Played an awesome scenario with Joe Chadwick. We played BtB6, “Men Against Tanks” from BFP’s “Beyond the Beachhead” product. The is a tight little 5 turner with a company of 6-6-6’s and 6-6-7’s attacking seven 4-4-7’s and two dug in Pz-IVH’s on about a third of a board. The board is one of the two beautiful maps that come with BtB2 (BFP D).

The Germans can set up anywhere on the playing area (roughly 1/3 of one map board, hex rows V-GG are playable). They start with 3 Wire, 3 Trenches and 4S Foxholes. The German OB consists of 7×447, mmg, 2xlmg, 8-1, 2x 8-0 and the two IVH’s (dug in though = immobile). The Victory conditions have the Americans win if they can get 8 (of a possible 12) VP’s. The American scores VP’s like this, 2 for each PzIV knocked out, 2 each for the two sunken road hexes and 4 for a cross road hex (near the cent of the map).

Joe set up with one of the tanks covering my right, which was a large open field; the other tank was dug-in in front of the 4-VP crossroad hex (Y6). On my left Joe placed 4 of his 447’s and in the center he put his trench line (which CAN run THROUGH a bocage hexside, i.e. you can move IN the trench between the hexes, very handy), near the tank and also covering the large empty field and the two sunken road hexes.

Examining the set up and the terrain, I decided to enter most of the company (7.5 squads) in my center (that is along the board end) where I could use the terrain to move full speed on turn one without coming under fire. I was hoping Joe wouldn’t place wire on this important road that he’d left uncovered. I took the remaining platoon and a 7-0 and approached on the left near a wheat field, hoping to pin his forces in that area and force them to stay, not being able to reinforce his trench line and tank in the middle.

Turn one went very well for me. The flanking platoon entered concealed and adjacent to Joe’s position, I ran another squad and HS through the wheat to get shots off in advance, he shot but didn’t get any results. I advanced with two HS’s (I had deployed 2 full 666 prior to play) into CC with his two 447s. While the remaining platoon moved in to support and cover this melee.

The main attack also went very well, I moved all my force on, coming under only sporadic fire, doing little damage. In the advance phase I moved adjacent to his trench line, putting his two squads there in danger of being cut of and unable to rout if they broke. I was very happy at the end of the USA player turn 1, even placing infantry smoke in one instance.

Joe’s turn one went very well for him. The close combat on my left was inconclusive and turned into a full-fledged melee, drawing mmc’s like bugs to a light on a dark night. Joe’s trench troops fired into their adjacent Americans and broke the whole crew (2 squads I think), thus giving his two squads some breathing room. He then pulled back a hex or two in the Trench line. At the end of the turn, the melee cost us both a HS but still raged on.

The next two turns are kind of a blur. The trench line turned into a terrific firefight, with his two squads and tank breaking US squads left and right. Joe’s tank crew squeezed of several impressive ROF shots with his 75L, happily though the first three hits he followed up with a `10′ on the IFT/effect roll, I happily took those PTC’s, but on the amazing fourth and last ROF shot, he rolled a `7′ and I promptly failed both morale checks. His mmg also dealt out rof madness, breaking countless American mmc’s. I was able to stay in it though, having several American Rally skyscrapers, my leader working overtime to keep rallying the mmcs. The route phase turned into the American Route `stampede’ phase several time.

Eventually the Americans did clear out the trench line and were able to take out the dug in Pz IV with a well-placed turret hit (whew) from a BAZ44. The melee on my left turned ugly after I managed to reinforce it, but was unable to kill off his two remaining 2nd line HS’s, I had two 666’s in there by now. Joe wisely shot into the melee and both my squads broke, one of his 237’s passing the 1MC and killing both the MMCs while they tried to withdraw from the melee. This left the 7-0 without a platoon, so he spied a lonely German 8-0 in the woods adjacent and charged in after him, alone. Those two were still in melee when I left for work this morning.

The end game proved very exciting as I closed in on Joe’s remaining tank and the important VP hexes (sunken road hexes and the crossroad). I knew I had some small chance but it was going to be a long shot. Having knocked out one of the tanks, I had 2 of the needed 8 VP. I would have to score most of these on the last turn, only then able to watch as Joe would take his final turn (bottom of the fifth).

I was able to move a couple of squads over and take control of the sunken road hexes, thus getting 4 more VPs. Joe’s last squad on that side broke under withering US firepower and wasn’t going to be able to get me out of the sunken road. So now I had 6 of the needed 8, if I could kill the last mark IV I could steel a win from Joe. I also managed to rally some units and get three BAZ44’s two hexes away from the PzIV and behind a bocage (and concealed), setting up a dramatic last turn for the Germans.

