Lead Empires

In many western nations the military conscript service ended at the end of the Cold War. This led to fewer and fewer people who have first hand experience with military structures and organisations. The ever brilliant Lindybeige explains in simple terms what platoons and companies are, how they are structured and function.  Enjoy Platoons Infantry companies Tank platoons

Most of us began wargaming with one or the other ruleset, started a single battle (or series of battles) with our friends on a weekend. Next weekend: Rinse, repeat and play again. After a while said ruleset becomes kind of stale and boring and you move on to the next game system. Well, have you ever wanted to keep your favorite system interesting? Spicing games up and playing a full scale campaign might do the trick: epic space battles, daring assaults from orbit, large scale land warfare and special ops for key objectives. What's not to like?  Enter: Jon Tuffley's rules-set (Full Thrust, Dirtside II and Stargrunt II by Ground Zero Games) allows you to play a scenario-driven full spectrum sci-fi warfare campaign which makes it possible to play battles from the largest, most epic to the very smallest.  (Yes, I admit ... I am a fan boy.) Much inspiration for such campaigns can be drawn from real life military history. A short while ago I found the Kings and Generals channel on Y...

 Okay, this APC by RAFM is a mixed bag as you will see in the close-ups.  I really like the design. Seriously! It is sleek, modern looking and something that would be a logical evolution of some IRL modern IFVs that popped-up lately (i.e. the swedish CV-90 or the german Puma IFVs). The vehicle is a one-piece solid resin cast with a small metal turret and four struts (landing gear). The details are good with exceptions (see below). Now, here is what is not so pretty. There is noticable flash at the mold lines. This will require some work to remove. The cast is a bit warped and uneven in some areas of the hull. However, I think this won't be very apparent once the APC is painted. On the table and with growing distance to the eye these areas will be too small and too hard to notice. What I like less is the small turret. IMHO it could be a bit larger and maybe more 'technical'. I might replace it with something from other kits. More on that in the future when I start my project...

 This is first metal mini in this review.  The Advanced Grav Lift Infantry Assault Vehicle is from the grav vehicle range (obviously) from Ground Zero Games -  the big grand daddy of 15mm scifi gaming. It's a multi-piece mini and quite chunky in comparison. The details of the vehicle are very nice. There is some very, minor flash and no 'miscast' whatsoever. The overall quality is very good. In terms of size it falls inbetween the AA and DSG vehicles