Posted By RockoRobotics

The Tabletop Battlefield Presents The Recon Report

News Stories Covered

Most Recent Episode

Posted By RockoRobotics

Other
Gaming Resources
* The Tabletop Battlefield Podcast
*The Twitter Account of the Tabletop Battlefield
*My Delicious Feed

Terms of Service/Privacy Info can be found here.

Copyright Information can be found here.

Powered by Primus - http://www.rockosoftware.com

Welcome to the home of the Army Showcase and The Tabletop Battlefield Podcast.

Our goal is simple:
We want to make it easy for gamers to manage their miniature war game army lists and share the lists with other online communities.

Take a look around and see what our members have posted by using the search tools to the right, or Get Started posting army lists and other articles.

Have questions or comments? Contact us at or use the Contact Form


Other
Gaming Resources
* The Tabletop Battlefield Podcast
*The Twitter Account of the Tabletop Battlefield
*My Delicious Feed

Terms of Service/Privacy Info can be found here.

Copyright Information can be found here.

Posted By RockoRobotics

G.U.A.R.D Battleforce

Posted By RockoRobotics

Review of Monsterpocalypse by Privateer Press

Posted By RockoRobotics

MW:AOD Nuclear Plant

MW:AOD Helipad

Other Resources:

Basing With Free Materials - From the Warp

Upgrading the Tau Missile Battery - Youtube by Lexicon 1971

Green Gaming

Past Projects

Posted By RockoRobotics

First Look at Monsterpocalypse By Privateer Press

Posted By RockoRobotics

Making Warhammer 40K Exceptionally Violent

Posted By RockoRobotics

My First Cygnar Battle Force

Active Forces

Battle History

Reserve Forces

Posted By TestStore

The new venue services offered by the online army showcase allow the posting of upcoming one time and weekly events. Members of the Online Army Showcase can also register their posted armies for events.

Demo Game Store at 123 Fake Street

Our Photo Gallery

Posted By RockoRobotics

Avalon Hill has created a simple and clean set of rules to simulate World War II Squad combat. Too bad they decided to go with the "screw the customer" route by selling the game in blind boosters.

Though since the game is 15mm scale, you can play "Screw Avalon Hill" because 15mm World War II figures are commonly available.

If you are looking for a simple World War II game, try this one out, it will probably be worth the money for the starter set.

After having negative experiences with several collectible miniatures games, it's quite difficult for me to get excited about starting a new one. Monsterpocalypse seems to be an exception to this rule, but we will see how that goes next month. In the mean time, I was able to get a hold of a starter set for Avalon Hill's Axis and Allies collectible miniature game. While this game has not got me back on to the side of “collectible miniature games rule!”, there are quite a few nice things about this game.

The starter set comes with 10 pre-painted plastic figures. Four of the 10 figures are tanks and the rest are infantry. In terms of nationality, there are four German pieces, four American pieces, one Soviet tank, and one British tank. Two beautiful and effective maps provide ample space for small games. A quick start book will help explain the basics of combat while a complete rule book includes all of the rules for the game. Each of the 10 figures has a matching full color start card and a stat card for the Panzer IV tank can be found in the rule book. Dice and counters are also included in the box. Despite the number of items in the box, there simply isn't enough figures in the box to properly enjoy the game. Thats why in the pictures of the review, we are using Starcraft pieces to expand the game.

Collectible miniature games tend to have incredibly simple rules. In this case, the rules are simple and work quite well. The hex based maps allow for easy movement, quick range measurement, and effective line of sight checks. When it comes to combat, each card has a simple table which tells how many dice to roll for a given target type at a specified range. Unit damage is tracked with a set of simple tokens. There is a lot of dice rolling and many attacks will have little effect on the enemy, but once a solid it or two scored, tanks start dying quickly. To some extent, this probably accurately reflects tank combat because an attack on a tank which either breech the armor or bounce off. Rules for aircraft support are included, but there are no aircraft included to test these rules. Another knock on the starter set game play is that the two sides are not balanced. The early war Panzer III tank included in the starter set cannot stand against the more powerful Allied tanks. Though allowing the German player to use the Panzer IV stat card found in the rule book should make things more balanced.