On Joe’s last turn he prepped and broke two of my BAZ toting squads with his tank and the rest of his infantry (2 squads GO at this point). I thus had one chance, one shot to take at the Pz IV needing a turret hit to boot. Well the dice Gods smiled as I rolled a `6′ (colored dr = 1) TH and got the hit. The tank blew up and so did Joe’s hopes for victory. With the tank I know had 8 VP, enough for the win.

That was one exciting scenario. There was a lot of shooting and rallying and melee fighting, some atrocities as Joe’s evil little 237 took out my two broken squads trying flee the melee <sniff> and some crazy rof action from Joe’s mmg and tank. Joe’s only been playing ASL now for a few months now and has come a long way, this is the 2nd scenario we’ve played together where the game was determined on the last DR of the last turn. Look out for Joe at the St. Louis Tournament next week; he’s hardly a n00b now. And I must mention that he wouldn’t be playing now with out MMP’s excellent Starter kit and Dave Angrisani’s tutelage.

The scenarios in BFP’s BtB2 pack are great; I’ve played five of them now and have really enjoyed each one. I love the maps as well. You’ll certainly be an expert on wall advantage and bocage after one or two of these scenarios

Stephen Brasseur

It’s here at last – the next installment from Bounding Fire Productions after the outstanding Into the Rubble pack is now winging its way across the country to the waiting masses and another excellent product it is too. BtB 2 and BFP 2 can be bought from Bounding Fire in a combined package of $75 or individually at $50 and $44 each respectively. Note this is a first impressions review and I have not tried any of the scenarios or nit-picked them for obvious errors – at first glance, can’t seem to find any.

First up is Beyond the Beachhead 2 which is composed of all of the original BtB components plus extra boards and extra scenarios. Chas Smith apparently retained the rights to use the components of that pack when he went from HOB (back) to BFP. The main difference this time is that the original BtB boards (which were mounted hardboard works of art) have been re-issued as ASLSK-style cardboard boards to make them compliant with all the new board issued from MMP. Something has been lost in the translation as the old versions were some of the best quality components in the entire hobby, but this is the price of progress I guess, and at least lugging the whole kit to tournaments has got that much easier.

The super shiny, super glossy 2/3 board overlays have also been replaced with a matte version now. The pack itself has two loose leaf fly covers with a coloured cartoon-style picture of Stug rumbling between two high hedges somewhere in France on the front – the back cover is a summary of the components included, some summary notes from some of the scenarios and a list of the extra items needed to play the pack. The whole pack is stiffened by a cardboard sheet to help it survive the rigours of the US postal service – sadly mine didn’t and the corners of the pack took a crunch, but no lasting damage done.

Components:

Note that all these boards have bocage marked on them as hedges with a brown perimeter rim and this is a different feature from a regular hedge (which is also marked on some of these boards). Also, these boards and overlays often include many examples of slopes so even the apparently flattest looking terrain has some subtle LOS changes going on – cool!

Boards:

BFP C*: one third grainfield bocage, one third scattered stone village including a small church and a two hex graveyard and a two hex, level one hill; final third of the board is more bocage.

BFP D*: The road-bocage one. One bocage-lined road running the long-axis of the board, orchard-lined. Small level one hill and small sunken road.

BFP E: One half is bocage-lined grain fields and medium sized level-one hills with sunken lanes, the other half consists of a small stone building hamlet and hill / grain gulley. A ’split’ board – think Normandy version of Board 10.

BFP F: A transition board for bocage. Mainly open ground with two bocage-lined grainfields at each end, each with an associated level one hill. (Like Board 49, but designed to transition to denser bocage). Get out the smoke / SMOKE!

Overlays:

BFP V-1*: A great addition to either the BFP boards – an orchard-rich, linear style French stone building village with bocage-lined fields and woods – narrow roads are in effect. This board is designed to be placed on the BFP boards and would cover approximately two thirds of them – the Q hexrow road is the linking feature between the overlay and the board beneath.

BFP V-2: A small 14 hex stone village overlay with single hex buildings. One oddity are depictions of small buildings that straddle hexlines to prevent snap shots and bypass – rules for this are included (see below).

BFP V-3: Another 2/3 board overlay linked by the Q hexrow road. This is the antithesis of BFB V-1 being a dispersed stone building village sited around a small one-hex chapel. A couple of large bocage fields are added to the overlay edges, but this is all in pretty open terrain.

BFP H-1*: A 2/3 board overlay dominated by a level 2 hill covered by an intricate network of choking bocage and orchards and a snaky orchard and bocage-lined road. Slow progress going over this particular hill.

BFP H-2: A 22 hex two-level hill overlay with a couple of small bocage hedges included. Fairly simple in its design.

Rules:

Rules addition: One page of the BtB 1 rules is reproduced here including rules for light bocage and hexside buildings. On the reverse of this page are the known errata and Q&A for the ITR packs and the old Hell on Wheels pack.

Scenarios:

Scenarios 1-8 are from the BFP 1 (HOB) version. These are described elsewhere on the web, so I’ll breeze over them.

