Schwarzes Kreuz erstellt von David Liuzzo

Issue 4 aaminis.myfastforum.org DECEMBER 2010

Foreword
This is the first time I have had the honor to
edit any sort of publication. It has been a little
daunting, but also fun. I hope that you will like
what we have to offer in this edition. Mr Ziegler
has been very productive, writing two very
substantial articles for your perusal.
As editor I would like to apologise to all you
landlubbers. I really only know War at Sea, but I
will try my best to make sure that there is content
on offer for everyone.
I would also like to offer my apology for this
newsletter being so late. It was my intention to
have it done many weeks ago, but as always real
life had other plans. And this is just a hobby after
all... right? If that were true, then I wouldn’t be
apologizing to you guy right now, now would I?
Speaking of not taking our selves too seriously, the
next set for War at Sea is on the horizon and the
news that here will be few more nations this time,
there has been the customary beef on the forum.
-”Swedes? Polacks? But we still haven’t had the
[insert Japanese carrier here] yet!”
Just kidding of course, but still; I feel that there
is room for minor nations, this is after all an
international game for an international audience.
I doubt that there is a single one nation with a
WWII navy that isn’t represented on this forum. I
for one am happy to see more Baltic navies, maybe
because I had no reason to expect to see them
at all. I certainly didn’t expect to see them when
I started out when War at Sea was first released.
Makes it hard to know which ships to build next,
Mr Baker keeps releasing them as soon as I build
them ;)
My point being that it’s good that we all still might
have a little something to look forward to yet. Why
else would we come to our forum to gripe about
what is and what isn’t in the next set? We are lucky
that there is a next set!
Yours truly,
Cmdr Clint
Dec 2010

