Sci-Fi & Fantasy Incoming! – Episode XVIII

Welcome to episode XVIII of the sci-fi & fantasy edition of the Incoming Video Podcast.
This show looks back at the new releases for w/e 5th February 2010, and features new figures from Reaper Miniatures, Scibor Miniatures, Soda Pop Miniatures and Hasslefree Miniatures

Incoming! – Episode 33

Welcome to Episode 33 of the Incoming Video Podcast.
This show looks back at the historical miniature releases for w/e 5th February 2010. Companies releasing new figures this week include Gripping Beast, Wargames Factory, Victrix Miniatures and Scarab Miniatures.

Meeples & Miniatures – Episode 55

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Welcome to Episode 55 of the Meeples & Miniatures Podcast.

In this show, I am once again joined by Rich Jones, and we discuss various games during our chat together.

The main focus of the show are the new Black Powder rules from Warlord Games. However, we also chat about various other games, including Nuts! and Battlefield Evolution: Pacific War.

I also review Extra Impetus #2 and the new Ancible magazine.

I hope you enjoy the show.

00:00   Intro
02:40   Podcast News
05:35   Competition
10:35   Gaming (Battlefield: World at War –  Pacific Expansion, Nuts)
38:45   Review: The Ancible Magazine
48:40   Review: Black Powder
114:10 Review: Extra Impetus #2
120:35 Closing Comments

View from the Veranda – Episode 4

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Welcome to Episode 4 of View from the Veranda, with Neil Shuck & Henry Hyde.

In this show, we discuss the Black Powder rules from Warlord Games (though it was never our intention to make this games the main topic for the show, it sort of ended up that way!), and then go on to discuss various other issues that have been raised by this latest release – ‘big’ vs ’small’ publications, painting lots of figures for the gaming table etc…

So, pull up a chair and enjoy another 2 hours of gamer chat with Henry & Neil

Incursion has landed…

Finally, a long awaited game arrived at the end of this week – Incursion – the new boardgame from Grindhouse Games based in the Secrets of the Third Reich universe.

We’ve seen this game, along with the figures, in various forms for about a year now, and it’s great that Grindhouse finally decided to officially release it as a game following their delay last year due to the release of Space Hulk.

The result looks pretty good. You get a quite heavy box which is full of heavy-duty card  – both board and playing pieces. Along with this you get two sets of cards for the game, a rulebook and a couple of QRFs, and 3 dice.

The artwork on the playing pieces, board and in the rulebook is really nice, and the overall presentation is very high.

My only disappointment at this point is that the board is fold out, double-sided, rather than being modular, so the scope for playing different scenarios could be limited.

Although the card playing pieces are very nicely produced, it’s obvious that the game will greatly benefit from the use of figures (in much the same way as Hour of Glory) – so the purchase of the starter kits for both sides was inevitable.

One added bonus for all you Secrets of the Third Reich fans is that with the release of the Doomsday supplement for the original rules, all the miniatures that are used in Incursion are now fully playable in the base miniatures game.

This new 80-page supplement contains new scenarios, some rules changes, plus additions to army lists for US, British, German, Russians and Partisans – and as I said, includes stats for the Lucky 7th APE Platoon and the German SWD from Incursion. Fantastic artwork again throughout this book – well worth checking out.

I’m hoping to get Incursion onto the table in the next few weeks: look out for in-depth reviews of both of these products on the podcast in the not-too-distant future.

Gaming – Wednesday 3rd February 2010

This week saw me once again playing a board game – but at least it was a board wargame.

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I had bought the new reprinted version of Twilight Struggle from GMT Games – the one with the mounted board and the new cards & counters. Well, this week I got it to the table.

I once again took the role of the Americans, playing Pete Manning, who was playing the Russians, and had many more games under his belt that I did (which wasn’t difficult, as this was only the third time I had played the game).

Well, we didn’t finish (I think this game really does need 3+ hours to play to conclusion) but the major victory on my part was that I got past turn 4 – both of my previous games had ended in bitter defeat early on. OK, it was turn 6 and I was down by 3 VPs – but for me, that was almost as good as a victory.

The one thing that it did cement in my mind was just how good a game this is. I know I’m late to the party on this, but I would highly recommend it – especially in it’s new presentation.

Sci-Fi & Fantasy Incoming! – Episode XVII

Better late than never, the new episode of the Incoming! Video Podcast (Sci-Fi & Fantasy Edition) is now available.

This show looks at new releases for w/e 29th January 2010, and includes new figures from Heresy Miniatures, Taban Miniatures, Studio McVey & Ground Zero Games

Incoming! – Episode 32

Welcome to the (slightly) delayed episode 32 of the Incoming! Video Podcast

In this show, I review new releases from w/e 29th January 2010, and include new figures from Empress Miniatures, Mutineer Miniatures, Khurasan Miniatures and Baccus Miniatures.

Gaming Night – Wednesday 27th January 2010

After missing last week due to family issues, it was good to get along to Scimitar again last night – I hadn’t arranged anything, and so it was very ‘up in the air’ as to what game I’d finally end up playing.

In the end, Hammer of the Scots made it’s first appearence – I took on the role of Edward I, leading the English forces against the revolting Scots, being played by John Bennett.

This was a ‘learning game’, which meant that we ended up playing for 2 1/2 hours and didn’t finish, but we got far enough to sort out all the main mechanics of the game (and for me to make a terrific blunder – effectively giving up Mentieth without a fight – which would have cost me the game, had we carried on to completion)

We played the ‘Braveheart‘ scenario, stopping in 1302. By this time, only Carrick, Galloway, Annan, Dunbar and Lothian were still in English hands – everywhere else was a sea of blue. We still had 7 Nobles each, but the English were basically on the end of a real pounding.

