Friday 30 October 2015

AIW Painting Challenge Month Three - Ben's Israeli's

Hello All

Welcome to the last part of the AIW painting challenge, you have already seen Winner's and Adam's month three of the painting challenge this week and now it's my turn. This month I didn't have much left to paint, just four Anti-Tank Jeeps and a Heavy Mortar platoon.
I was looking forward to painting the Jeeps as they were part of the reason I wanted to collect the army, they just look cool. I'm thinking about a Jeep army if we revisit AIW just to get more of them!

Wednesday 28 October 2015

AIW Painting Challenge Month Three - Adam's UAR

Hello All

So the colossal task is over! I had been dreading this month as it was not only the 13 vehicle hulls but air and infantry.
I started with the infantry platoon - as with the vehicles I've done all the models as opposed to only those I need as it requires little more models. The infantry were painted off the bases, with a grey undercoat, I then used zenithal spraying with desert tan and sand to highlight them. After this I picked out the faces and hands using US drab then a little flesh to highlight. The guns are neutral grey/light sea grey with flat earth for the wooden parts. I then varnished before applying a thinned down Vallejo umber wash over the whole model to add definition. I've left the bases sandy with minimal drybrushing - as I've not found any tufts I think suit it.

Tuesday 27 October 2015

Beyond The Foxholes - Episode 43

Hello All

Welcome to Beyond The Foxholes Episode 43, we join Ben, Winner Dave and Adam as they chat about all things FOW.

In Act one we cover what we have been up too, Essen News and the Mid War redo coming soon to Forces of War.

In Act two the guys dive into Winner Dave's mail bags before taking a nice long look at the Team Yankee rules. 

Monday 26 October 2015

AIW Painting Challenge Month Three - WinnerDave's Jordanians

Hey all,

What a great feeling to get this painting challenge done.  There's been times it has felt like a challenge and I've been painting when I didn't really feel like it or I've been painting somethign when I'd prefer to be painting something else...

This month's challenge was to get my remain units done, 4 rocket jeeps and 2 AA spgs.  The jeeps were really fun to paint.

Sunday 25 October 2015

Team Yankee - Background Fiction

So with the release of Team Yankee being imminent I thought it would be good fun to let you know what fictional source material there is to read out there to get you all in the mood for fighting Soviet hordes in the Fulda Gap.



Team Yankee by Harold Coyle

I am not going to talk much about this novel as you’ll most likely will have read it already.  Also the main rulebook references a lot of the book so you’ll get a good flavour for it.

In short it follows the story of a US Armoured Company commander in the opening stages of the Third World War.  Captain Bannon commands a tank heavy company in a Mechanised Infantry battalion.

It is clear from that start that Coyle knows his stuff and being an ex-tanker you certainly would expect him to.  Rumour has it that he wrote most of the novel whilst on exercise himself in the Fulda Gap area.  For a work of fiction this has a real authenticity about it.

Friday 23 October 2015

Painting To Tabletop Standard

One of the strange things I realised on reflection is that I always consider myself an average painter. The issue is that I have been an average painter for the last ten years - but if you look at my original blood bowl teams to my latest T-55's there is a definite improvement.
So I'm back with one of my rambling pieces, and it's about something which has been circulating in my head for some time. The idea about being 'average'. Now I've chosen to focus on painting, but it applies in so many other areas too gaming, list building etc.

Thursday 22 October 2015

Beyond The Foxholes: Eyes and Ears Episode 8 - British Airbourne

Hello All

Welcome to Beyond the Foxholes: Eyes & Ears episode 8, our premium content podcast available on Libsyn.

In this episode we join Ben and Adam as they talk about Late War British Airbourne. The guys look at all the special rules, tactics and all the different list builds coming Overlord, Market Garden and the new Nachtjager Digital lists.

