aA eS ee, eT eis SC eC een cae un Tee Ute eel ener cunt Pewee en ee scenarioWARCRADLE Ppa Ns ba | U TWO PLAYER STARTER SET ee Fee ee Neh Eran WILD WEST EXODUS Par Ue at RE 3) ae Wayland Games... éWELCOME a as I'm sure that most of us know, aircraft - when they approach the sound barrier — have a shock wave that builds at the nose and compresses causing a sonic boom. 1 know it’s not the first show of the year in the UK but I attended my first show for eighteen months: Partizan, What a great day it was and ‘you can read about it and feast your eyes later on in this issue. The problem is, of ‘course, that -like a sonic boom - the build up of ‘compressed’ show dates at the tip of the year means that I intend to attend four more in the next couple of months. I'd lke to do more but... well, there is only so ‘much time. But... what a bang! And that's not all we have for you this issue: solo rules of Mantie’s Deadzone along with a free give away rule set;a Core Space scenario; a Silver Bayonet scenario and a scratch build for it; WWI The Easter Front (but not that one); and Waterloo plus a second scratch build... we have it all. As Mr Mercury sang: “Are you ready for some entertainment? Are you ready for a show? Gonna rock, _gonna roll you, get you dancing in the aisles; Jazz you, razzamatazz you with alittle bit of style; C'mon, let ‘me entertain you”. Mind you ~ later in that song ~ he suggests that he'll "Cruella DeVille you” so T don't know where to go with that one... Enjoy ‘his months magazine! va John Treadaway Editor ;Get in touch QD tetietonoeming cost D tisiaturowe oF acon roeeee bite nrg nasa CONCAVE O (E14 CUTE ake Hider (1778535035 ue ereenesaracath nrroriat fan Treadaway Miuretrgamesowarversiouncouk PUBLISHED BY UGLIER Clare Ingram Clorongramenarnersyrncnok E30 F £30 PRODUCTON Lynn Weight 556 Mie Care ‘Wes Group Ptcaton LET tes Wt Sr, COVER Deadzone by Mente Bames are irene 9410177630000, [NEWSTRADE DISTRIBUTION [ADVERTISING T ACVETIE PEASE CALL a eae es ‘Warners Group Publications Pl 7328180 (176.9812 | murdanecetearersrouocauk AIVERISN PRECLCON MAGEE Nola Bloweon (0778382201 naa gstopeverorarouncoLk [GROUP PUBICATONS yernsnsrrooucronsssstiChartotte Bamford PY a ycrttamun nina tomate 789051 |cotemntriomeresranrnik poe emomeimney ferent oma brent ‘Nernnccoraenerterers we serresanate aah ABET NADER Katherine Brown Siirtraamasapennic ance seeteaenesage ‘eked at ee es ce (778986027 |kateriatrovnrrrsrancask ‘Scat 2! aa eA 2 IN THIS ISSUE 04 FORWARD OBSERVER With heats news tems, 07 SEND THREE AND FOURPENCE ‘When the Bel Tl One esti senaro forthe ver Bayonet by Conrad ich 12 VEER-MYN SOLO ‘hn endersround adventure for your ‘eadzoe rues by Manic Games. 18 THE EASTERN FRONT Foxed ya i's the 7 century arog he Doug wih some ey play rls. 24 DEFENCE IN DEPTH With helatest ire andres reviews. 27 COMMAND DECISION Tghtoning the Noosa: Falgao, North-west france August 1344 32 WATERLOO SIXTY ‘Bulg big Weteroo gar and what ‘that meant oa eam of garers. 38 SUPER MASSIVE BLACK HOLE ‘Musing on big game hunt using Core Space by Batt Systems, 42 SHOW - DON'T TELL ‘return fo awaruames show vith Pextan 2021 nd what a shawl 47 CORRUGATED CAMP The frst scetch bul inthis nov is making Nissen Hu fram every atari SO QUARTERMASTER Hobby product for ha wargame. 52 RECCE Irvakabletes for he wargames bookshet or ofan ttl. 57 SCRATCH BUILD Togovtthour Sher Bayonet sonar, ull a creepy crypt 62 THE LAST WORD With The Flos Faces Bases fois Dacre 202 Miniature WargamesNews, previews and community submissions from the wargaming world Bolt Action in Italy Just released as we Soft Underbelly: a 176 ‘ ie Aca metas, | A jamraicn covers a lot of ground. Stagg air é ec RISING TIDES Operation Husky (1 and a 2) with four scenarios 3 the Rec for Messin the | invasion of Italy with Sally 4th have launched a Kickstarter seven more scenarios 8 Reenter nt ens and another four more ROR MSCTSERM collec Rising Tides. Not being the fe afer that making 16 rules;theSAS in taly, Ec an sees intotal. There's new Italian, German, booby traps and the effects of solid Seen eet US, British and Commonwealth units stone buildings to name but a few Se om {including Popski’s Private Army). Llustrations are plentiful with the eee eee eet ‘There are further sections covering Osprey ‘back catalogue’ for uniforms A Se ee heroes and another one with Theatre and such like, plus some evocative with RN and Soviet Submarine Selectors forall four forces, plus some model shots of toys in action, and lots aeatenaaM a eee) interesting weapon systems. These of useful maps for the scenarios. As nd Berets a slick sportscar with a include everything from demolition always say, full of great period info nee Eeeteaee charges and Bangalore torpedoes to even if you don’t play BA2—and Cece eee ent some Campaign Special rules with the ata good price of twenty quid. Goto het oka complete low-down on minefields; ospreypublishing.com gantry, stars, control room, jetties an ene reece Seer ere sed What have the Romans ever SPM terrain, held together by magnets, For done for us? ae PIECE that all important Bond speedboat For those who are old enough to archerson thesproe with oe ene et remember the couple of eastern various head and arm and Sena ey archers contained in a set of PR ETTOEE Pulls, clear screens and extra bits ‘Airfix Imperial Romans, these new Pete SCMEMENE assemble, plus there's that modular Vietrix Roman Archers bring back two tnits of 12 archers. There are also J. eet some great memories. Justoutare _§ {multiple quiver options so you can Sees the newest release in 28mm PORTERS REM 73). There'll also be scuba divers if ‘multipart plastic from this for your forces. Pos ee reeset ete ee company: this includes both ictrisdimited.com ee c ete eT FOO a YRAIK VETTE Misiature Wargames Dexter 202TABLETOP GAMING LIVE Manchester bound) Tabletop Gaming Live 2022 is back and it’s moving to Manchester: specifically the Victoria Warehouse which is in the historic Cotton Sheds, adjacent to Old Trafford football stadium. The weekend celebration of al things gaming will be taking place on Saturday 17h and Sunday 18th September 2022. IV feature games and traders from across the whole hobby, you can join in with ‘workshops and on the Saturday 17 September our open-gaming area and bar will stay open until midnight providing hours more playtime and fun amongst people who are as passionate about gaming as you are! Whatever and however you play, Tabletop Gaming Live is the place to be so mark the date in your diaries, check out the location at Manchester's Victor farehouse and goto fabletopgaming co.uk fon a regular basis to see what's new! SHOW & TELL EVENTS (STILL) BEING PLANNED! WARFARE Sat/Sun 271h/28th November ‘Ascot Racecourse (NEW VENUE] Ascot, $15 72K wargamesreadingcouk ‘BROADSIDE Saturday 4th December ‘Medway Park Sports Hal NEW VENUE) Mi Road, TROLL HUNTER ‘This month, we spoke to Lore, a freelance artist and RPG creator who is interested in all sorts of games, from D&D and Soulbound to smaller-scale ‘Tabletop RPGs. “I'm dying to get into ‘Tumnip28 and other wargames!” “started painting resin models when Iwas akid, and when I got into TTRPGs about five years ago, I quickly remembered how much I Toved the hobby, though now on a much smaller scale. I've always been ‘creative: I draw and I repaint dolls into fantasy and horror characters miniature painting is one always ‘come back to, “My collection is mostly filled with character minis, most of them modded with Green Stuff or Apoxie Sculpt to get them just right. Hlove figuring out extra litle details to include tomake it special, whether it’s through a modification or just part of the paint job. I've dabbled in monsters, and I'm ‘eager to do more.” Yet it was the Dwarf Troll Hunter from Atlantis Miniatures that caught Lore’s eye, “Atlantis Miniatures was holding a contest to celebrate their Dwar line.” Lore explains. "This was actually the second one I painted, after the firstone had disastrous run in with some shoddy primer. [loved the mood and that there are so many diferent ‘elements on such a small mint: fur, Teather, weapons, a few decapitated trolls. used a mix of Citadel base layers and a lot of very thin layers of Secret Weapon glazes. c ae -— & fom } o > = = —_— > — ao a “LTove glazes like Secret Weapon. They can bring such subtle detail out to even small surfaces, and they're surprisingly forgiving. 