STRIPES - Making New Lists from Team Yankee's Newest Book

As a mostly West German player up until now, I haven't been tempted by other armies.  It took me 6 months to paint the one I currently have.  But looking over at the new previews for Stripes has me considering my options.  I still want to work on a Soviet or Warsaw Pact Force eventually, but the Americans were not on my radar.  This was mostly because it appeared that they wouldn't be as competitive as their other NATO allies.  This book changes that, and gives the kind of tactical flexibility I would want in a force.  I will be making some lists out of the new kit, and let you know what I would want to be playing when the book comes out.

I apologize for the quality of the pictures, getting selected PDF copies of the pages proved a titanic pain.  I resorted to the phone.  I'll have it figured out next time.

1. US Airborne - with Sheridan
2. A Patton Company (marines)
3. Armored Cavalry Troop

For the sake of this tournament season, I'll make all my lists at 64 points, since that will be what a lot of North American places use.  I think its a good amount,

List #1 - 82nd Airborne

 UH - 1 Huey Infantry Combat Team

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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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Leopard Arrives to Adrenalize Team Yankee

 By Mitch Reed and Luke Melia
 The good people over at Battlefront supplied us with an advanced copy of the first follow on module for Team Yankee. Leopard: The West German’s in World War III expands the NATO faction by introducing us to the host of the conflict. The 48-page softcover book, written by Wayne Turner, has all the information a player will need to run a Bundeswehr list; and also has a painting guide, new scenarios, and a back story that gives the player some context on West Germany’s military after WWII and their expected role in the event of a Warsaw Pact invasion.

Mitch has composed the majority of this article. I have inserted comments, review notes and opinions in italics to differentiate between us.  -Luke

"Armageddon It"

When making a game about a fight that never took place it is important that the designers give the player some idea about the environment that these forces will fight in. This background is explained in detail at the beginning of the book and explains the growth of the post war German Military and how it played a key role in the NATO alliance. Having the largest ground force in NATO and knowing that the next war would be fought on their land it, the role of the Bundeswehr cannot be overstated and including them made an excellent selection (if not the obvious choice) for the first module to follow on the initial Team Yankee Game.

OOB For KG Muller

The contextual back story leads to the introduction of Kampfgruppe Muller, which is a part of the 1^st Panzer Division, 2^nd Panzer Brigade that battles the Soviets in northern Germany. The WWIII fight of KG Muller is what the book’s lists and scenarios are based upon.

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Osprey Books - Finland at War Vol 1 - A Review

By Old Man Morin

Many of us in the wargaming world, particularly those of us who come from fantasy or sci-fi based
games systems, rely heavily on background material, or 'fluff' to inspire our choice of armies and units. When I started playing Bolt Action I discovered a new world, rich with information about units and battles within what some consider to be a "short" war. 'The Armies of...' and the Bolt Action Theatre books provide a glimpse into these conflicts and the forces that fought in them but because of their length and purpose, this information is condensed down to brief overviews. Now there is quite a lot of information online and there are literally thousands of books and biographies about this global conflict and to be honest the sheer volume of text can be daunting. To focus my searches I have been researching things that I find interesting when reading Bolt Action books. Not the most holistic view of the war but it is a starting point (and I have been at it for close to 4 years now). Now Osprey publishing puts out vast numbers of short, soft cover books covering everything from specific units and battles to technology and tactics. These are great resources and I am sure I will discuss them again in an article soon. Today though, I want to talk about something else. Their 'Finland at War' series.

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Review of Nachjager (Digital)

By Mitch Reed

When I did my first article on Nachtjager I promised you a review of the digital only content after it was released. In two’s and three’s over a six week period, the digital only lists for Nachtjager appeared on Forces of War (Forces) and Flames of War Digital (FOW-D) and I checked them out as the dropped.

Billed as a release of 14 lists, the total really comes to 16, since you can field two types (veteran or ersatz) Fallshirmjäger or (British or Canadian) Parachute companies.

The lists:

• German Grenadierkompanie
• German Ausbuldungskompanie
• German Fallshirmjägerkompanie (Veteran and Ersatz)
• British Commando
• British SAS Squadron
• British Motor Company
• British Lorried Rifle Company
• U.S. Parachute Rifle Company
• U.S. Glider Rifle Company
• British Airborne Armoured Recce Squadron
• British Parachute Company (British and Canadian)
• British Airlanding Company
• British Armoured Car Squadron
• British Guards Tank Squadron

 This is an impressive list, even more so when you realize that the Nachtjager book only had six lists.

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Berlin Part Two: The Soviets!

See Part One for our introduction and coverage of the Germans!

Special Rules
Heroes of the Soviet Union
As in desperate measures the “Heros of the Soviet Union” have the same rules representing  battle worn and experienced troops who have seen combat and learned a thing or two.   The following units get these special rules

Luckier
When a CiC or 2iC Warrior team is destroyed, your opponent must roll a 5+ instead of 4+ up to eliminate the leader.

Smarter
Hero companies pass skill tests on 3+ instead of 4+ - this goes for bombarding artillery as well.

Sharper
Hero companies do not use Hen and Chicks……..(Massive win!!!) death to hated Hen and chicks!

Smoke Pots
During an Assault, a platoon with these can make any number of teams non-assaulting teams and makes skill check.  If any team passes this check, the assaulting platoon (company) is considered Concealed.

