By NDNG_Dane

Feature photo from Wikicommons, by 

The Montagnards are a tribal population dwelling in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. The name “Montagna rd” was first used by the French Colonial Forces in Indochina, referring to the indigenous population of the Central Highland region of Vietnam.

The French Experience

During the Indochina War, which began on 19 December 1946, and lasted until 1 August 1954. Fighting between French forces and their Viet Minh opponents in the south, led by Ho Chi Minh and the People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) led by Vo Nguyen Giap.  On V-J Day, 2 Sep 1945, Ho Chi Minh had proclaimed the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV).

By NDNG_Dane and Glenn Goddard

Everyone loves the Dutch! So says Austin Powers anyway.  Anyone who has been to the Netherlands knows that the Dutch language seems to be half German and half English.  Apparently, so is their military.  Want to have the power and armor of the Leo 2? You get ’em. Want the staying Gone to Ground while shooting TOW missiles that the American M-901 gets with the Hammerhead rule?  You get that too.

By Tom Burgess

With Flames of War moving back to its Mid War desert roots, this seemed to make this year a good time to for me to build an 8th Army force to oppose my existing DAK German force. Even better, from my perspective, was that I’d be able to do this new force, even the infantry, in plastic. The announcement of this caught me off-guard as I recalled an earlier WWPD interview with Pete that indicated that Battlefront was steering away from plastic infantry. This was due to the fact a hard plastic infantry sprue took up the same time and effort as three hard plastic tank sprues. So I was caught quite by surprise with these new figures becoming available and I was excited that I’d get to move forward with an all plastic Battlefront 8th Army force.

By Aussie Scott (Obsidian23)

Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!

A focus on the Australain Army as part of the ANZAC Brigade

(To all my Kiwi cousins, sorry you’ll have to do your own!)

Since my move from Australia to Canada, I have avoided doing Australians for Flames of War or any other of Battlefront’s game systems, NAM and Team Yankee. However, with the new release of NAM and now the Free Nations to include an ANZAC brigade, not to mention the continued hounding of Rob Kelly to do ‘Aussies” I have finally succumbed to peer pressure.

When I first looked at the Free Nations’ ANZAC Brigade, I was pleasantly surprised at the way it was introduced into the NATO construct under a British Division. Which in reality would make practical sense. Although, historically over the past 20 or so years, Australia has been more closely connected with the USMC in the Pacific (Hawaii) than any other nation.  That notwithstanding, our ties to mother England and the Commonwealth remain strong. So with the well-written introduction of an ANZAC formation into the world of Team Yankee I will relent and finally do Australians. Two key factors have helped me make this decision, firstly the thought of an ANZAC Brigade bounding around the European Countryside and the fact that I started serving in the Australian Defence Force in the mid 80s.

So Mates, let’s see what we have!

By NDNG_Dane and Robert Kelly

photos courtesy National Archives Canada & Bob McBride

History of the 4 CMBG

by NDNG_Dane

In 1951, Canada contributed to NATO by forward stationing a brigade in West Germany.  The brigade was originally stationed in Soest, and was composed of over 6,000 soldiers.  Additionally, there were two brigades in Canada identified as rapid deployment brigades to bring Canadian Forces in Germany to Division strength.  The 4^th Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group (4 CMBG), and it remained forward deployed in Germany until it was disbanded in 1993.

By NDNG_Dane and Christian Caron

History of the Free French in Germany by NDNG_Dane

Upon the defeat of Nazi Germany during World War II, the victorious Allies asserted their joint authority over Germany. The four major allied powers divided Germany into four occupation zones, creating what became collectively known as “Allied-occupied Germany”. This division was ratified at the Potsdam Conference (17 July – 2 August 1945).

The French zone of occupation, Troupes d’Occupation en Allemagne, was in the south-west of Germany, closest to the French border. The zone was defined as the southwest Länder of Württemberg, Baden, the Pfalz, and the Saar. Subsequently, on August 10, 1949. The French military forces stationed in Germany were renamed as Forces Françaises en Allemagne (FFA) with a new Headquarters in Baden-Baden.

We are back on the road at the “Trial By Fire” FoW Tournament hosted by the great folks at ” in Chantilly VA.

Segment 1: A chat with Brian “Bocage” Sullivan from Battlefront with Mitch and Ed Sales from the NDNG team

Segment 2: Mitch sits down with Tim McClelland from the Pittsburg crew and Ben Gobel talks about his return to the game

Segment 3: A gaming rarity; we talk to James and Jo Copeland, a husband and wife FoW team

While the membership NATO has grown since 1985 (15 members to 29 today) the mission and role of the alliance is just as relevant today as it was when first formed in 1949. So far has given us the forces of the major nations of the alliance and now it is time for the smaller nations to enter in the game. While these nation’s may have smaller and less well-equipped armies than the major players, their commitment to NATO should not be overlooked. They do play a major role supporting NATO’s mission.

I know I’m late to the party on this topic, but I finally got in a couple of games with the Fog of War cards.

As a teacher, I use games such as Flames of War in my Military History course. 

Objectives are placed and platoons assigned. These games help the students learn about different equipment types and generic tactics. In addition, the games help get the students engaged in the lessons and make my Military History course fun.

One of my students, Malcolm, is an avid Flames of War player. He picked up a half-painted army from his brother and is working to finish painting it.

Today we take a look at how Battlefront’s Latest addition the mid-war desert books, Armoured Fist, changes the tournament scene. It’s complicated.

One of the most talked about and biggest changes that come with Armoured Fist is actually something that affects the Desert Rats book. The hotly contest Scout Tanks card has been changed, making the cost two points for each platoon using it, and the card must be applied to every platoon it is viable for. This is a huge, much-needed change.

Battlefront set the point cost for the card too low on the first go around, but, I will give them credit for admitting their mistake and fixing it. This change, however, will kill the Stuarts swarm of 50+ tanks.