Issue #38 By The Sword: Late Summer 2014 Genesis of a Campaign

The highlight of being Wargames Campaign book periods. in a gaming group surely from WRG down off the must be participating in a shelf and went through it  Random events. I love campaign. Whether it is a for the 100th time over the random events and it long, ongoing affair or just last 30 years. There’s makes the campaign a three or four night short some good ideas in there, much more enjoyable. campaign, it is a complete- but some of them, such as  Economics. I think it ly different experience than drawing out all of the maps is important for play- your regular one night bat- for every place on the con- ers to be able to man- tles that are usually waged tinent, seems on the tabletop. If you’ve like maybe a bit been reading this magazine too much. for any length of time you So, I sat know that I’ve participated down and com- in several campaigns, both posed a list of good and bad, but I’ve what I wanted never given even the bad to see in the ones a second thought! campaign and Campaigns are such a what I thought unique experience that they my group might should always be tried want. Since I whenever possible. was the one Our group definitely who was going loves Warmaster Ancients to be left doing (although other rules sys- this thing, I may as well age their income and tems can easily be used) enjoy what I’m creating! expenditures, but not and we’ve grown to the The campaign needed to to the point of needing point where we have have the following things: an accounting degree! around eight armies. We’ve looked at various  An area movement  A campaign that can campaign systems and have system. Point to point go on for quite some fought several one day and hex by hex take a time, possibly years. tournaments over the last large number of rules This would give even few years. However, most to get right and the players in hopeless of the campaigns we’ve campaign bogs down situations the possibil- looked at have been of the into a movement fest. ity of a comeback and simple variety and we’ve to create a compelling been thinking about doing  A fantasy world set- narrative. something a bit more com- ting since we would be Armed with this shop- plex. using a variety of his- torical armies from ping list of ideas I went to I pulled my Tony Bath across multiple time work. The (cont. on p3)

Inside this issue: Special points of interest: BKC2: Russian Link Up Attack 4 Several battle reports featuring Ronin, Phantoms: MIGCAP over North Vietnam 6 BKC2, TSATF, F&F ACW, and Phantoms.

F&F ACW: Battle of Nashville 12 Two new Engagements scenarios.

WASATCH FRONT HISTORICAL GAMING SOCIETY SOCIETY GAMING HISTORICAL FRONT WASATCH Engagements-Scenarios for Wargamers 14 Kit and book reviews.

TSATF Northwest Frontier Action 18 Review of the reborn Ares magazine/game. WMM: Saracens vs. Crusaders 24 Interview with the creator of Trenchworx.

Warning Order Interview with Dave Baker of Trenchworx 26 By The Sword: Genesis of a Campaign (cont.)

(cont. from p2) first thing to come up was changed. This only took a few hours and paign system, now is not the time to the map, so I started I had my campaign map. Yes, it’s not skimp on things! to think about all of original, but I think it will serve its pur- With the map, cards, and gazetteer out the options that there pose well. of the way it was now time to focus on were for maps that The next thing to do was the event the starting forces. How much is too could be used. I had cards. I thought that this might be easier much? What size armies do we currently been researching fan- to do before starting the rules than vice- have and how much painting would be tasy maps online and versa. I found a Word playing card tem- done to bring them up to where I thought came up with a wide plate and went to work. The idea was to they should be for the upcoming cam- variety for sale, how have 52 cards and one card would be paign? I settled on two armies for each to make your own drawn during each campaign turn. This payer that would be 1500 points each and with a variety of soft- ended up being a lot of work and literally one 500 point force kept in the player’s ware, etc., but nothing took a few weeks to get all of the cards castle (think of it as household troops, really interested me. done. Fortunately, I play a lot of what bodyguard, etc.). Most of us have 1500 Although I work in are called CDGs, or Card Driven Games, point armies, but there will be the need to the IT field, many of such as Paths of Glory, Successors, Twi- expand these forces as the campaign pro- the map making appli- light Struggle, etc., which gave me a lot gresses. cations have a high of ideas. learning curve and I It was also at this time that I settled on didn’t want to focus Most of the cards are one time events the rule where everyone needed to have on that in my free and are applied randomly. However, their forces in armies no smaller than 500 time. there are a few cards where the explana- points. While it may be more realistic to tion of the event simply will not fit onto keep track of forces spread all over a Then the answer was literally staring the card! For these special cards I had to player’s kingdom, in reality it is a night- me in the face. On one of my gaming devote a section of the rules where I mare. There was already going to be shelves was a copy of the Avalon Hill could fully explain their ef- some paperwork involved in the game Wizard’s Quest. I remember that it fects. One card, called campaign, but I didn’t want to see had been successfully used for a medieval “Invasion” took up an entire players focusing exclusively on campaign in several issues of The Courier page! It’s also very hard to that aspect. The 500 point mini- magazine. I opened the game box and strike a balance between cards mum would keep things a bit un- after unfolding the game board I knew that are worthless and those der control. that this was the direction I needed to go that cause too much chaos. I in. For starters, it uses area movement From there it was on to move- also wanted a few cards to and it was a great fantasy type map in ment and in particular, how to use make the players understand that all of the regions were broken up into naval movement. Both of these that while they are fighting six territories, plus several castles. took some explaining, but the re- each other for control of the sults turned out better than I had The one thing is that it does have this continent of Marnon, there are hoped for. The big issue for miniatures weird “continental tunnel” that I had to times where they may have to unite for campaign is always how much is too take out using Photoshop (I found a the greater good. much movement? I’ve participated in scanned copy of the map on BGG) and I The next thing up was the gazetteer. some campaigns were the movements of needed to add sea zones as well as ports. This is a section of the rules that outlines each force were elaborately tracked and Also, the scrolls with the sequence of the geography shown on the map and there were response moves, scouting play and name of the game needed to be then breaks down each region into what forces, etc., which was realistic, but took are called territories. forever to do a turn. I’m from the school There is a listing of terri- of having little movement, thinking that tories, their location, and each of these territories on the map are their economic value. I pretty large, the armies aren’t very fast, also decided to not save and it makes players think more about time and just use text, but where they’re going and what their plans rather I traced an outline are, instead of zooming around the cam- of each player’s region paign map! and used that with the Next up is the combat phase, where information presented. again, several decisions needed to be Again, my thinking is that made. I basically gave the players sever- if I’m going to put this al choices in how the (cont. on p 20) much effort into a cam-

Page 3 WARNING ORDER Russian Link Up Attack BKC 2 Battle Report

Back to the Eastern Front where it’s ground, which could pose the Destruction of Army Group Center in numerous problems for the late 1944. The Russians have broken Russians. clean through the German lines and ele- The Germans began the ments of an armored spearhead are locat- game with two small battle- ed deep behind the front lines. A second groups already on the board. Russian armored thrust is going to at- These consisted of various tempt to link up with this force and then assault guns, armor, infantry, continue the drive towards Germany. and support weapons. The The Russians started with a mix of remainder of the German forc- infantry, some anti-tank guns, a couple of es were also hastily put to- T-34s, and some assault guns holding a gether battlegroups that would warehouse and some buildings alongside enter at random locations. a railroad crossing. They are dug in with This would have the effect of an all around defense and are awaiting making the game a bit unpre- other Russian elements to link up with dictable, but I thought it would simulate shots in a long range tank duel. The first them. the historical situation well as the Ger- of the German battlegroups moved on mans time and time again threw im- board and things were going to get inter- provised units at the Russian advance esting. in an effort to halt it. Sure enough, the first German coun- The Russian plan was to pile terattack goes in from the Russian right. down the road as quickly as possible, Two Panthers cause havoc amongst the then fan out once contact was made. Russian flanking force and in a few turns The idea was to use speed and shock there are several T-34s burning. The to overwhelm any opposition while Germans also begin calling in artillery trying to reach the railroad area where fire, landing two barrages amongst the the other Russian force was as rapidly Russian mech infantry packed along the as possible. This was a bit dicey, road, knocking out over half the battalion. since no one knew where the Ger- The Panthers then cover a company of mans were going to turn up at! Not panzergrenadiers that dash from cover to only that, the long columns on the cover, then take up positons in the first The Russians also began with two road could prove to be disastrous if the village. Another German battlegroup battalions of T-34/85s, a battalion of Russian command rolls were not very arrives and begins moving towards the mech infantry, various support and heavy good for a few turns. weapons units, plus several batteries of The Germans for their part were going off board artillery. This force would to try to pin down the Russians until help enter the road at the far end of the table, arrived. Once they felt that they had directly opposite from where the other enough armor on hand for a counterattack Russian forces starts. In between there they would try to stop the Russian armor was a large village and some forests, but first, then take on what was left. The most of the advance would be over open important thing was to prevent any kind of link up, use the terrain to their advantage, and most importantly, don’t let the Russians use their numbers against you. The first few turns went by pretty fast. The Russians moved down the road in long columns, trying to get to the first village as quickly as possi- ble before any defenders could arrive. The Russians at the railroad and a German group at a nearby farm started swapping

Page 4 NEWSLETTER TITLE Russian Link Up Attack (cont.) BKC 2 Battle Report

Russian armor now trying to deploy to the German panzergrenadiers. The Tiger and they were badly positioned to stop the left of the first village. and other German units at the village in the Russians. A few turns later and the the center of the board were soon under Russians swung into the open and headed At this point things looked really bad fire as well. for the linkup at the railroad. At this for the Russians. So bad in fact that we point the game was called as a Russian thought about calling the game and start- The fight for the first village was a victory. ing over again! Fortunately, cooler heads bloody affair that saw numerous close prevailed and we decided to go on for a range firefights and several close assaults. Definitely one of the wildest swings few turns. In the end the Russian infantry prevailed, I’ve seen in gaming! The Germans were but not before losing over 75% of the having their way in the first few turns and Good thing for the Russians that we battalion to the German infantry and artil- everything that could go wrong for the did! All of a sudden things turned com- lery! The Germans continued to try to Russians did. Somehow, some way, they pletely around! The Russian forces at the scrape up reserves to stop the Russians, overcame this and still won the game. railroad knocked out most of the German but the barrel was almost empty and pret- However, the Russian mech infantry were units they had been skirmishing with. ty much every attempt had failed. ruined and the supporting units such as The Panthers were soon knocked out and assault guns, recon, etc., had also taken a the PZ IVHs that counterattacked in the The Russian armor, which had been substantial beating. In the end, however, center were soon set ablaze after a relatively unscathed, continued to move the fields of burning German vehicles lengthy anti-armor duel. The remnants of around the flanks, pulverizing anything were a testament to the hard fought victo- the Russian mech infantry made into the that got in their way. By this time the ry this day for the Russians. town where they deployed to drive out Germans were down to just a few units

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 Page 5 MIGCAP-North Vietnam Phantoms Battle Report