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REVIEW: Colors of War

By Sean "Throckmorton" Sarah

I am a painting nerd. If you've followed my blog posts on here over time you'll notice they're mostly of a painting related ilk. It's my favorite part of the hobby so it's also the part I take most seriously. That... And I'm perpetually bad at rules, so might as well focus on what I know, ya know?

Thus, Battlefront's new Colors of War book had me SUPER JAZZED(tm). 

All the painting guides in one place so I don't have to look through a billion books just to find out how pea dot camo is painted? Yes please. 

And, at first look, this is a pretty great resource for both the beginning and advanced World War II hobbyist out there. 

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Bolt Action - Review: The Condor Legion by Osprey Publishing

Osprey already has an amazing reputation, so when I received a trilogy of Osprey books about the Spanish Civil War I was very excited. The three books I have in my hot little hands are ‘The Spanish Civil War’, The International Brigades’ and finally ‘The Condor Legion’. In this review I will concentrate on The Condor Legion as this is what drew me towards this period in history.

Written by Carols Caballero Jurado and Illustrated by Ramiro Bujeiro

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Bolt Action - Review: Skirmish Campaigns – Normandy ’44 – First Hours

I’ve heard a few people talk about Skirmish Campaigns and their line of products in a positive light and it really caught my attention.  The concept is that Skirmish Campaigns researches historic battles and provides scenarios that can be played individually or as part of a campaign to recreate historic fight.  What game system?  It’s a generic system that was created to make easy to fit into many game systems, including Bolt Action.  It’s fairly easy to translate into Bolt Action and the owners of the company do play the game.  There is a downloadable document on their website that translates the rules into our game system.



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Bolt Action - Review: Combat - Barbarossa 1941 - German Infantryman Versus Soviet Rifleman

Today I had the pleasure of reading through Osprey Publishing's latest entry into its Combat series of books.

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Bolt Action - Review: Tank War

Tank War is here, BARbarians! For your previewing pleasure!

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Bolt Action - Review: Soviet Submachine Guns of World War II

I recently had the opportunity to read through Osprey's new title on Soviet SMGs in the second World War.

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Bolt Action - Painting War - Season 1, Issue #1 - WWII German Army

by Patch

After seeing a bit of positive chatter around the various forums about this magazine, I decided to take the plunge and order it online. The magazine is the first in a new series dedicated to painting miniatures and in this issue Ruben Torregrosa "Heresybrush" takes the reader through step by steps on how to recreate WW2 German infantry in both 28mm and 15mm.

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Book Review: Deep Wars

Deep Wars is a 28mm alternative Fantasy/Steampunk game from Antimatter Games based around underwater combat. I picked up the rulebook at NOVA, and scored two starter boxes at rock bottom prices at Fall-In. Today we're going to take a look at the rulebook.

The rulebook clocks in at 159 pages, softcover, full color. The paper is fairly thin and cheap, almost like a soft newspaper style. It retails for $30.

 It's pretty much all rules. There are only about 18 pages of fluff. Roughly 30 pages of army lists and units.

As for the rules of the game, they are based on the Song of Blades and Heroes ruleset. One of the highlights of Song of Blades and Heroes, if you're not familiar with the rules, is a risk management system for activations. You choose between one and three dice to roll to activate a model, and make skill test. Depending on the ratio of successes to failures you get, the model could activate multiple times, or not activate at all and end the turn!

They also add in lots of rules to help fit the underwater theme. Line of sight, visibility, and even sanity are affected by how deep you are in the water and how much light there is. If you have a model with no light source (such as a dive lantern) attempting to activate in the deep abyss, it might not even know which direction to go!

Who doesn't want a pimp diving suit like this?

(A cunning player might make use of light tactics offensively, too!)

The book includes both standard missions, such as submarine boarding actions, and a multiple game campaign system in the style of Necromunda, where you can keep track of experience and level your guys up.

 Here's a few shots from the army list section. Armies look to consist of only a handful of figures - smaller than Warmachine army scale.

Deep Wars also includes one of my favorite mechanics - the ability to create your own armies and units! And this is a very fleshed out points matrix system spanning several pages, allowing you to make whatever kind of army you want out of whatever figures you can find.

I've yet to get a game in of Deep Wars, but just recently started working on my figures. Expect to see some batreps once they're done, and we might even try a game or two inside a fish tank!

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Bolt Action - Review: Dark Osprey Book 1

I not-so-recently received a copy of The Nazi Occult from my friends over at Osprey Publishing and couldn't resist but check it out. I mean, look at this cover:

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Bolt Action - Review: Armies of Italy and the Axis

It's finally here BARbarians!

New!

Armies of Italy and the Axis! And I can't wait to talk about it!

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Bolt Action - Review: Armies of France and the Allies

Here it is, folks. Fresh off the printers, and sold into the greedy hands of Historicon goers. The Armies of France and the Allies book for Bolt Action!

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Bolt Action - Review: Armies of Imperial Japan

Is it a tribute to the people involved in making these books, or indicative of a real gaming sickness/obsession that makes we want to start a new platoon every time they release a new "Armies of"?

I present to you, Armies of Imperial Japan.

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Bolt Action - Review: Armies of the Soviet Union

The Armies of Great Britain book was still fresh in my mind, when out of the blue this little surprise showed up on the doorstep:

In Mother Russia, we send our preview copies early!

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Bolt Action - Review: Armies of Great Britain

I've been waiting for Warlord Games and Osprey Publishing's latest army book, Arrmies of Great Britain for a long time.

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