'74s to 88s' - A Model and Wargames blog: 50th

Finally - after almost 18 months of waiting - Rapid Fire have finally released their 'Normandy Battlegames' book.

It's a lovely book, full of colour photos with the lovely Valiant figures. If you've got the other Rapid Fire publications you will be very aware of the standard of their books.

If you have the 'Normandy Battlegroups' book you will, I am sure, be very keen to purchase this.

The Rapid Fire website states that the book has:

13 historical scenarios (3 of which can be played us a Carentan mini-campaign): Villiers-le-Sec, Leibsey, Norrey and Putot, La Fière, Cambes, Le Bas de Ranville and Hérouvillette, Cristot, Villers Bocage, Across the Elle, Operation Mitten, St Come-du-Mont, Defence of Carentan and Battle for Carentan

Designed to fight with the forces from Normandy Battlegroups

Historical backgrounds, battle maps, victory conditions and organisational variations

Additional Normandy rules

New standardised terrain system that makes setting up simpler

Two new Battlegroups in graphic format for British 6th Airborne and US 82nd Airborne Divisions

The scenarios themselves are as you come to expect from Colin and Richard - well designed, historically accurate but adapted for the wargamer, and thoroughly playtested. I haven't played them yet but they offer plenty of options for players who may between them have several of the Battlegroups.

However, if I have a criticism of the design, is that they seem to have used lots of 200 point groups with 'options' made up to 250, 300 or 350 points - I may be wrong, but I would think many gamers would've built a 200 group (perhaps with a couple of options) or a 400 point group, so by making scenarios involve 350 point groups, this may involve getting the odd additional model or reworking the scenario a little. This of course is fine, but why not just make the scenarios more straight forward using the base groups with perhaps 1 or 2 of the options for the 200 point battlegroups?

To use my collection as an example, I will need to get an M10 Wolverine to play any of the 50th Northumbrian scenarios, while Panzer Lehr involve the 2nd Battalion of panzergrenadiers, which I don't have as for both units I plumped for the 400 point battlegroups. I could play up to 5 or 6 of the scenarios with my current collection as the basis, but I also think another few hundred pounds would be needed to get the added 'extras' I am currently missing.

This is picky of me however! I do plan to get those tweaks done as I want to play the scenarios, and I am sure I can use some of my generic German infantry regiment to play panzergrenadiers if necessary! It has spurred me on to get a few extra bits and make my german infantry into a 352nd Infanterie Division battlegroup too - although some of the guns may be in the early/mid war livery.

The additional Normandy rules look good and add small tweaks for a different flavour to the Normandy games and beyond, but again you may have your own club/house variations you can supplement these with.

The Battlegroups for the 6th Airborne and US 82nd Airborne look good to me, but I have no intention of getting those at the moment.

The standardised terrain system is a great idea - however, it will work if your terrain broadly fits into this; or if you are starting from scratch; but I would imagine it unlikely that many gamers would redo their whole terrain collection to fit in with it? If you only played RF, perhaps, but surely terrain is used for all games? Perhaps I am reading too much into it and it is more of a graphical, mapping, standardisation? A good idea, but practically, you either 'will' or you 'won't'.

All in all, a very handy book, a must for any Battlegroupers out there, but be prepared to have to tweak your groups a bit to make them fit!