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.
By Mike Rafferty
The British Bulge book is finally out, which covers the British from post-Normandy Market Garden up to the end of the war. The book adds a lot of new features and army lists for the British and has a special significance for me. Welsh Guards Cromwells were the first army I actually built and painted fully. I still have this force and the Cromwell is my favourite-looking tank of the war, despite the obvious superiority of the Sherman. The new book adds Challengers, so I can finally play my Welsh Guards as intended with Cromwells and Challengers.
By Jim Naughton
Four years and forty days ago (approximately) Battlefront continued its Mid-War Journey by introducing Enemy at the Gates and Iron Cross, bringing the Eastern Front to life in Version Four. A few short months later these books were complemented by Red Banner and Ghost Panzers. It would take two further years to see Finns, Rumanians, and Hungarians as BF focused on its Late War Journey.
Accompanying those four books were two Firestorm Campaigns. Our group played both campaigns and continued to play East Front Flames of War up to the release of Fortress Europe. It was a good run.
The newest release from Battlefront combines eight smaller books – four for the primary antagonists, 3 allies, and one for German paratroopers. The German paratroopers’ separate book is consolidated into the Ghost Panzers chapter, giving the new book seven chapters. Others will give you an overview of the big volume or focus on the Axis forces. My task is to highlight the Soviets – what’s changed, and what stayed the same. One thing absent from the compilation is the rules on City Fighting and Airborne Assault found in the originals.
By Chris Masucci
Having been out of the Flames of War scene for about ten years now, I was disappointed to find that many of the figures that I remember from years past have long disappeared from Battlefront’s catalog. Being a big fan of the Dieselpunk, alternate WW2, and “Weird War” styles, one of the biggest casualties for me was Battlefront’s collection of what were dubbed “Mid War Monsters”.
This series introduced several experimental or obscure vehicles to Flames of War in its mid-war theaters. The mid-war monsters included everything from little-used but produced vehicles such as the Boarhound and Italian P40, to things that never left the drawing board.
By Tom Gall
As someone that bought into the Cruel Seas rules and range by Warlord when it came out back in 2018, I was sad to hear that Warlord has paused the Cruel Seas system. We had been hoping for a second edition of the rules and repointed forces to help with balance. With that not happening in the near future, our local group started looking for a different ruleset to test the waters with.
Where does one with a range of 1/300 WWII MTBs look for a simple ruleset to play? Too Fat Lardies, of course. This article is about Coastal Patrol by James Schmidt. This was our local game group’s first experiment away from Cruel Seas while still using the line of boats from Warlord.
By Andy Allcock
Greetings! Let me introduce myself. I’m Andy, I’ve been wargaming since I was a young teenager. I started with Warhammer 40k (2ed) and moved shortly afterward into historical and fantasy gaming. A buddy and I wrote our own ruleset years ago, and I’ve been known to know where and how to find rules in other games.
For 2022 I’ve decided to start yet another Bolt Action army. I’ve already got early Germans, late war winter Germans, British Commandos, British 8th Army, USMC (which I play as 1st cav), Africa Italians, and regular Italians. With such a widespread of armies, I decided it was time to dive into the French.
By Patrick S. Baker
Wars and soldiers are similar across time and space. So, it is also that war games are similar across time and space. Often the best war games are not the most innovative, but rather present the familiar elements of simulated war in a way which is compelling and engaging. The ones that are both familiar and gripping give us, the players, those rare war games which are both easy to play and understand, but hard to master. The Steel Panthers games fit right in that hard-to-find sweet spot.
Steel Panthers started development in May 1994 and was released in September 1995. The game was designed and programmed by Gray Grigsby and Keith Brors and were produced and marketed by Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI).
