Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Flames of War plastic base sneak peek released

Just an image as I cannot find any other news sources that have more information (besides the announcement released with Cassinos information a while back http://www.flamesofwar.com/Default.aspx?tabid=102)

Dystopian Wars: Armoured Clash


Hi,

No teasing, well not too much I hope. We've developed a set of free ground combat rules that we'll make available as a PDF download. Called Dystopian Wars: Armoured Clash the rules are all about controlling Armoured Battle Groups that are supported by Army level units (artillery, large flyers and so on) and part of these rules are ground troops that can destroy AFVs, but also capture bunkers and hold objectives.

We've got part of the forum primed for their arrival, finishing off the PDF with examples and images, and we aim to have them out in early to mid June. Well that's what Andy tells me.

Cheers,
Spartan Neil

Spartan Games is pleased to announce the imminent arrival of Armoured Clash, our first set of community rules that we are making free to download from our web site at www.spartangames.co.uk. During the development of the Armoured Battle Group boxed sets it became clear that not only do we LOVE to play large games, but we believe our customers do as well!

This is where Armoured Clash steps in. Centred in the world of Dystopian Wars, the rules are designed for large scale land combat with commanders pushing numerous units around a battlefield, the command and control of which is key to their success. So if playing with one Armoured Battle Group excites you – think what 2-3 boxes, plus support models, will do to your blood pressure!

Monday, May 30, 2011

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Local gaming club Panther tanks, huge battle

Taken last night at my massive Flames of War game that last 5 hours. Great paint job on the Panthers but much of the things we had to use were not finished. Since we needed a massive amount of miniatures we had to dig deep and field whatever we owned. Still the game took 5 hours and was a massive German counter attack on a Soviet bridgehead they had retaken the night before. Fun time if not a bit long. The Germans failed to get across the river in 12 turns after being a bit timid but did destroy over 30 Soviet tanks which never made it back across the bridge.




Friday, May 27, 2011

My least favorite models to assemble

I hate putting together Panzer IV's. The side skirts are the most annoying thing ever and the back flaps always break off. I only need to do five, then I think I will buy no more.



If you get really stuck on these there are various guides on You Tube to take a watch of. I had to assemble these a year or so ago and now I remember why I hated them so much.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Matrix Games plans new Europe At War Grand Strategy update

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=2822412

Most of us are using 1.06, but it is about to get expanded to 2.0 and here is the low down on what it will offer. This is still the only Grand Strategy WW2 conquest game that I play and find to be the most fun. I found Strategic Command by Battlefront to be a bit flat.


To mark this announcement, we have released a pack of screenshots and an in-depth feature brochure showing off the substantial improvements to the graphics and gameplay.

This expansion has taken years to produce and thousands of man hours from a dedicated collection of people from artists to programmers, manual writers and layout experts. The end result takes this great game to a whole new level. Some of the biggest changes are listed here:

  • Airborne divisions and para-drops

  • Cross platform multiplayer support for PC vs. Mac

  • German SS and Soviet Guards Elite Units

  • Amphibious landings against defended coastal hexes

  • Geo-political elements, which include:

    • French armistice (which the axis may accept or reject)

    • Early Italian entry if insufficient allied naval presence in the Med

    • Tension in the Balkans

    • Spanish activation as axis or allied minor ally

    • Turkey activation as axis or allied minor ally

    • Finnish armistice

    • Romanian and Bulgaria surrender and activation as allied minor ally

    • Consequences for allied aggression (e.g., UK invasion of Ireland).



  • Canadian, Australian, Polish and Indian Commonwealth units and leaders

  • Headquarter units

  • More and greater variability of leadership ranging from Army Groups (Fronts), Armies and Corps

  • Ferry crossings

  • Ability to swap positions of two units of the same service type (i.e., ground, air or naval).

  • Reinforcement of sub groups at sea

  • Leased air bases (Azores, Iceland, Greenland)

  • Malta naval and air bases factor into the interdiction and counter-interdiction of axis supply of North Africa

  • Allied Interdiction of Swedish Iron Ore to German

  • Scripted construction of Atlantic Wall Fortresses

  • Many more improvements - too many to list to here!


