Category Archives: Reviews

Studio Miniatures –

A very appealing figure is being pre-viewed by Studio Miniatures at the moment;

http://theminiaturespage.com/news/?id=1110818483

Whilst the figure no doubt will satisfy the remit for ‘Medieval Mayhem’ for medieval re-enactors fighting zombies in the modern world (with a very definite nod to Monty Python) I can see these fitting into many other collections as company for Citadels original Ultimate Adventurer, or simply those who want to play the Knights of Camelot.

The Kickstarter launches in April.  I’m curious to see how much the figures go for.

New Wings of War Kickstarter

The guys behind Wings of War have started a new Kickstarter for the very large bi-plane bombers from the end of the First World War;

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1402889231/wings-of-glory-miniature-game-giants-of-the-sky

They are nice looking models but at the more pricey end so will likely appeal to the fan or the completist.  An interesting add-on are 4 large poster aerial maps which look like they would have a lot of utility across all WoW games and the price for the set didn’t look too bad.

Blotz Highways

Blotz have got some fairly impressive new highway pieces available.  These roadways are suitable for any 10mm modern or sci-fi game system such as Dropzone Commander or similar.  The ramps have a 2 inch raise over about 8 inches which looks right on the table and gives a a gentle enough slope for vehicles to stay on.  As with the rest of Blotz stuff these are laser cut MDF

https://www.facebook.com/BlotzTerrain/photos/pcb.423595121129789/423594914463143/?type=1&theater

They are available from their website;

http://blotz.co.uk/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=23_57_111

Taken from their Facebook update;

“New pieces are 1-lane on/off ramps, 30 degree curves and broken sections along with an entry/exit section for the 2-lane flyover (depending on which side of the road you drive on). Can be used to add a ramp to a different level (see pic) or simply to whizz off using the 1-lane flyover sections to elsewhere on the board.
All are now available via the website.”

 

 

Kickstarter Update – Spartan Games cancels Modular Terrain

Spartan Games have pulled their recent Kickstarter Initiative for the ‘Universal Modular War-games Terrain

Taken from the last update;

“Spartan Games has chosen to end its Modular Terrain Kickstarter project after feedback from customers and potential backers sent us back to the drawing board. We’ve always been firm fans of listening to customer feedback, and what became clear with our Kickstarter was that different parts of our project appealed in different ways to gamers, with our concept of generic terrain not hitting enough sweet spots.”

Kickstarter Update – New Wargames and Boardgames outlook

This is just a round up of some of the wargames and game stuff on Kickstarter which caught my attention this week.

 

Spartan Games: Universal Modular Wargames Terrain

On the wargames front there is a new terrain system from Spartan Games (of Dystopian Wars fame).  This is a modular scenery system using plastic bases and up-rights which have printed card inserts slotted in to make the floors and walls (and doorways etc.)  The designs cover a variety of themes including medieval, sci-fi, modern,  and a ‘woodeny’ western/mine theme.  Prices don’t looks like they will break the bank.  Coupled with resin and acrylic upgrades as well as the ability to stack these units into multi-level features looks like this will offer a wide modular system.  My reservations were the look of the modular up-rights but Spartan seem to be responding to this feedback and the final solutions will be a lot more discrete and aesthetically pleasing.  My other concern was the amount of time it would take to set up the terrain for an evening  club game.  If you have appropriate storage I suppose most of the set-up could be prepared in advance.  Worth a look with basic sets really starting at £50 for 3′ by 3′ and £70 for 4′ by 4′.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/921886974/spartan-games-universal-modular-wargames-terrain

 

Space Cadets Away Missions

This is a miniature heavy retro sci-fi game with the players taking on the role of ships crew exploring space. The game has a starting entry of $60 which also seems to cover worldwide shipping as well.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/strongholdgames/space-cadets-away-missions?ref=category_popular

From the Kickstarter page;

Space Cadets: Away Missions is a cooperative, scenario-based, tactical action game set in the Golden Age of science fiction. In this game, the third standalone title in the Space Cadets franchise of cooperative/team space-themed games from Stronghold Games, players take on the roles of adventurous human spacemen (“Rocketeers”) who explore UFOs, acquire alien technology and fight hordes of hostile extraterrestrials.’

 

Don’t Turn Your Back

This is a worker placement/deck building card game based in the Don’t Rest Your Head roleplaying game world.  Anticipate a cost of $70 ($40 for the game and $30 postage!)  there is also an ink-intensive Pn’P for $10.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/evilhat/dont-turn-your-back?ref=category_popular

This looks to be a very intriguing game and the Print and Play may be worth a look if you live outside the USA.

 

Among the Stars: Revival

This is an expansion game for the previously successful ‘Among the Stars’ game.  Whilst the funding arrangements do allow you to get the original game for $140 (along with a host of expansions and stretch goals) you can play the Revival expansion as a stand-alone game and only need to find $40.  Being European the postage is already included which is always a pleasant surprise given the horrific uplift which the US projects usually apply to their postage to the UK.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/241478362/among-the-stars-revival?ref=category_popular

From the Kickstarter page

Players use a card drafting mechanism, select location cards, place them on their station, and score victory points according to where in the station they place them. Construction lasts 4 rounds and the player with the most points in the end wins the game.

The rules can be taught in less than 5 minutes and each game lasts approximately 30 minutes.

 

The Great War

This is a a new venture by The Plastic Soldier Company along with Richard Borg to produce a World War One boardgame based upon the Memoir’44 game engine (also see Battle Cry – ACW, Commands and Colors Ancients, Command and Colors Napoleonics, and possibly Battle Lore).  The game should be sound as it’s been tried and tested in multiple formats already, and the figures will be coming from The Plastic Soldier Company so the components should be of a high standard.

