Miniature Wargames
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]
Naval Thunder: Battleship Row — First Look
We finally got around to grabbing a copy of Steel Dreadnought Games‘ new World War Two naval miniature rules Naval Thunder: Battleship Row along with the first expansion Bitter Rivals. Battleship Row is based on their naval system debuted in their World War One ruleset Naval Thunder: Clash of Dreadnoughts. While Clash of Dreadnoughts fell just shy of beating out Mongoose Publishing’s Victory at Sea: Age of Dreadnoughts as our favorite quick-play naval rules, Battleship Row is the set that sends Victory at Sea to the bottom. Read the rest of this entry »
Firestorm Armada — First Impressions
We got a copy of the Firestorm Armada rulebook along with some of the miniatures and the cards. We hope to have more details up soon but our initial impressions, after a first look through the rules, are very positive. It is a mix of previous games and the influence of Battlefleet Gothic and Babylon 5: ACTA is very evident, but it is still a new and unique system of its own. It places emphasis on ship-to-ship combat but also integrates fighters and attack aircraft in a seamless and logical way. The cards are an optional component, and must be purchased separately, but we highly recommended them. They add a lot of flavor to the game.
The miniatures are very well done. They are crisply cast resin (some of the smaller ships and bits are metal) and are a bit larger than the BFG minis but are also beefier overall and in some cases, especially the battleships, much larger. There are four races available now: the Aquan Prime, Terran Alliance, Sorylian Collective, Dindrenzi Federation and the rules detail two more that will be released in the future. Our favorites are the Sorylian Collective and the Dindrenzi Federation. The Fleet Boxes also include a sheet of fighter counters and generic play counters that are printed in full color on glossy card stock and have to be cut out.
The Firestorm Armada site has lots of goodies for download including assembly guides, tactics tips, fleet rosters, and wallpaper. There are even full color fleets you can print out to get playing right away without need for the miniatures. Spartan now has both errata and clarification sheets for the game.
We look forward to getting in a game, painting up some ships, and seeing how the system progresses. If you have any interest in sci-fi ship combat games Firestorm Armada deserves a serious look.
Russ Wakelin, of DakkaDakka fame and the D6 Generation podcast, has started a wiki page on DakkaDakka on Firestorm Armada with useful comments. Also see their Firestorm Armada review.
[Updated: 17DEC09]
New Tyranid Images — WH40K
Bell of Lost Souls has some, blurry, images of some of the upcoming Warhammer 40,000 Tyranid releases. The Toxatrope is sort of a wild looking version of a Malanthrope. The new Ravenors and Gargoyles are now in plastic but look rather similar to current designs. The new Hive Guard is a unique sculpt that is sort of Carnifex-esque.
New clear pics are now available and the models are available for pre-order from GW.
[Updated: 17DEC09]
Warhammer 1944?!
The gents over at the D6 Generation podcast have one whopper of a rumor. In their Episode 44: Year in Review & Carnage 2009 they report that they heard Games Workshop might be working on a World War Two era game. The only details they had were that it would be an in-house project and that the scale might be 20mm.
If this is true it would certainly be a huge departure for Games Workshop. While Warhammer Historical has been around a long time it was not a direct part of GW. More importantly it has never had any model support from GW. The idea of Games Workshop producing historical WW2 figures seems rather far fetched. Moreover, 20mm would seem an odd choice considering the vast number of historical 20mm choices currently in the market including large numbers of highly detailed scale kits from the major model manufacturers. On the other hand, 20mm is the best skirmish scale (or ‘army scale’ in GW terms) for WW2 (and was considered the ‘one true scale’ by many battalion-scale WW2 gamers for years). One could even imagine, with GW’s size, that deals could be made with other manufacturers — what if they got Dragon to do a line of branded ‘GW armor’ kits?!
The genesis of this rumor comes from a Wargames Illustrated report about the recent Warhammer World convention where Forge World demoed a set of WW2 rules. Warhammer Historical is now part of Forge World and apparently a staff member wrote the rules. So it is most likely the release will be just a set of rules and not a set of miniatures or any new line from Games Workshop directly.
Of course this is all just a rumor, but it is certainly something for which to keep an eye, and ear, out for over the coming year.
Note, our favorite 25mm scale World War Two figures and vehicles are from West Wind’s Berlin or Bust (BoB) line. Their World War II Separate Head System (SHS) is also very good but is 28mm and does not mix with BoB. The Secrets of the Third Reich line is 28mm and mixes with the SHS just fine (as do the Incursion miniatures). The Bolt Action line is also a good 28mm option.
[Updated: 29NOV09]
Pig Iron System Troopers
We have always been fans of Pig Iron Productions. We especially like their vehicles. But they recently released a new line of 28mm sci-fi troops that we really like, the System Troopers. They currently only have five troop figures available but they are a nice looking group with a heavy, non-powered armor and unique helmet design that makes them look like they mean business. PI describes them very well, “Seriously tooled-up, armoured infantry, ideal for cleansing pockets of fierce resistance.”
Pig Iron figures are all metal and, as always, they have separate heads. Pig Iron’s other figures fill out various techs from colonial militia to police forces. Their vehicles are detailed resin castings with metal bits.
If you want stand-ins for Imperial Guard Storm Troopers or just generic troops for another ruleset check them out. We look forward to upcoming releases in the range.
Wither AT-43?
Rackham came out from under serious financial problems in 2009 and began releasing AT-43 material again this year after a long dry spell. First out was the Red Blok Army Box that finally provided the long awaited Dotch Yaga (also available separately). The Therians finally got the Storm Arachn box. Then AT-43 fans got an all new race with the release of the Cogs Army Box along with the Cogs Army Book. Most recently another new faction was introduced with the release of the ONI Army Box and ONI Army Book.
So with two new armies released what’s the problem? Well the huge break between the last run of core releases and the Red Blok Army Box was a serious blow to the system as a whole. The Red Blok Army Box was a bargain but the only new unit in it was the Dotch Yaga. It was not until the release of the Cogs that the AT-43 system finally got something really new. For us we were initially excited about the Cogs but the final designs of their Striders left us uninterested and the troop ‘swords’ are better left without comment. The same goes for the ONI; while the ONI designs are very good overall the vehicles are quite tiny and seem more like toys than scale miniatures. Read the rest of this entry »
Flames of War Releases — 2010
Battlefront announced a truck load of upcoming releases for Flames of War. They detailed their plans not only for the rest of 2009 but all the way through to July 2010 — although we suspect they will still have a few surprises.
The focus is on airborne operations and Operation Market-Garden in particular. Also of note are the new hill and forest sets, new spray paint, a new Eastern Front book, four river expansion boxes, and the Vietnam releases.
Wargames Illustrated 268 will feature Operation Market-Garden. February 2010 sees the release of the A Bridge Too Far book. In April we should get Firestorm – Market Garden to pull all the new material together.
Mid year, Battlefront changes gears and a new late war Italy book will be out followed by the first of the early war releases including the first early war army book.
It is going to be a great, but expensive, year for Flames of War fans.
Flames Of War Vietnam — The Battle for Ia Drang
Well Battlefront has certainly done something very different. In issue 266 of Wargames Illustrated they are including a complete set of rules to fight a Vietnam battle (the Battle of Ia Drang). Not content to leave it at that they have also produced a complete set of miniatures for the game including Huey helicopters, U.S. Airmobile troops, and North Vietnamese PVAN troops (plus decals and markers). The new WI site has a nice set of photos of the new miniatures and Design Notes.
This should make for a very interesting diversion for Flames of War fans. Now if only they’d get going on FoW Korean War!
[Updated: 27NOV09]
The View from the Turret 
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