Back to the friendly skies over North play. Yes, it’s not as complex or Vietnam in 1972 for this battle report. detailed as GDW’s Air Superiority With only five players for this gaming or COA’s The Speed of Heat, but night with one of them being new to the you can get a large group running group, we decided to something fairly two jets apiece in no time at all. easy to play, so we went with Phantoms. Try that with those other games! This would allow me to referee and help This scenario had two pairs of everyone who don’t always play a lot of F-8s on MIGCAP over the north of air combat games. the country in 1972. Three Mig- For the uninitiated, Phantoms is a free 21s and one Mig-17 were vectored set of jet combat rules based off of the in to intercept them. We were us- Avalon Hill Mustangs game system. The ing the spotting rules, so everyone rules, charts, data cards, and scenarios are had to fly straight until they visual- available for free on the WFHGS web ly spotted an enemy (no one had non damage in a F-8 attack, but at this site. The game uses maneuver markers air search radar on their jets-only ground point the NVAF was doing well. That control), which created some unique changed a turn later when one of the F-8s starting situations. Both sides had rolled behind a Mig-21 and got it with a two experienced pilots that they Sidewinder. Suddenly it was 3 on 3 and could use, which helps with the com- the dogfight continued to swirl, with both bat sequence. sides desperately maneuvering for any The first pair of Migs tore be- kind of shot. It was a tribute to both sides tween the F-8s while the second pair that they gave each other very few quality started moving in, having started attacks during the game. pretty far behind. The Migs got off a Somehow we got through eight turns, few cannon shots, but not much which is all the combat fuel that aircraft more. The late arriving pair of Migs in the game have, so both sides had to were able to fire off some Atolls, but turn for home. This was the first time one missed and the second failed to that we’ve gone the distance in a scenario fall of the rails/failed launch (this is as usually one side or the other breaks off an optional, but highly recommend- that are hidden to the other players and before the 8th and final turn. It was a ed rule we use). The Crusaders fought once an aircraft reaches that marker, it well fought battle with only one aircraft back, but could only come away with performs the maneuver plus any speed on each side going down. It also showed some off angle cannon shots. loss/gain. There is a 10 impulse turn, that in this era trying to get good shots is which adds some drama in seeing who One of the Migs did finally get an tough as the early heat seekers have a moves on what impulse. The system is Atoll to successfully launch and it scored very narrow field of fire and cannon shots easy to grasp, does a good job of simulat- a direct hit, knocking one of the F-8s out from the front angles are very low odds ing jet combat, and is great for group of the sky. The Mig-17 took some can- attacks that essentially waste ammo.

Page 6 NEWSLETTER TITLE Where Are The Figures? Editorial

I was looking at the sci-fi), plus Root buildings, and then their pre- incredible terrain piec- there are some packaged trees. Every game looks the es that Crescent Root really spectac- same and on top of that there’s not many Studios and Sally 4th ular ranges figures. Yes, the figures take some work, Miniatures are putting being sculpted so there’s not going to be so many of out recently, thinking in all scales those. how great things are in right now. I have a large 15mm Renaissance the hobby right now Gamers are army, among many others, that has taken for gamers. Terrain buying minia- me well over a decade to build up. It mats, stacks of new tures like always draws attention because frankly, rules, boxes and boxes they’re going no one wants to invest the time painting of plastic figures, WW2 armor in ten out of style and most of us have ten times and doing the research on something like different scales, and not to mention the what we could conceivably paint in our that. It’s also one of our club’s most hundreds of specialty figures that contin- lifetime. popular games to play, again mainly be- ue to pop up. You go visit various blogs So, where are they and why aren’t cause it’s so unusual from what you usu- and sure enough, there’s plenty of tables they featured on all of this beautiful ter- ally see played on a regular basis. with beautiful terrain, well crafted, and rain? Is it that painting is such a chore or look 1,000 times better than anything I But what if someday there is a 15mm that gamers can’t focus on any one thing had when I got into the hobby back in the Renaissance gaming kit where all the for too long? I know that there have been 70s. There’s only one problem; where terrain, figures, etc., are all in a box for a numerous discussions about pre-painted are the figures? reasonable price and pre-painted to boot? figures, color 3D printers, and some What if everyone can become a Renais- Yes, gamers have everything except emerging technologies coming down the sance gamer or guru in the period for for one small problem. No one has fig- road that will give gamers what they $300? In that case, along with many ured out how to get masses of well paint- want. Basically, there is a desire to go to other periods, no one would be special. ed armies into the buyers’ hands yet. the game store or shop online, plunk Is this elitist thinking? You still need to assemble/clean, re- down $500 and get a box with a terrain search, base, then paint the figures that go mat, a town, and 300 figures all fully on the beautiful terrain that everyone now painted. Just throw has. With few exceptions, when I visit everything out on the club websites, blogs, hobby articles, etc., table and start playing. there just usually aren’t many figures on But is that what we the board. Is it a problem with painting really want for the gam- skills? Time? Too many entertainment ing hobby? options and painting is low priority? Or, When I think about is it a combination of all of the above? this problem I’m re- Painting has always been the main minded of the quote from the evil guy in At this time I don’t think so. My feel- problem facing the historical miniatures Pixar’s The Incredibles. Basically he ings on the hobby is that you always want hobby. For a long time there was the says that when he’s through everyone to do what you enjoy. I find it relaxing to twin problem of just not enough of the will have super powers and then no one paint and there’s nothing like seeing an right miniatures available, but that is no will be special. This is where I think the army come together, then seeing friends longer a problem. You can pretty much hobby is going and I’m not sure if it’s a enjoy games with it. But what happens find anything and everything your heart good or bad thing. when the day arrives when everyone has desires, if you can afford it. However, Part of the enjoyment for being in the the same figures, can do any period they there is that looming problem of needing hobby for myself and many other gamers desire at the drop of a hat, and don’t need to actually paint the figures themselves. I know has been the research, painting, to know anything about the period to set Sure, there are painting services available setting up scenarios, creating terrain, and up a good looking game? My guess is (I live near GAJO and get the chance to reading about what others are doing. that the soul of the hobby will get sucked see their fine selection), but that path isn’t When is the last time you looked at a away. Sure, many gamers will embrace cheap and so it isn’t a viable option for game and thought, “Wow, that terrain this, but I also think that many will the masses at this time. piece took a lot of time and creativity?” choose to move on to something else. That tons of figures are being bought For me its been quite awhile. Everything When nothing is special anymore, why be is a given. Why else would ranges con- kind of has a sterile quality about it. involved with it? That day is still a long tinue to expand, Kickstarters keep ap- Gamers lay down their GW green grass ways off, but it is coming and it will be pearing, more and more specialty figures mat, set out their JR Miniatures pre- interesting to see where the hobby goes are being advertised (mainly fantasy and painted river pieces, MBA or Crescent once it gets here.

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 Page 7 Three Early War German Vehicles in 1/48th Kit Reviews

We’ve discussed this before, but our difficult thing was getting the mirrors and to guess where they go as the instructions group likes the 28mm and 1/48th scale other assorted items that fit to the fenders aren’t clear or can’t show the exact loca- vehicles for use in our WW2 skirmish and hull at the right angle. tions (I used photos of other models or games. In our minds the 1/48th looks their real life counterparts to help on Going up in complexity is the SdKfz much better than the 1/56th stuff that is this). Finally, the tracks are a nightmare, 222 light armored car. This kit started off usually used. The only issue is that the with about 16 parts per side that have to easily enough, but then as you got to- 1/48th scale vehicles are hard to come by be glued together. The end result is im- wards the end there were problems. For and usually have to be assembled! pressive, but it took a lot of work to get to one the instructions in a few areas where that point. I recently purchased and built three of unclear about where certain parts go and the newer Tamiya 1/48th German vehi- how they fit together. The exhaust sec- Overall, I now have three very im- cles. My goal was to tions in particu- pressive models to go with our 28mm make some early war lar took some WW2 skirmish gaming collections. recon units and/or use guesswork and However, two of the three were not easy them in some scenari- in the end I had to build and this is definitely the trade off os as a break from the to cut some if you choose to go the 1/56th route in usual armor slugfests areas to make it that most of those are single piece kits or that seem to happen a work. The big- have very few parts. lot in WW2 skirmish gest problem, Part of the problem could be in that I games. however, was approach them like a modeler would in the turret. The The first was the assembling the various pieces, painting 20mm cannon SdKfz 232 eight them separately, then assembling the and machine wheeled armored car larger sections at the end. Many gamers gun are in a that was in use for would more than likely just assemble weird set up that quite some time with everything first, then paint it all at the has to fit a cer- the German recon forces. Just from the same time, which would make things tain way into the turret. On top of this box art you would think that this is a much, much easier. the turret cover is brass etched and get- complex kit and is going to take quite ting the sides to bend right was almost Finally, what German vehicle would some time assembling. Actually the op- impossible. In the end it came out look- be complete without a lot of baggage on posite was true and of the three kits re- ing good, but it was a lot of work. them? I used the stowage kits from Black viewed here it was the easiest one to Dog off of Ebay, which has a variety of build! The wheels, fenders, antennae, The final kit was the SdKfz 250/3 bags, boxes, etc., to add on. etc., all went together easily and the kit command halftrack and it was the most looks great when finished. The only real difficult of the three. First, it has a full interior, which for skirmish gaming, is probably irrelevant. You build the dashboard, steering wheel, seats, rifle racks, and radio! However, that’s only half the battle as the outer hull, wheels, head- lights, etc., are all very challenging to assemble. In fact, there’s noth- ing easy on this entire kit, which is the theme here. Like the SdKfz 222 there are quite a few items where you have

