An overview of Operation Deadstick – the securing of two vital road bridges crossing waterways north of Caen on D-Day. The episode also includes an introduction to the British airborne forces involved in the Normandy and a breakdown of their eq

Episode 53 – Fortress Budapest

Mar 6th, 2019

Bryan Cook, friend of the podcast and author of the new BA campaign book, is the guest on this episode. After being interrogated for a bit about ANZAC history, Bryan talked through the process of putting together a book to cover the Hungarian c

Episode 52 – Warlord GT and 2018 in Review

Feb 3rd, 2019

A stubborn episode that’s been trying to get out for some time! In the first half I talk through all of my games from the Bolt Action GT in Nottingham (lists, missions, slagging off opponents, etc), which took place in November, and in the seco

Episode 51 – Road to CRISIS

Nov 9th, 2018

This recording covers our trip to CRISIS from the 2nd-4th of November 2018, during which we ran a large game depicting the Tavronitis Bridge battle on Crete in 1941, which some people may have seen featured in recent issues of Wargames Illustra

Episode 50 – Blitzkrieg 1940

Sep 3rd, 2018

Richard Clarke is the guest on this episode and he talks in detail about the new early-war handbook for Chain of Command, Blitzkrieg 1940, which includes nearly 60 new force lists to use in the game, as well as campaign-specific special rules a

Episode 49 – Bolt Action Vs Chain of Command

Aug 24th, 2018

Dave Hunter returns to the podcast to delicately assist with this potentially divisive show topic: BA Vs CoC. The aim though is not really to decide which is the best game, but to compare and contrast the two leading systems for 28mm WWII warga

Episode 48 – Playing Germany in WWII

May 24th, 2018

I was joined by Christian and Jan (from Hamburg) to discuss wargaming the Germans in WWII. They gave insight into the history, organisation and characteristics of the Wehrmacht, as well as helping to pronounce some of those tricky German words…

Episode 47 – A ‘Cam’ Bridge Too Far 2018

Apr 9th, 2018

Last year’s winner, Mike Wilkins, and I talk about our 1000pt lists (Free French partisans and Italian Front Germans) used at the recent 78-player event in Cambridge – and then run through each of our games in detail. I’d like to offer a conti

Episode 47 – A ‘Cam’ Bridge Too Far 2018

Apr 9th, 2018

Episode 46 – Operation Flipper

Feb 24th, 2018

Bruce Hamilton comes on the cast once again, this time to talk about a North African Commando raid from 1941: there is the usual mix of history and gaming chat about how you could recreate elements of Operation Flipper for Bolt Action. Towards

Episode 45 – The Warlord Games Grand Tournament

Dec 11th, 2017

A review of the recent open event that took place at Warlord Games HQ in Nottingham, at the end of November 2018. The guest for this episode is Bruce Hamilton and we talked through our lists and described each of our games in detail before reve

Episode 44 – North Star Military Figures

Sep 1st, 2017

In this episode I sat down to have a conversation with Nick Eyre of North Star (who produces the figures for Artizan Designs, Crusader Miniatures, Copplestone Castings, Frostgrave, etc). We talked about a range of things, including: the origins

Episode 43 – Normandy: The Battle for Caen

Jul 27th, 2017

Sam and Barry dig deep into the story of how Anglo-Canadian forces enacted the breakout from the eastern end of the Normandy beachhead. We discuss important units involved in the conflict, such as the 7th Armoured Division, 21st Panzer and the

Episode 42 – End of the Beginning III

Jun 16th, 2017

Sam is joined by Dave Hunter, Christian Tiansen and Steve Tibbs, who all attended the latest Mediterranean themed team event at Sanctuary Gaming Centre. The first half and hour features a ‘live’ recording from the day, with players already stuc

Episode 41 – Dream Game

May 25th, 2017

Barry and Sam talk about the Partizan wargames show in Newark, discussing purchases and their relevance to current hobby projects (Congo, Sharp Practice, ancients, terrain for End of the Beginning III – don’t tell our wives…). In the main segme

Episode 40 – A Cambridge Too Far 2017

Mar 25th, 2017

Sam, Steve and Bob recount the recent event in all its gory detail, from missions and tables to individual games and reflections on the V2 system in a large, open tournament. Expect Tiger Fear, Gurkhas, tank platoons and curiously lurid terrain

Episode 39 – TIGERS

Mar 6th, 2017

This episode features a conversation with Mad Bob Emmerson, discussing lists ahead of the big 2d6Lodge Cambridge event, with particular focus on the mighty French FT-17 tank. The main section contains recorded hightlights of a ‘live’ game betwe

Episode 38 – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Feb 9th, 2017

Sam talks about a new listener competition to win a copy of Armies of Germany 2nd Edition and his ‘dream game’ set during the Battle of Crete, then connects with Barry through Skype for another round of TGtBatU – with Barry picking the WWII uni

Episode 37 – The Battle of Anzio

Dec 18th, 2016

This recording features Steve Tibbs as a guest and covers The Battle of Anzio during the Italian campaign as the historical topic (with thoughts on army lists, missions and modelling); event coverage; V2 chit-chat and some thoughts on the new

Episode 36 – SAS in North Africa

Nov 29th, 2016

New backers of the Patreon campaign are thanked and a prize draw is made to determine the winner of a Rubicon Opel Blitz. Sam talks through his SAS army list, giving a brief history of the SAS in the desert and a description of the new force ch

Episode 35 – Welsh Open, MOAB, Derby Nationals

Oct 9th, 2016

Sam and Dave are joined by Ian Hill to talk through three large open events that have taken place over the last month: two of them seeing out the first version of BA; one ushering in the new 2nd edition. We also play a game of ‘Operation’ inter

Episode 34 – The Battle of Crete

Jun 6th, 2016

Seamus, Sam and Dave talk about recent BA events before tackling the main topic: an overview of Operation Mercury – the airborne invasion of Crete in May 1941. (We experienced some small fidelity issues during the transatlantic call, but nothin

Episode 33 – End of the Beginning 2

May 12th, 2016

Sam, Dave and Pete discusses their experiences at the second Down Order team event run at Sanctuary Gaming Centre. Pete also describes his forthcoming event (Enigma) and Dave describes his new selectors for the Maori. There is also some Sharp P

Episode 32 – Roll Call 2016

Apr 11th, 2016

Sam and Dave are joined by the venerable Ian Hill to review the BHGS event, Roll Call, which took place in April. Seamus’ BA event in Chicago

Episode 31 – A Cambridge Too Far

Mar 24th, 2016

Dave and Sam are joined by Andy Singleton of Volley Fire Painting Services to talk about the recent sixty player event held in Cambridge. Andy also talks about his background and current projects, while Dave describes some of the new lists he h