READY FOR INSPECTION!

 

It's been to quiet in these parts for my liking so it's with great pleasure I get to review three new United Bricks MiniFigs kindly sent to us for closer inspection!

 

We have a mixed little lot standing to attention on AWNT's specially built parade ground. I've just been informed there was nearly fisty cuffs between our little heroes today due to communication problems. Well what do you expect when you have an American a Scot and a German! I do believe it was over todays date, read on and you'll understand why there maybe some disagreement over it. Coupled with the obvious language and accent issues I'm not sure why I didn't see this happening. So I've called in two interpreters an American who can speak and a  German who can speak English. The Scot can actually speak German and understand American but no one can understand him! I do know he didn't take kindly to being called English by the German and a Scotch by the American! All very complicated! Anyway onto business!

 

 

First in line and looking perfectly turned out is our DAK MG Soldier. DAK or better known as the Afrika Korps was the German expeditionary force sent to Africa to help strengthen the Italians, who more than likely would have been in trouble as the Italians were woefully equipped for War on any of the fronts and remained so throughout the conflict. I'm sure most people have heard of the Afrika Korps enigmatic leader Erwin Rommel. Many books have been written about the battles between Rommel's Afrika Korps and the British 8th Army.

 

 

 

 He is wearing, with pride I can see, his Afrika Korps uniform. He is one of Rommel's finest. The DAK uniform is the perfect colour for desert warfare. He is well prepared to man the MG with an ammunition bandolier across his shoulders. As per usual with United Bricks the printing is top quality, nice and clear and highly unlikely to wear off with handling. Judging by his smile I reckon he is fighting out there in the desert during the height of Rommel's powers, or he came out on top in the earlier..shall we call it a heated difference of opinion..ahem! Maybe the look on the other two faces will give us a clue!

 

He retails at £8.50. You can also purchase three other DAK torsos an Officer, MP40 soldier and a KAR soldier.

 

Next up is a rather upset looking US Admiral! Maybe the German did end up getting the upper hand? Or maybe we are dealing with a hard headed, no nonsense US Admiral. The kind that defeated the Japanese Navy in the Pacific. Looking at him, you'd even say defeated the Japanese single handed.

 

He looks very smart in his all white uniform. Though there is less printing compared to the DAK uniform what looks top quality. Also the more stark Naval uniform is reflected in his retail price.

 

He retails at £6.50.

 

 

Last to be reviewed is our Scot! Still smarting from being called a Scotch and even worse English he is also confused about why on earth the American and the German insist they are fighting in the second War, when he is still fighting the first one! Yet no matter how often he tried to explain it didn't seem to register, it's as if he was talking in an alien language! Anyway eventually things got heated and when the Admiral laughed when the German called him English..well what else did he expect other than a Scottish Kiss, or should he say Scotch Kiss!

 

So that explained we have hear a  WW1 Scottish soldier resplendent in his kilt, as he belongs to one of the famous Scottish Regiments, though he could just as likely been an Englishman in say the 1/8th Kings Liverpool Scottish battalion. One of several battalions within British regiments that are designated Scottish. As I said though this particular fine specimen is in a Scottish Regiment.

 

His tartan kilt is excellent and a great touch. He is wearing the Brodie helmet which troops starting wearing from late 1915 onwards. Again the printing is excellent quality and really can't be faulted. I also love his very WW1 moustache, plus the raised eyebrow really adds character!

 

 

He retails at £9.00 and is my favourite Minifig out of the three!

 

So that's it from United Bricks for now. Head on over to their website and check out many other figures aswell as a great selection of WW2 vehicles, including tanks!

 

 

THE BOOK OR BOOKS OF THE WEEK OR MAYBE BI WEEKLY, WHO KNOWS?

 

 

 

 Hello everyone! With any luck this maybe become a regular feature. Each week or maybe bi weekly a AWNT team member takes a turn in recommending a book or even a set of books chosen from their book shelf. The book doesn't have to be a new release or even something they've just read. It doesn't even have to be historical. It could be fiction or non fiction, educational, scientific, a graphic novel, anything except porn..sorry to disappoint:)

 

 So I'll kick start this new and exciting (ahem) feature off with a series of books I've just recently got into. It's a series of novels set in WW2. We are transported to the East Front and follow a squad of Axis soldiers who come from different Axis nations plus one Hiwi (Russian volunteer). The author does a decent job in convincing the reader that this set up could possibly exist under the circumstances they find themselves in. The first book I bought was the paperback omnibus of his first set of novels, Bloody Stalingrad, that follow the squad during Stalingrad and the subsequent encirclement. Then as I was given a Kindle Fire for Xmas I went and bought the next omnibus, Rise of the Bloody Phoenix,  which consisted of the next two novels this time focussing on the 2nd battle of Kharkov. Also waiting in the wings is the next book, Bloody Citadel, which is yet to be published which appears to centre around Kursk.

