Miniature Wargames
Flames of War Vietnam — M113 Series
Battlefront has thrown us a few nice surprises with their new Flames of War Vietnam series. First was bringing the line back at all and then there was the addition of plastic rotors for the helicopters.
Most recently we discovered that the M113 line of vehicles are not just solid blocks of resin. The cargo space of the M113 is actually open and detailed appropriately. The top deck and back ramp are metal castings. Of course there are pluses and minuses to this approach. The downsides are that any set of Battlefront’s metal castings often have some minor defects. The parts we have seen are very nice but there were a few minor issues. Another issue of course is this design creates more assembly work and can be a bit fiddly. On the positive side though you get more modeling options and those who like to do detail can really go crazy. Being able to have the rear ramp open should look especially nice on the mortar tracks.
We have included a few photos of the new M113 ACAV and M125/M106 so you can get an idea of what to expect if you pick some up for yourself. Overall the Vietnam range continues to impress us.
Note: As of mid-2013 Battlefront’s M113 series of vehicle miniatures are now all plastic and very well done.
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- M125/M106 Hull and Top Deck
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- M125/106 Interior
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- M113 ACAV Basic Parts
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- M113 ACAV Interior
[Updated: 28JUN13]
Flames of War — Tropic Lightning
Battlefront’s full entry into Vietnam has officially begun with their release of Wargames Illustrated Issue 282 and the included 40-page Tropic Lightning: Armoured and Airborne Combat in Vietnam 1965-1971 army book.
WI Issue 282 itself includes some nice material including a quick history of the Vietnam War with a look at the forces covered by the game, a battle report, a look at U.S. tracks and helicopters, and lastly a painting and markings guide.
But the main attraction of course is Tropic Lightning. TL includes the army lists for U.S. and PAVN forces as well as the rules changes/additions from WW2 FoW and four missions. The U.S. forces of course have all the really fun toys including M-48 tanks, UH-1 Cobra gunships and a whole lot more. The only glaring omission is the OH-6 Loach helicopter. Both armored and airmobile forces are covered for the U.S.. The included U.S. lists are,
- Tank Company -M-48 heavy
- Armoured Cavalry Troop -ACAV heavy
- Rifle Company (Mech) -Troop heavy in M-113s
- Blackhourse Cavalry Troop -M-113s and M-48s with M-109 support artillery
- Rifle Company (Airmobile) -Troops in helicopters
PAVN forces cover the Tiêu Doàn Bô Binh infantry battalion. This is the only force list on the PAVN side and variety comes from simply choosing among the various supporting forces. These include recoilless guns, mortars, anti-aircraft MGs, and sappers. Booby traps, bunkers and minefields also play a big role on the PAVN side.
The army specific rules for each side only take up a couple of pages each as well as a couple of pages for helicopter rules and booby traps. The only thing that seems to be missing is fast mover strikes (fixed-wing CAS) but one could argue those are out of scale for the game. Thus seasoned Flames of War players will be able to get going with a minimum of work.
There are only four missions included,
- Hot LZ -An assault landing into a contested landing zone
- Indian Country -Where cavalry units are ambushed en route to a pick-up
- Contact! Contact! -Where a U.S. patrol stumbles upon a PAVN force prepared to stand and fight
- Big Bang -A Vietnamese attack on a temporary U.S. Fire Support Base
Battlefront included the wave one model release schedule in WI282 (and they are now on the BF website). Basically the month of April 2011 will see all of the initial models released. It will be interesting to see if anything new gets produced later this year although, besides the OH-6, we are not sure what they might release besides the M-109 and the M114A1, which are the only units in the book not listed for release, and perhaps U.S. supply trucks. Historically, the U.S. did have an odd selection of vehicles supporting supply convoys.
The Radio Free Battlefront Episode 9 podcast has a great overview of Tropic Lightning by Evan, the game’s designer.
Also see Flames of War — M113 Series.
If you are interested in reading more on armor/cav and airmobile operations in Vietnam check out,
- A Hundred Miles of Bad Road
- Marine Corps Tank Battles in Vietnam
- Praying for Slack
- Tank Sergeant
- To the Limit: An Air Cav Huey Pilot in Vietnam
- We Were Soldiers Once…and Young: Ia Drang – the Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam
- The First Cav in Vietnam
- 1st Air Cavalry In Vietnam: The ‘First Team
- Low Level Hell
- Chickenhawk
Also see Flames of War Vietnam — Is Back?!
[Updated: 1APR11]
Crisis in the Ardennes — Now Available
Test of Battle Games just released Crisis in the Ardennes: The Battle of the Bulge 1944. It is a campaign book for their WW2 battalion-level miniatures rules Test of Battle. ToB has been one of our Top Picks from the beginning. We haven’t seen the new book yet but the others have all been excellent and should be of interest to anyone who games in WW2 even if not using ToB.
On December 16th, 1944 the German Army launched Operation Wacht am Rhein (Operation Watch on the Rhine). This operation, whose goal was to split the Allied armies and capture Antwerp, was the last major offensive launched by Germany in the West. Known as the “Battle of the Bulge” due to the shape of the German advance into Allied lines, it has secured its place in history as the largest battle fought by America in the war, and the nail in the coffin of the Wehrmacht.
If you would like to read more on the Battle of the Bulge check out the following titles,
New Firestorm Armada Ships — March 2011
Spartan Games announced a slew of new Firestorm Armada ships and released 3D rendered previews. These are the first we have seen since Neil’s announcement that Spartan will be releasing 40 new FA ships in 2011 along with a new book. The ships are from new ‘Alliance’ fleets. The new book will cover these new races. We are not certain but we believe these will be races that can be played as allies alongside any of the other major races in the game. But whether there are set alliances with particular races we do not know yet.
