By Aaron Kamakawiwoole
Hey Reader!
A new tabletop war game is hitting the scene this March: the Starcraft Tabletop Miniatures Game (hereafter “Starcraft”). I purchased their promo figure for Zeratul to see the quality of the models they’re producing and how easy they are to assemble.
By Kreighton Long
This past December I was introduced by a friend to a new hobby store in Culpeper, Virginia — Brickhammer. I quickly made a trip to the store and met the owner, Kevin, and offered my services as someone who knows a bit about Bolt Action. He eagerly accepted my offer and we scheduled a demo game at the store in January. This was my first demo game and I challenged myself to do quality work for a group of potential new players.
Let’s see a game in action with the Germans attacking a French in No Retreat. We choose 100 points, for our forces.
The French have a Chasseur Company with:
The Germans have a light tank company with:
No Retreat was the mission, with French selecting defend and Germans selecting attack as their stances. French choose to be on the side of the table closest to the camera in this picture.
View from the other direction, note catzilla on the loose. His cuteness was fully effective.
Deployment has the front placing their 4 minefields to close off the left and center as best they can, presenting the Germans with cross checks to get to the nearer objective. The far objective is close to the woods, it’s an S35 Somua on a big base (which was the Charles Degaull special hero from way back when.)
One French infantry platoon is deployed to the left flank all around the objective. The 25mm anti-tank platoon is in front of the church, the 47 mm anti-tank platoon is next to the graveyard, the right flank has another French infantry platoon. The French 105s are on the left flank close to the objective, and the 81mm mortars are roughly in the center around the objective. The 25mm AA platoon is on the hill. The Panhards and S35s are in reserve and the Laffly platoon is in ambush.
The Germans set up their 88 on the hill and they choose the French left flank as the side to press:
The Germans press up the side and the French on turn 2 spring their ambush of Laffly tank hunters. Two French infantry teams and sent out to assault and make contact with a bailed out Panzer I. A Panzer II comes in for the counterattack and after a bit of back and forth the Panzer II fails to counterattack which converts a couple of bails to kills.
With so many bails due to higher firepowers, an ambush and assault combo can be especially effective, but is not easy to pull off.
Another vantage point of the German attack. The 88 up on the far hill in the upper left was shooting down into the town trying to pick off the French anti-tank guns. The French 25mm and 47mm anti-tank guns would often bail out German armor who would then get back in.
The Panzerjager Is crept down the road and the other light panzer platoon came around the other side of the house. Lots of targets for the French guns, but likewise hit on 3 French were having to roll well for saves AND take advantage of the higher German firepowers to hold on just a bit longer.
As expected the Laffly trucks were machine gunned to death. They did try and shoot and scoot but failed. The German point of the spear was annoyed but not out of action yet.
The French guns continued to hold, which allowed the French reinforcements time to arrive. The Panhards first and then the Somuas, the timing was about the same turn that the 25mm French anti-tank guns finally start to crumble.
The light tank company is getting ready to dash across for a daring assault against the 25mm anti-tank gun, with the French formation HQ in the church to assist in the assault. Note just out of frame on the right are where the 47mm anti-tank guns used to be leaving just the 25mm AA guns off on the hill and the Panhards coming up to reinforce.
Another picture before the assault, note that the 81mm mortar teams are in the graveyard. They had moved up to bombard the 88 and were able to eliminate it.
Here you can see just before the assault, which was successful, however what would follow was the breaking of the German formation. The French AA guns, the 5 Panhards, 4 Somuas and some of the 105s doing direct fire would bail out / eliminate enough tanks that all that needed to happen was the French HQ to come out and auto win an assault against the German HQ. Even then the poor German offensive was not likely to be within 8″ of an objective by turn 6 to keep the game going. The French were able to delay the Germans enough such that either way it was going to be a French victory this time.
Given firepower values are generally higher in early war, assaults are even more important to eliminate units either on the attack or the defense. Artillery direct fire guns with a firepower of 3+ are especially valuable.
German 88s with their range and 3+ firepower can be super effective but they are not cheap.
