I think the next gaming sensation is going to be 25mm World War 11 Skirmish. I base this I on two reasons: One, I've seen the figures and two, I've played the game. It's new, it's different and a lot of figures aren't needed to have a heckuva good time. Unfortunately, not much advertising is seen on it nor is much said about it in any of the hobby publications, save Hal's musings in MWAN. Allow me to share with you of what I know.

Currently there's two ranges available. They are large 25's, more 30mm really, and thankfully they are comparable with each other. Rob Baker of First Corp had the first release with German and Russian infantry, and British Paratroops. Battlegroup Miniatures followed with a release of German and British infantry. Both firms intend to add further releases, with Battlegroup having ambitious plans to bring American infantry and paratroops, US Marines and Japanese, Waffen SS and partisans, further down the line. Battlegroup also wants to release larger crew- served weapons, like the MG 42, the Vickers HMG, Browning .30 and .50 calibers, and anti-tank weapons of the more well-known nationalities. The anti-tank weapons are planned for resin-casting. First Corps plans to add mortars and mortar crews for all three nationalities, as well as Russian partisans, NKVD, and snipers.

I first saw the First Corps range at last year's Historicon in a most uncomplimentary manner, as they were for sale in the flea market. It's strange to be hit with love at first sight when you're my age. Oh, I'd seen the figures offered for sale in a past Wargames Illustrated, but it's not the same as when you hold the chunky little suckers in your hand near the tip of your nose. They were everything my heart had ever wanted in WWII skirmish figures - they were big, they were seeable, and they had some personality in each pose (not as much as I'd like, but this was the only 25mm range available, so beggers can't be choosers) At the moment I was ripe for a new project, having just ended a five-year relationship with my paintbrush and about 2000 Napoleonics. Here was something the exact opposite of the Napoleonic project that was obviously going to take a lot less time to get into, and offered the advantage of being able to use the same buildings and terrain as the Napoleonics.

I also had a set of promising looking WWII skirmish rules remembered from an old PRACTICAL WARGAMER. I also had I first tried to get figures directly from Rob Baker in the UK but wasn't able to do so, because Brookhurst Hobbies has the exclusive dealership in the US. Undaunted, I contacted an English friend who duly secured said product for me. I got around 50 Russians and 70 Germans, with a mix of everything currently available. This gave me a bunch of assault infantry on each side, as well as four German MG34s, two moving and two prone, and a crew-served Russian anti-tank gun and heavy MG. Most of the German poses are in a sort of cautious advancing pose, as the figures are hunched and wary. I have to say I like the Russians better as they have more personality and a greater variety of poses, including firing, advancing and crouching. There's a great NCO figure prone waving his troops on, and there's two different gunners with record style Russian MGs that are good. For some reason, there are no troops throwing grenades, although many have grenades stuck in boots and belts. There's a decided lack of assault weaponry like Teller mines, grenade bundles, panzerfausts, flamethrowers and rifle grenades, which will hopefully be righted in the future.

All that said they're a tough good-looking bunch once the paint is applied to'em, and I couldn't wait to give the rules and a game a try.

I do believe the rules I used from the old Practical Wargarner are an earlier version of the recently reviewed rules "At the Sharp End" discussed in MWAN 84. (These rules are offered for sale by Doug Carroccio of the Miniature Service Center in Yuba City, California, who also carries the Battlegroup line. Look for his address in my review elsewhere in this issue) If they are the same rules, I highly recommend them. They provided a very exciting garne. During the game, all players were very involved. We spent a lot of time laughing, and there was a great deal of suspence. You didn't see anyone quietly working out calculations on a graph or table.

The rules had four simple sequences that made a lot of sense - It was defender fire - move, attacker move - fire. The players decided to throw grenades at the start or end of their respective moves. There was a focus on using suppresive fire, and the need to acquire a target before firing on it. The rules allowed for an easy use of smoke, and stressed the use of hidden initial placement for the defenders. I'll admit I was wary of the idea of hidden placement, as that meant record- keeping in the form of a map, and record- keeping and maps always meant hassles. In the end though, the hidden placement turned out to be the best overall aspect of an overall great game.

The initial game attempt saw a small force of Russians occupying a village under German attack. The German objective was to take a villa setting on high ground on the opposite end of the village. The Russian objective was,as always,to kill enough Germans to make them go away. My play testers were five Brutha gamers from decidedly fantasy backgrounds, but they were all willing to be fascists or communists for the day. I mention ~this because as quickly became known there was no tactical expertise for platoon-level combat amongst them. Once the three German players were advised of their objective they took one look at their seeming hoards of Germans, and smugly set up their entire force for an end rush from their starting point, some railroad tracks, to the villa from the shortest appearing distance. I 1@ at the massed troops and the serene faces of the German players and thought, Why Should I Tell Them?

Meanwhile, the two Russian players had grasped the significance of the hidden place- ment advantage and quite ready for any Teutonic onslaught. The Germans started by dutifully laying out smoke supported by the laying on of suppresive fire to likely firing points. Surprisingly, they made good progress across the open ground from the railroad tracks to the first tree-lined street, taking only few casualties on the way. As the Germans :merged from the smoke cover and the trees however, they were hit by a wall of fire from burp guns, hand grenades and supportive LMG fire enfilading the street. Immediately almost all the first attacking line of Germans were casualties, some writhing in the street, some still. This caused the assault to grind to a halt. Not only were there at least ten grenadiers down, which accoumted for a good percentage of the entire attacking force, but the rules called for serious casualties to be moved from danger by non-injure& or less injured troops. Thus the Germans spent some time clearing the road of casualties, loosing still more in a "Full Metal Jacket" sort of way. This didn't make for tedious play and was exciting to watch,by the way.

