Posts Tagged ‘News’
13 May 2012
On the 04 May 2012 John Curry sent the following update out concerning his “History of Wargaming” project for those who may not have seen it:
This is a short occasional update on the publishing progress of the History of Wargaming Project. The project has gone digital and about 20 of the books/rules are now available as e-books from the iBook Store, The Nook, or from www.lulu.com. The rest of the back catalogue will be converted in due course. Peter Perla’s Art of Wargaming, a book about the professional use of wargaming (as well as much interesting material about the history of wargaming), is now out in paperback. Donald Featherstone has seen his novel Redcoats for the Raj, back into print and he has completed a new novel, The Badgered Men. Donald Featherstone’s classic book Air War Games has now been updated and is now [again] in print.
In addition to documenting the history of wargaming, I play games professionally. In about two weeks [late May], a new book Dark Guest, training games for cyberwarfare will be in print. I co-authored it with Tim Price MBE.
Posted in Books, Mags, Websites, Community News | 
Tags: Air, Airborne, Battlegames, Book, British, Donald Featherstone, English, Favourite Websites, Historical, Indian, Iraq, John Curry, News, Old School, Rules | 
No Comments »
26 December 2011
DRA60599 - German SdKfz 231 8-rad on the Eastern Front 1941
Dragon Armor has announced in the last few weeks the release of several of their new models planned for the 2011-2012 period, as many will know the Japanese Type 95 Ha-Go and Type 97 Chi-Ha have both been released (there are now 2 colour schemes available for the former and 3 for the latter) along with the U.S. LVT-A(1) with 37mm gun turret, and various German light vehicles such as the SdKfz 222 Light Reconnaissance Car and SdKfz 251/22 Half-Track with PaK40 on board. Most recently has been the release of the Neubaufahrzeug from Panzerabteilung z.b.V.40 in Norway 1940. Now due in early 2012 are the German SdKfz 231 Heavy Reconnaissance Car in early war Panzer Grey (a much missed model from all ranges), and a British Infantry Tank Mk.IV Churchill Mk.III (the 6pdr version that served from Dieppe in 1942 until the end of the war in Italy and to a lesser extent in NWE.
Posted in 20mm Figures & Models, Eastern Front 1941-45, Europe 1939-43, Europe 1944-45 | Tags: 1/72, 1940-1941, 1942-1943, 1944-1945, 20mm, British, Diecast, Dragon Armor, Eastern Front, German, Japanese, Manufacturer, Model Vehicles, News, Normandy, Norway, WW2 | No Comments »
7 December 2011
Blenheim & Oberglau seen from behind Eugène's position with Schwenenbach in the left foreground
Following on from our two previous outings with Maurice (see Maurice: First Game Impressions and Maurice: Second Game & More Thoughts), Cam and I decided to have a go at a historical refight – deciding on Blenheim, so last weekend we set to it It would be heavily “Bathtubbed” to fit it down to the size of a typical Maurice game, and we’d be playing with all the full rules (rather than just the free Maurice Lite version). This meant we’d have troop quality, enhanced morale, and other factors involved. We both calculated out separately what size we thought the armies would be in Maurice – I based mine on the battlefield size & frontage and came to about 32 units of Infantry & Cavalry for the French (the larger force), however this was clearly too big so halving that came to 16, about the right size, and co-incidentally the same amount Cam had calculated starting with the troop numbers and working from that direction.
