Warlord Games

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.

By Tom Gall

Warlord has released for Cruel Seas navy fleet boxes for four different countries. The US, Imperial Japanese Navy, British, and Germans are all covered. Sometime this month we should see the addition of the Soviet and Italian navies.

Within the Core Box, along with the rules, counters and other necessities are four British Vospers and four German S-Boats. This is a good starting force but what might you want to pick up next?  What plays well?

This set of four articles will explore the navy boxes that Warlord has released starting with the German Kriegsmarine.

By Tom Gall

Now that our local group has a few games of under our belts, we wanted to get in a larger game that was scenario and point driven. Each side built a 650 point list and cast away their lines. Set off the coast of France, British airmen are in the water and our little flotilla needs to go and pick them up. We played this one at D6 Games in Rochester Minnesota, USA.

The Allies were sporting three type II Vospers, with two having regular crews and 1 having an inexperienced crew. Last we have a Fairmile with a regular crew.

By Tom Gall

Warlord Games released their much-anticipated ruleset covering small ship skirmish actions, which they’ve entitled

The core box offers the rules, and a starter set of British Vospers as well as German S-Boats. Perfect to get a game going with a friend. In addition, there are already nine expansion boxes offering more ships from four different nations.

The rules themselves are divided into basic and advanced sections with a set of eight scenarios to get you going. Interspersed are some histories, many a pretty picture, ship/plane stats, instructions to make your own stats and last some rules for campaign settings.

For those who have read my previous on my  (BA) journey, I have just completed my first few BA games in a tourney at the NOVA open. This article will focus on my overall experience in learning Bolt Action and my impressions of the game in general.

With typical beginner luck, I lost my first game 0-4, tied the next game 4-4 and got wiped out in my last game. After a long day of thinking on my feet, playing an unfamiliar ruleset, I walked away from my last game tired. But I loved every minute of play.

Bolt Action has been out since the early Twenty-teens (German 1st Edition Book published in 2012). I have no clue as to how I missed it for so long.

The game uses dice to activate your units. Each unit provides one order die. Each player throws a set of uniquely colored order dice into a bag. One per unit in your force. A die is blindly drawn, and the player to whom the die belongs gets to activate a unit. This mechanic is at the heart of the game, and the random simulation of the “vagaries of the battlefield” effect it provides is one reason, I believe, why the game is so good.

Huge episode live from the NOVA Open… We talk to Jon Russell right after my first event. Jon gives us a bunch of spoilers on what is coming out over the next few months for Warlord Games such as the naval game Cruel Seas.

Jon and I talk about a new game he showed me called “”. We are then joined by Steve Smith and we talk about Bolt Action Korea, you will not get better details on this new release anywhere else! During the second act we are joined by Ed Nelson and talk all about Beyond the Gates of Antares.

Some of you may have heard our interviews with Jon Russel from . In our July 2017 interview he announced that a new air combat game would be hitting the market. That game, Blood Red Skies (BRS), has arrived.

I do recall asking him if Warlord would be able to put out an air combat game when the market has a lot titles to choose from, and no single game system as really been deemed as the benchmark. I have played Wings of Glory and Check Your Six in the past and I have a huge collection of bi-plane models.

I cannot say either game has really hooked me. Maybe it is the fact that I have been an “Airman” my entire adult life that leads me to be harder on air themed games. I believe that to be good, a game focused on air warfare either needs to be very detailed (which bogs it down) or super easy like an arcade game (rock, paper, scissors) and neither option is fun for me. At least not until BRS hit my gaming table.

In this episode, Mitch and Sean speak with Jon Russel who is the US events coordinator for Warlord Games. We talk about what is in store for us for Bolt Action, Black Power, Konflikt ’47, Gates of Antares, Blood Red Skies Pike and Shotte, and Doctor Who. Jon spoils a new WWII game they are working on and talks with the guys about all things Warlord.

Great spoilers like Bolt Action for Korea and the Great War,  and a new game that covers WWII naval action in the Solomon Islands.