The Flames of War tournament on Saturday, April 20^th was great fun for all involved. Three rounds of intense action found an even match up of Axis and Allied forces clashing across the great tables at The Battle Standard! There were dramatic assaults, tough defenses, and the shock and awe of a German Gliderborne led assault dropping onto the table in round 1!

Congratulations go out to our top two winners!

• Phil Messier led his Italian Mitraligieri from victory to victory, and 1st place
• Sean Maloney secured a great 2nd place finish with his German Luflandsturmkompanie (Glider assault company), including a dramatic Airborne assault on turn one against a dogged British defense!

In the end there was great fun had by all and plans are in the works for our next tournament. So if you missed this one, don’t panic. We’ll be back on the high ground at The Battle Standard soon enough!

– Chris Kadish, TBS Flames of War Tournament Organizer

Battle Cry 2013 has come to a close and with it the single largest event ever held at The Battle Standard Tabletop Game and Hobby.  Eighty-seven (87) entries clashed across nine (9) categories until only the best of the best were left to claim victory.  The conversions were exceptional.  The level of painting detail, astounding.  The experience could not have been more positive and thus you can expect EVERY year will have a Battle Cry Painting Competition!

We have compiled the results and posted them HERE with the best images we had of each entry that took home an award.  Over the course of this week (and possibly on to next week) those that participated will be receiving an email containing the photos we took of their submission and a link to the comment card which will help us improve the event for next year.

We have already determined a few areas where we plan to improve.  We will be working extremely hard to make sure the timing of next year’s event is more rigid and again we apologize for the delay in judging.  We will also be improving on our photography equipment to ensure everyone’s photographs come out brilliant and web-worthy.  We will also be discussing more categories, more awards AND more events leading up to Battle Cry!  Stay tuned to these pages for information as it becomes available.

We’re thrilled that this event was received so well.  The community of hobbyists that participated in this event, and in our many other events, and support our location via their purchases on a day to day basis are a constant reminder that we are staying true to tabletop gaming and true to the hobby we love and enjoy.  Below are some related links that we felt may interest you.  Thank you so very much for the ongoing support and we hope to see you soon at The Battle Standard!

• Official Battle Cry 2013 Results
• Battle Cry Annual Event Home

And don’t forget… Bitz Blitz Auction & Bazaar Coming Soon!

What is Battle Cry Painting Competition?

BCPC is New England’s entry into the large scale painting competition format. It is hosted annually by The Battle Standard Tabletop Game & Hobby of Manchester, CT. It is an opportunity for hobbyists of all miniature gaming genres to compete amicably in a show of talent and ability. Competitors register to submit their own creation(s) to be judged against the talent of their peers. Winners are awarded the official Battle Cry trophy in brilliant gold, securing their place in BCPC history as a testament to their painting skills and recognition as an exceptional artist in the arena of miniature painting. 2nd place and 3rd place Runners-up also receive recognition by way of a decorative plaque that can be proudly displayed to document their effort to be the best. The annual event will bring in artists from all over the Northeast (possibly further) interested in taking home the trophy. Take the opportunity to display your best piece of work, compete with your peers and enjoy the many creations presented. Welcome to Battle Cry!

Date: Saturday April 6th 2013

Rules:

• Submissions must be entered before 1PM on competition day
• Submissions must be the work of the presenter
• Competitors may only enter one submission per category
• Battle Cry judges determine the category that best fits your entry (should the immediate guidelines not dictate clearly)
• You must be present to collect your awards (runner-up will collect in your absence)

Cost:

• $5 per category entered
• All competitors receive a $5 off ($25 or more purchase) coupon for their initial entry

Time / Schedule:

• All models must be at the store no later than 1pm
• Viewing of models: 2-4pm
• Judging: 4-5pm
• Awards: 5pm

Prizes:

• 1st place in each category will receive a gold trophy of The Battle Standard’s official mascot “Wallace” in the themed Battle Cry pose. This unique resin trophy was sculpted for Battle Cry by Latvian sculptor Oskars Pantelejevs and recast in a limited number specificly for the competition by Ron Lee Casting of Burbank California.
• 2nd and 3rd place will receive a plaque mounted version of the “Wallace” Kettle Hat in the color representing their place, silver or bronze.
• All placing participants will receive gift cards to the store.

