Publisher/Date:
Lone Canuck Publishing (2007)
Product Type:
Scenario Pack
Country of Origin:
Canada
Contents:
6 scenarios
Lone Canuck continues its recent trend of expanding the themes of its scenario packs beyond German unit histories with To Battle By Air #1 (providing the promise of sequels), a mini scenario pack whose unifying theme is airborne forces of different nationalities. All of the scenarios depicted portray airborne battles, although only one of the scenarios actually features an Air Drop itself.
One of the scenarios, TBBA1 (Hunters from the Clouds) uses the geomorphic mapboard HOBI from Heat of Battle’s High Ground! module. The others use standard geomorphic mapboards.
The scenarios feature an interesting mix, including Soviet paratroopers in Byelorussia in 1941, German paratroopers in Norway in 1940 (this is the scenario featuring the Air Drop), American paratroopers in Sicily and Normandy in 1943 and 1944 respectively, and British paratroopers in Normandy and the Netherlands in 1944. Almost all of the scenarios are small in size, with only one of them large, TBBA3 (First Trial-By-Fire), featuring a bunch of Italian troops (20 squads and 6 tanks) trying to exit past 8 American squads. One of the scenarios, TBBA2 (Red Cocktails), is a tiny 4-turn scenario featuring 3 German half squads and 5 AFVs (with their crews sleeping nearby) being attacked by 6 Soviet squads.
With the longest of the scenarios only 6 1/2 turns long (TBBA3 again), this pack is essentially a beer-and-pretzels pack with scenarios that can easily be finished even when there is not very much time for playing. It continues a recent trend in Lone Canuck products of providing more smaller scenarios (many Lone Canuck packs have numerous large scenarios). The small size and interesting situations of these scenarios may make them attractive options for a “quickie” session of ASL.
Note: There is errata for TBBA1-6 (Flames on the Borders). The specifics are available at the Lone Canuck web site, but Lone Canuck also thoughtfully published a replacement scenario card and included it in To Battle By Air 2.
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