Category Archives: AARs

Grogheads AAR! WDS The Thirty Years War

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It was late in the year 1620 when forces belonging to the Imperial Army of Emperor Ferdinand II and those of the Bohemian Revolt clashed near Prague. The fight would be known to posterity as the Battle of the White Mountain and in just a short time, the fate of Czech lands for the next three hundred years was decided. It was also the first clash between Protestant and Catholic armies in the Thirty Years War. March with Grogheads as part of the Bavarian Catholic League for a taste of the latest Musket & Pike title developed by Wargame Design Studios.

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The Thirty Years War, by Wargame Design Studio

By: Boggit

Grogheads AAR! Field of Glory 2: Swifter Than Eagles

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Swifter Than Eagles is the latest DLC for Field of Glory 2, developed by Byzantine Games and published by Slitherine Ltd. It covers the very dawn of ancient “civilized” warfare from circa 2,500 BC to approximately 500 BC. Grab your Khopesh and mount a chariot as Boggit attempts to ride into into battle for the glory of Egypt and King Rameses II.

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By: Boggit

Grogheads AAR! JTS Kiev ’43

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After the Battle of Kursk in July of 1943, the Russians launched a number of successive campaigns to once and for all kick the Germans out of Russia. One of the major objectives of these campaigns was to cross the Dnepr River line and liberate Kiev, the third largest city in the Soviet Union.  Intent on proving that the proud legacy of John Tiller will carry on,  JTS has released its latest title in the long running Panzer Campaigns series: Kiev ’43.

Take command of the depleted 4th Panzerarmee and the 8th Army forces to defend against the Soviet onslaught. On the allied side, as the commander of the Russian 1st Ukrainian Front, players will have several armies at their disposal to defeat the German Wehrmacht.  Included are scenarios that let you recreate all four phases of the campaign from the battle in the Bukrin bridgehead to the final battle near Korosten where the Germans made one last attempt to destroy the Russian forces and roll on to victory.

Mount up with Boggit as he takes command of the Soviet forces in this exciting after action report!

Kiev43

By: Boggit

Wargame: Red Dragon! Hell in a very small place

Wargame Red Dragon

When I was a little boy in the early 1980s, I’d play with boxes full of toy soldiers, tanks, airplanes and helicopters. The living room floor would turn into the North German Plain or the jungles of Vietnam.  Squadrons of fighters would streak through the kitchen and merge into deadly combat somewhere in the airspace above the dining room table.  The family room would be forcibly occupied in order to prepare defensive lines that would preserve democracy and the American way until my mom called me away for dinner.  In an era when there were no computers in the home for the most part and electronic gaming was in its infancy, the only thing standing between freedom and communist global insurgency was me and my plastic Marine Corps.  My toy soldiers are all gone now, so when I want to play out some Cold War fantasy I power up my computer and launch one of Eugen System’s excellent games in the Wargame series. Lately, this has been Red Dragon.

Wargame Red Dragon

By: Craig Handler

Grogheads AAR – Combat Mission Black Sea!

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When in 2009 Battlefront began to develop Black Sea, the next title in the Combat Mission series involving a modern fictional Russian invasion of the Ukraine, they couldn’t possibly have imagined that in less than five short years, Russian combat units would be storming across the border into Ukrainian territory making the scenario much less of a hypothetical.  Despite exerting every effort to avoid the portrayal of an ongoing, undecided conflict, it is nearly impossible to avoid comparisons to the violent confrontation that is still raging across the Donbass.  

Combat Mission Black Sea (“CMBS”) is described by Battlefront as a “military grade simulation” depicting a fictional armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine which results in open combat in the summer of 2017. “As Russian forces move into Ukrainian territory the Ukrainians do their best to defend their country against a numerically and technologically superior adversary. Events surrounding the invasion cause NATO to send its advanced rapid deployment forces to check the Russian advance. A brutal scenario, for sure, but one which allows you to get a glimpse of what full spectrum contemporary near-peer tactical warfare is all about.”

Although CMBS has been available directly from Battlefront since November 2014, it has recently been released on Steam in partnership with Slitherine Ltd., significantly broadening its audience and reinvigorating interest in the source material.  So, grab your AK and join Grogheads on the frontline of this brutal modern confrontation as Russian and Ukrainian mechanized troops clash over a small government complex.  Ura!!!

By: Craig Handler

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