Reviews
Naval Thunder: Clash of Dreadnoughts — Review
Naval Thunder: Clash of Dreadnoughts: A Game of Naval Warfare 1906-1918 is the premier game from the small new publisher Steel Dreadnought Games. Naval Thunder: COD is a tactical naval warfare miniatures game. It is available as a PDF only publication and it comes with two versions of the main rulebook (both in black and white); a graphics heavy version and a print ready version with no background or images. The graphics heavy version is 50 pages and includes a number of period photos as well as a page of color counters. The print ready version is 45 pages in a basic, straightforward layout with a few tables and graphics. The game also includes a two page quick reference card as well as 45 pages of ship data cards (78 ships) for the Kaiserliche and Royal Navy only. The cards are similar to those in Starmada and fit two to a page (destroyer flotillas one to a page). The cards are clear and contain the relevant information but unfortunately contain no image or even silhouette of the ship they represent. Read the rest of this entry »
Planetstrike — Review
The blokes over at World’s End Radio have done a very nice review of GW’s latest Warhammer 40,000 expansion Planetstrike. It is in Episode #23 – Planet Killers starting at 39:20min into the show.
Like many of the recent reviews on the Web, they cover the basics of the Planetstrike book, but they also go into detail about army options and strategies as well as terrain effects, terrain building and use of strategems. Overall a great show for those thinking about Planetstrike as well as for those who already have it.
Theatre of War 2 — Review
Armchair General magazine has a nice review of Battlefront’s Theatre of War 2: Africa 1943. TOW2 is a WW2 tactical computer wargame.
Overall, Theatre of War 2 is just the sort of game tread-heads have been waiting for. Historically accurate and lovingly detailed, the easy-to-use interface is great for intermediate and advanced wargamers. Newer players may be put off by the brutal combat environment, but they will be rewarded by sticking with it. While the limited number of scenarios is disappointing, future expansions will hopefully fill the gaps. So if the sound of tanks on the move warms your heart, sign up for Theatre of War 2. The panzers await your command.
Federation Commander Reference Rulebook — Review
Amarillo Design Bureau released a new rulebook for Federation Commander. The book is their standard 8 1/2″ x 11″, black and white, softback format and is 94-pages long. The Reference Rulebook combines all of the rules from the various Federation Commander products released so far along with some playtest draft (i.e. beta) rules for upcoming products. The rules include all those from: Klingon Border, Klingon Attack, Romulan Border, Romulan Attack, Tholian Attack, Battleships Attack, Distant Kingdoms, Orion Attack, Booster Zero, Captain’s Log and Communique. Read the rest of this entry »
World at War: Blood and Bridges — Review
World at War: Blood and Bridges is Lock ‘N Load Publishing’s latest edition to its World at War platoon-level, Cold War era board wargame. It is very similar to the original release, Eisenbach Gap, in that it is a complete standalone game not an expansion. In fact the easiest way to describe Blood and Bridges is as a bigger, better Eisenbach Gap. Read the rest of this entry »
Incursion Grunt APE Miniatures — Review
Incursion is Grindhouse Games’ upcoming weird war board/miniatures game set in an alternate World War Two universe. They have posted a nice description of the game. Others have described it as a blend of Space Hulk and Wolfenstein 3D or, in other words, a dungeon crawl type game set in the bowls of a Gibraltar-based German research lab. Details on the game itself are still rather slim but some of the miniatures are now available for order. We got the full set of Allied APE suits and a German Sturmzombie. Read the rest of this entry »
Starmada: The Admiralty Edition — Review
Starmada is one of the oldest sets of sci-fi spaceship combat rules. Majestic Twelve Games released its latest version, The Admiralty Edition, in January 2008. The Starmada products are all available as full-color PDF publications. The Core Rulebook is 80 pages and contains, well, the core rules for the Starmada game system. This includes an introduction, the main rules, advanced rules, starship construction system, six scenarios, a rules index, and lastly a blank two-ship data card. The book layout is well done with plentiful illustrations and the quality of the editing and writing is high. Read the rest of this entry »
Federation Commander: Distant Kingdoms — Review
Federation Commander: Distant Kingdoms is a new expansion for Amarillo Design Bureau’s Federation Commander tactical sci-fi board wargame. Similar to their previous expansions Distant Kingdoms comes in an 8 1/2″ x 11″ format with a color cardstock wrapper. Inside are two mounted map boards featuring small (5 hex) and large (7 hex) gas giants, 40 1″ and 108 1/2″ full-color counters, sixteen laminated ship cards (including two large battleship cards), and finally a sixteen page rulebook. Read the rest of this entry »
Landmark 15mm Buildings — Review
It has been awhile since we first looked at some pre-painted 15mm building choices. Unfortunately, Battlefront has still not released any northwest European buildings in their Battlefield in a Box line. Luckily we recently discovered the 15mm buildings from Landmark. They are very nicely done resin-cast pre-painted buildings. They have a feel closer to china or ceramic as opposed to the more plastic feel of other resin buildings (I think this is due more to the crisp casting than the actual material). The castings are extremely crisp and clean and the painting is also very clean and well done. So much so that they almost look too nice on the table! They certainly give a pre-battle feel to the tabletop. Read the rest of this entry »
AT-43 Tactics — Review
Rackham recently released AT-43 Tactics: Tactical RPG. Tactics’ physical appearance is typical of the other AT-43 books and is a 64-page, 8 1/2″x11″, soft cover, full-color book. It also includes a page of perforated heavy cardstock counters. Instead of including cards, as some other AT-43 expansions have done, Rackham this time simply included a page with the card art that you will need to photocopy and cut out. Considering none of the cards are actually used as cards in this game but as map overlays (doors and objectives) this works out just fine. Read the rest of this entry »
The View from the Turret 
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