neděle 28. prosince 2014

Age of Madness: Clear and present Madness expansion

“A professional soldier understands that war means killing people, war means maiming people, war means families left without fathers and mothers.” - General Schwartzkopf

I already reviewed Age of Madness, but Visceral has recently relased free expansion called 
A Clear and Present Madness . And What brings up this new expansion? for 18 page document lots. First thing is new elements - Air support, Arty support, Command posts, air observers and Mounts - horse and other animal riders.  It also includes new non-player elements - civilians, peacekeepers, news crew,factionless fighters and sensitive area (area terrain or marker where units cannot fight). it also include new actions for units such as calling air/arty strikes. New scenario based more on modern combat is included.

What most people asked about, there is rules for larger and smaller games with little twist how to improve your force.

Whole expansion is step out of post-apocalyptic setting into area of modern combat, which is interesting and now you can try, fight Soviets in Fulda Gap, give no quater to Taliban in A-stan or push back Chechnya rebels as leader of  Russian Federation rifle company choice is yours you can download it right here

sobota 27. prosince 2014

Age of Madness introducing to club Spellcross edition

Well since now i dont have much choices to introduce new system to our club Fénix in Pilsen i decided to show AoM different that things before, i will go in series of two armies which i will present to our club.

I will need to build up at least two warbands for Age of Madness and hopefully find someone who will be willing to play since i like this game flexibility (maybe it can also with some modifications used for  Slovakian pc game Spellcross style games  About Spellcross which could attract even fantasy players since there are lot of nice 15mm fantasy figures)




while lot of things can be used and stated as current rules somethings wont - like dragons and flying beasts, mages and cavalry(but cavalry will be in expasion as Rebel minis has been asked with creating PA horse riders for Age of Madness). others are simple for close combat orks simple Blades element  while, Ka-Orks with Blades and hardened 1 attribute, Dark elf archers can be done with Hardened I rifle element, Wolf and Wolf riders could be Blades element with recon and hardened II attribute. Human troops will not use hardened attribute since armoured vest is nice thing but wont stop Ka-Ork axe.

Here is list of some 15mm Fantasy manufacturers
Eureka Miniatures do some nice ranges which can be used for Spellcross:Age of Madness (wow that sound as expansion :D) If you are European based they got UK distributor Fighting 15s

Ral Partha have their own fantasy range Deamonworld which is IMHO little WHFB inspired, sold in bulk packs so you can have you Other side army build up in no time

Tin Soldier also have some fantasy 15mm line but never saw them so i cannot tell

East Riding also have 15mm fantasy range but it is aged and lack details that modern minis have

Khurasan miniatures have also range not inspired by LOTR

Splinter light has extensive range of fantasy miniatures (maybe the largest one)

15mm.co.uk another extensive range of fantasy miniatures but again little aged


So what are you thoughts?





čtvrtek 25. prosince 2014

Warfare in Age of Madness.....

The year is 2066, Global civilization has collapsed, your country no longer exists, your company is your warband......

Warfare in Age of Madness is realitvly new game from Viseceral Impact Studios, and this their only game they do so far. I got this game for chirstmas although i tell my wife that i want this game.
This game is set in post apocalyptic future but not as far as some game, you and your followers are withness the fall, may it be zombie apocalypse, nuclear showers, war and etc. No matter what cause end of the world, the civilization is in ruin and states as we know cease to exist.

WiAoM is approx. company level IGOYGO game with some interesting mechanics, this game has many good points - it is easy to play, it is very cutomizable (in terms of building player armies and scenarios) and armies aren´t big so you can get into play in no time. Players "armies" will be formed of infantry bases, specialist teams and vehicles, the game itself didnt have air units (yet) but almost everything that come into your mind it is possible - you can have heavy weapons teams, AT Gun teams, tanks, apcs even hovercrafts or mechas.

Lets look on basic mechanics of game, as has been written above the system is I go You go, meaning first player will start his turn activating his units and performing actions and then his enemy takes turn. however units can be in Alert  or stalk mode (spending some of their precious Action Points) and then can take action as response to enemy action, they can move, shoot or even charge enemy unit - however the price of alert units they move very very slowly and since game is all about getting resources and loot and more time you use to deal with enemy less resources you will be able to recover, sometimes be cautiones it well worth but sometimes you just need to move quick, and get fast out of you can.

every unit have Action points usually 2(for example moving cost 1 AP while attack or charge cost 2 APs) apart from various units you force also have few attributes which defines how well your forces are organised and how good C2 systems their have first is motivation points  this are points which allow you add one AP to unit per point or allow roll of dice, after turn they replenish - ex-military units will have motivation 5 while bunch of rednecks will have 1 point. another is Network it means how good your communications and command structure is - if command element in alert status it can normaly give units inside command distance 3AP instead of standart 2, better then network is larger the distance is. Teamwork means how good your troops are in terms of performing other actions than shooting for example deploying mines, coordinating flank up maneovers and so on.