ISSUE #38 Page 8 Siege of Kustrin Book Review

Author Tony Le Tissier has hough the bridges are definitely supplies and taking out civilians, with out many books dealing with the centerpiece of the action, it’s little to no Russian interference. Slowly the Eastern Front during difficult to tell their locations and and surely, however, this becomes harder WW2, particularly on the final the defenses around them. Again, and harder for the Germans. year of 1945. The Siege of it seems as if the book could have The German defenders blow most of Kustrin marks another book in been so much more if just a little the bridges and the Russians continue the what could be termed the end more thought and effort had been assault. The defenders, who are a collec- of the German armed forces in put into the maps. tion of odd units, have successes and the East series. The version I At first the Russians did not failures, but it leaves the reader with bought was the now familiar realize the importance of Kustrin many questions about why these units Stackpole Books series with and were more concerned about were placed in Kustrin. The relief opera- green borders all the way seizing bridgeheads across the Oder and tions and counterattacks are covered at around the book. continuing the advance towards Berlin. times, but without enough detail. The For those not familiar with this battle, The Russians were by this time having road is finally cut and the defenders are Kustrin lies along the Oder River, which massive fuel and ammo supply issues and left to their own devices. A final relief is the last major water obstacle to Berlin. had not put two and two together that attempt fails and Hitler declares the town There are several road and rail lines that they really needed to seize Kustrin. This a fortress that is to be held to the last run through the town, making it a very helped the defenders immensely at first as man. important objective, particularly for the the artillery bombardments, air attacks, The final section of the book is the Russians who were trying to move up and probing attacks did little to take the grinding, block by block battle to take the their forces for the final battle. The town town. fortress, which eventually falls after a 60 was also home to several barracks and Little by little, however, you can see day siege. The breakout attempts, final contained a fort from the Seven Years that the siege is going to battles by various War era. tighten. There is pressure groups of German The book opens with the shock to the building along other fronts defenders, and what German army that Russian forces were and the units holding the happens to the com- already on the Oder in January of 1945. outskirts of the town and manders is probably The book details how the defenses of the nearby villages see the Rus- one of the most inter- town were organized, the geography, and sians slowly advancing. The esting sections of the how the Russians approached the town eyewitness accounts, while book. In the end the itself. Thee seemed to be a cut off from scattered in no particular Russians end up con- reality at least on the German side about order, tell the tale of an ever trolling this vital where the Russians where, when should tightening noose. The battle for a certain transportation junction and start to get the civilians be evacuated, and the de- factory in Kustrin itself begins to become ready for the final attack towards Berlin. fenses of Kustrin. Through eyewitness more savage and the bridges begin to Casualties were pretty heavy on both accounts, each of these items is carefully come under attack. sides, which was testament to the savage explained. fighting in the town and surrounding Finally, the Russians give up the area. The one problem that this book has is drive on Berlin and begin to consolidate that the maps are wholly insufficient. for the renewed offensive in early spring. Overall, this book is hard to rate. The larger area maps are difficult to read Unfortunately, this means that Kutrin’s First, it is an unusual battle that is rarely as they’ve been condensed down to nor- time has run out and two Russian armies mentioned. That the author attempted to mal book page size, so you lose a lot of are assigned the task and seizing the town cover it at all is definitely worthy of detail and the units are hard to read. The plus the surrounding area. The book then praise. The situation itself is interesting few tactical level maps don’t show units begins to move down two parallel stories. as well, combining a siege and almost and/or defensive positions, so are useful The first is the attacks on the town itself daily counterattacks along with relief only in terms of referring back and forth and the second is the relief operations. operations. As stated earlier, the maps to places men- are a big problem and while the images The attacks on the town tioned in the main are good, without the maps they don’t begin with heavy bombard- story. This is a seem to matter that much. The biggest ments and air attacks. The shame as this battle problem is the reliance on eyewitness Russians begin to assault the is crying out for accounts for most of the book. Much of nearby villages and attempt some detailed this has little narrative in between, so to cut the road to Kustrin. maps so that the you’re not sure what is really going on at The German army had been reader can follow times. Only add this to your collection if driving convoys to and from the action. Alt- you’re a hard core East Front fan. Kustrin for weeks, delivering

ISSUE #38 Page 9 Memoirs of a Miniatures & Board Wargamer Pt. 25

Wargamer’s Digest Pass in Review issue starts off with some wide variety of figures for many periods Minifigs, who again, back and it was not uncommon to see their Wargamer’s Digest, which has in the day were a stalwart figures on many tabletops wherever you been discussed before in these pages, of the hobby. went. was one of seemingly many hobby magazines from the 70s and 80s that Next up are some of- Now you get to some of the staples of served as your news source. With ferings from McEwan almost every issue. WRW Imports had nothing like the Internet you had to Miniatures, who had a massive amounts of 1/87 scale models rely upon catalogs, ads, and magazines good run during the mid to that were very, very popular at one time, that had reviewing features in them. late 70s and even into the even if they were hard to get a hold of. One of the most popular and looked early 80s. Their medieval/ They worked well with HO railroad ter- forward to was called Pass in Review fantasy ranges worked well for D&D rain and you can see pictures of them inside of Wargamer’s Digest. players, plus at that time they had a high- throughout many magazines of the era. ly thought of sci-fi ground game called Also present were CinC Models and Unlike a typical review, this feature Starguard and sold a wide range of fig- GHQ, the two titans of 1/285th scale had two pages of figures that had been ures for that. In fact, my first metal fig- miniatures. recently (although this term could mean ures were McEwan dwarves (for a D&D many things!) released. For many of us it I didn’t pick the best pages to illustrate campaign I was in) and a few squads of was our first look at a new range of min- a lot of the companies as usually there Amerons. iatures, offerings from periods you knew were offerings from Ral Partha, Grena- nothing about, or models that had been You didn’t see a lot of 15mm in this dier, and Atlantic featured in these issues. redesigned. I thought it would be inter- era, so these next few images are a bit However, this is still a good representa- esting to post a few sample pages and surprising. At this time there were a few tion of what many of us gamers had to comment on the products that were at that offerings from Ral Partha and Heritage, work with at this time. You looked time, “new” or “cutting edge”. but 15s remained largely unnoticed, through these pages, wrote a few things which of course has completely reversed down, then maybe sent for a catalog or Usually, there were several 54mm itself today. On the next page we start off samples to help determine your next pro- and 90mm figures in almost every issue. with some Der Kriegspeilers 25s, which ject. The biggest issue of the day was Back in the day this was a part of the like McEwan, were popular for a brief how to get these miniatures! Although modeling hobby that sometimes crossed period of time, then bypassed as other there were far more hobby stores across over into gaming in that many gamers firms (namely Ral Partha and Superior) the country back then than there are to- painted these figures for display. When came into ascendency. Heritage Models day, trying to find someone who carried you see ads for gamers today these scales were also at one time a dominating part gaming items was still a challenge. are nowhere to be seen. Instead, this of the miniatures landscape. They had a Also, you had no idea what the entire range was like, were they scaled right, and how many poses were there. You always had a pretty good idea about what you were getting with GHQ, CinC, and others, but most of the time you were forced to guess. Yes, this did create a lot of use- less mail back and forth, ordering figs that wouldn’t work, and so on. Although things are much, much better today, this was still an exciting era to be gaming in. You really had to plan to get into a new period, accumulate the miniatures, and you had to focus, which I think is a problem today. It’s just too easy to think of a new project today, get the figures or- dered in a few hours, then move on. Which is probably why all of us have so many unpainted figs!

Page 10 NEWSLETTER TITLE Blast From The Past pt. 24: TFG microgames

Back in the 70s Met- with a small map of the outpost, a few scenario in no time at all. agaming released an en- counters, and a rule book with charts. Like the components, the game play is tire series of what were The rules are pretty easy to get pretty basic. The Russians try to over- termed microgames. Not through and after a few turns you whelm the initial U.S. forces before rein- only were they success- rarely need to refer back to the rules forcements arrive and the tide turns. ful, but it led others to at all. The components aren’t great, Taking out some of the American posi- think that this was the but for the money the game costs tions can be tough, so it’s not out of the way forward in board back in the day they were pretty aver- ordinary to see big Russian stacks sur- gaming, which was not age for the time. rounding U.S. units. In fact, that’s what necessarily the case! What Intruder does give you, how- the game basically comes down to and Several other companies, ever, is very good game play. The that is getting a few timely rolls by the namely Heritage/ mutant can be tough at times as it Russian player to be in position for the Dwarfstar, TSR, and builds up to be almost invulnerable inevitable U.S. counterattack. Task Force Games tried to capitalize on and the randomness of its movements this concept. In some ways they succeed- It’s not a bad game and you can play make for a challenging contest. Running ed, but the cost was much more than a even the longest scenario in a couple of the crew around the outpost, building Metagaming game and frankly, some of hours. I’m not sure on the replay value as weapons, then deciding how to confront the games were under developed. there’s only so much that both sides can the alien are some of the decisions that do. Overall, a good, but not great I recently reacquired two of the Task need to be made. A game little game. Force Games, Intruder and Moon Base will probably take an hour Clavius. Few people remember that the or so, which means if you These games definitely harken very popular Starfleet Battles began life kill the alien early or eve- back to a different era in gaming. as one of these pocket games as well as ryone gets eaten quickly, It’s Friday or Saturday night, you the Starfire series. I think that both of you can set it up again in a don’t know what to play, so you these series gave credence to the notion few minutes. Overall, this wander down to the local gaming that virtually anything in this format game is definitely worth store, drop a few bucks on one of would be successful. However, those two the money there were these kinds of games, then go back games were the anomalies and not the charging for it. and learn the rules while eating a norm! ton of snacks. Then you and a buddy Moon Base Clavius play it for a few hours and move on. depicts a Russian assault They filled a need and a niche for on the U.S. moon base in quite some time in the hobby. In 1996. Yes, it’s 2014 and today’s environment of high quality there’s still not a base on the moon, but graphics, putting a lot of scenarios in the then in the 70s and 80s everyone thought box, and gamer expectations, nothing like by this time we would be exploring alien these two games could succeed. worlds in spaceships as well. You can forgive the designer for his optimism and The games must be well thought of, just pretend it’s 2026 instead as it doesn’t however, as both have new and improved hurt the game a bit. versions either out or coming out soon. Task Force games Again, you get a also released sev- small map with a sheet eral others in this of counters and the Intruder is well, let’s just say it, a rip series that includ- rules, so components off of the movie Alien. You have a sci- ed Boarding Par- are pretty basic. entific outpost that has several specimens ty, Ultrawarrior, They’re not bad for the on board along with a small crew of engi- Survival/The Bar- time and functional, but neers, scientists, and command staff. Of barian, Spellbind- that’s all you can really course one of the creatures escapes, mu- er, Swordquest, say. The rules reveal tates, and starts killing the crew. The and more. You that this is pretty much crew responds by using laser pistols, can still find a standard hex and building flamethrowers, etc., and if that many of these on counter wargame. fails can set the station to self destruct Ebay and I’m There’s some special and escape via shuttles attached to the thinking about trying some others if the rules about the moon base itself, nuclear outpost. Sound familiar? price is right. There are still a few hidden mortars, and U.S reinforcements with gems out there and it’s fun going out and Intruder is a solitaire game that comes tanks, but you can be playing the first trying to find them!

