Stuck at Home; Keeping myself sane

Alternative history campaigns, battles and backgrounds have always held an interest for both war gamers and historians, it’s the question, What If? Such as what would have happened during World War 2 if Hitler had invaded Britain?

A campaign could be built around the that question, in which the first wave of German military are paratroopers, followed by beach landings. The possibilities are endless and the scenarios numerous, but an alternative campaign setting needn’t be restricted to the 2^nd world war, any period can be used as a possible alternative setting. Such as the Imperial Roman military might marching to conquer ancient China, or just making the existence of magic real in the ancient world.

In the last couple of years alternative settings have become extremely popular, especially with campaign settings around the 2^nd world war, both leading up to it and during. A very popular growing setting is A Very British Civil War, set in 1930’s Britain, surrounding the abdication of the King. In real life the king abdicated, in the setting he doesn’t, and this leads to a civil war, with various factions all fighting for control of the country. Much more mainstream and popular settings are those set during the war, based on the Nazi’s obsession with the occult. In the setting they discover a way to harness the power of the occult. This sees the war take a different turn, with demons, vampires, zombies and advanced technology. Let’s face it anything with zombies will be popular, and these are Nazi zombies.

Though you don’t have to purchase into a background, as there are plenty of good resources on the net and they’re not all set in and around the 2^nd world war, which is quite popular at the moment. There are plenty out there for free, which is always a good thing, and these delve into other areas of history. Also, you could always develop your own alternative background, which could be developed with the armies and periods you already own. A possible idea could be an invasion of England by France during the Napoleonic period. A good jump off point may be the invasion of Fishguard in Wales in 1797, though in reality this invasion was a dismal failure for the French, you could decide that they manage to get a foot hold, which leads to a massive invasion of French forces.

I’m going to look at some of the current alternative backgrounds available commercially and those which are free out on the internet.

A Very British Civil War

A very British civil war is an alternative history setting based around the abdication of King Edward VIII. In the setting it assumes that he didn’t abdicate, and this in turn sets in motion a civil war in Britain. The background is centered around the idea of wargames played with small companies of soldiers who represent factions and locals, who many assume if history had unfolded in this manner.

AVBCW doesn’t have a set of rules to play by this is left to the players, allowing them to use a set they are already familiar with. It’s become very popular over the last 12-18 months. The reason for this is the organic nature of the background, players have the ability to input their take ideas on how the background should develop. I myself shaped and developed the initial flavor of the conflict in Cornwall. This has now been developed and nurtured by other players on Gentlemen’s Wargame Parlour. It’s also that element of being set in our own backyard and the ability to fight battles and skirmishes in our own towns, cities and villages which make this an interesting and fun game to play.

There’s the fun aspect of developing of new units, adding local flavour to them, being able to add fun local flavour to the background as well is a great aspect of this game. I decided to make Druidry the main religion of the Cornish Nationalists, with druids joining units and factions within the nationalists. The reason being that a druid society was created during the 1930’s in Cornwall, plus I thought this would be a fun aspect to the Cornish. There is basically no restrictions to how you develop your game or factions.

More information can be found at the following websites.

www.solwaycraftsandminiatures.com

www.wargamesp.18.forumer.com

1588 and All That (Spanish Invade England)

This is an alternative background developed by Tim Eagling over at the website www.spiritofthegame.org.uk. Set in Elizabethan England, during the period of the great Armada and the question. What would have happened if the Spanish had invaded England? it’s a period sandwiched between two hugely popular gaming periods, The War of The Roses and the English Civil War. The period of 1588 is a period of transition in war and weapons, it’s the switch from Medieval Europe through to the early modern period. It also comes after climatic change and in the wake of the black death.

Had the Spanish landed in England it would have been an interesting period in history. There was no trained standing army in England, the trained bands in the counties varied from each other. Though there would have been thousands of men, mainly peasants, equipped and ready to fight, though they would have varied in training and competency. The trained bands were provided by each of the counties, and this meant that a trained band could get held up if required at a national level.

