Month: December 2007
Line of Fire — Review
Lock ‘N Load Games just released a new house magazine, Line of Fire. What is interesting is that it is a PDF only publication. Unlike Mongoose Publishings’ Signs & Portents online magazine, Rackham’s recently announced electronic conversion of Cry Havoc, the fan produced Firebase, or even Games Workshop’s Black Gobbo, LNL is selling Line of Fire for $16.99. Whether gamers think what they get is worth the money remains to be seen, but it is nice to have some support for LNL’s games. LNL says it hopes to produce the publication quarterly. Read the rest of this entry »
Jutland — Preview
The Wargamer has a short preview of Storm Eagle Studios’ upcoming Jutland game based off of their Distant Guns engine. In addition to the landmark battle, the game features scenarios that take place before and after Jutland as well as hypothetical scenarios. It even includes Zeppelins! This is looking like a must get game for all naval gamers.
Combat Commander — Update
GMT Games has released two new expansions for Combat Coommander: Europe. First is Combat Commander: Battle Pack #1: Paratroopers. Paratroopers is a small expansion that comes in a cardstock folio with two new 17″ x 22″ maps (giving four new maps) and 12 new scenarios. The scenario mix is excellent and will be familiar to any Band of Brothers fan. Paratroopers is an expansion and requires CC:Europe to play. We hope to see more of these battle packs. Highly recommended.
The second expansion, Combat Commander: Mediterranean, ships in the same sized box as the original and contains new counters, three decks of cards, six new map sheets (giving 12 new maps), new player-aide cards, and the latest version of the rulebook (with minor errata over the original). CC:M adds Britain and the Commonwealth; France and the Allied Minors; and Italy and the Axis Minors to the CC system. Oddly, considering its size, CC:M is not a standalone game and requires CC:E to play. Many of the new maps are certainly interesting and if you like the theater and new forces this is a nice expansion.
AT-43 — The Red Blok
Originally we were not going to cover any Red Blok miniatures because we assumed it would mostly be more of the same as far as AT-43 miniatures went. Once you have seen some of the U.N.A. or Therian models you get the basic idea of the AT-43 line. But after seeing the full Red Blok line of minis for ourselves we had a change of heart.
While the Red Blok figures do not present any revolutionary or quantum shift in AT-43 quality they do present perhaps the first evolution. The Red Blok infantry are of a touch higher quality than the U.N.A or Therian figures. Perhaps it is just the color schemes but they do look better overall. Certainly the Draganov Commandos benefit from the lack of flesh, which has always been the poorest part of AT-43 figure painting. Also, while the Kolossus units are not as impressive, or futuristic, of a design as the U.N.A. TacArms they are impressively well molded models when you see them for yourself. Even the theme, whether you like it or not, is well executed and the models give the proper feel quite well. Read the rest of this entry »
The View from the Turret 