In this issue:
p 2-3 War at Sea: Ranking the Aircraft by jfkziegler
p 10-11 Colourising old B&W photos by NeuralDream
p 13 Product Review: Ability Used Tokens from Chum & Tub Gaming by jfkziegler
p 14-15 Defending the Oder: Assault Brigade Wallonie - An AAM scenario by General Hoth
2 3
War at Sea: Ranking the Aircraft
by jfkziegler
With the recent addition of Condition: Zebra into
the War at Sea line, players now have a dazzling
array of potential aircraft to choose from. The
question is which ones are the best? In this article,
I intend to examine the available options and let
you know which aircraft are soaring in the clouds,
and which are sticking close to the treeline, if you
get my meaning.
Fighters
Of course, the most basic part of any air force is
the fighter. It attacks, it defends, it escorts; it is the
very definition of multi-purpose. If you are going
to take just one type of aircraft for your fleet, you
want it to be a fighter. So, which fighters are the
best?
First, let’s look at the Allied fighters.
1) Wildcat
I know this selection will surprise many people,
as there are many who would pick the Hellcat as
the best Allied fighter. However, I see the Wildcat
as having one significant advantage – cost. The
Wildcat costs 3 points less than the Hellcat.
Because fighters are normally brought in multiples,
those savings add up quickly. In most situations,
the Wildcat is just as good as the Hellcat. They
always have the same vital armour, and if they are
both hovering over a carrier they have the same
AA as well. The Hellcat is a better escort thanks
to its ability to shoot down enemy fighters, but
the Wildcat will suit you perfectly well if you need
defense. AA 7 and vital armour 9 is nothing to
sneeze at. Together, they make the Wildcat the
best Allied fighter.
2) Hellcat
It has AA 8, vital armour 9, and the ability to
shoot down fighters. Oh yeah, and it can base on
a carrier, too. What’s not to like? Well, the cost is
a bummer, but this is a fighter that you will rarely
go wrong with. A smart tactic is to take one or two
Hellcats to do your escorting work, and use the
cheaper Wildcat to fill out the rest of your fighter
core.
3) Martlet
This Wildcat derivative is cheaper than the original
Wildcat, can still escort, is just as good in AA, and
is almost as survivable. Rugged effectively gives
it vital armour 8.5, which is a healthy total. As
an aside, there are few stats on a War at Sea card
more useless than the armour value of a fighter. In
games I have played, fighters almost never strafe
except as a last resort or if the opponent fails to
bring any aircraft to shoot down. A fighter could
have armour 1 and it would be just as useful as a
fighter with armour 7. The two key numbers on a
fighter are AA value and vital armour. Everything
else is secondary.
4) Corsair
This was a tough choice. I don’t like the Corsair.
It suffers by comparison to the Hellcat. Its
inability to attack every turn and its inability to
receive expert dogfighter bonuses make it a weak
substitute for the power of the Hellcat. That being
said, this is still a ferociously powerful aircraft.
It has AA 9, which ties it for the highest natural
AA in the game, and it has vital armour 9, so it is
very survivable. It can also escort, which is very
important for a fighter, and especially for one with
the Advanced Fighter ability. Really, the Corsair drop torpedoes that cannot be easily aborted or
and the Hellcat are made for different purposes. destroyed, but of course that comes at the cost
The Hellcat is for use in an air fleet, where you have of not being able to use Expert Torpedoes. The
bombers to cover and you have carriers available. Beaufighter just doesn’t shape up to be a very good
The Corsair is for use as fighter cover for a non- aircraft.
air fleet. You don’t have carriers anyway, so the
Hellcat won’t be picking up any Expert Dogfighter Now that we have seen the Allied fighters, lets
bonus and it won’t be launching every turn. In that move on to the Axis fighters.
situation, the Corsair is a bargain with its superior
AA and ability to launch rocket attacks. Heck, it
even gets a bonus in shooting down Kamikazes
with its Advanced Fighter. For pure power, the
Corsair makes a respectable choice at fourth on
the list.
5) Sea Hurricane
This slot was very close between the Sea Hurricane
and the D.520. However, the Sea Hurricane has
one major advantage over the D.520 – escort. It is
1) Bf-109
It’s effectively the Axis Wildcat. It has the same
very difficult for opposing fighters to shoot down
stats except for switching out Defend The Flattop
an escorted bomber. In fact, in many games I don’t
for Interceptor and losing the ability to fly CAP.
even bring defensive fighters because I find it is
Since the Wildcat is the top Allied fighter, this
