By Paolo Paglianti

If there’s one thing I didn’t like about ETC 2026, the World Team Championship our club organised in Milan last August, it was that many teams brought almost identical lists. That’s understandable: after years of playing and with the meta now well established, it was predictable that we would see plenty of similar lists, from American armies with hordes of Sherman Spearhead Companies to Polish armies with masses of infantry.

A breath of fresh air comes with the Early War lists. Battlefront has finally started publishing the Early War army books, allowing us to explore an entirely new world of list-building, with an unknown meta that is still waiting to be discovered. In addition, with this year’s ETC competitive cycle now over, we can finally move on to the new More Missions published by Battlefront in April, which haven’t been used at major tournaments so far because they weren’t available in time for ETC 2026. Major national tournaments generally adopt the same period and points limits as the following ETC, allowing players to test their armies in preparation for the World Championship.

By Aaron Kamakawiwoole

Hey Reader!

Now that our gaming group has their miniatures and we’re not using proxy miniatures anymore (though I’ll take a moment to thank all of the Rohan horsemen who served as Protoss warriors for us – thank you for answering the call!), we’re putting up battle reports, and as I was editing those, I reflected on what I love so much about the in-game play of this new game. I’ve done battle reports for several game systems, but this one felt unique and better, so I thought I’d share some of those thoughts with you.

by Troy Hill

I wrote about gaming burnout several years ago. Now, I’m mostly out of it. I don’t want to go back into that dark pit of despair.

Losing the urge to game was no fun.

I’m through the worst of it now, and some decisions were made. Some that I regret, others that I’m glad that I decided on.

The best part of dealing with a long period of gaming burnout was that I have emerged with better focus on what I want out of the hobby.

By Richard Steer

Over the last few months, Battlefront has released a series of free updates for a number of its games. Fate of a Nation, set in the Middle East in the 1960s and 70s, has now had its turn with a free expansion to the Egyptian and Jordanian lists.

This expansion, available as a PDF download and in the Forces of War list-building tool, is the first update to FOAN since its second edition was published in 2018. It brings in a number of the miniatures from Battlefront’s other games that were historically present in the theatre.

Hey Reader!

The first box of my Starcraft preorder has arrived, and that means, after assembling some of the miniatures, I had a chance to mull over what I love about the assembly process (and share photos of more of the models with you!). And as I reflected, I found four things that stood out to me as exceptional about how these models are designed.

By Kreighton Long

Earlier this September, Jesse Marcelo organized and ran a Bolt Action tournament at the NOVA Open in Washington D.C.  The event was attended by 22 competitors who brought with them gorgeously painted armies and positive attitudes to create a friendly-competition atmosphere.  Utilizing fourteen tables in the center of the Columbia room, we found ourselves surrounded by gamers playing diverse games including Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Warhammer, and a few that I did not recognize.  While historical gaming appears to be the minority at the NOVA Open, I can say with confidence that we held our own and attracted dozens of inquisitive passerby’s who were drawn to the tables, miniatures, and enthusiastic gamers .

By Tom Gall

Full Nelson is a set of rules for age of sail ships written by Charley Walker and soon to be published by the Too Fat Lardies.  Too Fat Lardies was generous enough to supply NoDiceNoGlory with an early copy to run some play tests, which is what this article covers. I won’t go into precise details here and there because it’s still a work in progress. My intent is to give you, the reader, a preview of the rules which are subject to change.  If you want to try it out in person and happen to be in the area of Minnesota, I’m looking to add the game to the schedule for Austi-Con in October, Castle Con in January and AdeptiCon. Spread the lard!

By Aaron Kamakawiwoole

Hey Reader!

With my first of three orders for Starcraft miniatures in a truck in St. Louis, MO (let’s gooooo), I got to thinking about a few decisions people should consider when assembling their Starcraft miniatures. We won’t be talking about the nuts and bolts of assembly (should you paint the base first, should you assemble the miniature and then paint, what glue should you use, etc.): instead we’re discussing five upgrade choices that may require some forethought before you start gluing models together, because sometimes small choices really matter.

By Richard Steer

Once upon a time, back in the days of Flames of War 3rd Edition, I started the process of collecting a Late-War Italian campaign German force. My starting point was Battlefront’s range of ‘HG’ metal figures, and eventually I had built and painted up couple of infantry platoons and a few support weapons. I am, however, terrible at completing projects, and before I had finished the collection, the FOW world had left Italy behind and moved on to V4.

My units did end up seeing some action over the years, playing as “Generic German” infantry, but I have always wanted to eventually finish the project. The re-release of Battlefront’s Italian Campaign range with Liberation of Italy has made the miniatures available again for me to finally do this.

So, given all of the options in the new book, what am I going to build as a list? Let’s work through the process.

By Paolo Paglianti

Twenty-six teams made up of 156 players converged on Milan for four days of Flames of War. Wargaming friends from every corner of the globe came together for dice rolling and good times. For me, it was a dream that finally came true.