Bolt Action Escalation Campaign: Game One

By Kreighton Long

A bold British jeep rushes into the crossroads surprising a German infantry squad still recovering from an artillery strike.

The morning dew glistens, reflecting the light of the dawning sun. A nondescript crossroad in the countryside is quiet for now. The day before, a farmer moved livestock along the dirt roads. Today, officers and NCOs hasten soldiers towards a fatal encounter. Under the cover of darkness, British paratroopers jumped out of soaring aircraft as flak exploded around them, lighting the sky.

Throughout the night the paratroopers moved through the darkness, slowly gathering more and more men into their merry bands. A few small vehicles roll out of gliders to the delight of the Red Devils. Some miles away, a German commander receives reports of British paratroopers landing and maneuvering in his area of responsibility.

Looking down at his map, he guesses at the paratroopers’ objective, a town labeled on the map as “Colline de L’église”. As reports continue to come into the German headquarters, the officer takes the initiative and dispatches what men he has available to the crossroads hoping to stall the British advance to enable him to organize a stronger defense of the town. 

Battlefront Kit Review BRDM-2 Recon Platoon (Plastic) (TSBX24)

By Tom Burgess

Though I already have plenty of BRDM-2s, SA-9 Gaskins, and Spandrel AT launchers I could not pass up the great deal that the new World War III: Team Yankee (WW3:TY) Soviet army box was.  This gave me five BRDM-2 sprues that I was not sure I needed. I considered selling them or giving them away but decided I’d go ahead and build them to help get me to my goal of completing 365 Flames of War and WW3:TY teams in 2020. I also thought I could do a decent review article since I could compare these new plastic models to the older resin-metal models.

Bolt Action Basing Tutorial

By Kreighton Long

A little while back a follower of mine on Instagram asked me how I base my miniatures so I put together a little tutorial to share with anyone curious.

There are two parts to a painted miniature when it’s on the gaming table. There’s the miniature itself, then there’s the base.

Depending on the scale and how the miniature is represented in the game both parts are essential to a jaw-dropping gorgeous army. Most of us may be able to recall instances of walking around convention halls, tournament tables, or gaming clubs and seeing that almost gorgeous army. I say almost because every so often one of the two aforementioned parts is a bit below the standard set by the other part.

Review: Hounds of War, a Sandbox Skirmish Ruleset

By Mitch Reed

One thing I have learned from playing and covering this hobby is that gamers always have an opinion and are never shy to share it. For the titles I have worked on I dread the comments on social media on things that were omitted or the fact we did not write the game just for them.

While I have never seen Paul Neher make any disparaging comments, he has done what I recommend all gamers to do; create your own game. Paul’s Hounds of War ruleset did something that can make all gamers happy, a set of rules that allows the gamer to create whatever type of skirmish fight they want and include whichever capabilities they desire.

Team Yankee US Decals and Stowage

by Dennis ‘Matt Varnish’ Campbell

Hey everyone, hope you guys are doing well. This is my final hobby article on my Team Yankee USA because these are the finishing touches. Stowage and decals on my M1s, aerials, and then I delve into the magical world of Objectives.

First of all, I way over-ordered on the stowage. The reason for this was I need more M1 spare roadwheels, and the image on the website led me to believe each pack came with one of the sprues on the left, and three of the ones on the right (see below image).  They actually include three of each, which makes the price a bit easier to swallow

Painting Modern Russian Army Camouflage

Photo by Vitaly V. Kuzmin – http://www.vitalykuzmin.net/Military/4th-Kantemirovskaya-Tank-Division-Open-Day-Part2/

I’ll level with you. Looking at Google images of modern Russian army camouflage gave me a headache and trying to figure out how to replicate it at 28mm pushed the headache into migraine territory.

The easiest solution would have been to paint the camo in a solid bright green color since that’s what the camo looks like at a distance anyway but I decided against it and threw together a BDU-looking camo pattern.

I’ll take the hit for historical accuracy because I think what I came up with looks passable to those who don’t know what right should look like. Feel free to judge – I can take it. If you’re more committed to the crusade of historical accuracy than I was then I applaud your fanaticism and have fun. If you find success please send tips my way.

Achtung! Panzer! FOW Bagration: German Tanks on the Eastern Front

By Preston Jacob

“What difference does it make for me if you have two tanks to my one? You send them out and let me smash them in detail!” – Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.

The Eastern front Germans finally make their introduction into Flames of War late war with the new Bagration: German book. There’s a lot to be excited about for any German player, no matter what kind of army you enjoy playing.

I am most excited about the new tanks being brought into late war for the Wehrmacht. I will evaluate all the new tanks in this book as there are a bunch to go over. I will preface that I will not go over tanks that have already been released such as the StuG, Panzer IV, Tiger and Panther but rather the new tanks making their first appearance in late war.

Review: One Small Step; but a big step for Academy Games

I have been a fan of Academy Games well before I met Uwe Eickert, their CEO from playing their series. I got to meet Uwe at Connections 2019 and interviewed him for a podcast and I was impressed with his approach as a game developer. While Academy games does not have dozens of titles, every game in their inventory is a masterpiece that all gamers will enjoy. Their game which covers the space race, is yet another hit in their catalog.

Bagration German: Win on the tabletop, but still lose the war

By Tom Gall

The Flames of War Late War series continues with the latest book Bagration German. This is force is the mirror to the . Battlefront has slated the book, command cards, unit cards are more for a January release. Already if you look at the Battlefront site, you’ll see a .

Will this book make up for the Russian advances contained in the Bagration Soviet book? Is there a new meta ahead?  Will Hetzers Hetz? What surprises await? Let’s dive and see what Bagration German offers for you!

Painting & Basing Infantry Teams for Battlegroup NorthAG

by Tom Gall

In this article we’re going to focus on infantry for Battlegroup NorthAG by the Plastic Soldier Company. How should we paint and base them?

Painting British

Let’s start out with British infantry, as their camo pattern uniform is a bit more complicated. For the models, I’m using the Plastic Soldier Company 10mm Ultracast, mechanized infantry box.

Starting with a base coat, I primed my British black. Starting with Helmets 888  as the initial coat of Vallejo, followed by a dry brush of 886 Green Grey Vallejo.