very hard to hit with them. The greatest value of
must be the top Axis fighter. Since the overall field
a fighter is its ability to escort. The Sea Hurricane
of Axis fighters is weaker, the Bf-109 stands out
has that, so it ranks above the D.520.
even more than the Wildcat does.
6) D.520
Well, you knew what was coming next. The D.520
2) George
Best AA on an Axis fighter? Check. Best vital
is an excellent aircraft. It has AA 7, and with
Nimble it might as well have vital armour 9. Its
armour on an Axis fighter? Check. Can it escort?
Check. If it could come out every turn, it would be
Interceptor ability makes it a good unit to defend
the best Axis fighter. As it is, it’s a strong second.
against incoming bombers with. The fact that
the D.520 is only the sixth best Allied fighter just
shows you the depth of fighters that the Allies
3) A6M2 Zeke
The two Zekes may seem very close, and the
possess.
A6M5 may even seem better because it’s more
survivable. They’re not close, though. The first
7) Beaufighter
duty of a fighter is to provide Escort. The A6M5
The Beaufighter doesn’t know what it is. It is
can’t do it, and the A6M2 can, so the A6M2 is the
supposed to be both a fighter and a torpedo
better aircraft. Being one point cheaper doesn’t
bomber, but it doesn’t do either one well. If
hurt, either.
nothing else, it does give the British a way to
4 5
4) Re.2001
Unlike the Beaufighter, which is a versatile
aircraft but isn’t really good at anything it does,
the Re.2001 is a versatile aircraft that is good at
everything it does. If it’s acting as a fighter, its AA
7 and vital armour 8 make it comparable to the
A6M2, albeit without the all-important Escort
ability. If it’s acting as a bomber, its bomb 8 and
vital armour 8 make it better than a Val, and
probably better than a Stuka as well. You can use
it as a fighter early in the game, and then switch
it to a bomber when the opponent runs out of
bombers. Or, you can use it as a bomber early in
the game, and switch it to a fighter if you get hard-
pressed. The possibilities are almost endless.
5) Folgore
The fact that it is Land-Based is unfortunate, since
it can only come out every other turn. It’s also not
good at shooting down opposing aircraft, with its
weak AA value. However, it’s relatively cheap and
it can provide Escort, meaning that it has some
value. Put two on your land-base and alternate
them for an inexpensive escorting force for your
bombers.
6) A6M5 Zeke
This aircraft doesn’t know what it wants to be.
Advanced Fighter 1 is a perfect ability for an escort
fighter, because it can take pot shots at opposing
fighters while they are shooting at the bombers.
The problem is that the A6M5 doesn’t have Escort,
so there’s no point in sending it along with your
bombers. Thus, it becomes a defensive fighter, and
AF1 isn’t very useful for a defensive fighter, since
you’ll be shooting at bombers rather than fighters.
Overall, the lack of purpose makes the A6M5 the
worst Axis fighter.
Torpedo Bombers
Moving on, we come to the torpedo bombers.
These tend to be versatile attack aircraft that can
deal with battleships and subs effectively while
maintaining some ability to attack cruisers and
destroyers. Because battleships and subs tend to
be the most powerful units, it’s important for an air
fleet to have torpedo bombers to counter them.
We begin with the Allied torpedo bombers.
1) TBF Avenger
This is without a doubt the best attack aircraft in
the game. It will normally be attacking battleships,
so it will normally have a base torpedo attack of
4, and that’s before it gets an Expert Torpedoes
bonus or a Shadowing bonus. This is the only
torpedo aircraft in the game that probability says
should be landing a torpedo every turn. That’s not
all, though. It also has the game’s best ASW value
amongst aircraft, with a value of 4. If it needs to
deal with cruisers, destroyers, or carriers, it also
has an Alternate Payload of 7. Top that all off with
an almost impossible to hit vital armour of 9 and
you have a powerhouse. The Avenger has only one
weakness. Its armour of 5 is very hittable, meaning
that it is fairly easy to abort. Still, this is a must-
have for any Allied air fleet.
2) TBF-1 Avenger
It isn’t quite as good as its cousin, coming in with
ASW 3 and a torpedo value of only 2, but it’s
survivable with a vital armour of 8 and the Rugged
ability. It’s not a great choice, but it will do in a
pinch.
3) Swordfish
Its armour and vital armour are really, really bad,
and it’s not nearly cheap enough to reflect that.
That said, if you can manage to use it as an ASW
platform, it’s not bad. Keep it away from enemy
fighters and ship AA, though, if you don’t want to
lose it.
4) Devastator
This is just a bad aircraft, which of course is
completely realistic. Its torpedo dice are lousy, its
