Bolt Action - Reviewing The Volley Fire Painting Service

Ever been too busy to find the time to paint? Ever had more models than you could ever get done in your lifetime? Ever know that you really want to take a specific army to a specific event and you know there is no way you can get things done on time? I definitely have been in all of those situations. I am notoriously time poor but love to try new armies and tactics. This drive to innovate keeps things fresh and interesting and drives my "hobby."

Thankfully, for me, there are extremely talented people in the world who are faster painters and who, for a fee, will help me finish my army projects. One of these painters is Andy Singleton and I recently commissioned him to paint a German force for my upcoming Bolt Action World Series Event.

The results of his work are stunning!

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Bolt Action - The Ins And Outs Of Commission Painting

I, Old Man Morin, have been wargaming for a scarily long period time. It is getting close to three decades at this point. In that time I have discovered a few truths about my hobby, one of which is that I am a painfully slow painter and that my short attention span requires constant stimulation to stay focussed on a given project. This makes painting entire armies very difficult. It took me close to two years of steady work to paint my Late War German army for Bolt Action for example. For someone who loves to play with painted forces this is very problematic. This has led me, over the years, to turn to commission painting as a way of getting boots on the table. Today, I am going to discuss a few things to consider before treading this path.

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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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Good Riddance 2016; Hello 2017: The Year in Gaming

Every year I try to write an article that summarizes the passing year and share what I am most excited about for the upcoming one. Let’s be honest here, 2016 was a crazy year! A year ago did anyone think that we would end up with Trump for president? Or have the Cubs win the World Series? Would I after a 16 month hiatus resume paining again? Despite the turbulent year, it was yet another great year for the gaming community and 2017 looks to continue that trend. Over the last few years the gaming industry has a seen a boom as far as leveraging multiple platforms, broadening its appeal by expanding the span of topics in which we could play, and the explosion of card based games; all of these factors really point to the fact that we are in the “golden age of gaming”.

The Industry
In 2016 the value of the video games market alone is $99 Billion dollars worldwide with it expected to grow to about $130 Billion by 2019. This boom can be attributed to the growth of app based games.  Who didn’t almost run someone over while playing Pokémon Go this year? The popularity of board games has also dramatically risen  over the last few years and as more interesting titles hit the shelves this will continue to grow. Card based games such as Magic, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and Pokémon are attracting many young players to gaming and we can see the effect when 30-50 tweens jam into our local gaming stores and prevent us from getting a table. Historical based gamers have also seen a boom, this year Bolt Action came out with a second version, Battlefront’s Team-Yankee grew and has attracted many new players to the hobby. Of course the games tied to movies did well, Fantasy Flight’s Star Wars X-Wing had many new releases that were tied to the very popular Force Awakens movie.

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Going Deep; Building a Commonwealth Lists from the Bulge

By Mitch Reed

With the addition of the Commonwealth in Battlefront's upcoming Battle of the Bulge  I wanted to take a deeper look at the lists provided in the book and select two that I may play in a Bulge themed tournament.  My first army in Flames of War was the Canadians, I even painted them with the “greener” battledress and when I expanded my collection to play other commonwealth lists I made the choice to but new figures and paint their battledress brown, so I guess you can say I am dedicated.  This expanded even further when I collected an entire airborne army, and even more when built and painted an entire force just for the Mediterranean in Mid-War.  I must have about 15 Churchill tanks, and even more Cromwell’s and I always look for great lists in which to get these forces on the table.
For this article I plan to use a 1500 point total, and only select forces in which I have models.  I will try to pick a list that is both fun to play and somewhat competitive.  I know a lot of folks feel there is a “science” into picking a list, perhaps there is, however I am going to pick something I would bring to the table, not necessarily for a tournament.

7th Armoured Division: The Desert Rats

I have played the Desert Rats in the past; I liked the Reluctant/Veteran list from the Overlord book.  In this list you can put a ton of Cromwell’s on the table and with the “Cautions not Stupid” rule I was able to overcome the low motivation rating at certain times.
This is a pricey list, especially with what I plan to take.

