A World Aflame

Paul Eaglestone a regular at the Gentleman’s Wargames Parlour (GWP) recently teamed up with Osprey to publish a set of rules for the interwar period (1918-1939).

As a gamer interested in BoB/RCW and AVBCW it’s of interest, even though it’s got a heavy SCW slant to it in terms of examples. I’ve just got a copy and have had a good read through it.

As you would expect from Osprey, the publications standards are good, however, the actual rules are also of equally high standard with clear explanations throughout. Unlike many recent rulesets it concentrates on the rules alone – there is some nice eye candy, but very little ‘hobby’ material which given its wide ranging period is fine. There are plenty of illustrations from other appropriate Osprey books to keep things colourful.

The system is well explained from force composition, to Command and Control issues. Weather and other Chance events are gone through in detail something lacking from many games, as is ammunition supply which seems to be particularly punishing to speculative firing by units. Lacking ammunition also impacts on morale which I think is a great idea.

Obstacles and Engineering action is a nice add on that I have not seen elsewhere – the creation of barbed wire fields during the game, creation of trenches and other fortifications.

The rules extend into areas such as Aircraft, Boats and Trains. Having not used any of these items so far (!), I can’t comment on whether they are useful – sounds like a challenge !

Finally some sample units are provided for SCW and AVBCW, a unit roster template and some sample Chance Cards for SCW.

Looks good and I look forward to using it in anger some time very soon.