Firelock Games Loose The Pigeons For Blood & Valor
November 7, 2019 by brennon
Firelock Games and Phalanx Consortium's new venture, Blood & Valor, isn't far off and so they have been showing off some more sculpts that you'll be able to pick up for the US in this World War I wargame.
One of the newest previews was for a set of more commanding figures for use in your force. One of the neatest things about this set is that there is actually someone called a Pigeoneer. As you might imagine, they trained pigeons and were the ones responsible for keeping them and sending them out to deliver messages. He even gets an assistant who is watching over him with his rifle.
You also have the named character there in Major Whittlesey who led the fabled Lost Battalion and was a Medal Of Honor recipient.
As well as these options above they have also been working on some heavy weapons too.
Above we have the Chauchat Gunner & His Assistant which might allow you to lay down a little bit more firepower on the battlefield and keep the enemy pinned. All of this is looking very neat indeed and I know a few people who are interested in exploring World War I more on the tabletop. You can even see our little game of it we got here...
This gives you a taste for the game and hopefully, we'll get more time to explore this in the future. We're very interested to see these figures go from render to metal.
What do you think?
"I know a few people who are interested in exploring World War I more on the tabletop..."
With the pigeoneer you could have a windtalkers mission of protecting then for a number of turns to send his message.
Breaking Wind-Talkers?
Lol.
These look really nice, I’m curious to see how they’ll work in the game, i.e. if the pigeoneer acts like a radio operator. I am a bit surprised they went with the Chauchat instead of the Lewis; even amongst the French, those things were known for constantly jamming, and in a few nasty instances backfiring.
The French supplied 99% of the equipment for the American troops in WW1
That I wasn’t aware of. Due to how wide-reaching the history of WWI is, there’s a lot that’s easy to overlook. But thank you for letting me know; it really goes to show how the designers did their homework.
I should have added that this was for the first American troops that arrived in 1917
I’m not normally interested in WW1 games, but this one has piqued my curiosity. Lots of potential factions and interesting game mechanics. For those that are interested, Maj Whittlesey was the Medal of Honor recipient and commander of the “Lost Battalion” (308th Infantry Regiment, motto: Toujours en avant – Ever Forward), 77th Infantry Division ( Statue of Liberty). The famous pigeon, Cher Ami, saved the Lost Battalion by delivering a message after being shot and then flying 25 miles to stop a friendly artillery barrage that was raining down on the unit. Cher Ami was awarded the Croix de Guerre… Read more »
I think someone at the club will be interested in this.
Odd choice of unit. I like them!
Lol! To “release the pigeons” is a polite euphemism for flatulence on the Balkans. It also has can be seen in the opening performance of the film “Amadeus” as a small flock is released from the posterior of a horse costume on stage.
Aside from that, WWI gaming would be interesting to look into.
Cool minis. Loving the look of that Chauchat gunner. It’ll be interesting to see how the game plays
These sculpts look amazing. Can’t wait to see the tanks.
There certainly seems to be a number of companies looking to the First World War right now for new mini lines, and for the first time, I’m getting rather interested in gaming that period! everything being previewed right now looks amazing!