It was during this period that saw the decline in the use of the longbow, is was slowly being replaced by the forerunner of the musket. This was a weapon that was easier to supply and train troops to use, whereas the longbow required years of training to become competent in its use. The longbow would have still featured heavily on the battlefield still, it was also during this period that soldiers started to lose their armour, which made the use of the longbow more devastating.

So, could the Spanish have conquered England if they had managed to invade? The Spanish would have faced problems with supply lines between mainland Spain and England. This could be a very interesting alternative history to explore. It allows the use of both longbow and early muskets/handguns. Though best of all its completely free.

More information can be found at.

http://www.spiritofthegame.org.uk/1588andallthat/about.htm

Another alternative history idea would be one that looks at the recent riots, developing a storyline that sinks Britain into a modern civil war. The Falklands war has the potential to be used as a alternative backdrop. What would have happened if the war had escalated and Britain was forced to invade Argentina? What would have been the consequences and how would the rest of South America reacted?

The possibilities are endless which is why alternative history gaming can be an interesting and fun to play.

So, I decided to take a look at an event in ancient history and specifically the 9^th Legion.

9^th Roman Legion

Professor Birley once wrote.

The fate of the ninth still engages

The minds of both nitwits and sages

But for that problem one fears

Will be with us for years

And for ages and ages and ages

One of the most infamous legions to be connected to Britain is the ninth. There is a legend or myth that surrounds this legion, which has fascinated a lot of people down the ages.

These myths are connected to the disappearance of the 9^th, of which there are several theories. The last record we have of the legion is in Britain, is that they were stationed at York in 108 AD, later AD 122 they are replaced by the 6^th.

The usual theory is that the ninth was routinely replaced by the 6^th. Yet another interesting theory is that the ninth was destroyed in the Carlisle area, when they were sent north due to problems in that locality with the local tribes. Some people have suggested that this was the main reason for the construction of the wall by Hadrian.

Another theory put forward by C.E Stevens, was that the ninth were sent to Carlisle to assist with the construction of the wall. He noted that the wall was originally built in turf and timber in the Carlisle area, because of this we don’t have any inscriptions, as evidence. It was during this phase of construction that the ninth was defeated and destroyed. Which he then states, for the sudden change from a turf and timber wall to a more permanent stone wall.

Many people believe that the 9^th ‘s last days as a legion are connected to the wall and the Carlisle area. Another theory has the ninth legion leaving Britain, being reposted to the Rhine and then onto Armenia where they were destroyed in 161 AD.

I have a very different theory as to what happened to the infamous 9^th legion in Britain and afterwards.

AD 108

The Ninth becomes the official legion that deals with supernatural events and zombie outbreaks. I was thinking that when something occurs that is extraordinary and can’t be explained then the Ninth is sent to deal with the situation. The Ninth has become a clandestine organisation that doesn’t exist on paper (or scroll), and only the Emperor and certain senators know of their existence, which is why they disappear from official records.

You could play a range of scenarios involving all manner of supernatural and strange creatures, including Cthulhu Mythos. I would suggest looking Osprey’s Broken Legions as a possible rules set and you could kit bash a small warband of Roman warriors with a variety of kit and weapons to deal with the unnatural world.

I have a number of terrain pieces in boxes that I’m slowly trying to get painted whilst in lockdown. Here are some the finished pieces so far.

I have numerous pieces of terrain in a variety of scales that need to painting, so whilst I’m stuck at home during the lockdown I’ve been trying to get as many as humanly possible painted.

One of these is a water fountain in resin by Airfix, it’s 1/72 scale but will happily work for 15mm and 28mm. I painted this is a simple grey colour with some shading using Nuln oil. I then added weathering powders to make it look more weather beaten. A very quick and dirty paint job to get it tabletop ready. I picked this up about a year or so ago in Home Bargains for about 3 quid.

I’ve had this tower from Games Workshop built for several years and for some reason I’ve never managed to get any paint on it. So I decided over the Christmas holiday to finally whack some paint on it. I decided to go with a simple paint scheme, and finish it of with weathering powders to give it a weather beaten look.

Finally I had a couple of farm building in 10-15mm, now I bought these back in 2011 and didn’t do anything with them, mainly because I didn’t get around to purchasing and painting a 15mm army. In the last 12 months I’ve started armies in this scale for Flames of War and Team Yankee. So I decided now was the right time to get some paint on them. This was done using a simple and quick paint scheme making use of contrast, washes and a couple of normal paints.

