Month: March 2012
Flames of War — Sold Out!!
Well it looks like we are not the only ones excited about the new Version 3 of Flames of War and all of the new goodies. Battlefront just announced:
Breaking News
As of twenty minutes ago the first printing of third edition rulebooks is completely sold out. Although we thought we would be okay for the first three months we have eaten through our stock much faster than anticipated in the last four weeks. This means our second printing, which we ordered ten days ago, is already being worked on but will not get out to the world until May.
While you 
are waiting you can check out the excellent video series Battlefront is putting together on how to play Flames of War third edition. There is also the new FoW introductory set, Achtung!, due out soon that features Battlefront’s first all-plastic tanks. It also includes the full mini rulebook.
[Note: As of 26APR12 the rules are back in stock.]
[Updated: 27APR12]
The Apple iPad3 and Gaming
Well we looked at the gaming significance of the original iPad and the iPad2 so we suppose we should look at the iPad3 as well. The new Apple iPad3, also known as the New iPad or officially as simply the iPad, is perhaps the first complete iPad Apple has released so far. Its improvements over the iPad2 are not huge but are nonetheless significant. A 2048×1536 screen is twice the resolution of previous models. Driving all those pixels is a quad-core graphics chip along with a 4G LTE connection for fast mobile connection speeds. Also new is a a much better outward facing camera (although the facing camera is the same). But ultimately it retains many of the traits of the iPad2.
But what does the iPad3 mean for gamers? Well probably quite a bit actually. The increased resolution increases the capabilities of the iPad significantly. For example, on my home 24″ LCD display I am running 1920×1080 resolution. That means the new iPad actually has more screen real estate. Now of course everything will be smaller but you start to get the significance of the new display. This fact got brought home just recently when Matrix Games and Slitherine released Battle Academy for the iPad. Not only is this perhaps the first real historical wargame for the iPad it is identical to the Windows version and even compatible for online PBEM gaming. In fact there are now a huge number of euro game titles in the pipeline for iOS including Le Havre, Eclipse and a number of titles from GMT Games including Nightfighter, Manoeuvre, and Space Empires. The new screen resolution and horsepower may very well bring a whole lot more gaming goodness to the iPad soon.
- Games: With the new iPad out it is probably time to update our previous list of iOS games.
- Apache Sim HD is a nice AH-64 Apache simulator for the iPad.
- Aliens versus Humans. We have not tried this one yet but it looks like the old XCom game on iOS.
- Alien Menace is a card game adaptation that works well.
- Bang! is an excellent port of the classic card game. The app is now updated and supports full play.
- Battle Academy is the first historical wargame for the iPad. All the capabilities of the desktop version.
- Caylus is a faithful reproduction of the board game.
- Crimson Steam Pirates is a fun steampunk naval game with a mild Dystopian Wars feel.
- Great Little Wargame HD is perhaps the first wargame before Battle Academy but is much lighter and without the history. The AI is ok but has trouble with naval and air use.
- Hunters: Episode One and Hunters 2 are Space Hulk-esque top down, turn-based tactical combat games.
- iBomber Defense Pacfic is a nice tower defense game with a WW2 theme that adds a few twists on the original.
- Legion of the Damned was the first wargame we found in a sci-fi setting. The AI is quite good as well.
- Operation: Eradicate is essentially Pandemic with a Zombie theme.
Starbase Orion is almost a direct port of the classic Masters of Orion 4x game.- Ticket to Ride is a perfect port of the boardgame and expansions. You can play against the AI, pass and play or play online.
- Zombie Gunship is a nice simple shooter where you take the role of a gunship gunner to take out zombies. Brrraaaaiiinnnsss!
- Game Reference: Not a lot new here unfortunately.
- GoodReader continues to be the best overall file manager and reader. PDF support has only gotten better.
- Notability We dumped Simplenote for Notability. It syncs with DropBox and supports a lot of basic formatting that is much more useful than the plain text of Simplenote.
- I Ain’t Been Shot Mum TooFatLardies released the new version 3 rules as a PDF/tablet version that was available before the print. If only more publishers would do this.
[Updated: 30MAR12]
Flames of War Update — March 2012
Battlefront continues to release goodies after goodies. The biggest news of course is the new FoW Third Edition rules. Battlefront released a small free paperback copy of the rules for veteran players and the new large Third Edition hardback is also now available. Physically the rules look amazing and are well organized. We managed to get in a game with the new rules and we like them a lot. Just enough changes and streamlining to improve play but not enough changes to make the change a big deal for veteran players. Tip: Keep the new Quick Reference sheet handy it really helps. For newcomers to FoW this is a great time to enter the hobby.
Of equal significance for us is the announcement of Blood, Guts & Glory the latest American forces book. After years of waiting we finally get our Easy Eights! The book focuses on the tank battles in the Lorraine Valley, September 1944 to January 1945. We finally get Patton as a warrior option as well as all of the Sherman variants. With the Bulge book coming soon it is a great time to be a late war U.S. player.
The Germans get some new lists as well representing the more ragged troops of the withdrawal phase of the war. Also see the nice Beasts of War look at FoW:BG&G.
If all of that wasn’t enough Battlefront is releasing some great new terrain as well — although the long mentioned European buildings are still MIA with not a peep about their fate. There are new obstacles, wire, trenches, fields and Russian front buildings and a whole lot more. With luck we may see new European buildings with the release of the Bulge book.
All in all it is a great time to be a Flames of War fan. It should be an interesting year.
Wargame: European Escalation — Review
The Gents over at the Three Moves Ahead podcast deliver an excellent review of Wargame: European Escalation in their latest Episode 160. We haven’t played the game yet ourselves but they give it overall high marks and make a great case for giving the game a try. The trailer video for the game certainly looks nice as do the screen shots. The game is certainly not lacking in eye candy.
A horrible name perhaps but Wargame: European Escalation provides a unique take on the RTS genre by mixing in Cold War-era history with a solid RTS game. Not a simulation by any means, the game still manages to provide that wargame feel in an RTS package. A combat-based point scoring system combined with territory capturing and supply gives the game a unique enough mix to warrant a look.
The game is available on Steam. Also see the developer’s game site.
Combat Mission: Battle for Normandy – Commonwealth Forces — Now Available
Battlefront.com released the newest expansion for their WW2 tactical computer wargame Combat Mission: Battle for Normandy. Commonwealth Forces brings…err…well…Commonwealth forces to the game.
Commonwealth Forces”, the first module to the Wargame of the Year 2011 (Wargamer.com Community Award) “Combat Mission> Battle for Normandy” tactical WW2 ground warfare simulation, and includes all new, meticulously researched and historically accurate UK, Canadian and Polish Free Forces units and formations, dozens of new scenarios and QuickBattle maps and two in-depth campaigns. 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 also brings you new German formations, such as the “Waffen SS” and the Luftwaffe Field Divisions. Several variants of the iconic Churchill tank, the Cromwell, Stuart and Firefly are included along with many other new units. The Germans see the mighty King Tiger and the Jagdpanther in their arsenal among several other additions.
The View from the Turret 
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