News and Updates
Space Infantry – Now On P500
Space Infantry started as a free downloadable print-and-play game by Gottardo Zancani. Space Infantry is a solitaire sci-fi board wargame. It covers squad-level combat in the far future with players commanding a unit of 4-8 troops against various alien foes across a variety of landscapes. The free version of the game was not only fun to play but also had very high graphic art standards.
Well we were not the only ones to notice how good the game was and now Lock’n Load Games has announced that they will be producing a professionally printed and boxed version of Space Infantry. If you have any interest in sci-fi games or solitaire games check this out. The game is currently on their P500 list.
Pig Iron System Trooper Special Weapon Troops
Pig Iron Productions has released a couple new figures for their System Trooper range of 28mm sci-fi figures. The new figures are equipped with special weapons and come with two different weapon options. They are all metal castings with separate heads and look as good as the initial System Troopers.
Hearts and Minds — Now Available
Worthington Games has a new game on the Vietnam War. Hearts and Minds is a card-driven area movement board wargame that covers the Vietnam War between 1965-1975. The game is playable in an hour for the scenarios or 3-6 hours for the campaign game.
If you enjoy games like Twilight Struggle or Empire of the Sun you might want to give Hearts and Minds a look.
Midway — Now Available
Naval warfare fans have an opportunity for a new look at a classic battle. HPS Simulations released its latest addition to its Naval Campaigns computer wargame series, Midway. While it is the fourth game in the series it is the first game to include air combat.
Midway features 36 scenarios ranging from small 10 minute actions covering a specific air attack to 12+ hour scenarios covering full fleet actions with dozens of ships and hundreds of aircraft. These scenarios include the entire battle of Midway as well as specific actions, such as attacks on individual carriers and recreations of each attacking wave of aircraft. There is also a “what if” scenario based on the Coral Sea action not having been fought a month earlier. But aside from Midway, the game also includes the historical carrier battles of the Eastern Solomons, Santa Cruz and the Philippine Sea, as well as a hypothetical IJN-USN confrontation at Pearl Harbor.
Flames Of War — Refighting the Battle of Ia Drang
If you missed Wargames Illustrated Issue 266 you are in luck. WI has now posted all of the Vietnam material from that issue on its site. So if you can manage to get your hands on the miniatures you will have all you need to fight Vietnam battles with Flames of War.
They also posted a Vietnam Color Guide and the scenario re-creating the Battle of Ia Drang itself.
New Firestorm Armada Ships Soon
Spartan Games announced they will be releasing some new Firestorm Armada ships soon. First up are escorts for the four main fleets as well as some civilian ships.
Our first upgrade releases for Firestorm Armada will be announced shortly. The first Wave will see Escorts arrive for each of the first four races, along with three generic Civilian Vessels: Gas Mining Vessel, Cargo Freighter and Liner. The Escorts will be sold in a blister with 6 Models and 6 Flight Stands. Following these models will be Heavy Cruisers and then the Directorate will enter the war! More images and launch information to follow.
Final stats are available for all the new ships.
These ships are all now generally available. They are all metal castings and the escorts are quite small; most are only about 1.5 inches long. We were rather underwhelmed with the civilian ships.
[Updated: 29MAR10]
New 15mm European Village Set Coming Soon
As indicated a year ago, Battlefront has a new 15mm European Village set in the works for its Gale Force 9 Battlefield in a Box series. The recent issue of Wargames Illustrated (issue 268 – February 2010) gives a nice description on page 54,
These buildings come in a multitude of different styles and textures, including a corner store building…Included in these samples were various village wall sections…The buildings and walls come out of the box pre-painted and each level of the building is removable.
The article has a number of pictures of the buildings and walls and they do indeed look great. This will be an excellent set and a must get for 15mm European front gamers.
New DVG Games
Dan Verssen Games (DVG) has a couple of interesting new titles coming out soon. Phantom Leader is the latest in the Hornet Leader series started almost twenty years ago with Hornet Leader from GMT Games published in 1991. This was followed by Thunderbolt/Apache Leader (A-10s and AH-64 Apache attack helicopters). They all began as solitaire board games but have only been available as VASSAL games for a long time. Phantom Leader brings the series back into print. Phantom Leader puts you in the role of a squadron commander and you have to manage your pilots and aircraft and then plan and fly combat missions including target selection, weapons loadouts and more. The game is card driven and both U.S. Navy and Air Force options are included with a variety of aircraft besides the F-4. Phantom Leader also adds a political element to your strikes that seems quite fitting for a Vietnam era game. The rules are available online as well as some after action reports. If you have an interest in aerial warfare, or were a fan of the old games, you should give Phantom Leader a look.
Also coming soon from DVG is Frontline – D-Day. It is a WW2 tactical card game for 1-4 players. You can play as the Americans, British, or Germans in the D-Day 1944 battles and follow-on Normandy battles. What is interesting is that there is also a solitaire mechanic included in the game. The rules are available online as well as AARs and some play sheets.
Forge World Elysian Tauros Venator
Forge World has a new Warhammer 40,000 Elysian vehicle on pre-order (will release on January 25th), the Tauros Venator. It is a very cool looking ten-wheeled off-road buggy similar to the present-day DPV’s used by SEALS and Delta Force that operated in Iraq. Rules for it will appear in Imperial Armour Volume Eight. Guard players will need to warm up their wallets.
Firestorm Armada — Review
Well the fellows over at the D6 Generation wasted no time and have done an outstanding review of the new Firestorm Armada sci-fi ship combat miniatures game by Spartan Games. Forward to 2hr 24min into the podcast to get right to the review.
We agree with the D6G overall that Firestorm Armada has the potential to be an outstanding game. The only real negative we have seen so far in the game is that there seems to be no allowance for disparate fleets. To keep a solid balance the six fleets currently in the game all have a similar balance of support ships, capital ships, and carriers. None of the fleets focus heavily in one area such as smaller ships, wings, or large capital ships. We have not tried playing a disparate scenario yet so it is possible the system can handle it, but we suspect such a game would be considerably unbalanced. A race would probably need to be designed from the ground up to make such a unique composition balanced with the existing fleets.
If you have even the slightest interest in sci-fi ship combat give Firestorm Armada a look.
Also see Firestorm Armada — First Impressions and Spartan Games Interview.
[Updated: 7DEC13]
The View from the Turret 
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