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 Page 11 F&F: Battle of Nashville Battle Report

Since we had previously played the Walthall’s and Loring’s bri- Battle of Franklin, which was featured a gades from Stewart’s com- few issues back, it was only natural to try mand were definitely going to the Battle of Nashville next. We dug into take the brunt of the fighting the scenario books we have and got to in the opening hours. Around work setting things up. First off, this is a the flank the brigades of John- bigger battle than you would have previ- son and Lee filled up the rest ously thought and it takes up a lot of of the line with more units room. We didn’t have the room to do the coming up. The CSA bri- full length, so we chopped off the CSA gades were fairly weak, with extreme left flank as not much happened Loring’s only having four there anyway. stands. There were powerful forces being rushed to the Historically, Hood, for one reason or scene by Hood, but it would another, decided to besiege Thomas in be several hours before they Nashville with a smaller force. Just when were in place. Lincoln and Grant’s patience had worn time. One of Johnson’s brigades moved out with Thomas ,which was going to The Union columns of Smith down the line to set up a secondary de- result in his removal, he launches an at- Schofield, and Wood came on slowly, but fensive line, expecting Loring to fail at tack that overwhelms the Confederates relentlessly, supported by Wilson’s caval- any moment. outside of the city, scattering them across ry on the far flank. The Union, much as Tennessee and pretty much eliminating in the real battle, were going to hit at The Union also struck Walthall’s bri- them from the rest of the war. several points and try to collapse portions gades, including the end of the line where of the defenses, break through, then split one brigade was thrown quickly out of The terrain in this area quickly showed the Confederate army into pieces. The their works and the way was open to pos- that it was going to be no easy feat for the only thing saving the CSA front line at sibly end the game right then and there. Union forces to get to the CSA positions this point was the terrain, which took the The Confederate side had no reserves at quickly. Much of the area is forested Union side quite some time to negotiate. this point and all of a sudden there was a with few roads running through it, mean- gaping hole in the defenses. The Union ing that getting brigades quickly into and The first attacks hit Loring’s brigade side, however, had no supports present out of these areas was going to be a chal- at the apex of the defenses, which was the that could have exploited this opening. lenge. We gave the Confederates en- boundaries between the various brigades Walthall counterattacked with the help of trenchments, but not the kind as at Peters- and divisions. At this point there simply point blank artillery fire and retook that burg or Spotsylvania. Our readings were weren’t enough troops to hold the defen- section of the line. At this point every- that they had improved positions, but not sive lines and the Union smartly struck thing was still holding, reinforcements the in depth works that were seen else- here. However, this little brigade resisted were arriving, and things (cont. on p13) where in 1864. everything thrown against it time after

Page 12 NEWSLETTER TITLE F&F: Battle of Nashville (cont.) Battle Report

(cont. from p 12) weren’t looking so At this point we unfortunately had to This was definitely one of those bat- bleak. The Union achieved another end the game. Yes,, we had started tles where things need to go right for the breakthrough further up the line, but the something much too ambitious to finish attacking forces. You can’t stop, have CSA counterattack wiped out the Union in a single evening! This was definitely second thoughts, or try to adjust your brigades and ventured forth, threatening one of those games where you need 90 plan on the fly as there simply isn’t to split the Union army in two! minutes for the set up, 5-6 hours to play, enough time. The Union needs to hit the then about an hour for the take down. first line of defenses quickly and move By this time the Union was probing all We went about five hours and were bare- into the center as fast as possible. Simply along the line, with attack after attack, ly halfway through the game! put, the Union had some bad die rolls in including dismounted cavalry with their the first attacks and never got to that repeaters along with artillery. Hood had After a brief discussion we figured point. This allowed the Confederate forc- been ushering reinforcements to the front that the Confederate side was doing well, es to begin moving in and setting up a and a secondary line was already forming especially in terms of overall casualties. new line of defense as well as provide to the rear and in some cases moving The Union had lost about 25 stands and additional reserves. forward to bolster the defenses. When the Confederates only 6, but the Union the Union forces did finally break clearly had the forces to lose and this We’ve already discussed the need to through the defenses in several places, barely put a dent in their overall combat play the full battle, so no doubt we may there was no panic or melting away, just power. Clearly, we were just getting into take this out and try again, probably over a slow, but steady withdrawal to the new the interesting part of the battle and there the 2014 holiday season, but it needs a lot defensive lines. were still quite a few turns to go. more time to play the full thing.

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 Page 13 Engagement 5: Attack Into The Fog

Situation: Blue needs to attack a well Blue Orders: Attack Red’s defenses place the figures at that location. The d6 defended Red position. An early morn- and seize the town plus the bridge. You marks the distance according to the fol- ing attack has been scheduled, but the need at least one of the objectives to force lowing results and the D12 marks the area is covered by fog, which will benefit a draw. position as if using a clock, with the 12 the attacker, but could also create some facing towards Red positions. Set Up: Red sets their forces up in the coordination problems. Red has rein- positions marked on the game map. Blue forcements in the immediate area that Die Roll Result will enter on the board edge opposite Red could be moved up into this position, so 1, 2 Full move on the first turn. time is of the essence. 3, 4 Half move Period: Designed primarily for the Initiative: Blue is first each turn 5 Unit lost-can’t move on Turn 4 Horse & Musket era, but with a few Game Length: 10 turns changes could be used for Ancients as 6 No change-unit is in correct spot Victory Conditions: Victory is deter- well. mined by how many of the objectives Table Size: 4x8 for larger games, but a (marked as red stars on the game map) Ex.; Blue rolls for a cavalry unit and 6x4 could be used with smaller scale that Blue controls at the end of the game. rolls a 3 on the D6 and 7 on the D12. figures. the cavalry unit is moved half a move Two stars-Operational victory Terrain Notes: The hills are natural back towards the 7 o’clock position. One star-Draw defensive positions and should present a There is no firing on turns 1 or 2 and any serious movement obstacle. The river No stars-Defeat firing on turn 3 can only be performed can only be crossed at the bridge and it is out to half range. Units cannot charge on not mined for demolition. There are en- The Fog and Approach March Rules the first three turns. trenchments/gun positions across the gap For the first two turns there is a layer of By turn 4 the fog has burned off and there between the two hills. thick fog across the battlefield. Infantry/ are no special rules-play resumes normal- artillery units may move 1D6 inches and Red Forces: Red has the following ly. forces available: cavalry units 2D6 inches. Units should be represented on the game board by Variants: Naturally, time is the im- 6 infantry units (one unit is elite/ some type of marker (cardboard counters portant part of the equation for this sce- grenadiers and one unit can be skirmish/ are good). On the 3rd turn the fog begins nario and Blue should be forced to at light infantry. to burn off and units can move their full least attempt to move through the fog. 1 battery of medium artillery movement. At the start of the fourth turn Feel free to adjust the length of the game each unit of Blue must roll to see what to represent a shorter board or reinforce- 1 battery of heavy artillery their true position is on the battlefield due ments perhaps arriving earlier than to having had to move through the fog. planned. 1 unit of light cavalry Roll 1D6 and 1 D12 for each unit and 1 unit of medium cavalry Red Orders: Hold the town and the bridge at the end of the game. Blue knows that reinforcements are on the way, so they will launch a determined attack Blue Forces: Blue will use the following forces for the attack: 10 units of infantry (2 units can be elite/grenadiers and 2 units can be skirmish/light infantry) 3 batteries of medium artillery 1 unit of light cavalry 2 units of medium cavalry

Page 14 NEWSLETTER TITLE Engagement 6: Re-establishing Contact

Situation: Blue has cut off several Red game. Scale: Units can be squads/single vehi- units that are still holding out in villages cles, platoons, or companies based upon Off board: one battery of medium artil- along a roadway. Red is going to attempt the rules system that you use or how lery. a counterattack to reopen the lines of many miniatures you have. supply and communication with all three Blue Orders: Keep Red from opening Variants: There are several variants villages. up the roads to the three villages. If pos- that could add considerably more depth sible seize the villages, but they will be Period: Designed primarily for the and challenge to this scenario. well defended. WW2, but could also be used for the 1. Add the ability for both sides to call Modern period Set Up: Red sets their forces up in the in airstrikes and heavy artillery positions marked on the game map. Blue Table Size: 4x8 for larger games, but a (divisional and corps level). forces then set up on the board, followed 6x4 could be used with smaller scale by Red deploying their counterattack 2. Give both sides some late arriving figures. force in the red outlined box. reinforcements that will arrive on Terrain Notes: The villages are medi- 1D6 turns from the start of the game. um sized and Red’s units should be set up Initiative: Red is first each turn This will naturally depend upon how in good defensive positons within the Game Length: 12 turns many figures/vehicles that you have towns. The bridges are not wired for as well as the size of your game demolition and for purposes of this sce- Victory Conditions: Victory is deter- board. nario cannot be destroyed by artillery. mined by how many of the villages have 3. Add a number of supply vehicles to The river can only be crossed at the a clear path along a road to Red forces Red’s forces that need to break bridges. Blue probably does not have the that then leads off the edge of the board through to the villages. Change the force necessary at this time to take all where Red’s counterattack entered. Nat- victory conditions to where the vil- three villages. urally, there may be some debate upon whether or not the road is clear, can be hit lage can hold out for so many days Red Forces: Red has the following by enemy guns, etc., so the players based upon how many supply vehi- forces available: should define the victory conditions be- cles get through. Red needs to en- fore play begins. Also, if a village is sure that each village can hold out On Board at Start: 2 infantry units, one taken by Blue, ,then Red would have to for a set number of days that the anti-tank unit, and one armor unit at the retake the village to be able to have it players outline at the start of the locations listed on the scenario map. count towards the victory conditions. game. These units may be set up anywhere in the villages and up to 6” from any vil- Three villages-Operational victory 4. Reverse the premise of the game and lage. Red needs to evacuate wounded and/ Two villages-Draw or withdraw the forces from the Counterattack force: 2 infantry units, 3 villages to gain a victory. mech infantry units, one mortar battery, One or no villages-Defeat and three armor units. This force enters Turn 1 in the red outlined box on the scenario map. Off board: 1 battery of medium artillery Red Orders: Hold the villages and use the counterattack force to clear the roads leading to the village so that reinforcements and supplies can arrive safely. Blue Forces: Blue has the following forces deployed on the board according to positions marked on the scenario map. 5 units of infantry, 2 units of mech infantry, and three armor units. The infantry units may begin dug in at the start of the

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 Page 15 The Dark Valley by GMT Games Game Review