Categories:

SciFi

(Which includes but is not limited to 28mm Warhammer 40000, MERCs, Infinity, Dark Age, etc)

Single Model

Squad (3+ models)

Vehicle/Monsterous Creature

Fantasy

(Which includes but is not limited to 28mm Warhammer Fantasy, Privateer Press, Malifaux, etc)

Single Model

Regiment (3+ Models)

Large War Machine/Monster

Small Scale

(Which includes but is not limited to Flames of War, Dystopian Wars, Battlefleet Gothic, Various small scale historical, etc)

Single Model

Squad (3+ models)

BEST IN SHOW

(A special award will be given to the best overall across all catergories)

This year TBS has decided to take part in the growing event for small businesses everywhere, Small Business Saturday.  What is SBS you ask?

“First there was Black Friday, then Cyber Monday. November 27, 2010 was the first ever Small Business Saturday. Small Business Saturday is the day we celebrate the Shop Small movement to drive shoppers to local merchants across the U.S.

More than 200 organizations have already joined American Express OPEN, the company’s small business unit, in declaring the Saturday after Thanksgiving as Small Business Saturday.

For more info: http://www.smallbusinesssaturday.com/” 

In order to pull out all the stops in support of this movement and to encourage you, the shopper, to invest in small businesses like ours during this and future holiday seasons, we’ve come up with the following perks…

On November 24th, for one day only:

• The Battle Standard we will be open 1 hour early for those people with a TBS-X Membership.
• 15% off ALL sales which MAY be combined with other offers and discounts
• For every $25.00 spent, receive a chance to win your choice of a fully portable Citadel Realm of BattleGameboard ($290 value) or the Citadel Ultimate Paint Set ($450.00 value) which includes the entire current line of citadel paints!
• From 12PM-4PM try your hand at the up-and-coming game Zombies 101 demonstrated by the game designers at Angry Duck Games (http://www.angryduckgames.com/)
• Enjoy demos of all the great games hosted at TheBattleStandard all day long!

So as you can see, we intend to contribute to the Small Business Saturday movement as so many others have in years past.  Our intent is to build a tradition with our customers as a way to say thank you for your support.  So help support all small businesses and help support The Battle Standard Tabletop Game & Hobby by visiting us on Saturday November 24th for Small Business Saturday!

See you at the gaming table!

– TBS Staff

arlord CCG competitors from CT, MA, RI, NY, NJ, and even PA arrived this past Saturday for the challenge presented at the Warlord Winter Campaign Event at The Battle Standard in Manchester CT.  The participants clashed Warlord vs. Warlord until only one remained.

The Battle Standard Staff and Tournament Organizer Nick Bush would like to congratulate Brian Schlosser (right) on a well played and well deserved victory over all!  Brian took Warlord ‘Rabinus’ all the way to the top and for doing so claimed the one-of-a-kind TBS Warlord Winter Campaign Event trophy.  We hope Brian enjoys his award for years to come as it sits proudly displayed on his gem encrusted mantle adjacent to his golden throne. *

The top 8 Players – Warlords consisted of…

1. Brian S. – Rabinus
2. Antoine D. – Kestral
3. Carl M. – Ruash shan
4. Matt V – Kerebrus
5. Matt B – Byrmin
6. Larry W. – Acanothropis
7. Juan C. – Balam-Nak
8. Chris V. – Zul-Tan

T.O. Nick Bush reports, Overall we had 24 Players and we couldn’t have been happier with the showing. 2 of the Daemon Boats fell, one to Carl and one to Rob M.. Wounds were put on Atu but he made it out of CT and I expect people to be more prepared should he show his face in NJ.

      CONGRATS TO ALL AND THANKS FOR JOINING US AT THE BATTLE STANDARD!

—————————————

TBS Special thanks:

• Bob’s Token Locker: For the great event trophy!
• Don: For the event kit and tirelessly supporting the game with such enthusiasm
• Chris V: For running Atu and stomping so many dreams
• Rich: For helping with the deck and letting Chris take his place as the runner
• Aren: For letting Atu make his way across the pond for this huge event

(* throne and mantle not included)

ew this week to The Battle Standard is Spartan Games title Dystopian Wars.    Dystopian Wars is set in an alternate timeline in 1870. In this world, technological advances have occurred over a century before they would in our timeline, which has had dire consequences for the conduct of warfare on this particular world.

