This Old Guard: Refurbishing my Victrix 28mm Napoleonic Old Guard Chasseurs

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,

Covering Force – Narrative Scenario Play in World War Three Team Yankee

By Tom Burgess

One aspect of playing World War Three Team Yankee that many people enjoy is list building. Trying to design the most perfect list to take on all opponents in all mission is almost a hobby withing itself.  However commanders through history rarely ever get to “design” their force.

Instead, Commanders are generally are assigned units to accomplish a specified task. As much fun as it is to design a force and test it, it also can be very enjoyable to see how well you can do with a set force challenged to contest with specific historical conditions.

We are talking about playing historical scenarios rather than playing generated missions with designed forces.

Though World War Three Team Yankee is set in a fictional World War Three setting, Battlefront has done a great job including “historical” scenarios from this hypothetical war in their  World War Three Team Yankee books.

Black Powder: Battle of Chippawa BatRep

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 25th Infantry and a single Company of the 21st 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.

And the Army Goes Rolling Along – A World War III Team Yankee American – Book Review

By Tom Burgess

I am very excited about the impending release of the new World War III Team Yankee American book. That may surprise many who know me as I have only ever played Soviet and East Block type forces in Team Yankee so far. But the reality is that US forces were my first purchase for Team Yankee and I have quite a collection of US units still boxed and waiting to be built.

I only shifted to Soviets to help the force balance in my local gaming area. By now my Soviets are quite complete and its time for me to go full throttle into Americans for Team Yankee with this new book.

The World War III Team Yankee American book is a significant expansion from the preceding Stripes US Forces in World War III book. All the formations and support that were available to the US player in Stripes are also in the new book. In addition to these, the new book has added the M1A1 Armored Combat Team, M2 Bradley Combat Team, M3 Bradley Cavalry Troop, Combined Army (Heavy) Company, Combined Arms (Light) Company, and the Light Attack Company.

Some ideas to base your next 28mm army

The 28mm size, if you ask me, is the perfect balance between playability and modeling/painting. You can buy and assemble pretty good armies for any ruleset from ancient warfare to sci-fi skirmishing without investing too much money or time to paint them, with striking results. So, even if I prefer 15mm when it comes to competitive games and recreating full-scale battles, I often spend some time to paint and play 28mm miniatures.

However, on gaming tables, I equally often see very good painted miniatures with anonymous green bases. I think bases are so significant for the final look of an army (by the way, here are for Team Yankee, and ). 

Going Virtual: Gaming During COVID and Beyond

By Mitch Reed

We may hate to admit it but gaming is a social hobby, we may build and paint our models in isolation, but the reason why we do this is to meet up with fellow gamers and play the games we love. In the last few months, a pandemic has taken away our social outlet with conventions being canceled and gaming stores closed to gaming. Even as we slowly recover and open up our nations many gamers may be rightfully apprehensive to return to the table. So, we may be faced with a long period where we are deprived of the social aspect of our hobby.

Painting PSC 10mm Russians for NorthAG with Contrast paints

By Tom Gall

PSC’s new line of 10mm figures for Battlegroup: NorthAG is beginning the reach the hands of those who ordered. We’ve looked at in the past so let’s take some time to look at some of the hardware PSC makes for the game and paint it up.

, contains 10 T-64, gobs of infantry (>100), 10 BTR-60s, and 2 BDRM-2s. Everything comes on a sprue, so you’ll need to snip them off, and file a little excess as normal.

At 10mm scale, the first thing I noticed was the material, which isn’t hard plastic, but not exactly a soft plastic either. PSC calls it ultracast. It’s quite pliable, surprisingly so, bending a comparable metal or plastic gun barrel, you’d be looking at some amount of damage. This material impressively takes it no problem.

Putting the New American Options to work

By Chris Jackson

The new US book has been sent to the gaming stores and I was able to look at a copy, so after a long, anxious wait we can finally play with the American Army we have seen in news reports and grown to know and love.

Tanks that can swat anything in front of them like flies with near impunity, armored transport that can kill tanks and armored vehicles with the same ease they move across the battlefield.

Aircraft that kill from beyond the reach of most air defense systems, and other technology that allows the Americans to come and to dominate the battlefield like no one else can.

The downside to all of this high tech and nigh-invulnerable equipment is that it comes at a steep price. Even with the elevated points of the 2020 tournament season, a single platoon of M1A1 HC tanks could make up 60% of your points.