Fantasy

13 July 2015

Battlegroup: Wacht Am Rhein

From those clever chaps at Ironfist Publishing:
For later this year, maybe breaking through just before Christmas... 
This will be a smaller, softback, BG book, something of an experiment to cover some of the smaller theatres/campaigns/periods of WWII which would not fill a full hardback book. It'll aim to bring the character of the Ardennes fighting to the tabletop, all those forests and roadblock battles, as well as include a few new army list entries and a narrative campaign of linked historical battles. 
Secret planning work is already well advanced and the troops are being marshalled for the assault.
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Exciting stuff! Sadly no pre-order available yet though. I had heard that a Stalingrad supplement was being considered in this format but it looks like this will be the first test. I think an approach of presenting one or two minor organisational additions (e.g. SS Armoured Recce), a few battle specific rules, some scenarios and maybe a short campaign will really add a lot to the existing volumes. 

Meanwhile, the first North Africa book is still scheduled for release in April 2016. "Battlegroup 86" is also in development but on a much slower burn. I'm looking forward to that too, which might make a nice basis for a Vietnam version...

11 comments:

  1. Agree with the idea and would like the book but would also like to see the addition of the British added back in as somehow they are always left out of the Ardennes campaign. But I am really keen for a market garden mini book oh yeh!

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    1. Op MG would be a good addition I agree. The Dux and I had a discussions though about the Stalingrad module and how BG rules will transpose into a predominantly Urban environment. Arnhem would mostly fall into that category, though there could be some great scenarios for the XXX Corps drive too

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  2. Market-Garden... Yes, thats one to cover.

    Stalingrad was originally going to get a full book, but we may look again at that after the Desert book. Hungary is on the cards for a mini book and Im looking at doing one based on the fighting in Holland in the autumn of 44, a very overlooked period and one I think offers a great deal for small unit actions.

    As for Cold War... Lot to do for that. Some work has been done, but alot to do on the painting as well as writing side. I doubt it will be out for a good year yet... Unless I win the lottery and give up work!

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    1. Thanks for the intel Piers - lots to look forward to indeed, though I also have my eye firmly fixed on North Afrika at the moment!

      Cold War is a rather exciting option and I personally think the BG rules would work well for Vietnam too. You should take a look at what Steve is doing for his home rules for "Battlegroup: REFORGER" at his blog here:

      http://soundofficerscall.blogspot.com/search/label/Battlegroup%20REFORGER

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    2. Yes... Looked at alot of home mods for Cold War... Some good ideas, but to be honest I have a pretty good outline of how I want to do the rules side... indeed, change as little as possible is the key for the base mechanics. The period feel will come as with any book - from the 'special rules'. At 'Battlegroups' level we can assume a degree of equivalence among the forces... Everyone has an assault rifle, so they all get 1 RoF... MGs etc stay much the same in relation to small arms. The rules will only compare to themselves, not be an extension of the WW2 rules. We then add in the funky stuff... What will take time is the army lists, a background that fits with how the game will present itself, scenarios, equipment fluff and then an extended period of playtesting.

      Vietnam... Maybe one day though Im still not over writing Ambush Valley!

      I also have my eye on doing some other periods away from WW2 but we shall see. Lots more ideas than time Im afraid...

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    3. Piers, I love the design philosophy. My problem is that I'm impatient and lazy!! So we wanted to play Battlegroup with modern forces sooner than later, hence the home-grown stuff we came up with. We opted for a different pen table just because it was readily available and didn't know the math you guys used for yours (there's that lazy thing again).

      Some of the problems we came up with were modeling ATGM fire (making ATGMs different than main gun firing from tanks.)
      Sophisticated artillery rounds were a problem. So we figured you had to buy them up front to use things like DPICM and FASCAM but HE was free.

      Observation too - we made it easier to spot tanks, like automatic, but still a challenge to spot infantry. We also made it a little easier to call for arty.

      All of these things arose from some challenges of making it "modern" but always, and I mean always, trying to keep it within the spirit of Battlegroup.

      I hope you guys don't mind we started playing this home-grown frankenstein of a set. We love the BG rules and will continue to faithfully purchase them and play them. We just wanted something in-between until you guys get BG: NORTHAG out.

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