By Hal Thinglum - REDOUBT ENTERPRISES 28MM RELEASES - Redoubt, 49 Channel View Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN22 7LN, UK (01323-738022) continues to pop those new figures off the line for their excellent 28mm ACW line! Newly released are ACX47 - 30 figures from the Iron Brigade, there are six skirmishing figures and 24 at shoulder shift "hurrying into action." There are three differently posed standard bearers (all with separate poles), one of which holds the "Old Abe" standard (included). The drummer boy is a boy with a bandage around his head, the officer is holding his sword close to his body with his left hand outstretched holding his Hardee (all figures have the Hardee) hat, there is a sergeant advancing. All command come with attached head while the other 24 have separate heads (included). The six skirmishers are in light equipment while the others have full gear. Great looking skirmishers in a variety of poses - loading, firing; and a nice variety of shoulder shift poses! Cost is 19 pounds). ACX46 Berdan's Sharpshooters features 14 figures in frock coats and kepis with regulation trousers with gaiters and Prussian style hide knapsack with mess tin. There is a bugler, and officer and 12 enlisted men. Two of the figures are behind tree stumps (stump is not attached to the figure); some excellent poses here with figures kneeling leaning forward firing, kneeling with left leg fully extended, running, advancing, prone pointing, kneeling reaching into cartridge box. Ten pounds for the pack of 14. All figures have separate heads; one sitting firing figure is a two piece casting. ACAV D22 has six dismounted cavalry casualties in shirt, shell, and regular shirts mixed (cost is 4 pounds); all have separate heads; two are fully prone, one is prone leaning on his left side, and three are falling hit. Excellent castings, per usual! From their new Victoriana range come two officers, two marching soldiers and an NCO (65 pence each); I think these figures are in full dress. The NCO is marching with pace stick under his arm while one officer is standing in braided undress jacket with pistol and the other is standing in the same uniform with a rifle. The two marching EM figures have the home service helmet. If you are into British Colonial wargaming, get the officers! Lastly, ECX49 - a pair of battalion guns for the ECW or TYW; the guns are identical while there are four differently posed crew with separate heads: kneeling w/barrel while the other three are open-handed for baskets and tools (included). Beautifully cast items - makes my mouth water - there has to be something I can do with this set (10 pounds). Also available from MINIATURE SERVICE CENTER, 1386 Portofino Dr., Yuba City, CA 95993 (530-673-5169). All are highly recommended! By Hal Thinglum -- REDCOAT! MINIATURE WARGAMING RULES FOR THE AWI FIW and WAR OF 1812: This set of MWAN-sized rules (41 pages) is written by Stephen Agricola ($12.95) and Stephen has a web site (http://hometown.aol.com/sagri18805/index.html) and Stephen's e-mail address is Sagri18805@aol.com. Ten-sided dice are used, and there are two scales 1" = 30/45 yards, one troop stand (3 foot) = 60 or 90 men/3 or 5 guns, one turn = 10 or 15 minutes. The second scale is used for larger battles. Stephen is not a "stickler" re stand sizes although he recommends three l5mm foot figures to a one inch square base. Sequence of play is as follows- Player One moves units, then Generals, Player One and Two conduct fire combat followed by them both resolving close combat. Player Two then takes his turn moving first his units, then his Generals. The two sides then conduct fire combat followed by close combat. In set piece games, Player One is always the attacker, otherwise players throw dice for initiative. Units may change formation or move during a turn, but not both. Each General has a certain number of "order points" (determined by a die roll) and expends these points on units under his command. Units can lose "fatigue points" which reflect stress and exhaustion (i.e., a unit can lose a fatigue point if another unit from their same command is routed, if Generals are lost, etc). Close combat includes both short range musket fire and melee. Rifles are the only small arms which can use long-range firing. Close combat is determined by a modified die roll and the amount of difference. Move distance for line is 4", light infantry/skirmishers 6", Generals 8" and guns 4". There are a number of examples of play complete with photographs as well as scenario (Freeman's Farm) with orders of battle and a map. Stephen discusses the use of his rules for tournaments and includes a four page "designer's notes" section. A nicely done set! By Hal Thinglum - OVERLORD - WARGAME RULES FOR THE NORMANDY CAMPAIGN JuneAugust 1944: Brookhurst Hobbies, 12188 Brookhurst Street, Garden Grove, CA 92840 (714-636-3585; e-mail Brookhobby@aol.coni, website www.brookhursthobbies.com), along with FIREBASE GAMFS continues their recent trend of publishing rules sets with this 8 1/2" X I 1" 35 page effort ($18.98) written by Barrie Lovell who states "The rules have been designed to recreate the company and platoon level battles with the primary objective to "produce a game which accurately reflects the problems faced by the combatants in Normandy..." Further, they were designed to "bridge the gap between the skirmish style games and the large tank battle games." Scale is 1" = 10 metres for 15mm/29mm, one turn = two and a half minutes, and one figure/vehicle equals one figure/vehicle. D6 and average dice are used in the game. Stand sizes are suggested, a rifle group of 114 figures has a base of 1 1/2" X 1", a Bren/BAR stand has two figures on a 2" square base as is an individual sniper/leader. There are five classes of troops (poor to fanatic) while leaders have a leadership value of one to three. Instructions are given (a nice section) for games in which one uses "minimum hidden movement", "umpire controlled games", and "complete hidden movement games." There is a points system set forth for scenarios and a weather section. Sequence of play is as follows: leader activity phase, initiative (each side rolls 1D6 with the winner selecting first or second), watch & shoot phase, movement, firing, close assault, morale, and adjust smoke screens. Units wishing to move must have orders to do so other-wise they can only fire during that turn and only one order per turn may be given to each unit. Possible orders are: watch & shoot, advance, move, deploy weapon, charge, withdraw, and rally. There is an interesting communication section with units being able to communicate with each other via closeness (within 25 metres), runners, radio, telephone, or signal flares. Infantry moves at 100 metres for advance mode and 150 for move/charge, movement is halved for units in "bad going" while heavy weapons deduct 20%. Vehicles move at 500 metres (wheeled), 400 (light AFV), and 300 (other AFV). There are rules for the effect of Bocage hedgerows and locating a target. Only snipers can "single out" a leader figure. The rules covering fire, morale, close combat, etc., are fairly extensive and broken down as you would expect with a 1-1 figure to man ratio, For example, the morale chart for infantry has 24 possible modifiers. There are sections on anti-tank guns, field defences, mines, smoke screens, illumination, and ammo supply. Pretty indepth stuff Orders are battle are provided (I found this helpful) as is information re AFV's, there is one scenario, and a two page section on British, American, and German tactics. Lots of information here for the WWII gamer! I like the basing system which was well presented; something lacking in many WWII rule books. By Hal Thinglum - WWII BATTLEFRONT Late War Card Supplement - Fire & Fury Games, PO Box 360, Burtonsville, NID 20866 (phone/fax: 410-381-1632) has released a "Late war supplement" of unit data cards of 12 sheets (107 additional) encompassing 60 British, airborne, Russian lend-lease, additional American/Russian/German late war, and six errata cards. In addition, you can download tables of organization free from their website (www.fireandfury.corn . Cost of the new cards is $18 (postage: US/$2.25; Canada/$5; overseas/$9). As mentioned with the cards coming with the rules set, these are full color cards of model vehicles or infantry/support weapons stands which are nicely terrained (some good hints here!). All of the "unit" data is contained on the card making access very easy during a wargame. An excellent approach to WWII gaming! These cards would be invaluable as painting guides as well! Highly recommended - great value! Back to MWAN #114 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2001 Hal Thinglum This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com