've also been starting to implement doll repainting techniques into mini painting lately, such as using, chalk pastels and watercolour pencils.” We ask what's next for Lore, and ‘whilst there's a few things in the pipeline, Lore admits toa problem many miniaturists have: “My ‘To Paint’ stack is tingram, ert ME? HE miltonhundred.com \VAPNARTAK ‘Sunday 6th February 2022 York Racecourse navesrire Rod, York 023 16x vapnartak.co.k TABLETOP GAMING LIVE 2022 Saturday 17th & Sunday 18th September 2022. Manchester's Victoria Warehouse Trafford Park Stratford, Manchester MIT 1A tabletopgaming.couk THIS MONTH IN HISTORY TRENTON DEC. 26,1776 Inone of the most celebrated ‘moments ofthe American Revolution an army of2400 ‘Continentals under Washinggion crossed the frig Delaware River Just after dark on Christmas Day to surprise party of Hessian troops quartered downstream at “Trenton, New Jersey. At daybreak after along march, the attackers, quickly overpowered their ‘opponents, many of who were still narsing hangovers from the previous evening’s revelry. More than 1,000 enemy troops were ‘captured in the briefskirmish. ‘The victory although minor in mnlitary terms, served as a major -morale boost to the flagging, cause of US independence. Docenier 202 Miniature Wargames© DIFFERENT boc ar a Le» tae) aU aes WHENSTHE BELL TOLLS ONE A Christmas Entertainment for the Silver Bayonet — ers xiocurestn conrad Kinch host stories at Christmas are a bit of a tradition in the Kinch household. My mother was always partial to a spot of ‘MR James and there's something about the drawing in of the ‘evenings that evokes a sense of the otherworldly. That and the fact that it is rather nice to sit in the warm and ponder ghosts and ghouls with a shudder which can then be immediately ispelled by a cosy fire and a second whiskey. If you do enjoy MR James or would like to try him, his work is now in the public domain, and so is freely available online, ‘There’s an English voice actor ‘named Simon Stanhope who does some really atmospheric readings of his work, which ‘you can find on Youtube under Bitesize Auto Classics, along with some excellent and quite ‘obscure detective stories which should interest anyone who likes Sherlock Holmes. BAYONET PRIMER I've written Napoleonic ghost story scenarios before (se Battlegames Christmas edition 2013 An Episode of Abbey History) and they're a fun diversion, but Joe McCullough has tried something different and written a whole game of Napoleonic Gothic Horror, called The Silver Bayonet (rev and with a scenery build thats just perfect for Conrad’ story later on fn this very issue! Ed.). The story behind the Silver Bayonet is that a group of demons called “The Harvestmen” who are harvesting the anguish caused by the Napoleonic Wars and using itto bring supernatural creatures back to plague the Earth. Their ultimate goal is to overthrow the ed in the last issue human rulers of Europeand reign ) 10° indarksplendourover the whole | simon are continent.The players contol | Simran small elite team of soldiers tasked | degenerate with fighting the Harvestmen and | S#Stelenwnectr their mortal foes. You can play as | ge teweihans te the French orany ofthe Coalition | Nan chp countries andthe gameninsa | HY Cin anton bitlike a black powder version of Frostgnave, though using 210 rather than D20, which makes itabit mee predictable, The players are usually competing to accomplish an objective with preprogrammed monsters on the table to complicate matters. The changes to the ‘Grave stable of rules are small bu significant, and Think the results quitea snappy set of man-to-man black powder skirmish rues though if play them much more it will probably asa straight historical se. And anything that convinces people to buy more Napoleonic figuresis avery good thing! Dacernine 202 Miniature WargamesOAM ae Nat Tye 4 nove “athe rand ratons cf merch Amy. run ‘way ~ Serge Wloy ‘ro. at ment ‘heh trea whe beng tokady tocar Fecal faen oda rrufacrer paid by Peary GW Grats iby ara Mech BELOWRIGHT ‘Ae Brora sts ‘preter eras na of Rete Dod, Moor Gesrardsours hs refs ony Comat Saves, ine Caras Kech rove fear partedby Peary SCENARIO In the th century, around the same time as the martyrs of Cordoba, a massacre took place in the small village of Ciudad Noenla. The village was ordered razedl on Christmas Day by the Umayyad Emir of Cordoba in retaliation for a perceived slight. The population were put to the sword and buried in a mass grave. For years after the hills rang with the cries ofthe restless dead. After the Reconquista, a chapel was set up, the dead were disinterred and given a decent burial {As the snow falls in December 1811, conflict once more stalks the land and the chapel and the graveyard were looted by troops in Gaudin's army searching. for artifacts that could be used against the Harvestmen. The hauntings began days later and soon French sentries were found, dead at their posts, clutching their muskets with a rictus of fear on their faces. The monks of the Abbey of Saint James learned of this and visited the desecrated graveyard. They have gathered together the remains and vowed to return them to their ancestral village to put these poor souls to rest along with a valuable artifact from the desecrated chapel. But darker powers have other plans. MOTIVATION Depending on what faction you're playing, your motivation for getting involved in this Christmas story may differ. ‘The Monks of Saint James (NPC faction controled by events) These brothers intend to stop the haunting by reburying the remains of the martyrs French: With restless spirits murdering your troops, you've been sent to recover the thurible from the chapel of Saint Natali at Noenla. Your leaders have been informed that it should be valuable weapon against the Harvestmen and should help stop the hauntings. British: The ghostly activity around Cordoba is merely feeding the appetite of the Harvestmen for pain and anguish, even if they are mainly venting their frustrations on the French, it will end badly for all mortals unless the haunting stops. You must ensure that the ‘Monks of Saint James reinter the ‘Spanish: A Spanish player ‘may choose to either a) recover the thurible or b) ensure that the remains are reinterred, but must choose before the game starts ‘The Harvestmen (NPC faction controlled by events): The Butchers of Noenla, the warriors of the Emir who put the village to the sword have risen to do their ‘work again. They will rise and attempt to disrupt the brothers ‘work, but will happily slaughter any mortals they find in their ‘SET-UP ‘The terrain for this scenario isn’t set in stone. I've provided a map, but so long as you have the main features, that's close enough. Don’t sweat trying to replicate it exactly. ‘The table should 30 inches by 30 inches square. At the centre of the table there should be a small 8 Miniature Wargames‘surrounded by some rocks and dilapidated gravestones. A broken treeline should surround. the table about six inches in from. the table edge. Within the treeline place some dead trees (use sticks from the park, if you don’thave anything suitable) and a few bushes to break up the Line of sight. Mark off a 12 inch by 12, inch square in the centre of the table with the ruin at its centre, with represents the area of the ‘graveyard where the remains will be reinterred. This area is ‘made up of broken ground and ‘open graves. Any figure that Sprints or Backs Off in this area must make a TN Speed roll or fallin an open grave or over an. obstruction, Damage is Power die halved and the figure must spend an activation to climb out. (Clue Markers (represented by yellow stars on the map). Place the clue makers as per the map. Once all ofthe clue markers are in place, each player should roll die, The player who rolls highest should choose one side ofthe table and place all of the members of their unit within 2" of that table ‘edge (inside the redline). The ‘other player should then place all ‘of the members oftheir unit within 2" of the opposite table edge. ‘Once both players have placed their forces, pick one of the remaining table edges at random, Place the Brothers of Saint James in the centre ofthat table ‘edge and move them six inches towards the ruin, Finally, place ‘one of the Butchers of Noenla in each corner. SPECIAL RULES ‘This scenario features some special baddies and NPCs (see their description for details). The scenarios really quite tough already, what with multiple monsters that are effectively {immune to mortal weapons (better stock up on those blessed weapons), 0 — with that in mind ~ disregard any “Unexpected Encounter" rolls Draw dice as normal, bt do not roll on the table. Also disregard the Artillery Strike Unespected Evont if rolled... makes little This scenario uses an Event Deck to control the movement cof some characters and keep things ticking over. Draw and apply an event atthe beginning cof each tum, this does mean that the Brothers get to act before everyone ese The game lasts twelve turns. in context. Brothers Move: On any card ‘which reads Brothers Move, move the Brother six inches towards the area of the graveyard. If they have already entered the graveyard, ‘one of the Brothers will reinter a set of remains (mark him as having done so), while the others ‘will move six inches around the ruin, moving clockwise. On the next tum, the next Brother will reinter is setof remains and so ‘on. Once five sets of remains have been reinterred, their mission is complete, caro _evewr ‘ee /APostin srk ing Set ang al carn ese wet hast fe dro he nar ere tara he turd heady hs anastacaer nevey & lesa ur Thor flr go hin ess 2 Bla bt esse Daa re may aan oc her by ming anit art 9 area aie ina Broa tne eof he uch ste led pace a rew reon determined aetna sesonnnen rerosats Seer Ts are lsreod cheung a ean sagen ore et ofa gar rors Mote el sha one kwnyrn, ater too par fon of he rato sbing ovat bv urher hi pogo ples an easton arora ase and more thro rofir on ren che ges he pupa ip wir oraor book rotors Moe. Se flomane ram nae etn et. ee ee srt thay sro. i in rotesve seen [artes Moe tt Jt arin Zonal hong nar ie ena ra Notes ao See None |stats fran -Zenal tong nee Ws dead lang Broa ae mi " Ten [Mat wich teed fone of he Bers as ben led ice the anda deterned tele come oes Move rt rans Ling cigs aecony aeciree A tours int chs mse fear Eek vamos ove (CLUE MARKER TABLE CLE MARNER can [CLUE MARKER RESUCT \Corrsl Che Toten _ [Race Pass et onbnord aw host i wn ies To a et veers shoul tt Merete Be ther stb rs The or ds tere ka bool ond be |neaen ean caryanduse He wean tr erost site czanani. eer [te tere ts bn of a ea ary ade [ess enupren uli end te smarts Ine ou ns ama cen achan oy cera earn cots as rn real ath for ners econ ay bul hee he thereof Sn fare or tee hur wie he bese Dacre 202 Miniature Wargames be sera my sr Marat fou et in crew BucerSEND THREE AND FOURPENCE BESTIARY ‘BROTHER OF