April 2023 review
One Third of 2023 is already behind us and I'm looking forward to the next gaming events.
I managed to combine one of my business trips with a visit to a gaming club and had a good time at Fantasy-Spiele Würzburg e.V., you can read up on my visit here.
The event schedule is updated, and I'm trying to make my visit to BOYL happen this year!
Terrain Basics – A Desert Table
As mentioned in the recap, I got my hands on some Gale Force 9 - Battlefield in a Box badlands scenery. I saw them at Frontline Games on Tactica, but I ordered them after the show, so I would have less to carry.
The Battlefield in a Box items come prepainted and are quite sturdy, so a perfect base to build a table around / upon. They are produced by Gale Force 9 (who got bought by Battlefront - the company behind Flames of War - a while back) and a distributed from New Zealand, but availability has improved a lot.
March 2023 review
Thanks for taking a joke like a champ! Had fun with this years April fools, our own Chaosbunker Hobby Paints!
Bolt Action Campaign Italy – Soft Underbelly
The Bolt Action campaign content about Italy was spread across two campaign books, Soft Underbelly, which we will cover today and Tough Gut, which will be available in the next months.
Campaign Italy: Soft Underbelly was released in autumn 2022, accompanied with a first wave of updated miniatures (incl. plastics) for the Italian forces. The 176 pages cover the first major operation of the Western Allies, moving forward from North Africa towards South Europe / Italy, with Operation Husky via Sicily onto the Italian Peninsula towards Rome. As for the Mediterranean campaign, this is chronologically the book after The Western Desert.
February 2023 review
February was mostly about two things - the Battle for Uulda Adeptus Titanicus gaming event and visting Hamburg Tactica!
On Tactica I wrote an event report, as well covered my haul from the day.
Hamburg Tactica 2023 Loot
After the event coverage, here's my loot post from Hamburg Tactica 2023.
I got myself some reinforcements for World War 2, adding the Bofors gun by Rubicon for my 8th Army and got the new Sd.Kfz. 250 plastic kit for review purposes. The large Start Collecting! Box for Age of Sigmar covering the new mortal Chaos, was something I got from Fritz the Brushzerker, I've been tempted by that box for a long time and the updated range really speaks to me. Maybe we will see more of them as I got my hands on the army box, including the new Daemon Prince as well.
Hamburg Tactica 2023
After 4 years, we're back at TACTICA in Hamburg! Our last visit was back in 2019.
TACTICA is Germanys largest wargaming convention and usually held in february (this varied in the last years a bit) in the Wilhelmsburg Community Center. I'll talk about how to plan a trip and combine the show with other things in Hamburg in a separate post. The show is open two days, Saturday and Sundays and usually the first is the more crowded one.
TACTICA covers trade stands and participation / demo rounds of various games, in different scales and settings. You'll find historical as well as ficitional setups, with detailed tables and many wargaming clubs work all year to prepare their demos for the show.
Bolt Action Sd.Kfz. 165 Hummel
The German counter part for the Allied 105mm HMC M7 Priest SPG in my late war projects would be the Sd.Kfz. 165 Hummel SPG, which we will cover in todays review. This article was prepared a while ago and now finished from the drafts into a proper review.
Like the M7 Priest SPG, the Hummel is a made to order kit by Warlord Games. They are usually not high numbers on stock and you will probably rarely find them on shelf at your FLGS, but as they are not Mail Order exclusive, you can order them either directly or have your store add them to their next delivery. The Hummel might not be shipped in a boxed set with printed artwork, but a neutral packaging (often a green ammo box) with a sticker on it. As this kit has been in my collection for quite some time (and in draft since 2018), mine came wrapped in simple bubble wrap with a sticker on it.
January 2023 review
What was January all about? Well, getting my Legio Astraman Titans painted. I did two updates on the Ad Arma series of them, a recap of the gaming weekend as well as a show case of the Legios participating.