Gaming

By Tyler Stone

As things get back to normal in the world (hooray, Historicon on the horizon!) are ramping up their offering of games yet again. Besides to their tabletop wargames ‘Blood & Plunder,’ ‘Oak & Iron,’ and ‘Blood & Valor‘, they’re making their first forays into some bold new territory; Historical Roleplaying Games.

Although they are sticking to their ‘piratical’ roots with ‘Under the Black Flag‘, it’s their World War 2 entry which is the furthest along. They’re missing a prime marketing opportunity by not calling it ‘Hedgerows & Hetzers,’ but the team at Firelock has decided on the much less tongue-in-cheek title of ‘War Stories‘.

By Preston Jacob

The newest book for , Bulge: American, brings Momma America’s Mean Green Killing Machine fully into the late war era!

After the Germans have produced their last ditch heavy tanks and sent them to the front, the United States had to answer with heavier armor of their own, with plenty of well equipped infantry troops to help.

The new book has a ton of options to flush out you American army lists, but the command cards open up even more options! Once I show you everything the command cards have to offer, you too will be ready to push the German war machine back across the Rhine!

By Mitch Reed

I always wanted to get into playing with American Civil War Ironclads, however I was never motivated by any of the existing rules to start collecting and playing this period. This changed last year when I saw a sneak preview from Mike Haught (Yes, the one from Battlefront) which featured a set of rules he was working on.

Mike started with a desire to tackle very underrepresented genres of gaming in way that focuses on a more complete story of the period. His first title, The Dawn of Iron (DOI) really changes the landscape of ACW naval combat, and it is a game that I feel many gamers will love.

By  Doc Wohlrab

Back in 1988 prolific game designer Frank Chadwick and GDW came out with a new science-fiction based game called This game became a cult classic and is anyone recalls our two-part “Final-Four” , it was one of my favorite all-time games. Sky Galleons is a steam-punk era sci-fi game that plays like a lot of naval games out on the market today and it is a game I have been playing for years and drew me deeper into wargaming.

By Troy A. Hill

A couple of weekends ago, I had the pleasure of returning to the world of gaming conventions. After a year and a half of avoiding people that weren’t in my family’s inner circle, returning to events was sure to be a shock to the system.

Fortunately, the shock was minor, with some growing pains (return pains?), Events look to be back in most of the world. Here in the USA, we’re facing challenges of Freedom v. Responsibility, as our medical/scientific communities try to move our population from Pandemic stage to Endemic stage. We’ll get there. Maybe a few hiccups, but we are well on the way now.

However, one thing I noticed at the Advance The Colors (ATC) event near Springfield Ohio in early October is that Covid has left its imprint on the gaming event industry.

By NDNG Ben

Bot War is an 8mm scale game created by Anthony Mallet, owner of Traders Galaxy, and is heavily influenced by Transformers, G.I. Joe, and other 80’s franchises. The game is set in an alternate 1980’s Earth, where the kingdom of Atlantica rises up to conquer the surface world.

The Democracy, which is the world’s leading superpower, suffers continuing losses against the superior Atlanticans.

Then one day, a spaceship crash lands on Earth. This ship was crewed by the Valiants, a race of noble Bots led by Ducal, later nicknamed General Duke. The Valiants team up with the Democracy and successfully defeat the Atlanticans. A time of peace and recovery followed, however Bot tech had been secretly acquired by the Atlanticans, as well as other nefarious organizations. Furthermore, various other Bot factions have begun arriving on Earth, causing the Bot War to begin in earnest.

By Tom Gall

The tide of Late War books for Flames of War continues with the Bulge American book by Battlefront. This pushes American lists further into 1944-1945 offering American players lots of good options. In this article we’re going to focus on Tank oriented lists contained in the book and command cards. By this I mean lists where the core units (ie black box) are armored.

List wise, the book and command cards introduce the following tank formations.

1. Veteran M4 Sherman (Late)
2. Veteran M24 Chaffee
3. M4 Sherman (Late)
4. M24 Chaffee
5. M18 Tank Destroyer
6. M36 Tank Destroyer
7. M24 Chaffee Cavalry – Command card
8. M5 Stuart Cavalry – Command card
9. Cavalry Recon – Command card

By Scott Roach

Before I begin my experience, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr John Stallard, the Managing Director and his excellent staff at Warlord Games for making this first experience a memorable one (Oh and no, I don’t get any kickbacks or benefits from Warlord Games). It was also great to catch up with Jon Russell (That’s us together at the top) who I met (virtually) during a Podcast hosted by my “Valhal Brother” Mitch Reed.

I have, where possible tried to capture the names and responsibilities of the staff in my pictures. Apologies for any I get wrong!

By Paolo “Nuts!” Paglianti

The Russian has the ISU-122; the British can count on a double M10 17 PDR Troop, and Germans – well – they have plenty of Tigers, Panthers, and the cheap Panzer IV/70. The only army missing AT 14, the punch any player needs to kill heavy tanks, is the American one. Well, until now!

After delays due to the Pandemic, we’re close to the Bulge American book publication. It will arrive in early November, but we at NoDiceNoGlory were lucky to get our hands on a preview copy. And American players will not be disappointed!

By David Garvin

The effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic are still with us and as gamers, the one thing we all strive to do – play games against an opponent – was a rarity.  Thankfully face-to-face opportunities are with us once again, masks notwithstanding! Such was the case recently for players of Advanced Squad Leader in Eastern Canada.