D MINUS 1

Battlefront/Flames of War

D MINUS 1 (D-1), a new supplement to compliment the Festung Europa book, is 61 pages long and supports the Allied airborne units that fought in the Normandy Campaign. It contains army lists for both American and British parachute and glider/air landing companies. Beautifully presented, it completes the units that fought in Europe through the early months of the late war 1944-45
One may think that the choices available to airborne operations to be limited but this is truly not the case as the variety of troop types and support weapons really quite varied. The fighting platoons that are available to the British airborne can be selected from more than a dozen different types: mortars, MGs, pioneers, ATGs, Royal Engineers, to name just a few, to heavier items like Tetrarch light tanks. Airlanding companies have even more choices available to them; a major difference is that the airborne companies may have two support platoons for each parachute platoon selected whereas the airlanding may have but one. The option to include heavy armor allows the gamer to recreate the fighting the airborne units experienced around Pegasus Bridge in the early part of the Overlord Campaign.
The American airborne forces are similar to the British but with enough differences to make each side unique, challenging and fun to play. While most of the support platoon choices are similar, the Americans can select from a few more options than the British. AAMG and Chemical mortar choices are a few of the unique US options. Both the US parachute and glider forces may have two support platoons for each platoon selected, however, the US glider troops are Confident Trained, whereas all of the other base companies are Fearless Veterans.
Included in the supplement are maps of the combat areas, unit histories, a discussion each of a specific US and UK airborne battle and a US and UK “Hero”, figures that offer some specific and interesting skills that can be used in the game (though I am just not sure how confident I would be if my superior’s last name was “Pine-Coffin”!) There are also many pages of beautifully painted and prepared figures and battles/games to offer inspiration to the gamer. Rounding out the supplement are rules for airborne operations as well as a new scenario/mission for the Allies: “Seize and Hold”. While I have not, as yet, had the opportunity to playtest the mission, it does appear to be very challenging for both the attacker and defender. As will most of the FoW supplements, there is an excellent painting guide with Vallejo paint suggestions for the Red Devils and the US Paratroopers. Excellent advice is given to the wargamers on the colors to be used, methods of painting and suggestions on blending (the recommendation to use light colors other than white for highlighting to get less stark changes, is one that is often overlooked and a well deserved tip.)
Each month new figures are produced and introduced on the Battlefront website. The company produces all the figures necessary to run the armies that are found in the supplements. Whatever army you decide to build, you can find figures to support it!

FESTUNG EUROPA
Battlefront/Flames of War

Festung Europa, 149 pages with multiple full color illustrations, is the latest intelligence handbook for the very popular Flames of War rules system. It contains army lists for American, British, Soviet and German forces available from January – August 1944. Like the previous books in the series, it is beautifully presented, illustrated with vintage black and white photos as well as full color photos of painted armies.
Festung Europa represents Battlefront’s (BF) first foray into the final years of the WWII. It is the first of several books that offers gamers the ability to replay the European battles that doomed the 3rd Reich. It is not merely a rehashing of the force statistics and costs from the previous books, but a completely updated text that more accurately reflects the late war period. For all those waiting for the big tanks – this series will allow those AFVs to be introduced onto the gaming table!
Each nationality has a small intro describing, in a story format, the forces they possess. The army lists provide the gamer to build all sorts of military companies: armored, armored recon, armored car, rifle etc. To this add specialized units like rangers, commandos, guards and Waffen SS as well as variants in the British army to allow Scots, Irish and Guard regiments and other Commonwealth contingents. Each army or contingent has special rules that give each its own “flavor” and individuality; there are specific guidelines for different theaters like Italy and Northern France for the western Allies. Keep in mind that just because you choose an infantry army you are not excluded from having armored support – it is just a matter of what you deem important within the confines of the points available (usual battles are fought between forces of 1500 points). The selections are almost limitless and completely up to you.
One of the many advantages of the Flames of War system is the outstanding support the company provides. From personal experience, a single figure was missing from three packs – I wrote to BF and had replacements from New Zealand within 10 days. Have you got questions (or better said – do you have a question you think has not been asked) about anything FoW related? Merely go on the site’s Forum and you can find the answer – check out the “Lessons from the Front” to get answers and interpretations on many aspects of the game. The website itself is full of interesting articles about campaigns, battles, painting tips, errata and new releases.Another nice thing about FoW is that the game offers the ability to play a game to a conclusion in a reasonable amount of time – and it is fun! There are many different scenarios that can be played on the barren sands of North Africa to the rocky Italian peninsula to the bocage of France to the endless steppes of the Soviet Union. The Festung Europa handbook is the first of the “late war” books; more are planned over the next year. With endless choices of armies, battles and battlefields the replay value will be quite high - and it is fun to play!
http://www.flamesofwar.com/

