Courier Dispatch

New Products

By Dick Bryant

Day of Battle II Rev. II Available

Chris Parker announced that his rev 2 of Day of Battle II is now available. He claims to be taking a new approach to game design. Whenever a new revision is released current owners can get a free version of it online in the form of a Adobe Acrobat .pdf file. They can also send him $3.50 for a brand new paper copy less the covers. Chris has been working on two new projects.

Warlord is a set of Medieval rules based on the mechanics of Day of Battle II however it leaves out harassing morale, role play and honor points. It also has a fixed turn sequence. Through feedback it has been found that most gamers don’t like the first three and need the fourth so the rules were so modified. The rules will be on-line at “http://www.dayofbattle.com/”www.dayofbattle.com sometime this fall. It plays fast, is well suited for multiple player games. The game testors at The Old Colony Wargamers club in Hudson Mass. have been a big help in play testing it. Feedback was all positive.

On Holy Ground II is the second edition of the Crusader variant for DoBII. This has been co-written by Mark Kyriss. It now includes all three crusades and will available later this summer. Domains (army lists): These have all been redesigned in DoBII so they can be used in Warlord as well. This company is trying to use the internet to give the gamer the most bang for his buck and encourage his feedback with almost instantaneous change. dayofbattle@mediaone.net or www.dayofbattle.net

RLBPS Expands Product Availability

RLBPS is the U.S. Distributor for Gripping Beast now. We will be handling store orders as well as individual customer sales and the convention presentation of products. www.rlbps.com We are distributing Gripping Beast products in the U.S. and over our website. Attached is our dealer terms letter. Gripping Beast is being offered through us at 40% off. We are just beginning to build inventory, so it will take 2 - 3 weeks for filling orders at first. We take orders by e-mail, US mail, fax or phone. Payment can be by cash, check, money order or major credit card. Shipping/handling is additional. You can reach us by e-mail or regular mail at: RLBPS, 4827 Treeview Terrace, Rockford, IL 61109 phone: 815/874-5351 fax: 815/874-4829

More Products

Battlefront has a late-war card supplement for the WWII rules, with 107 units cards for British/Commonwealth, US, Russians, and Germans. Fire And Fury Games, P.O. Box 360, Burtonsville, MD 20866, email: Contact@FireAndFury.com.

Battleground has supplements out for these WWII skirmish rules, covered Utah Beach and Bastogne, each about 160 pages. Easy Eights Enterprises, 0036 Caenen, Lenexa, Kansas 66215, email: M4A3E8@battlegroundwwii.com.

Battle Honors has released, in 25mm, Rommel with Afrika Korps field officers and radios as well as Italians uniformed for 1940-43 European, Alpine, North African, and Bersaglieri units, each with bags of rifle, machine gun, and mortar troops.

Castaway Arts has announced a new line of 28 mm for the Franco-Prussian War. P.O. Box 7599, Cairns, QLD 4870 Australia Phone/Fax +61 7 4041 2079, web: www.castawayarts.com.au, email: castawayarts@ozemail.com.au.

GHQ, in addition to having a name that doesn’t begin with “battle,’ now has the added attraction of producing the AA cruiser Black Prince and carrier Taiho in 1/2400 for WWII. Also for WWII is a French 25mm AT gun and UE carrier in 1/285, along with Bersaglieri Infantry and weapons packs. For the modern enthusiast, there are modern Russian infantry and weapons and a US M9 armored combat earthmover.

Dixon has turned out nearly two dozen samurai of thee Kamakura period (12th-14th centuries) in 25 mm. All foot figures, these are armed with a variety of weapons; although many are “dramatic interest” figures, engaged in cleaning weapons, brandishing severed heads, or being female, the remainder would be useful additions to an army of the period. Available from Wargames, Box 278, Route 40 East, Triadelphia, WV 26059-0278.

Essex has redesigned their 15 mm Han Chinese. There are some 18 packs available, including cavalry, foot, two- and four-horse chariots, command, and baggage. These are also available from Wargames.