ASW is miserable, and it dies easily. The fact that it
can make itself a target is a little helpful, but since it
can’t draw ship AA fire, even that ability leaves a lot
to be desired. Leave this one at home.
Here are the Axis torpedo bombers, one of the few
places where the Axis can be said to have rough
parity with the Allies in aircraft.
1) Jill
It’s not the TBF Avenger, but it’s an excellent
aircraft in its own way, and far superior to its
predecessor the Kate. 3 ASW and 3 torpedoes
are both nice, and its vital armour of 8 is a big
improvement over the Kate. However, the real
gem here is the long-distance torpedo. Particularly
when combined with a Shadowing Emily and
Scout Planes from Chikuma, this is a potent
weapon. Kamikaze Attack is an interesting last-
ditch sort of ability, but I have rarely ever seen it
used.
2) Kate
This would be a very good aircraft is not for the
low vital armour. In one game I played, I had three
of these shot down in one sector on one turn!
Still, the three torpedoes are very respectable, even
if the ASW leaves something to be desired. The
major problem the Kate has is being over-costed.
Why would you want a Kate for 13 when you
could have a Jill or Avenger for 14?
3) Fi-167
This is sort of the Axis Swordfish, although a
little harder to abort thanks to its armour value
of 4. Still, there’s not a lot to like here. The three
torpedoes are nice if you ever get to use them, but
it can’t even adopt the Swordfish tactic of being
mostly an ASW platform because its ASW value is
low. I suppose if you’re desperate for a Euro-Axis
torpedo bomber you could play it, but it’s a last
resort sort of piece.
Dive Bombers
Moving on, we come next to the dive bombers.
While these don’t work very well against
battleships and subs, they are deadly against
other ships, and they are clearly your best bet
for taking out opposing carriers (especially ones
with Torpedo Defense). They tend to be a lot less
frustrating to use than the hit-or-miss torpedo
bombers, and they are amongst my favorite units.
6 7
1) Helldiver
Yes, it’s relatively easy to abort. But it makes up
for that in pure power. Its base bomb value is
better than the Dauntless, and it can improve
upon that with Finish Him Off. Its armour of 5 is
respectable, and it goes up to 6 when attacked by
a fighter (yet another reason why ship-based AA
is superior). Vital armour 9 is key, given that this
and Avenger are the only carrier-based bombers
that have it. This is the only dive bomber that
has a substantial chance to damage a battleship,
given that it is able to throw fifteen bomb dice at
a damaged unit if it has Expert Bomber 2 from
Enterprise and Shadowing from Catalina. All in
all, an excellent unit.
2) Dauntless
If the Helldiver is the number 1 dive bomber,
than the Dauntless might very well be 1A. It’s a
very small downgrade from the Helldiver to the
Dauntless. The Dauntless doesn’t have the gaudy
stats of the Helldiver, and it’s easier to knock
out of the sky, but it has one big advantage. The
Dauntless can still attack after being aborted
by ship-based AA. Since ship-based AA is
the primary threat to dive bombers, this is a
tremendously useful ability. It almost forces your
opponent to attack it with fighters to try to keep
Press The Attack from being usable. An escorted
Dauntless is a hard unit to stop.
3) Barracuda
This aircraft is versatile, and that would score it
major points if it wasn’t fragile. Like the Kate,
this is an easy aircraft to shoot down with its weak
vital armour. On the plus side, it does have an
ability similar to the Dauntless’s Press the Attack.
Determined Attack makes it hard to abort the
Barracuda. Ironically, the best thing that can
happen to the Barracuda on most turns is for it to
be aborted. Once it is, it can’t be fired at anymore,
and it can still make its attack if it succeeds on its
Determined Attack roll. Overall, the Barracuda is
a good unit that could be a great unit if it was a bit
tougher.
4) Vindicator
One of the best things about dive bombers is that
they are hard to shoot down. Before Condition:
Zebra, there had never been a dive bomber with
a vital armour less than 7. Unfortunately for the
Allies, that changed in CZ. The Vindicator is a
respectable dive bomber if it survives, but that’s
the dilemma. With a vital armour of 6, it is not
likely to survive many attacks. Like the Barracuda,
the best thing for the Vindicator might be to get
aborted so it can use Press the Attack and avoid
future AA fire. Bomb 8 is a respectable value, and a
7 point dive bomber isn’t bad. Still, I’d rather have
one Helldiver for 14 points that is going to survive
than have two Vindicators for 14 points that aren’t
going to survive.
We continue with the Axis dive bombers.
1) Judy
No other Axis dive bomber is close. It’s the only
one with vital armour 8, making it the only one