I guess I should note the casualty rule was a house variance. The regular rules called for lead, serious and light-wound casualties. Light-wound were downed for one turn: stunned, I guess, busily shaking it off, and I could buy that, but serious wounds said a fellow was down for two or more moves, I don't remember, cause it didn't make sense. lo me, a serious wound is something evolving a lot of blood flowing, or mass trauma, like guts ripped out, or sucking chest wounds, or amputated extremities. Now those are serious, and you don't decide to get up again in three moves if one leg is now much shorter than the other. When a serious wound comes down, the real-life soldier makes a conscious or unconscious decision to render himself more or less hors de combat for the rest of the action. Or so I though. Anyway, I decided he would be as good as dead unless I made him a liability, hence the rule that the figure's comrades must assist. The mechanism of the rule was set up so that one figure would move to the serious casualty, and then move with that casualty until he was out of the immediate line of fire. Most of the players wanted an override ability to the rule, like an NCO present says to forget the casualty, but I like the feel to it so I plan on keeping it.

After the crossing the street incident, the Germans became a lot more cautious and a lot more ruthless. I mused how we are outraged at the atrocities we hear about in real war, as I watched the German players throw multiple handgrenades through every window (just to be sure) and mass fire on any acquired target to insure it's demise. I'm sure if you asked the players they were just taking pragmatic steps to: insure their own survival.

While I pondered these philosophical thoughts, the Germans were still dying. A corurnand group of six huddled by the side of a house took a direct hit from an antipersonnel round and all of them died. An assault group all became casualties when multiple hand grenades from the other side of the wall they were passing landed in the middle of them. It was at this point that an interesting aspect of playing with fantasy garners made itself known. Arrrgh! I heard an anguished cry from one of the Germans, who was apparently really distraught. What!? I queried. He got ME! the German player cried, still obviously in anguish. Well of course he did, I said-, having worked with mentally ill convicts for many years, developing a knack for patronization. A check showed most all the players had picked someone to be "them", a point that didn't seem like a shabby way to raise the enthusiasm level, upon reflection.

The game progressed, and in the end the once smug Germans were calling for reinforcements. Their attack had in effect disintegrated; the troops were confused, disoriented and pretty much demoralized. It was cool. The game was very satisfactory. Both sides liked the hidden movement/placement, and felt it made the garne. I thought the Russians might not like having troops actually on the table, but this was not the case. The Germans stressed how suspenseful the game was not knowing where to expect the next attack. All, including me, were ready to go at it again the next day. I liked everything about the rules, and the only changes I will make are the previously discussed casualty aspect, plus I think I will reduce the hit probabilities, which I think are too high.

What else about 25mm WWII? As noted, Battlegroup Miniatures also has figures now. I think I like these figures better, although don't look for me to get rid of the First Corps figures. Battlegroup figures look more like real people, while the First Corps are more caricatures, with oversize hands. Also, the Battlegroup figures have all the gear I complained was missing from First Corps. Understand that finished painted products of each are hand-in-hand comparable, and now they are comrades awaiting the next drive into the cauldron of the gaming table, together. (There! That should offend neither Trevor or Rob!) What I would like to see are more personality figures a la Games Workshop or Guernsey Foundry. The limited amount of releases and needed figures seems to lend itself to that sort of thing. I'd like to not only see the grizzled veteran and the scared kid recruit, I'd like to see Sgt. Rock, or Sgt. Fury, and even Tiny and Porta of Sven Hassel fame. (What! Never read Sven Hassel? don't know who Tiny or Porta is? They're only the Hardy boyz series on the German army. Find 'em, reed 'em, check 'em out).

People have talked about getting armor in 1/48th scale to use with the figures, but I think I'll stay away from that. Right now this is a well-balanced game with around 100 figures total needed and you could probably make do with half that. Armor would change the complexion of the game, as even one tank against infantry would make the infantry scurry like rabbits for cover. The game would de-generate into a tank-hunting contest I think, that would quickly end once all tank-killing capability was removed.

But hey, who knows? I know I plan on getting many more of the figures, especially the Battlegroup figures. I was very impressed with the customer friendly service I received from the Miniature Service Center. Doug made sure I got the specific figures I requested, sent everything I asked for, and got them to me in less than a week. He also sent the figures and billed me later, and I appreciate that degree of trust. I've only dealt with Brookhurst Hobbies once, and they committed the two cardinal sins of US distributors of UK products, they only sent half what I, and sent me things I didn't order, but ended up paying for anyway. I don't know how I'll get the other First Corps figures I want, and would appreciate negotiating a trade with some well-meaning UK citizen.

In any case, I hope I've entertained you with this short tirade, or have inspired you to take a look at this new gaming opportunity with a lot of potential. Anyone with any comments, ideas or inspirations they wish to share should feel free to contact me the old fashioned way by writing Steve Dake, 6060 Riverside, Jackson, Michigan 49201. Hook forward to hearing from you.