Tighten Down Those Turrets!

By Tom Burgess

Nobody likes loose turrets!

I've recently embarked on a new project, a very large Soviet Tank Battalion for Team Yankee.  Fortunately for me, most of the over 50 vehicles I will be building are available from Battlefront Miniatures in plastic. Though I'm happy to work with plastics, my new T-72s and BMPs have a little problem that I have not had with other Battlefront Plastic Miniatures so far. That problem is loose turrets.

Unfortunately, the T-72 and BMP plastic boxed box sets do not come with magnets. They have the spaces  where you can insert magnets if you want to add them, but they only come with plastic "pegs" that you can glue in their place to attach the turret to the hull. This has not been a problem with previous plastic Battlefront tank models I have built. Normally the peg fits into the hull snugly and will hold the turret in place with enough friction while still allowing the turret to rotate when pushed.



My new plastic BMP and T-72s however have very lose turrets.  This is big problem with the T-72 whose'  very long barrel has enough weight to swing the turret on its own with normal game handling. We can't have that!

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Why We Fight Ep. 12: Version 4 Deconstructed Pt. 3

             In this episode of Why We Fight, we jump right into more rules from version 4. In this short two act only episode we start off by going over the new rules and changes for National Special Rules. In Act II, we talk about Missions and share our thoughts about each of them. Be sure to check out this bite sized episode for more version 4 goodness!

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Bolt Action - Bringing Garbage Back To Life: Resurrecting A Mauled Panther

Many of us have a cupboard or two of old half finished projects that we hope will someday see the light of day and finish. We may have even taken some of those unloved models and used them to test wild colour schemes or experiment with new weathering or painting techniques. I recently ran into one of these models. 

Last year, a friend of mine had to leave Melbourne to return to his beautiful French homeland. When he went, he had to leave a good chunk of his hobby collection behind. This included a beaten, broken plastic Panther. I saw this unloved little beast and decided that I would see if I could bring it back from the dead. Here is the tale of its resurrection.

This is what it looked like when I started.

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Behind Enemy Lines Episode 32

Download the episode here

It was a warm and balmy night when Dan and Greg sat down to record a show. Damo was missing but we still had to have a go. There was news to be updated and stories to be told. A new show was needed for friends still in the fold.

This was the episode that we recorded before the holidays and in it we have a bit of a chat about Flames of War v4.0, we ask Santa for some really cool stuff and just have a good old chin-wag.

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

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Intensify Forward Firepower XXVII

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The FSD is entertained by a traveling flautist, as the boys talk about they're recent Armada experiences. Steven talks about the Corellian Conflict, while Dano, Drunktarkin, and the Doctor discuss their recent Regionals attendance.

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

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On the Road Episode 4

Recorded 10 December 2016

In this episode the guys go to the Game Vault in Fredericksburg Virginia  to play in a Battle of the Bulge themed Flames of War tournament.

Once again we talk to the gamers who showed up and were able to finally meet up with fellow WWPD contributor Tom Burgess who sat down with the guys. 

Sean and Mitch talk about Flames of War and Team Yankee with the crowd, discuss Napoleonic's with the most passionate gamer ever, and get a behind the scenes exclusive of the very competitive Best residence when they sit down and talk to Jim Best Junior and Senior.

Contact us at
WWPDMitch@gmail.com
Twitter @MitchWWPD

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Star Wars Armada: Dodonna's Raid

Part of our 2nd run of the Corellian Conflict

The holodisplay sputtered then came to life. General Jan Dodonna blinked twice, before processing what he saw. The hyperlane near Raider’s Pointe was supposed to be filled with Imperial freighters and independent merchant ships fat with supplies and raw resources. Instead, he saw a combat fleet lying in wait. Was it a trap? Bad luck? He didn’t have time to consider the possibilities before a young lieutenant turned to him:

“Sir? What are your orders?” the woman, no older than 20, was calm, but a slight tremor in her voice betrayed the fear she suppressed.