I’ve lost count at how the entire campaign each time that game does use air units, although the many WW2 Eastern Front you play. Germans have specific air formations games there are now, espe- while the Russians use markers for com- At its heart, this is a basic hex and cially those that show the bat modifiers, which I think is a good counter wargame. Movement, zones entire campaign. I myself way to represent the air war in this thea- of control, combat, etc., are all easy own quite a few, plus other ter. There are also markers for assault to understand and most gamers can games such as Third Reich, gun units, Russian bridgeheads, city de- skip this and get right into the meat The Supreme Commander, fense, etc., that add just enough chrome of the system, which is that it uses and more that have Barba- to the game without going overboard. chit activation. Yes, ,I can hear the rossa or Russian Front sce- Again, I was surprised at how well every- howls of outrage now from most narios/campaigns in them. thing meshed together and how easy the gamers. Chit activation for a strategic So, did we really need yet another game game was to get into. level Russian Front game? Yes, and it on the subject? works well. So well, in fact, that if the The only problems that I can see with Ted Racier, the designer of numerous chits come out right, the Germans actual- the game is the because of the chit pull games including the famous Paths of ly have a chance to recreate some of system and needing to go over every pos- Glory, along with GMT Games thinks so. those gigantic pockets seen at the early sibility with what chits are left, should I But what could be so novel that it would stages of Barbarossa, some- persuade gamers to buy yet another game thing that few games have on the German invasion of Russia? been able to pull off. Games on this subject feature the inevita- Each turn both sides get ble German steamroller in the summer a number of chits to move and fall of 1941, the stop before Moscow, and/or have combat. At a second offensive in the spring of 1942, first the Germans get quite stalemate in 1943, then the Russian coun- a few, including chits for teroffensive in ’44 and ’45. What’s dif- the various panzer groups. ferent about this game? However, as the game goes Well, a lot actually. First, there’s the on, the Russians begin to map. This is a two map “mini-monster” get things like the Stavka with a beautifully drawn map of the East- and Zhukov chits, plus spe- ern Front. The first thing you notice, cialized chits like Deep however, is that Finland is not included in Battle and more move/ this game, which is an interesting fix to combat chits. The chits the problem that front often causes in provide some uniqueness to games. Basically, either the Germans the situation and the chit use Move or Combat on some chits, etc., will be taking Leningrad or no one will! pull does a good job of simulating the ebb the turns are going to take a bit longer The counters are well done and in the and flow of the campaign. than you would think. Also, if the chit usual GMT style, so no complaints there. The Russians start with having divi- pull goes badly for one side or the other it The rule book and play book are equally sions spread out all over the map, which can have disastrous consequences that well done, with plenty of full color play slowly get replaced by corps and armies, could skew the game. Probably not much aids and easy to read. then some of those get replaced by chance of that in the campaign game as For a game of this size I was expect- Guards units. As with most games on things will even out, but in some of the ing a much longer set of rules, but the this topic, the Russian dead pile in the smaller scenarios it could end it before basic rules for this game run less than 20 first few turns is enormous. However, the game really gets going. pages, with most of the end slowly but Overall, this is an interesting take on a of the rules and the play- surely more familiar topic. The game looks good, is book being taken up by the and more not that difficult to understand, and does scenarios. One of the Russian a good job of portraying the conflict. The things I liked about this units begin chit activation system may not be every- game is that there are sce- to arrive, one’s cup of tea, but I thought it was re- narios for the opening inva- plus their freshing to see some new ideas. Be sure sion, the 1942 offensive, quality to get the set up/reinforcement cards that the fighting around Kursk begins to someone made (available on BGG/CSW) in 1943, and the Russian improve as as they are really handy. For myself, I drive to Germany in 1944, well. will definitely take this out from time to so there’s no need to set up The time, so it will get more plays.

Page 16 NEWSLETTER TITLE Making a Desert Terrain Mat How To

As many of you may have noticed Once you’ve Some areas will get more from the pictures in this magazine is that done the entire than others and that’s fine we have a desert mat that is in all fair- mat this way, as you’re going for an ness, just way too bright! This makes our (which will take irregular look anyway. desert and NWF games look a bit sterile you a few hours DO NOT become tempted to the actual terrain. After the last NWF and it’s not very to overdue the highlight- battle (which is featured in the next few fun) then you ing,, mix multiple shades pages) I decided that something needed to need to hold up for highlights, go back to be done about this. the mat and let rework sections, etc., as the excess sand you will probably end up The first thing is what kind of mat and kitty litter ruining the mat! should I be aiming for? We had a sand collect into a on felt mat for quite some time which Finally, after about 24 hours of drying container to be used again if necessary. wasn’t bad and sand colored terrain you now have a heavy duty desert/arid The first thing that you notice is that it boards, but both of those didn’t seem to terrain mat that will last you for years. didn’t stick everywhere and the mat feel right. After some investigating I For one thing the mat is heavy and stor- turned a tan/sand color, which is perfectly decided to do a heavyweight map and go ing it could be an issue, but it looks really fine. I then go back with some extra all out, even though in the longer run it good and I’m quite proud of how it caulking and/or spray adhesive and put may have been smarter to buy a commer- turned out. some more material into thin areas on the cial mat! mat or where I wanted more rocky areas. If I do this again I may go with put- ting on a layer of caulking first, letting it Everything dries pretty fast, so the dry, then second layer of caulking on top next step was to take some brown and of that. Definitely more expensive, but it reddish brown spray paints I had and might give the sand/kitty litter mix some- spray a few areas as in the image above. thing more to adhere to. Also, you could These will then show through the upcom- experiment ing brush painting and give the mat with the it’s irregular looking patterns. shades to be Next up comes the paint. Alt- used for the hough I was tempted to take the mat to repre- easy way out and use spray paint, I sent differ- decided to do it the right way and ent areas for The first thing to do was to accumu- use actual paint. I went to Lowe’s your games. late the supplies. Wal-Mart has a great 6 and had them mix me two quarts of So, overall I x 9 canvas mat used for painting for a desert yellow shade as seen in the im- spent about $80 and around 12 hours, but around $10 which would work great. age on the right, plus one quart of an I feel it was worth it. The important thing However, you NEED to iron it first or the almost almond type shade for highlight- is to not get impatient and just go step by many folds will create some problems for ing. I then got a wide brush and got start- step to create a beautiful gaming mat that you when you work on it. Next up was ed. First, don’t try to paint the entire can be used for quite some time. the caulking, which needs to be acrylic mat! Let some of the darker colors that based to take the paint, and it should be in you sprayed earlier a sand/almond/tan type color so that if show through in places. anything flakes/rubs off it still looks like Once coat was all it desert. Next up is sand (I got mine at took, but it also soaked Petsmart-for lizards!) and some cheap up about a quart and a kitty litter. half of paint! In the above photo you can see that I Next comes the squirted out an entire tube of caulk, then highlighting, where you using a putty knife smoothed it over the use the almond shade to canvas. Start with small 2 x 2 sections dry brush the mat. and slowly work through the mat. I then Simply put some paint dropped kitty litter and sand over the on the brush, wipe off caulk, then pressed it into the caulk with the excess on a piece of an empty caulk tube (used as a roller) and cardboard or newspaper, an old rag which I just pressed the materi- then drag the brush al into the caulk. slowly over the mat.

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 Page 17 “Lieutenant’s Gone Barmy!” TSATF Battle Report

The Sword and the Flame is certainly force with some serious firepower. one of our most popular sets of rules. The force was tasked with moving to When you add in the new action decks the village and dictating terms to the and event cards from The Virtual Arm- local warlord and populace. chair General you can have some pretty The Pathans, however, had a dif- wild and crazy games. As one of our ferent view on things. They had two members said once, “This isn’t colonial complete tribes, which is two groups warfare, it’s Hollywood!” Yes, at times of three units each. Two began in the it feels like Gunga Din, but it’s a good village with the other four starting feeling and we love TSATF. hidden on the board. With the British For this scenario we had a British & needing to cross the river, the cover of Indian column moving up to punish one the buildings, etc., we thought that of the local Afghan warlords who has this would be a pretty fair fight. been terrorizing the surrounding country- The British tried to pin the village unit got entangled in an ambush it cov- side. If you’ve read anything about the defenders to the front and then hit them in ered them until they reformed. Halfway wars on the Northwest Frontier you will the flank. This was a pretty good strategy through the battle it was still anyone’s have noticed that this was a pretty com- that lasted all of about one turn! The game, especially with the unpredictable mon thing. Either the village and clan reason was that the event card pulled British unit at the far end. In fact, the for the second turn (we roll 1D6 and British side were beginning to wonder if on a 5 or a 6 we pull a card) was “The in fact they had the force necessary to Lieutenant’s Gone Barmy!” This clear the village at this point. meant that one random unit would Then came a couple of bad turns for have to check what to do each turn as the Pathans. Two units failed a charge the officer had gone a bit crazy! Un- and got stuck out in front of a few British fortunately for the British side, it was the leading British unit on the flank attack. The British continued to advance and began skirmishing with the village defenders while the screw gun battery got set up. The next turn saw another event card, which was two units of would submit (usually only to buy time Pathan cavalry, including one that ap- and jump back in later) or they would peared behind the flanking force. In fact, resist. Well, in the case of our scenario it was going to hit the Indian unit from they decided to resist. the rear. The British unit with the prob- lem lieutenant, however, just then rolled The British column consisted of two to reverse its course, putting it on the units of British infantry, one unit of Indi- flank of the newly arrived Pathan cavalry an infantry, one unit of Gurkhas, one MG unit and issued forth a devastating volley section, and a battery of two screw guns. into the flank. Just then a hidden Pathan Altogether it was a pretty powerful little unit emerged from cover to charge this British unit. The unit rolled again for its actions and formed square, again at just the right time. The British players couldn’t figure out if this officer was crazy or cra- zy like a fox! The Pathans were now really putting the pressure on the British Situation after the second event card where and their allies. Firefights erupted two Pathan cavalry units literally appeared all across the battlefield and casual- out of nowhere. The British had been advanc- ties began piling up on both sides. ing, but there was serious opposition in the The screw guns broke up two Pa- center and to the British left flank. than attacks and when one British

Page 18 NEWSLETTER TITLE Lieutenant’s Gone Barmy!” (cont.) TSATF Battle Report

and Indian units, their were some really that flipped the game around 180 degrees. crazy British officer, however, continued bad rolls for shooting, and then the Brit- This card said that the British were victo- to perform beyond expectations, covering ish MG and screw guns added to the Pa- rious on another field and that this force the retreat with long range firepower! than body count. The British overall was needed for the pursuit. A roll of the However, the Pathans weakened units officer gave the order to advance and the dice revealed that they had five turns to and very poor die rolls for movement British led force moved forward to take get the entire force off the board except doomed their cause this time. The British the village. for one unit that could remain as a rear just got the last unit off the board edge at guard! Naturally, this really changed the The Pathans by this time were well the end of the fifth turn and thus emerged course of the game and the Pathan units below half strength and were holding victorious in this battle. came piling out from their cover. back a few fresh units for a final charge. It was a great game that had some With the British now having cleared most Now the race was on as the British crazy moments and swings of fortune. of the opposition near the river and the units were doing whatever they could to The event cards are what really adds life village entrance, there was some doubt get off the road at the board edge. The to the game, but the trick is determining among the Pathan commanders that the Pathans were moving as fast as they how many should be used. We felt that village could be held. So far, everything could to cut off at least one of the British rolling each turn and needing a 5 or 6 on had not gone so well for the Pathans and units to give them the victory. The Brit- 1D6 was just about right as you don’t defeat appeared inevitable at this stage of ish MG unit was surrounded and cut want more chaos thrown into what is the game. down, with those Pathans now joining in already a pretty chaotic game! the general pursuit. The unit with the But then another event card got pulled

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 Page 19 By The Sword: Genesis of a Campaign (cont.)

