Produktbeschreibung
The funny thing about compilations is that no matter how complete you think you’ve made it, there are always things you wanted to cover but couldn’t for one reason or another. This is especially true of Normandy, where so many units fought that we just couldn’t include them all last time around and I’m positive that there are yet more forces to cover!
Overlord and Atlantik Wall are the latest compilation releases for the battles of Normandy and Brittany. These books update the older Turning Tide and Earth & Steel and bring the forces within up to date with all of our current books.
In Overlord and Atlantik Wall, Wayne, Phil, and I have added even more forces to the already large Normandy compilation books. We’ve pulled in forces from our website, added new ones, and updated old ones. While they may seem like the same old books, I assure you there is a lot of new and exciting content for your Normandy forces.
British and Canadian Forces in Overlord with Phil Yates
Interestingly, the British section of Overlord needed more work than some of the other sections because Turning Tide already covered so many interesting divisions. In doing so, it left out the more plain vanilla British divisions that were covered in Fortress Europe. The new Overlord brings these all into the fold, along with several new forces. In addition, it tidies up a bunch of things and brings the points into line with more recent books.
Better Ammunition -
One of the big changes for this book is the incorporation of improved ammunition for the 6 pdr and 17 pdr guns. The 6 pdr now has APDS ammunition (issued before D-Day) giving it an Anti-tank rating of 11 to match Market Garden. The 17 pdr didn’t receive APDS in Normandy, but was issued improved APCBC ammunition giving it an Anti-tank rating of 14. These changes have the interesting effect of countering some of the points reductions for medium tanks like the Sherman implemented in Blood, Guts, & Glory, leaving an Armoured Platoon just 5 points cheaper for instance.
Airborne Recce -
The first new force in the book is the Airborne Armoured Recce Squadron with its Tetrarch light tanks. When we first covered elements of this unique force many years ago in D Minus 1, there wasn’t much information available about it. Over time more has come to light, and this incarnation makes use of the latest research to create a more dynamic and mobile force. Two of the more significant changes are to the Armoured Recce Platoons (both airborne and in the armoured divisions) making them more suited to their intended recce role, and to the motorcycle recce rules to give their supporting infantry more mobility and punch.
Assault Divisions -
The Rifle Company from Turning Tide has been renamed as an Assault Company to make room for the standard Rifle Company from Fortress Europe. At the same time it has been focused more tightly on the D-Day landings. In line with this, the Breaching Groups have been simplified to match Market Garden and made more accessible. Even the Royal Navy has had a makeover, giving you the choice between destroyers and light or heavy cruisers for gunfire support.
Infantry Divisions -
The Rifle Company itself has been expanded to cover the trained 15th (Scottish), the veteran 50th (Northumbrian), and the reluctant 51st (High-land) Divisions as well as the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division. This somewhat eclectic mix of divisions allows you to field all of the British divisions that fought in Normandy, the 43rd (Wessex) Division for instance being the 15th (Scottish) Division without the optional bagpipers.
Digging deeper into the battles of Normandy showed that the British infantry were often more heavily supported by tanks than previously allowed. In the new Rifle Company it is now possible to field a more versatile mix of armour, including Breaching Groups with Crab mine-clearing flails and AVRE engineering tanks The Tank Company has been reorganised to allow its Churchill tanks to operate in half squadrons, as well as matching the organisation of the period better with a mix of 75mm and 6 pdr tanks (with the improved anti-tank capability) in each platoon.
A new Independent Armoured Squadron brings in the three-tanks-per-troop organisation of the DD amphibious tank regiments. The platoons have a variety of options including all-75mm Sherman platoons (backed up by an all-17 pdr Firefly platoon if you want), and platoons of two Shermans and a Firefly.
Armoured Divisions -
The British were typically quirky in that every armoured division they sent to Normandy was different, giving us five variations to cover: Guards, 7th, and 11th Armoured Divisions, the similarly-equipped veteran 4th Armoured Brigade, and the 4th Canadian Armoured Division. In many ways the Armoured Squadron in Overlord is similar to that in Market Garden allowing you to adopt the mixed battlegroup structure used towards the end of the Normandy campaign. The veteran 4th Armoured Brigade have an interesting option to group all of their Fireflies into a single troop as they did at the start of the campaign.
Desert Rats -
The 7th Armoured Division, the Desert Rats, have gained a little more flexibility for their Cromwell tanks with the option to have three tanks in a platoon, along with the option of replacing some of their Firefly tanks with Challengers. The downside though, is that their tanks and guns have increased slightly in points as we have been rating Reluctant tanks and guns more highly in recent books. Still the increased power of their 17 pdr guns combined with their proven speed keeps them at the top of the heap.
Reconnaissance -
This is an area that we expanded immensely. Not only do the Armoured Recce Squadrons get a limited reconnaissance capability that reflects their attempts to lead the British advances, but there are also four different Armoured Car Squadrons and an infantry Recce Squadron. Even more so than the tanks, the armoured car regiments did things their own way. No two were organised and equipped the same! Fortunately they worked with a wide variety of divisions, so you have plenty of choice when it comes to support.
If you have ever had an interest in the British forces in Normandy, this is a must-have book giving you a huge variety of choices as to how you go about recreating the battles on the table top.
~ Phil. |