Upcoming blog expansion, podcast on hold, and Flames of War Cassino

While I search for a job and Darryl relocates we will be putting the podcast on hold for a bit. Until then I plan on expanding the blog to talk about all sorts of miniature gaming and other wargames including boardgames and PC wargaming once more. So think of this spot and our Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Blunt-Force-Gaming/170554719631367?v=wall

as a little bit of a catch all for all the wargaming news you can handle. I will be stepping up my postings since I don't have time to podcast at the moment so stay tuned and keep us bookmarked!

Now in other news take a look at the hotness that is the upcoming Flames of War Cassino expansion!
A Sneak Peek at Cassino

http://www.flamesofwar.com/Default.aspx?tabid=102

With the release of Cassino set for June, we thought that we’d wet your appetite for the Italian campaign by taking a sneak peek at some of the upcoming releases associated with this great, new book.

There were simply too many exciting new figures and models to show you so we decide to pick some of our favourites for you to enjoy.








Panther TurretPanzer II Turret








Panther TurretCassino Cover







5cm PaK38 Nest








5cm PaK38 Nest5cm PaK38 Nest

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Painting entertainment has arrived in the command center

Recently I rebuilt an old computer that had about half a gig of RAM and decided to use it to watch DVD's on while I paint miniatures. What better way to PAINT WW2 miniatures than to watch what I consider the best WW2 documentary series ever made (besides World at War) which is Battlefront.

Amazon has these gems on sale and for cheap so I picked up all the episodes I could find and I just run them in the background while I paint things. I know...I really need to get out more.


Bolt Action pre order on Panther and new Pioneer SD.KFZ re-release

Great news from Warlord this past few weeks. They are cranking out the re-releases and the releases in their WW2 range and have shown us some new hot items this week:
Last week we brought you a lovely little pack of Waffen-SS Pioneers. So they don’t have to footslog across the battlefield we’re re-releasing this excellent Sd.Kfz 251/7 Pionierwagen. With stacks of extra kit and two large bridging boards your combat engineers can get to where they are most needed – fast.

http://www.warlordgames.co.uk/?p=11404

The latest resin and metal vehicle in the Bolt Action WWII range is this lovely Panther tank. We’re currently putting this one into silicon and preparing to cast it.

xxxxx

Bolt Action pre order on Panther and new Pioneer SDKFZ re-release

Great news from Warlord this past few weeks. They are cranking out the re-releases and the releases in their WW2 range and have shown us some new hot items this week:

Last week we brought you a lovely little pack of Waffen-SS Pioneers. So they don’t have to footslog across the battlefield we’re re-releasing this excellent Sd.Kfz 251/7 Pionierwagen. With stacks of extra kit and two large bridging boards your combat engineers can get to where they are most needed – fast.
http://www.warlordgames.co.uk/?p=11404

The latest resin and metal vehicle in the Bolt Action WWII range is this lovely Panther tank. We’re currently putting this one into silicon and preparing to cast it.
xxxxx

Guide to assembling Flames of War miniatures

One of the most daunting tasks of playing Flames of War is assembling your army. What player can forget the first time he cracked open that rifle company box and saw this:


It is quite intimidating. There are ways to conquer this and you must be organized in your approach. First thing is first. Everyone should take a read over of this PDF file that Battlefront provides:

http://www.flamesofwar.com/Portals/0/Documents/BasingArticles/BasingYourArmy.pdf

This PDF lays out how to base each type of stand or unit in Flames of War and breaks it down with pictures so that you can see what type of miniature goes on each stand. Using this will solve almost 80% of the headaches you may encounter.

 Next thing you must do is look up the box set you are assembling on the Flames of War online store and see if there is a product SPOTLIGHT page.


That spotlight page will show full color assembled images of the box you are building and often times have hidden assembly instructions. Look it over carefully.

Using those pictures and the PDF, lay out each base and then match the miniatures up on the bases like in the image below. Make sure you have your command stands, infantry stands and special weapons all picked out and set aside then place them on the bases. Go over your bases and the box and make sure no miniatures are missing.


 Now do your usual modeling stuff like cleaning off flash, cleaning the bottom of the bases, straightening bent guns etc etc. After that you will need to hit the hardware store for the next part. Now some people prefer to simply glue their men onto the base and then add basing like sand or what not. That is a good way to do it or you can use the method below even though this can get messy.