with decent odds of survival. It also features Press
the Attack, and its bomb value of 9 is almost equal
to the Dauntless. Quite honestly, I think the IJN
player is always wise to forsake the Val and spend
the extra 2 points for the Judy.
2) Picchiatelli
I thought long and hard about the choice between
this and the Stuka. Ultimately I decided that Press
the Attack is important enough to justify the extra
point of cost. This is especially true because the
low armour of the Picchiatelli means it will get
aborted a lot. Vital armour 7 is lower than I like
to see it, but it’s beneficial that the Aquila gave
the Picchiatelli a chance to become carrier-based.
Coming off a carrier, its bomb value of 9 and vital
armour of 7 make it better than even the Val, and
for two points less.
3) Stuka
When this unit was first released, I was very
impressed by it. After all, why would I pay 13
points for a Dauntless or 10 points for a Val when
I got have a Stuka for a mere 7? Today, I still view
the Stuka as very cheap for what it can do, but I
am more cognizant of its limitations. It is easy to
abort, and easy to destroy. That makes it a bomber
that is best used in large numbers. Thankfully,
that’s easy to do with its cheap cost, although the
land base limitations can sometimes get in the way.
Of course, the fact that it can now base on the Graz
Zeppelin AND the Aquila makes it even better.
Overall, it’s a bomber that gives you a lot of bang
for the buck.
4) Kamikaze
Okay, technically it’s not a dive bomber, but it’s
certainly not a fighter, so this seemed like the most
appropriate place to put it. It is good at what it
does, which is helping to fill up your air swarms.
Even better, it starts becoming available just as
your other bombers are getting blown out of the
sky, so it has good replacement value. It won’t get
through very often, but when it does it has a fairly
good chance of doing damage to anything other
than a battleship. One disadvantage is that its
technical status as a fighter means it can’t benefit
from Escort. For three points, the Kamikaze is a
lot more valuable than the four point Subchaser.
As long as you remember that it’s just a filler unit,
it will serve you well.
5) Val
The Val is not particularly effective with a bomb
value of 8, it’s easy to shoot down with a vital
armour of 7, and it doesn’t have any unique
abilities like the Jill’s range-1 torpedo to make it
worth using. It does have a couple benefits, such
as the ability to be carrier-based and Press The
Attack, but as a whole it’s too expensive for what
you’re getting. Use a Judy instead.
Patrol Bombers
Finally, we come to patrol bombers. These are the
hardest to rank, because different patrol bombers
have different functions. The Emily is a utility
plane, while the Airone is an ASW plane, and the
Sparviero is a combat plane. Here, the standard
I applied was how often a particular plane should
make your fleet. This led to some interesting
results, as you will see below.
As always, we begin with the Allied patrol
bombers.
1) Catalina
This should almost always be in an Allied build
that includes aircraft, or at least bombers.
Shadowing is important to enhancing both
torpedo and bomb attacks. Even the Catalina’s
relatively frail airframe isn’t a big deal, because
it should usually be the last aircraft you deploy,
allowing it to avoid both enemy ships and enemy
fighters. Add in the fact that it can come out every
turn without a carrier and the fact that it is a solid
ASW platform, and the Catalina is the best all-
around Allied patrol bomber.
8 9
2) Sunderland
Like the Catalina, the Sunderland has the ability
to come out every turn thanks to Loiter. Its real
value, though, is different than the Catalina. While
the Catalina is valuable for its ability to Shadow,
the Sunderland is valuable for its Mines ability.
Some people advocate mining objective sectors,
but I disagree with this. You want to get to the
objectives, too, so why put your own ships at
risk? Instead, I prefer to drop mines near islands,
to create a wall that ships have to divert around.
This can delay your opponent and allow you to
claim the objectives first. In addition to Mines,
the Sunderland functions as a halfway decent dive
bomber with bomb 7 and a good ASW platform
with ASW 3. It took a while for the British to get a
flying boat, but when they did they got a good one.
3) Mitchell
This is a very powerful attack plane. It has a mini-
Kondor attack with its Heavy Strafer ability, and
Skip Bomb makes it a threat to every type of
surface ship, including battleships. Vital armour
8 makes it survivable, and Defensive Armament
makes it hard for fighters to abort it. I have only
two complaints. First, the fact that it can only
come out every other turn makes it of limited
utility. Second, the low armour rating makes