(cont. from p 3) terrain must spend their income to system to suit their needs. could be laid out and how keep forces in the field, Of course the question has to be asked, long the battles were. I in- repair ships, and keep forts “Will this campaign actually get off the cluded a randomized terrain running to provide supply ground?” That is a very good question placement table in case they to their armies. This also and our group is struggling with this and couldn’t decide on how to serves as an artificial ceil- my guess is that many others would as set the battle up. Again, this ing to how many forces a well, whether it’s this campaign or anoth- is one of those facets of the player can have. The larg- er. Campaigns take an investment in time campaign where the players er your forces the more of and commitment, both of which seem to need to decide early on how your income you’re going be in short supply in the gaming world they are going to handle it. to spend to keep them in today. We have interest in getting this I’ve seen campaigns where the field. started, but not all members are excited every battlefield is drawn up I made the supply sys- about it, which could pose a problem new as it occurs and I’ve tem fairly simple as although that is a down the road. seen some where the referee randomly set very important part (and not focused on it up. My call is to give the players some The two other questions about run- enough by wargames I might add) of any ideas and let them choose which ones ning a campaign like this are a) how often campaign, I didn’t want players spending work for them. do you play a turn, and b) how much hours and hours tracking the supplies of painting needs to be done. The first ques- Of course when you write rules for each unit. I set up a simple system where tion sound simple, but again, it will de- battles you also have to include rules for forces trace supply back to forts and ports pend upon the commitment of the group. permanent losses, retreats, pursuit, and in their own territories and if unable to do Many gamers want to just hammer away then sieges. With sieges there are again so, then they must roll for attrition. at the campaign, playing it continually quite a few options, from simply storm- So that’s pretty much the base cam- until either the group gets sick of it and ing the opponent’s castle to settling in for paign system and in theory, it should play loses interest, or it ends one way or the a long siege to starve them out. Once pretty quickly. Of course no system other. At this time we’re hoping to play a again I gave players several options and would be complete without optional rules turn once a month and do another game then they can decide which method is and there are quite a few that can be add- on the other meeting during the month to best for them. Once you get the move- ed to the base system. Naturally, the keep interest up all around. ment and combat systems designed the more you add the more complex and rest of the campaign rules are usually The second question is not to be over- longer playing the campaign will be. tying up loose ends and making sure that looked as well. With needing at least one There are rules that cover optional move- everything works! 1500 point force plus the extra units gen- ment systems, unit battle honors, skills erated by the territory bonuses, plus the While most campaigns try to not over- for generals, advanced economics, etc. units you can build, that could easily see complicate things by adding in econom- There will also be a system for training armies of 2,000-2,500 points in a few ics and logistics, I did exactly that. My units and building fleets where they do turns. So, if you have 13-15 units painted thinking was that the players need to run not arrive on the turn of purchase, which up you may need to paint up an additional their kingdoms, and by that I mean take will force players to do some long range 13-15 units so that you can play with a into account how to get in- planning, full strength force. That’s a major com- come, where it is spent, and Although this system is mitment in purchasing the figures, then what to purchase for upcoming clearly designed for the War- painting them. Either of these questions turns. This also gets players master Ancients rules system can pose problems, but hopefully they thinking about how many forc- since that is what we use for can be worked out. es can they support, do they Ancients and Medievals, it have the infrastructure to go Overall, I’m pretty happy with how can be used for other sys- beyond their borders, or should things have turned out so far. The rules tems. Converting the points there be a focus on naval oper- and cards are completed, so now its time system used here to other ations instead of land cam- to look things over with my group. My rules such as FOG, Hail Cae- paigns. biggest question is whether or not I can sar , Warhammer Ancients, post this on the club web site for gamers Players get income through etc., should be fairly easy to to download. I don’t own rights to the conquering and occupying do. I did my best to keep the map and I have modified it for our use, territories, caravans, and merchant fleets. events, movement, combat, sieges, etc., plus I used a lot of images for the event This gives the players an incentive to fairly generic so that they could be used cards. That’s fine for personal use/ trade as well as fight, so you could see with almost any other campaign system. gaming group use, but I’m unsure about some unusual alliances crop up if they are Also, there’s nothing to prevent anyone sharing it with the rest of the world! beneficial to each other. Then players from adding or modifying things to the

Page 20 NEWSLETTER TITLE Khartoum by Michael Asher Book Review

I’ve read so many British troops disembarking to pro- tion, and special forces operation all Victorian Colonial books tect Suakin is where you begin to rolled into one. and article over the years see that this book is not like many The battles, the final run to Khartoum that I’m at a point where others that you may have read on in steamers, and then Wilson’s escape are I don’t expect much. the Sudan. all vividly described in the book. The There’s the usual over- For one thing, the author does a situation in Khartoum is not forgotten view, a few comments on good job of describing the terrain wither, with the author going through all notable names, a one and the logistical difficulties of of the various endings to Gordon’s life page description of the managing a campaign in one of the from several sources. There is also a battles, some maps, and most desolate places on the planet. very good post campaign analysis here then the summary chap- When Graham marches out of that shows the opportunities, failures, and ter at the end. This is Suakin to engage enemy forces, you what could have been. definitely not one of feel that you are along for the jour- those books! ney. The strategies, troop deployments, Most books on the Sudan give a quick etc., are all described in more detail than overview, use the Egyptian Rebellion to I’ve seen in many colonial books. set the stage ,then move onto the Mahdi’s This leads to the first two battles, rebellion in the Sudan. This is then fol- which were El Teb and Tamai. They are lowed by long sections on the River and blow by blow accounts from the first Desert columns, the fall of Gordon, then exchange of rifle fire between skirmish- a hastily written chapter on the British ers of both sides to the climax where destroying their enemies at Omdurman. British coolness under the most dire cir- Long on analysis, but short on details, cumstances saves Graham’s army. There particularly the battles, always seems to are many individual actions that are noted be the main theme. and the battles contain much more infor- Not so here. While there is a discus- mation than I have seen elsewhere, mak- The book then switches to Kitchener sion about the Egyptian Rebellion, how ing each battle a fascinating part of the and the final operations to retake the Su- the Mahdi came to power, the state of the book. dan around 13 years later. The planning Sudan, etc., these things aren’t the driv- for the campaign, the first fights of the Although Graham prevails, in the end ing force behind the book or used as fill- reorganized Egyptian army, and the he really does change the situation at all, er. They are topics that are setting the changed situation both in Egypt and the which is clearly explained by the author, table for British involvement and for the Sudan set the reader up for the final act. leading the government to send for Gor- battles to come. The author does a very The building of the railroad, the issues don. Gordon naturally moves to Khar- good job of describing not only the play- with the Dervish army, Kitchener, and the toum where he is quickly surrounded. ers, but the complex political situation allocation of British forces are all put into The book then focuses on the River and during this period of English history. place. Finally, the British and Egyptian Desert columns sent to save Gordon as forces advance to Omdurman, face their well as the situation inside of Khartoum old foe, and prevail in one of the largest itself. Most of the action now revolves battles of the era. around the Desert column, from its crea- tion to the actual march to the Nile. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. In fact, if you are new to the Again, the author does a wonderful Sudan period, start here and then work job of describing those in command, the through other books (although Fire & strategies, the issues with moving this Sword in the Sudan is still a personal force on camels, and the battles that favorite). The details in the battles and would need to be fought. Each step of the operations are fascinating, which gave the Desert column is retraced, from their me a new perspective on many of things initial meanderings back and forth to start The Hicks and Baker expeditions are that I “thought” I had known about this the campaign, to the final attempt to described in more detail than usually campaign. The illustrations and images reach Gordon in Khartoum. For myself seen, but again, they are merely setting are also not the standard fare and my only this was the most fascinating part of the the stage for the next act. With the Egyp- complaint is that the book needed more book. Although Graham’s expedition tian presence in the Sudan collapsing and well done maps, which were sadly lack- was interesting, you knew that they were there being few options, Gordon and Gra- ing. Overall, there’s not much to com- going out to find the enemy and fight ham are finally brought into action. Gra- plain about here and this is a book that them. With the Desert column, it was ham’s expedition , which begins with you should definitely own. more of a bold strategic move, explora-

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 Page 21 Ronin: Five Sided Battle Battle Report

We’ve played Ronin a few times, so it melee, followed by an actions didn’t take long to set up and explain the phase where bow can shoot again scenario. Ronin is great for those eve- or teppos (arquebus) can then nings where you need to come up with a shoot. The sequence of play is game and fit it into a shorter time slot, very straightforward and goes by which was great as we had only about 2 quickly with few, if any prob- 1/2 hours before the store that we were lems. playing at closed! I had actually planned All of the groups marched to finally do a mounted attack, but events onto the board from the corners conspired against me, so we went with and headed directly for the vil- this scenario. lage. There were a few archery Basically, four groups were descend- attempts, but at the opening rang- ing upon an already suspecting village. es it was difficult to hit anything. The village was home to a samurai and All of the groups began to move seven ashigaru, who were set up to de- closer to the village and the arch- fend the two main approaches. This ers began to find their mark, inflicting group was essentially a “fifth player”, but several light wounds. Ronin uses a pro- conditions. since there were only four of us we rolled cess where models can be stunned, suffer dice for their actions and discussed their The third group (blue), consisting of a light wound, a grievous wound, or best possible moves, which worked sur- one ronin, one ashigaru leader, and six death. Stunned results can pile up on a prisingly well! ashigaru were bent on anarchy, wanting model, but can be removed at the end of to burn down the village for some past the action phase with a successful die The first group (black) was after some transgression. They needed to move to roll. Two light wounds is the same as a rumored treasure in the village. This each building, roll 1D6 for how many grievous wound, while a grievous wound group consisted of one ronin, an ashigaru turns it took to get the fire going, then plus any other wound is death. The type leader, and six ashigaru. Their task was move on to the next building. of wound depends upon the difference of to search all of the buildings until they the attack vs. defense die rolls. found the treasure chest. Before the The fourth and final group (yellow) game the various buildings were num- were after the samurai’s head for the bered, then a D6 was rolled and hidden, bounty. As with several of the other which indicated which building had the groups they had a ronin leading the treasure. group, a leader for the ashigaru, and then several ashigaru. This group was trying The second group (purple) consisted for a quick entry into the village, defeat of five ronin, all of who had a variety of the samurai, then get back off as quickly skills and composed a powerful, but as possible. small force. They were here simply for revenge, needing to take the samurai’s For those who have never played head back as proof that they had complet- Ronin before, the first thing you do each ed their mission. Like many of the other turn is determine who has priority. That groups involved, they needed to get their player then chooses who goes first in prize off the board to fulfill their victory movement, shooting, and combat. This can be critical in certain cir- cumstances, particularly when melees start springing up all over the board! This is fol- lowed by movement, where each model can either move six inches or run nine, alt- hough with certain re- strictions if you choose to run. At the end of the move- ment phase there is a shooting phase if any models are Start of the fourth turn, with all of the vari- armed with bows. Then ous groups now engaged or trying to get to comes the combat phase, the center of the village. The L denotes the which involves close combat/ leader of the group.