Pick up a 6 dollar tub of DryDex or similiar spackle from a hardware store. Dont forget to get a simple plastic spatula also for like a $1.49 before you leave the store. I like the DryDex that goes on pink and turns white when it dries. It lets you know how much time you have to move miniatures on the base before it dries.


Go one base at a time. Put a small amount of spackle on the base and spread it out thin. Once you do this press each miniature into the spackle until it rests firmly on the stand. The spackle will fill up and over the base of the miniature thus making it look like it is level with the ground.


I dont think I have to mention this can get messy. KEEP THE SPACKLE AWAY FROM YOUR FACE and resist the urge to scratch areas of your body that are a no go for this stuff to contact. Once you place the miniatures in the spackle on the base you can move them around gently and pose them the way you want to make the stand look energetic and action oriented. Move that to the side and proceed to the next stand. The DryDex will turn white when it is dry so avoid moving the stand until this happens.

When all is said and done this is your goal:

Usually when a stand is dry I will write on the bottom of the stand in permanent marker what type of unit it is especially for the vehicles. When you have a large metal army the units start to blend in and you may forget what is what.

Like I said this is just ONE way to base your Flames of War miniatures. Others may put the spackle on after the figures are glued to the base but I like to use the spackle as the glue and not have to work it around in between the bases etc etc.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Spring ogranizing

If I am going to host miniature games I had to get organized. I managed to snag some old cabinets that were going to be tossed when my complex was remodeling so I took them upstairs cleaned them up and will use them to store terrain and other things. Always store vertically is what I say.

Tomorrow I plan on posting a step by step guide on how to base Flames of War miniatures. After that it is back to painting as I work on my 28mm French Army and Flames of War Germans.

Wayland Games UK fires back at Games Workshop

Hello Wargames fans!

We'd just like to start with our official response to the news regarding Games Workshop's change in trading terms announced at the start of last week

http://www.waylandgames.co.uk/index.php
Hi Everyone,

Before we start, if you'd allow me to present a little background about Wayland before we get into the meat of the issue I'd be grateful.

We laid out our little web store back in August 2008, our beginnings were humble, with my brother and I packing orders in a spare room. It wasn't ideal but it was what we had to start with and we grew and grew through the continued business of our loyal customers through four warehouses to our current location. In thirty three months we have gone from a spare room in Essex, UK with my brother and I packing boxes to a global operation with fourteen full time staff which is now positioned as one of the largest if not the largest independent hobby retailer in the world. We run our business today as we always have done, in a professional and ethical manner both within the letter and the spirit of the law. Almost all suppliers like us, customers enjoy our openness and service-oriented outlook and whilst we're realistic enough to know we're not by any means perfect we will always strive to improve to ensure our central tenet of great prices and better service.

Managing such growth has been far from simple; we have experienced growing pains like any business in any sector that has exploded in market share terms. Our growing pains have also been more painful as we continually seek to adjust to a shifting commercial landscape from our dominant supplier, Games Workshop. Like many of you, I believe that Games Workshop produce a fantastic product which gives endless joy to countless people. I am proud to be associated with them. Unsurprisingly, therefore, I read with real concern the statement by the CEO Mark Wells over the new trade terms which effectively prevents us selling Games Workshop supplied products outside Europe. Mark’s statement can be found here

Mark seems to be clearly of the view that on-line retailers ( and we are not purely that, of course given our bricks and mortar presence) “free ride” on the back of Games Workshop’s bricks and mortar outlets. We have sought over the years, and I thought with some success and recognition, to demonstrate to Games Workshop the value that we provide not just in terms of sales but also in terms of pre and after sales service (not to mention our activities at trade fairs), which is clearly equivalent to the service that is provided on the “ground” by bricks and mortar outlets. Quite aside from the legality of Games Workshop’s actions, we are confused by the commercial attitude of Games Workshop which hampers our ability to sell to hobbyists to the clear disadvantage of both Games Workshop (albeit maybe not their retail arm) and the hobbyists themselves.

