Miniature Wargames
New Firestorm Armada Ships Available
Spartan Games has released a number of new ships for Firestorm Armada. Each race gets a new specialty ship and a new faction, the Marauder Fleet, is available now (but no rules/stats yet). There are 
stats for the other new ships.
The new ships are the first to come from Spartan’s new tooling where they have reduced the parts count for each ship. Most are now single piece castings or only two or three pieces at most. The large Marauder ship, the Buccaneer, is resin with a metal ring and the small Corvettes are all metal. The other ships are all single piece resin. They are all extremely well cast, very detailed and are basically the best sci-fi ship miniatures currently available.
Also see Firestorm Armada Kurak Alliance.
[Updated: 8NOV10]
Forged in Battle Miniatures — Review
Forged in Battle is a new historical miniatures company. They produce 15mm resin and metal WW2 miniatures. The line includes both infantry and vehicles. The FiB infantry are traditional metal figures and are packaged in sets usable for Flames of War or other WW2 fireteam based games. We did not compare them directly but looking at them in the store they appear to maybe be a just a bit smaller (slighter) than the FoW infantry minis but we are not sure. Comparing the infantry figures that came with the 88mm guns they are less chunky than FoW figs. The quality seems just fine. The line is expanding but they currently have infantry for American, British, German, and Russian forces. Read the rest of this entry »
40K Radio is Back!
Following the sudden demise of the 40K Radio podcast all of the rights were purchased by Romeo Filip, owner of Battlefoam. They did an intro show #1 a few weeks ago but we were less than impressed. But they have now done shows #2 and #3 and both have been very good. Without Spencer the show lacks a bit of energy but is, so far at least, more on topic. The hosts and Romeo are doing a good job covering the various aspects of Warhammer 40K. There is no more drinking on the show now and it is more family friendly in general. Some may call this a negative but it allows younger listeners to enjoy the show as well as us old timers.
Update: We still like the show but it made a substantial turn to the non-younger audience friendly side. The guys will often slip into less than child sensitive language as well as sophomoric rants in general. Sometimes humorous but certainly not for younger audiences.
[Updated: 12DEC10]
15mm Buildings and Terrain — News
Battlefront announced it is delaying the release of its new Italian terrain pieces. The Ruined Monastery, Vineyards, and Rural Roads will not be released for 6-12 months due to “overseas issues.”
More curious is the lack of mention of the European buildings announced last year and shown in Wargames Illustrated issue #268 in February of 2010. We hope these will still be released.
The Miniature Building Authority released a new addition to its Townhouse line. Townhouse Row E is now available and includes a corner building. All of the Townhouse buildings are fully painted and well done overall.
Also see, 15mm Pre-Painted Buildings — A Few Choices.
Epic: Armageddon — Review
The D6 Generation gang have done a great review of the classic Epic: Armageddon. We agree with their review and Russ’ conclusion that Epic: Armageddon is a great game marred by lack of support and a lack of miniatures. But if you don’t mind doing some work you will find Epic: Armageddon worth the effort. It is still one of the best games for a sci-fi invasion or larger grand-tactical conflict. Fast forward to 2hr 38min into the show to get right to the review.
Craig mentions the excellent Epic: Armageddon Handbook 2008 from the TacticalWargames.net site. It is essentially the official rulebook with all errata (as of 2008) integrated into it. Also the original Epic: Armageddon rules and army lists are available, for free, from GW directly. NetEpic is the fan produced version of the early Epic V2 rules (this is basically a different game from Epic: Armageddon).
The World’s End Radio podcast also has an excellent review of Epic in their Episode #48 – Epic WIN. Forward to 0:47:31 to get right to it.
We like to use Litko Aero’s Small Artillery Strike Markers and Blast Markers for blast markers and the Mini Smoke Markers or Small Flaming Wreckage as destroyed markers.
[Updated: 23JAN11]
Napoleon!!
For some odd reason or another we recently picked up a number of Napoleonic warfare titles. We haven’t played any of them yet but thought you might be interested in some initial impressions. Please note that we are not generally players of Napoleonic games nor consider ourselves students of Napoleonic warfare. So these comments will be most useful to those with a similar mild interest in the period. Read the rest of this entry »
Colonial Battlefleet Core Rules — Now Available
Steel Dreadnought Games, makers of the fine Naval Thunder WW2 naval rules, has released a new set of sci-fi spaceship combat rules entitled Colonial Battlefleet. We have not seen them yet but they sound interesting. SDG provides some nice details of the game. Like all of their products the rules are available as a downloadable PDF.
Colonial Battlefleet features easy to learn rules and exciting game play with minimal time spent waiting between turns. Shooting and damage resolution is easy and yields plenty of carnage. Best of all, Colonial Battlefleet is not a “luck of the dice” game. Although the rules are very straightforward, the game offers tremendous tactical depth and your command skills will be put to the test! There are no cumbersome or complicated systems to slow down play. All your attention will be focused on outmaneuvering and outwitting your opponent – not trying to remember rules.
Firestorm Armada — Directorate Fleet Now Available
Spartan Games has released the fifth fleet for their sci-fi spaceship combat game Firestorm Armada. The Directorate is in the main rulebook but did not have any miniatures until now. Like the previous four main fleets the release includes the BB, CV, and CAs, FGs and escorts FGs. Additionally, the Directorate get a heavy cruiser along with the new HCAs for the other main fleets.
Also shown are design shots of an upcoming Terran Alliance battle station that looks very nice.
We got a look at the Directorate ships in person. Whether you like the design or not they are very well cast minis.
[Updated: 11JUN10]
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]
The View from the Turret 
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