Axis and Allies is distributed in five figure blind boosters which retail for around $10 to $11. Though I say screw Avalon Hill and their blind booster system. Axis and Allies figures are in 15mm scale.(Though the package says “Now with Bigger Tanks, so maybe the tanks are not quite 15mm). 15mm World War II figures are commonly used in other games such as Flames of War. Just look on e-bay for the stat cards you want and then purchase the figures from another source. But if you really want to know about the figures for this game, they are on par with other collectible miniature games. The tanks have a basic coat of paint with a wash or two applied. The infantry have average paint jobs as some of the colors are a little sloppy. I didn't have any problems quality-wise with any of my figures.

When purchasing this game, don't look at it as if you are buying into another collectible miniatures game. Due the availability of 15mm World War II figures, think of it as more of a traditional game system. Avalon Hill has a quick playing and clean set of rules here. If you want a simple World War II theme game, try this one out.

Review of Axis and Allies Collectible Miniatures Game

Posted By RockoRobotics

Forest Tiger Division - Tau Empire

Army Photos

Tau Forest Tigers - Army Composition

Tau Forest Tiger Tactics

News and Battle History of the Tau Forest Tigers

Posted By sys_root_user

The Miniature War Game Community

Podcasts

Blogs

News

Army Home Pages

Community Sites

Web Comics

Posted By RockoRobotics

As Wizkids support for Mechwarrior dries up, local player groups will pick up the slack and continue to carry the game. The problem that we will encounter is that the local groups will modify and adapt the rules to their liking. In order to allow players to move from group to group these rule changes need to be accessible to all players. My goal is to collect as many rule sets as possible and make them available here.

If you want to contribute, either send me a your rules, or better yet, post a page here on the Army Showcase.

MechWarrior House Rules Project

Posted By RockoRobotics

MechWarrior - Life After Wizkids Prize Support

Posted By RockoRobotics

WARMACHINE Assassins Multiplayer Game

Posted By RockoRobotics

Is Privateer Press Learning From the Past?

Posted By Lord_Lucius

As far as the imperium knows the Angels of Caliban are a succesor chapter of the Dark Angels. The truth however stems back to the end of the Horus Heresy and the Dark Angels terrible secret.

I am now done working on a Baneblade,M new command squad and Master and have started my Macharius Vulcan Tank,and Devastator squad
I will hopefully have a site up for my necrons soon as well.

ANGELS OF CALIBAN'S 3RD COMPANY

Posted By RockoRobotics

This is my first complete Cygnar Battleforce. I have not competed with it, but I'm planning to enter it into a tournament at some point.

I chose Nemo because of his devastating feat. In demo games I played it often ruined the opponents attack. Also with plenty of disruption on his weapons, Opposing Warjacks in melee will suffer a serious reduction in effectiveness. And the overcharge ability is just cool, especially when combined with the Sentinel.

Sword Knights a decent troop selection and will focus on eliminating enemy infantry.

The Sentinel will back up the Sword Knights and provide them with some covering fire.

The Defender is the main attacker in the force(Ironic name if you think about it). Its combines massive firepower with a brutal hammer to solve all of its problems.

350 Points

Cygnar BattleForce - FireWalkers

Posted By RockoRobotics

Warhammer 40K 5th edition is in wild and in the event you have not picked up your copy yet(You didn't attend a midnight release party?) here is what you are getting:

A close to 300 page book where 2/3 of it is in full color.

About the first 100 pages are the new rules. This is the section which is not in full color. I have not read through everything yet, but it looks like they did a good job of explaining the rules and some of their reasoning for the rules. From the few 5th edition games I have played, I am really liking the new rules. To see some details on the battles, check this out. The one thing missing from this section is a review of what rules have been changed and or removed. I have seen printouts with listings of the major rule changes, but even these are not comprehensive.

The next pages or so are a look into the grim darkness of the 41st Millennium. Each of major races(including the new Daemons) have a section talking a little bit about their history and fighting style. Most of them include a story about a famous battle that faction won.

After the background information, the next 100 pages include detailed hobby information with lots of full color pictures of figures, terrain, and battles. Once again, every race has a section and there is one final section giving an overview of painting and modding figures. Also included in this section is a sample five battle campaign to demonstrate a way to create campaigns.

To finish out the book, GW included the basic stats of all the units in the game. I have been told that some of these stats are the not the same as the ones found in the current run of codices. In a little bit, I will run through both the Tau and Tyranid sections to see if any of those units have changed.