I will not air anyone’s dirty laundry in public. Therefore, I am writing to Games Workshop separately (its board, lawyers and their principal shareholders) to share my concerns in greater depth. I hope that commercial common sense will prevail and that we can continue to work with Games Workshop to expand their market and bring a great product to as many people as possible at the best price possible. After all, Games Workshop not only has a clear responsibility to the market but also a clear responsibility to its shareholders (which, after all, could be you and me!).

In the meantime, we believe after the announced terms are implemented we shall be able to continue to offer all of our loyal customers the same product range that we offer today. There may be a small lead time to implement but we've been given a rather short period to react. We will comply fully and completely with the new terms and conditions of sale imposed upon us and will not contravene them in any capacity whatsoever (albeit we would not wish that to be seen as acceptance of their legality), all we seek to achieve is that customers both old and new are able to benefit from our view of the market wherever they are located. We all love our hobby.

Over the next few weeks we'll be providing updates as to how the process of implementing these changes is coming along, the chances are we'll use Facebook to disseminate this information as it is a great platform for customers to interact with us and each other.

We look forward to continue to serve you and we always will.

Keep on Wargaming.

Richard.
Wayland Games

Sunday, May 22, 2011

A.D. Publishing announces Victory Decision WW2 ruleset

While designed with 20-28mm miniatures in mind the Victory Decision game system is flexible enough to handle any miniatures from 6mm to 32mm. So whatever your existing miniature collection consists of, you can start playing right away.

http://www.adpublishing.de/html/victory_decision.html




These rules cover virtually all aspects of World War II gaming. Included are rules for:
  • Moving, Hiding, Infiltrating and Spotting,
  • Shooting and Concentrated Fire Actions,
  • Assault and Close Combat Actions,
  • Artillery and Air Strikes, Bunker Assaults, Night Fighting, Foxholes, Tank Pits and much more...
Victory Decision emphasises Troop Quality and Leadership and includes a fast and detailed Vehicle combat system

Games Workshops execs comment on overseas sales changes

Dear Hobbyists,

Thanks for contacting Games Workshop about the change in our trading terms for European accounts. I know this has frustrated you and for that I am truly sorry. As a long standing customer, you deserve to know why we made this decision.



As you know, we introduce people to the Games Workshop hobby of collecting, painting and gaming with Citadel miniatures through our Hobby Centres and local independent trade accounts. Games Workshop Hobby Centres run introductory games and painting sessions, beginner lessons, hobby activities and events. We provide all these services free of charge. We only recover this investment if customers then buy products from us.

 

Where we don’t have a Games Workshop Hobby Centre, we support local independent trade accounts. These businesses provide a convenient place for customers to buy our products close to where they live. We support these businesses with local customer service teams and warehouses to ensure customers have immediate access to our best selling products and new releases. Many customers discover the hobby this way.

In addition we invest millions of pounds every year in our design studio and factory to ensure that each month we release more new products. This makes the Games Workshop Hobby more exciting for existing customers, helping them stay in the hobby longer. We can only afford to do this because of the volume of customers we have recruited and developed through our local Hobby Centres and trade accounts.

It is for this reason that we have changed our European Trade terms. Over recent years, a number of currencies have moved a long way from their historical relative values, and this has opened the door for some traders to try to take advantage of these currency movements and offer deep discounts to overseas hobbyists. This has been the case with European internet traders selling to some of our customers overseas.

While this may seem great in the short term, the simple fact is that European internet traders will not invest any money in growing the hobby in your country. Their model is to minimise their costs and free-ride on the investment of Games Workshop and local independent shops in creating a customer base.

The inevitable consequence if this was allowed to continue is that Games Workshop would not be able to operate Hobby Centres, nor to support local trade accounts. And if this happened in more territories outside Europe, the loss of volume would leave Games Workshop no choice but to scale back our investment in new product development, further eroding our customer base. Not something that we or our customers would want us to do.

That is why we took the decision to take legitimate action to restrict European trade accounts from selling the goods they purchase from Games Workshop outside Europe.

While I understand that you may still be unhappy with our decision, it was taken to ensure we can continue to support the Games Workshop hobby communities around the world through our Games Workshop Hobby Centres and local trade accounts. And to ensure we continue to invest in developing the best possible new product releases every month. I hope therefore that over time you will see the benefits of this decision for you and your hobby.

