Month: November 2011
Dystopian Wars — Getting Started Week
The folks over at Beasts of War have been going crazy over Spartan Games’ Dystopian Wars this week. They have put together an excellent collection of posts and videos about all things Dystopian Wars. Of particular note are the videos that cover the world of DW as well as how to play DW (part 1 and part 2). They do make a few minor errors with some of the rules but nothing of real significance or that you wouuldn’t catch after your own reading of the rules. But if you have any interest in Dystopian Wars this is a must see collection.
A Call to Arms: Starfleet — Available Soon
ADB and Mongoose Publishing have partnered on a new sci-fi spaceship combat game, A Call to Arms: Star Fleet. The new game is based on the A Call to Arms rule system, of ACTA: Babylon 5 fame, and set in the Star Trek universe of the ADB license (essentially the original series). In addition to the new rule set, ADB’s Starline 2400 minis have all been redone in a new 2500 line and are now slightly larger (about 25%). [Note: The original resin releases were rather bad. ADB redid them in pewter and they quality is much better.]
We are still annoyed over the death of ACTA: Babylon 5 but ACTA: Star Fleet is probably worth a look at least. ADB has a good track record with partnerships and owns its Star Trek license. The miniatures are certainly a big question. Neither ADB nor Mongoose have been known for high quality minis but Mongoose has certainly gotten better recently. The initial previews have looked good and the one picture of the unfinished resin looks pretty good as well (but not as good as Spartan). But how this translates to production pieces remains to be seen. It appears that perhaps they have beefed up and slightly shortened the Federation nacelle towers and they are going to be in resin not metal.
This month is the release of Call to Arms: Star Fleet and the first of the 2500-series miniatures near the end of this month.
Starline 2500 and A Call to Arms: Star Fleet are approaching!
The joint venture between Mongoose Publishing and ADB, Inc. is moving along quite well. ACTASF should be available in stores before Christmas. This will be a beautiful hardbound rulebook with spectacular color photos of many ships.The Starline 2500 ships are designed for use with SFB, FC, Starmada, and ACTASF, so the ship types that appear in the Squadron boxes won’t change from the 2400 line (and the price for 2500s will actually go down to $29.95). What will change is that the 2500-series ships will be cast in hard resin, not pewter, and they will be about 20% larger so that all the details that you asked us to add will be there!
Our European customers will have the option of ordering from Mongoose-UK so their shipping will be perhaps more “local.” Both ADB, Inc. and Mongoose-US will stock the minis as will many game stores, so you should have easy access to these new, highly detailed ships.
New 2500-series Border Boxes priced at $124.95 will contain 24 ships.
New 2500-Series Fleet Boxes will be priced at $99.95 and will contain 16 ships and a quick start rulebook.The 2400-series border boxes will also be available (at least by mail order) in 2500-series for a somewhat higher price. The 2400s are pewter; the new 2500s will be resin.
Remember that all of the current Starline 2400 blister packs, squadron boxes, fleet boxes, and border boxes will remain on sale at their current prices indefinitely.
[Updated: 27SEP13]
Combat Mission: Battle for Normandy – Commonwealth Forces — Coming Soon
Battlefront.com announced the newest expansion for their WW2 tactical computer wargame Combat Mission: Battle for Normandy. Commonwealth Forces brings…err…well…Commonwealth forces to the game.
The Commonwealth Forces module includes all new, meticulously researched and historically accurate UK, Canadian and Polish units and formations. The full range of Commonwealth weaponry is brought to life with the same amazing level of detail and simulation fidelity found in the previous Combat Mission titles.
This module will also bring you new German formations, such as the “Waffen SS” and the Luftwaffe.
ImageSeveral variants of the iconic Churchill tank, the Cromwell, Stuart and Firefly will be included along with many other new units. The Germans will see the mighty King Tiger and the Jagdpanzer in their arsenal among several other additions (see bellow for a complete list of new units).
All formations can of course be mixed as part of a multi-national joint task force, using any of CM: Battle for Normandy’s available units. Included in the package are all new scenarios, quick battle maps, and a campaign for exciting play right out of the box – before digging in and using the powerful editor or sharing scenarios with other CM: Battle for Normandy gamers.
Plastic Soldier Company 15mm SdKfz 251D Halftrack — Review
After looking at the Plastic Soldier Company 15mm M4A2 Sherman we were curious about the brand new SdKfz 251 halftracks. We grabbed a box of the SdKfz 251D (they also make the C model).
Like the Sherman, the casting quality is outstanding with almost no flash and only minor seam lines. The halftrack has about as many parts as the Sherman but seems less fiddly to assemble. There is a bit of room in the nose (engine area) for some lead weight although we simply squished a couple sinkers and glued them to the bottom of the hull between the tracks. This worked well and you can’t see them. If you want to use the crew figures you will need to put them in before you glue the hull together. There are five troop figures included with a mix of mid and late war uniforms plus some nice stowage. Also included are the various machine guns. These are very nice as well but are of scale size. The rear mounted MG would not last more than a minute in actual play before getting snapped off. Of course the metal equivalents are not much better but we do wish PSC would beef these up just a tad.
Best of all the Plastic Soldier Company SdKfz 251D scales almost perfectly with the Battlefront 15mm model. It is even a better match than the Sherman. In fact, for all practical purposes, they are identical in size. As you can see from the accompanying photos they would mix just fine in a unit. Also note that the details on the PSC model are extremely crisp and clean.
PSC has another winner. If you need some 15mm halftracks look no further.
Also see the WWPD review of the halftracks.
The View from the Turret 
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