it fairly easy for ships to abort it. If it can get
through, the B-25 likely to do some damage. The
trick is getting it through.
4) Liberator
The Liberator is substantially better than the
Halifax. Yes, its bomb value is lower and its vital
armour is lower. But here’s the key difference – the
Liberator actually has an effective attack. No, it’s
not likely to ever do much as a bomber, but as an
ASW platform it’s very solid. For only 6 points,
you can get a relatively survivable ASW platform.
And not only that, but also once per game it can
come out two straight turns thanks to Excellent
Endurance
5) Halifax
The problem with the Halifax is that it doesn’t have
any effective attacks. Its bomb value is substantial,
but the effectiveness is largely negated by Hi-Level
Bomber. Its ASW value of 2 isn’t high enough to
really pose a threat to most submarines. Thus, the
only thing it really has going for it is its toughness,
but that’s not worth very much if it doesn’t have
an effective way to attack. I have also found ASW
Pinpointer to be a generally useless ability. If it
worked within range-2 like normal Pinpointer, it
might have been good, but the current incarnation
just isn’t powerful enough to make the Halifax a
legitimate unit.
Now, we finish up with the Axis patrol bombers.
1) Kondor
There’s a reason this thing sells for $15 and up
on Ebay. It has tremendous synergy with the
rest of the German fleet, especially submarines.
At the beginning of the game, it can lay waste
to opposing destroyers with Anti-Ship Missile,
and then later on it can enhance your submarine
attacks with Pinpointer. Yes, it’s fragile. But the
key is to remember that it shouldn’t be in harm’s
way. If you’re putting your Kondors over opposing
ships, you’re using them wrong. You should
place all your other aircraft first, and then place
your Kondors in the places where enemy fighters
aren’t. This is one of the few Set I pieces that is still
competitive with later set pieces.
2) Emily
It’s like a Catalina that can take a hit! Yes, it’s three
points more, but those three points buy you two
entire extra points of vital armour, plus Defensive
Armament. If it has an escort, the Emily can
duke it out with an enemy fighter and survive.
Even without an escort, it has a decent chance of
survival. Unlike the Catalina and Kondor, which
should never subject themselves to opposing AA,
the Emily can act as an extra attack plane if things
go bad. And if it does, it can use its Shadowing
ability to enhance its own attacks. It also makes
a respectable ASW platform in a pinch, which is
valuable because the Axis doesn’t have many good
aerial ASW options. Throw in the fact that it can
come out every turn, and this is an aircraft to be
reckoned with.
3) Sparviero
Without a Shadowing bonus or any other type
of bonus, this aircraft can sometimes throw six
torpedoes a turn: four at the first target, and
two at the second. That’s impressive firepower.
Team it up with the Japanese for Shadowing and
Scout Planes and you could have a sick amount
of torpedoes being thrown in non-historical
games. With vital armour 8, it’s got respectable
staying power as well. I can’t imagine a reason you
wouldn’t bring this in an Italian aerial battle.
4) G4M1 Betty
The idea of aircraft is to be able to do as much
damage as possible to the opposing fleet. To be
able to do that, you need to be able to hit them
as often as possible. The G4M1’s Excellent
Endurance ability lets you hit your opponent more
often than its cousin the G4M. Because it can
put more torpedoes on target over the course of a
normal game, it’s a better aircraft, and deserves the
number 4 spot.
5) G4M Betty
It’s not a fabulous aircraft, but it’s serviceable for
six points. It can give you a couple torpedoes, a
weak ASW attack, or a small bomb attack once a
game. It’s not likely to survive much AA, but that’s
why you deploy it in swarms. It’s good point filler
if nothing else.
6) Ju-88
I may have this unit ranked too low. It has very
interesting abilities, but I’ve never been able to find
a good use for them. It strikes me as a unit that
could potentially have devastating combos with
other aircraft, but I’ve never been able to find those
combos. It’s a respectable unit, but I want better
than respectable for a unit that can only attack
every other turn and costs nine points. Let me
know if you have found a good use for this one.
7) Z.506 Airone
I can’t find anything good about this plane. It
gives the Italians aerial ASW, but it’s lousy aerial
ASW. It’s easy to kill, and it doesn’t have much
offensive capability. Even at just six points, it’s a
bad investment.
I hope you have enjoyed the aircraft reviews. I
know many of you will disagree or have your own
opinions to share, so please feel free to discuss in
the forum.
10 11