Yours sincerely,



Mark Wells
Chief Executive
18 May 2011

Saturday, May 21, 2011

The Brits are in!

Today was a nice day for the build up of my Flames of War starter armies. I got my British Rifle Company and my German Panzergrenadier Platoons.

Once assembled I will be able to teach simple games of Flames of War and then later expand these late war armies. Of course I had to get British Army dice. No respectable Brit player should be caught without them.

I also assembled some German AA guns today. Not the easy models to put together but I got them done at last.


Friday, May 20, 2011

Forge World MK II Space Marine Assault Squad released

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/New_Stuff/MK-II-SPACE-MARINE-ASSAULT-SQUAD.html
MkII Armour represented a significant technological step forward from the original Space Marine Thunder Armour. Created by the Adeptus Mechanicus, it was totally enclosed and life sustaining, making it suitable for use in a variety of hostile environments including deep space. The few surviving examples of this pattern are still maintained by some of the oldest Space Marine Chapters and are venerated as sacred relics.

Models designed by Phil Stutcinskas. The kit contains 5 complete Assault Marines in MkII ‘Crusade’ pattern power armour armed with Umbra-pattern bolt pistols and chainswords. These multi-part resin models are fully compatible with our existing MkII Armour Set.

Bolt Action Russian 28mm Week

Revealed today is the Bolt Action line of Russian's for 28mm WW2

Take a look at their site announcement!

http://www.warlordgames.co.uk/?p=11400

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Combat Mission Battle for Normandy 15 minute video

I went overboard and recorded a little too much. But here is a randomly generated battle, small in scale.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Well its not 28mm but....

My love of all things WW2 has forced me to reapproach my feelings and the way I used to try to play Flames of War. My friend and I decided to reenter the FoW scene while ignoring the message boards, power gamers and tournament mind set and just focus on playing the battles we want to have fun with.

Before we rushed in too fast and didn't really take the time to learn the rules like we are with Disposable Heroes. Also we were on the Eastern Front which is a tad too armor heavy. 

We are going for about 1000 points straight up infantry with support in 1944 France. This matches a lot of what we are doing in 28mm scale and we have also agreed to do 1940 France with Blitzkrieg rules from Flames of War also.

The best thing? All the skirmish campaign books I have for 28mm will work with 15mm. Which gives us tons of options in either scale.

I have two grenadier platoons on order and today picked up some STUG tanks and some PAK 40's

Monday, May 16, 2011

GW goes full resin on some products, introduces Citadel Fine Cast range

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/blogPost.jsp?aId=16400050a

On 28th May we are launching Citadel Finecast miniatures to the world.

Don't miss the full announcement on games-workshop.com on the 23rd May to find out more.

Be sure to be at your local Hobby Centre to experience this unique, once-in-a-lifetime launch day! This will be your first chance to see, touch and buy Citadel Finecast miniatures.

"This new range “Citadel Fine Cast” range will be limited in number for the first few months, so we will be taking advance orders for them."

Here are just some of the resin molds now available

92-41 WOOD ELVES TREEMAN £36.00
84-40 THOREK IRONBROW £36.00
84-41 DWARF GYROCOPTER £23.00
84-42 DWARF BOLT THROWER £23.00
90-40 SKAVEN WARPLOCK JEZZAILS £30.00
91-40 VAMPIRE COUNTS VARGHULF £21.50
91-42 COUNT MANNFRED £22.50
91-41 VAMPIRE COUNTS BLOOD KNIGHTS £61.50
88-41 KROQ GAR £40.00
89-44 GOBLIN SPEAR CHUKKA £18.50
89-43 SAVAGE ORC GREAT SHAMAN ON WAR BOAR £15.50
89-41 ORC WARBOSS ON WYVERN £40.00
89-42 GOBLIN ROCK LOBBER £23.00
89-45 GORBAD IRONCLAW £30.00
89-40 AZHAG THE SLAUGHTERER £55.00
85-41 DARK ELVES REAPER BOLT THROWER £18.50
08-40 THE DARK LORD SAURON £25.50
08-42 GULAHVAR THE TERROR OF ARNOR £30.00
08-43 MORDOR TROLL CHIEFTAIN £25.50
02-40 THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING £37.00
97-42 FLAMERS OF TZEENTCH £15.50

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Disposable Heroes Weekend

Managed to get a lot accomplished this weekend. The first night on Friday night we played one game of Disposable Heroes where a French force (1940) had to recon into a town to try and cut off suspected German assaults. The Germans came in with two tanks and scores of infantry but the French held the two buildings in town by the end of turn 5 and secured a victory. One German squad was gunned down and almost wiped out trying to assault a building.

