Gaming

By Ian Birdwell

Introduction

With new books and lists comes the opportunities to discuss new command cards, and the Hungarian ones are a doozy for all kinds of gamers. Personally, I’m pretty excited about the expansion into the realm of Axis minors, they add a ton of depth of field for the game on the Eastern Front in terms of gameplay while also opening new doors to explore the complex history of the war in the East. And those two perspectives, gameplay vs history, really characterize the command cards for the Hungarians in a big way.

So let’s get down to business in discuss the nuances and intricacies of the command cards that bring back some crowd favorites while opening the door to some brand new opportunities; through first a brief overview of some of the new units and abilities added into the Hungarian faction, then noting the new formations at hand, before finally bringing it all together in building a list from the cards.

By Glen Van Meter

This summer No Dice No Glory’s Tales of the Sail podcast is teaming up with the and to bring players the Summer of Plunder: 2021 B&P Worldwide Community Campaign. Members of NDNG and Blood & Pigment are each governing a different nationality and will be encouraging players to not only get games in but will also be able to assign special and sometimes secret missions. For our parts, Tom is the Spanish Governor, Tyler is the French Governor, and Glenn is the Dutch Governor.

By Mitch Reed

Seems like I am playing a lot of games about Stalingrad recently. I recently wrote a review of the digital port of David Thompson’s Pavlov’s House and that got me to pull out a game in my collection that I have yet to get to the table. Stalingrad: Inferno on the Volga by was a game that was funded via Kickstarter in 2018 and received a lot of buzz. I missed the Kickstarter campaign, but I was able to get the deluxe Kickstarter version unopened from someone on Facebook of all places. I was not only glad to get this game to the table, but equally as pleased to find that the buzz behind it was well deserved.

By David Garvin

In May of every year since 1997, the (CASLA) has hosted an (ASL) tournament. This started as the brain child of the late of the Winnipeg ASL club. Last year’s event, won by Carl Nogueira of Massachusetts, was to be held in Fredericton, New Brunswick; however, Mother Nature had other plans and we are still feeling those effects.

COVID-19 wasn’t enough to completely stop the tournament, and through the use of the freeware program , the show indeed went on. This year, the 25th n (CASLO) was once again hosted by the crew out of Winnipeg. Where last year’s tournament was a last minute effort by the tournament director, this year’s online tournament was a full-on plan by CASLA’s committee as a whole. As such, the event was not held over a single weekend, but rather throughout the month of May.

By Scott Roach

I know for a lot of players out there, the long awaited Hungarian Late War Book for Bagration is out. As a long time Hungarian player, my second Army I ever put together I believe, I have been eagerly awaiting this book update.This article will look at and talk about the base formations within the Bagration Book. It will look at the different base styles of formations and the support options that are available. The article will not look at the Hungarian Cards. These will be provided in a separate excellent article provided by Ian Birdwell from No Dice No Glory.

So lets get started. Firstly lets talk about the Hungarian Special Rules. There are only the two. Firstly, Huszar. Teams with the ‘Huszar’ special rule have a reduced motivation rating when testing to use the follow me movement order. The second rule is ‘Home Defence’. Teams with this rule have an improved last stand rating.

By David Garvin

Games that create memories are what we as wargamers strive for. Such games capture the imagination and immerse the player in the game. No longer is are the players sitting by a table at home, but rather their imaginations have taken them to some far away battle! For my money, no other game captures the imagination like . This game, first released in 1985 by the now-defunct Avalon Hill (but perpetuated by ), is a tactical wargame of the hex-and-counter variety.

The battles are primarily from the Second World War; however, it has since expanded to include the Korean War. Each player maneuvers his squads, crews and AFVs and guns across generic and historical battlefields in games that can last anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours or even days. Practically every game will end up with a narrative that will leave an indelible mark in the players involved.  Allow me to illustrate.

The date was 14 September, 1942, and as the German battalion commander, , I was leading an initial attack in Stalingrad in the historical scenario “In Sight of the Volga”. The simulated battle was noteworthy for several reasons. My opponent, Will, ended up being reluctant to try for his Molotov Cocktails (A 22.6).

By Mitch Reed

As gamers we often know the basic requirements for the games we play; models, terrain and a rulebook. However, many games also require game aids that not only help you play, but they also add to the aesthetic experience of the game. Gamers often pride themselves on items like tokens, dice and decks, and with all of games’ in catalog, you have some excellent accessories to choose from.

By Troy Hill

Many years ago, when I was a wee university gamer lad, I witnessed a spectacle I’d never seen before. The student union’s grand ballroom taken over by fleets of model ships, model planes on stands, torpedos, and gents with reams and notebooks full of charts and graphs, and even several pocket protectors full of colored pencils.

They were playing Fletcher Pratt’s Naval Wargame in large scale in a game that took almost two and a half days. It was a daunting first exposure to naval wargaming. One that kept me out of that genre of the hobby until John Stallard and his crew at released .

Warlord’s newest addition to their WWII line up premiered in the midst of the world’s lock-down during the pandemic. Our own local gaming scene was mostly socially distanced games in people’s garages or basements, so I didn’t worry about investing the time nor fund in the game. Until now.

Now I’m interested in , and just received my hardcover rulebook.

Before I decided whether to invest in yet another game (Warlord keeps putting out good ones, and my mountain of minis keeps growing) I wanted to read the rules, see the various fleets.

by Dennis ‘Matt Varnish” Campbell

Editor’s note: Dennis and Jon played this game over two months ago. But we’ve had enough FOW and TY news (books, tourneys, etc) happen that we left this report in the stack for a while. Or, we’ll blame the courier pigeons that took the lazy route from the front, and stopped off for a nosh, then a holiday enroute to NDNG HQ

By Patrick S. Baker

The first phase of the Close Combat game franchise came to an end in 2000 with the fifth game in the series, Close Combat V: Invasion: Normandy. Business and management issues left the franchise’s future in doubt, with only three developers still at Atomic still working on it.

Then came the United States Marine Corps (USMC) to the rescue. Militaries worldwide have used “serious games” as training tools ever since the early 19^th Century when Kriegsspiel (wargame in German) was created for the Prussian Army. The American Military was impressed by the Close Combat games, especially the realistic physiological modeling. So, in 2003 the USMC reached out to Atomic to see about building a Close Combat game as a training aid.

In 2004 the USMC and Atomic partnership produced Close Combat: Marines: “A tactical decision-making simulation of modern warfare”, the game was released in the September 2004 issue of the Marine Corps Gazette. It was used as a tactical instructional tool for junior leaders. A civilian version of the game was released in 2004 as Road to Baghdad. This was the first post-World War Two entry in the franchise and the only one without Close Combat in the title.