Last year I started a few new projects, and I have a couple of ideas for projects this year. So this post is a round up of how each of the projects are going and what I have planned for this year.

So last year I started the year with a few new project ideas, some of those are near completion, whilst others have fallen by the wayside some what. The first of those projects was Flames of War armies, both a US and German army, based on the contents of the Hit the Beach starter set.

Both of these are coming along nicely, and I’m happy to say both armies are nearly finished. I’m in the last stages of completion on both of these. For the Americans I have 6 Sherman Tanks to finish and then all that needs finishing after these are the infantry. I added mortar and HMG platoons to the Hit the Beach infantry units, all of which need a lick of paint. With regards to the Germans I have a few half tracks and 4 Panther tanks to paint and this army will be finished.

My Lord of the Rings project has been rather slow going over the last 12 months. I have managed to get some bits and pieces painted but nowhere near as much as I wanted, so this will continue to chug along this year as well. I did open the year by painting a unit of Gondor infantry. I’m hoping to get more units painted this year, and that’s what I plan to concentrate on, as last year I mainly painted character models.

Another project I started last year was to paint up miniatures for both SPQR and Mortal Gods. For both of these I managed to finish a small unit of infantry. For SPQR I managed to paint up the Roman infantry from the SPQR starter box. I’ve now started on the Celts, already completing the limited edition Druid, and making a start on a couple of hero models. For Mortal Gods I’ve painted a unit of Phalanx and the Macedonian command, along with two Macedonian Heroes. I’m currently painting up King Philip and Alexander. The aim for this year is to finish the starter models from both box sets, and purchase the Roman and Celtic hero boxes later in the year.

My Bolt Action projects have been ticking along for a couple of years and will continue to do so this year. I main aim is to build and paint more US infantry, as well as finish the few Germans and British I have left. I also need to do more work on my Chinese army. I plan to purchase the German WW1 infantry, Partisans and the Boxer Rebellion boxes to make Chinese Nationalist infantry. I managed to paint a unit of Communist Chinese for the Korean War campaign and will add to this later on this year. Another purchase I’ll need to add to my Bolt Action project, is a vehicle/tank for the US and some jeeps/LRDG trucks for the Brits. I was supposed to pick these up last year but for one reason or another I didn’t get around to it. I did manage to pick up a T-34 and paint it for my Communist Chinese.

Towards the end of last year I did plan and start research for a small skirmish project set during the English Civil War. I planned to build a 1/72 warband and plan a campaign set in Derbyshire and South Yorkshire, which is close to where I live. I’ve talked about running a ECW campaign for some time, but never really gotten around to it. So around Autumn time last year I finally bit the bullet and ,made a start. I carried out the research for the campaign, and picked up some 1/72 hard plastic miniatures. The aim this year will be to paint enough for two small forces.

The big project I planned this time last year, was the Asian/Chinese town game board using the modular tiles by Sarrissa. Most of last year was spent building and painting terrain pieces. This included a number of buildings, and a couple of bridges. Now while I didn’t finish this project, or start any work using the modular tiles I did get quite a few of the building I plan to use built and painted. So this year the aim is to make a start on the modular tiles and get as much as that done as possible.

Another project I started last year, around August/September time was two armies for Team Yankee. The first was a Soviet army, which is nearly finished apart from a T-64, BMP and two T-80s. The other army I started was the British, which I decided to base on the 4th Armored brigade which was stationed in Germany and served during the Gulf War. I started this project with the British Army starter set, and plan to add some additional units such as an M109 artillery regiment, which would be my old unit 2nd Field Regiment Royal Artillery. The starter set is nearly finished apart from 4 Challenger tanks and a Chieftain.

So what are my project plans for 2021, well I pretty much only have 3 potential projects for this year. The first is a Qin army, which most people will know as the Terracotta army. I have some miniatures from Studio Eye in the states. I was fortunate to visit Xian in China where the Terracotta army is and since then I’ve been inspired to build an army. The second plan is to build a small force to try out Saga Age of Magic game. My plan is to used the old Celtos miniature range to build a barbarian style warband for this game. The final plan I have is to build a small warband for the forthcoming Baron’s War rule set. This will be a small force just to play skirmish size engagements.