SAINT AMES Sreet see [lcoracr|Oeterce [os Heath gmrence a a fo fo fe fs foo ‘a Nace a Ha muoentThrbletn 8 rss haste Non-combatant: The Brothers will not fight back if attacked and will simply surrender. They are captured by the enemy figure (barring the Butchers and the Restless Dend, see below) and will move up to six {inches so long as the enemy figures stay in base to base contact. As non-combatants, they cannot be targeted by missile fire Holy Hombre: The Brother if engaged by either the Restless Dead or the Butchers, they must make a terror check (se Terror Checks inthe rulebook). Ona 11+, they may move that figure six inches in a random direction. I the result is 12+ and the target was a Butcher, the Butcher takes damage equal to the power die. Aplayer may spend a Monster Die to determine to choose the direction the Brother moves the figure, if both players wish to do so, roll of. ‘Thurible: One ofthe six Brothers has the thurible. {A figure may check a brother by coming into base to ++2experience points ifthe unit base contact. Roll d6, on a6 the Brother is carrying inflicts 3 or more casualties onthe the Thurible and it may be taken by engaging the Restless not spiteful, The opposing unit by reducing figures Brother in combat. When checking the next brother Restless Dead will wail at figures 100 Health, Donot count casualties add +1 to the roll (Leif three Brothers have been check, that they make conlact with (make inlicted by the Butchers) REWARDS Units receive the following bonus ‘experience points fr this scenario, “#1 experience point i the unit uncovers the clue that reveals the Restless Dead. +42 experience points if the unit investigates 2or more clue markers. +42 experience points for killing ‘one of the Butchers regardless who by, add +3 to the rol). a Terror Check), ifthe Terror Check +3 experience points ifthe unit is pasced, they will jgnore that _recovers the Thurible and makes BUTCHERS OF NOENLA figure forthe rest ofthe game, _itoff the table and Steed Ieee [tcaacy[Deeros [Doug Jiewth Jepeence unlessitiseither French orifitor that was the unit's lis any other figure from it's faction mission. Pay ee fovatackelteBueselSnt"ssepeience (MMMRE Aiibutes larg fo lessad Weapons and Sef, Ching Touch, Ethereal, James. estes: wi vint i EDGE gg eae James TheResess Dead wil pointifthe pet Dee femiinaloutscindestiey, | Taenaae The Dich wil aways move owardsthecral cue rom on oft Buches sine marr ures hess oral win LOS The Bachess dot izle Hes Den nary way Eo nemsnsson0 ornate ore ree eee mene Beery ee eee eee) Sate eri Saeed vdeo [lonwacy]Oeterea Joauepe Jean aperance o fk fo f p Ades ler ior Wann nd Sa Og Touch Chere Se a ae ee ee eee ed eee PU mean ees Inifasbescitie ou Ses eer eae eae Equonent Bld tne germans eet edad eee ee et aaa ed ce oe eee eaten) oP RIGHT eee eer eee reas ‘Stand youdoo Les sue hw ase socresileald sie Cxtacefon EA enna epaeo haw ance he fetid he rcenayhae oot, Nl See ABOVE RIGHT oe wer isibesitof GyetyouneedtortegamanintisscenareMsones — lata bul eared Ter Hswout yo can ld aureus ana torane 7 Misiature WargamesNot bad for a monthly magazine that provides: Thought provoking scenarios for popular rule sets and periods. ‘How to’ guides for painting and scratch—building both figures and scenery. Whole rule systems to take away and play. Reviews of items of interest to the wargamer including books, modelling materials, games, figures, wargame shows.ee ee) hs mouth the magazine will havea Deadzone | ee een ee ae something you could use with that? Rob of Mantic Coe ee Nas Ds STR) Despite their advanced appearance, the Veer-myn have struggled to evolve beyond some of their baser instincts. Although they may be armed with modified ae ester ee ee Pea eee re commands by their leader. The eules that follow eee Renee cs | Daag | eareprett ea, Relea treet eer er ei 2 ae a called PM, fr Pack Mentality Veermyn acting | | under PM rules use the same stats as Crawlers from, the Deadzone: Dhied Edition rulebook. Ce enn tenn ry does. Instead, they renct to the actions of a Strike Team, In addition, at the end of each Round the Crawlers test eeeg age geo cna) eet rong ree em enn es eri pata eae ee thet An underground adventure all on your lonesome’ Never mark reacting Crawlers as activated. They Pee ae ag the following rules. Go through the following list in eee torre eee Stes tee Peete rene ets where the action occurred, Add 1 dice to the Protect the Neae If the active model entered a new cube by any ‘means, all Crawlers that have LOS to the model and Pe ees een eee en sored If the active model is marked as activated, but no action was taken, no Crawlers are moved and no dice are added to the Protect the Nest test ‘Note: +1 model activation Conmnand Dice interrupt er eae ee eee eT Cee Sy ES eee rer ars ear sad required to move, they will go by the shortest route. Whether this is around, over or through is immaterial to the Crawlers as they ean go up and down levels just eee en eee aon enn men ear esd Ce eralclear one rather than the dead end. Even so, this still allows a watchful player to lead them into cul-de-sacs ‘where they will begin bickering about whose fault it was they lost their target. This also means that Crawlers will sometimes end up moving into a cube and fighting a model other than the active one, desperate to prove how tough they are to the Brood Mother. IF a Crawler moves into the same cube asa ‘Strike Team model, then it makes an immediate Assault action as normal. I there is more than one eligible model for the Crawler to attack randomise their target. ‘Acube may contain up to four non-Strike ‘Team Crawlers, in addition to its normal capacities. Ifa Crawler is already in a cube containing a Strike Team model then it will not disengage; it has already found its target! Ifthe active ‘model is killed at some point during, their activation, or in the Crawlers’ subsequent reaction, then any Crawlers that have not yet reacted to that activation do nothing. PROTECT THE NEST TEST Inaddition to the immediate response of nearby Crawlers, the noise ofthe Strike Team. may draw attention from other Crawlers] ‘At the end of each Round before VPs have been tallied, you must make a Noise Test ‘This isa 3 dice 4+ test. The number of dice is increased by a Strike Team’s actions during that Turn (see previous section). Count the total list in descending order, resolving the first one that applies: Tf the Crawler is already in a cube with ‘an opposing Strike Team model it ‘will initiate an Assault action. If {here is more than one opposing model in the cube, randomise the target by rolling a dice. Ifthe Crawler is within two cubes of aan opposing model, it will move into the ‘cube and initiate an Assault action. If more than one Strike Team member is equidistant, randomise the target by rolling a dice. Ifthe Crawler is between and three four ‘cubes from the nearest opposing model, it ‘will move towards the closest Strike Team member so that it has Line Of Sight and will make a Shoot Action. Iedoes not matter if there are friendly Veer-myn. ‘models in the same cube. If more than one Strike Team, member is equidistant, andomise the target by rolling, adice. If the Crawler is more than four cubes from the nearest opposing model, it may only make an Advance action, moving one cube towards the closest Strike Team member: If ‘more than one Strike Team member is equidistant, randomise the target by rolling a dice. SPAWNING CRAWLERS Crawlers spawn on the first level around the edges of the mat. In order to determine the mat edge on which they spawn, roll a d8 for ‘each Crawler. On a 1-2 they spawn on the left-hand mat edge (in relation to the player ‘who has Initiative), a3-4 spawns them on the ‘number of successes and compare this number to nove far mat edge, a 5-6 spawns them on the right-hand mat the number of Crawlers in ply. RollsofBexplode as foram | edge, and a7-8 spavins them onthe nearest mat edge normal Mees | Roll another dice to determine which of the 8 cubes Ifthe total number of successes made during the as.ow along that edge the Crawler spawns in. Ifa Craver [Noise Tests smaller than or equal tothe total number | lgiGuvlrs. | spawns ina location where they cannot participate in of Cravvlers on the mat, all Crawlers will activate, the battle reroll thei spawn point as explained below: If the total number of successes Ifa Crawler is placed in a cube with a Strike Team is greater than the number of Crawlers, ‘on the mat, activate all of the Crawlers as above, and in addition, spawn one new Crawler for each activation in excess of the number of Crawler currently in play. ACTIVATING CRAWLERS You activate one Crawler ata time until all Crawlers have been activated. Each! Crawler makes one action during its activation. Go through the following, ‘model in this way then the Crawler ‘will make an immediate Fight action as normal. All Strike ‘Teams consider Crawlers ‘enemy models for the purposes of holding objectives, Killing non-Strike Team Crawlers never confers VP. THEY'RE COMING FROM THE GROUND! ‘The scenario included here indicates how ‘many Crawlers to use and where to deploy then, py Docenier 202 Miniature Wargames 19‘This is done by placing a single Crawler on the lowest pee errant es kr Sets ‘map. Ifyou are playing, anormal game, however, and ee ese eere teers hes Perera etter es cena estes placed the items on the mat, each player should take forrene en te seesan e tad Rent eres ee cee ect inany cubes they wish, though they may not be placed ere ere enacted aie tenement acs items, Just ike items, ifa Craver lands in a player's Peet ets TESS Basa a After receiving reports of a Veer-myn nest in Se Rane Lee nee ee ee oT eons ad eer Wi tar tre eee Cunt ‘rapped inside an abandoned mining en ae ey Pee eres eres squad about the potential Veor-myn FNC ee ace aid oe a aa LL Sere eet ned Setanta e Perce rd cour aan Ta ‘SPECIAL RULE: HOLD POSITION fo eaters eres Cree ine een Sead Reece eee tes Cement Cerone ered Cee inna Saeco nrs ieee as Corson Casares ieee erences ere id aes Sate fours es as ccfers a Tata aN When there pena enn cn hora eon eae Sees ee see ee eee eo eet eye ras aaa Cre este ee erg een ee esate Pee ore ec! Cn eaAt ‘The Monster Merchants we want to buy your unwanted ming miniatures and accessories, especially Warhammer and Warhammer 40K models, D&D and other roleplaying books, board games, action figures, graphic novels, retro collectables, and vintage consoles and games, war; If you're looking to sell some of your own collection ~ be ita selection of Snotlings, an unfinished army, or an entire shed-full of miniatures ~ no collection is too big or small, so feel free to get in contact. 