Recently I was invited to be a part of a gaming experiment at the home of wargame designer If you are an avid wargamer you already know who he is, for those not familiar with his work you really need to check out some of his games in the COIN Series from GMT Games.

These games focus on counter insurgency operations during conflicts such as Vietnam, Afghanistan, and the Global War on Terror and focus on politics as much as military operations. The series has won many well-deserved awards and is groundbreaking in expanding our hobby beyond pushing troops around a map.

I recently returned to playing in tournaments of one of the first miniatures games I got into,, and I now have a new appreciation for the game. I wanted to share this rejuvenation with you.

Why did I leave the tournament scenes? It wasn’t that I walked away from the game, I still played FOW socially, ran tournaments for both FOW and Team Yankee (TY). As many of you know I still covered the game here on NDNG.  I just walked away from competitive play for a while. My hiatus came about because I saw some things I didn’t like about the tournament scene.

A month or so ago, when the D-Days books first came out, I wanted to bring a friend who hadn’t played FOW into the scene, and a tournament at a new Local Game Store (LGS) seemed like a perfect opportunity. But, would the tourney scene be a positive experience for a new to FOW player? Or, would the hardened, competitive attitudes of some of the players prove to give him a negative experience?

When PC gaming first became available, I like many of you, played the many games of the Close Combat series. is now releasing the seventeenth title in the series, Close Combat: The Bloody First which takes the classic series to a new level and uses a completely new game engine to make this new edition an instant classic.

We are live from in Leesburg VA for a Flames of War D-Day tournament. We talk with Dane who runs the store and our favorite and yours, Pastor Peetz!

By Mitch Reed
Now that our own has filled you in on the final rules for Oak and Iron, this article will talk about the how important the factions are to the game. Much like Blood and Plunder, the folks from have given us a lot of flavor from the period and once again they have given their players some great options when creating their force. Oak and Iron has five major factions to choose from, France, England, Spain, and Holland and of course the Pirates. Each of these factions has their own strengths and weaknesses and a lot to consider when you build your squadrons.

In my last on the Great War game I mentioned how it plays different from its parent game, In this article want to elaborate on that point with the hope I can get many of you on the fence to check out this great game.

By Mitch Reed

How does one review a game that is the latest in an award-winning series? Maybe talk about the one thing you didn’t love about the game?

One of the most prized possessions in my gaming bookcase has always been Guadalcanal from s. I loved this game, the big counters, the amazing artwork, and the solid rules made this one of my all-time favorites.

Despite my love for the game, it had one aspect I didn’t care for: the activation system. However, the third version of the game brings you a new activation system which changes  Conflict of Heroes into an entirely new game that will exceed its already lofty laurels.

We are live at Army War College in Carlisle PA for Connections Wargaming 2019. Matt Caffrey and Uwe Eickert join us and tell us all about why this conference is so important to the wargaming community.

We are live at Captain Chuck’s Comics in Essex Maryland for a great Bolt Action event. We talk to the TO Matt Karpus, the event winner Steve Murga and the Carroll’s!

By Mitch Reed

What a summer for the Late War fans of Flames of War. First, the Fortress Europe book moves all of the Mid-War forces into the LW period then the US D-Day book hit the shelves and now those Yanks have an opponent, the has arrived.

Having seen the book in the proofreading stage I knew that this title would be one that German players like myself would just love. I know a lot of questions have been floating around online so let me answer those first. Yes, the Sd Kfz 250 half-track is back and is in the new Recce list and sorry, No the 21st Panzer is not in the book or represented in the cards.

The other thing to keep in mind that this book is the first of two books on the Germans in June of 1944, the second book will be a volume that focuses on just the Waffen-SS.