The practice of dueling was at its peak during the 11^th to 20^th centuries and involved two people engaging in combat with either sword or pistol in later centuries. Today we have a sort of romantic notion regarding duels, as they are perceived to be about honor, duty and chivalry, but this is much further from the truth. Most were vicious brawls resulting in the death of one or both of the duelists.  From the early 17th century duels were often illegal in Europe, though in most societies where dueling was socially accepted, participants in a fair duel were not prosecuted, or if they were, were not convicted. Only gentlemen were considered to have honor, and a gentleman would never duel with anyone of a lower social status.

Most sword fights were generally inconclusive, swordsmen generally died from wounds, rather than during a fight. They generally die after a fight from blood loss and infections. The majority of duels ended when blood was drawn, and honor was satisfied by one side or the other.

On occasion a sword blade may break, this would normally mean that combatants would finish the duel grappling, using similar techniques seen today in the mixed martial arts arena. The use of elbows, knees and eye gouging were all acceptable. Duelist’s could and would use other parts of the sword, during a fight, for instance a swordsman may smash the pommel onto his opponent repeatedly, and this is where we get the term to pommel someone from.

Despite the modern idea of chivalry and the Marquis of Queensbury rules, most duels were vulgar scrappy street fights, nothing more than deadly brawls. There were no rules or chivalric behavior, these were fights to first blood or on the rare occasion to death. This meant that both sides were desperate to win and would use any tactic or technique at their disposal, no matter how ungentlemanly we may now think they are.

The most successful duelists were dashing swashbucklers, but professional killers. Those who were considered swashbucklers were normally braggarts, as the term swashbuckler comes from the 16th century to describe rough, noisy and boastful swordsmen. It is based on a fighting style using a side sword with a buckler in the off-hand, which was filled with much “swashing and making a noise on the buckle.

Today we would probably say that a duel as nothing more than cold blooded murder sanctioned by law.

When considering duelling for gaming ideas we probably all think of the Three Musketeers, but a duel could be between two champions from opposing sides, who call each other out before the start of battle. A similar scene to the one in the film Troy, when Brad Pitt’s character Achilles is challenged to open combat.

There are several rules on the market that cater for a duel type scenario such as Open Combat coupled with the expansion Sword Masters, En Garde by Osprey Games or the aptly named fantasy rules set by Alternative Armies called Duel. Anyone one of these would be perfect to stage a duel on the tabletop, especially if you want to recreate scene from the Three Musketeers books and films. For those wanting to recreate scenes of sword duels from Hong Kong films them I’d recommend A Fistful of Kung Fu.

The great thing about recreating a duel, is you could set it in any location indoor our outside. You could recreate a Tavern Brawl/Duel and fight amongst the table and chairs in a bar. You could fight on the city roof tops, leaping from roof to roof fighting and any mis footing could result in falling to your death. Or you could just fight a single combat in front of an army on the battlefield. There are endless options available and this makes for a quick and exciting game to play, great for those with very little time on their hands.

This article was first published in Irregular Magazine (http://www.irregular-magazine.com/latest-issue/)

This is a topic that been raging all over the net quite recently after Little Wars uploaded a YouTube video regarding the topic. So as a historical war-gamer a few people have asked me for my opinion regarding this issue. Now I started wargaming in the early 80’s playing a set of war-game rules using my Airfix models, before being introduced to Warhammer Fantasy Battles, along with D&D.

I’ve always played historical over the years and from my days as a teen up to day, most of my opponents have been older gamers, as a teenager I had to play gamers who were in their 20’s or older, as I’ve gotten older the age of my opponents have come closer to my age. Though a lot of the gamers I play today didn’t start off playing historical games when they were younger, they originally played Fantasy or Sci-Fi games, predominantly Warhammer Fantasy or 40K. They made the switch or added historical games to their repertoire as they became older.

