By Tom Gall
Battlegroup is a WWII set of miniatures rules by Plastic Soldier Publishing. Written by Warwick Kinrade and first published in 2012, there have been many source books released over the past 14 years covering all parts of the war from early on with Blitzkrieg, Barbarossa, North Africa, the Pacific, Italy, D-Day, Market Garden, the Bulge, to Berlin when the war is all but over.
By Kreighton Long
On 21 February, thirteen players gathered at the Williamsburg Muster in Williamsburg, VA to compete in another one of Kalissa Skibicki’s Bolt Action tournaments. Most of the participants were returning players with friendly catch-ups throughout the weekend. A few new faces joined the usual gang over three rounds on gorgeous tables prepared by David Skibicki.
By Kreighton Long
With my Bolt Action Stalingrad German Army completed (for now), I set my sights on a display board to accompany my army. My plan was to make the most of some extra textured mats procured from Michaels for a previous project.
By Paolo Paglianti
In just a few weeks, on March 14–15, the Italian FOW National will take place in Milan. As always, Battlefront Miniatures has been extremely supportive and has already sent us the 2026 Objectives for all 50 expected players. As you can imagine, it’s Early War team-themed.
By Richard Steer
Flames of War has returned to the early period of the Second World War, with the publication of Blitzkrieg, covering the Invasion of France in May and June 1940. A new period is an exciting time for the game, with new nations, new miniatures, and new challenges.
My focus for Early-War in previous editions was the Mediterranean theatre, and I have never played anything from the campaign in France. To get back into playing Early-War while we wait for the North Africa book, I have picked up a copy of the new “Dunkirk” two-player starter set. Over the next few weeks, I’ll use it to assemble, paint, and start playing a new army. First, though, let’s have a look at what’s in the box.
By Troy Hill
Back in 2022, as the world was stretching its legs again post-Covid, I decided it was finally time to dive headfirst into fantasy rank-and-flank gaming. The obvious choice was Kings of War (KOW) by Mantic Games. So I cracked open the Big Green Rulebook (v3), joined a few online communities, and started building armies — even though there wasn’t a local scene anywhere near me. Apparently, I like my hobbies the way I like my road trips: long, ambitious, and slightly inconvenient.
In 2023, I hit two tournaments to start my journey into the game. First, I drove seven hours, crossed an international border, and threw myself into the King Beyond the Wall tournament in Ontario. That fall, I attended the Michigan GT for the KOW tournament.
There is, after all, no better way to learn a game than by jumping directly into the deep end with a chess clock ticking down your life expectancy. I learned a lot. I also discovered that playing a new-to-me game, under time pressure, feels suspiciously like defusing a bomb in a Bruce Willis movie. Eventually, I stepped away from the game, unsure if the tournament scene was the right fit for me at the time.
Then came the announcement that veteran designer Alessio Cavatore had joined Mantic and that KOW 4th Edition was on the way. That got my attention. Not because I wanted the game reinvented — but because I wanted it refined. Cleaner. Sharper. More confident in what it already did well.
Fourth Edition, as it turns out, isn’t a revolution but a revision. And for a game whose competitive identity rests on clarity and stability, that may be exactly what it needed.
By Aaron Kamakawiwoole
Hey Reader!
Today we’re looking at Archon Studios‘s unique turn sequence for the Starcraft Tabletop Miniatures Game (hereafter “Starcraft”). It’s simple, yet encourages tactical planning in each phase, like any good game should.
By Aaron Kamakawiwoole
Hey Reader!
A new tabletop war game is hitting the scene this March: the Starcraft Tabletop Miniatures Game (hereafter “Starcraft”). I purchased their promo figure for Zeratul to see the quality of the models they’re producing and how easy they are to assemble.
By Kreighton Long
This past December I was introduced by a friend to a new hobby store in Culpeper, Virginia — Brickhammer. I quickly made a trip to the store and met the owner, Kevin, and offered my services as someone who knows a bit about Bolt Action. He eagerly accepted my offer and we scheduled a demo game at the store in January. This was my first demo game and I challenged myself to do quality work for a group of potential new players.
Let’s see a game in action with the Germans attacking a French in No Retreat. We choose 100 points, for our forces.