We learned many rules and got a ton of things wrong so we vowed to read up and exclude vehicles and buildings on our next fight until we had the rules down.

Day two on Saturday I returned for more with my French. Early in the day however my friend and I built mini's and worked on our armies then played a super fast game of "occupy the hill" with nothing but two squads in a very wide open field. The hill in the middle of the board contained an apple orchard and would be the site of a lot of bloodshed.

Though the French had a last ditch "sneak" move and tried to lay down fire on the Germans they were outnumbered in the apple orchard and lost the game on Turn 5. On the left flank a score of Germans were killed as was almost all of the French "blue" squad.

In game 2 we also left our "dead" on the battlefield. You can see the German casualties behind the fence Both sides actually had good luck with grenades in that game.

Yesterday we got the rules down a lot better and only missed a few things. We are getting closer to mastering the infantry portion of Disposable Heroes. I am working on building an FAQ for myself and all who play.

Pics below are from both days:








Saturday, May 14, 2011

Does GW hate its customers? Restricts independent retailers from selling to countries such as Australia and New Zealand

Sigh here we go again. It seems that GW is ever tightening the noose on internet retailers of their products. First online stores are forced to send you super secret PDF's through the mail or have a hush hush list of GW products somewhere on their website and now this.

http://paintingfrog.wordpress.com/2011/05/13/games-workshops-embargo-or-how-i-came-to-feel-back-in-colonial-times/
Well it seems the giant in the wargaming business has decided otherwise and thus is trying to bar independent retailers, those in Europe and in the USA, from selling to costumers in the southern hemisphere.

Communities in Brazil, Argentina and other affected countries have been ablaze as word has reached us that GW will soon enforce new terms and conditions regarding trade accounts which will, plainly speaking, be an embargo on the sales of GW products from independent retailers to costumers located in the southern hemisphere of the globe.

Follow the discussion here

http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=303360

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Combat Mission: Battle for Normandy - Demo

http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=277&Itemid=477

 
This completely free demo of COMBAT MISSION: BATTLE FOR NORMANDY is available for both the PC and Mac OS X platforms. This free demo version contains limited functionality and content to showcase the full version of the game, which can be purchased at www.battlefront.com.

DEMO VERSION LIMITATIONS:
- only three scenarios, especially made for this demo version, are playable (Note: This Demo includes a training battle "Training Mission - The Road to Berlin", playable from the American side.  We recommend playing this battle before the other two.)
- QuickBattles are disabled (but the QB setup screen is visible)
- multiplayer modes (PBEM/TCP) are fully enabled
- the Scenario Editor is enabled and fully functional, but it will not allow you to purchase units, load, or save any maps
- contains nag screens during launch end exit of the demo.

 

Panzer Command: Ostfront is now available (free for Kharkov owners)

The highly anticipated new entry into the Panzer Command series is ready

Matrix Games and Black Hand Studios are thrilled to announce that Panzer Command: Ostfront is now available! Now gamers can take command of the mighty German and Soviet tanks of the Eastern front via an ultra-realistic game engine rendered in a beautiful, 3D world. To mark the release, be sure to check out this new batch of screenshots!

Panzer Command: Ostfront will replace both Panzer Command: Winterstorm and Panzer Command: Kharkov and will include all the content from the previous two releases as well as new content. The game is available for $34.99 Download / $44.99 Physical with the physical version including a full color printed manual! Please note that due to printing schedules, the physical version will be shipping out in early June, but customers who order the physical copy will receive immediate access to the download version as well.

In addition, existing Panzer Command: Kharkov owners will get the full download version of Ostfront for free, but this amazing offer is only available for six weeks (until June 30) after which the free download version offer will no longer be available. Head over to this link for instructions on how to obtain the free download version of Panzer Command: Ostfront.

Potential commanders still on the fence can also try out the free playable pre-release demo that is open to all gamers regardless of whether they purchased the previous Panzer Command games.