 

 

 

 I'm normally pretty dubious about all these self published novels you now find on Amazon. Especially historical novels were far to often you'll come across glaring historical issues that make you throw the book away in disgust (this has happened on more than one occasion). However I'm obsessed over Stalingrad and certainly didn't want to miss out on a possible gem so I took a chance and bought the trilogy. Thankfully Andrew (the author) has done his research and it shows. Yes like many war novels liberties are taken and truths possibly stretched abit but I've not come across anything that has ruined the book or read any startlingly obvious historical errors (I see a book on sale that follows the SS in Stalingrad, that sort of thing annoys me).

 

 The author at times has a habit of being a touch repetitive and yes he isn't the most accomplished writer I've come across, however I can forgive him these minor indiscretions because he has done an excellent job in getting the reader invested in the main characters. You really do warm to them and want to spend time in their company, routing for them has they battle through the harsh winter conditions of the East Front.

 

 

 

 I actually can't think of many, what I'd consider, truly great war novels (The Red Horse is an epic tale of the Italian war experience, written by an Italian veteran of the East front. He has also wrote an account of his experiences during the retreat across the steppes). I can think of quiet a few really enjoyable war novels and  even more absolutely dire ones. Andrews books easy sits in the really enjoyable category. It's a typical War novel in many respects and it doesn't profess to be anything else. Maybe if you have little interest in the East front you may not view it in the same light as I do, however if you do have an interest and enjoy films like Cross of Iron (the book is very good aswell) then it wont disappoint.

 

 So if you own an E Reader go buy the books so far. Defiantly worth the money:) Even the paperback of the Stalingrad omnibus is worth the price, well I don't regret paying for it.

 

So that concludes my BOOK OF THE WEEK OR MAYBE BI WEEKLEY HOPEFULLY COULD BE MONTHLY... feature. As you can see from the excellent title you may, possibly, see another team member pick a favourite book or two or maybe more if they pick a series....yeah OK I'll shut up..bye!

 

STOP PRESS: I'm sure many of you have seen the excellent German war film Stalingrad? Well I've just discovered the actual book the film was based off. At first I thought the author had just seen the film then wrote the book, however after abit of research I found out it was originally released pre the film in Germany. The book is called Stalingrad: The Loneliest Death by C Fromm

STOP PRESS AGAIN: Below is a list of other recommended East Front fiction. In no particular order.

1. Cross of Iron
2. The Forsaken Army
3. Stalingrad by T Plievier
4. Pavlov's House
5. The Kindly Ones
6. The Red Horse
7. Siege
8. Scar of Honor
9. Black Cross
10 Into the Gates of Hell Stug Command '41
11. Devils with Wings: Frozen Sun (Book three of a trilogy that follows a Fallschirmjager unit. The other two books are set during the para drop at the fort Eben-Emael in Norway and the second book at Crete)

A superb WW2 LEGO animation

 

by the Brick Dictator!

BATTLE FOR STALINGRAD

From the moment that I received Battle for Stalingrad [BfS], it's been an up and down experience.

At first sight it looks like a classic DVG game - the usual lovely glossy box in a dark and sombre black and steely blue with evocative illustration on the front.  But, wait a minute - Russian soldiers advancing down what looks like a vast, open road in the face of tanks in Stalingrad?  Close quarter combat, rubble, dodging in an out of buildings - well perhaps somewhere, at some point this empty boulevard might have been seen.  After all it's only atmosphere [isn't it?] - but, hang on, those Russian soldiers look nothing like any picture of  a Russian WWII soldier I've ever seen!  Tight-fitting, modern clothing and even more obviously modern helmets.  OK, suspend judgement for the moment.

What period did these soldiers come from?

Next the physical box itself.  Heft the box, much lighter and slightly shallower than usual.  Go on, open it.  Open it!  DVG boxes are noted for their quality and snug fit, so much so that they can be a bit tight to open, but this was a wrestling match.  I was seriously concerned that I'd damage the box and even now after repeated extractions, it's no easy matter to separate the two halves.  At last inside was ... a significant amount of empty space filled by a cardboard insert that nearly reaches the box lid, with a shallow, narrow trough down the centre containing three packs of cards, on top is one sheet of counters and a rule book.  A typical DVG rule book in quality of paper and lay out, but 8 pages of rules and 2 and a half pages of a sample game is amazingly brief.  A very slim rule book indeed.  No mounted board, no card displays.

This really is a departure from the expectations associated with most DVG games.  First of all it is 2 -player only, unlike the predominantly solitaire games that DVG are noted for.  Its components consist of a set of ten cards that give you famed locations from the Battle for Stalingrad, a small deck of Force cards for each player and a much larger deck of Action cards for each player too.  The single sheet of counters are Rubble and Ration markers and what look like a small number of control markers, but are in fact Heroic Medals, earned by destroying all the enemy forces in a battle and controlling the location; such a medal is awarded to one of your own unit cards to strengthen its abilities.