The French have a Chasseur Company with:
The Germans have a light tank company with:
No Retreat was the mission, with French selecting defend and Germans selecting attack as their stances. French choose to be on the side of the table closest to the camera in this picture.
View from the other direction, note catzilla on the loose. His cuteness was fully effective.
Deployment has the front placing their 4 minefields to close off the left and center as best they can, presenting the Germans with cross checks to get to the nearer objective. The far objective is close to the woods, it’s an S35 Somua on a big base (which was the Charles Degaull special hero from way back when.)
One French infantry platoon is deployed to the left flank all around the objective. The 25mm anti-tank platoon is in front of the church, the 47 mm anti-tank platoon is next to the graveyard, the right flank has another French infantry platoon. The French 105s are on the left flank close to the objective, and the 81mm mortars are roughly in the center around the objective. The 25mm AA platoon is on the hill. The Panhards and S35s are in reserve and the Laffly platoon is in ambush.
The Germans set up their 88 on the hill and they choose the French left flank as the side to press:
The Germans press up the side and the French on turn 2 spring their ambush of Laffly tank hunters. Two French infantry teams and sent out to assault and make contact with a bailed out Panzer I. A Panzer II comes in for the counterattack and after a bit of back and forth the Panzer II fails to counterattack which converts a couple of bails to kills.
With so many bails due to higher firepowers, an ambush and assault combo can be especially effective, but is not easy to pull off.
Another vantage point of the German attack. The 88 up on the far hill in the upper left was shooting down into the town trying to pick off the French anti-tank guns. The French 25mm and 47mm anti-tank guns would often bail out German armor who would then get back in.
The Panzerjager Is crept down the road and the other light panzer platoon came around the other side of the house. Lots of targets for the French guns, but likewise hit on 3 French were having to roll well for saves AND take advantage of the higher German firepowers to hold on just a bit longer.
As expected the Laffly trucks were machine gunned to death. They did try and shoot and scoot but failed. The German point of the spear was annoyed but not out of action yet.
The French guns continued to hold, which allowed the French reinforcements time to arrive. The Panhards first and then the Somuas, the timing was about the same turn that the 25mm French anti-tank guns finally start to crumble.
The light tank company is getting ready to dash across for a daring assault against the 25mm anti-tank gun, with the French formation HQ in the church to assist in the assault. Note just out of frame on the right are where the 47mm anti-tank guns used to be leaving just the 25mm AA guns off on the hill and the Panhards coming up to reinforce.
Another picture before the assault, note that the 81mm mortar teams are in the graveyard. They had moved up to bombard the 88 and were able to eliminate it.
Here you can see just before the assault, which was successful, however what would follow was the breaking of the German formation. The French AA guns, the 5 Panhards, 4 Somuas and some of the 105s doing direct fire would bail out / eliminate enough tanks that all that needed to happen was the French HQ to come out and auto win an assault against the German HQ. Even then the poor German offensive was not likely to be within 8″ of an objective by turn 6 to keep the game going. The French were able to delay the Germans enough such that either way it was going to be a French victory this time.
Given firepower values are generally higher in early war, assaults are even more important to eliminate units either on the attack or the defense. Artillery direct fire guns with a firepower of 3+ are especially valuable.
German 88s with their range and 3+ firepower can be super effective but they are not cheap.
A front armor of 3 as found on the Panzer IIIes, and the Panzer IIs is pretty effective. The French AT9 anti-tank assets are good and post game I would recommend the 75mm French artillery guns over the 105s simply to have their dual role as anti-tank guns and as artillery.
The Laffly tank hunters are laughable. They are glass cannons in the extreme, you’ll get one round of fire and they will get machine gunned to death.
German tankers need artillery to back them up. Infantry that isn’t backed up with anti-tank guns however can be easily assaulted by tanks. Just remember not to rolls 1’s when the infantry hit you and keep the HQ around to give yourself re-rolls to help with counter attacking.
While this game didn’t include German air assets the Stukas are something to consider for an AT3, 2+ Firepower artillery template.
Early war is very fun, you’ll experience bail out results more often with armor. Infantry / Gun teams will be harder to kill with the less effective weapons so when you roll 5’s and 6’s it is all the more sweet to enjoy the moment of success.