Fear Nought and Dread God is a new set of rules for WWI naval games from Larry Bond and Chris Carlson. For your $90, you get a boxed set of rules, counters, a scenario book, a data book, and a handbook. Components can be purchased separately. Available from Grandiosity, P.O. Box 750992, Dayton, OH 45475-0992, tel: (937) 439-2488. web: www.warweb.com.

Old Glory has a swarm of Ottoman Turks out in 25 mm for the period 1450-1690. There are 23 bags of a wild variety of troops and another 6 of artillery pieces. Another new line provides for the Maori Wars, with three bags of variously armed Maoris, British Infantry from the 1840’s and 1860’s, Mounted and dismounted Forest Rangers, Maori Scouts, artillery crew, and a naval landing party…with rockets, of course.

For those enamored of WWI in 25 mm, there are American, British, French and Germans, each available as infantry advancing, heavy machine guns, command, and casualties. There are also some craters and a 6.5 foot trench (for about $125). Other 25 mm line expansions include Libyan Bowmen, Swordsmen, and Javelinmen, all with command, and three flavors of Renaissance Cossacks. These last may run riot around an assortment of early Russian buildings, including a steppes farmstead and Cherta defense network. Moving just to the west, there are Muscovite cavalry, musketeers, pikemen, and artillerists from the army of Ivan the Terrible.

In 15 mm there is a line of New Assyrian Empire troops with 15 bags of foot, chariots, cavalry, and command. In the modern era, there are a Soviet T-72, Four BRDM variants, PT-76, BTR-50, OT62, BTR-60, and MTLB. The American M-113 appears with five variants. There are additions to several other 15 mm lines, with Portuguese Napoleonic infantry, light infantry, cavalry, and artillery, AWI Queens Rangers mounted and afoot, and SYW French light infantry and light cavalry.

Osprey’s more recent titles include, in the Men-at-Arms series, Wellington’s Belgian Allies (1815), and Armies of the Balkan (1914-1918). In the New Vanguard series are ACW Artillery (2) Heavy and Confederate Ironclad, while the Aztecs, Knights Hopitaller (1100-1306), Confederate Infantryman, and English Medieval Knight are covered in the Warrior Series. There are Essential History volumes out for the Seven Years War and the ACW in the East 1863-5 and the Indian Army of WWI is covered in an Elite title.

Peter Pig has some new WWII figures in 15 mm, with a US 60 mm mortar and new rifle pack, German ski troops, Bersaglieri rifles, LMG, command, and crew. Available in the US from Brookhurst Hobbies, 12188 Brookhurst Street, Garden Grove, CA 92840, tel: (714) 636-3580, web: brookhursthobbies.com.

Skirmish Campaigns is a series of booklets, each of which contains some historical background, scenarios, and linked scenarios to comprise a campaign, and a rules translator to help set up the games. The latest volume, “Normandy ’44 - First Hours,” covers the battles in and around Utah Beach, with beach landings, air drops, and the drive inland illustrated in 10 scenarios and four campaigns. Available at retailers, info at: fisherts.home.mindspring.com/skirmishcampaigns.

Thoroughbred Miniatures ACW ships in 1/600 Scale now include Confederate Davids and Maurays and a Union Timberclad. 4106 Timberland Drive, Portsmouth, VA, 23703, web: www.thoroughbredmodels.com.

Brent Nosworthy is planning a series of Tactical Studies, composed of two Methods of Attack booklets, one covering the period from 1689-1763, the second the Napoleonic period, supplemented by 50-100 page booklets and some physical components applying to specific armies and periods. Although he plans to include rules suggestions in each one, these are not rules or a game, but a method of studying a particular period. Some of the planned titles include Dutch tactics during the Wars of Spanish Succession, Imperialist tactics during the same period, British tactics 1756-1763, French cavalry tactics during the Napoleonic wars, about 18 in all. More information from brent.nosworthy@wtj.com, web: http://wtj.com/nosworthy.

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