Gaming

It has been one of the hottest summers ever for WW2 gamers. Battlefront deployed a full array of Late War books: the “transitional” Fortress Europe with all four armies on the Western/Russian front, the US D-Day and the incoming German Normandy focused one. At our club in Milan, we decided to play the D-Day scenarios in US D-Day book to “celebrate” both the 75^th anniversary of that fateful day and the starting of the Late War FOW season.

by Dennis ‘Matt Varnish’ Campbell

Wait what?  Ancients? Medievals?

I’ll be honest I had ZERO interest in wargaming this period until I started attending HMGS events a few years ago. Every single Cold Wars, Fall-In or Historicon had a lot of tables with ancients being played, and tournaments as well in scales such as 15mm, 25/28mm.

While my only games at the time were Flames of War and then later Team Yankee, I would still walk over and take a tonne of pictures and gawp at the nicely painted armies. What seemed crazy to me was that you could play just about anything and the rules covered it, for example you could have Egyptians vs the Ming Dynasty, Persians vs Aztecs.

As it turns out, my good friend Scott Roach (NDNG author Obsidian23) had boxes and boxes of ancients in his gaming basement, and a deal was struck. I would grab his 28mm Romans, and we could play Hail Caesar as we were already getting into Black Powder (both rulesets from Warlord Games). Then, however, he started talking about DBA, Impetus, To the Strongest, and at the HMGS events they were playing L’Art de La Guerre… Ugh.. what to pick?

By Tyler Stone

Images via Firelock Games

Stop me if this sounds familiar: reports state that an enemy fleet is forming for an impending attack. The reports are waved off; who would be audacious enough to attack a fleet in a sheltered harbor, especially when ambassadors are in peace negotiations? Even so, the attack materializes on the 7th day of the month, and confusion reigns. In the midst of the chaos, a heroic sailor mans a gun alone, while the ship burns around him. In the end, sixteen warships are left burning, capsized, or at the bottom of the harbor. Sunk along with them, is the pride of a nation.

“This war is not limited to the unfortunate territory of our country. This war is not over as a result of the Battle of France. This war is a world war. All the mistakes, all the delays, all the suffering, do not alter the fact that there are, in the world, all the means necessary to crush our enemies one day. Vanquished today by mechanical force, in the future we will be able to overcome by a superior mechanical force. The fate of the world depends on it.   I, General de Gaulle, currently in London, invite the officers and the French soldiers who are located in British territory or who might end up here, with their weapons or without their weapons, I invite the engineers and the specialised workers of the armament industries who are located in British territory or who might end up here, to put themselves in contact with me.”
Charles de Gaulles
Extract from BBC broadcast, 18th June 1940

NOTE the history is first, Formations, Units and Cards at the bottom

Reporting and photography by Troy A. Hill

We are live with Troy at Southern California’s Strategicon/Gateway Convention.

Troy talks with the crazy people running and playing in The Longest Day, a 24-hour-long Flames of War tournament. He also talks with Strategicon Events Chairman, the HMGS-PSW Convention chair about an upcoming convention, and with several independent game designers from the Pacific Southwest. Click the MORE tab to see links and photos for each.

Photos below:

Et Sans Résultat or better known as ESR is a Napoleonic ruleset that we’re devoting several stories to over the next few weeks. In this edition, we’ll be looking at one of the essential elements of the game. Minis!

Miniatures, of course, represent your army on the tabletop. In ESR a single stand represents an infantry battalion, a cavalry squadron, a formation commander, an artillery battery or a reformation area. The size and shape of the base and the miniatures mounted on the base specifically identify what the unit is.

As with all miniature war games, one of the early choices you must make is what scale will you play it in. Many games select the scale for you and don’t let you choose anything else. ESR offers the rules such that if you want to play with 6mm, 10mm, 15mm, 25-28mm or other scales it’s a snap. The quick reference sheets .

If you’ve read some of my articles about ESR (Et Sans Resultat) a Napoleonic ruleset, you might have noticed the amazing looking mat used in the pictures.

This mat is the “Classic Grasslands Mat” . It goes for $60 and it’s not some stretch of teddy bear fur. The mat is 5’x7′ in size (54×78?) and has 3 layers of colors to really give it that field of grass look.

Owl Central Games is fast becoming the new hot-spot for tabletop gaming in Central PA. Recently, they became the first Firelock retailer in the state, and I was happy to run a celebratory Blood & Plunder kick-off event!

Owl Central has been serving the Reading area gaming scene since it opened in 2015. Moreover, they have been in the ‘Magic: the Gathering’ online buy/sell business for another three years on top of that. The owner, Wes, began 2019 with a mission: he wanted to nurture a healthy tabletop scene in his shop. That’s where a few passionate individuals come in. Owl Central now boasts a pair of Firelock ‘Quartermasters’ and a ‘Sarge’ from Warlord games to run demos and organized play events in the store.

By Ian Birdwell

Team Yankee has told the story of two powerful sides arrayed against one another, on the one side US-aligned forces and on the other USSR-aligned forces.

Yet, between those two powers blocs are a host of neutral states attempting to navigate the whims of the two superpowers, one of my personal favorites being Austria who is in the current Team Yankee timeline and is already dealing with some problems.

If you look at the bottom right corner of the Firestorm: Stripes map, there are two little red territories including Salzburg on the Southeastern corner of the map.

However, the Austrian Army (Bundesheer) is one of the forces another being the Danish military, that has yet to be released and that we have expressly been shown has been invaded.

By Tom Gall

The Napoleonic era is a wonderful period to war-game, that covers roughly 1803-1815. As Napoleon rose to power in France after the chaotic revolution he stabilized the country, established a powerful army, and in many ways alarmed the noble houses of Europe. French Liberty? Not here! The era is defined by a series of coalitions generally pitting the United Kingdom and her allies vs the French and theirs that culminated at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 with Napoleon’s final defeat.

The tactics of the times would set the way battles would be fought all the way through the US Civil War. US General Winfield Scott, for instance, would largely copy the French field manuals for the US army to use. Grand tactical maneuvers and heroic deeds would win the day and let’s not forget the pretty uniforms.