Gaming

By Tom Gall

There are a good number of quality WWII rulesets in existence, let’s explore some of these rules, point out what their strong/weak points are and compare what might draw you to one over the other.

The rulesets considered in this article are : by Battlefront, by Too Fat Lardies, by Warlord, by Plastic Soldier Company.

Each of these rules is generally company level actions with support, for the most part, feature individual models, and focus on the WWII era. All are D6 based. All have extra material that offer campaign experiences, lists, and flavor to feel like you’re been given command with a battle to win. All are either point costed and/or have a list building system which makes it easier to put together a game.

This week, we’ll look at two of the four: FOW and Battlegroup. The other two systems will follow in a later article.

As a Soviet player with tons of models, I have been patiently waiting for the Soviet Bagration book for . After getting a good look at this book, I will be making a lot of lists. Two songs I have found to match the energy and sheer amount of awesome coming out of this new Soviet Late War extravaganza have been my inspiration. The first one is Energia by The second is . Listen at your own risk. You may become a Communist.

By Tom Burgess

When Warlord expanded their Bolt Action campaigns in the Pacific to include Campaign: Mariana & Palau Islands I was ecstatic to see that they included coverage of the US Army in this campaign.

Though US Army Divisions serving in the Pacific far outnumbered the US Marine Divisions, addressing the US Army is always a second thought in Pacific wargaming if it gets any attention at all.

Kudos to Warlord for not leaving the US Army out on this book. One unit that I have always wanted to model, 2nd Platoon, Able Company, 1^st Battalion, 322^nd Infantry Regiment in the Battle, fought its first battle on Angular Island.

By Preston Jacob

Komerades! The long-awaited Soviet entrance to late war is finally here! With the upcoming release of the Bagration Soviet book. Soviet players are finally getting their first late-war book outside of Fortress Europe.

This covers the campaign in the east during 1944 as the Soviet army pushed the Germans back towards the west, taking back the land and territories claimed by the Wehrmacht from 1941 to 1943. As everyone knows, there was a serious big gun arms race between Germany and the Soviet Union, and we finally get to see some of the big guns seen in the Eastern front make their debut in this book, along with some command cards to upgrade them!

I’m sure players are excited for all the units and formations in the book, but I know I always look forward to the command cards as they open up more options for units and lists. Without further adieu, let’s get started!

By Tyler Stone

The crew over at just unveiled their ‘Ports of Plunder’ range of scenery. These affordable MDF kits are the result of a collaboration with , and have all of the quality the community has come to expect from 4Ground’s scenery. As I type this, my fellow TotS podcaster Glenn van Meter is working on assembling and reviewing a few of these excellent kits.

By Kreighton Long

Last week Warlord Games made the new book available for pre-order. This latest addition to their inventory of Bolt Action supplemental materials provides just over 150 pages of new content for fans of the 28mm World War Two skirmish game.

Focused on two campaigns in the South Pacific, this book attempts to provide engaging scenarios and unique unit and theater options for players representing the Japanese and United States combatants of the war.

The battles for the Marianas and Palau Islands all occurred during the summer and autumn of 1944, half a world away from the violent crescendos of the Normandy landings and Operation Market Garden in western Europe and Operation Bagration in eastern Europe.

By Tom Burgess

One of my major projects that I completed in 2019 was building an all-plastic German Mid-War East Front Panzer Grenadier force. And of course, what Mid-War German force can you have without Marders backing it up?

Unfortunately, Battlefront (BF) only offers the Marder III  in one version and in metal resin. Luckily the Plastic Soldier Company Panzer 38(t) kit has the option to build two Marder variants. So I ordered a box from my local game store, Hard Knox Games, to add to my force.

by Tom Burgess

My friend, Charles, and I continued on with our narrative gaming following the stories and scenarios from the World War Three Team Yankee British Book. In our last battle, A Squadron of the 2nd Dragoon Guards, the “Bays,” did little to thwart the Forward Detachment from the organic tank battalion of the 207th Motorized Rifle Division in a scenario we played a few weeks ago.

Following up on that success. the 207th Motorized Rifle Division has now committed the rest of its organic tank battalion against the mainline of the British 3rd Armoured Division.  This main attack is directed at the town of Shellerten defended by C Squadron of the 17th/21st Lancers, the “Death or Glory Boys.”

Like our last game. the forces were pretty much set. The scenario is effectively a modified Hold the Line mission. Charles would continue to play his British while I play the Soviets.

In this battle, the Soviets would have to advance across very open fields towards the north end of Shellerten. Just to the north of the town, there is a factory. This would provide the British and advanced position to try to break up the Soviet assault. Further back,  the main town would prove a mainline position.  To the east and the west of Shellerten, there was a small copse of woods that could serve as a good ambush position into the flanks of the Soviet advance.

The British would have some hastily emplaced minefields and a one platoon size ambush.  However, they would be hampered by Deep Reserves requiring most of their heavy hitters to stay have board initially.

Yesterday at D6 games in Rochester Mn we held what was now our second Flames of War tournament during the pandemic. Are we nuts?  Possibly.

The Rochester area is where the Mayo Clinic is located. The medical institution is one that pulls in quite a number of visitors from the outside world. The locals groan about it, yet the term “Destination Medical Center” is an apt label.

Rochester has had a mask mandate even before the state of Minnesota issued such orders. No matter where you stand on mask mandates, they are a fact of current life in our area and a critical piece in being allowed to run a tournament.

By Paolo Paglianti

For ages, 15mm soldiers have been in metal, as many plastic versions of the soldiers were too flexible, with fewer details and of the wrong scale (1:72). Just a few years ago we began to see 15mm miniatures in hard or soft plastic, specifically for WW2 setting from Battlefront and Plastic Soldier Company (PSC). Now, for “ancient-medieval” Simon Hall’s set of rules, Mortem et Gloriam.

(By the way, ).

The first armies available are Imperial Roman and Gothic barbarian hordes, together with Sassanid and Hunnic: quite a good start for the later Imperial age. Could we miss the opportunity to check them out? So, let’s open the “Pacto starter armies” to see how good they are.