Lock 'N Load Publishing Bonanza

 Feast your eyes on the splendor!

 

 I had one of the most glorious care packages known to man land on my doorstep. I am surprised it did not come by helicopter or get dropped off like a resupply mission out of the back of a C-47 with a parachute attached. These are the games that showed up (along with a handy truss to carry them in):

"Close Quarter Battles (CQB) is a tactical game system that allows players to recreate specific actions from the most famous battles in the horse-and-musket era. The series begins with the Battle of Waterloo on June 18, 1815, focusing on the assaults on the fortified farms of La Haye Sainte and Hougoumont. It hopes to demonstrate how ferocious the fighting was around these iconic locations, which still bear the scars of that famous day.

Ju 87 Stuka Ace – You can play a single Mission or simulate the entire career of a Stuka Ace. Your Mission is to destroy as many targets as possible while advancing your pilot skills and increasing your personal rank and awards. Starting with operations in Poland in 1939 until the last actions in Soviet territory in 1944/45. 

World at War 85 – WaW85 Series is a fast and furious platoon-level combat, set in 1985, in an alternate history of World War III, when the Warsaw Pact armies storm across the border of East Germany in a powerful attempt to seize West Germany and the whole of Free Europe.  The WaW85 system features a unique combat system that involves die rolls by both attacking units and defending units, which keeps both players engaged throughout the game.

Point Blank – Point Blank is a World War 2 tactical squad-level card game where players maneuver forces to attack or defend objectives defined in scenarios. Game components are represented by cards consisting of squads, vehicles, support weapons, and leaders. Counters are included with the game and are used to mark player forces with information about the condition or state of a unit and a solitaire option is also included, well as team play.

Glory and Empire Series - First Victories: Wellington versus Napoleon. This series offers a fresh and dynamic approach to grand tactical command, maneuver, and combat during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic periods. The system is designed to provide fast-paced gameplay while maintaining historical accuracy and a wealth of detail."

 I would like you to take a close look at the packaging. If you are sharped eye enough, you will notice the absence of something that has been coming with boxed wargames for many years. That is right, there are no peanuts!!! Peanuts are the bane of every wargamer. True, some companies do send out the ecofriendly ones that you are supposed to be able to eat. However, even if they are palatable, go ahead and try. I will not; they still get static and stick to everything. I swear, sometimes my wife is less upset about the actual buying of the game compared to a kitchen full of the darned things. They are sometimes as bad as the Tribbles that were on the Enterprise. Grognards rejoice! We have been liberated from this horrible menace!

 The games also came with canvas maps for four of the games. Ju 87 Stuka Ace came with the special neoprene mat.

The pictures need no caption for anyone who has read about Waterloo. For those that haven't, the first two are of La Haye Sainte, and the latter two are of Hougomont.

 This is the neoprene mat that can be purchased for JU 87 Stuka Ace:

  I have been waiting patiently for the release of JU 87 Stuka Ace and it will definitely be the first game that I review. After that, I believe I will step back in time and delve into Lock 'N Load's new series First Victories Wellington versus Napoleon.

 This is from the Gamefound page of JU 87 Stuka Ace:

 Lock 'N Load Publishing has also started using AI to assist the player with their Rulebooks that they put online. You can see that they have a lot of the newer games' Rulebooks already posted along with some older ones. They actually have all of their Rulebooks available to peruse online on their website. The first link goes to all of their Rulebooks and the second goes to the JU 87 Stuka Ace AI enhanced Rulebook:

https://library.lnlpublishing.com/

https://library.lnlpublishing.com/books/bqoc/#p=1

Robert Peterson

Lock 'N Load Publishing

PS. Yes, that is a Mig 15 and a JU 52 in the background.

