Warlord Games

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.

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 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 Kreighton Long

This past weekend the hosted CYBËR WÅRS 2020 giving attendees a virtual convention experience that will hopefully help alleviate some of the pent up pressure to geek out after months of closed shops and social distancing.

Throughout the CYBËR WÅRS weekend over a dozen panels took place over Zoom with interviews of movers and shakers in the wargaming community. During one such panel representatives from came together for a 2-hour conversation including some sneak peeks at upcoming releases and works-in-progress over at Warlord HQ.

By Kreighton Long

As the pandemic continues to dominate our news feeds and our minds I’ve been trying to focus on the future and how exciting it will be to attend club days and tournaments.

Warlord Games is doing its part to ramp up my excitement with the planned publication of their second D-Day Campaign Book with nearly two hundred pages focusing on the Anglo-Canadian Sectors from Gold, Sword, and Juno Beaches to the capture of Caen and the German defeat at the Falaise Pocket.

As you can expect from Warlord, this book contains new historical scenarios, units, and theater selectors.

Look for Bolt Action: Campaign: D-Day: British and Canadian Sectors to be released this coming Autumn. With the disruptions from the pandemic, Warlord has not put an official release date on it yet but indicate they hope to have it out potentially in October.

by Troy A. Hill

The Covid-19 pandemic is having both deleterious and beneficial effects on the Table Top Miniatures hobby. From missed conventions and abrupt halts, then sputtering starts to in-person gaming at Friendly Local Gaming Stores (FLGSs), the pandemic has really rocked the table-top gaming industry back on its heels.

But, I’m seeing a trend on many of the social media platforms: either new gamers are entering the hobby, or existing gamers are picking up new armies, or new games to try. One area is in the Napoleonic gaming world. I’ve seen several “New to the hobby, where do I begin?” posts just in the forums and pages with Warlord Games.

I’m in that same boat, and I’m happy to share my trials and tribulations, so any gamers jumping into the great unknown of Napoleonics can learn from my mistakes.

In this piece, I’ll share what I learned about researching, and the models I’ve begun with. I’ll also include images of the Warlord British Line Infantry models, and the process I went through assembling and painting them. You might want to read the image captions separately from the text of the main piece.

by Dennis ‘Matt Varnish’ Campbell

Everyone has that model or unit that is just… well… it’s not your best work. For my Napoleonic French army in 28mm, that unit is my battalion of Old Guard. Here is the story of how they are my worst unit and how I fixed the situation

First of all, in preparation for a big game of a while back, I had decided that I needed an Elite unit to back up my glorious Line infantry, and so painted all 24 figures in one day.  Naturally, the plan was to come back later and re-work them.. so its very basic.. main colours then a wash over the whole model with GW Nuln oil. My pot of Nuln Oil was bad so that it left pools of white residue everywhere and a super gloss finish.

I still used them for the game.  On my way back, I had to slam on my brakes for some lady in a white SUV who cut me off, and I could HEAR my boxes of miniatures in my trunk tipping over.  I could only imagine the carnage. Almost every single model that had rifles facing forwards were broken, and I had to re-glue so many bayonets, that I only used them in one other game after that,

By Ron Winkler

As the Covid 19 quarantine continues, I decided it was time for another solo game using the rules. Continuing with the War of 1812, I selected the Battle of Chippawa as a game scenario. Again, I used my 15mm figures and Osprey’s excellent Niagara 1814 book as a reference for forces and battlefield maps.

Based on information in the book I rated regular units on both sides equal in quality in terms of Special qualities having First Fire, Elite 4+, and Reliable ratings. However, two of the regular US units 25^th Infantry and a single Company of the 21^st Infantry as small and tiny respectively because of their size which of course affected their Stamina rating. The other regulars on both sides were standard in size.  US and British artillery had equal qualities as did the Light Dragoons on both sides.  Both cavalry units were tiny in size.

By: Ron Winkler

After several weeks of lockdown occupied mainly with painting my accumulated inventory of figures, I felt the need to try a solo wargame. Since I haven’t had much practice with I decided on the Battle of North Point scenario in the book using my 15mm inventory of 1812 US and British Napoleonic figures.

The scenario came from the Black Powder main rule book page 144. The first picture on the page shows Continental Unit uniforms from the Revolutionary War. Subsequent pictures depict 1812 uniforms for both sides. The battle map shown displays all units deployed in line at the start of the battle. I decided to have the British march down the road then deploy for an attack to add a little variation.

With some adjustments, I was able to assemble units for both sides as provided in the scenario. Because I was using 15mm figures I felt using centimeters instead of inches for movement and firing was appropriate. Also, having no game table, I converted the dining room table for use with the consent of the WAR OFFICE (wife).

By Troy A. Hill

As I write this, the world, including the gaming world, has screeched to a halt. Covid-19 has crippled activities the world over. Gamers, like all others not in essential industries, are being told the shelter in place, and avoid social contact to stop the pandemic.

For gamers, from this tragic time, arises a golden opportunity. The pile of lead, resin and plastic shame in our hobby dens can finally be addressed. I’ve begun a small dent in my own pile of shame, finishing up some DAK and Italy campaign Germans for Bolt Action. I’ve also got most of my Demo-Kit for (BRS) in various shades of paint awaiting decals and final matte spray.

Fortunately, my copy of Air Strike! appeared in my post box before the order for social distancing came into effect. Now that I’ve had a chance to flip through it and give it a good read, I want to take the opportunity to address the idea of whether the book is a good entry point into the game for a new player.