Colourising old B&W photos

by NeuralDream

Are you impressed just like everyone else with the naval colourisations at
http://blog.livedoor.jp/irootoko_jr/ ?

The following is a quick list of

steps you can use to start your
own colourisations. Normally
you need to spend several
hours, but you can start with an
easy 30-minute example, such
the Greek floatplane, Velos.

Use Recolored to add most of the colours

Original B&W photo

Use Neat to make the photo less grainy
Use Photoshop or Gimp to make the image
cleaner. Cover ugly spots by copy-pasting from
healthy nearby parts of the photo.
Use Photoshop or Gimp to overlay parts from a fake sky and then play with contrast, colour balance
and details.
More details and examples at: http://greek-war-equipment.blogspot.com
12
Product Review: Ability Used
°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°° Tokens from Chum & Tub
c
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Gaming
Danaussie’s by jfkziegler
Golden Battleship A few weeks ago, I wrote to Chum & Tub Gaming
and suggested that they might want to supplement
† awards ¢
their Mine tokens with Ability Used tokens. I was
impressed that they responded to me quickly and
were very amendable to my suggestion. I was even
more impressed that just a couple weeks later, they
c
c
already had the tokens for sale up on their web site.
They were nice enough to send along a free sample
to me because I had made the original suggestion,
so I thought I would share my thoughts in this
review so that the War at Sea community can make
an informed decision as to whether they want to
purchase these tokens or not.
The first thing that should be said about these
tokens it that they work well alongside the Gale
Force 9 tokens. Much like the GF9 tokens, they
have a felt backing that makes them easy to pick
up off the table. They also have a semi-gloss front,
which is not quite as smooth as the plastic front on
the GF9 tokens, but looks good next to them on
the gaming table. While these tokens could also
be used with Litko tokens, they’re a better fit with
GF9 tokens. They would also fit in fairly well with
c
c
the Starter tokens.
In terms of appearance, the Ability Used tokens
°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°° have either a red border for Axis tokens, or a blue
border for Allied tokens. Inside the border, there
i
is a circle with four stars at the cardinal directions.
Trophies Donated by: Sponsored by:
Reacher 12-7Games
At the center of the token, there is an anchor
∏ surrounded by the letters “AU,” obviously for
Ability Used. The tokens are subtle enough to not
[ \
www.12-7-games.com
become a distraction, and yet distinctive enough to
look good on the gaming table.
Sharpe-Approved: No munchkins were badly hurt druing the production of this propaganda.
(we’ll try harder next time!)
13
These tokens are also durable. I’ve tried bending
them and they seem to hold together very well.
They have just a little bit of flex to them so that
they won’t snap easily, and though they could
scratch if cut with a knife or something, they aren’t
likely to scratch in everyday gaming situations.
The price on these tokens is nearly unbeatable.
A full set of twelve tokens (six Allied and six Axis)
will cost you only 99 cents. Compare that to the
price you would pay for a similar set of tokens from
Litko, and you can see how good a deal it is.
Moreover, the need for these in War at Sea is
obvious. More and more units are coming out
that have once per game abilities, and oftentimes
those units can have game-breaking consequences.
For example, it is very important to be able to
keep track of which of your Kondors have already
used their Anti-ship Missile abilities and which
haven’t, or whether your Kidd has already used
its Desperate AA. Keeping track of it mentally
can lead to mistakes, and writing it down is
cumbersome. Tokens are in many ways the perfect
solution to this problem.
If I had to criticize this token set, there is only
one thing I might find fault with, which is the
size of the tokens. They are small by comparison
to the GF9 tokens (maybe 2/3 the size of a GF9
Objective token), which to me makes them a little
harder to handle and keep track of. Of course,
there’s an upside to this as well, as they take up less
space in a sector, which can be a benefit in already
over-stuffed War at Sea sectors.
Overall, I would give this product 4.5 stars out
of 5. I would highly recommend it to anyone who
plays War at Sea, and quite frankly I don’t think
you can go wrong for the price. While you’re
there, I would also encourage you to check out the
Mine tokens that Chum and Tub have put out, as I
have also found my set of those to be quite helpful.
All of these tokens will doubtlessly improve your
War at Sea gaming experience.
14 15

Defending the Oder: Assault

Brigade Wallonie
An AAM scenario by General Hoth

Stettin, Germany, 18th April 1945. Soviets:

65th Army:
Reduced to less than a few hundred men, the Tanks and halftracks set up east of the river on
once mighty SS Wallonie assault brigade lead Map 4.
by the infamous SS Degrelle finds itself defend- Infantry units set up adjacent to the river west
ing the Oder River line at Stettin, north of of it. This is the soviet bridgehead...
Berlin. The situation in Stettin is hopeless.
The new german recruits are thrown into the T34/76 x3
trenches with few weapons and little training. BA 64
The battle of Berlin is already raging further M5 lend leased halftrack x2
south but the orders are to hold at all cost. 76.2mm gun x2
Across the Oder the soviet 65th Army out- Veteran NCO x2
numbers the defenders 10 to 1 and is ready to Commissar
assault... Maxim MG x2
Ppsh 41 x3
Maps: Soviet conscript x2
East - map 4 - map 1 - West Mosin nagant x4
on map 4 replace the forest hexes with city tiles.
This city hexes are the major city Stettin. Also
replace the pond hex with a forest tile.
Germans:
Remnants Panzer Grenadier division “Wal-
lonie”

Set up anywhere on Map 1.

Sandbagged MG team
7.5 lel G18
Pak 40
Disciplined spotter
81mm mortar
Panzerfaust x2
Veteran infantry
Mauser x4
SS haupsturmfuhrer

Reinforcements:
Enter on turn 2 from any western hex.
Victory Conditions: Sources:
Stug G x2 There are 10 city hexes on Map 1. Each “Front de l’est”- Léon Degrelle
Sdkfz 251 hex is worth 1 point. At the end of turn “The battle of Berlin”- Tony le Tessier
Kubelwagen 6 count each side’s points. The winner is
Veteran infantry the player that holds more city hexes.
SS panzergrenadier
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