Old School Tactical Volume 4: Italian Theater 1943-45

A Mark H. Walker Game

Designed by Shayne Logan

by

Flying Pig Games

 Churchill's 'Soft Underbelly of Europe' did not seem so soft or easy as Churchill had in mind. The Allies had knocked Italy out of the war with the invasion of the Italian mainland at Salerno. Unfortunately, they forgot to tell the Germans to take their ball and go home. 'Smiling Al' Kesselring was going to make the Allies pay for every inch of Italian soil that they took. The mountains and rivers of Italy were the perfect natural barriers for the Germans to use to make the Allied offensive a slow grinding process. Even after Rome had fallen, Germans did not give up and were still a thorn in the Allied side until the end of the war.

 This is what comes with the game:

3 sheets of unit, weapon, vehicle, and condition counters

A large (We are talking HUGE!) 30" x 41" mounted game map, hexes are 1"

27 luck cards, such as Tank Killer, No More, and Veteran Skills

40+ unit data cards

Full-color Playbook with 14 scenarios, including SAS Raiders- British SAS commandos search for the Italian howitzers to protect the landings in Sicily and Fallen Allies- with the capitulation of the Italian state, the Germans moved quickly to seize power.  Some Italian units did not go peacefully.

2 x player aid cards

Color rule book

Dice

Massive box  

 The Soaring Swine have, and rightly so, a reputation for beautiful and huge, not just large, wargames. The components that come inside this extremely large box are completely up to that reputation.

 The very well-done map shows both the pastoral and rugged terrain that the Allies and Axis soldiers fought over. It does not show the really rugged terrain of the Battle of Monte Cassino. This is shown in the OST Volume 4 expansion 'For the Empire' (that also includes the Commonwealth forces that fought in Italy). As usual, the hexes are large and show exactly what terrain is in each one. You get a Rulebook that is magazine type in style and is 25 pages long and also has an index. You also get an 18-page Playbook in the same style as the Rulebook. Both are in full color and the Rulebook is studded with examples of play etc. The players each get their own aid card with all of the terrain, CRTs, and pretty much everything else you need to play. The counters, along with everything else, are made to the same high standard that we have come to expect from Flying Pig Games. Next up, we have three countersheets. Two are for the units and one for gameplay. The infantry counters are 3/4" large and the armor etc. are 7/8". Then we have a deck of unit data cards, and another deck marked 'luck'. 

 The scenarios included run the gamut from the fighting in Sicily to the landing at Anzio near Rome. I was very happy to see that they included one of the more successful Italian pieces of armor: the Semovente. This was roughly the Italian equivalent of an assault gun/tank destroyer. It was probably smaller than the Hetzer, but it gave a good account of itself in battle.

 Thank You, Flying Pig Games, for allowing me to review another of your games in the Old School Tactical Series. The original game was about the fighting in Western Europe. They followed it up with Volume 2 taking place on the Eastern Front and Volume 3 in the Pacific. They also have an equally wonderful series called 'Black Swan' that was designed by the master Hermann Luttmann. This includes his magnum opus A Most Fearful Sacrifice. This has been joined by a game on the almost historical Pipe Creek campaign. The next massive beauty in the series is coming up and is called The Rock of Chickamauga. 

 I will have at least one more follow up piece on the actual gameplay of OST Volume 4.

Robert Peterson

Old School Tactical Volume 4: Italian Theater 1943-45

Flying Pig Games

My Review of Old School Tactical Volume I

My Review of Old School Tactical Volume II

 Eylau 1807

Battles of Napoleon Volume I

by

Sound of Drums

A Uwe Walentin Design

 I will confess up front that I am a Napoleonic fanboy, and not only in my choice of wargames. If I had my way, some of the decor in my house would be of the Napoleonic variety, much to the chagrin of my better half. To top it off, the Battle of Eylau has for some reason always been my favorite Napoleonic battle to read about and to wargame. So, I might look a little more harshly on a wargame based on the battle compared to others.