2 facebook com instagram.com/ 2 themonstermerchants themonstermerchants sour mies conics © tremonscermerchaneshormaicom COMPLETE YOUR COLLECTION TORE TD MCE MEW UL reerLloc are) rea OMe SC w THM ITS PPA U NS RI Re Nec leeertiNe Roc TS Me nmconeonn acm yereimeeI crestor} Stiomenton ct ar archive. To be the one to rule them all simply follow these three steps: Log into your account at pocketmags.com/login using your username and password Type “Miniature Wargames” in the search bar Click “buy now” alongside the price for “Complete Your Collection”, which will appear underneath the subscription offersMINIATURE WARGAMES ... not (SPF op Bowie ture tan WARI Ce ee CL rc the ut Se Ba Oe ee ee ) Tabletop Gaming ely) ™ Miniature Wargames really the hottest news, reviews(eae JUTE ETAT is your one-stop place for all and everything in between!you have started reading this expecting to read about Stalingrad and Operation Barbarossa, then Iam afraid, dear reader, you have fallen into my trap! The Easter Front I wish to introcluce you to, is that of the Seventeenth century “Deluge” and “Time of Troubles.” ‘This seris of wars fought between the Polish: Lithuanian Commonwealth, Muscovy, Sweden, the Cossacks, the Tartars and the Ottoman Empire continued, on and off, fr the period. Starting with the Time of Trouble between 1605 and 1613, Muscovy ‘was thrown into chaos, when rivals vied to be the Tsar. Polish, Sivedish ~along with the Boyars from Muscovy itself all supported and fought against Vasily Shuysky, the Romanovs and various false Dmitri claimants, This was followed by Khmelnytsky Uprising of 1648, and the Swedish invasion of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, known as “The Deluge,” where Both ‘Muscovy and Sweden entered Poland, and destroyed 188 cities and towns, 81 castles and 136 churches. Ths level of destruction probably comes asa surprise to those of you ‘who have never considered this period for gaming. [first became interested in this period in the 1980's, and still remember painting part of my Muscovite force on. the day of the Royal Wedding of Charles and Dianna, which was a public holiday! (suspect you were haxing ‘better time than Ms Spencer... Ed.) Back then WRG had produced a set of wargame rules forthe period, and George Gush, the author, had also published the excellent Renaissance Armies reference book. Since then, Cee eels seo Teer ne ru gras bynes snsThe daz Grol iT Cosa calumewing ‘tetar nri Thave built up an Ottoman Turkish force and more recently a Swedish one. Sadly, the period appears to have gone into decline. A few years ago, the excellent By Fire and Sword rule set and reference volume was published, along with the release of a large range of 15mm figures and buildings. More recently in 28mm, Warlord have produced a range of Swedish, Polish and Ottoman forces in both plastic and meta, However, despite this lam still not seeing much Interest in the period, and this article is an attempt to re-kindle interest in it. ‘One of the appeals ofthe period is the sweeping. nature of the terrain and forces involved. Fought largely on the steppes and open plains of Russia and Poland, and in all weather conditions, these wars have a large cavalry involvement. That is not to say that there are no infantry, but the infantry that mere there took special precaution against My,cavalry. The Swedes used ‘Swedish feathers! in the ground at an angle as an obstacle. Th used war wagons, in the same manner as the earlier Hussites. The Muscovites used Gulyay-Gorod (or “ guliai-gorod” literally Russian for “wandering town”) which was a kind of pre-fabricated wall, which - when combined with wagons - produced a moving fortress ‘The Cossack and Muscovite wagons often mounted, small cannon, Artillery varied in weight, effectiveness and. reliability. The Turks often chained captive European gunners to their pieces, and whether by sabotage explosions than the more modern Western artillery pieces. ‘Another appeal is the large number of exotic and colourful troop types. Who ‘has never looked at a unit of Polish Winged Hussars and wanted to own one? The Poles were also going through a transition, combining irregulars, Westernised ‘mercenary Pike and Shot, as well as Cossack cavalry and foot, and Panceni, armoured horsemen, Ottoman Turkish forces have colourful Janissary infantry, hordes of Irregulars and Deli’. These are a type of fanatic eavalry wearing all manner of furs or feathers. Turkish infantry —often high on ‘charge, has the advantage of being casily switched into a Thirty Years War army, or even an ECW force with abit of lag duplication. The Muscovites‘muskets and wicked Berdishe axes, which doubled as musket resis. They can also recruit Cossacks and TTartars and have even gota few units of Imitation Polish Hussars, winged or otherwise, This leads to another advantage of the period. For extra table top flexibility, many units such as Cossacks, ‘Tartars and Western Pike and Shot and Cavalry can be switched between armies, due to the nature of their mercenary orallied status. There are a huge number of battles and sieges, which can be easily found on the internet. Of late the number Cf publications on the period has expanded greatly I would recommend the following Helion Publications: Muscovy’s Soldiers: the Emergence of the Russian Army 1462-1689. By Michael Fredholm Von-Essen. Despite Destruction, Misery and Privations... the Polish Army in Prussia during the war against Sweden 1626-29 by Michael Paradowski The two volumes on the Swedish Army during the Thirty Years war The Lion from the North volumes 1 and 2 by Michael Fredholm Von-Essen. Actions of the Thirty Years War Eastern Europe, the Baltic, Italy and France by William P Guthrie from Partizan Press. Not forgetting the aforementioned book by George Gush, which has excellent uniform plates, some chapters of which are available free on the internet, and various Osprey publications, Ce ‘The period is tactically very fluid, with bands of cavalry riding against each other, with the option for sweeping charges and flank attacks. Often the flank charging troops are themselves hit in their flank, so it is often quite frenetic, and not enjoyable if you are 1 pedestrian infantry type. The infantry does have a role in this type of action, however: that isto form a barrier behind which the cavalry can regroup, re-arm, or rally as required, Anyone who has watched the latest iteration of Taras Bulba, will see how this fits into the tactics of the period, Whilst on the subject of films, I would recommend 1612 which is about the Time of Troubles, and a boxed trilogy: With Fire and ‘Sword, The Deluge anc Colonel Wolodyjowski, which has good representations of Polish, Tartar, Turkish and Swedish forces and a truly memorable Cossack band. Itis sold as the Jerzy Hoffman Sienkiewicz trilogy and = whilst taking some locating, — iF MUSCOVY’S SOLDIERS Per Denton UOT misery & toxsthe ‘aor aa lace byt Cerna ialRULES Trying to find a ruleset to cover this period is very ifficul, though Hussaria is one set. The more generic ‘ones do not really reflect the sheer pandemonium of Easter Cavalry battles, Needless to say we wrote our ‘own set, which have the advantage of being usable for big battles (which is certainly our choice) or ~ with a few tweaks - as a skirmish set ‘The most important aspect ofthis period is command, and control, or rather the lack of it. We adopt a twofold approach to this. Firstly, we have a small deck of cards, ‘This has an equal number (three each in our case) of Movement, Firing and Melee cards with one End Of Tu card and one Heroic Moment card. The second element cf our gaming strategy isto allocate command points to ‘each force. We find around a dozen is okay, but in games with different troop numbers, it can often even things up ifthe smaller force has a larger number of command, points, making them more flexible in their response. ‘We track these command points using glass beads or counters. In play both sides operate simultaneously: a card is tumedl and the players declare how many actions they intend to spend on that card, resolve any actions and then move on to the next card, et; EXAMPLE OF PLAY ‘To givean example: The first card is Movement. The Muscovites allocate 3 points and move a cavalry unit to contact enemy cavalry, and two Streltzy units in to range. To signify this, a bead is placed behind the moved units. The Polish Player allocates one bead and moves his Winged Hussars against the Russian Cavalry. The next carl is Melee, so both sides fight and resolve the melee placing a bead behind their ‘ise, » Thenext card is Melee again, so another