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MMP has just put a few new things on preorder:

The star of the show is definitely ASL Action Pack 4: Normandy 1944. The fighting in Normandy is probably the most well-covered part of WWII in ASL, and this is going to add another 12 scenarios to the total. The good news is that a lot of the early coverage was purely centered around the paratroopers on and right after D-Day, while this is a bit more spread around. However, I’d say the really nice part is the three boards that will be included: 53 – a nice village surrounded by orchards; 54 – typical dense hedgerows and orchards, which we haven’t seen on a normal board before, and I like the wooded path at hexrow L; 55 – more hedges and orchards with low hills and some sunken roads that I understand a lot of hedgerow roads turned into. So, terrain-wise it looks interesting. Supposedly, MMP is trying to get all ASL materials into final proof before putting it on preorder, so it should be ready about 4 weeks after it hits the magic number (and that’ll take what, a week?).

Next is Bastogne, a game focusing on the actual defense of Bastogne behind the lines of the German advance during the Battle of the Bulge. I don’t know of any games done just on this subject, but I’d be surprised if it hasn’t been done before this.

And last is Kawaguchi’s Gamble: Edson’s Ridge, which is on the Japanese attack that tried to take Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, which would have been essential in defeating the U.S. invasion of the island. It sounds like it’s meant to be quick, with five turns and a playing time (once you’re used to the game) of about 3 hours.

Meanwhile, GMT has announced that Blackbeard is done, and should ship out to customers by the end of the month. ADB has had to push back its product schedule a bit due to problems with getting the die cutting for the counters done. Main upshot is that Distant Kingdoms (which I just recently realized is not a boxed set) is now scheduled for May 5th.