That is about it for this book. With all things considered, this book is worth the $50 and though I cannot say for sure, I think 5th edition will be nice improvement to the universe of Warhammer 40K.

Warhammer 40K 5th Edition Rule Book

Posted By RockoRobotics

Overview: WARMACHINE is a skirmish level miniature war game with diverse tactical options and unique character types.

Quick Summary: WARMACHINE is one of the best games I have ever played. Find someone who owns the game and play it.

Anything bad? - Yes. The lack of training material can make the game difficult to learn.[Addition: You can get everything to get started here for Free!]

Review of WARMACHINE by Privateer Press

Posted By RockoRobotics

Mechwarrior Unrestricted Rules
Alternate Rules for Mechwarrior Age of Destruction

Posted By TheBattlefield

This is the Tyranid patrol which appeared on Episode 3 of the Battlefield

I am going to add some more stuff to this page later.

Tyranid Patrol - 400 Points

Posted By RockoRobotics

I was thinking a while back about what miniature games exist for our younger audience. Sure there are plenty of simple board games out there, but who really wants to play Candy Land? Some of Wizkids games are pretty simple, but the pocket models pieces are difficult even for me to assemble and I would imagine that some parents do not want their children playing games based off mature video games(Halo ActionClix). Heroscape is good bet for children 10 and up, but what up the K-3 grades?

I have one possible solution for you. I was wondering through the after Christmas clearance isle looking for a replacement to the Indoor RC Helicopter I trashed(More on this in later articles) and I found a miniatures game by Hasbro called Attacktix. There appears to be several versions of the game featuring Hasbro's various toy licenses. (Star Wars, Transformers, and Comic book heroes). So I picked up the Transformers started set for only 8.99 to see if it was possible for kids to actually play this game, as the recommended age is 6+.

Long story short – it is. The game is played on any hard surface, and while there is no mention of terrain in the rules, there is no reason various objects could not perform that role. Game play consists of units moving and then attacking. Unlike other miniature games, there is no measuring involved. Each unit can move a certain amount of 'Tix'. As the figure is pushed along the board, it will make an audible ticking noise. The controlling player counts the number of 'Tix' to determine how far the figure has moved. Combat is simple and fun. There are no dice to roll or damage resolution charts. Every unit has some sort of spring loaded weapon. These range from projectiles to various close combat weapons. Damage resolution is simple. If a figure is knocked over, it is removed from play. And when a figure is “destroyed” it may have a special ability which allows it to perform one final action. Squad construction is about the only thing that is similar to other games. Each figure is assigned a point value and each player brings a certain amount of figures whose point values equal a predetermined build total. My only one complaint has to do with the fact that the figures are sold in random boosters.

That pretty much sums up the rules, so as long as your kid understands why he/she should not point a spring loaded weapon at their eye and pull the trigger, I think they can handle this game. It is never to early to get your kid started in gaming and to teach then valuable lessons like always aim for the head.

Attacktix - Miniature War Gaming for Kids Ages 6+

Posted By RockoRobotics

Michicon 2008 - June 13th -14th 2008 on the Campus of Oakland University in Rochester Hills MI

Posted By RockoRobotics

Update 6-22-2007:
Episode 14 of the Tabletop Battlefield is a full review of this game if you are interested in checking it out.

-------------------------

This evening, I was able to pick up one of the Imperial Power Up Packs and several boosters for Star Wars Pocket Model by Wizkids. I have had the chance to get in one game with Ryan(from episode 8), so here are a few preliminary comments I have on the game.

The game play is rather quick. I think out game lasted less then 30 minutes with 20 build stars and 26 cards per deck.

The rules are not too hard to figure out, but there are some things were not explained to well. At least there is already an FAQ out.

We are still putting together the strategy of the game, but there is a lot in constructing a deck which best suits your fleet. My favorite part is that the aggressive player is favored.

My only complaint with the game is that it is possible to get stuck in an endless chase sequence. The FAQ addresses this with a somewhat clunky solution.

Overall my first game was fun and not only do I look to play this game some more, but also to expand on the basic rules.

I am expecting to dedicate a full episode of the Tabletop Battlefield to review this game in the near future.

Star Wars Pocket Model Preview