The age demographic in my experience has always been an older age group, mostly guys over 40, with some younger, between 25-40. There was hardly anyone in their teens playing historical wargames when I was growing up. Most of my peer group played fantasy games, along with a few Science-Fiction games. When I was in my 20’s then the predominant game among the younger age group was 40K.

The main reason I believe for this was the simple fact of how easy it was and still is for someone to start playing war games. Companies like Games Workshop provide a starter box for their games, also they have a very visible high street presence which makes entering the hobby through those games very easy. Pop culture will play a large role influencing the younger age groups, when I was a kid growing up war films were always on the TV along with old fashioned westerns. These days kids are influenced by Science fiction and fantasy based television, so they’ll be drawn to games of those genres.

Historical games have always been thought of as having a difficult entry point, everything from rules through to miniatures. The biggest problem is the fact that history is a big subject, which means there are a plethora of periods to play, and there are a ton of different rule sets for each period. Then getting hold of miniatures for any period can be quite difficult. The lack of starter boxes and easy to purchase units of the shelf have always made entry difficult and as a result deterred many a new gamer from historicals. It was easier as a kid to walk into a Games workshop store, grab a starter set that included two starting armies and the rule book. They even had starting panting sets which made entry into the hobby a breeze.

For most of my youth I used Airfix or 1/72 plastic soldiers and model kits to play historical games, as this was an easy approach but the more, I played Fantasy battles I slowly stopped playing historical games. I would later pick up historical gaming as I became older in my twenties when I started attending war-game shows.

Then roughly 10-15 years ago things started changing, with companies like Warlord and Battlefront appearing onto the scene, who followed a similar model to Games Workshop. They started to make entry into historical war-gaming a lot easier. In fact, there was a shift of 40K players around 2010 to Bolt Action, Warlord’s 28mm WW2 game system. These companies started making rule system starter boxes, or companies like Xyston Minatures started producing starter armies from their ranges. Suddenly entry to playing historical gaming started to become a lot easier, as a result I noticed a shift of players picking up historical games who previously wouldn’t have entertained one before.

Companies have realized that if historical gaming is to survive they need to produce easy entry through starter boxes, army starters or gateway games, such as World of Tanks, which was and is a PC game where players take control of a tank, which now has a table-top version. These types of games are easy to pick and play, they give a flavour of historical gaming without the necessity to build and paint a large army. There are plenty of examples of easy to start games, especially in the skirmish genre, a particular one I started playing a year or so ago was Gangs of Rome. This is a great way of introducing someone to the world of Ancient Wargaming, without handing them either a massive pile of metal or a tower of plastic sprues.

Historical games have always in the past had a problem in that, there wasn’t a game you could pick off the shelf with everything you need to get going. You had to hunt around for both rules and miniatures. When I was a teen the nearest shop was a 2-hour bus ride away, in Exeter. There was a Games Workshop and two independent stores. I would go in to all three outlets to browse and make purchases, now the two independent’s didn’t carry much in the way of historical products. They carried Avalon Hill style wargames, but not much in the way of miniature based wargames and the only miniatures they carried were generally medieval period, simply because they could be used in fantasy games.

Fast forward to today and it’s much easier to purchase miniatures and rules, especially with the invention of the internet. There are also plenty of games across several historical periods that have games that you can lift straight off the shelf and play. Another development which has made entry into historical games is the explosion of skirmish gaming, it’s not just the historical genre, there has been an explosion of fantasy and Sci-Fi skirmish games as well.  Last year I picked up three skirmish games SPQR from Warlord, Mortal Gods, along with Test of Honor, all three are historical skirmish games that come with a starter box which contains everything you need to get playing straight away.

Basically, there is a change occurring in historical gaming whereby a lot of new players getting into the genre are playing skirmish and smaller games rather than the large historical armies facing each other across the table. The last time I played such a game would have been around 2011, when I played a battle of Towton in 1/72, it was fun to play but the process of building and painting such a large army was very time consuming. These days I tend to play skirmish games across all genres, and starting a new historical period is easier for me especially if there is a skirmish rule set or a starter box.