round is fought, and a bead expended by each force. » Thenext card is End Of Turn, so the deck is re- shuffled, and the beads gathered up and reallocated to the players. Note that — in that example ~ the Streltzy filed to shoo! that turn. Of course, it was equally likely that two Firing cards were turned up and the poor cavalry would have been weakened, given reasonable shooting dice! The permutations for the system are endless, and both sides remain engaged throughout unlike in classic IGO-UGO games. BEING THE ‘The only other points to mention in this section are the Heroic Moment cara which can be used by one unit only as anty of the Movement, Melee or Firing card. options or as a regroup, where a unit has the chance to remove a casualty its carrying. Itachieves this bby spending a bead and rolling 4-6 for Regulars and. fanatics and 5-6 for Irregulars on a D6 If troops either do nat have a bead! or do not wish to ‘expend one in melee, it fights as usual and - if losing suffers all the usual losses. If it wins however it does not inflict casualties on its enemy. This is to prevent ‘a gamey situation, where one side choses melees that it Inows the enemy cannot win, simply to force it to deplete its bead pile MOVEMENT Movement is as follows: Infantry, Wagons and Artillery: 6” Skirmishers: 9” ‘Column of March: 12” Cavalry: <rasa tse ora All wheels are at half speed: anything more involved is deemed a ‘complex manoeuvre’ which takes a full ‘move and disorders the unit on a 1-3 ifregulars and 14 if Irregulars on a DS, Firing is very straight forward. Ranges are as follows: actions. First, look up the appropriate factor for fighting to front or flank. Then roll a Dé and add that tothe factor and then reduce the total by 1 ifthe unitis| disordered. The opponent then does the same actions and the results are compared > Ifone side's total is double the other, then the loser Seow ig | _ sulle 3 casualties. » Javelins 9” oss fone side beats the other sides score, then the loser > Arquebus and all bows 18" wondnine | suffers 1 casualty, » Muskets 24” Lape | y YF the results fie, then both sides suffer 1 casualty > Artillery: Light24” Medium 36” Heavy 48” | Ye unless that results in both units breaking and being removed. Ione units fighting an enemy unit to its front and to isan, the frontal combats are resolved first, Units can absorb between 2 and 5 casualties before breaking, (See the army listings, downloadable as excol spreadsheets: nbetopganing.cokonnlonis) N E Aside from breaking ~ see above ~ there is no other unit morale, but there is a force morale for the Army. asa whole that determines when a force quits the battlefield. Both sides agree a level of casualties that it will accept. This could be drawn from a scenario; ‘The firer rolls a D6 and amends the result for the following: -2if the target is Winged Hussars, Household Spahis, skirmishers or war wagons. This is due to better protection or dispersed formations. Lall other armoured or shielded troop types. Lif target is behind cover. “Lover half range. Lif firers disordered, +f firers are using gunpowder weapons. +1 if target disordered. ‘The target unit player then rolls a Dé and must equal ‘or beat the above adjusted score to avoid receiving a wig casualty asi >be weighted to one side or the other; or simply be pottte the result ofa dice roll. When we fight unbalanced DING ‘When gunpowder weapons are fired, this is marked by | ¥99™ scenarios, we often allow the smaller force to accept a a piece of cotton wool to show they wil need to reload greater level of casualties to even the battle up. They do this by expending a bead when a Movement card ‘Amy morale s calculated by adding up all the key tstumed and only moving a upto haf pend Bows and «mits on the battlefield fr each ide. Note that some units man powered weapons do not need to do this and can are not key and some only count as a of a key unit, fire each time a Firing card is tumed for the cost ofa bead and any unit with a casualty rating of counts as 1 key se units. Aply the casualty level to his, to calculate how HAND TO HAND many units each force can lose before retiring, Metees are conducted a follows Pane si The units must be in base to base contact when the MORALE EXAMP Metee card is tamed up. The troops wishing to melee, To give an example ofthis: a small, somewhat fanatical must expend a bead, and then carry out the following Turkish force of 10 Key Units has a casualty evel of Miniature Wargames501%, s0 itcan lose 5 units before the battle is over, while its Muscovite opponents of 15 Key Units can ‘only accept 33% losses So — again — will withdraw when 5 units are lost. This gives the Turkish commander the option of either standing off and picking the Muscovites off by firepower, or fit has a lot of good cavalry or fanatics - of really ‘going for it! HAVE | INTRIGUED YOU ENOUGH? The combination of the command and control system, the army morale rating and key units scoring, makes this period very different from any other that we play. It is also very colourful and mixes new and old technology. To ‘add extra variation, we brought ina rule for Turkish and ‘Muscovite artillery exploding, Two Ds were rolled every time the gun fired and on a roll of double Lon the two D6s—this meant the gun had blown up! TAKE IT DOV NOTCH ‘The rules are also easily adapted for skirmish ‘games. All the rules still apply with the following exception. Ifa figure is attacked in melee by two ‘opponents, then the combat is not resolved as a frontal versus frontal attack, followed by a frontal versus flank one. Instead the force with the advantage uses its frontal factor for each attack, whilst the ‘outnumbered defender adds its frontal attack and flank value together and allocates the total between the two attacks allocating at least one point to each, ‘The combat is then resolved as normal. For example a Streltsy with a front of Sand flank of 1, i attacked by two Cossack cavalry with a front (of 3. He can either fight as is with an advantage of 2 and a deficit of 2; ar choose to allocate the total of 6 as two 3s for two even melees. This reduces the chance of doubling ~ or being doubled — but it should make ‘the melee last longer and allow reinforcements to be deployed hope this article has whet the appetites of some players who were perhaps unaware of this period, and gives an Eastern option to a skirmish game, which is completely difforent to, say, a Pikeman’s Lament game, even though itis set in the same time period. ‘There are a large number of unfamiliar figures, in the photographs used in this article, so with the editors indulgence I will name a few: ‘The Turks are mainly Ral Partha, Irregular Miniatures and Hinchliffe, The Poles (from Adrian How’ collection) are Ist Corps for the wagons and Warlord and Foundry for the figures. The Muscovites are Hinchliffe, Minifigs and The Assault Group. The Swedes are Warlord, Minifigs and 1st Corps. The flags are supplied by Adrian’s Walls and the buildings are from the same source or scratch built by Male Johnson. The trees are from the Lost Valley. ‘AS you may have deduced, a lot of my figures are at least three or four decades old! But then, Iam even older! tent ne Tce 202 Miniature Waraar Te Shes ‘entry mrersimrcagha Pale ev SS eieh.6\,spencersmithminaturescauk £216 Spencer Smith have been making gaming figures in various scales for a ‘wee while now: it may astonish some young ‘uns but they've been producing, ‘models since the ‘sixties. Okay, initially they were cast in plastic, but they are now all in (high lead content) metal They ask purchasers on their website to “please bear in mind that our figures are stylistic, with litle detail, but exactly proportioned and ensy o paint”. That's an interesting claim and it does depend on painting style. Drybrushing? Well best tojust forget it: these are models that are suited to a very traditional ‘toy soldier’ style, probably finished in gloss and - as such = look superb. ‘They carry 30mm and 42mm ranges. The 42mm are the Shiny Toy Soldiers range sculpted by Andrew Stadden are the nostalgia heavy items sent for eview. ‘Along with an ACW line these latest releases are Boers, Pathians and Sikhs. All are pretty much spot on 42mm to the top of the head (none ofthis to the eye’ ‘malarkey) and come with a smallish, integrally moulded on base. They are ‘multi-part and mine were pre-assembled but they are easy to stick together with, superglue (Thad to repair a couple after the postage). They seem to mostly have separate arms and heads and the mounted Boer had a three part horse. To givean Idea of scale, the heads are about the same size as the average 28 or 32mm sized mini but with slightly ess caricatured detailing, They're £2.15 for the infantry ‘These are great models for traditional toy soldier stuf, or large scale skirmishing using figures you can appreciate and ~ if you have the chops, — will paint up very well indeed. But for that you'll need all of your brush skills! rocked: tioecauk 5 Crooked Dice have some new releases that we picked up at Partizan the sort of thing you can enjoy when you are perusing.a show. Karl Perreton —the owner slipped me a couple of items, cone of which looked an awful lot like an old VHS cassette box. “Dadgy tapes {fron a stall” I thought: that takes me ‘back. The fun thing is. that's exactly ‘what its! Contained in that gloriously second hand VHS case was the latest expansion for their new fantasy system: TTV Fantasy. With another ‘rave from the grave’ Kar also gave me a set of miniatures called Horr Housemates so Tlstart with those first. ‘As many of my age did, I grew up watching “The Young Ones (no ~ not lif’s) and — without making any bones about it Crooked Dice have released a set of four characters that is an ‘homage’ to the cast members (including the late Mr Mayall), There's the Coo! Person; the Log Haired Hippy giving.a peace sign, the Young Anarchist giving the reverse finger gesture, and the Spky Haired one wielding a beverage of choice and a cricket bat. Great models and — ifnothing else ~ superb NPCs and crowd fillers in any game. These are £15 for the pack. The Orsa the Fearless set which isso ingeniously packaged contains an episode guide (in typical 7TV fashion) inthe shape ofan AS soft backed booklet and fseffectivelya50 page mini campaign full of scenarios and special rales detailing the adventures of Osa a sort of Red Sonyena Warrior Princess type of classic female fighting hero. There are two sets of cards for use in the game included in the set and they retail for ©wargamestlanticeam £25 ‘Wargames Atlantic have produced tUree new superb boxed 28mm plastic sets, The first is their Goblin Warband. I ‘mentioned this a couple of months ago in Forward Observer and they are just as ‘good as hoped. I said then that they are superb (let's not beat around the bush) ‘Tolkienesque (via Angus McBride) Lesser Orcs —or Goblins. Thirty in a box and ‘each of six sprues has five bodies (two in halves for posing) in rough looking, armour and with enough shields for all plus almost enough spears or bows (four of each) for a whole unit with lots of other extras (homs, swords etc), 18 different heads and a saddle (for mounting on their spiders!) Next up are French Infantry (1916- 1940). This superb set can be built as Harlem Hellfighters or the Senegalese Tirailleurs with Lebel and Berthier rifles, Chauchatt and FM 24/29, VB rifle ‘grenades, command options and more. Seven on a sprue (including a kneeling figure) and an astonishing 41 heads with, all headgear types possible (including, ‘gas masks) plus an assortment of packs and belt equipment (and later weapons ‘on extra half-sprues) this is another superb set building to 35 figures (each on ‘a small base). Finally ~the pide de résistance is Cannon Fodder. Touted as “the dregs of the Death Fields sport: the washouts, the ‘mental cases, land] warriors” but these are one of the single most useful SF sets ‘we've ever seen. Five boiler suited torsos (one kneeling) and a selection of (mostly quite SF looking) weapons and enough heads in four different styles to equip them all makes for the sort of flexibility that I saw when, asa child, got my first Action Man. There's shaven headed ‘cxim’ types wearing explosive collars (think ‘orange jump suits’; military style field caps (think camo, greens’ or ‘military police’; lighter military (or police) type helmets that will work for a more militaristic version of the latter (and there's back packs to add to that); or full ‘space helmets’ (I'm thinking silver suits or red and silver for UFO Aliens). Stargrave and 7TV players should be all over these like a rash. ‘So that's 30 figuees for £25 (all these releases are the same price). They're some of the most flexible figures I've seen in years, Wargames Atlantic are at the top of the game. Recommended. utlawminisurenstore /eaz90 - €3450 — OUTLINAaLGINGS j For anyone who's seen The Sons of Anarchy, ‘Outlaw Gangs is a 28mm skirmish game that’s right up your street, The rulebook contains regular 1-2-1 and co-op games as well as solo rules, and a campaign. The rules (€32.90) come as a hardback book (A4, 60 plus pages) with some character cards and you'll need a set of standard polyhedral dice (4, 6,8, 10, 12) and a tape measure. After the usual rule stats and intricacies (movement rates, fields of view, LOS tc) there are sections on weapon usage {everything right up to grenades) and other activities like sneaking and first aid. Then there are the chapters dealing ‘with vehicle interaction — not just bikes (which Il get to presently) ~ but traffic, ramming... all sorts of detail. Finally there are examples of play, some scenarios, the Bloadhones campaign and a map area of a ‘not really California’ bit of imaginary west coast. Then there's the resin minis (€34.50 a set of 10 with 4 bikes). You need at least five miniatures to play and you can hire ‘more members during a game. The sets they sent are really very nice though the low profile detail is hard to see in the pphotos of the raw material ([ assume ‘they are cast resin from 3D prints). They are all dressed in prototypical SAMCRO attire with cuts and bare arms, jeans and sporting beards and a selection of ‘weapons (for the foot figures). Detail {is good and fits excellent -all are one piece castings except for the bike riders (separate to the bikes) where [had to adjust their thumbs slightly to get them tohhold the bars of their hogs. They even ‘have waterslide patch colour decals! A {great start that’s well worth supporting, Dace 202 Miniature Wargamesbngadomodlscouk 26 - £8 Brigade have just sent in prototypes of ther latest 15mm vehicles: Desert Buggies (ell with another vehicle and some further releases). The buggies area nice mix of x, 4x6 and halftrack small ‘vehicles with open resin bodies, metal roll cages and wheels (or tracks). There area number of smaller parts stil in ‘metal ike front mudguards (fenders for the US audience, front bumper and a dashboard, plus each comes witha towing hook for a trailer Provisionally priced at £6 for the Quadi Qudge) 4 Wheeler; £7 for the Natb (Deputy) 6 wheeler and the Amiir (Prince) half track, they have a selection of rear body options. These inluce an open flatbed: troop transporter a turreted version; a command version and an open pintle mount for weapon systems. In Addition to that isan eight wheeled light armoured vehicle (for £8) for support roles and this includes a command version (the Ugss) and a fighting version with various turret options called the Garaad. Though suitable for any 1/100th SciFi game, these are designed asa Slammers force (he Sincurmaa) and these vehicles complement the (recently released by Brigade) Desert Raiders figures. The casting looks neat and there are just so many weapon options plus lots ‘more fun to be had by smothering the ‘vehicles in tarps and bedrolls in an LRDG style. And ~as they all ave that towing hook ~ they can tow a large trailer that Brigade already make fr this range ‘Adding tothe releases ~ which cannot squeeze in anywhere else ~ are some new desert émm scenery: a small Corporate Fewer (E5) and a Small Temple (€3) which reminds me: at some point this means Brigade will undoubtedly release the buggies in 6mm as well! Misiature Wargames decor 202 thedrawnedearthcam £795 ~ P4185 We were sent some gorgeous gaming, products from the Drowned Earth range. ‘The Drowned Earth isa skirmish system set in a post apocalypse world where players can hunt for glorious riches and. ancient tech. I's designed to be played ona small 3ft3ft table with 5-15 models a side, it concentrates on movement, ‘cinematic action and narrative gameplay. swampy, tropical archipelago but it once had a serious, futuristic civilisation with Dig cities spanning the globe with the start of some space exploration but - as always happens with this sort of game ~ there was an ‘event’ and now everyone is digging amongst the ruins trying to survive. After the cataclysm, nature reclaimed the earth, prehistoric monsters abounded and we are left in the game's ‘present day’ with a selection of humans and other bipedal that are in play. There are four factions listed as core starter packs (and a couple of boxes were sent in as examples) ‘These are The Bondsmen; The Milita; The Firm; an The Artefacters. All are a mixed box of (metal, smuilpart) miniatures eo that seem to follow a theme for team creation: they all have tee hurand (ith quite a high percentage of females) they allhave one lizard dinosaur biped type (till eqipped with guns crossbows or whatever) and they allseem to have a large Simian type as the heavy muscle, Poses for these are dynamic and need abit of thought in assembly. My Gora from The Firm was 38mm tall (though with ams above his head he Jooks bigge) swinging a hammer and the boxy was in two halves and the hammer and head were separate. Rules (3495) area stunningly pprodiuced harcback set (with a free pdf availabe from the sit f you want ry them outa pack of special Didsarea tenner; and faction boxes of minis are £8195 though individual miniatures to ada to these start around £796 and there's Some great creatures and figures to add to the factions (pis load of dinosaurs!) ‘The rules lok fun they are prety with iret art and stunning figure painting nd photography; the figures are excellent (and you don’t need too many) plus i’splayable on a very smal table that you can lavish some great seorary on $0 Hf you are prepared for some new enlightenment after “The Event” and want some ) |) fon adventures, this seems a good stem.COMMAND DECISION Pc THE NOO Falaise, North-west France: August 1944 Words by Jon Suthertand Prctos by Joe Dever. Eos in itary snr, Command Deco sgl onc red the seeding trp one own. You cn ier ark tae op enagenet The profes on ction SITUATION REPORT ‘The allies landed on the Normandy beaches on June 6 and initially their attempts to drive inland 1us defence. Cherbourg was captured on June 27 and despite the best efforts of the British and Canadian troops under Montgomery Caen still held out. This provided Montgomery with an opportunity; if he could draw the bulk of German forces into his sector it would allow the Americans to burst through the thinly-held German lines protecting Brittany ‘were met with a fer nove alu vehi aman on foo pass ‘huh ona