“Imagine a world similar to our own, but subtly different. Now imagine the year is 1870 and the Industrial Revolutionoccurred decades earlier than in our own world. Technology is far advanced, and in many cases, unrecognisable, which has led to the development of fantastic naval vessels, hulking land ships and terror from the skies in the form of airships and war balloons.

Dystopian Wars is set in a Steampunk Victorian world and is designed to ensure a fun game with a large selection of high quality models in a couple of hours. The rules support Naval, Aerial and Land models from the outset, so that you can set up battles and scenarios in any combat setting. Spartan Games will supply highly detailed, high quality resin and metal miniatures with which you can roam the high seas, scour the smog filled skies of Dystopian Wars for enemy flying ships, or doggedly defend the cities and countryside of your home nation.”  – Spartan Games

In this tabletop miniatures game focus is placed on vehicle combat hence why we are dubbing it the first “fleet” game to be fully supported at TBS.

An introduction to The Great Powers…

Now Available:

• Prussian Empire
• Empire of the Blazing Sun
• Kingdom of Britannia
• Federated States of America
• Republique of France
• Covenant of Antarctica

In the future:

• Russian Coalition
• League of Italian States
• Ottoman Empire

Source Credit to: Spartan Games, Wikipedia

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This month TBS and Tournament Organizer, “Black Ops” in-training David Koske (Lycane) bring you MERCS, a tactical team-based miniature combat game. In MERCS you command a small elite security force that has been issued orders by the corporate entities on high to complete various missions. This may include scenarios where the mission is to secure an  objective, or resolve a border skirmish or perhaps eradicate an existing threat before it’s too late!  The open-ended theme behind MERCS allows for countless exciting game opportunities.

Let’s break it down…

Each faction consists of 6 architypes of which the player selects the best 5 to suit their own preferences and tactics. Combat is resolved using a d10 system that is simple enough to understand yet still develops the interactions well between the miniatures.  In the end, this makes gameplay effective without being too complex.  The game is played on a 3′ long by 2′ wide gamespace where the terrain elements are crucial to planning a successful strategy.  This is because MERCS incorporates a snap-to-cover system that allows you to use the terrain in various ways. You can use it to boost forward a bit, or move into a slightly better line of sight position for your next turn. You can also “snap” to claim cover to protect yourself from taking fire, or claim a pieceof cover to negate the effects your enemies would otherwise get. The snap-to-cover system is a uniquely fun game mechanism and single-handedly sold store owner Jared Brodeur (DaBrode) on the game when engaging in a demonstration at Templecon this year.

Once you have the rules down, and the terrain setup, gameplay lasts only 30-45 minutes.  This makes for quick matches with the potential for multiple rounds and therefore several opportunities for varying outcomes.   A very exciting prospect to say the least. There are already 8 players for MERCS at The Battle Standard and we are just getting around to officially announcing it’s arrival today.  In conclusion, MERCS is a very affordable, easy-to-learn, quickly-played game and we’re very pleased to have it in stock at The Battle Standard.

Play MERCS on Thursday nights at The Battle Standard or get a free demo with our Tournament Organizer David Koske on Thursday nights and Sunday afternoons.

Hello TBS Fans!  It has been a great 2012 thus far and with 1 day left to February (leap year!) we thought we’d break it down for you and then provide some insight as to what to expect before the end of the 1st quarter.

“MORE TABLES PLEASE!”  We’ve heard the call for more tables and we’re answering!  In an effort to squeeze in more open gaming and make additional room for tournaments and events, we’ve made some floor changes.  The original table configuration was our three 7′ tables (tables with the 1′ open table edge) in a line at the center of the room and the four 6′ tables dispersed throughout the space.  This worked for a while but anyone that’s been to the store during primetime knows our fanbase is growing fast and those tables are filling up!

The new configuration has put the four 6′ tables in the center of the room and the three 7′ tables at the WWII wall.  What this has done is given us more space in our steampunk themed section of the store.  This new found space will be used for an 8′ foot table. Why 8′ you ask?  Let’s do the math together!  We currently have a 4′ table in that area with an open edge.  An 8′ foot table with an open edge gives us a seamless 12′ of game table.  That amount of table space is not only GREAT for large scale wargaming (Apocolypse anyone?) but, 12′ of table can be divided up nicely into three 4′ Warmachine/Hordes tables OR two 6′ Games Workshop or Flames of War tables.  Then there’s the potential for six MERCS tables…but more on MERCS later.  😉

We’ve made a few theme additions as well.  At the front of the store you’ll find our “wargaming miniature incubators” are complete!  We’ve also done some further painting and decorating on the steampunk wall adding a water bucket, an alchemist’s shelf (later today) and a birdcage (soon).  Our hopes are to have a mascot in there soon but mechanical birds are so hard to come by.  Where are the gods of Olympus when you need them?