• Btb 1: Taking Tailleville
• Btb 2: Merely Hanging On
• Btb 3: Kraut Corner
• Btb 4: Firestorm in St.Manvieu
• Btb 5: Martinville Ridge
• Btb 6: Men Against Tanks
• Btb 7: Blood on Hill 192
• Btb 8: Steel Inferno

New Scenarios:

Btb 9: Norman “D”:6.5 turns. 5.5 SS squads on BFP Board E (bocage, grain and hills) defending against 11 Elite and 1st line US squads. A very simple, all infantry building control scenario, probably good for tourneys.

BtB 10: Unplanned Attack:5.5 turns. Played on overlay BFP V3 only (the dispersed village in open terrain one). 6 squad equivalents of all HIP German paras have to deny 13 1st and 2nd line US squads from controlling the majority of the village buildings. Another all-infantry tournament sized special.

Btb 11: Bosq Barbecue:6.5 turns. A bit meatier this one. Two good and four bad (447) SS squads with copious AA Gun support and 4 self-propelled guns have to deny 15 British first line units from taken a chunk of the BFP-D village. They have a tough approach over the wide-open spaces of BFP F, but they are given a ton of British smoke generators to do it – 5 basic flavours of Churchills and two Crocodiles!! This one looks super-cool.

BtB 12: Going against the Grain:6.5 turns of BIG scenario. The Brits are on the defense and they have to prevent the Germans from exiting units and taking stone buildings in the BFP F village – the SS can also try and sneak units off by using the lomg snakey bocage-lined lane of BFB D that just screams ‘ambush’! The SS receive 15 of their main guys plus a couple of engineer squads and receive a couple of Flak panzers, a couple of Bisons and 5 (yep, that was five) Panthers. The Brits have to split their 15 1st line squads, but they also receive two 17 pounders, two 6 pounders a Mortar and three bog-standard Churchills. This one looks challenging but a lot of fun.

BtB 13: By Chance: 6.5 turns. A very weak German force of 6 conscript and second line squads lock horns with an American recce force on trucks with half-tracks. An immediate CVP cap will keep the US honest as they try to control buildings on Board 17 attacking across the BFB F board. The biggest thing in this is the US 100mm OBA.

BtB 14: Swatting a Hornet: 6 turns set on one-half of BFP E with some stone rubble thrown in for good measure. This is BFP’s version of the SP scenario “The Hornet of Cloville” where nine 1st and 2nd line US squads with three shermans have to remove all good order German MMC and AFV’s from a critical hex. As well as the eponymous Hornet, the Germans get a MkIV and 6.5 para and second line squads.

BtB 15: Becker’s Battery:6 turns for an all armour British force to accumulate 66 VP from either exiting vehicles off the south edge of Board 33 and half of BFB D, attacking across Boards 44 and BFP F. The Germans can also exit units after Turn 4 and in this case, the twist is that the Germans recieve 10 of the funky 75L and 105 SP guns that came with Pegasus Bridge I think). This is a mighty force of British steel including 15 Sherman V, three Fireflies, and a couple of Crusader AA tanks. The Germans get the option to utilise HIP if behind Bocage hedges, but a lot of this fight will take place on open terrain and grain fields. Looks a bit different this.

BtB 16: Battlegroup Nor-Mons:6.5 turns and another chunky scenario. Brits vs SS in this set on BFP E, F and D. The SS need to control a central level two hill and have more VP than the Brits for building rubble control – Brits receive VP for any units on any hills at Game end. To carry this task out, nineteen 1st and 2nd line squads with 80mm AND 120mm OBA, 5 Shermans and a Firefly need to hold off 21 mixed quality SS squads with Mortar OBA plus two Tigers, 5 Mk IVs and a couple of Stugs. The balance is interesting in the form of FB, but maybe is a mistake as only the US are listed with their details (unless I have misunderstood something here).

A great set of scenarios, and apart from the issue of conquering the problems posed by Bocage defense and attack, are all very straightforward. Almost all are moderate with no wind (a couple have mild breezes for spreading smoke) but there is no night, rain etc and no scenario is larger than 6.5 turns, though some are quite sizeable in terms of numbers of units. Once people are happy with the Bocage (both normal and light) and slopes and narrow streets, then there should be something for everyone in here. The scenario cards are of excellent quality being printed on a nice quality paper with the counters and boards represented in colour – great effort.

Summary:

A really good effort overall – those who own BtB 1 may have an issue with the price of $50 for something they have about 40% of already, but if you’re new to it, that’s fairly good value for 4 boards, 5 overlays and 16 scenarios. It would have been brilliant if BFP had issued an upgrade pack for those who already had BtB1, but I understand the problems of small company economics and the re-issue of the boards in the new format is definitely a useful thing so I am really happy with these. A- for those new to the BtB packs and a B++ for those who already have them.

Nick Drinkwater