Pardon my French, British vs French, Napoleonics, Black Powder rules

"One does not simply walk into Mordor Portugal" Sean Bean, Sharpe's Rifles.

Below, we have an 8 foot by 6 foot table, with new cloth gaming mats from http://cigarboxbattlestore.bigcartel.com/, for a rousing game of Napoleonics.   My French with foreign allies vs Scott's British.  We have been using Warlord Games' Black Powder rule set (written by a bunch of ex-GW guys) an unlike almost every other block-unit game I have ever played,  the mobility is HUGE in Black Powder, so we are starting with nothing on the board, except each unit touching the board edge, if they rolled a 4+ to deploy.  If you click the below picture you will see I only got 4 units out of 11 while he got 9 out of 11!  He also rolled to get first turn....

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Intensify Forward Firepower XXVI: Return of the Judi

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WARNING: That be Rogue One Spoilers in the first 20ish minutes.

EZ and Dano are away from the conference room, trying to improve the Flesh Star Destroyer's defenses by spackling shut all the exhaust ports, so the ship's battle computer R1H4 steps in alongside the ship's doctor, Reinholt, to talk about their very early impressions on Wave 5. Obligatory Rogue One chat takes place as well, but for the most part Drunk Tarkin and Skyshuffler spend a lot of energy dodging all the blaster fire the newcomers bring aboard. 

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

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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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Finishing up Iron Maiden

Don’t you just love that feeling when you put the last touch of paint on a model and you know your work is done? It is a rare feeling since we always seem to be expanding our collections, however with the lower model count in Team Yankee I was able to finish off my forces from Iron Maiden and I think I will be set for the time being. Maybe it is one of the things I like about TY is that once you finish your core 100 point force, you do not have the need to keep adding models, I think between this and ability that you can take more than one formation adds to the games allure. My last article detailed my building and paining my Chieftains, FV 432s, Rapiers, and of course the infantry. I was left with building the Lynx helicopters and the recce vehicles for my force which were the last to be released.

I wanted to cover the Lynx for the article because I do not think these guys were be making it on many lists I plan to make. I think it’s a neat to have the choppers in the game, however AAA is just so good I do not think these guys will not have a long life span.

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Bolt Action - You're a Terrible Painter

You're a terrible painter Casey. I have told myself that countless times since I started painting miniatures. I truly love the game of Bolt Action and miniature wargaming, but the thought of starting a new game or army and having to paint it was not only intimidating, but I flat out refused to paint the army on my own. Making up excuses to myself would become a daily routine on why I should pay someone else to do it. "I don't have enough time", "I'm too busy at work", "Time spent painting is time away from playing", etc. Well, I am here to tell you that things have changed and I will share with you how I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb..err I mean paint!

I keep these on my shelf to remind me of where I started.

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Bolt Action - Review: Warlord Games Plastic Mark V Sherman

I recently decided I needed some armour support for my Canadian Kangaroo army list and what better way to do that then to add in a Sherman? As a fan of plastic kits, I knew I had to try out the Warlord Games Sherman V and I recently picked one up as a prize from the All Over October event I attended in Melbourne. The Sherman V is also known as the Sherman M4A4 and is the lend-lease version of the Sherman used by Great Britain.

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Behind Enemy Lines Episode 31

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Episode 31 is a double act with Damo being OOA and Dan and Greg ready to assault your ears!

N00b News for part 1 with discussions around Team Yankee, GW and…….DUST?

In part 2, we’ll have a wee chin-wag about whats been going on at the local club, some of the games we’ve been playing and you know…..stuff?

Part 3 gets preeeeeeeeeeety interesting…...we sit down and have a chat about Team Yankee and what it means for the future of historical games and games in general. Warning: OPINIONS ENCLOSED!

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

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Why We Fight Ep 10: Version 4 Deconstructed

            Well the title says it all, this episode is all about version 4! In Act 1, the guys talk quickly about some up coming events. They then quickly switch over to Act 2! In Act 2, we start deconstructing version 4. We got a rough copy of the new rules and start from the beginning and we continue going over the rules in Act 3. If you want news and updates on version 4, this podcast is it! 

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Viet-Nam, 1952, France vs Viet-Minh, Force-on-Force (Fall-In 2016)

I was able to make the drive down from Canada to Lancaster, PA for Fall-In 2016 this year.  While my main goal was to see old friends, buy more miniatures I don't need, and play in the Flames of War singles tournament put on by Kurt Reese for Wounded Warrior Project, I did have a spare day to partake in some other games!  

Anyone who has been to an HMGS convention knows that with the small description of the game in the convention book, it can be tough to discern if the game will be any good.  As soon as I saw the jungle table, I knew I had to try and play it!   

This one features French forces landing from the carrier group "Arromanches" near Hue, in order to clear out a 'ville' of some pesky Viet-Minh.  It used Force-on-Force rules, 28mm scale, and was being run by Pete English.   The game/table also won some award, as the convention organisers paused our game to hand out a prize and take pictures and all that!  As the only actual person on either side who is French (Cdn) I obviously chose to be on the French team!

The 'ville' had only civilians visible, working the rice paddies, though we knew they had a box full of soldiers yet to be seen.  As the french, we had an LVT4 Amtrac,  2 Chaffees, 3 mech platoons initially as tank riders, an Amphib command jeep and 2 M20s.  

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Bolt Action - Painting BEF and Tartan

My latest project is to create an all metal British Expeditionary Force (BEF). Whilst I have predominately used Warlord Games miniatures (which are excellent) I jumped with excitement when I saw Pulp Figures come out with a range for Highlanders. There are three separate packs being offered, Infantry Rifles, Command and Special Weapons, all wearing early war attire with kilts which is perfect for my BEF. While many of you out there might be put off painting tartan, I will hopefully show you an easy way to get them to a simple but effective standard so that you too can include them in your force. I will talk more about the composition of my force in a later article and leave this one just for the painting.

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