Jan thought for one moment. He knew his Strike Force was ready. He surveyed the enemy fleet: an aging Victory class Star Destroyer, and a handful of cruisers and corvettes. They were spilling forth fighters now, but they didn’t concern him. Captain Ors had assembled the fighter wing, and organized it into two groups. The X-wing escorts under the leadership of Biggs Darklighter, and the bomber group under Norra Wexley. He knew they could best the Imperial fighters given the chance, and his own ships were more than a match for the Imperial vessels, likely doomed to endless patrols. Aging equipment and bored, un-motivated crews. Jan liked his odds. He leaned forward and thumbed a button on his console.

Y-Wing

“Squadron leaders report in.” His voice echoed through his command ship. Responses came swiftly but calmly.

“Blue Squadron, standing by”, Biggs was the first to respond.

“Green Squadron, ready”, Norra barely contained her excitement.

“Lock S-Foils in attack positions”, now Jan Ors spoke, her command sounding more like a victory declaration than an order.

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Bolt Action - The Hungarian Army Expands!

I have been collecting Hungarian forces for Bolt Action for over three years now and seem to be constantly adding new units. It's been two years since I last wrote about how this army project was going so prepare for a big update! The collection now covers both early and late war units.

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Unboxing the Volks Armee

Part of bringing you the Preview of a new book is writing about the toys that come with it. For the Volks-Armee book, Battlefront is releasing 6 new boxes and one blister of NVA goodies that I was fortunate to get my hands on. I also was able to get a copy of the new book and I picked up some of those very cool NVA tokens and decals as well. In my last article I detailed a fight between my Iron Maiden army and a T-72M list from VA. As I look to playing in my first real Team-Yankee tournament in February, I think the NVA will be the guys I pick to battle with.

The Book
I hate to start off with an excuse, however when we preview a book it is always a PDF draft and may differ from what comes out in the final version. This was true in VA where the final draft of the book does not have the Basic Stabilizer on the T-55AM2, so no +2 when you move and shoot, it’s just a +1 for being Slow Firing. I first saw the book at a tournament in December, and even now I am so impressed with the front cover and I think it may be the new wallpaper for my laptop. So you will just have to excuse me for giving you a false alarm about the T-55AM2.

The book comes with all of the “conversion cards” for previously released models that are used in VA. So you get cards for a T-72M force, and unit stat cards for the T-72M, BMP-1, BMP-1 Scout and OP, Shilka, Gopher, Carnation, Hind, Raktenwerer, and Hind. Let me tell you how much I like this and I think it opens up a lot of flexibility for Battlefront. Once the product lines are put in place for commonly used equipment, it makes adding other nations that much easier since they can come out with the book and the cards. So we may see Poles, Romanians, and Hungary one day in TY. Same can be done for a lot of the smaller NATO nations as well taking into account the lines put out for TY, Vietnam, and Fate of a Nation. I think this strategy grows the game’s appeal and of course will sell more models with those of us with OCD.

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Star Wars Armada: Wave V Sensor Net Moff Jerjerrod vs General Rieekan

Another Armada battle report for your consideration today!

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AAR: Iron Maiden Vs Volks-Armee

As the clock was running out for 2016 I was anxious to get my newest army on the table in force. I think I flooded all of you with how much I liked building my British force for Team-Yankee and I could not wait to get a full 100 point force on the table. In the time since I finished my Chieftain force I also was able to review Volks-Armee and in an effort to kill two birds with one stone, I was able to play my British force against the yet to be released East German’s. Let me get one fact straight before I proceed; I do not have any of the new models for Volks-Armee, so those hoping to see the new models can stop reading now.  What I did do was proxy the NVA force with the Soviets I have in my collection. Well even the term proxy is not quite fitting here since the list I built used the same T-72 and BMP-1 models I have in my collection, in fact the only real models I substituted was using my Soviet infantry for East German Mot-Schutzen.

 

So with two days left to go in the year, Throck, Ben (from Team Bro-Go) headed up to Glen Burnie Maryland to meet our gaming buddy Kato, who also wanted to get his West German’s on a table before the year ended. We love going to Games and Stuff in Maryland, it’s such a well-stocked store with an excellent staff that I always end up spending a few bucks in.

