Innehållsförteckning för March 2024 från Miniature Wargames

This mini-campaign is for the Stargrave ruleset using its solo supplement Dead or Alive. DoA is a free download available from the Osprey website and this campaign assumes that you have both a copy of the Stargrave rules and DoA. This is the concluding scenario: the earlier scenarios plus the initial background for the campaign can be found in last two issues. This third part is very, very silly and was mostly inspired by listening to the Anglo-Swiss metal band GloryHammer. CK. OUR STORY SO FAR… The planet of Inisfawl has fallen to the machinations of the Chaos Wizard Gormanrod. He has seized control of the LionstarHaus space station and plans to use the psychic power of the population to free the wizard Zargothrax from his icy prison. Having used…

In part one of this two part series I described how I scratch built this master model for the Fantasy/Historical game Pax Bochemannica which pits Orc Noman Legionaries against Boche Halflings. Once built, the master was cast in resin by Maveryc Games/Hysterical Games but that was over ten years ago and – having recently rediscovered the model and tidied up the rough casting – I really wanted to give it a very special paint job deserving of its rarity. I’ll start by saying that the resin model was badly miscast with a base that was 10mm thick on one side and then super thin on the other. I used a belt sander (which I employed while wearing a facemask and goggles) to level up the base and then ensured a…

A HEX ON YOU ALL Ready made war game hexes Gamexcraft has launched a new product line of Terrain Hexes which in both 4” and 8”, CNC cut from XPS foam, with an option to for MDF bases. Because they are machine cut, this ensures accuracy plus seamless integration. Being XPS foam they are customizable: gamers can paint them for different settings and the two sizes are flexible with the 4 inch (between flats) suitable for smaller scales like 3mm – 10mm and the 8 inch better for 15mm and higher. They come as singles and multiples and have the option of an MDF bases (again CNC cut) to insure perfect precision plus extra robustness. They also make a gluing jig to help with assembly where needed and – obviously…

ISLAND HOPPING Game mechanisms for handling amphibious landings are tough to find. In many ways, the logistical headache of putting on an amphibious landing game, which after all is pretty much like storming a very well-defended fortification, puts a lot of gamers off from considering the Pacific theatre at all. Compared to the popularity of North-West Europe (1944-45), the Eastern Front (1941-45), the Desert War (1940-43) and the fall of the West (1940), the Pacific War is badly catered for in many ways. Perhaps that is why the war in the Pacific is often referred to as “the other world war two”. THEATRE OF OPERATIONS We all know about some of the larger amphibious landings on Iwo Jima and Okinawa, but let’s focus on the so-called “South West Pacific Area” (SWPA) which…

Last month Chris showed us how to assemble a handful of human and alien crews to adventure in the ongoing mission at the final frontier. As a follow-on Mr Abbey gives us a classic Trek scenario for a crew aboard the USS Cousteau: archaeology in space with Alien confrontation thrown in for good measure! Ed. INTRODUCTION The following scenario has been designed to be played solo or with multiple players using Pulp Alley. If you have not come across Pulp Alley, it is a great set of skirmish rules, full of choices and trade offs that is perfect for gaming any genre from Cavemen through to the Final Frontier and beyond (it is also great for the Pulp era!). A free PDF copy of the rules can be downloaded from…

Dice. Despite the number of card based (or card accessorised) wargaming systems, if there’s one thing that says ‘toy soldier games’ it’s dice. But what sort? Leaving aside the strange Roman dodecahedrons that archaeologists still can’t indentify a purpose for, along with those platonic shapes contemplated at length by the Greeks (though I don’t think Plato played many RPGs), for millennia most people played games with six sided dice. I have an ongoing debate with those that tend to call D6 ‘normal’ dice (after all – in this day and age – what qualifies as ‘normal’?) but even six sided dice have been… adapted. For example, GW invented (or at least I think they take the credit for) ‘scatter dice’: six siders with arrows marked on them so that throwing…

A couple of months back I attended Warfare: the wargaming weekend at the Farnborough International Exhibition & Conference Centre (which moved there last year). Organised by the Wargames Association of Reading it’s one of the few remaining shoes that runs for a two day weekend, hosts demon and party games plus a sizable competition section and an extensive trade show (plus a Bring and Buy). Leaving aside an intervening attempt at Ascot race track a couple of years ago, this is a big step up from the venue they previously occupied in Reading: there’s lots of free parking and a large and spacious double hall (well: big shed, really) which reminds me (in terms of the style of venue at any rate) of the venues for Hammerhead, Partizan and Salute.…

PREMISE In 1905 an entertaining book was published as a primer for junior army officers: who could foresee the widespread impact it would have! Its author – Captain E. D. Swinton, D.S.O., R.E. – would later be a forefather of the armoured tank used in the First World War. The format he would employ as a training device: the learner experiences a series of “dreams” in which they apply the learnings until they achieve ultimate success. This would be used in other derivative books, even those applied to modern war. It would be used in computer games and also animations on YouTube. Amazingly, a very similar format was also an inspiration for the Tom Cruise movie Edge of Tomorrow (2014). The script was from a novel by Hiroshi Sakurazaka but…