| Editorial |
|
|
One of the funniest movie scenes that I can remember is when Steve Martin in "The Jerk" got his new phone book and went jumping around the fillin' station shouting "The Phone Book's Here! The Phone Book's Here!." (This is, of course, closely followed by Marty Feldman's "Abbie Normal" comment in Young Frankenstein!)
Read More >> |
|
|
| German Drop Trooper Platoons |
|
|
Para Drop Armor is the pinnacle of German technological achievement. By 1949 the suits are still in short supply and are used sparingly. More suits are battle ready every day but training an experienced soldier to handle one of these complex machines is a long and arduous process. The suits are used most often in small numbers in support of more conventional forces to swing the course of a battle but occasionally they are deployed in force to take important objectives.
The largest organiz ...
Read More >> |
|
|
| Interview with the Coopers! |
|
|
Want to know more about the behind the scenes action at West Wind? Check out this interview with Andy and Wendy Cooper.
Read More >> |
|
| Siberian Shock Platoon |
|
|
Nikolai Fyodoravich Fyordorov was a leader of the Russian cosmism movement and philosophy of Transhumanism. Fyodorov advocated radical life extension using scientific methods, human immortality and resurrection of dead people. Fyodorov is rumored to have perished in 1903 -- as with many rumors that is
untrue.
His followers, the Sons of Fyordorov are Cosmists. they believe that a mixture of scientific and religious approaches will lead mother Russia to discover mmortality and ultimately d ...
Read More >> |
|
|
| Mecha Diorama |
|
|
How I lost the Salute Painting
Contest... but still Won my Day
by Grégory Privat
I made this vignette in order to
participate in the Salute ‘08 painting contest.
I’ve not
participated in many painting contests, but each time I have it has
been a great experience. This is usually the occasion to buy some
brand new brushes and to test new painting or sculpting techniques
(which is maybe the main reason why I usually don’t win!). I ...
Read More >> |
|
|
| Wallpaper |
|
|
One of the great things about the SOTR system are the miniatures. The ones painted by Jim Bailey are superb! Trust me on this - I have seen them close up and they are beautiful. A majority of the photos in the rulebook are of Jim's miniatures. They deserve to be seen close up, however, and so I am presenting some of them to you for wallpapers.
Read More >> |
|
| Mecha Shop |
|
|
Last issue we devoted some space to the building and painting of a British R.A.T. This issue we'll spend time looking at the building and weathering of a German Panzer Mecha. The R.A.T. costs 12 Resource Points (RP) and the Panzer Mecha costs 16. A brouhaha between the two would be a sight to see.
Read More >> |
|
|
| Weapons of War |
|
|
 In the arena of small arms pistols are unique. Most often referred to
as “side arms” during WWII they were most often provided to officers
and vehicle or weapons crewmen for close in personal protection. They
are important to the individual soldier for increasing their feeling of
well being and chances for survival. Pistols are effective only at
extremely close ranges, however. They are also often inaccurate and so
are of limited value on the modern battlefield. On the other si...
Read More >> |
|
|
| Book Review |
|
|
Mind fried from work and you're having trouble winding down? Run out of ideas for a(n) SOTR game? Looking for something unusual to while away our time while sitting in traffic? Give Henry Steven's book Hitler's Suppressed and Still-Secret Weapons, Science and Technology a try.
Read More >> |
|
| Special Rules |
|
|
The battlefields of 1949 are deadly places. V-Gas, zombies, vampires,
and werewolves are now added to the more mundane horrors of a
conventional war. Wounds can be painful and have consequences even more
horrific than death. The Medic or Corpsman has a new importance to the
soldier in every army.
Read More >> |
|
|
| Painting |
|
|
Here is a step by step
guide to adding a professional looking finish to your images or just
adding a fancy background. I like to use Adobe Photoshop Elements,
but any good photo editing program should be able to do this. The key
is to have a well lit clear photo to begin with.
Read More >> |
|
|
| Painting |
|
|
France in SOTR1949 is a blasted, radioactive and chemically contaminated country. Large parts of the country are still in the hands of the Germans, however, and retain the pre-war economy and topography. Life here is still servitude to the Germans and so brave French men and women take the war to the enemy whenever and wherever they can. West Wind makes two packs of eight figures each as a part of their Berlin or Bust line that are of use for these roles.
Read More >> |
|
| Rules Review |
|
|
SkirmishCampaigns is a company that specializes in scenario books for 20th century wargamers. Although oriented towards an audience primarily interested in historicalgames, their booklets are just as valuable for the Weird War gamer. In Issue 1 we had an article on the fighting in and around La Fiere and I commented that these battles would make good grist for the scenario mill. Little did I know at the time that someone had the idea before I did.
Read More >> |
|
|
| Book Review |
|
|
  This book was recommended to me as a good source of information on the German Army. Although my search was for the World War II(WW2) period, I thought this might have information I could use. I'm glad I picked it up because it is a very valuable source book.
Unfortunately it is no longer in print and unless you want to spring for a used copy, you'll have to get it vis Inter Library Loan (ILL). The copy our local library got me came from the College of DuPage Library.
...
Read More >> |
|
|
| Book Review |
|
|
SS: Steel Rain: Waffen-SS Panzer Battles In The West 1944-45 - Tim Ripley
If you don't know much about the operations of the SS in the Western theater this is a good starting point. If you've done a lot of background reading then this is probably one you can skip. There are a lot of great photos and you can get a good feel for the kind of life that a front line soldier lived but the operational and tactical histories have been covered elsewhere in better detail.
There is a ...
Read More >> |
|
| Book Review |
|
|
 
Tank Rider by Evgeni Bessonov
This is a combat soldier's story of the war and it deals primarily with platoon and company level actions. It is not great literature along the lines of Tolstoy but appears to be the experiences of a veteran of the Great Patriotic War dictated to someone over a period of time.
If you are a devotee of the Eastern Front, this book makes a good counterpoint to a number of the German histories of the war. What surprises me is that the actions he describ ...
Read More >> |
|
|
| Book Review |
|
|
When you pick up a book that's about a vampire in a World War 2 setting, you don't expect great literature that is Shakespearean in tone. Sometimes you don't even expect the quality of a paperback romance. Imagine my surprise when I ended up with a good book that could fit in the SOTR genre with only a few changes!
Read More >> |
|
|
SOTR1949 