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The Tanks of Volks-Armee

The new Volks-Armee book from Battlefront features one of the most iconic tanks of the Cold War era, the T-55. The T-55AM2 featured in VA has been vastly upgraded since the original model rolled off the assembly line in 1958, and features many upgrades that enhanced the protection and fire power of this mass produced tank.  In VA, players are given the option to field a ton of T-55AM2 tanks, which would be fun to play and is historically accurate. The other MBT featured in VA is the T-72M, which was the export only version of the T-72 and did not have all of the same features of the T-72 used by the Soviets during the 1980’s. Used separately or in tandem, these two tanks used in mass can give your opponent more targets than they can handle on a single turn and if played right can lead to certain victory.

T-55
The T-55 was born out of the T-54 program and is one of the most mass produced tanks in the post WWII period. Like many Soviet designs, the T-54/55 program did not feature a tank build from the ground up, instead it took many design features of tanks used during WWII. Thought its service life the T-55 featured the D-10T 100 mm rifled gun which when it first came out was a feared weapon, however as other MBTs were produced with better protection (and better guns) the effectiveness of the D-10T fell behind any enemy tank the T-55 would have to face.

While the gun remained the same, the tank received numerous upgrades in other areas. By the mid 1980’s the T-AM version was the standard MBT of most of the Warsaw Pact nations and featured the Volna fire control system, stabilizers, laser range finders, a more powerful engine, and smoke dischargers. Perhaps the biggest upgrades went into protection, with BDD armor applied to the tanks turret, as well as many other features that would protect the tank and its crew. The actual version used in VA is the AM2, which was produced under license in Czechoslovakia and sold all over the world. In fact the T-55 has seen combat in the Middle East and Africa, and even today is used by many nations. The tank was simple to operate and maintain and had a low profile so a nervous crew could hide better if the situation called for it.

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Why We Fight Ep 11: Version 4 Deconstructed Pt. 2

            We hope that everyone had a great New Years and hope everyone is refreshed and ready to continue to dive into version 4. For Act 1, we have a quick tournament recap from the guys. Act 2, is all about shooting in version 4 and we cover a lot! We finish out strong by covering assaults in Act 3! Ring in the new year with another version 4 filled episode!

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Video: Frostgrave First Game!

Dirty Jon was kind enough to schlep all of his Frostgrave terrain and minis over to the Maclowchodome and we recorded the action!

We probably missed a ton of rules, but we had a good time!

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The LRDG II Podcast: Episode 10

The LRDG II Podcast: Episode 10

Like the Kardashians, Old Man Morin appears to have survived the calamities of 2016, which means only one thing... More LRDG II content in the new year! Brad is back with our tenth episode along with two sets of guests to kick off another season of podcasting madness.

In segment one, Sam from The Down Order Podcast helps Brad shake off the cobwebs of not having cast for a while and the guys talk the state of Bolt Action now that version two has been out for a while now. They also generally discuss the "new" Armies of Germany book and discuss a few units not discussed in other places. 

It is that time of year again, the run up to Cancon, Australia's largest Bolt Action event. Though Brad is not attending, he talks with hobby god's Steven Drury and Andrew Brownrigg about how they are preparing for this huge event. They also discuss K'47 in the world post BA V2 and discuss how they are preparing their forces for the Cancon Konflikt'47 event.

Please check out the episode and let us know what you think, for good or for worse, on The LRDG Podcast Facebook page. We do love and appreciate the feedback!

Please find this episode in the iTunes store or download it directly HERE.

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The Volks-Armee, The Other NVA

With the upcoming release of Volks-Armee from Battlefront, I thought it would be a good idea to give players a brief history of East German military and the weapons they used. The formation of the National Volks Army (NVA) took a different path than many of the other nations in Eastern Europe who found themselves in the Warsaw Pact. First of all the creation of two separate German nations was not something that was planned prior to end of the war. The plan was to carve Germany up into zones of occupation under the Allies and the Soviet Union after World War Two, with the thought that one day the entire nation would revert to self-rule.