Wednesday 21 October 2015

Great War US Brett's Brawlers (GUSAB01) Spotlight

Hello All

A few days ago we looked at the French Clavery's Chargers army deal, today we are going to look at the U.S. Brett's Brawlers (GUSAB01) box set.
The box set comes with 6 platoons with includes a HQ with 2x 37mm mle 1916 guns, French Flame-thrower Section with 3x Flame-throwers, 2x Rifle Platoons, Machine-gun Platoon with 4x Hotchkiss mle 1914 HMG teams, Light Tank Platoon with 2x Renault FT-17 (37mm) and 2x Renault FT-17 (MG) tanks, and a French Char d’Assault Platoon with 1x Schneider CA. Tank.

Monday 19 October 2015

Team Yankee - Rules Preview

Hello fellow wargamers,

We are very pleased to bring you a preview of the Team Yankee ruleset.  There's a lot of ground to cover here and we're not intending to go into tonnes of detail about the rules, rather an overview of some of the things that stood out to us.
However, please bear in mind that we have not played a game of Team Yankee yet, which means there's plenty we'll miss and nuances we'll overlook...for now I leave you with Marc to look at some of the main points about command and movement.  I'll catch up with you in the assault section
WinnerDave

Sunday 18 October 2015

Great War Stosskompanie - List Discussion

Hello all

So when I first got the new Great War book I as happy to see that the original two nations had been bulked out to four with the French and the U.S. and while I wanted to collect a Entente army there was one list that stole my attention, The Stoss Company.
Why a Stoss Company? Simple really, how doesn't like elite troops? Add the imagery of these elite troops using ,at the time, revolutionary tactics to raid and take enemy trenches and break the deadlock of the Western Front.

Friday 16 October 2015

Berlin Digital - German List Review

Hi all coxer here, I thought having done my in depth review of the Volksgrenadier lists from Berlin digital I would take a glance over the other German lists to help those of you who want something extra for your games.
502 and 503 SS Schwere panzerkompanie

So these two lists have one thing in common - the need to spend close to 1200 points on your minimum compulsory purchases. Now that does not leave you with much for anything else - but there is something completely overpowers by the idea of FV king tigers (unless there is a pesky AoP around).

The problem will be making a list which can attack infantry - you'll need to recon and AA cover, and both lists have these (with 502 having the puma pak40!) but there is not enough left in a typical pointed game to get the things you need to dig out hoards of infantry (or even just some vets)

Wednesday 14 October 2015

Great War French Clavery's Chargers (GFRAB01) Spotlight

Hello All

Today we are going to have a look at the new French Clavery's Chargers (GFRAB01) set for Great War. One of our local gamers Robin Spence painted these for us and so I will hand it over to him to explain the rest.
First off the list, you get the options of either Reluctant Veterans or Fearless Veterans, the points jump a lot between the two and this box set can be anything from around 1600pts for RV and a whooping 2200pts for FV.

Tuesday 13 October 2015

Beyond The Foxholes Episode 42 - Interview with Phil - Team Yankee Special - Part Two

Hello All

Welcome to Beyond The Foxholes Episode 42, we join Ben as he asks listener questions to Phil about Team Yankee.

We cover everything from scale, to the stream lined rules, new artillery and plane rules and finally a little sneak peak to what is coming next for Team Yankee

Monday 12 October 2015

Team Yankee - Airpower Stat Cards

Hello All

After a little break for Great War and a couple of podcast with Phil Yates about Team Yankee we have another stat card post and it's one that will be popular, Air Power!
Now we only have two of the four options (the A-10 and Hind) but these should give you a good idea of what the Cobra and Frogfoot will look like.

Sunday 11 October 2015

Early War AAR - French Escadron de reconnaissance vs Hungarian KÖNNYÜHARCKOCSIZÓ SZÁZAD - Cauldron


Hi all another ahistorical AAR this time it's EW and my French have some Hungarians to deal with!
Dave P was bringing his Hungarian tanks to the table for the second time, he rolled up cauldron.