However, this first game gave me enough of an impression to make a judgement on the game.

In short, I really like it.

Whilst the combat mechanics are essentially the same as Richard III, the gameplay, strategy and tactics are different enough to justify owning both games. it would seem that Hammer of the Scots a much longer game than Richard III, coming in at 45 turns for a ’standard’ scenario, rather than the 21 of  R:III – that in itself may mean that this doesn’t see as much table time as its successor – but it’s a great game in its own right, and I’m looking forward to playing it again.

Cold War Commander: British Army (1) – Building a Battlegroup

As I mentioned previously, one of my primary projects for the early part of 2010 is building a British Army for Cold War Commander. My aim is to build a force representative of the British Army circa 1979, for a series of games based on fighting against the Russians in Europe.

Cold War Commander, by its nature, is a points-based system. This is not my favourite way to build an army, so what I’d much rather do is to build a battlegroup, and cost it using the army list in the book.

Rather than using a particular Division, I’m going to base my Battlegroup on a ‘generic’ British Armoured Brigade. Some delving around the web led me to the following diagram:

This seems as good a place as any to start, and gives me a great selection of units within my force.

A note of models – I will be using the 1/600 models from Oddzial Osmy for this army. This will enable me to field the vehicles pretty much on a 1:1 basis within the army. Infantry bases will be much more generic.

So, first up is an Armoured Regiment. This consists of 3 squadrons of tanks, plus a HQ unit. Each squadron consists of 4 troops of tanks, with a troop consisting of 3 tank models on a 30 x 30mm base. This gives a total of 12 units (36 models), plus a HQ unit – which is quite useful as a British Army is limited to 12 units of tanks in a Battlegroup.

I’m using Chieftan Mk.5’s as my main battle tank. These work out at 170 pts per troop, which means that the entire Armoured Regiment inclusive of a HQ stand will cost a grand total of 2100 pts. Not a bad start.

Next up, lets look at my Infantry Support. This comes in the form of 2 Armoured Infantry Battalions. Whilst current Armoured Infantry use IFVs, such as the Warrior, my late ’70s unit simply uses FV432 Trojans for transport.

Each Battalion is made up of an HQ unit, plus 3 Infantry Companies. Each Company consists of 3 Platoons of Infantry, plus transport and support. This, in miniatures terms, equates to 3 bases of infantry, 3 bases of FV. 432s (3 models on each base), plus a base of Infantry with GPMGs (plus transport base – FV432s again) and a base of mortar support. Given that this is an Armoured Infantry Brigade, I’m using the FV432 mortar carrier models for this unit.

Therefore an Infantry Company costs 335 Points.

The full Battalion, consisting of 3 Infantry Companies, plus a HQ stand, therefore costs 1065 points, which works out rather well, considering the limitations of GPMG and Mortar bases (max 3 per 1000 points).

So, that covers the meat of my Battlegroup – I just now need to add the additional support units. (In this case, I’m ignoring the engineering and medical units, and simply counting the combat units as extra requirements)

First up is the Armoured Recce Squadron. This will consist of 4 troops of Scorpion Tanks. Recce units are limited to 1 unit per 1000 points, but since my Battlegroup is already over 4000 points, this limitation does not apply. Each unit of Scorpions costs 85 points, giving us a grand total of 340 points for this unit.

Then we have an Artillery Regiment. After some investigations, it seems that in the British Army, these tend to average between 2 & 4 Batteries in size, so I’ll go for the maximum number (I can always lose a couple). The next decision is what SPG to use. I’ve plumped for the Abbot, though I suppose I could always use the M109 or M110 instead. So, 4 units of Abbots is 260 points, plus and extra 45 points for an FAO, for a grand total of 305 Points.

Following the Artillery, we have the AAC (Army Air Corps) Detachment. In the context of the Battlegroup I’m creating, these are attack helicopters. I’m limited to two units per Battlegroup, so I will take two Lynx AH-1 units, plus an FAC, for a total cost of 375 points.

The final 2 units are pretty easy – especially since they are again limited to only one unit per Battlegroup.

First off is an Anti-Aircraft missile battery. Although the OOB above states ‘Javelin’, my Battlegroup is based before this was available, so I’m going to be using a Tracked Rapier unit instead – 100 points.

Finally, we have ATGW support. The OOB states a single Troop, though I may also have a couple of units as Battalion support for the Armoured Infantry Battalions. I’m going to use the FV438 variant, mounted with the Swingfire missile. These units are 215 points apiece.

Rounding things off, we mustn’t forget the Brigade HQ – another 120 points.

That gives us the following Grand Total:

Brigade HQ                          120 Points
Armoured Regiment               2100 Points
Armoured Infantry Battalion   1065 Points
Armoured Infantry Battalion   1065 Points
Armoured Recce Squadron       340 Points
Artillery Regiment                    305 Points
Army Air Corps Det.                 375 Points
AA Battery                            100 Points
ATGW Support                       120 Points (or 360 if included with Inf. Bttn.)

Total Battlegroup Cost  5590 Points (5830)

Sci-Fi & Fantasy Incoming! – Episode XVI

Welcome to episode XVI of the Sci-Fi & Fantasy edition of the Incoming Video Podcast.

This show looks back at miniatures released for w/e 22nd January 2010, and features new figures from Micro Arts Studios, Kingdom Death, Mantic Games and Hasslefree Miniatures

Incoming! – Episode 31

Welcome to Episode 31 of the Incoming! Video Podcast, which looks back at historical miniature releases for w/e 22nd January 2010.
This show features new releases from Foundry, Empress Miniatures, Essex Miniatures and Eureka Miniatures.