Many of the new designs are quite radical and certainly push the sci-fi ship miniature hobby a step forward in detail and complexity. It will be interesting to see how some of the designs do as actual production models. The Ba’Kash Varnak Class Heavy Cruiser is certainly one of the most complex models we have seen and the slightly smaller Sharnak Class Cruiser has both an ‘open’ and ‘closed’ version. The Xelocian ships feature an ‘orange power rod’. We imagine this may be similar to the clear colored plastic rods that come with Game Workshop’s Necron Warriors. Our favorites of the batch are the Rense System Navy (RSN) ships. The Banshee Class Dreadnought and smaller Phoenix Class DD and Siren Class Escort are a very nice trio of ships.
Spartan now has preview rules for the ships and races.
Also the previously announced Kurak ships should be hitting the stores soon.
[Updated: 22MAR11]
The Apple iPad and Gaming — A Look Back
With Apple’s announcement of the new iPad2 on March 2nd we thought it a good time to look back at our year with the original iPad. We wrote about a number of game related functions for the iPad when it first came out and for the most part all of those have remained solid to one degree or another. Read the rest of this entry »
5cm KwK Nest — Review
The new AT bunker from Battlefront is now available for your Flames of War and other 15mm WW2 battles. The 5cm KwK Nest is direct order only. It is a rather basic model. The gun is in three metal parts and the bunker itself is two large resin pieces. The casting is all typical Battlefront quality. The only minor issue is that the top and bottom halves of the bunker did not fit perfectly together and you will need to file them a tad. But the fit is very close so it just depends how picky you want to be.
Whether you want to glue the two bunker halves together or not is a question. There is enough room inside to place a few crew figures but not enough for a stand. The only reason to not glue them would seem to be if you were worried about the gun knocking loose. But otherwise it might look better to just glue it together and fill the seam.
Overall it is a nice looking piece. Battlefront has a nice article on detailing the bunker (with a part 2, part 3, part 4 and part 5) if you want to take it to the next level. Battlefront also has a nice article on using bunkers and fortifications in Flames of War.
Also see New Flames of War Fortifications.
If you would like to read more on German fortifications in WW2 check out,
- Fortress Third Reich: German Fortifications and Defense Systems in World War II
- German Field Fortifications 1939-45 (Fortress)
Military Strategy History Books)
[Updated: 27MAR11]
Flames of War Vietnam — Is Back?!
Beasts of War dropped some major news today by releasing a shot of a whole slew of Battlefront Flames of War Vietnam boxes. This not only includes the Vietnam figures we saw released in 2010 but boxes of Cobra, M-48, M-551, M-113, ACAV, M-106, and more.
This is very exciting but we do wish they would release Pacific WW2 figures before going off on a new era in a big way. But I guess we won’t complain too much. Releases should start in the next few months.
Also see, Flames of War — Refighting the Battle of Ia Drang.
Wargames Illustrated #282 will feature Tropic Lightning, the return of Flames of War to Vietnam. It will include a free 48-page booklet dedicated to FoW Vietnam army lists and rules plus terrain and modeling tips. Available March 26, 2011. Battlefront announced they are printing more copies of #282 than normal to hopefully meet demand.
The Live from Cold Wars ’11 episode of the WWPD podcast had an interview with Battlefront. The representative confirmed the new line. Basically it sounds like it will be a smaller effort overall compared to the WW2 line and there are currently no plans for blisters. All releases will be boxed sets. Battlefront expects Tropic Lightning to be used more as an occasional diversion by FoW fans and not so much a following all its own. Considering the one-sided nature of the war this is probably a sound expectation.
The models will all release in April 2011.
[Updated: 25MAR11]
New Flames of War Fortifications
The new Wargames Illustrated Issue 280 (and now the BF website) has an announcement of a new German bunker for Flames of War, the 5cm KwK Nest. This is in addition to the previously announced pre-painted AT and unpainted MG bunkers. The 5cm KwK Nest will be direct order only and is unpainted.
In addition, Battlefront will be releasing their defensive terrain pieces in individual packs (barbed wire pack, dragon’s teeth pack, etc. but direct order only) and will also be releasing new artillery gun pits (sandbag, log and trench). Release date is 27MAR11 for those.
Last but not least are new pond and swamp terrain piece sets.
It’s a good time to be the defender!
[Updated: 2MAR11]
Firestorm Armada Stat Viewer
James Tubbs has released a nice little app for Android devices. The Firestorm Armada Stat Viewer presents the stat cards for all the ships currently available for Firestorm Armada. It is a simple straightforward app but very handy with a nice presentation. Best of all, it is free. If you play FA and have an Android device check it out.
Dystopian Wars — New Mini Previews
Spartan Games has posted some very nice previews of upcoming Dystopian Wars miniatures. There is the first robot we have seen for the game, the John Henry Class flying robot — sort of a giant Iron Man — for the FSA. Then we have the land and ocean going Metzger Class Robot for the Prussian Empire (also see a color render). The Kingdom of Britannia get the Vanguard Submarine. Lastly, the Empire of the Blazing Sun receive the Mechanical Ika squid submarine. All the minis have the great detail we have come to expect from Spartan Games and fit into their respective nations well.
[Updated: 28FEB11]
The View from the Turret 
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