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Okay, so like many loyal customers I got an upgrade offer with my preorder offer and I thought 'why not'. So, here we are:
(pictures will come later - my camera is out of commission)
Firstly, the box is big. Double the size of a standard Infantry box and really deep. No wonder though because it contains so much.
Inside I found a card insert with two copies of the quick reference sheet on, clearly intended to be cut in half so each player can have one. The rules where fairly comprehensively covered, although the vehicle pinning rules could not be found on it.
Below this was a small booklet with instructions on how to equip the figures and play the game. They where good, and with the aid of the standard assembly sheets included, will allow newcomers to quickly assemble two roughly balanced forces to play their first game of BA.
After this came the Rule Book and I have to say I was impressed. Forget the skimpy little flimsy thing GW gives you, this book may be small but it is manly. Coming in at a stonking inch of thickness (rough guesstimate - might be thicker) this book is literally the big book in miniature, and comes complete with no less than five army lists at the back, as opposed to the 1.0 version which only had two.
The rules themselves have changed mostly for the better. Reece can only be used if you have not already activated the unit, Assault weapons now give Tough Fighter and tanks are no longer pinned by every heavy weapon - unless they are inexperienced!
But, enough about the paper, lets get down to the fun stuff:
The models are quite frankly superb. With 12 Grenadiers and 24 US airborne and a 251/10 the model selection is beautiful.
As everyone knows about the Grenadier sprue I will cover that first. The Grenadiers are nicely done and enough are included to make a legal army. The suggested build is a 1st Lieutenant with an aid, both with weapons of choice, and two five man squads, one with an LMG and SMG and one with two AR's and an SMG.
The Airborne are something else and measure up to the Grenadiers in every way. With 6 men to a sprue and four sprues the set is lovely and comes with a good mix of SMG's, rifles, carbines and a M1919 on each sprue. the suggested loadout is a 2nd Lieutenant with two escorts, a .30cal MMG team and a pair of nine man sections, each with 4 SMG's, a BAR and AT grenades.
There is a variety of heads and arms, including two mohawk heads and a head in a cap, as well as a number in helmets (with and without helmet mesh) and arms with binoculars, aiming and holding weapons and even an arm with a machete!
Now, both the armies initially seem a bit unbalanced, with the Germans critically low on men and the US having to cope with an enemy AFV, but on paper at least both armies add up to a rough equal at 430ish points each. Worth also adding in at this point is the inclusion of a modular ruined farmhouse which can be built in endless ways, and provides terrain for your first game.
Finally we get on to the gribblies:
The markers, tokens and templates. The first thing to note are the Pin markers, each which is a two part set with a dial, numbered 1 through to 12, and pointer. These are nice, although the numbers are a bit small.
Next up are the tokens, and these are mainly for vehicles. There are several each of the Immobilised, Stunned and turret Jammed (yes, that is a thing now). There is another, but I cant remember (and I am on Kitten duty at the moment)
Finally there is the Blast Marker set. This consists of two overlapping rings for the four different diameters: The inner space of the smaller one for 1", the outer of it for 2", the inner of the larger for 3" and the outer of it for 4". I will reserve judgement on these until I have used them in game, although it does look as though even a Light AT gun can potentially catch four or five bods if they are grouped together.
So, that is it guys, I will post pictures later (once my camera is working again).
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