So, is it dying, I don’t think so? It’s defiantly changing from what it was when I first started in gaming back in the 80’s. It’s now a lot easier to get started into historical gaming and there has been an explosion in great games available. The demographic has always in my experience been a lot older, and will probably always be older, as most youngsters who start playing war-games will most likely start with fantasy and Sci-Fi games. Several of those younger gamers will probably migrate across to historical games as they also get older. I think it’s in a healthy place especially in the UK, currently I believe that large scale battles of two large painted armies is probably dying out at the moment. There may also be a drop in particular periods of history being played, but on the whole, I think it’s currently in a rather healthy position.

World of Tanks: Miniatures Game is an easy to learn, quick play game, where you take command of a unit of tanks, seeking to destroy your opponent and secure victory!

All the models in World of Tanks come ASSEMBLED, PAINTED, and BATTLE READY!

The starter set contains everything you need to start playing, including:
4x Highly Detailed, Assembled, Painted Plastic Tanks
6x Custom Dice
Tank Cards
Terrain and Tokens
Crew & Equipment Upgrade Cards
Damage Deck

Gale Force 9 have released a tabletop version of the popular computer game World of Tanks. The starter box comes with 4 fully assembled and painted tanks (base/under coated), along with dice, tank cards, terrain, tokens, crew and equipment cards and a damage deck. It’s basically everything you need in one box to get started and playing as quickly and easily as possible.

The rule book is nicely laid out with clear instruction and nice large images to illustrate the rules being explained on each page. It’s very easy to follow which allows you to grasp the rules very quickly. There are also videos on YouTube that will explain how to play the game as well.

The tanks are 15mm in scale, anyone familiar with Flames of War will recognise all the tanks. Provided in the box is a British Cromwell, German Panzer IV, US Sherman M4A1 and a Russian T-34. You don’t require to assemble or paint these to start playing, though you could add some simple painting to make them look a lot better, and we’ve included a very simple tutorial in this issue.

The Pz.Kpfw. IV (or Panzer IV) is an iconic German tank, a true workhorse of that saw use throughout the war. The Ausf. H version was introduced in 1943 and saw numerous improvements over previous versions, including improved firepower and protection, that allowed to continue to deal with even the heaviest Allied tanks.

The Cromwell tank was one of a series of cruiser tanks fielded by the British in World War II. The concept of cruiser tanks was that they would combine speed with numbers, allowing the to swarm the enemy and overwhelm them. First deployed during the invasion of Normandy it found a natural home in the reconnaissance regiments where its excellent speed and low profile made it difficult to hit.

The T-34 tank was the cornerstone of Soviet armoured forces in World War II. Other tanks may have been lighter, better armed, or had a bigger gun, but there is only one T-34! When first encountered by German forces, they were shocked by just how good it was and scrambled to find ways to deal with the revolutionary design.

The M4A1 Sherman tank was, much like other releases in this wave, one of the most iconic tanks of the war. The Sherman first saw combat in the deserts of North Africa and continued to serve on battlefields till the end of the war in a variety of models.

Both the T-34 and the Sherman also saw action in the Korean War, with the US forces using the Sherman and the Korean/Chinese military using the T-34. Which means you could take your tank battles from Europe to the Korean Peninsula.

Each of the tanks come with its own stats card, which can be added to with upgrades and equipment just like the computer version of the game. Alongside this you can add and train up crew to make them perform better and in turn make your tank perform better.  They have also included a sheet of future tanks to upgrade to, which indicates what the future releases are for each faction.

This really is an easy to learn, and quick to play and games take around 30 minutes each. It’s a great gateway game for someone who has never played a tabletop game before, especially if they’re a fan of the computer/console version. It’s also a good game to introduce those wargamers who normally only play fantasy or Sci-fi genre.

For me it’s very reminiscent of the Fantasy Flight X-wing game, as in you purchase additional vehicles which come with stats and additional cards as you go. There has not been this type of game on the market for the historical gene, it may not appeal to old grognards, but it could be a good game to introduce to the kids or grand kids over Christmas. Let’s face it who doesn’t love the idea of battling tanks on the kitchen table. I think it will also appeal to those of us who have the collector genre, as you will be able to build your collection of tanks with future releases, as you progress from one tank to a much bigger and better tank. Wave 1 tanks are already available to expand on this starter set.