A front armor of 3 as found on the Panzer IIIes, and the Panzer IIs is pretty effective. The French AT9 anti-tank assets are good and post game I would recommend the 75mm French artillery guns over the 105s simply to have their dual role as anti-tank guns and as artillery.
The Laffly tank hunters are laughable. They are glass cannons in the extreme, you’ll get one round of fire and they will get machine gunned to death.
German tankers need artillery to back them up. Infantry that isn’t backed up with anti-tank guns however can be easily assaulted by tanks. Just remember not to rolls 1’s when the infantry hit you and keep the HQ around to give yourself re-rolls to help with counter attacking.
While this game didn’t include German air assets the Stukas are something to consider for an AT3, 2+ Firepower artillery template.
Early war is very fun, you’ll experience bail out results more often with armor. Infantry / Gun teams will be harder to kill with the less effective weapons so when you roll 5’s and 6’s it is all the more sweet to enjoy the moment of success.
By Aaron Kamakawiwoole
Hey Reader!
Kreighton gave an excellent overview of the new Third Edition supplement for the Armies of Imperial Japan, and today we’re continuing in our review of the book by looking at some of the highlights for new units in the book.
Japan has a lot of interesting, thematic, and powerful options, so today we will highlight some of the unique choices that will make your army feel fresh and unique from the rest of your collection.
By Kreighton Long
The most recent addition to Warlord Games‘ Bolt Action Third Edition is enroute in the form of Armies of Imperial Japan. This latest edition comes in at just under 100 pages and is full to the brim with exciting and unique units, Osprey illustrations, and photographs of miniatures in action.
Happy New Year to all! Today we have Wes Crawford and Ryan Heilman from Wharf Rat game on to talk about Forlorn Hope, a push your luck game set in the Great War. Since Wes and Ryan are both long time friends of the show, you can expect us to cover a wide range of interesting topics.
By Richard Steer
Every year, our wargaming club in Upper Hutt, New Zealand, runs a one-day tournament for club members at the final meeting of the year. Named Remember December, this event commemorates club member Nick Garden, who passed away in 2015. The 2025 edition of the event was held on 13 December, playing Flames of War.
Remember December often has a themed format or unusual list restrictions, and this year was no exception, The format used was 55-points Late War, with infantry formations only. In addition, your force could not include more than one tank unit, a maximum of four vehicles, and a maximum Front Armor of 7. Three 1.5-hour rounds were to be played using the Extended Battle Plans mission selector, and each player had to use each stance once during the event.
By Tom Gall
We’ve all been patiently waiting for early war to make the return to Flames of War, time to feast your eyes on the French part of release for version 4. Unfortunately when Germany turned their focus west in May of 1940, a brief few weeks and the French would be knocked out of the war, which as a result means this is a faction for early war only.
I first started playing French during the earlier release of Blitzkrieg for Flames of War version 2 back in late 2010. What drew me was the desperate struggle of one of the largest militaries at the start of WWII, on the defensive against the German onslaught, putting up the good fight that would ultimately not go their way due to a whole host of tactical reasons. The French are plucky, unique and offer up unit selections that can work for offensive and defensive stances.
No matter if you’re an old hand or a new to Flames of War, the French as a faction in Early War brings good tanks, reasonable infantry, and good artillery that can win you games. In this article we will crawl through just the French part of the release, note their strengths and point out their weaknesses too. They might be just the force for you.
By Richard Steer
The Early-War era has returned to Flames of War. 2026 and 2027 will see the release of three books covering the period from 1939 to 1941 for the 4th Edition of the rules. The first book in the series is Blitzkrieg, covering the French, German, and British forces involved in the German invasion of France in May and June 1940.
The British list in Blitzkreig represents the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France and Belgium. It covers those units present from the start of the invasion, through the evacuation from Dunkirk, and those still fighting after Dunkirk.
By Michael Rafferty
Look it’s Springtime! The long-awaited and much anticipated release of Early War is finally upon us. I know it’s not the late-war Italy book that literally tens have been clamoring for, but this is a solid release. We’re starting things off with Blitzkrieg, covering the invasion of France. Sorry Poland, someday you’ll have a list again. Blitzkrieg contains lists for the Germans, French, and British all themed around the forces that fought in France. Today we are going to look at the German forces.