last is Moxie which basicly is morale. Speaking of morale there is suppresion system included which use what game named friction points. you are getting friction points if you fail your save (how many depends on if the weapon is blast weapon or not) vehicles can suffer friction points if they also suffer critical hit and stunned. maximum of friction points is 4, your forces will not panic and move of board but became almost uneffective on battlefield until they try to rally, they shoot worse, cannot move.

unlike similiar games (like FOW) WiAoM uses hitpoint system your units have two or more hitpoints (infantry teams for example have 2 HPs, infected horde AKA zombies have 6 HPs and MBT have 8) however if you have medic you can heal up your damaged infantry teams, and if you have enginners they can repair even damaged vehicles if they pass test. shoting is pretty straightforward as 40kay - to hit to wound and save roll, in case of vehicles if you able to score penetrating hit you will also need to roll to see if hit is critical hit - this hits can cause instant 4  Friction points representing stun of crew, disabling weapons or mobility system or destruction of vehicle outright.

Force creation rules are excelent, you will have few choices for your core forces - infantry equipped with blades (variours close combat weapons, excelent choice for various Mad max styled troops) infantry with bolt action  and hunting rifles, to squads equipped with Assault rifles and LMGs, you can little cutomize your troops with various special weapons such as grenade launchers, RPGs and AT weapons,some attributes like NLOS Antitank guided launchers, vehicles are more interesting - you choose hull, type of vehicle (soft skin , Armoured fighting vehicle,mecha,hover or tank), traits such as transport, open topped or some other and then choose weapons as count points (there is some limitations but you create vehicle stats in no time - i created HMMWV with 50.cal in few moments, the designer is flexibile and you can do almost anything. you can enhance your force by recruiting some mercenaries, aquiring zombies you launch on unsuspecting enemy or IED

What maybe someone bother is only one scenario in rules, but dont be afraid the scenario is flexibile and different everytime you play, scenario is about recovering 4 supply cashes, but there is catch you also leaving your own resources on table eg. field camp and if this captured it will cost you many (6) victory points while cache is worth 2 points and 1 for every scavanged loot marker (if you destroy enemy unit loot marker has replace the model this represent resources left behind and you can spend 1 AP to recover them) and also until start of the game you have no idea what will be your deployment zone which creates interesting Fog of War.

What i dont like about rules is lack of campaing rules which this game even scream about them, otherwise nice and solid system i will run few games but as i see it it nice system and with mechanics as their are you can use system for Cold war gone hot or modern wargaming























úterý 23. prosince 2014

Merry Christmas!

Hi, because Christmas time is coming i wanted you all who reading this blog to have nice and happy holidays, Merry Chirstmas and Happy New Year!

Thank you everyone for support, suggestion, following and reading this blog. Battlefield Pilsen has got more popularity this year (according to statistics) and i hope it will do same or even better next year.

To everyone of you have a nice holidays and hope that all your wishes came true. For those of you who are oversees my prayers are with you, return hope safe.
                                                     

Best Wishes

Jan and family

 

středa 17. prosince 2014

It´s a Tiger! Rubicon model Tiger I model kit review

When Rubicon models started annoucing plastic WW2 model kits i was really excited, but i dont need neither Sherman or Panzer IV, but when they annouced Tiger I i know i need one and that is story of Tiger 232.

Rubicon Tiger I Ausf. E Box

Rubicon model came in box with nice artwork, on backside of box you will find some info regarding Sd.kfz.
181 or Tiger I Ausf. E as is more commonly known. There is nice paint guide  similiar to Flames of War quick reference paint guide on their products.

Upon opening box you will find decal sheet, assembly instructions and four sprues containing everything you need to buildup a Tiger tank.
Nice feature is that every sprue is put into plastic bag to limit the transportation damage.
One of the sprues
The sprues are lettered so you will have no problem assembling the vehicle, the instructions are clear with various options for Early,Mid-ware and Late-war options as well with some notes about pieces of equippment. the Sprues use up almost every space, however some stowage sprue would be nice. every part fits nicely so you will build your Tiger in no time.



Instructions and decals
As i wrote instructions are nicely written and if i compared to my Half truck from Warlord Games, i must say
that Rubicon models as generation ahead. the material used is more durable (or it seems) and assembling it much easier as everything fits in. and finaly decal set contains tank numbers, german crosses and also Afrikakorps palms.



Overall i must recommend this kit, first plus is that currently it is only plastic Tiger on scene, second plus for materials used, third for easy assembly. i have no other choice than to recommend this kit. 4 stars of 5 for me
With Warlord Games USMC Figure



Comparing shot with Warlord Games Jarhead and Blitzkrieg miniatures StuH42