Warlord Games

by Dennis ‘Matt Varnish’ Campbell

Hey everyone, what’s going on? As if I didn’t need a new project, but I’ve jumped right into Black Seas, by Warlord Games. This is their 2nd naval game, hot on the heels of Cruel Seas, Black Seas takes place in the Age of Sail, 1770-1830, including the Napoleonic Wars.   With my good buddy Scott ‘Obsidian23′ Roach picking the British, I would once again be painting blue and playing the French, much like my Black Powder army. I’ve decided to use Warlord Games’ suggested French Navy paint set, with a few tweaks of course.

By Troy A. Hill

Brad at the Cast Dice podcast is fond of saying that we are in a gaming renaissance right now. Our choices for where to spend our hobby dollars and hobby time in the table-top gaming world have never been greater.

I’m crediting Warlord Games with a large selection of where I’m spending my hobby dollars and time now. They just won’t stop churning out the great games. Their latest, is no exception.

When I first began playing games from Warlord, I had no idea that within a two-year span I’d move from a single WWII game into:

Bolt Action, Konflict 47, Warlords of Erehwon, Hail Ceasar, SPQR, Black Powder, Cruel Seas and now their latest release, Black Seas, in such a short time. I’m so far behind on my painting, I’m not sure where to go next with all of these games.

We are live at Captain Chuck’s Comics in Essex Maryland for a great Bolt Action event. We talk to the TO Matt Karpus, the event winner Steve Murga and the Carroll’s!

By Troy A. Hill

Southern California (SoCal) isn’t a location that often sees representatives of table-to gaming companies unless they’re homegrown. With major conventions like KublaCon in San Francisco and the Las Vegas Open (LVO) seven and five-hour drives away from the Los Angeles basin, SoCal often misses out on major hobby events.

That changed this week when the co-author of , and Warlord Games North American Demo Team grand-poobah Jon Russell paid SoCal a visit to launch the new Korean supplement and line of miniatures for Bolt Action.

Hosted by the (Pacific South West chapter), Russell visited three stores in the greater Los Angeles area Friday and Saturday, followed by a visit to San Diego in the extreme southern end of California.

By Tom Gall

Grey for Now Games has released version 2 of their Samurai skirmish game . The game was previously published by Warlord games but has now gone indie and as part of that moved ushered in version 2.

In this article, we’ll explore what Graham Davey, the author, has modified. We’ll look at why upgrade to version 2, and if you’re new to the game we’ll look at what it takes to get started.

The game takes place in the second half of the 15th century in Japan up until Tokugawa’s victory some hundred years later in 1603.  During the time it was an age of strife with many a minor warlord battling each other over now forgotten squabbles.  For a skirmish game such as Test of Honour, this provides a perfect setting.

by Troy A. Hill

SciFi/Fantasy and WWII have been gateway games for many gamers, myself included.

The routine seems to be finding a fantasy or SciFi miniatures game. Then moving into historicals through WWII (or WWIII) games. That’s where the time-space vortex opens a rift in the gaming table and sucks a gamer down into the eye of the storm that is historicals.

I’m just one such example. Fantasy in the 28mm scale brought me into the hobby. Then I moved into WWII gaming in both 15mm and 28mm. Now I’m beginning my dive back into the trenches historical gaming scene that doesn’t include tanks nor airplanes. So many games, and so little experience. We’ve got ancients, dark ages, medieval, ACW, ECW, or that little general who conquered most of Europe…

With the way many remember the Korean War today or have learned about it in school or through hearing about it from others, America was nearly single-handedly holding the line against the Communist North. In truth, Great Britain and it’s Commonwealth had a massive presence, with three full brigades exhibiting tactical brilliance and heroism that is still studied today. This article will examine the British and Commonwealth forces present in the Bolt Action – Korea book, and examine what has evolved in their units, rules, and Selectors since the end of World War II.

For anyone who has played British or Commonwealth forces in Bolt Action, the special rules available will be familiar. The same, in fact; you have the two core special rules of Bombardment (rolling two dice per unit for preliminary bombardment and picking the best result) and Artillery Support (free Artillery Forward Observer). You also have the option between five National Characteristics, choosing one. This is the point where you should start constructing the framework for your army, as these can define the way your force fights, and even the way your units are filled out.

By Mitch Reed

Many of you probably know all about the upcoming Bolt Action Korea book from . The new book moves Bolt Action into a new conflict which also expands the game considerably. Not to be ignored the folk at Warlord are also bringing Blood Red Skies into this new era with its MiG Alley expansion due out in August. I have been playing with the jets for some time now I just love them.

by Tom Burgess

Warlord Games has released and within it, forces from the United States and United Nations figure prominently.  Warlord has managed to pack a tremendous variety of platoon options all using the United States generic reinforced platoon list as the baseline.

This is appropriate as so many of the United Nations countries that committed troops to the Korean effort were from armies that had largely been rebuilt and reequipped following World War II by the United States. Accordingly, many of these nations’ armies looked a lot like the US Army’s formations.

In addition to the generic reinforce platoon list, the United States and United Nations player can utilize period selectors that more accurately represent these forces at various stages of the war.  This is important because these forces elevated heavily from the initial unprepared, poorly equipped, and undermanned type units that the US rushed to Korean Peninsula to try to stem the initial North Korean push south.

By Jacob Shober

In a war which echoes even to this day, nearly the whole world had turned their eyes to the Korean Peninsula, and the overt and covert politics playing out.

It was a war which turned allies less than a decade after the end of the Second World War against each other. None was more jarring than the Chinese joining the fight on the side of their communist brethren in the north.

If one observed closely, however, one could see the waves and ripples of the political turmoil and war in China itself that stretched to before the start of WW II, with the two Sino Japanese wars, the Warlord Era, and the Chinese Civil War.

This resulted in the Chinese Communist Party taking control of the country, and presenting the unified force of the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army (PVA). This article will examine the differences between the fractured Chinese forces found in “Empire in Flames”, and the unified forces found in the book, as well as the new units and theatre selectors available to them.