 The Battle of Eylau need not have happened. After the destruction of 90% of the Prussian Army in the 1806 campaign, Napoleon was trying to come to grips with the Russian Army who were allies of the Prussians. Time had moved inexorably forward, and it was now almost full winter. Both Armies had pretty much gone into winter quarters. The Battle of Eylau was mostly caused by Marshal Ney disregarding his orders (He might have been the 'Bravest of the Brave' but he was certainly not the brightest of the bright) and causing the Russian Army to stir. Both armies finally met at Eylau in typical norther European weather. The battle was technically named Battle of Preussisch-Eylau, this being the town's actual name. However, the slaughter in the snow would make a more accurate description. The Russian Army was as tenacious as always, as Frederick the Great, Napoleon, and others came to find out. Sometime during the battle, a raging snowstorm took place to make the soldiers and generals jobs that much harder. Marshal Murat at the head of 10,000 French horsemen is usually credited with stopping the battle from becoming Napoleon's first defeat. It ended as the first check and not the outright victory that Napoleon had encountered. The battle was summed up by this conversation between Napoleon and Marshal Soult: Napoleon told Marshal Soult, "The Russians have done us great harm," to which Soult replied, "And we them, our bullets were not made of cotton." This famous interaction between a commander and his troops also took place at Eylau: "At the battle of Eylau, seeing his horse grenadiers lowering their heads as bullets whistled around, Lepic uttered the famous words: "Heads up, gentlemen, these are bullets, not turds!" (Haut la tête, messieurs, la mitraille ce n'est pas de la merde !)."

 This is what comes with the game:

two 88 x 56 cm map sheets

1120 counters (15 mm)

220 alternative counters (15 mm)

40 grey and 42 black cubes

20 blue and 20 green cube

2 army charts

2 OOB charts

2 play aid charts

2 tally sticks

2 counter trays

4 custom dice

1 rulebook

 This is what Sound of Drums has to say about the game:

"Battles of Napoleon is an epic game series that simulates the most famous battles of Napoleon on a tactical scale sharing an elegant and cohesive ruleset. 

The series portrays the most important aspects of battles of the Napoleonic era with easy to learn and remember rules, intuitive mechanics and procedures. This enables players to focus less time consulting the rulebook and more time on strategy, tactical decisions and gameplay.

The system focuses on the “cat-and-mouse game” of coordination and timing of the various formations of the different arms without unnecessarily complex or excessively thematic gameplay that too often compromises game-flow. 

The scale of the series is appr. 150 meters per hex. Infantry units are battalions; artillery are batteries, and cavalry are represented as regiments.

EYLAU 1807 contains 1120 large (15mm) counters, 280 alternative counters, 2 huge map sheets (each 86 x 55 cm) with large hexes, 4 charts and tables, 125 wooden cubes, 2 counter trays, 1 rules manual and 4 customized dice. 

Thanks to the successful funding on Gamefound and the unlocked stretch goals the components of the game are upgraded: the dice are customized and the charts and tables are deluxe (printed on 2mm grey carton) and the game includes 280 alternative counters.

The Game includes 5 scenarios: The fight for night quarters (small scenario), Murat’s massive cavalry charge, Davout’s attack, Lestocq saves the day and the Grand Battle scenario

Marc von Martial, one of the best graphic artists in the business, is in charge of the artwork. Gamers can expect beautiful, era-style maps and counters, and they will not be disappointed by his skill and love for detail."

  One thing about the game that was brought up before it was released was the map. This wasn't a discussion about how excellent it looks but the fact that it has a white overlay to it. Apparently, some people wanted to see the little brown buildings in the town etc. Well, here is a news flash. The battle was fought in the middle of a hard winter during a snowstorm. I thought from the very beginning that the map color added to the game and actually added to the historical immersion of it.

 

 Before I dive into the various components that come with the game there is something very important I have to say. That is, this game has some of the finest materials that I have seen in a game. It truly looks like the labor of love that it is. I was impressed by their earlier Hellas game, review link below, and its pieces but I am blown away by what you find inside this box. Now to be clear, I am talking about what comes in the 'regular', seems a pity to use that word, game box. I was lucky enough to get some of the special items from Mr. Walentin like the mounted map and the special dice. These only added to the magnificence of the ensemble.

