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]
View from the Turret — Now on Twitter!
We finally got around to getting a Twitter account for the site. We intend to tweet posts and the occasional extra tidbits. We promise you won’t be hearing about our breakfast or the guy we’re standing behind in line at the grocery store! Follow us @fromtheturret
If you have an iPad we highly recommend Flipboard as a great way to read your favorite Twitter feeds. We do wish you could simply subscribe to straight RSS on Flipboard but that still is not really possible except by using a Google Reader account. Twitter’s own iPad app is also excellent. On the computer Twhirl is a nice, simple Twitter client and TweetDeck is for the power user.
On a related note, we have always had a RSS feed for the site. Our favorite RSS reader for the iPad is the Pulse News Reader. It is not as attractive as Flipboard but still quite nice. Reeder is a solid, if conventional, RSS reader that hooks to your Google Reader account.
Hornet Leader — Review
DVG Games recently released Hornet Leader: Carrier Air Operations. Hornet Leader is a remake of the original game that started the series more than a decade ago and includes the expansions that were released as VASSAL only games in the past. Last year DVG also released the excellent Phantom Leader in the same series.
The game ships in a beefy extra-deep box although it is largely filled with air. It has a mound of cards and excellent full-color components. We found an excellent review of Hornet Leader on Wargame Center. As always, BoardGame Geek has some excellent supporting files.
New Battlefront Podcast
Battlefront released what I believe is their first ever Flames of War podcast, Radio Free Battlefront. It is a one hour show with Mike and Wayne of Battlefront. They discuss the new D-Day books and give a nice battle report covering the La Fière Causeway mission along with a discussion of their forces. Overall a nice job and hopefully we will see more of these in the future.
Episode 2 covers Task Force A and the FFI (Free French) Company.
Don’t miss the Villers-Bocage and Monty’s Meatgrinder scenarios. And of course if you want more Flames of War podcast goodness check out the What Would Patton Do podcast.
[Updated: 10FEB11]
WWPD — Donations
Well as Steven himself would say, he’s ‘spilled the beans’ about our recent contribution to the WWPD: News from the Front podcast.
Good wargaming podcasts are hard to come by. Either the content is not very good or the sound quality makes you want to stick an ice pick through your brain. In either case, inevitably, they end up dying off after a few shows anyway. Steven and crew have already provided hours of entertainment and useful insight and with a little luck they will also be around awhile. They have solid content and even manage to provide excellent sound quality during group discussions — one of the more challenging areas for many podcasts. As someone who has a long commute, quality podcasts have become as good as gold and we were happy to do what little we could to help. If you would like to help out as well you can always buy a t-shirt and proceeds will go towards the show.
The D6 Generation — Lost Chapters
Russ from The D6 Generation podcast posted their first Lost Chapters episode. The one hour show covers their first Deathwatch game and is available for $1.00 via either Ambling Books or Payloadz. Unfortunately neither option provides a simple one-click purchase and download but we tried it via Payloadz and as long as you already have a PayPal account it is pretty straightforward. They also have a special Wives Attack segment and Battlestar Galactica Review available for purchase.
Note, if you decide to purchase via Ambling Books you are essentially getting a version that can only be played via that application/service. With Payloadz you get a straight .mp3 file that you can play on anything.
The whole Lost Chapters idea is a way for the D6 Generation to generate a little bit of income, provide more content and could perhaps lead them to do a few things they might not otherwise do. After all, they only have so much time and spending it on something they get nothing in return for beyond praise can only be sustained for so long. If you enjoy the D6 Generation be sure to grab a few Lost Chapters or throw them some support in another form. These guys really do a great job.
[Updated: 26JAN11]
Point 2 Point Episode 43 — Now Available
Jason White, of the board wargaming podcast Point 2 Point, made a New Year’s resolution to produce a show every month in 2011. To achieve this he may need to do a lot of the shows without his co-host Scott. Episode 43 is his first effort of the year and he does a great job. We’ll ignore his digs on Conflict of Heroes and chalk it up to stress! They are currently having trouble with their main site so Jason is posting on the ConsimWorld blogs.
