WWII

After many years of games and painting WWII armies from North Africa and Europe, we can finally leave the Old World and travel to the Far East: Battlefront is about to release the highly anticipated Pacific expansion for Flames of War.

As we saw in Tom Gall’s preview, the new book is already shaping up to be a “compendium” of over 170 pages, covering the armies that fought in Southeast Asia. It includes the US Marines, the British Commonwealth and their Indian and Australian allies, and of course, the Japanese—who will be the focus of this article.

Story and images courtesy Warlord Games

Vanguard goes live on KickStarter!

Warlord Games are excited to announce that Vanguard: Normandy goes live on Kickstarter at 2pm GMT on 5th November 2024. Vanguard: Normandy is the ultimate World War II board game, bringing the key mechanics of our award-winning Bolt Action to the world of board gaming.

Navigate the fog of war, manage vital resources, and make swift tactical decisions in this 1-4 player World War II board game. Note that Vanguard: Normandy is in active development. All images shown are of pre-production prototypes and may not necessarily reflect the quality of the final product.

By Michael Rafferty

This year marks the 80^th anniversary of Operation Overlord and the Battle for Normandy. To commemorate this my local group, the Nerds of War, wanted to run a D-Day themed mega battle. It’s been a few years since we’ve run a mega battle at our FLGS The Game Room and not at AdeptiCon, so we wanted to start things off with something big and flashy.

We have a logo and a banner, we’re official!

I really enjoy running large games for people and I’ve always enjoyed playing in something larger and more cinematic. It’s a good feeling to be maneuvering whole tank companies about the battlefield instead of a platoon. That’s what got me started running big games a decade or so ago.

If other people weren’t going to run the kind of games I like, I would do it myself. These games also motivate me to complete modeling projects. Setting a date means I need to have things ready by then and I work better with firm, external deadlines. Big games both keep me recharged in the hobby and progressing along my projects, a win-win!

by Mike Rafferty

I feel like I say this every year, but this was the biggest AdeptiCon ever. Early estimates are over 8000 badged attendees with the numbers still being calculated. That means likely 10,000-12,000 through the door since AdeptiCon does not charge for a shopper’s badge and there are a lot of people that come to walk around and check things out. Early reports from the vendor hall is that the majority of vendors had their best year ever and the hall was packed when I walked through. Despite all these record-breaking notes, there is one important question: did I have fun?

By Troy Hill

The wait is over!

“This is what you’ve all been waiting for. This September, the fighting intensifies. Warlord Games and Osprey Games are proud to announce a new edition of the world’s greatest World War II wargame… “~ Warlord Games

…premiering late September, 2024.

Warlord has an announcement on their website here.

EDITOR’s NOTE: Since that includes more information than was in the original press release, this story is being updated with additional information.

This seems to be the year for World War 2 action from Warlord Games! The exhaust and smoke from the battlefield of Warlord’s new Achtung Panzer! game is hot an heavy, and now Warlord announces the impending release of Bolt Action 3rd Edition.  Wow!

In a press release from Warlord Games, Alessio Cavatore is tagged as the rules guru behind the new version. Since he’s been at the controls of the game since its inception, that’s no surprise.

This is part two of our coverage on War Stories from Firelock Games! In the last episode we rolled up our characters and today we expand the squad by adding the two Phil’s and the designer of War Stories, Gabe Garcia. We play a quick game and then give you our thoughts on this new WWII RPG.

By Michael Rafferty

“Enjoy the war, for the peace will be savage,” was a dark joke in the German Army during the last days of World War II. Now the walls are closing in and the Soviets are nearing Berlin. Germany is throwing every last man, woman, and child at them in a vain effort to stem the tide. With the Berlin German book, Battlefront has given us the last remnants of the German war machine that once held dominion over Europe.

We are excited about the upcoming RPG from Firelock Games, War Stories, a WWII RPG. We put the game to the test with two Soldiers, Nate aka 1/77 and Sapper Mike and roll up our characters which you will hear in and upcoming episode.

by Mitch Reed

We recently got a draft of the NUTS! 4th Edition which is currently wrapping up its Kickstarter Campaign. NUTS! Has been around since 2006 and this new edition represents the latest work of its developers to get a good WW2 miniatures skirmish game into the hands of our community.

Having played many WW2 skirmish games over the years, I can admit that many games share some of the same feel as others in the market and the experience often gets stale. NUTS! does not fall into that paradigm. While it shares many mechanics with other games (hard to avoid), it does have a lot of different rules that piqued my interest.

By Kreighton Long

The Italian Army, or Regio Esercito, was the first military in the world to mass-produce camouflage equipment for their soldiers. The M1929 telo mimetico was utilized by Italian soldiers and paratroopers as well as by Italy’s German ally during the course of World War Two.

For my Italian paratrooper army project I knew I needed to commit hard to the camouflage pattern and after a few trial runs incorporating feedback I reached a scheme that was close to accurate while still being doable.