PULP FIGURES
Sgt. Prestown of the Yukon (PYP1)
This pack also comes with the equivalent of 5 figures per set (if you count a horse as two – seems fair to me.) The characters are about 27mm measured to their eyes and need little prep work to clean what little flash there is on each figure. The set contains a Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman both mounted and dismounted, his trusty steed and a husky dog figure.
The horse is very robust without looking bulky and the rider fits perfectly on top without any need for remodeling. This is something I like a lot – it’s annoying to have to cut off parts of the horse in order to allow the rider to fit nicely (it’s particularly frustrating when painting a lot of cavalry and you’ve got to remember which rider goes with which horse.) The perfect match here makes gluing the rider on after he’s painted a breeze. A husky dog is also included as this Mounties’s best friend and the detail on his hair makes painting and shading simpler. The Sgt. Prestown wears the standard uniform of the RCMP with a Sam Browne belt and flat brimmed Stetson. The detail on each RCMP figure makes painting very easy – for example, the pockets are raised to allow shading and highlighting and the rank on the right arm is raised just enough to make painting the sergeant’s stripes much easier.There is no need to buy books for painting guides as the RCMP and Wikipedia offer exactly enough guidance to paint him appropriately. I couldn’t resist and painted him like the cartoon hero of my youth, Dudley Do-Right! I wonder, is a Snidely Whiplash character is planned?

PULP FIGURES
Pugsy Flannagan Goes Down in d' Third (PGJ10)
O.K. so I might have said “Thoid” instead of “Third” just like Curly from the Three Stooges but the name makes this pack clear – pugilists! Pulp Figures makes a line of unique figures that fit the “pulp Hollywood-type movies” set in the 1920s and 30s. The range is vast from military figures (US, British, German, Japanese and Chinese) to mobsters, cavemen, unique personalities and just plain “weird menace” (not my words but from the website!) All are done just a little tongue in cheek, which adds to the allure of these figures and this “period”. The five figures are about 27mm tall to the eyes with the ring manager being slightly smaller and the boxers slightly larger. Cleaning and prep was a synch as the figures are very cleanly cast.
The boxer’s set has two fighters, a ring announcer (who reminds me of the referee, Mils Lane, from the claymation TV show “Celebrity Deathmatch”), a manager (that bears a strong resemblance to Mick from the Rocky films) and the fighter’s producer with a stogie. Each boxer, rippling with muscles and obviously powerful, is wearing boxing trunks and high top boots. The announcer looks like he’s announcing the fight (“in this cornah, the undisputed champeen of the world… “), the manager has a towel over his shoulder, crossed arms and a tough scowl and the manager, well, he’s just looking as slick as he is supposed to in his straw hat! While it would seem that only the boxers would possess real action poses, the other figures’ more subtle looks makes all the figures intriguing.The Pulp Figures line is very interesting from top to bottom. Need some US Rocket Corps troops, some mad scientists or other one of a kind figures for the next wargame you plan to run? Check out this website first. I am still struggling to figure out how I can easily (and cheaply) build a sturdy zeppelin…
http://www.pulpfigures.com/