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Cold Flames of War

As well as the Brown Water Navy announcement in Battlefront’s Flames of War State of the Union, they announced a new period based on the Cold War.

October sees us diving into a brand new period as we release Fulda Gap. The period of the modern war when tensions between NATO and the Warsaw Pact were running high is a wonderful theatre to develop as the forces arrayed on both sides boast some of the coolest-looking equipment in history. And with the advances in technology, we are looking forward to seeing forces of M1-Abrams covered by A10-Thunderbolts pitting their might against the swathes of T-72s and BMP-mounted infantry. We plan for this to be a complete period with books covering nations and plastic sets for all the main vehicles of every nation. October is just the start and 2016 will have more books and additional miniatures.

Though there is very little information in the announcement, there is a mention of T72s and BMP-1s for the Warsaw Pact forces. So what of the NATO side? It appears that the US Army will be done first, with M1-Abrams and A-10 Thunderbolts, but I am looking forward to seeing the models for the BAOR.

It would make for a good game to have Chieftains, FV432s and Harriers in action against T80s and the odd Hind D Attack Helicopter.

As the announcement mentions the M1-Abrams, which entered service in 1980, we can assume that the period for the games will be the 1980s, the height of the Cold War. If Battlefront do decide to go with some BAOR British forces, we may also see the Challenger I which entered service in 1983.

As well as fighting across Europe, another possibility will be to recreate the original Red Dawn film and have Soviet forces fighting on US soil.

I might also look at doing some alternative history British Civil War games set in the same time period, this setting was described in an article I had published in Wargames Illustrated in the 1990s.

I also wonder what other nations we will see in 2016, the French possibly?

LEGO Jurassic World Game Teaser Trailer

LEGO have released a teaser trailer for their forthcoming Jurassic World Game.

Typical Lego humour.

The Comet is on its way…

Battlefront have shown a preview of the new plastic Comet boxed set.

One of my most popular blog posts is from 2011 when I discussed the then forthcoming Battle of Bulge supplement.

I made the request

I would like to see two tanks in particular, the M24 Chaffee and the British Comet. These tanks are currently not in the FoW range.

The Chaffee arrived in 2012, but it has taken a little longer for the Comet to arrive. As with many of the new models from Battlefront it is a plastic kit. It looks great and the instructions simple, resulting in an effective looking model.

The Tank, Cruiser, Comet I (A34) was a British cruiser tank that first saw use near the end of World War II. It was designed to provide greater anti-tank capability to Cromwell tank squadrons. It was armed with a 77mm HV, a derivative of the 17 pounder, with the result it was one of the few British tanks with the firepower to challenge late war German designs.

I’ll be back…

Here is the trailer for Terminator: Genisys

This new film, a reboot of the franchise, looks like a combination of the first two films mashed together, with elements of number three thrown into the mix.

Well indeed why not?

Why not take what made those films an enjoyable time travel cyborg cinematic romp and create a new film for a new generation. You might not remember, but the original Terminator film came out thirty years ago, so for many it’s an old film. It would be like us watching a 1954 film in 1984! Now I feel like Marty McFly.

Great Scott!

Jurassic World Trailer

Stop what you’re doing and watch the trailer for the new film in the Jurassic Park series, Jurassic World.

I am not sure if I am impressed or disappointed.

What do you think?

The Comet is coming

One of the most popular posts on the blog is an article I wrote back in 2011 on the Battle of the Bulge reporting on the news that Flames of War was going to release models and rules for the Battle of the Bulge.

Then I said

I would like to see two tanks in particular, the M24 Chaffee and the British Comet. These tanks are currently not in the FoW range.

In June 2012 we saw that we were going to get Flames of War Chaffee tanks that were eventually released in September, however still no sign of the Comet.

So you can guess I was quite pleased to see the news from FlamesCon 2014 that Flames of War are going to release a 15mm Comet, in plastic.

Cromwell and Comet

It looks like a really nice model and I might get a few.

Why such a fascination, well I suspect that it was because I bought and made the Matchbox Comet many, many years ago.

Flames of War Great War

This week sees the release of the Flames of War Great War supplement. You can either buy a boxed set which comes with the supplement, or you can buy the August issue of Wargames Illustrated, that comes bundled with the supplement for “free”. Alongside the rules there are various models, including two boxed starter sets.

I got my copy of Wargames Illustrated yesterday and spent some time reading the supplement and the plethora of articles in the magazine itself on the new supplement and the rules.

The models look really nice, this is the Mark IV Male.

You can compare that detailed model with the 15mm version I bought many years ago. This version is a lot more detailed, looks much better and really captures the feel of this, one of the first tanks. As well as tanks there are infantry and artillery. I really quite like the introductory boxed set available, Mitchell’s Marauders.

Your rifle company is well-equipped for assaulting and crushing the enemy. Prepare your assault with your Mark IV tanks. They will pulverize Jerry’s gun nests with high-explosives and rake his trenches with machine-gun fire. Then send in your highly-trained rifle platoons to clear out the trenches and breakthrough.

The box provides all you need for an introductory game, infantry, tanks and artillery.

There is also a German boxed set available. Though that boxed set has the A7V, you can of course use captured British tanks for your German forces.

I feel I can’t say too much on the rules, as I have not had a chance for a game with them…

The articles within Wargames Illustrated cover a range of issues, one of the interesting aspects is debunking the myth that the Great War was just about muddy trenches. Towards the end of the war there were more battles that were about movement and breakthroughs across new areas that hadn’t been torn apart from relentless artillery barrages.

With the 100th anniversary of the Great War this month, I can see these models proving popular. For the future I hope we can see some more models, notably missing are armoured cars, which though played little part in the trenches, were well utilised in other theatres of the war.

IXS Enterprise

Back in 2012 NASA said they were working on a “warp drive” though it would take some time before we would see ships capable of faster than light travel.

Well we might not see them for a while, but thanks to artist Mark Rademaker, we can see what it might look like.

More photographs and analysis from The Verge.

Ork Morkanaut

I wasn’t expecting to see new Ork stuff so soon, or has it been longer than I think since we last saw new Ork releases.

The new Ork Morkanaut certainly is a nice new design, that I quite like.

Personally built and piloted by an Ork Mekboy, the Morkanaut possesses all the lethal kunnin’ of Mork. Packed with glowy gubbinz from the Mek’s own workshop these mighty engines exist purely to cause carnage.

The Morkanaut’s main weapon is a profusion of worky gubbinz and zappy bits known as the kustom mega-kannon. It is also armed with two twin-linked big shootas, two rokkit launchas, a kustom mega-blasta and the Klaw of Gork (or possibly Mork).

Will I get one? Well I might once my Stompa eventually gets finished.