Team Yankee is a tabletop miniatures game set in a Cold War gone hot environment. It’s based on the book written by Harold Coyle in 1987, Team Yankee brings the conflict that simmered throughout the Cold War to life in a game by Battlefront Miniatures where you command your troops in miniature on a realistic battlefield.

This is a 15mm or 1/100 scale miniatures game set in Western Europe, where the Soviet Union has attacked the Western Powers. The Cold War was an era where the Superpowers were constantly at a stage of near conflict, fingers hovering over the button so to speak. Through out this period from Post WW2 right up to the Nineties there were several incidents that could have sparked another global conflict. It was also a period of proxy wars, these were conflicts between factions or countries that were directed or supplied by the Superpowers, but those powers didn’t get involved directly with their own military.

There was a smaller starter set called Hammerfall, though was a good introduction to the game it didn’t have enough miniatures in the box. This new starter set is a much better introduction to the game. So, what’s in the box?

Three Abrams Tanks

Two Bradley Scouts

Two M60 Patton Tanks

Four T-80 Tanks

Three T-64 Tanks

Two BMP-3 Scouts

One Complete A5 Rulebook,

One Quick Start Guide

Eight Unit Cards

Twenty Dice (Two Sets)

All of the miniatures are plastic which is a massive reason alone for getting this box set. The vehicles are really easy to build, they are quite simple model kits but at the same time extremely well detailed especially for this scale.

So, the two factions in this box are the Superpowers that dominated the Cold War period, the USA and USSR. The US forces are supplied with the mighty Abrams tank and you get three of these, alongside these there are two M60 Patton tanks and a couple of Bradley Scouts. The Abrams pack a serious punch and are your main fire power with this set. There aren’t many tanks on the Soviet side that can deal with these beasts one on one.

All of the vehicles come with their own stat cards and formation card, which is very useful when playing the game as you don’t need to constantly refer to the rule book for this information. They’re made from a study laminated card and will stand up to some wear and tear.

So, what do you get with the Soviet forces, as you’d expect you get more vehicles or tanks than the US? These come in the form of T-80s and T-64 tanks. The T-80 is your main MBT and it’s quite a powerful armored tank though not as good as the Abrams or the British Challenger nevertheless it can still hold its own. Alongside this there are some T-64s, these are dependable tanks though they lack the punch of the T-80 and will need to attack a Challenger or Abrams as a group rather than one on one.

I’ve decided to build a Soviet force which will also double up as a Chinese army as well for gaming in the east.  On top of these there are some BMPs as well, these were the standard APC of the Soviet military, the Chinese only purchased the original BMP-1 from the Soviets, so I would need to purchase BMP-1 to use as part of a Chinese army.

So, what else come in this starter set, well you get an A5 size rule book which is quite handy for travelling. I have purchased an A4 hardback version of the rulebook, but it’s not really necessary.  There are also dice, the unit cards which I’ve mentioned already and a QuickStart guide which also includes instructions on building the miniatures.

So where could you after purchasing this to expand your army, well firstly I’d recommend picking up the appropriate army book as this will aid you in deciding what you should add to your force. Another recommendation to pick up is the Colours of War painting guide as this has a lot of useful information in regards to slapping some paint on the minis.

As I’ve decided to build a Soviet force I’ve already added more tanks to my army in the form of some T-62s and T-55 tanks, these are cheap to field and while they’re not as advanced as the T-80 they can slow you opponent down. My intention is to use them to help flank the evil Western capitalists’ thugs on the battlefield. I’m also looking at air support and will most likely pick up a couple of Mil Mi 24 Helicopters to give my force that additional punch and moveability.

This is a great starter and just like Flames of War it’s great value for money, in the UK it’s retailed at £35, and if you look around it can be found cheaper. I have seen this set on one website for £27 at either price is a bargain. I’d go as far as to say it’s probably worth picking up two sets as this will give you a really great starting army.

Each starter sets from Battlefront for Flames and Team Yankee are probably the best value for money starter boxes on the market. You really can’t go wrong with either, the miniatures in both are exceptional and the rules play out nicely for both games. In fact, at these prices you could get both games.