Tomorrow's War "Pre-Release" Available NOW!

Shawn over at Ambush Alley Games has announced that the PDF-only release of Tomorrow's War is available for purchase as of today.
The PDF looks great and includes a ton of material for great Sci-Fi gaming with all of the fun, fast paced action of Force On Force. This version does require a copy of Force On Force to play but right now they are offering a great deal on a bundle of both the PDF-release of Tomorrow's War and Force On Force for only $5 more than Tomorrow's War on it's own. If you have been looking for a solid Sci-Fi rules system for almost any setting you can imagine, check it out. It's a great value for the fun you'll have with it and it's a good bit cheaper than many of the 'bigger' Sci-Fi games out there (and I'm not just saying that because my name is in the play tester list).

I'm you're interested, head over to http://ambushalleygames.com/TW.html

Busy weekend!

This weekend I went down to Washington DC and managed to meet up with my friend Panzerfaust 150 and his gaming group for a Tomorrow's War playtest. The game was great fun and the rules seem like they are well on their way to being done.


The game was hard fought and reaction tests and Fog Of War card draws were decisive. Artillery bombardments hitting deck armor does nasty things to vehicles and can really turn the tide of an engagement.
Panzerfaust 150 has some more on the test on his blog, check it out.

Now I have to finish my test report so I can get it submitted to Shawn and the test group.

Getting started on Terrain

After reading Generation Kill and starting to re-watch the miniseries I've finally gotten the motivation to really get started on some terrain for Ambush Alley.
My state tax refund arrived yesterday which made it hard to choose between placing another QRF order to complete the Stryker Rifle Platoon and the USMC Division Recon Platoon or Buying most of the terrain I need for now from JR or Gamecraft. Fortunately for my miniature collection the QRF order won out and I sat down today to make a start on the pile of balsa wood I bought at a nearby art store. Here is my first attempt, it's approximately 4"x3"x2" and I think it might be a bit too tall.

Also makes me wish that Shawn over at AAG was still making those Ambush Alley terrain sets.

Rebel Minis 15mm Insurgents review

I finally got started on actually doing some OPFOR, starting with Rebel Minis' 15mm Insurgents. These little guys are ready to make your MOUT a whole lot more exciting with four RPGs and 16 AK armed gunmen.

First, When and where are they appropriate? Given their armament of AKs and RPGs there isn't any real technical reason why they can't show up anytime in the last 50-60 years. Their clothing (boots, cargo pants/utility trousers and tee-shirts or tactical shirts topped by a scarf around the head and the classic AK magazine pouches over the chest) poses few limitations either as there have been various rebels, insurgents, reactionaries, terrorists,guerrillas, kidnappers and random pissed off Arabs/Muslims/Christians/Jews, etc running around dressed like that since the 50's all over Europe, Central Asia and North Africa.
The only real shortcomings I can see with this pack is that it lacks light support weapons which are called for in many Ambush Alley! scenarios and the limited number of poses (4: RPG, AK firing, RPK firing, RPK running; the firing RPK and AK figures ar nearly identical except for slight differences in the gun barrels). Otherwise it fills a very important gap in the availability of good insurgents/guerrillas for your 15mm gaming.

Now, Quality check. The figures are rather sturdy and stable. Mold lines do not pose any major issues but you will find yourself spending a lot of time checking for bits of flash in hard to reach places, if your batch is like mine. The poses are a little stiff looking but have a good sense of movement about them. Clothing detail and overall figure proportions are both good while weapon detail is acceptable.
Compatability with other ranges: Their height and proportions fit well with Rebel's other 15mm figures and with QRF's moderns line although if you are going to put the two side by side I would suggest using something to increase the height of the Rebel figures as QRF's integral bases are somewhat thicker.

Conclusions, I have one or two slight misgivings about this set but over all they work well for their intended purpose and getting them as part of one of Rebel's Ambush Alley Battle Boxes makes them a good deal.
I'm somewhat tempted to get another pack and convert some to carry some Al-Quds machine rifles so that these guys will have some support weapons other than RPGs.

Scale Creep arrived!

Scale Creep has delivered.

So that's most of my zombies, my first USCMC squad and an assortment of zombie hunting troops with HMMWVs (going to have to find a replacement M2HB or M240 for the M998 Squad Carrier as one of the M1025s came minus it's .50) and a couple of Vietnam-era US 81mm mortar teams that will have their parts sacrificed to make a couple of USCMC M402 Multi-Launch Mortars. Also my copies of Ambush Alley and Ambush Z.


Here are the current USCMC squad, the platoon commander with his advisors, the first mortar team with their M402 and a couple of casualties, behind them you can see two of the GZG Cafferta APCs, including the converted one which still awaits it's replacement turret fittings (soon, I swear!)

Tomorrow should be spent Zombie mounting and trying to make some progress on the AA turret (paper clips are surprisingly useful).

Work continues on the resculpting of the Cafferta's wheel wells, although it has been slowed somewhat by the significant drop in temperature here which has made the kneadite more difficult to work with. after this stage all that should be left will be rebuilding some of the detailing lost during the earlier stages and the construction of the new turret (have to decide on what that will look like).

In terms of the other parts of the USCMC project hopefully my order from Scale Creep will ship tomorrow or Wednesday (still no word on when QRF will ship the orders I placed with them.) The Scale Creep order includes a number of QRF's Unarmed Civillians/Zombies and some of their Modern US range for my second project, World War Z. Between Ambush Alley and Ambush Z I should have enough to tide me over until Tomorrow's War is released.