othe German apa ‘he poset, ABOVE RIGHT einly ators ‘he fete defences Operation Cobra was launched on July quickly saw extraordinary advances. The entire German army was in grave tisk of being overwhelmed, ‘To compound the issue Hitler demanded a German ‘counter offensive. Codenamed Operation Liittich, the Germans scraped together all available armour and struck west. It was an abject failure and only served to place more German units at risk ofe ‘To speed up the collapse, Operation Totalise was launched by the Allies on August 8. The target for the Ast Canadian Army was the high ground to the north, ‘of the town of Falaise. The idea was for the Canadians to link up with the encircling Am put a noose around the ns emer German troops.ernan inane ‘aovantageat Iied cover sean German secton ‘shi Alia cir fre oH Serateh Goran ernour unsere brought io feton sem ‘Moles nde COMMAND DECISION By August 10 Anglo-Canadiian troops occupied Hill 195, to the north of Falaise. The race was now on to encircle as many Germans as possible and Patton’s 3rd Army was tasked with closing the gap by capturing, ‘Alencon and Argentan. They were ordered to push on towards Falaise and close the pocket WARGAMING THE BATTLE This Command Decision focuses on the final attempts of the Ist Canadian Army, spearheaded by the Poles, to close the Falaise Gap having just captured Falaise. (Though these are 28mm models in the photos, madel choice and scale, along with wut rules to use, upto the reader to pick afacourite. IVS not like ~ as gamers ~ ive are short of choices in this area! Ed.) ‘The Germans are represented by a collection of small, units. Some are detailed to hold the gap open whilst the bulk of the German forces try to slip out of the pocket before itis closed. Falaise is represented by a collection of typical French buildings, many of which have been heavily shelled by the allies during their advance. The photographs should give you a good, idea of the rag-tag nature ofthe units and the fun you can have creating these scratch forces for the game. TERRAIN Falaise is on the bank of the River Ante, which is tributary of the River Dibes and is just nineteen miles to the southeast of Caen, Some two-thirds of the town of Falaise was destroyed by allied bombing in the build-up to the liberation of the town. The terrain is represented as being fairly flat, with stout and defensible, stone-built farms and dwellings and scatlered trees. ‘The Germans should be given a handful of strongpoints to anchor their outer defences. The main road runs straight out of Falaise, over the river and into the outskirts and then away to the west, which is the main retreat route for the German forces. The tabletop in the photographs assumes that the Allies have already taken Falaise and that the chase i on to ‘atch the escaping German column. You could start the game with the Allies launching the final assault ‘on Falaise and the outskirts still held by rearguard German elements. TIMING & OBJECTIVES ‘The objectives ofthe allies are simple. They need to traverse the length of the table by breaking through the successive thin crusts of German defensive lines and. capture or destroy as many German units as possible. ‘The German player has a column of sundry vehicles and infantry progressing slowly up the main road towards the exit point. These should be certainly considered as non-combatant troops. They represent transport units, officers and wounded men. ‘The Germans assigned to the defensive lines should gradually fall back once thet line has been compromised 28° Miniature Worgomes le:onter 27cris about to be overrun. In essence they need to leapfrog, tunis back up the table. They should hold only Jong ‘enough for the retreating column to escape, The number of game turns will be determined by the length of table. For example, in the case of a 20ft long, table, the road movement of a typical vehicle is around, IB inches, which means that unimpeded the entire table can be traversed in 12 to 14 turns. ‘The German retreating column starts about a third of the way into the table. The end vehicle or element of the column needs to be in line with the first German defensive position. The allies should start in and around Falaise itself, with is lead element about to cross the bridge in pursuit, ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS ‘The notable addition to this game is the overwhelming, air superiority of the allies. This was represented by rocket-fring Typhoon aircraft, They should be allowed to make a sweep of the battlefield every other turn. It is important that they are only allowed to target the visible retreating column, or units in German defensive lines that have been spotted by ground troops. The Germans should be allowed minimal anti-aircraft cover. This should be restricted to simply driving off the Typhoon attack, rather than eliminating it or targeting any of the Allied ground forces. The exact balance of allied to German forces should be at least 2:1 in favour of the allies. The bulk of the allied ‘troops should be motorised, otherwise the chances of them catching the column will be fairly minimal, The orders bate are suggestions astothetype | setow of organisation that would have been typical for this | Ths isan pele ofthe war The German troop and vehicle mie. | uo" [fairly exible ast represents some small organised | wna German defensive units and aconfusedjumbleof | Peres vehicles and other troops in the retreating column. AS the latter plays no active role in the game other than a mobile objective, this could consist of a handful of ‘trucks and staff cars, ‘This game is essentially a race, with the primary objective of the Germans is to slip away off their exit table edge, having suffered the least amount of casualties in terms of men Killed or captured and vehicles destroyed. ORDERS OF BATTLE > British/Commonwealth Order of Battle H cn 2 car Man wh ada 2x an Tan th Man th Warn “Ae paris [Mon wih ile Men wth LUG ‘Carrer Paton [2 Uaioral Carers th 1 xan operating 1x, 2 Mien and TWiorar acon [2 Universe Caries each wahx men and Ta fier THAT oan |x Lwersal Garner ong pF AT oa hax TP in ris wih xm, Tx th ae TAG Patoon itched Notes: 5 Kangaroos can be ded if battalion from July 194. sl Carriers each wih x men wih Ti ers.COMMAND DECISION BRITISH MEDIUM ARMOURED REGIMENT EUROPE 1849 TO 1845 ca [x Agroured etic (ge a5 usin onl ary 1 Ue Men wh rasta ex Satan rust i ut te are ie a he regan ts Treat |p Seman or Gana rd2x Cre Tato Trader aA roo xia Ugh Tok ak ‘3Savairone [x Sherman or OraSqusirane [fx awe Var] x Shean Fry oy [za maureen era (Dra Sascrars [4x Comet ny MW Eure rom une a ent TSyairon esha For units operating in NW Europe from June to August 1944, the 1 AA Troop consists of 2 Centaur ‘AA. In NW Europe up to July 1944 one of the four Sherman tanks in each Squadron must be a Sherman Firefly. After July this can be inereased to 2 Sherman Fireflies per Squadron and by January 1945 all 4 may be Fireflies, BRITISH INFANTRY TANK REGIMENT 1949 TO 1045 ra cus 0475 cr (0) 1x NATE or WicZxchuch Chars or She A [och wn ‘3 Swoirons or 9x Stormer ‘Note: Individual squadrons can be attached to infantry ‘battalions as this was commen practice. > German Order of Battle ERAN INFANTRY RATALION YA "1 5 [simone nts tare rack las ‘ie Covpanes |r oh LMG. Tran wh Panzerfost men ecinogn —_[OxNG Aarne each wih Dacre Coreen WartarPeion | xem moran each wih’ crew h wannn, TxFOD lnc tmon wh rade Hpavy Nore [1x20 rotar wth xen ree ann Paoen' Note: Later units would have a higher proportion of ‘motorised transport, although horses were still used even in 1945, 0.x fice. x anh, Taran wih ol, CGERQAN HEAVY TANK BATTALION 1942 TO T648 0 ter 00,1 Tar 1x SAEZ wih creme ‘Tank Cognos [8x Ter Note: This unit represents the SS Heavy Panzer Battalion 102. You could represent the armour available to the Germans with a mis of vekicts. FALAISE: FACT CHECK Initially Patton’s 3rd Army made steady progress. By August 13 they were firmly established around Argentan, ‘but the town was sill German held, Patton wanted to keep moving, but he was told to halt: Meanwhile, to the north, the Canadian Ist Army made some progress, but they were waiting to launch Operation Tractable, which ‘would follow up on Operation Totalise andl aim to strike south to clase the gap. German resistance proved to be very strong and it was not until August 16 that the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division got into Falaise. It took them a full day to clear the town. However the encirclement was still ncomplete. The Polish Ist Armoured Division, as part of the Ist Canadian Army, was ordered to sweep southeast and link up with American forces at CChambois. By the evening of August 19 they had made that junction with the French 2nd Armoured Division and US forces. ‘The Germans were still fighting hard to escape. On August 19 elements of the 2nd Panzer Division broke through at St. Lambert sur-Dives and held the road ‘open for six hours, More units escaped, particularly. ro user Tis isan ‘eran shot ofan aed fork ftaning& esate ier. AROVELEFT ‘senor German officer rakes god his scape rom ‘hopoeket, ut AAGenan fencule zarvesinan the ‘sharcing led ‘opposite ‘BOTTOM oF PAGE FreeFrench beg rounding wp Bermen stroglersny ec) through the weakly-held area covered by the Poles. Ithas been estimated that around 10,000 Germans slipped out of the pocket. The Poles occupied a strategic position called Hill 262 and used it to direct artillery fire onto the retreating columns of German same under huge pressure until the actow LEFT eammend troops. The Poles Canadian Grenadie Tt took until the evening of Auj tobe