The Khador Abandoned Rail Depot table (4’x4′) is juuuuuust about done.  Some minor electrical work and a bit of paint and then a matte coat to seal and protect it and we’re underway!  The materials for the Imperial Alloy Recycling Facility has been purchased and we expect this table to be complete very soon.

Trees, trees, trees!!!  Our new Bachmann SceneScapes trees are almost completely modified to size and ready for use.  Our terrain tables will certainly be improved with the addition of this dramatic scenery change.  To support the addition of all these trees and to better organize our terrain, we plan to introduce brand new terrain shelves on the back wall of the store.  More on this in the 2012: The Year of Terrain Update #2 coming soon…

So there you have it!  A brief glimpse at where we’re headed over the next 4 weeks and a few notes on the first leg of our journey into 2012.  As always we thank everyone for the support and remind you that no matter where you play your games, remember to support your local game stores by making purchases and participating in events.  When they do well, the games go on!

The first 2 tables are well underway!  We’re playing catch up from January as the schedule for our year long project was set at the end of that month.  So right now 2 tables are being built simultaneously to get us back on track.  Speaking of “tracks”…

January Table #1 – Khador Abandoned Rail Depot has been assembled and primed and is ready for painting.  It includes both inlaid and modular tracks, hoists and control centers for cargo transfer, 4 refuse piles, a water tower, custom-converted “palette-jacks”, 4 rail cars (1 Tanker, 1 coal car, 2 flatbeds – 1 carrying old Warjacks) and a fully converted steam engine complete with armor and Khador emblems.  Phew, that’s a lot of stuff!  OH! And we almost forgot…don’t working street lamps sound cool?  We thought so too.

February Table #2 – Imperial Alloy Recycling Facility build is starting this week.  You may have seen our large crane piece on the gaming table in previous weeks.  Well it’s getting an overhaul along with all the junkyard pieces and some new pieces as well.  The intent will be to make a large multi-tier junk mound with the crane on top.  The crane will include a large scrap magnet to which it will be loading material into a crusher.   The crusher will have large bay doors that can be closed to walk over or opened to use for cover.  Tire barricades and other solid scrap obstructions will also be available for cover.

We plan to include a full array of scenario rules for both of these tables should players want to add a little flavor to the game.  We’ll also have small prizes or awards for those that defeat an opponent using these rules in various ways.  Achievements!!! *ding!*

Not your cup of tea?  Perhaps these first 2 tables are not what you’ve been craving to fulfill your gaming desires?  Perhaps they aren’t themed in the genre you enjoy?  Well take a stance my good man (or woman)!  Join our message boards and access the TBS Tabletop Terrain message board located under the Tabletop Gaming header!  Voice your opinion, lend your ideas and if you feel it’s warranted – lavish us with compliments!  We await your replies!

In general, overall improvements in terrain quality and functionality have also begun.  TBS has purchased 4 cases of coniferous trees in varying sizes to make better forests for Fantasy and Sci-fi game fans alike.  Specifically, Bachman SceneScapes Spruce and Pine trees (see photo) in heights of 4″ to 10″ are currently being re-mounted on metal bases with the trunks cut down to better fit our use.  These metal bases not only help keep the tree standing upright due to a lower weight distribution, but also allow us to magnetize them to Tommy’s highly-praised Forest Bases (see photo).  We’re extremely proud to state that these new forests are some of the best we’ve seen to date.  They are pleasing to the eye.  The scale is much more accurate to the models.  They are completely functional due to the ability to remove the actual trees leaving a flat surface to measure and move across.  They are the tabletop gamer’s forests, not just slapdash railroad modeler’s terrain.

We hope you enjoyed this first look at “2012: The Year of Terrain” from The Battle Standard and we look forward to seeing you at the gaming table soon!

(Special thanks to the terrain crew… Jay Hyland & Bob Seitz, We wouldn’t be able to do this without your help!)