twitter is not your thing, we have two pages you can follow and a great Flames of War group.

The WWPD Network
WWPD: Why We Fight
Flames of War:  Officially Unofficial

We update the pages daily and the Flames of War group is open to all comments on all aspects of FOW, from any manufacturer as long as the topic is Flames related.

Here's an excerpt from the Flames of War website on some other events we are hosting at Historicon.

Flames Of War Events at Historicon July 14 - 17 2016 WWPD.net is proud to be hosting two great games at Historicon this year in the Flames Of War tournament area.

The first will be a Pacific-themed game and the second will be a Team Yankee mega battle with both being played on a 4x12 table. Battlefront are providing prizes for everyone participating. Because of the  exclusivity of these events, you will not be able to sign up online and will only be able to register for the  games at the convention itself.

Peleliu Bloody Nose Ridge

The 1st Marines are pushing hard for Bloody Nose Ridge, but the Japanese under General Nakagawa are not giving up anytime soon. This will be a close infantry fight with all the Pacific War tactical problems, Banzai attacks, caves and bad attitudes. Kids allowed with playing adult.  A familiarity with the Flames  Of War rule system is encouraged, but not required. 10am Friday 15 July 6 Players 3 Hours

Stem the Red Tide

World War III has begun with the Soviets advancing though West Germany. The NATO border forces have been over run and reinforcements are racing towards the front to stop the Soviets before they can completely break through to Frankfurt. This will be a mega battle featuring the Team Yankee rules. Armor  and infantry commands will battle to secure three major objectives on a 4x12 table while being harried  by air assets.  Will the Soviets advanced elements be able to secure a route to Frankfurt or will the  Americans task force be able to hold the line against the Red Horde? Basic knowledge of Flames Of War or the Team Yankee rules system is encouraged. If the game finishes in a timely manner we will be happy to set the game up again for a second battle. 5pm Friday 15 July 8 Players 3 Hours

Do not forget that we will also be broadcasting the WWPD News From the Front Podcast LIVE on Saturday at 7:30pm.  Join Steve, Jon and Luke for normal podcast shenanigans recapping their adventures at the convention.  We have a large amount of give a ways and prize support for everyone attending.  This is our way to thank you to all of you out there who have continued to listen to us over the years and we hope you will join us for some great discussions and a few laughs along the way.

After the podcast we have a large gaming session.  We have board, table top and card games open to all.  This is by far the most fun we have at any show.  We get the opportunity to hang out and game with all of you.

Luke will also keep you informed of his experiences at Historicon; I think the fact he is playing in the doubles tournament with his son for the first time, you may also get some great parenting tips from him as well as how his games are going.

I look forward to tweeting to you next week, and if you are at Historicon please come over and say hello.

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Looking Forward to Historicon 2016

By Mitch Reed

Summer brings the heat, humidity and mosquitoes here in Northern Virginia, and along with this comes one of the biggest conventions of the year.  Historicon is put on by the folks at the Historical Miniatures Gaming Society and takes place  this year on 14-17 July.  Hosted at the Fredericksburg Expo & Convention Center in Fredericksburg Virginia, Historicon is one of the largest gaming events in the country.  I have been going to the event since it moved down from Pennsylvania a few years ago, and it is something I look forward to all year.  This year the theme is “Cavalry - Mounted Warfare through the Ages” which does not mean for us in the Flames of War community that we can only play with Recce lists.

For the FoW crowd, Historicon is a “must do” event; each year the convention hosts many tournaments or pickup games during its 4 day span.   The biggest FoW event at Historicon is the annual National Tournament hosted by Battlefront.  This two day (Friday-Saturday), six game event takes place in one of the three major FoW eras, and the 2016 Nationals is a 1420 point Late War competition.  I have not played in this tournament in 3 years due to my commitment to coach rugby, however I can tell you how exhausting and fun the Flames of War Nationals are.  Battlefront hosts 4 of these events a year, with the venues rotating eras and one event held in Canada.  It does bring out the best players in the country and is a true test of your mastery of the game.   Even playing in the Mid-Atlantic area where we are flooded with events, this event always stands out.  It’s a great way to meet FoW players from other parts of the country; I still stay in contact with the Pittsburg, Raleigh, and Canadian players I have met via this event.  I would also recommend this event for new players, while it will suck to lose a majority of your games, it is a great way to learn the game through a fire hose.

So we drove all the way down from Philly and forgot the dice??

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FoW Battle Report: HG Assault Guns vs US 9th Armored 1/5

Hello Everybody, here is another article by Sexy Sixes!

As promised earlier, today I will cover the battles I fought last weekend using HG Assault Gun Battery from Flames of War Digital. The tournament format was the standard 1420 Late War, so no big surprises here. We played 5 battles in total: 2x Mobile, 2x Defensive and 1x Fair Fight (determined randomly before each round + scenarios could only be played once). My list was:

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Star Wars X-Wing Progression Series: Mission 3 and 4.

Continuing on from our previous post, Easy and I continue to play through the X-Wing published missions. Submitted for your approval, missions 3 (Dark Whispers) and 4 (Den of Thieves).

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