Gaming

By Michael Rafferty

Our local gaming group has recently gotten into Bolt Action, right as the new edition of the game premiered. We were slow to dive into the action under 2nd Edition, but
Version 3 of Bolt Action has gotten our group to play more, and we’re starting to work the kinks out.

I have a British Cromwell Armoured Squadron that I built for Tank War back in second edition and I’m currently working on Germans. Basically all the Germans, though I’m paining the new winter stuff. I really like the contrast between white bases and darker uniforms.

Phil has gotten into Bolt Action with both feet, building a British Motor Platoon, a Soviet IS-2 army, and a Polish army for early war. Hazel has built some Germans. Don is our least excited player  in the Bolt Action realm, but, despite his complaints, he is building a Fallschirmjager army based on Crete to go along with his Marines and Japanese. Overall, our group is taking to Bolt Action.

With the Armies of the United States book coming out, we wanted to get a game in. In addition to everything else, I’ve looked at getting some winter Americans. I could use these for both WWII and Korea, so they’re going to be multi-purpose. If we end up going hard into Korea, I’ll do some Chinese just so I can do a bunch of cavalry. Regardless, I’m interested in the new Americans so I was excited when NDNG got an early copy of the book so I could check it out.

by Troy Hill

I’ve been diving into Conquest: The Last Argument of Kings lately, trying to split my time working on two different armies. The designers at Para Bellum Games came up with what was missing from the W’adhrun. A flying dinosaur.

I recently split a two-player starter box with another player who wanted the Yoroni half of the set, so I got my very own Quatl! I’ll cover how I assembled it, and some of the decisions I had to make along the way.

by Dennis ‘Matt Varnish’ Campbell

The second ‘Armies of….‘ book is now out, Armies of the Unites States and let’s see if it lets you Be All You Can Be:

Now first of all, do I have a US force for Bolt Action?  No.  Am I planning one?  Also no…  Am I tempted to use this book to represent the 2eme Div. Blindee Free French liberating Paris? Mais Oui! …Possibly yes!

by Dennis “Matt Varnish” Campbell

In my last article, I went over a take all comers list, and my plans for the year to attend a few Bolt Action events rather than watch from the sidelines and not partake lest I get destroyed for lack of practice.

Well a few events have surfaced, and one that has sidetracked my plan:  Brawl in the Hall, in Kingston (not Jamaica, sadly, Ontario) is a one day event was held at the Canadian Army Navy club on April 6th.

By Tom Gall

Battlefront’s The Pacific will soon be in the hands of many a Flames of War player, but before it arrives in your hands NoDiceNoGlory has a series of articles to highlight the many treasures found in this book.  In this first article let’s take a speed through the various bits and circle back in following articles to look at the details.

The Pacific covers the Asian theatre of World War II during 1942-1943 for version 4 of Flames of War. The last time Flames of War players saw source materials for this part of the way was during Version 3 with Gung Ho, and Banzai.

Additionally for Early War there was Rising Sun. Back then the books were organized with usually a single nation in one book, like Japanese in Banzai, and the US Marine Corps (USMC) in Gung Ho.

By Troy A. Hill

I admit it. I’m a new army junkie.

Whenever a new force comes out, I look at the new faction rules, and the new models to see if either appeals to me.

So when Para Bellum Games announced they were doing a “rebuild” on one of their oldest factions, the Hundred Kingdoms for Conquest: The Last Argument of Kings, this past winter, I was immediately interested.

Yes, the W’adrhun are my first army. And orcs riding dinos are still my first love in the game. But, a gamer needs a second army. Right? And when fellow NDNGer Tom Gall said he was looking to unload his Conquest Hundred Kingdoms army, I jumped at the chance.

But then the reboot of the faction rules hit, and I had some tough choices to make.

By Phil Gurtler

Why Black Powder Red Earth 28mm?

Simply put, it is a hyper lethal, near-future skirmish game set in the middle east and the type of game I have been waiting for. This past year I’ve been craving an ultra-modern skirmish game to supplement my regular diet of WW2 games.  After some research online, I found a couple of potential options. Spectre Operations, In Country (also known as INX and will be showcasing V2 at Adepticon this year) and Black Powder Red Earth 28mm.

Of those, Spectre Operations and INX failed to catch my attention. But BPRE28mm grabbed me by the lapels and refused to let me go for months. Every two weeks I would seriously debate dropping the $300 on the starter set from their website.  Flash forward almost a year, and I am spending a few months at Fort Meade needing something to do. I headed to the local store and found out they have both the starter set and a beautifully painted store demo copy. That’s it; let’s rock this casbah.

by Dennis ‘Matt Varnish’ Campbell

Well all right, this is something I’ve been waiting for, the first non-Army book for Bolt Action, the v3 Compendium articles written by the Community. One thing I loved about Bolt Action v2 was the many campaign books and the extra flavour they brought to the game. I wasn’t a huge fan of the many one-off vehicles that became staples of all competitive lists from the old Campaign books, but I mean, that’s what’s expected when they aren’t really playtested?

By Kreighton Long

Last weekend six players assembled to compete in a Bolt Action tournament run by Jacob Kovel at the Williamsburg Muster convention in Williamsburg, VA.  Jacob, a veteran event organizer, kept the tournament running smoothly keeping all players on the proposed timeline.

Throughout the day there were a few instances of rules confusion among the players, of which I was guilty of, largely due to the recent transition from Second Edition to Third Edition.  When a rules confusion occurred, Jacob was quick to swoop in and clarify the correct interpretation, which were well received by the various players.

Jacob’s quick and precise clarifications is a testament to his veteran status as this was his third Third Edition tournament that he has run since the new release.  Competitors brought 1000 point lists and competed in three scenarios throughout the day.  The first scenario was Seek and Destroy, the second was Key Positions, and the third was Hold Until Relieved.

We are back! This episode we have Wes Crawford a friend and local game designer whose game on the hunt for John Wilkes Booth is about to hit store shelves. We also talk about his other games soon to be released, Engine Thieves and the St Albans Raid, both set during the Civil War.  We also talk about Warf Rat Games, his new company with show favorite Ryan Heilman .