Obviously this never happened because the two sides could not agree on very much and in 1949, the Soviet Union turned over their occupation zone to the German Communist Party and they formed the German Democratic Republic (DDR in German). I think the term “turned over” is applied very liberally here since not only did the Soviet troops stay in the DDR, very little went on in East Germany without the approval of Moscow.

The DDR geographically composed of what was agreed to during the Potsdam conference of 1945, with the eastern most parts of Germany and East Prussia being given to Poland and the remaining territory being east of the Oder–Neisse line to the new Polish border. The German capital of Berlin was also similarly split between the Allies and Soviets in 1945 and in 1949 the City of East Berlin became the capital of the DDR.

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That's All Volks-Armee

Out of all the Team Yankee releases, the one that would give us the forces of East Germany was the one I was most curious about. I have some ties to the former DDR, when I was 4 my Grandfather - who lived in West Berlin, and worked in East Germany - took me across Checkpoint Charlie. The East German border guards were very nice to him, not only did they see him every day, but they all knew that their officers school was named after his Aunt. More recently this interest has been piqued by the Hulu series Deutschland ’83, which takes place during the height of the Cold War and it’s a series I recommend to everyone. So after a year since its initial release,Team Yankee has only one “Red” force, which are the Soviets from the first book. When I play the game I like Red vs Blue fights so we needed another force for some variety. I know from reading the posts on many forums that many players were eagerly awaiting this new release.

First of all the cover of Volks-Armee is one of the neatest in the series. It is true porn for those who love the T-55 and the HIND.

Inside the book, which is about 33 pages in length, we are introduced to the DDRs 9th Panzer Division. Like the other books in the series, a back story of that unit is given and their fight when the cold war went hot. I do not know how they plan to release this, since VA is a bit slimmer than other releases and has no scenarios, or at least the version provided for my review.

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Star Wars Imperial Assault Core Set Mercenaries Painted

 Just a quick post today! The Imperial Assault core set doesn't have too many Mercenary figures: Just 2 Nexu and 2 sets of Trandoshan Hunters.

Foul bounty hunters!

Chompin'

Sorry for the short post! More painted IA stuff to come soon.

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Star Wars Imperial Assault Core Set Heroes

Following up from the Core Set Imperials post, here are the core set Heroes! I painted the heroes after the Imps, and because they were all so unique, I spent a bit more time on making them come out okay. I'm pretty happy with the end results!

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Bolt Action - Ghost Army Podcast Episode 21

Ghost Army Podcast: Episode 21

Patch gets up at the crack of dawn to talk with Casey and Seamus about what they've been up to and how they combat the dreaded..... Tiger Fear!


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

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Star Wars Imperial Assault Painting: Core Set Imperials

A few months back I gave Imperial Assault a second shot thanks to the Descent app (and subsequent announcement of one coming for Imperial Assault as well). I decided I wanted to have everything painted and ready for when the app drops!

Here are pictures of the very first Imperial Assault models I painted. At the time I decided to paint them as fast as I could- I've since spent more time on models, so as I post more hopefully the quality will improve.

Presented here are the core set figures for the Empire: 3 groups of 3 Stormtroopers, 3 Imperial Officers, 3 Probe Droids, 2 groups of 2 Royal Guards, 2 e-Web engineers, and the man himelf- Darth Vader.

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Star Wars Armada Wave V Video Batrep: Salvage Run

Steven and Jeff get in the first streamed games of the year! In this installment Steven pushes the Rebels led by the brand new Pelta Command Cruiser. Jeff commands Darth Vader aboard his aggressive Imperial Star Destroyer backed up by some smaller support ships including the new Arquitens class Light Cruiser.

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Bolt Action - Review: Rubicon Model's Sdkfz 250/1 Alte kit

Sometime ago I got my hands on one of Rubicon Models new Sdkfz 250/1 kit but due to starting a new job and other commitments, I'd been too bogged down to get the time to throw it together. Well no more excuses! Over the weekend I finally managed to put together this great little kit and decided to share with you my experience and boy, what an experience it was!

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