“Blood & Fury”, World at War 85 (2022)

[Whiterook]

Blood and Fury is the second volume in the new World At War 85 Series. This a continuance of a new reimagining and retooling of Lock ‘N Load Publishing’s original World at War line of games, which also focuses on “what-if” WWIII fare in Europe.

As hyped, the game is centered on fast and furious platoon-level combat, set within an alternate history 1985. The globe is thrust into the maelstrom of World War III when the Warsaw Pact armies storm across the border between East and West Germany in a gamble to seize West Germany and the whole of Free Europe.

[Whiterook]

I pledged on Gamefound for this yesterday! …I’d say it was one of the most expensive pledges I’ve made, but in recent years, they’re all becoming crazy expensive and I’ve resigned myself to the fact that if you want to play, you just gotta pay! All hobbies are super expensive now, and this is no excel within our large community. I pledged on three fronts:

The Main Game




Operation Red Gauntlet












Monster Map!




…yes, that’s a $300 pledge     That would normally be out of my comfort price range, but I had a little nest egg of payout for unused vacation leave from when I retired…I’m just taking a trip to an alternate reality!

[Whiterook]

What’s a pledging system without Stretch Goals? Yeah, not all game manufacturers do stretch goals with thier gigs, but LNLP does! All were unlocked!

[Whiterook]

As mentioned earlier, this system is a retool of the original Mark H. Walker game/expansions, and it was indeed upscaled in terms of looks, streamlined, and not too much more complexity added from the original… but it is a bit more difficult to play than the original. The components are gorgeous, as you’ve seen, but I personally like the original counter art better; though the map art in the new version is light years better, as are the player aids. The rulebook is ginormous, but a lot of that is doe to larger font and a ton of examples.

…so how does this play, you ask?







A New Operational Linked Campaign 

[Whiterook]

Breakdown of the Game Components

[josta59]

Looks pretty cool!

[Whiterook]

Aug 20, 2022 19:13:53 GMT -5 josta59 said:

Looks pretty cool!

It’s a gorgeous game, looks and okay-wise. It’s one of my Top Favorite systems, and plays wonderfully. It has an aggressive learning curve, but once the system is down, is very smooth in play. This new incarnation of the system is straight-up WWIII, with no paranormal or weird war stuff… just plain old advanced weaponry loosing carnage on the battlefield! Nothin’ says lovin’ attention like a Hind releasing missiles on your foxhole!!!

[Whiterook]

Flight Stands

These are a nifty little item coming with this KickStarter!












This from Jeff Schulte…

Here are some pics of the helicopter stands in action. I received some prototypes and tried them out.

Overall they’re pretty nifty. They are a good height. The legs are sturdy. The legs land just outside the vertices of a hex. As you can see though you can still fit counters in the hex underneath.

The stands come with tiny rubber gaskets to hold the legs in place. I didn’t use them since the fit of the legs was tight enough so they would stay in place. (Note: the legs are slightly conical. If you cannot fit the leg in the hole, turn it around)

One other thing, the stands are just a bit too large on top to fit them in adjacent hexes. That’s alright, it enforces proper combat dispersion LOL.