Talking of Kickstarter......

and other developments!

Well, things seem pretty brisk in the world of wargaming at the moment and it looks like being a bumper year. Starting with:

Kickstarter news

The Kickstarter for Holdfast Korea is going well. Although sorely tempted I will attempt to hold on to my pennies because Grant Wylie says in his latest newsletter:

"Prior to designing Holdfast Korea, I was working on the design for Holdfast Bulge 1944.  Some of the other titles that have been floated are Vietnam, various Pacific battles, Market Garden, and of course we couldn’t leave Rommel out with North Africa."

I'm not sure about using Kickstarter as a pre-order device but if it gets more games like this to market then I'm a fan.

The other big news this week is The Great War, a Command and Colours WW1 game by Richard Borg and The Plastic Soldier Co. Fantastic. I have signed up for this. It is a traditional CnC game from all accounts and will have a double sided map board (grass/mud) slightly larger than the usual (12 across by 11 deep). I like the scope of the proposed expansions:

"In this core game, the main focus is on a number of WWI trench warfare battles. However, a series of expansions, which will feature early war, Eastern Front scenarios, tanks, airplanes, other national armies, plus more special personnel figures, are already in the planning stage to enhance your WWI gaming experience."

Sounds good, if not quite expensive in the long run. Having said that, one Battlefront army (faction I suppose) for their WW1 game is £65 alone so really this game will be a bargain (I tell myself).

So if this wasn't enough, here is some more good news:

White Dog Games

White Dog have a couple of new small games coming up, Lodz 1914............

and Mollwitz.

The good news is that they do print and play versions of their games for $18, saving on postage and import taxes. With Hold the Line: Frederick's War looking very much unobtainable at the moment (oh dear!), Mollwitz might fill a little of the gap.

Consim World freebies

I have joined in this latest support drive as usual. Consim World is one of my constant companions (yes, very sad). This year's goodies are:

• Head Honcho (air war Korea) and Death Before Dishonour (Spanish-American naval) from High Flying Dice Games. Both nice little games.
• Tigers at Minsk, Norm Smith's wargames rules partially adapted as a board game (well done Norm). More to come on this I think.
• Indian Unity, 1947 scenarios for Panzergrenadier.
• Paper Wars, a sampler issue.

A job well done by everybody. Thinking of HFDG, they have an interesting but very small game out for less than $6 on the German drive to Astrakhan in 1942 (Greyhound vs Bear). This will be worth a spin.

Wargames rules

Blucher is now out and happily costs less than £30 from North Star for the rule book. PBI III is also out. While Blucher is very very tempting, I just can't afford to get into PBI which seems to be different in many respects from its predecessors (both of which I own). Maybe I'll just wait for the reviews before making a decision.

I have paid a visit to Wargames Vault recently. There are two things on the list for consideration:

• WSS Polemos. Having played around again with my Cocked Hex game, it might be useful to see how its done properly! Can I decide what size to order though, tactical or operational?
• No End in Sight: "The M113 is burning behind you, the Reds are coming on strong. the platoon is in bad shape and mortar support is nowhere to be seen." A platoon level set of rules for modern battles from Nordic Weasel the FiveCore people. And its on sale!

Last but not least....

Here is a very neat little free game called Panjiway by John Weingardt. He was a serving Canadian soldier and designed this game about counter-insurgency warfare in Afghanistan while actually on counter-insurgency duties in Afghanistan. Three pages of rules and a very neat little system. Get it from BGG.

And one very last thing, a little One-Hour Wargames rules set for WW2 called Hot Chow. Having just finished E B Sledge's "With the Old Breed", I can verify that "hot chow" features regularly through a US soldiers service.