So far, so uncertain.  Next for the cards - DVG are good at getting cards right and these are as right as right can be.  Every single one of the 168 contains a reproduction of an historical photo.  Even considering that, where there is more than one of the same card [e.g. the five Russian reinforcement cards], the same photo is duplicated, the game is almost worth having just for the cards to look at!  Also, that road those reinforcements are motoring down is sooo wide I've got too revise my view on some of the box art too!

The broad boulevards of Stalingrad?

The ten terrain cards that you will be randomly choosing from to form your five target locations cover all the most famous sites: the Grain Elevator, Pavlov's House, the all-important high ground of Mamayev Kurgan, the Red Barricades Factory and so on.  In how many tactical games have I fought over Pavlov's House, but to actually have a photograph to aim for is something else. 

Every card tells a story - it's that house!

I particularly like the inclusion of the two airfields, Pitomnik and Gumrak, that were so important for German supply, especially the inclusion of Gumrak airfield [which now lies under part of Volgagrad International Airport] and was the last of the seven airfields to be retaken by the Russians.  Finally each of the 27 Force cards also has its own individual picture.

Another of my favoured locations.

One of my major concerns was the lack of any mounted board.  Instead, the layout of the cards forms the playing area in a five card by five card grid.  The top row is the Russian Perimeter Area and the next row is the Russian Control Area, the centre row is where you place five of the ten building cards randomly selected, the 4th and 5th rows mirror the Russian layout but this time for the German player.  If this sounds familiar, it will be if -like me -you possess the game, Hell of Stalingrad, published by Clash of Arms in 2009.

Obviously, this feature of the cards creating both the playing area and the forces involved has been used in many other games, especially the fantasy genre of games.  Here the format is at its simplest and slickest and the fact that it is so simple is not a criticism.  It means that the few pages of rules are quickly and easily assimilated and all the focus is on playing the game and not thumbing through endless pages to check.  Consequently, this is a game that can be put on the table after a considerable period of time and you'll still be ready for play almost immediately.

So, how does a typical game play out.  First randomly select your five objective location cards - obviously, if you wish to, there's nothing stopping you choosing your favourite locations. [Can't help wanting to sneak in Pavlov's House.]  The Russian player then selects 11 pts worth of Force Cards [costs range from 1 to 4] and places them in any of the Perimeter or Control zones.  As a player wins by controlling all five locations at the end of their turn and the German player will take their turn first, I would say that it's important that the Russian player mainly occupies Control zones.  The Russian player also draws 10 Action Cards.

One of the strongest of the German Force cards

Then the German player selects 9 pts of Force Cards and draws 5 Action Cards.  He/she then deploys their Forces in any of their Perimeter zones.  Each Zone can hold up to three Force Cards [except for Pavlov's House, where each side can field only one Force.]  It's especially important to remember that, when a Force Card is first placed, it has a specific number of Rations marked on the card that are placed with it.  These Rations fuel so much of what happens in the game and represent far more than the basic meaning of "ration". 

A typical starting lay-out

First of all, to move a Force from one location to another costs a Ration.  Each Force that wishes to attack must also spend one Ration.  As you can imagine your supply of rations will soon be depleted and a single fresh Ration token can be gained at the beginning of your turn by each of your Forces, only if it is in a Perimeter zone or controls a Location card.

There are a limited few other ways of gaining rations, such as playing a Raid Action card to steal 2 rations from the enemy to give to your own troops.  Played at the right time this can be a life saver or the means to put just that extra bit of pressure on the enemy.

A feature of the game that I find very appealing is the fluidity of your turn.  Movement, Combat, buying Force cards, playing Action cards can all be combined and repeated in any sequence you wish, Forces can be moved and fight and move and fight again.  All this is purely dependent on how far you wish to deplete your rations and Action cards. 

Equally important, and again I would consider it a strength of the game, is the variety of uses for the Action cards.  They can be played for their text or used to buy new Force cards; they are played in Battle to add to your Fire power or subtract from the enemy's Fire power.  It is the age old dilemma: you will want them for everything, but can only choose one use! 

One of the many Action Cards

A knowledge of the cards is important, but a couple of games should have you well aware of the range and potential.  On the Russian side, the six Action cards that relate to Operation Uranus will often play a significant role.  They all come with a play cost for the Russians, but with a far more powerful harmful effect on the German player which is permanent, unless the German player pays an even more painful higher cost to remove them from play.

One of six important Operation Uranus cards

Play at the right time can be crucial to Russian victory

Play balance has had some criticism, but the number of those who believe the Germans have a lock on winning seems about the same as those who think the Russians have a similar lock on winning.  So that's one sort of balance, in a way.  For myself, I'm perfectly happy, having had victories and defeats playing both sides.

