“I used to say of Napoleon that his presence on the field made the difference of forty thousand men.”  – Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington

By Patrick S. Baker

Battles of Napoleon: A Construction Set (BoN) was developed by Chuck Kroegel and David Landrey of Tactical Design Group (TDG) and released by Strategic Simulations, Inc (SSI) in 1988. BoN was the last of twelve serious war games developed by TDG and marketed by SSI. On a note, SSI arguably produced the first “serious war game” for the microcomputer (read personal computer), Computer Bismarck, in 1980.

BoN was a turn-based strategy game, where players would take control of either French or Allied armies during the Napoleonic Wars and make decisions on movement, formations, and tactics. The game incorporated various factors such as weather, terrain types, and troop morale and training to simulate the complexities of real battles.

Today we have Eric Hansen the designer of Blood & Crowns, a new game about the 100-Years War from Firelock Games. We talk about the game and the work involved in the design process.

Join Glenn, Tom and new regular Garrett Swader as they discuss all news Blood and Plunder related. They are joined by guest start Niguel Vega for a supersized episode. The Crew discuss Historicon, Adepticon, and the summer of plunder’s action.

Find the Podcast Here!

By Erich Goebel

List building in Blood & Plunder (and any wargame) can be one of the most intimidating facets of learning a new game and delving into competitive and focused, serious play. Blood & Plunder also features over 100 different factions to play under seven umbrella nationalities with fantastic nuance and differences that give each a unique flavor to play and test. These numbers can be overwhelming, as one flips through the one core book and three expansion books available to compare list options.

Luckily, the online force builder tool is utterly amazing and is actually fun and convenient to use.

By Troy A. Hill

On 12-13 August, this Hoosier (aka, Indiana native) convinced his wife to let him travel the seven-hour trip up to Hamilton Ontario, and participate in my first-ever Kings of War tournament. Hosted by Black Knight games, the two-day, five-round tourney had players from New York, as well as many parts of Ontario.

This particular tourney wasn’t just my initiation to Kings of War (KOW) on a competitive level, but also my first experience playing under the constraints of a chess clock. I was worried that I’d face melt-down brain as I watched the seconds tick by, struggling with analysis paralysis.

Editor’s note: This week David takes a look at how the hobby of TT Wargaming helped him through a tough emotional time. In this story, he reminds us that our games are not just about the counters, the figures, the little toy soldiers, but about the people across the table from us. The hobby can be community as well. And that can help us all.

By David Garvin

On the 4th of July this year, my mother died. She lived her last days at a hospice near the shores of the Bay of Quinte in eastern Ontario, Canada. Almost as if on cue after her passing, a pair of CF-188 Hornets of the Royal Canadian Air Force flew overhead as they conducted a series of touch-and-goes at nearby 8 Wing at Astra, Ontario. A fitting tribute, especially how much my mother loved going to the base to watch the air shows.

Personally, I was at my mother’s side in her last days, being able to visit with her while she was still lucid and able to ensure that her spiritual needs were fulfilled and being able to pray in her presence, finishing with an Angelus for her less than an hour before her death.

By Tom Burgess,

Henry Turner continues to amaze with the volume of STL files he creates for 6mm wargamers.  He truly is the master of 6mm scale rank and file STL file creation.  His latest effort focuses on the armies that fought the Battle of Waterloo.  The Kickstarter for “Europe Asunder Waterloo” is open now and remains open until September 9th, 2023.

The figures that Henry Turner has created in 6mm are simply astonishing in the level of detail they provide.  I love that Henry creates these STL files in such a way that they print directly from the 3D printer build plate with minimal, and in most cases, no supports needed.  There are very few supports that need to be trimmed off of the final prints.

Today we have John Chang the designer of Black Powder Red Earth a 28mm ultra-modern tactical skirmish game. We talk about the game and the design process the developers went through to get the game to market.

Dear HQ, are you seriously asking to kill an Elephant with an Elefantino gun? Yours, Italian at front without an 88. 

By Paolo Paglianti

Oops, we did it again! NoDiceNoGlory took part in the most important Flames of War event of the world, as we did in 2022. Each year, the European Team Championship is the moment where the most passionate and strong FOW players meet with their national teams. No easy battle, as here you find the best of the best – and not only from Europe, as New Zealand and US Teams also join the party. An amazing long weekend where I met tons of wonderful people with the same passion for wargames and lots of fun.

By Jim Naughton

A BMP for ALL SEASONS – the BMP-1P

Nordic Forces had a pequena sorpressa [little surprise] when I first read it. The first faction in the book is the Finns, and after shaking my head about a Finnish 1985 tank with KONTAKT-1 ERA I found the ‘Finnish’ version of the BMP-1. No missile, but upgradeable to the 9K111 Fagot (gotta love Soviet names; it means BASSOON) or in Western parlance, AT-4 SPIGOT. The picture was spot on. BMP-1P.