Friday 9 October 2015

Dice of War - Dice Review

Hello all

We recently got sent these great dice by Adam over at Dice of War. They are a great set of designs which cover a wide variety of designs, we had a selection including 6th Gerbisjager, Panzer Lehr, New Zealand, Black Bull - for a full listing and also his next wave of dice go check his Facebook page.
The dice themselves seem slightly larger than the Dice you got in the FoW tins, as they didn't quite fit in but only just - you can still have them loose in a tin and close the lid easily.

Thursday 8 October 2015

Beyond The Foxholes: Eyes and Ears Episode 7 - Late War German Auto Defend Armies

Hello All

Welcome to the 7th episode of Beyond the Foxholes: Eyes & Ears, our premium content podcast available on Libsyn.

In this episode we join Adam and Roger as they talk about Late War Auto Defend German Armies. The guys look at all the special rules, tactics and all the different list builds.

Wednesday 7 October 2015

Beyond The Foxholes Episode 41 - Interview with Phil - Team Yankee Special

Hello All

Welcome to Beyond The Foxholes Episode 41, we join Ben and Adam as they interview Phil about the new Team Yankee release.

The guys chat about Phil's background in wargaming and how he came to work for Battlefront, how Battlefront came to working on Team Yankee, how Team Yankee plays and the differences between FoW V3 and Team Yankee.

Tuesday 6 October 2015

Beyond The Foxholes Episode 40 - Wayne and James Brown Interview Special

Hello All

Welcome to Beyond The Foxholes Episode 40, we join Ben and Winner Dave as they chat all things FOW

In act one Ben chats with Wayne about the new Great War briefing book. He cover all the lists, some of the oddities of the period and the worlds first transport tank that made all the infantry sick!

In act two Winner Dave chats to James Brown about the new Colours of War book before asking some general painting questions.

Monday 5 October 2015

Great War Book Review

Hello All

In the tradition of Vietnam and The Six Days War, Great War is graduating from a Wargames Illustrated booklet to a full briefing book. Coming in at 74 pages and including two new armies, three new army lists, new missions and French Saint-Chamond tank (I love this tank!), Great War is now a full period with far more options. Battlefront kindle sent us a preview copy to read and it seemed a little rude not to review it and give you all a few spoilers!

First Impressions

The book looks great, what else do you expect from a Battlefront briefing book? Coming in at 76 pages the history sections in particular stands out and as normal do a good job of giving you an overview of the battles you will be fighting. There is quite a bit of reuse of the old Wargames Illustrated booklet for the German and British sections but if it ain't broke don't fix it.

Sunday 4 October 2015

Late War AAR - SAS Squadrons vs Panzer Grenadier Kompanie (25. Division) - Hasty Attack

Having just completed my SAS list I was itching to try it out.  So I got in touch with one of my regular sparring partners Dave M and set up a game.

We both agreed that this would be a fun, friendly game rather than a tournament practice game so we bought bought lists we’d like to try out that we never normally get the chance to play.  I turned up with my SAS Squadron, all fast moving recce jeeps and Comets, and Dave took a Panzer Grenadier company from the Nuts book.

This was shaping up to be a good historically themed bash.  The desperate Germans holding off the ever more confident Allies in the final push into the German heartland.  Unfortunately Dave didn't have a Jdgtiger to hand so the trusty old King Tiger had to stand if for him.

Friday 2 October 2015

Who Dares Wins - The SAS in Flames of War



Earlier on this year when the SAS Squadron from the Nachtjaeger digital lists was published on Forces of War I knew I just had to have a go at building such a list.  I mean who doesn’t like the thought of a load of tooled up hooligans racing around the ulu brassing up the Jerries!


One of the first models I ever built was the Italeri 1/35 Commando Car, basically a SAS Jeep as seen in Northwest Europe in 1944-45.  Given the fond memories I had I was sold straightaway.