finally sealed. The German losses in the operation were staggering: of the 100,000 or so that had been caught in the encirclement at least 10 to 15 per cent had. been killed, upwards of 40 per cent taken prisoner around half had escaped. iards reinforced them. 1 for the pocket Next Month: We present a fellow on piece. This i Counterattack at St. Lambert-sur-Dives, te German attempt to keep 1 Miniature Wergames aA Story of Wargaming Waterloo \or i by Dave Burdon & Dale Taylor in Poland ne ofthe things toe are terribly keen om here at ‘Miniature Wargames is getting gaming out to wider public, I's grea! to play with mates and even better at clubs with the social atmosphere. Wargames shots are pretty splendid foo (zlen one is allowed) but — let's face it~ we mostly attrac... wargamers. Sure we bring along sons and daughters and maybe spouses and the odd ‘mate but usually we are preaching tothe converted. When something like this story turns up, we at the ‘magazine lke to give it as much coverage as possible. So: take it away gentlemen! Ed. Back in 1977 my brother Adrian, myself, friends Nick, Alan, Dale and a few others from our school ‘wargaming club put on a Napoleonic wargame at the 32 Miniature Worgomes ls:antor 207 WATERLOO Dorking Model Railway and Hobby Show with over 500, mostly Airfix, figures. It was great fun, but we always dreamed of putting on a full Battle of Waterloo. Pocket money and time made it impossible back then, but finally ~on the weekend 20/23 August 2021 our wargame of Waterloo finally became a reality. Whilst the game itself was great fun, it was everything, that happened around it that made it a truly special weekend to remember, and taught us a lot about promoting the hobby. It wasn’t until about 2016 that we seriously started planning the game: Nick and I had 60th Birthdays looming, so playing Waterloo in 2021 seemed a fitting celebration. We checked our figure holdings, checked the orbats and assessed the gap. Luckily, Adrian is a demon painter and wargamer and he agreed to take part and get painting. In the end he provided over 40%(we wanted the classic Bruce Quarrie, toman ratio for the TERRAIN Ie fell tome to sort the terrain, E that Halfords 2t x2t interlocking floor tiles (designed for garage workshops) would be an ideal way forward: they are tough and light, and — if they warp — you can just bend them back into shape. We wanted to cover 6km by km of the battlefield, which ain) ~ this meant we'd need a 10 tile by 6 tle layout. Imm figu imentation shoved at Imm =1 yard (Quarrie We had tivo layers o tiles to make 15m contours, with flocked fet for the lowest layer. spent much of lo ppainting and flocking the tiles, but the nice thing was that the whole terain ends up storing asa simple stack 2ft 2fe 6ft, portable by hand in just two lifts. down RULES Talso had responsibility for the rules. As readers may romember (Miniature Wargames issues 404/405) I play almost exclusioely on grids — and so the whole terrain was marked with dots every Idem, We ended up with a 60 x 36 grid: that’s 2,160 squares, about 5400 dots! Can we claim the biggest gridded figure-based wargame lever? (I'm surpr ees ere ne Pe cicrteas goa ae 2h you still get th cometimes!).WATERLOO SIXTY ‘nove tno ‘heresy lon al red Fancy hats fade ov mage uss arian he reba, ‘oH uk rope ward at te Fraehtide ‘over ate rome ‘oppose ‘BOTTOM oF PAGE Frome Copsheens erasers bated pest cf acont. Initially we'd seen the game as being a fairly private, low-key leisurely affair. We recruited fellow wargamer Bill to even the sides up, and - apart from a fev friends and family popping in to say ‘hi’ -we thought that would be that. We hadn’t reckoned with the U3A and the local media! U3A The University of the Third Age (U3A) encourages people (mostly 60+, s0 I guess that includes me now!) o set up their own special interest groups within the local area. My mother just happens to be in the military history group and asked if she could invite the group along (Which seemed reasonable as she was gifting Nick and. {the school hall hire as an additional birthday present). We agreed two time slots and soon both Saturday and Sunday —we had visitors to whom we could explain the battle, the game and the hobby. Prior awareness ranged from almost zero toa gentleman who's a battlefield tour guide and takes groups to Waterloo! Nick had meanwhile decided to see if he could get the local media interested. One sad fact was that Alan, one of our original group and a highly talented wargame painter and scenery maker, had died of cancer back in 2018. In some way our Waterloo game was in remembrance of him, and even featured some of his old French Airfix figures. Nick managed to ‘make contact with a journalist from GetSurrey and SurreyLive. She interviewed Nick and I over the phone tnd sent a photographer over on the Thursday for a photoshoot and they ran an article on-line early Friday. ‘Then they said that they wanted to livestream the game! So another journalist tumed up lunchtime on Friday: Set up was taking longer than thought (i took {five hours in the end...) so she had to help put the troops 1 the table before we could start! She interviewed the three of us, [then gave a guided tour of the tabletop battlefield and then we gave a running commentary as we went through the first few activations of the game. AND... ACTION! ‘The photographer was also there again to get some “action” shots, They all got posted up along with some ‘more text and a one minute video in another article, and on the Thursday the print edition of their local Misature Wargames lnconter 202paper came out, anel~not only had they put us on the ‘cover —but on an inside double-page spread too! re heard that we'd actually also been in the print edition of the Daily Mirror, the Wednesday after the game. By then Chinese whispers had definitely set in as not only was the game described as being “on show" at the School (two days after we'd finished), but also Alan had miraculously come back to life, his name ‘Aweck later being used instead of Adrian’s in the write-up! MORE COVERAGE What we hadin't expected was that both the U3A and the media would then, enerate further vistors, Several people saw the article on the Surrey Live website on ROVE exch san cry ishing pte neal. KT fcr ont eh ira Sugai Frida Saturda into some hike morning, and turmed-up unannow told them of the spectac inside the school hall and we had ev on the Then the U3A people leaving the game bumped going on tore visitors ted U3A, reader or passing hiker ‘was blown away by the spectacle, craft and scale of the whole thing. The most interesting insight though \was that many of them thought that this (and by extension wargaming?) was really just an animated diorama where w: put the figures through the motions ‘of the real battle. When we explained about starting positions, commands, rules and objectives they got it, and hopefully their own new insight into what ‘wargaming is all about nb 202| Miniature Wergames 35WATERLOO Another group that gained a fresh appreciation ‘were the Warhanuer and RPG players amongst the (typically grown-up) sons and daughters of friends who came along. Again, the scale ofthe thing compared to even a Warhammer battle made a real impression, and hopefully we made a couple of converts to at least the ‘dea of historical wargaming. Our real win was when the caretaker's son Will, also an adult Warhammer and RPG player) popped in, loved what we were doing and stayed, playing with us for the whole weekend. One interesting comment by him was how simple the rules ‘were compared to Warhammer ~ and personally I'd rate ours as around the somewhere between Shako and General de Brigade! Will's already asked to be invited to the next game. Oh, and remember Dale who I mentioned at the very. beginning? He emigrated to Poland decades ago, but stayed a wargamer. It turned out he was putting on his ‘wn demo games (28mm WWI Trench Warfare, and a PPolish-Bolshevik War skirmish) at Rydzyna Castle in Poland the same weekend (see the sidebar: righ!) so we had a video hook-up between the twa locations on the Saturday afternoon, and shared progress reports for the rest of the weekend. ‘And the game itself? The French attempted a double envelopment, and effectively turned Wellington's left lank, but narrowly failed to turn his right due to the speedy recall of the Dutch/ Belgians from Braine VAlleud. The Prussians were a bit tardy coming onto the field and got caught in a bottle neck up the Lasne valley, but the French were really down to only the Guard. and VI Corps by then so it was time for a managed withdrawal: a marginal Allied vietory, we think, So what did we learn? The lack of awareness amongst the public of what wargaming actually is surprised us. I's as though they thought it was mode! railways with muskets, with no opportunity for all, the tactical decision making and team-work that ‘comes with a good wargame. Opening the eyes of the younger generation was great too, and that comment Misiature Wargames OUR MAN IN POLAND u ‘AT RYOZYNA CASTLE about it being “easier than Warhammer” suggests that some of the challenges of bringing that generation into the hobby may not be as high as I'd thought - and they could certainly appreciate the spectacle. The public engagement really made it, but certainly took alot of ‘our playing time. And - once you engage the media you lose control and the story spreads (and loses accuracy with each retelling!) Next time if there's any chance of visitors we'll have a “duty greeter” to ensure that others can keep playing, Takis eras refee oko ‘herrea uta = Tei shore tele fable che nn fraimowotte