10.1997 Schwerpunkt Volume 2

Publisher/Date:
Sherry Enterprises/Schwerpunkt (1997)

Product Type:
Periodical

Country of Origin:
U.S.A.

Contents:
20-page magazine, 12 scenarios on cardstock inserts.  Later reprints would incorporate errata and eventually replace the counter artwork.

Commentary:

The second issue of Schwerpunkt, Schwerpunkt Volume 2 (SP2), looked much like the first.  SP2 contained the magazine’s first true article, independent of scenario or designer notes:  a brief article on pillboxes in ASL by Bob Walden.  Still, the majority of its pages are designers’ and players’ notes for the included scenarios.

As with the first volume, SP2 contained 12 varied scenarios, set in:

• France 1940 (British vs. Germans)
• Soviet Union 1941 (Soviets vs. Germans), 1942 (Soviets vs. Spanish/Germans)
• Sicily 1943 (British vs. Germans)
• Italy 1943 (Americans vs. Germans), 1944 (New Zealanders vs. Germans)
• Guam 1944 (Americans vs. Japanese)
• Burma 1944 (Americans/Chinese vs. Japanese)
• Luxembourg 1944 (Americans vs. Germans)
• France 1945 (Americans vs. Germans [2])
• Italy 1945 (Americans vs. Germans)

SP2 is thus a somewhat Americanocentric volume, with the U.S. appearing in more than half of the scenarios (of course, the Germans appeared in more, but everybody fought the Germans).

Schwerpunkt’s sophomore outing was not as good as its first. More than half of the scenarios suffered from balance problems, while one of them, SP24 (Forest Fighting in Latvia), appears to be generic rather than historical.

However, SP2 still includes several very good scenarios, including SP14 (The Green House), SP18 (An Arm and a Leg), SP19 (Men from Mars), and SP22 (Tod’s Last Stand).  Consequently it still has the core of solid scenarios that any ASL product needs to be get-worthy.

 

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