Battleground 1983 – A Review of Henry Turner’s New 3D Soviet Motostrelkovy Files

 

By Tom Burgess,

If you know me…you know I have been very excited about what 3D printing and how it is revolutionizing the wargaming hobby.  If not,  you can check out an article I wrote about it .  One of the things I said in that article that would revolutionize the miniature wargaming hobby would be independent miniature designers being able to offer products through venues like  Patreon and Kickstarter. One such independent designer who has been at it for quite a while with a good bit of success is Henry Turner. Henry, based in the UK, has done very will with is 1:600 sailing ship range, his 6/15mm American Civil War and 6/15mm Napoleonic Wars, and now a 10mm/15mm/28mm Modern “1983” Warsaw Pact line.

Review: Oak & Iron Expansion Deck Vol1

The developers from Oak & Iron went right back to work on how they can improve their game as COVID-19 shut down most of the country. Normally the shuttering of local game stores would put game improvements on hold since no one is playing. However, the team at Firelock looked at how they can leverage technology and allow players to play this brand-new game in a safe environment. The Firelock team leveraged online “sandbox” platforms to allow players to enjoy the game despite being locked down and got to see what needed tweaking and what the community wanted to see added to the game.

Review: Verdun 1916 Steel Inferno

Many of our readers know that I am fascinated by the Great War, it was an event that changed the world unlike any other and when the guns fell silent in 1918 society, maps, and military thought were almost unrecognizable from how they looked in 1914.

This passion has led me to help develop a bunch of games that cover the Great War. Back in January I caught a glimpse of a game called Verdun 1916 Steel Inferno (V1916SI) by the French gamers at the Fellowship of Simulations. I was impressed as most gamers are with the sheer beauty of the game and I made sure I was the first backer when the project hit Kickstarter on 21 February, the 104th anniversary of the start of the battle.

Panzer Korps Review

Recently Manny Granillo from Hoplite-Research (HR-Games) contacted us about his divisional level World War two miniatures game called . It is a game that none of us here at NDNG ever played and we were excited when Manny sent us a copy of his rule set that just celebrated its 10-year anniversary. Besides the basic rules, HR-Games has a plethora of campaign, scenario and nation specific books that not only cover every combatant of WW2, but also other conflicts such as the Great War and contemporary battles.

A Review Battlefront’s SU-25 Frogfoot Boxed Set

By Tom Burgess

When the WWIII Team Yankee US nationals point levels went to 120 points this year, I was a bit beside myself on how I was going to expand my Soviet collection. At 100 points it already was huge and filling up my ground unit transport cases.

So I decided to go “vertical” and buff up my air support for my Soviets. I already had two of the older resin SU-25s that Battlefront offered previously and a friend offered me a set of the new Battlefront plastic SU-25s () at a price that I could not pass up. Since I now had both the older new sets, I thought it might do be nice to a bit of a combination review and comparison.

Battle Rides – Looking at the SdKfz-251/C from Battlefront and Plastic Soldier Company

By Tom Burgess

One of my major projects of 2019 was to complete an all plastic German East Front Mid-War army. I chose to focus on Gepanzert Panzer Grenadiers. To do this I had two boxes of Battlefront’s ‘s and two Boxes of Plastic Soldier Company’s ‘s. So I thought this provided a nice opportunity to review and compare what these two companies offer for the same model.

Both companies provide the SdKfz-251/C in unit boxes of five vehicles. The Plastic Soldier Company (PSC) boxed set cost $29.99 (US) with crews/passengers but only the machinegun armed transport option and no decals.

Battlefront (BF) box set cost $45.99 (US) and comes with parts to build all five models as the transport (with or without 3.7cm anti-tank gun), the 7.5cm short assault gun, or the 8cm armored mortar version. The BF set also the proprietary unit cards, for use in Flames of War, as well as a sheet of waterslide decals.

Review: Locked Down? Then Lock and Load Digital

Like many of you I am under lockdown and I am itching for some gaming relief, well the good people at have finally released a PC port of their iconic board war game Lock and Load called . This project is one I was following for a while since it seems to been in development for a long time and now it is in early-release and has been giving me hours of fun while at home.

Return of the 21st Panzer

By Tom Burgess
Battlefront has brought the 21st Panzer into Version 4 of Flames of War.  This is tremendous news for those of us who have some of the very unique kit that the 21st Panzer division fielded in 1944.  This also lays out a pathway to add more formation options to what is provided in the army books.  Hopefully Battlefront will use this format to bring other unique formations into Version 4 in the future. But for now, let’s go ahead and get into the new Version 21st Panzer Division book and cards.
In late 1943, the German command identified a need for a mobile force that could move to quickly counter amphibious landings where they might occur on the French cost. So a mobile force, initially designated as “Schnelle Division West,” was created.  However, the German command simply could not supply this organization with German vehicles and equipment. Alternatively, the force was equipped with captured French vehicles like the S307(f) and U304(f) Half-Tracks and Hotchkiss light tanks. Many of these were converted and heavily up-gunned by Major Alfred Becker’s workshop creating one of the most unique German fighting formations of the war. This formation was eventually was redesignated as the 21st Panzer Division, bringing one of Germany’s most famous panzer division names back on the rolls.

Steady as a Rock: Gunfighters Ball

Nothing in American culture is more iconic that the western, where we see all sorts of heroes and villains engaging in gunfights at high-noon on a dirt street in the middle of a town. Most people have some level of familiarity with the old west and now we have a game that can bring the exciting gunfights to our gaming table. Gunfighters Ball from is the game where you get to re-create these iconic gunfights and much more.