Jason flies solo for this new episode of P2P. He talks about a number of games including: Hellenes, Hearts and Minds, Command and Colors Ancients, Combat Commander Pacific, and Asia Engulfed, among others. He also gives his current top ten list and his hot ten list. He introduces some new segments, including a pre-order of the month. This month he focuses on GMT’s first design in the Fighting Formations series, a game focused on the Grossdeutschland Division. After the credits, you are welcome to stay tuned for an “Extra Point,” a non-gaming segment that will appear from time to time after the credits.
Combat Mission Battle for Normandy — Coming Soon!
Battlefront.com announced they are working on a WW2 version of their updated Combat Mission engine, Combat Mission Battle for Normandy. The original Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord was our favorite tactical computer wargame of all time and has been on our Top Picks since the start. It is a WW2 tactical level combat game with squad/team units and individual vehicles and guns. When it first released it was the first hardcore wargame to use 3D graphics. The new Battle for Normandy brings WW2 gaming up to the level of their modern combat CM versions. This includes enhanced options, better AI, improved graphics, and much more. It also means pausable real-time action. We have never liked the real-time play option because even though you can pause to give orders you still can’t be in two places at once so you sometimes miss out on the action. The current modern titles still have the original YouGo/IGo play as an option so hopefully that will remain in Battle for Normandy.
Building upon the legacy started 10 years ago with the release of the ground smashing Combat Mission Beyond Overlord, CM:BN incorporates years of experience and customer suggestions to produce what we think is the most genuine and enjoyable simulation of tactical ground warfare of World War Two. CM:BN is based on the extremely powerful proprietary CMx2 engine – the foundation for which was laid with the Combat Mission Shock Force series of Modern tactical warfare games. The CMx2 game engine is now in its 4th year of improvements and expansions, not the least of which are the host of brand new features necessary to simulate WW2 warfare in a temperate climate.
They have a great after action report posted from the viewpoints of both the American and German players.
If you are new to the series and want to check it out Battlefront.com also sells an update to their CM:Afrika Korps game that allows it to run on modern Vista/Windows 7 machines, and it is still a great game even after all these years and well worth getting if you have an interest in the topic.
Flames of War Invades Normandy
Battlefront released a new D-Day: Battle for France two-book set for Flames of War. The set includes the Allied Turning Tide book and the Axis Earth and Steel book (both also available separately). Together the two volumes replace all of the previous D-Day related force books. This leaves D-Day to Operation Cobra forces now covered by just these two books.
Both books are typical gorgeous Flames of War hardbacks in full-color. The limited availability slip case is also of high quality, thick hardback stock with a nice finish. Both books are over 200 pages each and feature tweaked army lists, new point costs, all new lists, and painting guides. You can now field a Churchill company, a captured French armor unit of the Beutepanzerkompanie, and much, much more. For a great overview of D-Day and the changes over the previous books listen to the WWPD: News from the Front, Episode 6. Forward to 0:48:15 to get right to the review.
The various beach landing, bunker, and fortification rules are now in Das Book.
If all of that wasn’t enough, Battlefront announced a number of Normandy-related boxed sets as well as some new ready-to-play bunkers.
Top Picks — Updated
We updated our Top Picks. We made a number of changes to replace what had become dead games. We also added a podcast section for the first time.
Gaming related podcasts have become a great way to stay in touch with the hobby and provide an especially good resource for miniature gamers to have some hobby related content to listen to while modeling. We have always listed podcasts in our links section but we thought we’d highlight the best of the best.
Our first two inaugural choices were easy picks. Both are outstanding podcasts that provide excellent coverage of their selected topics and solid entertainment value. We hope you give them a listen.
The View from the Turret 
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