Page 22 NEWSLETTER TITLE Ronin: Five Sided Battle (cont.) Battle Report

The first group was now crossing the Everyone who could attack someone did of their own. They tried to get back into bridge and getting closer to the center and soon several melees broke out across contention for the samurai’s head, but with the second group moving through the board. The yellow group actually got could not overcome the highly skilled the samurai’s house. The third and fourth to the samurai in the center first, but were group of ronin in the center that did even- groups both ran into the samurai’s ashi- themselves pushed back by the purple tually take the head, then quickly moved garu guards and close combat started. group with the highly skilled ronin. off. Each model is rated for their CP factor, Black, despite taking several casualties, Overall, black and purple achieved which is the number of “stones” that they started searching houses and found the their victory conditions while blue was get each round. Players choose how treasure quickly! They proceeded to beat getting there and yellow, despite defeat- many attack or defense stones they want a hasty retreat off board, having achieved ing several enemy soldiers, was left with to use. When an attack stone is set out, their victory conditions. nothing. It would be interesting to try that model can attack another model Blue had set fire to one building, but this game with some mounted figures, while if a defense stone is set out the were tied down by two of red’s ashigaru. more missile weapons, and different skill defense value goes up from 1D6 to 2D6. This became the “Battle of the Stunned”, sets. In the interest of time I had filled Once each model is out of stones the with both sides achieving nothing but out all of the unit rosters, but in the future combat for that round is over. Certainly a stunned results! We joked that everyone it would be nice to have everyone choose unique system, but one that not only was using the wrong end of their spears! their own figures and skills. A very fun, works, but involves a lot of strategy. Yellow was heavily engaged, taking cas- fast moving game that showed off the Now things began to happen quickly. ualties, but dealing out some punishment system nicely.

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 Page 23 Revenge of the Saracens! WMA Battle Report

We’ve added a few more units to our Crusader and Saracen armies, plus we had a new desert mat to try out, so it seemed like an opportune time to have a Warmaster Medieval game. As has been mentioned a million times before, WMA and WMM is one of our favorite game systems. The game plays fast, is a lot of fun, easy to teach, and it looks like an ancients battle. The Crusaders this time had a few more units of foot troops than in our pre- vious battles, including some dismounted knights which were going to be tough in any fight. They had several units of mounted knights, which were the real striking power of their army. The Cru- saders deployed with the knights on the flanks backed by lighter cavalry, then heavy infantry including the dismounted knights in the center. The force was screened by several units of crossbow- man. There was a break point of 12, with 24 actual units. were arrayed across the front of the infan- knights charging and destroying any op- The Saracens this time, were going to try in the center of the formation. The position on the flanks, then mop up in the go with a heavy cavalry assault as they Saracens also had a break point of 12, but center where hopefully, their higher qual- now had six units instead of the four units had 30 actual units, so it was a quite large ity units would defeat the masses of Arab available in previous battles. There were force. infantry opposite them. The Saracens plenty of light cavalry units to go around, were hoping to hold their own against the The Crusaders obviously were going plus the usual masses of infantry. The knights, then try to swamp the center with to try to win on the strength of their Saracens had few archer units, but they their larger force, relying upon attrition to take its toll on the Crusaders. The game started off slowly, with both sides only being able to move part of their overall force. In fact, this would quickly become a trend as the command rolls of both sides were going to be hav- ing a bad night! By the end of the sec- ond turn both sides had most of their cavalry deployed out on the flanks while the infantry forces lagged behind. The plans of both sides were clearly being frustrated by the slow deployment of their forces, but with enemy in range of several charges it was time for the fes- tivities to begin. The heavy and light cavalry of both sides got into several large melees on both flanks. On the Saracen left they held their own, destroying two units of knights for the loss of three Saracen units, which was a good trade for the Saracens. On the right the Crusaders fared better, and after several attacks and counterattacks they were (cont. on p25)

Page 24 NEWSLETTER TITLE Revenge of the Saracens! (cont.) WMA Battle Report

(cont. from p 24) in control of that flank. The Saracens got their infantry bri- saw them eliminate three Crusader infan- However, their command rolls prevented gades reorganized and went in, smashing try units in the final turn, pushing the any further follow up attacks for two into the more heavily armored Crusader Crusaders over their break point and see- turns, giving the Saracens a chance to infantry. By this time the flanks had ing the game end as a Saracen victory. shore up that flank. When the Crusaders worn themselves out, so the game would A great game and very unlike most of finally got things coordinated on that side be decided here in the center. For the our WMA/WMM games. Usually units it was too late and they were thrown back first turn both sides exchanged blows, are running to and fro, cavalry battles can with heavy losses. with more units added to both sides’ rage deep behind enemy lines, and it’s a break points. After five turns the cavalry forces of real dogfight with no real organization. both sides were hurting badly, but the Then, the Saracens started rolling their For this battle, however, everything pret- losses had been about even and in fact the saves. On one turn alone the Saracen ty much stayed in lines, reserves sealed Crusaders were in a good position to let infantry saved something in the neighbor- off any penetration of the front, and sup- the Saracens come to them, which in the hood of 15 out of 20 hits and scored close ports were well coordinated. It almost end they decided to do anyway. The to 75% hits on their attacks. The losses looked as if we knew what we were do- Saracens were trailing by a few units in were devastating to the Crusaders, who ing! Overall, it was a fun game that was the break point race, so after a quick con- saw their lines pushed back across the decided in the last moment. It’s also a lot sultation it was decided to push things in entire center of the board. A few reserves of fun to have some pretty good sized the center and see if the advantage in went in to stem the tide, but they too were armies on the board with lots and lots of numbers of infantry would work out. chewed up badly. The final Saracen push units!

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 Page 25 Interview with Dave Baker of Trenchworx

One of the more successful wargaming board. At the end of the Kickstarter projects lately has been the game, they recovered their Tanks of WW1 from a new gaming 'wounded' models and rolled company called Trenchworx. With all up different effects and skills of the interest regarding 3D printing for each model based on ac- and how it fits into wargaming, I tions performed in the game. thought that it might be interesting to One soldier got bionic legs, talk to someone who not only works one lost an eye and another a with this technology commercially on a fancy new web pistol. I later day to day basis, but is now using it for found out they were playing a the hobby. It also helps that Dave is a squad level mission for a member of our local gaming group and skirmish game called Rogue I’ve personally been over to his work- Trader. I was hooked. shop/offices to see some of the incredi- 28mm and 6mm MkV 3D prototypes. ble things that they’re doing in this 2. What are your gaming area. Hopefully other gamers will find interests and favorite periods to play? then and there is something about all this as informative and interesting as I those sepia photographs that leaves a have. bit of mystery yet to be explored. The last few years I have 3. What’s the main idea behind been playing a Trenchworx? lot of smaller scale games in 15mm, 10mm The original goal behind Trenchworx and even 6mm was to quickly create cool models that as well as some don't exist using our 3D printers. As skirmish/RPGs. we got into it, we found that some of I enjoy playing the models actually had more demand games where the than we suspected, so we started down board 'looks' the road of resin casting with our WW1 A mix of the resin and printed models for World War One gaming like a map of a Kickstarter. We intend to apply our that are available through Trenchworx. large area. The 'quickly create' strategy to the resin amount of detail casting as well to get the models to in the small scales, when painted well, market faster. We plan to source all of

really appeals to me. My son is turning our manufacturing locally in the US 1. How did you get into wargaming? 8 this month, so we are painting and and avoid the longer lead times and playing the usual GW games, Star larger inventories often associated with Wars and some other board games. off-shoring. We may pay more for I discovered wargaming back in the Being a mechanical engineer, I also labor, but we will keep our cost low mid 80s in Auburn, Alabama. I had find the turn-of-century periods (1900, through solid Lean Manufacturing just turned 16 and got my drivers li- not 2000!) fun to play and research. practices. Another aspect of Trench- cense when I stopped by a FLGS There were a lot of great inventions worx is that we will do periods prior to named Hobby Hall. I remember walk- ing into the back room and see- ing a bunch of people with all these 'buildings' laid out on a big ping pong table. The build- ings were actually the styrofoam packaging inserts that show up in TV and other electronics box- es. Each person had about 10 figures they were pushing around the table working their Schneider CA1 - 3D test prints - From Right to Left - 28mm, HO Scale, 15mm, 10mm and 6mm way to the other side of the

Page 26 NEWSLETTER TITLE Interview with Dave Baker of Trenchworx (cont.)

1950 and after 2150. where 3D printing will make the We intend to avoid most headway... Variable Scales. periods and projects that are associated As awesome as 3D printing is, with current conflict. there are still a few drawbacks. As a company gets into 3D printing, 4. Why did you they find the medium is a constant choose to start with progression and printing can get the WW 1 period? expensive fast. First you just want to print something, then you need a bigger envelope, next more throughput and finally finer resolu- We chose WWI be- cause the tanks look tion. Let's not forget about printing cool! We have an in stainless steel or titanium either! The desktop models are awesome awesome 3D model- er on the team who 28mm BT-42 in just being able to build some- has a passion for the ma- thing you create, but as you get 5. How do you think 3D printing tech- further along and if you are model chines of World War 1, 2 and the years in between. The flat surfaces and high nology will change the hobby? making, you will almost always want detail level (bazillions of rivets) also the finer resolution. Machines that print in the desirable 0.0005" layers can worked well with our 3D printers. An- other bonus was that there is not a I think 3D printing will be great for the run upwards of $50,000 to $500,000 and then you have the cost of the mate- huge selection of models for the peri- hobby. I believe one of the big ad- od. More and more people are doing vantages is scaling. When we make a rials of around $5-40 per cubic inch lots of steam punk and pulp games and model, we plan to market it for 6mm, depending on type. we felt they could benefit from the 10mm, 15mm, 20mm, 28mm, 40mm models. We were also a bit cautious of and everything in between. We design I've seen a lot of people on various doing the more popular WW2 because a fantastically detailed model first then forums make comments such as 'it is too expensive or it isn't quite there yet.' there are so many manufacturers out adjust a scaling value and almost in- there making great models and it would stantly have a newly sized model. Those statements are somewhat true. It be hard for us to differentiate Trench- There's a lot of meat and potatoes be- takes a lot of experimentation to get the print job to do what you want it to do. worx from those companies. hind that statement, but I think that is We have the luxury of owning several 3D printers for our other businesses and learn, not just from printing our Trenchworx models, but from printing entire machines for manufacturing plants. Since we are learning everyday, we can do a lot of trial runs others can't. If you are going to get into 3D printing, be prepared to spend some time and money learning.

