Skirmish Campaigns:

France 1940

Reviewed by Bill Rutherford

Skirmish Campaigns: France '40 – Battles for the Meuse,

This 57-page (incl.. inside covers) book by Scott Fisher & Nathan Forney follows Skirmish Campaigns' earlier format, providing the gamer with ten scenarios playable individually or in combination in three linear campaign games (actually, one campaign can feed into another, so therefor four…) What's in the book? It starts out with a one-page introduction to the France 1940 campaign, followed by three pages of notes on how to set up and use the scenarios and interpret the scenario data. This is important because troop morale, training, and other values are given in a standard format, along with a conversion table to allow the gamer to use the scenarios with any of six popular skirmish-level rule sets. Next come three pages that describe the campaigns (along with simple flow charts with which to play them), six pages of campaign history (well written!), and a page of bibliography. The lion's share of the book, of course, is devoted to the ten scenarios; each covers four pages. The first covers setup, special rules, campaign notes, and scenario notes.

Victory conditions are all points-based and are addressed in the front of the book. The second page is the game map – simple but neat. The third and fourth pages are player hand-outs for the two sides, giving force compositions, variable attachments – a force typically consists of a core component of a couple of squads, supplemented by one or more randomly determined detachments, each scenario having it's own attachment table. Scenarios range from recon meeting engagements through infantry assaults (no wonder – it's a skirmish game!) to a tank battle (a couple platoons of tanks, in this scale, are all you need!)

As with the author's' earlier book on Norway, I found France '40 interestingly written and the scenarios well-done. Available from your local game shop for $14.95, or failing that, directly from the publisher, J&D Publications, 405 Kunkle Lane, Mechanicsburg, PA 17055. Check out the Skirmish Campaigns website at HYPERLINK http://fisherts.home.mindspring.com/skirmishcampaigns http://fisherts.home.mindspring.com/skirmishcampaigns for product information, updates, and downloads. Available from Brookhurst Hobbies, 12188 Brookhurst Street, Garden Grove, CA 92840 http://www.brookhursthobbies.com Recommended!

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