Initially, I found the game rather repetitive and drawn out, but I would strongly recommend persevering, as I've found the game really has grown on me.  One of the reasons for this is the Combat system, one of the game's strongest elements.  It is highly interactive with both players able to continue to add in cards to increase their own fire or decrease their opponents.  When both players have ceased this exchange of fire, a final unknown Action card is turned up from each player's deck and its modifier applied.  This last minute uncertainty is an effective touch. 

It is rare for both sides not to take some losses.  The number of hits inflicted can be reduced by one for each ration that you are willing to spend and every unit that retreats from the battle to its rear Perimeter zone cancels another two hits.  Despite this, when faced with possibly about 15 hits, wiping out three enemy forces is certainly achievable.  Occasionally, both players may find their forces wiped out. 

While on the topic of combat, I would strongly recommend either downloading Nagato Fuyibashi's excellent little chart for tracking hits for both sides from the Battle for Stalingrad site on BGG or creating a simple one of your own.  It really does make remembering the numbers easy and the battles swift to play out.

For those who believe purely card based games are just about hand management, that may be how you will perceive this game too.  But give it a try.  As you desperately try to cling on to a position or throw the last few points on your Action cards into overwhelming the defence or when you cannot decide whether you can afford to abandon 6 rations in order to cancel a particular Operation Uranus card,  I hope you'll get the same sense of tension and narrative feel as I do from playing Battle for Stalingrad.

 

Rorke's Drift a New Perspective

by 

Neil Thornton

 The Title of the book pretty much sums this book up in a nutshell. For those of us who thought we knew the story of Rorke's Drift and how and why it was fought, and also the story about all of the Victoria Crosses that were won there, we might be in for a bit of a shock. 

 The Zulus destroyed a camp and killed over 1,300 British soldiers and their African allies at iSandlwana on January 22, 1879. A few hours after that the Zulu Undi regiment crossed the Buffalo river into Natal. The Undi regiment was kept in reserve during the battle, so the warriors' blood was up. Prince Dabulamanzi, the Undi regiment's commander, decided to cross the river against his king Cetshwayo's orders. The next British encampment of any size would be Rorke's Drift. When Lord Chelmsford came back to his destroyed camp at iSandlwana, he could see the fire in the distance from the battle at Rorke's drift.

 For those of us who have had the pleasure to see it, the 1964 movie 'Zulu' starring Michael Caine and Stanley Baker encapsulates all of our thoughts about the battle. The only thing is that, as usual, the movie version of a historical event is not really historical. Although to be honest, this movie stays closer to the truth than many others. The real story of Rorke's drift does have all of the makings for a movie blockbuster. You have cowardice, bravery, and a desperate defense of about twenty to one odds or better. 

 The book starts with the actual history of Rorke's drift and why it was there and it's various uses before that fateful day. It started out as a trading post owned by Jim Rorke at a crossing place of the Buffalo River. Strangely enough its next incarnation was as a missionary post and chapel owned by the Church of Sweden, no less. The British negotiated the rental of it for their invasion of the Zulu's lands. It was used by the British as a supply depot at this time. The fact that it was stuffed with supplies for the army was an extremely good stroke of luck for the British soldiers stationed there. The tons of mealie bags and biscuit boxes that were stored, were the makings of their impromptu walls and fortifications besides the little bit that the Drift had to offer itself. 

 The Drift was awash with escapees from the massacre at iSandlwana before the battle. Almost 500 African allies and British soldiers were there. The appearance of the Undi regiment caused a panic and only 155 soldiers, mostly of B company of the 2/24th regiment, stayed to defend the Drift. 

 The book goes into minute details of the actual defenses that the soldiers built, and who was where at what time during the battle. The exploits of John Chard and Gonville Bromhead, and all of the other heroes of the battle are described in detail. For more than 10 hours, the 3,000+ Zulus attacked the Drift and its 155 defenders. A lot of the time the fighting was down to bayonet against assegai. The defenders and attackers had nothing to say about their enemies, except to mention their bravery. 

 The book first sets the scene and then goes into the battle itself. It then goes on to describe the battle's aftermath. Next it goes into a long list of the 'Gallantry Recipients' with a short biography and the stated reasons for their awards. To many, the book's part of 'Unjust Criticism' will be the most interesting. Apparently many, including the new area commander Sir Garnet Wolsley, did not think much of the heroes of the Drift, and didn't even think some of them deserved their medals!

 The stirring epic of the defense of Rorke's Drift certainly needed this book to separate fact from fiction. Hopefully the author is at work on a book about the battle of iSandlwana with this much detail.


Robert

Book: Rorke's Drift A new Perspective
Author: Neil Thornton
Publisher: Fonthill Media
Distributor: Casemate Publishers