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Preview: Commonwealth forces in the Battle of the Bulge Book

By Mitch Reed

History is usually biased by the nationality of the writer, which is why many Americans do not realize that the British participated in the Battle of the Bulge. After the Allies recovered from the shock of the attack, General Eisenhower gave Field Marshall Montgomery temporary command of all forces north of the German thrust.   To be fair Monty did not do a bad job and held the Germans on his end of the salient.  Problems did arise after the battle where Monty, true to form, took credit for winning the battle.  These claims did not endear the Field Marshall with his American boss and made their relationship deteriorate further.

The developers of Battlefront did their research when creating the new Battle of the Bulge book and much to my pleasure included the forces under Monty that took part in the battle.  I have been playing with Commonwealth lists since I first started playing this game and I am always looking for new lists in which I can use my huge collection of Cromwell tanks in.

The Lucky 7th
I was not disappointed in what the Battle of the Bulge (BoB) had in store for me; the Desert Rats yet again make an appearance in the game.  The last time we saw these guys was in the Overlord book and they were Reluctant/Veteran; however a few months later in the war BoB lets us play them as Confident Veterans.  I like the fact that you can have two Cromwell’s and two Firefly’s in a platoon for 435 points.  You can even upgrade the Firefly’s to Challengers for 20 points each.  Yes it’s pricey, but at 475 points you have a very strong platoon.  Personally I would go for the 3 Cromwell with one Challenger option at 425 points.  It takes some getting used to playing with fast tanks, however a lists that can field a lot Crowell’s is always fun. This list also lets you field Commandos which are sometimes a great option to have.  Other than the commando platoon the list is the standard British lists we have seen before.

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Team Yankee: ZSU23-4 Shilka Tips and Tricks #6

Finally! We have come to the end of this series. I hope this has been enjoyable and informative for you.  We get to wrap this up with a discussion of one of my favorite AAA systems.  A radar controlled quad 23mm machine gun!?!?!?!? Battlefront serves up another Soviet system for their Team Yankee version of Flames of War. Now its time to talk about the ZSU 23-4 Shilka AA Platoon boxed set (TSBX05) where I give a little review and share my thoughts and tricks and tips on this model.

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

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Flames of War Panzers to the Meuse from The Ardennes Offensive

I mentioned how much I liked the Panzers to the Meuse (PTM) lists in my overview of the Ardennes Offensive (AO) previously and I wanted to go over why these lists are so much fun and competitive.  These lists were first released as a PDF, and then again as part of the Devil’s Charge Digital Exclusive and now they find themselves in AO, and I hope that other German players will see how great these lists are.

Much like everything else in the German inventory you are paying premium prices for quality equipment. You will never have a huge force on the table with any PTM list, however you will have an aggressive force that is a blast to play.
The basic lists contained in all the PTM releases are a Panzer Company, a Gepanzerte Panzergrenadier Company, a Gepanzerte Aufklarungs Company, and a Panzergrenadier Company.  However each of these lists can be fielded for the 1nd, 9th, 116th, or Panzer Lehr Divisions that each have their own distinct flavor.  So PTM is really a collection of 16 very unique lists and the options each contain are vastly different.
Another key element of the PTM lists are how some of them are “Always Attacks” and some units get the “Spearhead” special rule.

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The Ardennes Offensive Reviewed and Spoiled

As someone who loves to play with his Panzer’s, I was very excited when I had the opportunity to review “The Ardennes Offensive” the new release from Battlefront that covers the fighting along the German frontier from late 1944 until early 1945.  This book combines the German lists from a few previous releases such as Blood, Guts, and Glory, Devil’s Charge, Nut’s, and some downloadable content that was available from the Flames of War website such as Panzer’s to the Meuse.  In the past I have played a few lists that have come out of these books, and was interested to see what this new release had in store for these older lists as well as what new lists they had to offer. 