Experience the Panzer Command series of tactical wargames. In the new Panzer Command: Ostfront, you are a company-level commander on either the Soviet or German side, fighting on the Eastern Front. Preserve your men and defeat the enemy, there is no other way! Panzer Command: Ostfront is the latest in a new series of 3D turn-based tactical wargames which include single battles, multi-battle operations and full war campaigns with realistic units, tactics and terrain and an informative and practical interface.

For scenario designers and modders, an innovative new Map Maker allows you to create your own realistic 3D maps from 500m to 2km scale based on actual historical locations with auto-generation features that help you create natural 3D landscapes quickly and easily. In conjunction with the powerful Scenario and Campaign Editors and the fully open unit data and models, this means that you have unprecedented access to modify the existing campaigns, maps, units and scenarios or create your own. There has never been a more open 3D tactical WWII wargame.

The list of improvements is too long for this release, but please check the Panzer Command: Ostfront product page for the full list and more information and be sure to check out the new screenshots.

Advanced Tactics Gold designer lessons

http://www.vrdesigns.nl/?p=165

Victor Reijkersz Designs blog has up a tutorial on how to use certain weapons and other aspects of his latest title Advanced Tactics Gold. I have avoided this title because it involves mostly random periods in time or serves as an engine for all types of wargames. I usually like a certain fixed time period or to not have to rely on user created scenarios like Lord of the Rings battles or things like that. To me it is just too open ended and subject for mismatched scenarios.

At any rate I am sure the designer made WW2 scenarios in the game are done quite well but I will be waiting for the next Decisive Campaigns title myself.

Here is a snippet from the tutorial on the blog:
Rifles and SMGs are the 2 variants of basic infantry that are available to all regimes. They can come come in level I,II,III and IV variants. Both requiring the same “Rifle/SMG II/III/IV” research fields. It is only if you start a game in stone-age mode that you still have to research a seperate “SMG Infantry” research field before you can produce any SMGs, in all other cases Rifle and SMG are immediately producable upon starting a new game.

Rifles are more versatile then SMGs and can be used in any landscape type. However if you know that a lot of the fighting is going to take place in close quarters like urban and forest terrain you are advised to produce SMGs instead of Rifle. SMGs are only 10% more expensive to produce, but they give 25% combat bonus attacking and defending in forest, fortification and urban landscapes.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Decisive Campaigns hints on moving to the Eastern Front

From a Wargamer interview:

Post Scriptum: A word for people looking for more Decisive Campaigns


I know a lot of people liked my previous title Decisive Campaigns: Blitzkrieg from Warsaw to Paris and have been looking forward to a next title. Being a small developer it is hard to work on multiple titles at the same time. However now that Advanced Tactics Gold is in the final stages I am looking forward to pick up work again on Decisive Campaigns. I am planning to move to the eastern front with that engine and make a large number of smaller and bigger improvements as well as adding some new features. Upon release of the next Decisive Campaigns title I also plan to release a big update for Warsaw to Paris! I hope to give some more news on development of Decisive Campaigns a few months after the release of ATG.

New Dark Eldar Advanced Orders

http://tinyurl.com/2d52vuu


Monday, May 9, 2011

GW Warhammer FAQ's updated

FAQ's UPDATED...Updated FAQs
Warhammer Big Red Book
Beastmen
Demons of Chaos
Dwarfs
Dark Elves
Orcs & Goblins FAQ added
Ogre Kingdoms
Vampire Counts
Warriors of Chaos

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?categoryId=1000018&pIndex=1&aId=3000006&multiPageMode=true&start=2

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Army Group North Char B1 Bis and Architects of War Hedgerow Set

Among many of the things I got in the mail Friday one of them was the very impressive Army Group North Miniatures 1/56th WWII resin Char B1 Bis French tank. It was packed extremely nicely (unlike a broken mess I got from another company) and the communication with AGN was top notch.


Anyway here are a few pics before and after the unboxing



Along with that I got another fine Architects of War product which is their hedgerow set. This has a little bit more assembly involved but I think I can handle it. It actually comes with ready made trees and nice resin bases. And nails. Yes a pack of nails. If all else fails I can hang pictures at least!