Funding really starts at around £60 for the game (you can fund a host of T-Shirts and miniatures for less).  The stretch goals don’t look particularly sexy and I’m unsure how the £60 fares against what the final commercial price will be but worth a look all the same.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1992455033/the-great-war-0?ref=category_popular

 

 

Avoid Hotz Mats – I repeat avoid Hots Mats

This is just a quick flag to anyone considering ordering some mats from Hotz Mats.  I am still waiting 9 months after placing my original order in February 2014.

I ordered 4 mats and some fields and after some waiting got the first 2 mats and fields in July.  After chasing up again in August I got a reply in September to say that they had just moved studios and so they were experiencing some chaos at their end but things would soon get back to normal and he’d confirm where my mats were.

Despite several chasing e-mails being sendt subsequently from myself and my colleague we haven’t received any acknowledgement back since, and so have not confirmed status as to where I stand.

If the mats ever turn up I will be grateful, but in the mean time please take this as fair warning to avoid this aggravation for yourself and find some other supplier.  If you do find an alternative please let me know.

Mars Attacks – Hardback Rulebook Arrives

I’ve just received my hardback book for the Mars Attacks miniatures game.  I’d originally backed this through the Kickstarter campaign run by Mantic games last year as as part of this I got a free copy of the hardback rulebook when it was eventually completed.

So what’s it like?  From a quick view it’s slightly smaller than A4.  It seems to combine all of the previously released soft back rulebooks;

  • Mars Attacks – (core box set rules – 44 pages)
  • Humanity Resists (28 pages),
  • Extermination (28 pages),
  • World War (84 pages),
  • Compendium (35 pages)

This isn’t really a fair or comprehensive review of the game system, but rather simply on the hardback book.  Whilst it is great to have all of these rule books in one place there is one annoying aspect.  All of the books retain their original page structure which I can understand for consistency and rules referencing.  Unfortunately there is no simple table of contents to the main book, or an index.  These were less of an issue in the smaller books but now due to the size of this manual it can be a bit of a challenge remembering where about within the book specific rules or stats are.

In summary though, this is a really glossy gorgeous book which is a nice addition, but not critically necessary if you have the other soft back books already.

Wargames Illustrated February 2015

I’ve just finished reading through this months Wargames Illustrated and thought I’d offer a quick synopses of the articles included.

Second Ypres – 6 page article with three pages of history and three pages of wargaming interspersed with glorious maps, interesting short history sidebars, and related war-games photos.

Defending the Reich – 2 page overview of the new Flames of War Nachtjaeger supplement.

A Largely Unknown Corner of a Foreign Field – 6 page WW1 article about German South West Africa. 3 pages of historical overview leading to a scenario I believe based around Sandfontein using the Setting the East Ablaze rules from Partizan Press.

The Disinherited – 6 page article about assembling and painting a retinue for the Lion Rampant rules from Osprey.

Greyhounds Against Wolves – 6 page article about the Battle of Dogger Bank on 24th January 1915. A nice historical overview with notes about wargaming the action.

Infra-Red Night Hunters – Another 4 page article covering the Flames of War Nachjaeger supplement – this time addressing the night fighting rules

Painting 1915 – a great 8 page reference article about painting most of the major infantry types from 1915 with lots of step by step painting notes.

They Don’t Like it Up ‘Em – 4 page interview commentary with the authors of the Blood on the Nile supplement for Black Powder.

But Not a Man Was Lost – 8 page article about the Allied evacuation from Gallipoli in 2015.

Americas First Vietnam – substantial 12 page article about the American wars in the Philippines 1899 to 1913.  A lot of history with relevant photos as well as wargames scenarios.

The Battle of Long Tan – 6 page article about the Vietnam Battle of Long Tan between the 1st Australian Task Force and the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces.

Prowling Panthers – a 2 page modelling info-advert for the Battlefront Panther/Jagdpanther models for the Nachtjaeger supplement…

The Battle of Dresden 1813 – 2 page intro with 8 page photo spread of a massive game hosted at Fall-In 2014.  Full of lots of glorious pictures.

How to Make Wagon from Lolly Sticks – 2 page modelling article about making wooden wagons.

Warfare 2014 – 6 page coverage of the 2014 Warfare show with many photos of the games on display. (Includes our SAD Battle of Cremona though with the wrong date – ah well)

Introducing Bluecher – 4 page introduction to Sam Mustafas new Napoleonic rules in his Honour series called Bluecher. (Once I work out how to type in umlauts I’ll fix the spelling correctly).

A Celtic Tragedy – A 2 page chatty article by Barry Hilton about improbability within war-games.

All in all a fairly broad range of articles although I could help but notice the push on the Nachtjaeger supplement, though this wasn’t as blatant and heavy-handed as previous editions have been in pushing their sponsors products.

 

 

 

More on Andy’s Nissen Huts – part 2

Well I just received a few more details about Andy’s Nissen Huts.  In addition to the hut which I referenced in the last posts pictures Andy has already designed 2 further types which I have included the 3D images for.

Each of the huts is a single piece resin casting,

  • Length 136mm,
  • Height 37mm
  • width 77mm

Price: £7.50/each, or three for £20

image010

image011-1

image012

The are two more designed

  • one has industrial doors one end and large skylight windows down one side,
  • the other is more a hospital/barracks building as it has 4 windows down each side and doors/windows each end.

Dimensions are same for all models (nissen was a kit build after all, and only the ends and windows etc vary)

You can buy them from The Scene (http://thesceneuk.com)

Direct link to shop:  http://thesceneuk.com/product-category/buildings/15mm-nissen-huts/

Mike at The Scene is a very pleasant chap and will be able to answer any questions which you might have.