The 234 page book features all of the background history of the campaign and the units involved in the fighting; but most of us want to know about this lists.  The Ardennes Offensive (AO) features over 20 core lists, with a few of them having different options depending on what unit you wish to model your force after.  You have a lot to choose from in AO, from top of the line Panzer units featuring the biggest of cats to units that represent the last ditch effort of Germany to stave off defeat.

I plan to review each group of lists to give you better insight as to what this book has for the dedicated Germany player.

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FLAMES OF WAR Bulge Compilation Sneak Peak

By WWPD: Why We Fight.  Eric Lauterbach, Luke Melia & Mitch "The Meta" Reed

We wanted to give you all a sneak peak of the upcoming books from Battlefront; The Ardennes Offensive and The Battle of the Bulge.  We are very excited about this double release and plan on providing you with many in depth reviews on the books themselves and cover topics such as what is new, what is old and what has changed over the next few weeks.  We will also be covering these books in detail on the Why We Fight podcast.

The original books, Nutz, Devils Charge and Blood, Guts and Glory changed Late War play substantially.  The Americans, with new lists, equipment, stats and special rules became a major powerhouse in Flames of War.  Many folks have said that the Americans became overpowered to a degree and we saw tournament play flooded with 7th Armored and 99th Infantry Lists.  The Germans, with the infamous Panzers to the Meuse list, saw auto-attacking Germans in force and as they moved further into Late War more and more heavy German Armor.  When all of these books and lists were released Flames of War was at its most popular point and the excitement surrounding them was electrifying.  These compilation books promise to have the same energizing effect.  There are a number of changes in these books and although some players may not like all of them, I believe they will have a positive effect on the game as a whole.

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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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Team Yankee: BMP Tips and Tricks #2

Its time now to talk about the Boyevaya Mashina Pekhoty aka the BMP.  That lovely little world changing armored vehicle that scared NATO to death when it first came out.  Now sit back and while I share my thoughts and tricks and tips on the BMP models by Battlefront for their Team Yankee version of Flames of War. For Team Yankee you will find this in the BMP Company (TSBX02) which has 5 complete BMPs in either the BMP-1 or BMP-2 configuration.

Bottomline up front...This is another great plastic model kit.  This one is even better than the T72 kit  that I talked about earlier! The beauty of this set is that you can build both configurations from the same box, saving A LOT of money in the process. In the box you get a common hull; a BMP-1 turret and deck; and a BMP-2 turret and deck. The only thing preventing you make both versions at the same time is not having that second hull section. With a little magnetic magic, you can do hull swaps with ease and have the flexibility to run with configuration at your whim.

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Team Yankee: Soviet T72 Tips & Tricks #1

He's BaaaaAAAAaaaack.  Yes, I have returned as was foretold by the sages. Life got a little hectic for a bit, but I'm back baby, here to share my thoughts and tricks and tips on the T72 Tank by Battlefront for their Team Yankee version of Flames of War. The set I will be talking about is the T72 Tank Company (TSBX01) which has 5 complete T72 tanks.  This also covers the T72s that are included in the Potecknov's Bears Battalion Starter Box (TSUAB1), as the sprues are identical (with one exception for earlier spurs we will talk about in a bit).

Bottomline up front...This is a great plastic model kit.  Battlefront continues to kill it on the plastics. There are a couple of little tricks you should know about for this model.

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"Unknown" - A cooperative survival boardgame by Rob and Dave games

"Uknown" is a (pardon the pun) relatively unknown game that I happened to come upon on Kickstarter. I thought it looked promising, backed them, and then completely forgot about it.

Check out Rob and Dave games on Facebook. I'm not sure if this game will be available for purchase soon, or what.

A few weeks back, a suspicious package (Man, that's a great band name- Suspicious Package) arrived on my doorstep, and this game was inside! I finally talked my buddy Sean into trying it out with me, and we were quite impressed.