 

 Unfortunately, my descriptions and the pictures do not do the game components justice. However, I will list off what comes in the box to the best of my ability. 

 So, let us start off with the map. As mentioned, it comes in two pieces. The size is a little over 22" X 34". I remember that we were supposed to change over to the metric system in the early 1970s, but I digress. It is simply a real wonder of an understated style. It is designed to show a landscape draped in winter and in this it succeeds admirably.

 Next up are the counters. Many games have huge amounts of counters. Usually, these counters are on the small size and rather hard to read, but not with all games. These come in around 5/8". This size is quite sufficient for most people to be able to see the pertinent information. They also have a small picture of the different Marshals and Generals, and they use what we have come to call the NATO symbols. The game places a lot of emphasis on command and control of the different units, as it should in a Napoleonic battle. So, being able to read the different Corps and division numbers is very necessary. The actual game units only take up two and 3/4 of the countersheets. The other 7 1/4 are the counters used in gameplay. The counters also come prerounded. I know this puts a damper on those of you who revel in piles of cut off pieces of counters. There are two types of alternative counters. The first is a set of alternative Marshal and General counters which have a flag instead of a small portrait. The other are 'Pollard" markers to show unit loss of strength. The game has regular loss counters of one number on each. The "Pollard" ones have four numbers on each side of the counter, and you put the correct number toward the front of the counter. Each counter also has a line or a column side. The game also comes with small wooden cubes to keep track of the different parts of the game. These are all uniform and do not have flash or bits of wood hanging off the ends.

  The Rulebook and the Scenarios, Notes, & History Booklet come in magazine type style. They are both in full color. The Rulebook does come with examples of the rules and play. The Rulebook comes in at 33 pages and the other at 19. The size of the lettering could be a little larger. However, the size of the Rulebook would then become a bit unwieldly. It comes with two large colorful foldout Orders of Battle, one for each side. The two identical Player Aids are made of the same material as a mounted map. All of the charts and tables needed to play are on them. You also get two foldouts to keep track of orders etc. These are also made of the same material as a mounted map. It also comes with two Tally Sticks, (more on them later), along with four custom dice. The entire game, except the map, is a bloom of color like a Napoleonic battle should be. 

 Strangely, for a game this size, the designer attempted to make it as easy as possible to play and remember the rules, without the constant checking and cross referencing that is needed in some game systems. The game is listed as a 5/10 on the complexity scale and the game length is listed as 180 minutes. This time is naturally based on knowing the rules and system and not for complete tyros. For a large game like this that is pretty amazing. The amount of counter clutter on the map has been cut down to as small as it can be. Mr. Walentin was trying to design a game series that would involve the player and be historical and yet still be extremely playable. I believe he has succeeded admirably in his assignment to himself. You get all the flavor of a Napoleonic battle without all the fluff and added rules that other systems use. 

 The gameplay is the very meat and potatoes of our chosen hobby. There are many beautiful games that gather dust on numerous shelves because of coming up short in this aspect. This game, and series, will not be one of them. The weather is also a large part of the rules and indeed that of the battle. Augereau's Corps staggered toward the Russian lines in a snow whiteout and was almost destroyed by the Russian cannon. This led to one of the most magnificent feats of the entire Napoleonic Wars. Murat led forward 10,000 French horseman who cut their way through the Russian Army and then repeated the process on the way back. The tableau has been used by numerous painters of the Napoleonic Wars.

 The game is won or lost by the amount of each army's fatigue points. As usual, you lose fatigue points for eliminated units, commanders, and the loss of objectives. However, you also lose fatigue points for each order that you issue. The way that fatigue is kept track of is also different. Instead of just having an army fatigue number that if you hit or go under, your side loses. The black and gray cubes are used to keep track of it. Essentially you have a stock of cubes at the beginning of the battle and scenario. You can win or lose them according to the rules above. When one side loses all of its cubes it has lost the battle. You can play with the historical weather, or you can roll a die to see what it is that turn. Now onto the Tally Sticks. Instead of having to find a bone or possibly a slide rule these are just included to help the player keep track of the army fatigue points etc. that are used in the game. These are a small but elegant addition to the game.