Posted in Battles In Tricornes, Spanish Succession War | Tags: 1701–1714, Age of Enlightenment, Age of Reason, Comte de Marsin, Duc de Tallard, Duke of Marlborough, Elector of Bavaria, French, Honour Games, John Churchill, Lace Wars, Maurice, News, Prince Eugène of Savoy, Rules, Sam Mustafa, War of the Spanish Succession | 13 Comments »
28 November 2011
Brigadier Rowe leads the British infantry to the assault on the village of Blenheim 1704
So a week after our first game Cam and I set about a second – the plan this time to start to try and be a bit more savvy and also Cam decided on a gimmicky “All Infantry” army to see how it’d do! Note that as I did with the previous game I’ll generally talk in terms of Maurice Lite (as that is what is currently published) but we were using aspects of the full game as referenced throughout the Maurice Lite rules (and I’ll note in the narrative where they occur). The game commenced with us determining a battle in the Tropics (this is a full game feature that determines type of terrain and how much can be selected, what type of troops aid scouting to gain the initiative, etc), Cam won the scouting (with the help of a special ‘Notable’ espionage card) and chose to Defend (another full game feature). Normally the players would then now determine and place the terrain but I had pre-determined it’s type and location randomly to save time prior to Cam’s arrival – so instead Cam chose which side he wanted. As Invader I then deployed first…
22 November 2011
WF WSS Cavalry built as a French Grenadiers à Cheval de la Maison du Roi, Line Cavalry Trooper, and a Dragoon, by Steve Cady (from Castles of Tin blog)
A few weeks ago Sam Mustafa announced his latest rule set he would be publishing, “Maurice”, which would cover the rump of the 18th Century and include Campaign and Imagi-Nations aspects… This was especially interesting to me as I have really enjoyed Lasalle since its release (it’s the first time I’ve been totally excited and passionate about Napoleonics in 35 or so years of wargaming) and if Maurice was going to be anything along a similar vein I expected something worth getting excited about. Furthermore I’ve really wanted to get into 18th Century in some form, and the WSS (War of the Spanish Succession) has always interested me (because of my childhood memories of reading about John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, and Prince Eugène of Savoy, defeating the dastardly French at Blenheim & Ramillies, etc). What’s more for me the WSS has always held that ‘Old School’ feel about it that brings back memories of pouring over Charles Grant’s “The Wargame” as a teenager and dreaming of one day having those large 18th Century Armies like in the book…
21 November 2011
Sam Mustafa has just announced today that Maurice Lite is available to download at his Honour Games Website. Maurice Lite is basically a stripped down version of Maurice, sans the advanced rules and the more detailed parts of the standard rules, and with a basic starter set of DIY cards to get you going. It will certainly be sufficient to get an initial feel of how the game works and for people to gauge the mechanics. I was lucky enough to have just had my first taste of Maurice too, and I liked several aspects of the rules – but it’s certainly a bit different to what many people may be used to. Incidentally Sam has also updated the status of the full version of Maurice in the last few days.
Posted in Community News, Spanish Succession War | Tags: 1701–1714, 1715-1721, 1740–1748, 1756–1763, 1775–1783, 1789–1799, Age of Enlightenment, Age of Reason, American Civil War, French, Great Northern War, Honour Games, Lace Wars, Maurice, News, Revolution, Rules, Sam Mustafa, Seven Years' War, War of the Austrian Succession, War of the Spanish Succession | 1 Comment »
17 November 2011
“The Future is Clear” Henry Hyde announces, Battlegames will join Miniature Wargames in the Atlantic Publishing stable, and will remain an independent separate publication from Miniature Wargames. Henry will remain in the Editorial roll and all existing subscriptions will be honoured – the next issue, first under the new publishers, should be out at or just after Christmas. You can read more here…
5 November 2011
Henry Hyde
In some surprising and sad news Henry Hyde, editor of Battlegames Magazine in the UK, has announced that he has had to cease publication. Apparently the magazine is in some financial difficulty and Henry is unsure whether he can continue it in electronic only format in a more adhoc manner (e.g. as quarterly periodical or such) or whether he may have to cease publication altogether. You can read the news on the Battlegames Website.
29 October 2011
I stumbled across Jeff Lower’s Blog recently care of Michael Davis – and he’s currently working on some new Victrix Austrians – and my gosh they do look good! The new Victrix ranges include two Infantry packs (a early 1798-1809 set in helmets, and a mid to later period 1806-1815 set in shakos), a Grenadier set (for 1798-1815), and a Landwehr Infantry set (for the later 1808-1815 period). You can check out Jeff’s progress on his blog.
It’s enough to inspire one off into a another sub-period of Napoleonics (i.e. 1805-1809) – argggh… must resist, resist, must… must… With Sam Mustafa’s new “Maurice” 18th Century rules likely to finally inspire me to get on with the WSS (War of the Spanish Succession) in 28mm the last thing I need is a second 28mm Napoleonic era to pour cash into as well!
