Alternative Titles/Edition History:
1st Edition, 1999; 2nd Edition (HOB Update SS Battle Pack), 2007
Publisher/Date:
Heat of Battle (1st Edition, 1999; 2nd Edition, 2007)
Product Type:
Scenario Pack
Country of Origin:
U.S.A.
Contents:
1st Edition: 240 die-cut counters, 8 scenarios, 2 pages rules
2nd Edition: 14 scenarios
Commentary:Waffen-SS II: The Führer’s Firemen (FF) was the second of Heat of Battle’s two controversial Waffen SS-themed scenario packs, which featured die-cut counters with white on black SS units (see No Quarter No Glory! entry for fuller explanation). As did the first pack, FF comes with a disclaimer disavowing any “political or moral statements” by HOB in publishing the product.
The countersheet in FF, designed by Nadir El-Farra, once more primarily has 1/2″ counters, mostly representing early war Waffen SS squads. Unlike its predecessor, this time HOB splurged for red ink, with the result that it could include some “popular” tanks such as Panthers and Tigers in the countermix. FF also has several types of counters that have nothing to do with the SS, including SMC prisoner counters and red-colored berserk squad types (another throwback to the days of Squad Leader, where instead of placing a berserk counter on top of a unit to indicate berserk status, one replaced the entire unit with a bright red counter).
The Chapter H rules page included with the scenario pack is for use with the historical module Berlin: Red Vengeance. That module, in rather poor taste, provided an SMC counter for Adolf Hitler, with rules “to be announced.” This Chapter H rules page contains, in equally poor taste, the rules for Adolf Hitler, as well as vehicle notes for several vehicles found near the Führerbunker and assumed to have been reserved for a possible escape attempt by Hitler.
The scenarios in the pack are identified by an FF acronym but somewhat confusingly continue the numbering of the first Waffen SS pack, so that the first scenario is labeled FF7. The scenarios are set in all theaters of the war from 1941-45, but most are East Front. Six of the scenarios are tournament sized, while two are large, including the monster 6-board, 99-squad FF14 (Operation Rosselsprung), designed by Scott Holst and Rob Banozic, depicting the German glider assault on Tito’s headquarters in Drvar, Yugoslavia, in May 1944 that almost captured the wily partisan leader. Because of its size, this scenario is well suited for team play and is often played at ASL events as a nice all-day scenario.
On the whole, the scenarios in FF are better balanced than those in its predecessor. Recommended scenarios include the well-regarded FF10 (Blackjack is Back! featuring Panthers and Pershings), as well as FF7 (Monastir Gap) and FF12 (Hitler’s Samurai).
2nd Edition (HOB Update SS Battle Pack) Commentary: Two early scenario packs from HOB were SS: No Quarter, No Glory and SSII: Führer’s Firemen. The real attraction (and controversy) at the time was that they included countersheets with black Waffen SS counters on them. However, copyright tangles with MMP forced HOB to stop printing such counters and the packs themselves eventually went out of print.
In 2007, a number of years later, HOB combined the 14 scenarios (but not the counters) from the two earlier packs into a new product, ambiguously named HOB Update. The re-release gives many newer ASLers their first opportunity to purchase these scenarios (see entries on the original products for more information and evaluation of the scenarios).
Moreover, many of the scenarios were revised, for balance or errata. This might even entice some owners of the previous versions of these products to upgrade. Perhaps to “encourage” such people to do so, HOB has not made the errata and changes to the scenarios available previous owners except through purchase of the new pack; this is somewhat controversial.
One thing that should be noted is that this product, even though a reprint, does not appear to have been fully edited or proofread. Typos and mistakes appear that even the most meager of spellchecking and proofreading efforts could have prevented (in one particularly egregious case, one of the words in a two-word scenario title is misspelled).
2nd Edition (HOB Update SS Battle Pack) comments: Two early scenario packs from HOB were SS: No Quarter, No Glory and SSII: Führer’s Firemen. The real attraction (and controversy) at the time was that they included countersheets with black Waffen SS counters on them. However, copyright tangles with MMP forced HOB to stop printing such counters and the packs themselves eventually went out of print.
In 2007, a number of years later, HOB combined the 14 scenarios (but not the counters) from the two earlier packs into a new product, ambiguously named HOB Update. The re-release gives many newer ASLers their first opportunity to purchase these scenarios.
Moreover, many of the scenarios were revised, for balance or errata. This might even entice some owners of the previous versions of these products to upgrade. Perhaps to “encourage” such people to do so, HOB did not make the errata and changes to the scenarios available to previous owners except through purchase of the new pack; this was somewhat controversial.
One thing that should be noted is that this product, even though a reprint, does not appear to have been fully edited or proofread. Typos and mistakes appear that even the most meager of spellchecking and proofreading efforts could have prevented (in one particularly egregious case, one of the words in a two-word scenario title is misspelled).
– See more at: https://www.desperationmorale.com/products/waffen-ss-no-quarter-no-glory/#sthash.W7Iz4Cf4.dpuf
2nd Edition (HOB Update SS Battle Pack) comments: Two early scenario packs from HOB were SS: No Quarter, No Glory and SSII: Führer’s Firemen. The real attraction (and controversy) at the time was that they included countersheets with black Waffen SS counters on them. However, copyright tangles with MMP forced HOB to stop printing such counters and the packs themselves eventually went out of print.
In 2007, a number of years later, HOB combined the 14 scenarios (but not the counters) from the two earlier packs into a new product, ambiguously named HOB Update. The re-release gives many newer ASLers their first opportunity to purchase these scenarios.
Moreover, many of the scenarios were revised, for balance or errata. This might even entice some owners of the previous versions of these products to upgrade. Perhaps to “encourage” such people to do so, HOB did not make the errata and changes to the scenarios available to previous owners except through purchase of the new pack; this was somewhat controversial.
One thing that should be noted is that this product, even though a reprint, does not appear to have been fully edited or proofread. Typos and mistakes appear that even the most meager of spellchecking and proofreading efforts could have prevented (in one particularly egregious case, one of the words in a two-word scenario title is misspelled).
– See more at: https://www.desperationmorale.com/products/waffen-ss-no-quarter-no-glory/#sthash.W7Iz4Cf4.dpuf
2nd Edition (HOB Update SS Battle Pack) comments: Two early scenario packs from HOB were SS: No Quarter, No Glory and SSII: Führer’s Firemen. The real attraction (and controversy) at the time was that they included countersheets with black Waffen SS counters on them. However, copyright tangles with MMP forced HOB to stop printing such counters and the packs themselves eventually went out of print.
In 2007, a number of years later, HOB combined the 14 scenarios (but not the counters) from the two earlier packs into a new product, ambiguously named HOB Update. The re-release gives many newer ASLers their first opportunity to purchase these scenarios.
Moreover, many of the scenarios were revised, for balance or errata. This might even entice some owners of the previous versions of these products to upgrade. Perhaps to “encourage” such people to do so, HOB did not make the errata and changes to the scenarios available to previous owners except through purchase of the new pack; this was somewhat controversial.
One thing that should be noted is that this product, even though a reprint, does not appear to have been fully edited or proofread. Typos and mistakes appear that even the most meager of spellchecking and proofreading efforts could have prevented (in one particularly egregious case, one of the words in a two-word scenario title is misspelled).
– See more at: https://www.desperationmorale.com/products/waffen-ss-no-quarter-no-glory/#sthash.W7Iz4Cf4.dpuf
Mark – for some reason you have pictures of Friendly Fire Pack 4 in this listing.
I wonder how those got in there! I will delete them.