 I am going to break another one of my review rules now. That would make two in this month. While I will not mention the actual price, I can tell you that it is way below what a lot of other companies would charge for a game this size and is designed so well. There are so many outlets for buying games that I feel that it is not to the grognards' advantage to mention just one price. I do understand that it is best to send the money straight to the companies. However, some companies do sell their games to outlets that sell them for as low as the KickStarter prices. The grognard community as a whole is an older group. A lot of us are on fixed incomes and the 'younger' ones are dealing with college tuition for their children and many other things. In this day and age every penny counts.

 Please take a look at the other games that Sound of Drums has released and also take a look at the ones forthcoming. In their Battles of Napoleon Series, the next game is the Battle of Quatre? bras. That one, like Eylau, is a battle that could have gone either way.

 Robert Peterson

Eylau 1807 Battles of Napoleon Volume I

Sound of Drums

My review of Hellas: History of the Ancient Seas I:

Hellas: History of the Ancient Seas I by Sound of Drums - A Wargamers Needful Things

 Blitz in the East

The Russian Campaign 1941-45

by

VentoNuovo Games

 The campaign in Russia was started on June 22nd, 1941. Amazingly it was not expected at all by the majority of the Russian High Command, (which really means Stalin and a lot of yes men. Most of the others were removed from this earth during the purge). The actual backwardness of the Soviet Union, as far as a good road network, is what really saved them. The strain on German supply and the actual breakdown of all types of motorized vehicles was something they had not planned on at all. In fact, Hitler had actually decreased the number of tanks being manufactured before the beginning of Operation Barbarossa. Still, the Soviets in 1941 suffered horrific loses in numerous kesselschlachts (encirclements) throughout the area of the European Soviet Union. The soldiers of the Soviet Union defeated the original onslaught because of their ability to be just like the moles in whack-a-mole. For every Soviet troop concentration that the Germans captured or destroyed at least one, and sometimes two, popped up again. The campaign went from the Germans almost taking Moscow in 1941 to the Soviets taking Berlin in 1945. One can make the argument that the Lend-Lease program was responsible for as good portion of their victory. However, their losses throughout the war show that they were determined to find victory no matter the human cost.

 So, VentoNuovo Games has decided to enter the fray again by releasing another game about the Russian Front. This one is slightly different then their last one. Their newest release is on the small physical scale compared to most Russian Front games. This is what VentoNuovo Games has to say about it:

"VNG developers have created a brand-new engine for this game that is both easy to learn and hard to master. The base rules are minimal in length with many designer notes, examples, and beautiful graphics. Several optional rules and the Scorched Earth Expansion also add more historical flavor and complexity for more seasoned wargamers. The game engine is the strength of BLITZ IN THE EAST, as it is new, easy, and incorporates all of the historical campaign’s main themes. You will not have the feeling of playing "another" Russian front game." says designer Emanuele Santandrea. The base game, with clearly defined concepts, minimal rules length, and numerous examples, allows novice wargamers to quickly learn and play. 

The map is the ultimate creation of our design team. Emphasizing every detail, it depicts the area of operations at 1200dpi instead of the standard 300dpi. This allows for zooming into details without disrupting the graphics.

The 65 counters represent the Armies/Fronts involved in the campaign and are 2.5mm thick, 18x18mm wide, and pre-rounded.

There are also more than 100 game markers to assist game play.

Each turn is two months. The game offers several scenarios and a campaign to relive the struggle from June 1941 till December 1945 (or earlier).

For proficient players, each turn takes approximately 20 minutes to complete. So, a scenario can be played in an afternoon. For campaign play, assume an afternoon and evening is required to complete.

