Wargames
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]
Tide of Iron: Fury of the Bear — Coming Soon
Fantasy Flight Games announced its latest expansion for Tide of Iron will be coming soon. Fury of the Bear will add the Russians to the ToI system. Besides Russian miniatures and additional German minis, nine new winter map boards will be included.
Incursion MI-13 Commandos– Review
We got the pre-release pack of the new Incursion MI-13 Commando miniatures. The MI-13 are the new British special forces unit for Incursion. As with all Grindhouse Games’ minis they arrived quickly and were crisply cast with almost no flash. The unit consists of 7 complete models: 2x Gut-Gunner, 1x Grenadier, 1x Paddy Mayne, 2x Commando, and 1x Corporal. Except for Paddy all the units have separate heads so you can mix and match as you wish or use heads from other ranges. The weapons are separate but mostly consist of just the forward half of the weapon along with a molded on hand so you can’t swap weapons between figures. Read the rest of this entry »
White Star Rising — Beta Rules
Lock’n Load Publishing posted a PDF of the beta rules for their upcoming WW2 tactical board wargame, White Star Rising. The game is the long awaited World War 2 version of the World at War system. The rules are basically complete but do not include any scenarios and will receive some final polish before publication. Overall nothing surprising in them as they are basically the WaW rules with some minor tweaks. It does look like WSR will ship with a nice selection of formations for the Americans, British and Germans.
Steel Wolves in 2010
Compass Games announced Steel Wolves will be printing in October of 2010. So fans should have it in time for the holidays. Pre-orders are still open. Steel Wolves is a follow up to their well done WW2 solitaire board game on Allied submarine combat in the Pacific, Silent War. Fans of naval games, solitaire games and the war in the Atlantic should check it out.
New Firestorm Armada Heavy Cruisers
Spartan Games has announced new heavy cruiser models for their tactical space combat miniatures game Firestorm Armada. Each of the four current races will get a new ship. No beta rules yet nor mention of a release date.
We got our hands on these. They are some of the best cast FA ships to date. Very little flash and nice crisp lines.
[Updated: 11JUN10]
Horus Heresy — Available Soon
Fantasy Flight Games‘ new boardgame set in the universe of Warhammer 40K, Horus Heresy, will be released on April 13th. They now have the full rules available for download. The game is sort of a strategic/operational game of the classic assault on Terra in the Warhammer 40K universe. Six scenarios are included.
Apple iPad Review — A Gamer’s Perspective
With the release of the Apple iPad we thought we would break a bit from our usual gaming coverage to give a gamer’s eye review of the new tablet. We have had the iPad since Saturday (3APR10) and have been using it quite a bit. So we have had time to find most of its faults and enjoy its benefits.
We will not repeat what you can read in a hundred other iPad reviews by now. Suffice it to say the hardware is gorgeous, the display vibrant, the performance amazing, and the battery life really is 10 hours (if not more). The WiFi-only model is available now and the 3G model will be available at the end of April. But what does the iPad mean to you as a gamer? Well it has a number of applications (no pun intended), some obvious and some not so obvious.
The View from the Turret 
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