6. Your initial Kickstarter program was overwhelmingly successful. Can you describe your Kickstarter experience? Would you use it again?

28mm Resin A7V. Trenchworx is working on several types of WW1 tanks using the 3D printing process to create models in multiple scales. They are also trying to come up with The Tanks of WWI Kickstarter has innovative ideas to help gamers, such as creating magnetic parts for the British ‘male’ been a very fun experience. It isn't and ‘female’ variants of tanks that can be changed out where necessary. over just yet since we are still building and shipping product from our first

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 Page 27 Interview with Dave Baker of Trenchworx (cont.)

Thanks to Worxsimple, we always have the support of some excellent engineers and process specialists when need- ed. I think this support is what will help us ride the ups and downs of the of availabil- ity of Trenchworx customer's discretionary income.

As far as what makes a busi- ness successful or not depends on so many factors. It is easy For more information or to order some of the to offer opinions on how to Trenchworx models, visit their site at: run a business, but the princi- http://trenchworx.com/ ples that have served us well Trenchworx has also been working on 3D parts for various other models such as this 28mm Sherman are summed up in just a few calliope turret. points... We thank Dave for taking the time Charge a fair price and keep to tell us about his company and their one. The support we received from the your costs transparent to your custom- upcoming projects. The models have to contributors has been amazing. That ers be seen to be believed and the ability to alone is motivation to launch additional  Acquire new technology and figure produce these in multiple scales will be Kickstarters. I think the Kickstarter has out how to use it effectively. a huge plus for gamers. I’ve also seen gained us a very loyal following. We some remarkable prototypes of various Plan your entire manufacturing will definitely use it again.  pieces that can be used on existing system around Lean Manufactur- plastic model kits. Truly, there is no ing principles. 7. So many hobby businesses get end to the possibilities for the hobby started and fail. With your experi-  Remain flexible and give your with this new technology and Trench- ence in both non-hobby and hobby customers what they ask for. worx seems to be on the right path. businesses, what do you think the Hire the smartest, most passionate  As part of my regular job I super- main contributing factors are to people you can trust without ques- vise a computer lab with multiple 3D this? tion. printers and there are numerous chal-

lenges that few gamers think of. First, 8. What’s on the draw- finding people who have skills in the ing board for Trench- 3D modelling arena, followed by worx? choosing the right printers/materials, and then testing/adjusting the various We have so many ide- models for printing. Anyone who as, but unfortunately thinks that they are going to sit down, there is only so much draw a tank model, then mass produce time in the day! I think them is sadly mistaken. There is a lot we will continue our of trial and error behind the scenes work in the 1890 to along with a great deal of frustration in 1940s periods. We making this technology work! will continue to focus on vehicles and other Trenchworx is only a year old; hopeful- 'mechanical' contrap- ly, we will continue to execute our tions. We will probably do some work business model well and we won't with 'organics' but only to compliment crash and burn anytime soon! We do our main products. Our resin products have the luxury of being a spin-off of and mold making will only get better as our successful engineering and 3D we gain experience and it should be fun printing business, Worxsimple, LLC. to watch the next 10 years.

Page 28 NEWSLETTER TITLE Ares #1 with War of The Worlds Game Review

Going back several The rules are a very easy will be on the board at any one time. decades there was a read and you can be set up and Adding to the craziness is the combat science fiction maga- be playing probably inside of 15 results table, which I needed to stare at zine with a game in- -20 minutes. The sequence of for quite some time to make sure I was side called Ares from play is pretty straightforward, getting this right. The Martians can SPI. Designed as a with the Martians moving first in achieve some overwhelming force at Strategy & Tactics for a what is usually a 12 turn game. times which produces a lot of Human sci-fi and fantasy gam- Each side moves its units, acti- retreats ( I guess it’s better to fall back ers it put out a small vates units that arrived at the end than be destroyed!) at the upper end of run of games/ of the previous turn (which ena- the table, while suicidal attacks, such as magazines, some of bles them to move/fight next the warship moored along the Thames at which are still highly turn), combat, then receives rein- 1:6 odds almost always destroys a Mar- thought of today. forcements. There’s not a lot of tian war machine! Weird, but it works. While Strategy & Tac- units on the board, so turns go There is also a one page solitaire rules tics has continued its by pretty fast and you can get a page which actually works pretty well run to this day and expanded with a game in under 45 minutes and maybe an and is easy to use. WW2 and Modern issue with games in- hour if you really think over your moves. side, Ares went under and was never seen The question is whether or not you Now there are some interesting quirks again. should pay $25-30 for this magazine and to this game and it is more of a tongue in game. This is usually the eternal question That was until a successful Kickstart- cheek look at the Martian invasion based where magazine games are involved. As er program brought it back. The first upon the H.G. Wells’ version of I’ve stated here many times issue is now available and it is certainly a the story. For example, if the most of the S&T issues I step up from the older magazine. This Martian player chooses the mis- buy end up being sold as issue features a large number of science- sile base there’s a chance that they’re not fully developed fiction short stories along with ads for one of the missiles could blow or play tested. That isn’t other sci-fi and fantasy games. Since this up on the pad. The Human the case here, but rather the isn’t the New York Times Book Review, player can choose a superhero or problem of whether or not we’ll dispense with the magazine side of hero, there’s infernal machines the game is worth that things and instead focus on the game that (airships, EMP gun, etc., ), and a much. comes with the issue, which is War of the heroine that could or could not Worlds. be an objective. First off, there’s not much in the way of compo- The only War of the Worlds game I What makes the game inter- nents, even if those that remember is the old one from Task Force esting is that the Martian player you get aren’t bad. The Games back in the early 80s and a few has to pick one of five objectives, which map could have been more “city like”, miniatures rules that had scenarios for could be anything from levelling the city but it works. My big problem with the this type of encounter, so there’s not to capturing the heroine. The Human game is just that there isn’t that many much to compare this to. The compo- player has to ascertain what the Martian pieces on the board. For example, the nents are very nice, featuring a full color objective is and try to organize a defense Humans get 10 points to spend on initial 8 page set of rules, map of London, and around it. The game ends either at the forces, then they get to randomly choose two sheets of counters cut in hexagons end of Turn 12 or when the Martian play- five army units and one infernal machine and circles for the various units as well as er accomplishes their objective, meaning to go on the turn track. Not a problem game markers. that an already short game can be made until you realize that they come in on odd even shorter. numbered turns. If you pick a superhero Each player gets to choose a champion (8 points) and one other unit, number of units to start the game that’s all you get to move until turn 2! In with. The Martians get walkers, fact, there probably aren’t more than 10 flying saucers, etc., that arrive one units for both sides on the board by Turn per turn. The Human player gets to 6, halfway through the game! My per- pick from champions, artillery, in- sonal choice would have been to load up fantry, infernal machines, etc., and on units for both sides and really slug it then some random units get added to out over London, but that’s just me. the turn track as reinforcements. Overall, good magazine, good compo- Usually the Humans will start with 2 nents, easy to grasp rules, great theme, -4 units on board with more coming but so-so gameplay. later, but usually no more than 10

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 Page 29 As long as I’ve been in the hobby there’s always been expensive gaming items. WFHGS Whether it was the giant sci-fi warships put out by Superior Models back in the early 80s or the bigger boxed games of that era, there have always been items that WASATCH FRONT HISTORICAL GAMING SOCIETY you wanted to get into, but couldn’t afford. This is why I find it so fascinating when I go into stores or shop online now and see how much the sci-fi/fantasy min- Meets every other Friday night in the SLC, Utah area. We play a wide variety of games iatures go for nowadays. You basically need to take out a second mortgage on in 1/300th, 10mm, 15mm, and 25mm, your house to get enough stuff to do a four player game of Warhammer Fantasy or including Age of Reason, Age of Discovery, Age of Eagles, Fire & Fury, General de Dropzone Commander. This is also why I’ve always considered historical minia- Brigade, Warmaster Ancients, TSATF, tures gaming such a great deal. Sure, there’s some expensive miniature lines for Phantoms, Mustangs, BKC2, and more... historicals as well, but nowhere near what most fantasy and sci-fi lines are charg-

Email the editor: ing. [email protected] This leads to my next point, which is something I’ve been waiting for a long, The best in historical miniatures long time. That is the day when sci-fi and fantasy miniatures gamers finally start gaming questioning why they’re paying so much for their stuff and maybe they should get into historical gaming. I’ve seen a few threads about this pop up recently and it is certainly encouraging. That you can get an entire army for basically what you pay for two units of sci-fi or fantasy seems to be sinking in, although slowly. I don’t Visit us on the web: expect any major changes in the hobby immediately, but I think there will be a shift www.wfhgs.com at some point in the near future.

Tank Battle: East Front 1945 IOS Game Review

I have long been a fan of modules that had anywhere from 6-12 Germans, plus there is a campaign as the Panzer General series of extra scenarios in them. The scenarios well. The scenarios are challenging and I games and have been ranged from the very good to some silly failed several of them the first time searching for a worthy suc- premises, but most, particularly if they through. cessor for quite some time. were on the hardest setting, were pretty I blundered onto a game for challenging. the iPhone and iPad called Tank Battle I then found out that they have a new well over a year ago from a company series called Tank Battle: East Front, called Hunted Cow studios. The game with the modules broken up into the vari- was a hex based, turn driven WW2 opera- ous years. I purchased the 1945 game tional level battle where you could play a and immediately opened it up, which had scenario in 15-20 minutes or less. The a number of surprises. First, the sum- game also uses unit strength, which is mary for each scenario at least tries to be very similar to Panzer General. historical, detailing the operations for that You could also purchase additional particular time period. Maybe not the I’ll probably add a few more modules most accurate, but at least it is an attempt. and give those a try as the games are rela- Second, the graphics have gone up a tively cheap. While not on the same level notch, especially the graphics for the of Panzer General due to the limitations mortars, nebelwerfers, and Stalins organs of the platform, I find them to be good attacks. Not only that, most tanks can games in their own right. The company now move and fire, which adds greatly to also makes other games that look to use the feeling of the battle. the same type of game engine that range from Ancients to ACW and beyond. This module included eight scenarios, Overall, a good value for the money and but you can play as the Russian or the worth your time.