German panzers are really powerful and can punch a hole in the line. But it is infantry that holds the line. Germany cannot win this war without help from her allies. "We are a small company and dedicate attention to Minor Countries." says Emanuele Santandrea."

The very stylish colorful map

 

 As you can see by the pictures this is a very handsome wargame, as are all VentoNuovo Games, that is in the newer Eurogame format. This has much more glitz than most of us grognards are used to. 

 The map has very large hexes and shows the area of Europe from roughly Berlin to the Urals. It also shows the Balkan nations of the forties. The counters are a sight to behold and come prerounded. There is only one countersheet due to their size and the scope of the game. The Soviets have 30 units and the Germans and their allies have 25. The map and counter information and writing is nice and large for these old eyes. There are two Player Aids that are on hard cardstock. Everything that is needed for play is either on the two-sided Player Aids or on the map. The Rulebook is in full color and is 30 pages long. Its pages are thicker than most Rulebooks. The writing in it is as big as what you get in a Large Print book. It is filled with easily understood play examples. It comes with a deck of 28 cards. These either show a historical picture or a picture of a commander from either side. Visually the game is stunning. The fact that all of the writing is oversized just adds to players' ease in learning the ropes.

Back of the box

 You would think by the size of the game and the terseness of the Rulebook that this would be more of a beer & pretzels game. In this you would be highly mistaken. Although VentoNuovo Games, all designed by the owner Emanuele Santandrea, are very much in the flashy Eurogame category, his games always have some meat under that glittering skin. The rules are designed for both grognards and tyros. 

Counters

  The gameplay is meant to be easily understood and to have the player up and running in as little time as possible. You can jump right in and start playing after only a cursory glimpse through the rules. The cards and the optional rules help to make it a much deeper game than you would think upon first glance. Remember that book and cover adage. Air, Armor and everything else that you have come to expect in a game about the Russian Front is here. What you do not get is tons of fiddly high stacks of counters and a rulebook that looks to have been published in 1975. The gameplay can be as fast as the early blitzkriegs of the war. However, I suggest you put as much thought into it as you would with some of its weightier cousins. As was mentioned, the game is played in two month turns and the designer expects each turn to be around 20 minutes. So, even if you wanted to play the whole campaign through, the game does not need to stay on your table (annoying your wife) for more than a day, especially if you were going to play one of the scenarios.

One side of the Player's Aid

 The scenarios that come with the base game are:

The game comes with two tutorials

  Beyond the Dnieper

  Blitz in the East

Operation Barbarossa

Russian Campaign

A picture of some gameplay

 The game can be enhanced by the addition of The Scorched Earth Expansion. This is some information on the expansion:

125 game markers 2.5mm-thick with pre-rounded corners

28 Game Event Cards

Illustrated rules with many examples

Two historical scenarios plus two alternative "what if" scenarios

"The base game, with clearly defined concepts, minimal rules length, and numerous examples, allows novice wargamers to quickly learn and play.

Veteran wargamers can also enjoy a more complex experience via several optional rules and the Scorched Earth Expansion.

New events and new details add historical flavor and depth with "what if" situations and detailed logistics management to expand your game experience!"

  The new rules and additional scenarios really help to make this game into much more of a grognards game. The additional scenarios are:

Fall Blau

In or Out

Balkans Pacified four turn version. This is a hypothetical scenario; there was no Balkan campaign in 1940-41.

Balkans Pacified full 28 turn version

 I was fully prepared to not take to the game. I am one of those people who thought that because the Russian Front was so massive you need a big game to simulate it. Luckily, I persevered with a Blitz in the East and found that I was totally mistaken. The addition of The Scorched Earth expansion also made my grognard synapses feel more at home. Thank you, Mr. Santandrea, for allowing me to take Blitz in the East for a test drive. As usual, with all of your games, it brings a new twist on an old gaming subject. 

 

 I forgot to mention that the game has a free downloadable Strategy Guide for the players.

Robert Peterson

Blitz in the East

VentoNuovo Games