To The Strongest, a board game with miniatures

We’ve recently seen how : a deep simulation for ancient/medieval warfare, with a manual written in a precise, . Now it’s time to go easier, with a fresh, modern set of rules you can read and understand without Britannica encyclopedia support, and be able to play at a decent level in a couple of hours – and we also had a chat with Simon Miller, the author behind the rules. Time to have a look at To

The Honved at Home: Hungarians of Fortress Budapest Spoiled!

By Ian Birdwell

By mid-1944, the Red Tide sweeping across the plains of eastern Europe had finally begun to lap the borders of Hungary.

By August, Romania had switched sides, Hungary was being invaded, and it looked like Germany wouldn’t quite be able to get everything under control.

The fighting in Hungary represents one of my favorite periods in WW2. It’s the junction of almost every nation fighting in Europe. Hungarian infrastructure was destroyed by US and British bombing after all. Taking center stage was the fighting in and around Budapest.

This is the setting for warlord’s latest theater book for in Fortress Budapest.

Now as far as this review goes, I’m going to be taking you all through the broad strokes of the Hungarian section of the book. I’ll go through the new units added into the Hungarian arsenal and the brand new theater selectors able for the Honved!

BA: Fortress Budapest Reviewed and Spoiled

By Troy A. Hill

Images courtesy of and ©Osprey Publishing Ltd, Warlord Games 2019

I have to admit that I had only a casual sideline historical interest in Europe’s eastern front in WWII. To me, Hungarians and Romanians were always the armies of minor nations that gave the Germans some “cheaper” allies to play in campaigns or tournaments depending on which game system I was playing. How wrong I was.

Thanks to taking the challenge of reading and reviewing new Fortress Budapest Campaign book for Bolt Action, I have a new appreciation of just how important this section of the late war period was to Hitler’s war machine, and why he and Stalin invested so much time, blood and resources into battles that lead the Red Army to conquer Hungary.

BAR: Batailles de l’Ancien Régime

to its fans is a great horse and musket game for the Seven Years War. This is approximately the years 1740-1763. The war itself started in 1754 and lasted until 1763. As was with the times in Europe it was turbulent with many factions and thus a good topic for action on the tabletop. For those of us within the United States, we know this war as the French and Indian War when the young George Washington was a junior officer with the British Army.

This set of rules is more for Europe, and the author Bill Protz has another set of rules specifically for the French and Indian Wars called

Let’s talk about BAR, what makes it fun and why it might be the game you’re looking for. This period in history has much to offer. Across Europe the political map was complex and the variety of forces involved and their fickle loyalties offer many a what if as well as historical material to plan a game.

Test of Honour –The Best $50 Game You are Not Playing!

by Tom Burgess

has become one of my favorite games over this past year. I was immediately drawn to it as I’ve always been a big fan of Akira Kurosawa’s Samurai movies, but a year’s worth of gameplay with it has greatly heightened my appreciation for Test of Honour as a fast and exciting skirmish game.

This is especially impressive as skirmish games as a wargame genre are not normally my forte. This made me wonder why I was not seeing more of Test of Honour being played if it was a game system that could get a non-skirmish guy like me so enthralled with it.

My guess is that many people just have not really taken a good look at it or maybe have not managed to get in a demo game. My hope is that this article encourages some players to consider trying the game and hopefully to seek out a demo game.  So where to start…..?

Bolt Action: DAK Army Part 1

by Troy A. Hill (Photos by the author, graphics courtesy of Warlord Games)

I’ve managed to get my US Bolt Action army into a playable state that I’m not embarrassed by. I do still need to finish my various vehicles for it (a few are still in boxes).

My sell-off of models from my previous games garnered me enough hobby dollars to hit up my Friendly Local Game Store (FLGS) for a new box from Warlord. Combine this with the new Western Desert book for Bolt Action, with some additional forces, and I’ll be good for the upcoming Duel in the that No Dice No Glory is sponsoring this February at Orccon in Los Angeles.

Crescent Root 28mm Series 1 Hybrid Buildings Review

Guest post from Jorg- photos by the author

Originally posted to

I recently received a few of the new to fill out my town collection (All Crescent Root MDF). I ordered the buildings online and they arrived in their normal timely fashion (usually less than ten days). As with all Crescent Root buildings, you order each building ala carte. The new set just adds more buildings to their middle east building line. The big difference is that these are not all MDF, but a hybrid of other materials (I’m guessing laser cut plastic and resin, with paper and MDF as appropriate).

Why You Should Be Playing Blood and Plunder

By Mitch Reed

What is

It is a 28mm skirmish game that takes place during the early age of pirates which is called the . During this time, the British and French fought a war in the Caribbean against the Spanish. Both the French and British enlisted the aid of independent contractors to help them in the fight and became what we call pirates or buccaneers. While much of pirate lore is told in works of fiction; the truth behind this that this was an actual historical war that lasted for almost 130 years and was not contained in just the New World. While I butchered the above history, do not fear, both of the books for B&P come with an in-depth history that will set you straight.

BA 101: Beginning Bolt Action

By Troy A. Hill

Images from Warlord Games, or by the author

Well, I took the plunge recently into a new game system. Gamer-Crack got hold of me again.

I’ve been looking for a new WWII system for a while, and I was hesitant to go back to a 28mm system after abandoning Warhammer Fantasy (WHFB) during its dark-era.

But, I wanted to find a system that would come equipped with a fairly stable player base in my part of the world (Southern California). Outside of Flames of War (FOW), is the next most popular WWII miniatures game. And it has a tournament scene. Double Win for that.

Special Guests at my first Bolt Action Game

The first game I played, hosted by a few of our HMGS-PSW gents,  included a “objective” of Col. Klink and Sgt. Schultz. Seems those two had gotten lost near the Eastern Front. The Soviets were tasked with capturing or killing them. The German players had to recover them. That led to many poor attempts at German accents for quotable Hogan’s Heroes lines – I know NOTHink! – being tossed about like a live hand-grenade.