Mass for the Masses: building cheap Spanish church terrain

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.

Marder III Ausf. H, Sd.Kfz. 138 – A Plastic Soldier Company Review

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.

Putting the New American Options to work

By Chris Jackson

The new US book has been sent to the gaming stores and I was able to look at a copy, so after a long, anxious wait we can finally play with the American Army we have seen in news reports and grown to know and love.

Tanks that can swat anything in front of them like flies with near impunity, armored transport that can kill tanks and armored vehicles with the same ease they move across the battlefield.

Aircraft that kill from beyond the reach of most air defense systems, and other technology that allows the Americans to come and to dominate the battlefield like no one else can.

The downside to all of this high tech and nigh-invulnerable equipment is that it comes at a steep price. Even with the elevated points of the 2020 tournament season, a single platoon of M1A1 HC tanks could make up 60% of your points.

Setting the Table – Selecting a Table Topper

By Tyler Stone

I recently finished up a collection of ‘Blood & Plunder’ terrain for demo games at my local game shop. I gleaned more than a few insights during the labor-intensive slog (tile grout makes better sand than actual sand does!) but I’d really like to start at the foundation; choosing a surface to put your terrain on.

Yeah, that’s right. Pour it on – I can take it!!

IPB Part II Attacking

In the last article, we discussed how a player can use the military technique of Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield (IPB) to enhance his chances of winning in Flames of War as the defender. This article continues that discussion by applying those same principles to the mission of an attacking player.

For those who have not read it, Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield is a task the planning staff of a unit performs immediately upon receiving a mission from their higher headquarters. It defines the size and scope of the battlefield, how the terrain and weather will affect the unit’s ability to perform their assigned mission, and what the enemy’s most likely and most dangerous courses of action will be.

Painting Canadian Infantry, the Proper Way

By Robert Kelly

follow up to :  and .

As I am all about Canadian subjects in gaming and modelling I could hardly wait for my Canadian infantry to arrive in the mail. In fact, I ordered three platoons.

I opened the blisters up with Matt Varnish looking on. We were both quite impressed with the inserted guide that showed the painted troops and how to base them. The moulding was for the most part quite good and the sculpts were of Battlefront’s usual high quality.

List build Like a Pirate: Making your Blood and Plunder Force

Avast ye mateys, once again Talk Like a Pirate Day is upon us; this buccaneer is going to tell you how to take the first steps in playing the game which commemorates this day every day, Blood and Plunder. I was shanghaied onto the B&P sloop for well over a year now, and I have shared some grog with the swashbucklers at .

Many of you have read about the game and some of you have even played it. I know a lot of folks are like scurvy dogs who see the names like Sea Dogs, Les Enfants Perdue, and Freebooter and get confused on how to actually buy a force for this game. To be honest is easier than walking the plank. With this article, you will learn the ropes of this game and be able to tell a mizzen mast from the poop deck.

When I first started playing this game I was able to use to build my force, however, the folks from Firelock starter their own that includes all of the new forces, including those from No Peace Beyond the Line. I will take you through this excellent force builder and talk a bit on how to build a list.

Plastic Soldier Company Sexton SP 25pdr Review

by Tom Burgess

Models provided by the

I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to build and review a box of the Plastic Soldier Company’s 15mm Sextons.  I have an all plastic Irish Guards Tank Battalion but had no fire support to go with this force. So this project would be a perfect fit.

This would be the third set of 15mm armoured vehicle models made by the that I have built.

Before these, I had built Soviet T-70s and German PzKw-IVHs. Both sets were very good and I was very excited to get started on these.

Painting Guide for US Armor circa 1990

by R. Elliott “122nd NYVI” on the NDNG forum  

Recently I was commissioned to paint up my buddy, Marc Densmore’s, Team Yankee, US vehicle collection. The horde included 40, M113 variants, two, M577s and 13, M1 Abrams’ variants. A little research indicated that the pattern was factory applied, which meant that it was going to have to be consistent on every vehicle… This was going to be challenging.

Painting Canadian M113, the proper way

By Robert Kelly

follow up to this article:  

The Canadian M113s had a unique and distinctive camouflage pattern. I might not be the best painter out there, but I always have the correct paint colours, cam patterns, and markings. I will now share my recipe so that you can make your Canadian M113s as accurate as possible using my simple air-brushing method (whether you have a quality airbrush or not and I don’t).
If you don’t have an airbrush, you can do the hand painted version using Vallejo paints (887 Brown Violet – also for uniforms, 830 Field Grey, and Matt Black with a bit of grey mixed in). These colours are a close match and we only started to airbrush our vehicles in the mid-80s anyway.