Posted in Grognard Chatter | Tags: 1805-1809, 28mm, Austrian, Figures, Historical, Napoleonic, News, Victrix | 7 Comments »
28 October 2011
Sam Mustafa has made an initial announcement of his much awaited new rules scheduled for release early in 2012. These are focussed on the linear warfare of the 18th Century (specifically 1690 to 1790) and named after the famous French Marshal Maurice de Saxe. The rules look to include some new innovative thoughts utilising action cards and feature a “Succession Wars” campaign. And they have been built with Imagi-Nations in mind as well, featuring flexibility of unit ratings and even troop scale! Finally a reason to dust off my boxes of Wargames Factory plastic figure boxes and get on with building my War of the Spanish Succession (WSS) armies – Marlborough here I come! You can download a copy of Sam’s flyer in PDF, about Maurice: War in the Age of Gentlemen and ‘Philosophes’ 1690-1790 here from Wargaming.info. Or you can read more from Sam at the Honour Games website and/or download the flyer from the Honour Games Download Page.
Posted in Books, Mags, Websites, Community News, Spanish Succession War | Tags: 1701–1714, 1715-1721, 1740–1748, 1756–1763, 1775–1783, 1789–1799, Age of Enlightenment, Age of Reason, American Civil War, Duc de Tallard, Duc de Villars, Duke of Berwick, Duke of Marlborough, Elector of Bavaria, French, Great Northern War, Honour Games, John Churchill, Lace Wars, Lasalle, Maurice, News, Prince Eugène of Savoy, Revolution, Rules, Sam Mustafa, Seven Years' War, War of the Austrian Succession, War of the Spanish Succession | 3 Comments »
19 October 2011
Okay – completely off-topic for my usual blog content, however I just had to post this up – basically it’s why we should destroy mobile phones and not use cloud technologies. I absolutely laughed myself silly – I can’t believe this is coming from a former senior member of a government! Technology, well, it’s like black magic …right?
I originally saw this on Mauricio Freitas’ blog.
Posted in Some Other Things | Tags: Cloud Computing, Mobile Phones, News, Technology, Video | No Comments »
29 August 2011
About four weeks ago the latest edition of the Classic Wargamer’s Journal arrived, promptly and quickly after dispatch as usual. There are articles, feedback, and AARs (After Action Reports) covering the WSS, F&IW, SYW, Franco-Prussian War, Colonial Darkest Africa, and World War II. Daryl Haselton continues his series on wargaming the Indian Mutiny in 45mm, and Peter Verduyn concludes his on a Tony Bath “Hyboria” style imagi-nation campaign. Other contributions cover the Wild West in 54mm, and a get together (care of CWJ) of a couple of OSWs (Old School Wargamers) in London.
Also included is more excellent discussion on the character of commanders, and of Charlie Wesencraft – an often overlooked contemporary of Charles Grant, Donald Featherstone, et al – as well as playing ‘floor wars’ (ala H.G. Wells & Robert Louis-Stevenson) with 42mm figures; and an interview with UK wargaming stalwart John Ray. And the issue concludes of course with the Tales of the Golden Head (a Colonial Skirmish ‘comic book’ style serial) and Conrad Kinch’s take on wargaming. As with Issue 3 there’s a pull out sheet with diagrams and instructions, this time for making a “Cardboard Flatpack Bomber” for those impromptu beer ‘n’ pretzels WW2 air wargames (and Issue 4 includes an AAR report of one such game using them)!
Posted in Community News | Tags: Classic Wargaming, CWJ, Magazine, News, Old School, Review | No Comments »
14 May 2012, 10:04 pm UTC Rorkes Drift Arrives! Hi Mike - I got them from WG in the 'pre-release' special promo direct from the UK pre-Christmas. As John has commented on in this thread they usua...
14 May 2012, 10:02 pm UTC The Hundred Days Continues... Thanks James - appreciate your kind comments. I tried to be fairly smart and cunning about labelling while also getting the maximum info on and cle...
14 May 2012, 10:01 pm UTC Hundred Days British Thanks Glenn. :-)
14 May 2012, 9:58 pm UTC WSS Here I Come - Well Almost! Hi Jim, As I understand it the WF one however isn't the common type, but in fact closest to the "Grenadiers à Cheval de la Maison du Roi" ...
5 May 2012, 4:38 am UTC I take a foray into Vac-U-Form Plastics Great review of our products, thanks so much! We really value all the feedback and take note. Lots of new products on way, do have a look at our we...
18 Apr 2012, 2:40 pm UTC Rorkes Drift Arrives! Also, happy to participate in the enormous multi-player you are planning for when they are painted!