By Tom Burgess

Motivation to finish models when you are facing a huge backlog of miniatures can be daunting. It has been for me over the years and I had to come up with a system to keep ahead of all the new stuff I was buying. I do buy a lot of kit from Battlefront each year.

Even before the COVID impact on 2020, I resolved to complete 365 teams from my huge backlog of Flames of War, Team Yankee, and ‘Nam boxes. As a means to motivate myself to chew through that backlog, years ago I started keeping a log and posting it on the WWPD and then the No Dice No Glory forums when I finished models. It always felt good to post pictures of what I had completed and to mark them done on my tracking spreadsheet.

By Kreighton Long

No World War Two military incorporated camouflage as extensively as Germany. Most rivet-counters/armchair historians can eyeball camouflaged German infantry and reliably tell you what branch of the German armed forces the camo-clad trooper served.

This is especially true for the Waffen SS. From their first actions in Poland in 1939 through the fall of Berlin in 1945, the SS was equipped with camouflage uniforms that visually set them apart from the Heer and Luftwaffe ground troops.

Unfortunately for tabletop wargamers, painting the different camouflage patterns of the Waffen SS can be an intimidating challenge. Personally, I held off painting my first SS infantry for years after entering the hobby due to a lack of self-confidence.

NDNG BattleVault Episode 14 – New Ideas for Building the Flames of War and Team Yankee Community

By: Ron Winkler

Although game rooms in other areas of the country may be open, California game rooms are still under lockdown. Consequently, I felt it was time for another solo game just to keep my wrists loose for rolling dice. The choice this time was the Battle of Quatre Bras using Snappy Nappy rules.

Although the rules recommend an infantry stand represents 2000 men, cavalry 750, and a single gun 24 guns a player is allowed to vary from these recommendations. Since my 15mm figures are mounted on a 40mmx30mm stand with eight infantry in double rank and 3 Cavalry in single rank, I decided to have a stand represent 1000 infantry, 375 cavalry, and 12 guns but kept the unit size as recommended at 2-3 stands for infantry, 2 for cavalry and 1 for artillery. Overall, it made the forces a bit larger in appearance.

By Howard West

I started playing in 2016 and attended my first tournaments in 2017. I had been playing for several years earlier and have been playing other miniatures games since the mid-seventies.

My first Team Yankee army was British and really enjoyed playing that army and decided to take it to two tournaments. In these tournaments, I faced five NATO opponents and one Warsaw PAC opponent. I played against two West German, two British, one American, and one Soviet opponent. At those two tournaments, the mix of armies entered was about 60-70% NATO vs the Warsaw Pact. Also at that time, the Oil Wars and Free Nations books had not been released.

Soon after playing in those two tournaments, one of the gamers at our local store put his partially painted Soviets up for sale and I scooped them up for a great price and had the basis for a decent starting Soviet Army. Fifty tournament games later I’m writing this article.

We welcome Sean back to show!  Sean and I interview Forrest Harris from Knuckleduster Miniatures to talk about his old west Kickstarter called Gunfight Royale.

By Robert Kelly

I have been going to Copenhagen for years now and always wanted to visit this museum. Unfortunately, it burned to the ground a few years back, so I had to wait for it to be rebuilt.  Then it was closed due to Covid-19, but fortunately, it had re-opened when I found myself in Copenhagen for a couple of days in September of this year. Much like an iceberg, most of the museum is built underground with the exception of the entrance and the canteen.  This was intentional they told me and I think the effect is striking. To me, it looks like the conning tower of a submarine.

It is set up very similar to the Occupation Museum in Aarhus, which I described in my previous article. Instead of getting a coded set of “papers” you receive a receiver to allow you to listen to the interactive displays.

When I get a new army book from our friends at Battlefront, I really like to try it out as soon as possible at my club in Milan. Since we are still under lockdown, it’s almost impossible and unsafe to meet and play in the real world, so we decided to do a match with the new Bagration German book army and its natural enemy Bagration Soviet using the PC/Mac digital game Tabletop Simulator.

By Kreighton Long

The morning dew glistens, reflecting the light of the dawning sun. A nondescript crossroad in the countryside is quiet for now. The day before, a farmer moved livestock along the dirt roads. Today, officers and NCOs hasten soldiers towards a fatal encounter. Under the cover of darkness, British paratroopers jumped out of soaring aircraft as flak exploded around them, lighting the sky.

Throughout the night the paratroopers moved through the darkness, slowly gathering more and more men into their merry bands. A few small vehicles roll out of gliders to the delight of the Red Devils. Some miles away, a German commander receives reports of British paratroopers landing and maneuvering in his area of responsibility.

Looking down at his map, he guesses at the paratroopers’ objective, a town labeled on the map as “Colline de L’église”. As reports continue to come into the German headquarters, the officer takes the initiative and dispatches what men he has available to the crossroads hoping to stall the British advance to enable him to organize a stronger defense of the town. 

Happy 2021! The “Tails-Men” are back to talk all about their favorite games from Firelock.  With a special guest; Mike Tunez!