Category: Late War

The first Late War game.

On Wednesday night, I played Steve with our first attempt at using the new Fortress Europe book.

He was packing Panzer IV’s and some Panthers and I got my British infantry out.

I’ve missed these guys.

We were too excited to really note down what happened but it ended in a draw. I didn’t have anything to really pressure his Panthers from the objectives and he couldn’t shift my infantry on the other side of the table.

However, my thoughts are as follows:

  1. It’s great to be back in Late War.
  2. It’s odd to start thinking about two formations as standard plus support.
  3. Panthers are nasty but still have to be careful.
  4. Infantry can be a real pain for tanks.
  5. PIAT teams, I love PIAT teams.

Hit the beach! A review

So late War is finally here. I’m going to look at Fortress Europe in a separate post and concentrate here on what may be the greatest deal in War gaming ever.

To start, I feel it’s only fair to say I loved the Open Fire! Box set from 3rd edition. There was so much stuff in it including terrain (well, 2D terrain) that was marked with rules to help you learn. While Hit the beach does not have quite as much in it, for £35 (cheaper through FLGS discount) it’s an absolute no brainier.

So, what do you get? Well, reused from the Open fire set are the infantry for Germany and America. I’ve long wanted to do an airborne army and with the set I’d already got plus this new platoon, I’ve now got a great basis. The hard plastic figures are really nicely detailed and I’m a big fan.

Two German anti tank guns round out what was in the old starter.

We get 8 Shermans with the option of upgrading 3 of them.

Oddly, I thought that Battlefront would again reuse the Open fire! moulds (they were some of my favourites) that had a ton of stowage as well but they were the British version with Fireflies so this is nice to get recognisably American kit.

The Panzer IV’s are again, a nice change from the previous versions Stugs.

I can imagine a lot of veteran players asking themselves if they need this set. The chances are they have most of the stuff in it but for new players this is a great way to get started. The US airborne may not be as genetically useful as a regular infantry company but add a nice bit of iconic flavour (and for people like me, an absolute favourite).

This is probably the cheapest starter set on the market for any wargame. Better yet, if you’re in the market for American Sherman’s, this box is only slightly more expansive than a box of five on their own.