The game consists of a group of survivors exploring their underground world. They fight monsters, avoid hazards, and gather food for their settlement.

Sean and I recorded a playthrough- check it out! The game is fantastic!

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Netrunner LCG: Salsette Island Data Pack Review

Hello All

Following on from the review we did on Democracy And Dogma Review we have the 5th pack in the Mumbad Cycle Salette Island. In this video myself (Ben), Maz and Adam give our views on the cards and come up with a few deck building ideas.

Thanks for watching.

Ben

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Netrunner: Democracy and Dogma Review

Hello All

Following on the AAR I posted up a week or so ago, today I have review of the latest data pack Democracy and Dogma. Myself and Maz give our thoughts on the cards in the pack, look at a few combos and options on how to use the cards.

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Jagdpanther Platoon (GBX84) Review

Ahhhhh, the Jagdpanther!  This is one of my favorite tanks in Flames of War!  Some time ago, Battlefront released the GBX84 box to provide plastic Panthers and Jagdpanthers.  I finally got around to building these guys, and of course went for more Jagdpanthers!  With the drive to plastic, it makes sense to have a Panther kit out, and I think it is a smart move to make this a multi-option kit, but including the JPs as well.

This box contains FIVE tanks, not three like the old kit.  This is great, as I can get a couple of boxes and mix and match my options as I please.

The back of the box lists all the options you can build and all the things that come in the box.  Though the Panther turret is set up for magnets, none come in the box.  Bummer.

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Review: Armies of By Fire and Sword

by Scott Simoneau

My copy of "Armies of By Fire and Sword" arrived today, and not really knowing what the book was about, I was quite eager to dive in and digest it.

The book is much smaller than the others in the series, clocking in at "only" 148 pages! The ENTIRE book is made up of army lists - much in the same style as the army list sections in the Core rulebook and in The Deluge rebook. You get a few paragraphs describing the army background, then a listing of any new special rules (but existing rules are not duplicated here!), and then straight into the army list. Many of the lists in here are from the BFAS downloads section and have existed previously as PDFs. Whether or not they will continue to be available as downloads, I have no idea, but for now, they're all still there.

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Battlefront StuG G Platoon (GBX83) Review

by "Dirty" Jon Baber

I have plenty of StuGs available for my German Army, but they were assembled over the years and have a bit of a hodge podge appearance.  I got a hold of the new Battlefront StuG G Platoon to start the process of unifying the look of my models. Thought the art looks the same, this is quite a different box than the old StuG platoon.  Before we get in to the models, let's talk a little about the StuG.

For about 95 Late War points, you can get a Confident Veteran StuG.  FA 7, SA 3, TA 1 with Hull MG, Protected Ammo and Schurzen.  The gun is ROF 2, AT 11, 3+ Firepower and Hull Mounted.  Compared to the Panzer IV H, you get +1 FA, but lose a Machine Gun and your turret.  The StuG is 5 more points, so... is it worth it?  Ahhhh, a great question!  The German Flames of War player confronts this question all the time - you will have to decide for yourself!

I was pleased to see a fairly simple sprue with not very many parts.  Including the StuH 42 and the earlier StuG design was a big upgrade from the previous box.  The diagram is pretty clear and easy to understand.

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Giants of the Sky on Target

By Mitch Reed

“The bomber will always get through” is a quote Stanley Baldwin made to the British parliament in 1932 where we warned the British Government that the next war would see bombers raining destruction from the sky. 

Baldwin was not alone in thinking this, an Italian airpower theorist Giulio Douhet also felt that future conflicts would consist of bombers targeting their opponent’s populace and industrial centers from the sky.  Both of these men developed these theories from seeing the advent of airpower during the Great War, where the bomber became a strategic weapon of immense potential.

Following in footsteps of their fellow Italian, Douhet;  Ares Games has finally released their most recent wave for their Wings of Glory system, ‘Giants of the Sky” which features two of the largest bombers to see action in the Great War.

From ARES Games, the new Giants of the Sky

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