News and Updates
New Critical Mass Minis and Buildings
Critical Mass Games is starting to pump out all kinds of great 15mm sci-fi stuff. First we got a look at their new Kaamados vehicles (our favorite is the Dragamaa tank) and then they released the Arc Fleet Building Series, an entire line of 15mm buildings. All great looking stuff. The buildings are available for order now.
Flames of War News
Battlefront announced its plans for the coming months. Even after previous announcements they managed to throw in a few surprises. Over the next year we will see for Flames of War:
- Early War: August 2010 will see the first early war book, Blitzkrieg. 180 page book covering the invasions of Poland and France. This will be followed next year by the Africa theater and Russia.
- Late-War Italy: Dogs & Devils will be the next late-war Italy book. March 2011 will see a second book.
- Market-Garden: Airborne fans get a special bonus. Not only is Firestorm Campaign: Operation Market Garden coming out in May but Battlefront’s first board wargame is also being released! A Bridge Too Far: Operation Market Garden uses the Firestorm Campaign:OMG board and pieces but is a stand-alone game.
- Pacific: They have not ruled out visiting the Pacific theater in 2012.
[Updated: 8JUL10]
Tide of Iron: Fury of the Bear — Coming Soon
Fantasy Flight Games announced its latest expansion for Tide of Iron will be coming soon. Fury of the Bear will add the Russians to the ToI system. Besides Russian miniatures and additional German minis, nine new winter map boards will be included.
White Star Rising — Beta Rules
Lock’n Load Publishing posted a PDF of the beta rules for their upcoming WW2 tactical board wargame, White Star Rising. The game is the long awaited World War 2 version of the World at War system. The rules are basically complete but do not include any scenarios and will receive some final polish before publication. Overall nothing surprising in them as they are basically the WaW rules with some minor tweaks. It does look like WSR will ship with a nice selection of formations for the Americans, British and Germans.
Steel Wolves in 2010
Compass Games announced Steel Wolves will be printing in October of 2010. So fans should have it in time for the holidays. Pre-orders are still open. Steel Wolves is a follow up to their well done WW2 solitaire board game on Allied submarine combat in the Pacific, Silent War. Fans of naval games, solitaire games and the war in the Atlantic should check it out.
New Firestorm Armada Heavy Cruisers
Spartan Games has announced new heavy cruiser models for their tactical space combat miniatures game Firestorm Armada. Each of the four current races will get a new ship. No beta rules yet nor mention of a release date.
We got our hands on these. They are some of the best cast FA ships to date. Very little flash and nice crisp lines.
[Updated: 11JUN10]
Horus Heresy — Available Soon
Fantasy Flight Games‘ new boardgame set in the universe of Warhammer 40K, Horus Heresy, will be released on April 13th. They now have the full rules available for download. The game is sort of a strategic/operational game of the classic assault on Terra in the Warhammer 40K universe. Six scenarios are included.
Apple iPad Review — A Gamer’s Perspective
With the release of the Apple iPad we thought we would break a bit from our usual gaming coverage to give a gamer’s eye review of the new tablet. We have had the iPad since Saturday (3APR10) and have been using it quite a bit. So we have had time to find most of its faults and enjoy its benefits.
We will not repeat what you can read in a hundred other iPad reviews by now. Suffice it to say the hardware is gorgeous, the display vibrant, the performance amazing, and the battery life really is 10 hours (if not more). The WiFi-only model is available now and the 3G model will be available at the end of April. But what does the iPad mean to you as a gamer? Well it has a number of applications (no pun intended), some obvious and some not so obvious.
New Forge World Site
Forge World has a newly redesigned site. It looks very nice and seems a bit faster than their older site. Navigation is certainly easier and it obviously takes some design cues from the new Games Workshop site.
Also of note are some new Ork vehicles and the Imperial Guard Valkyrie Sky Talon.
Incursion – MI-13 Coming Soon
Looks like the Brits are on tap next for Incursion. At least four new figures for the MI-13 Commandos are close to being ready for production. They feature separate heads so you can swap them with others from West Wind for greater variety. Beta rules and the Paddy Mayne card are available for playtesting.
See our review.
The final rules and cards are now available. A nice surprise was the inclusion of Gracie, a new MI-13 unit. Gracie is a new ‘light mech’ unit. No art for it yet but it should be interesting when it arrives.
[Updated: 23APR10]
The View from the Turret 
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