Flames of War D-Day: Forces Compendium – The Longest day has the heftier book

By Paolo Paglianti

Just as it had happened for the Mid period, Battlefront is about to release the first “compendium” of Late War books, starting with D-Day. The hefty tome, comprising more than 320 pages, includes the two German volumes (SS and D-Day German), as well as the British and American ones.

Is there anything new on the Western Front? While the Mid “Compendium” books (Desert and Eastern Front) had added the “Monsters”, the experimental units or those produced in very few numbers, in the case of D-Day the novelties are more limited. The NoDiceNoGlory team of Flames of War enthusiasts (in addition to myself, who read the book along with my favorite sparring partner Claudio Tiso, there are also Michael Rafferty and Richard Steer) combed through the tome and found some sneaky juicy additions. Are they a valid reason to buy the new compendium? Probably yes, but you need to read until the end of the article!

The single addition of greater significance, as many of us expected, is the arrival of the Sexton among the British ranks, thus reducing the cost of UK serious artillery from 16 points for four Priest teams to 12 (although the FirePower now becomes 4+), a feature already seen in the Bulge Britain volume. Another good news is that the British players can field four units of them, for a total of 16 Sextons. They also cost less than the (almost) immobile 25PDR battery (still 14 points for 4 guns). His Majesty’s troops also receive the addition of the Truck-mounted Bofors, present in Bulge – I don’t think I’ve ever seen it played since its chances of surviving the first two turns are lower than snow in August, but good to know. D-Day British armies also get access to Challenger 17 Pdr in Cromwell Armoured recce troops (and Desert Rats). 

 

From zero to 16! Plenty of Sextons for the British D-Day players, saving 4 points for each platoon compared to the slightly better Priests.

 

Speaking of the Allies, the M18 Veteran Formation arrives for the USA, which was previously relegated to Bulge. For now, it cannot benefit from the inseparable Card to improve AT to 13, but hopefully, this will be allowed by a future version of Lessons from the Front, which seems logical. The D-Day formations, to simulate the fresh divisions coming for the Normandy battle, are still Careful (hit on 4+) but Trained (Skill 4+ and not 3+ as the Bulge ones). For this reason, they are a bit cheaper (a 4-unit platoon is 15 points Vs 16). 

 

Greener and cheaper, but with no AT13 card. The new M18 Hellcat Trained units and formation could be of any use to counter the D-Day Tigers?

More news for the German troops. Now they have  the formations and supports of the 21st Panzer, the division that uses vehicles captured from the French. We saw them as an additional booklet for the Late war; now they are internal to the Late list and can easily combined. There’s the Hotchkiss Assault Gun formation, with a wide choice of 7.5 cm AT 12 antitank mobile guns (about 4 points each) and 10.5 cm AT 10 but with artillery capabilities (3 points each). 

The Panzergrenadier formation offers various options for fielding infantry from 7 MG42 teams with same number U304(f) transports, with the identical Mounted assault ability of the SD KFZ counterpart. The cost is slightly higher (full platoon is 13 points vs 12 for the traditional Panzergrenadier on SDK FZ), but you have 7 vehicles instead of 4. Also, the 21st Panzer lacks a Panzerschreck upgrade. They both can field the Reihenwefrer Multiple Mortar Section, 4 vehicles for 12 points, with the bigger Salvo artillery and smoke bombardment.

The quite unique U304(F) units, similar to the SD KFZ armoured transport, but with much more vehicles. 

 

The 21st Panzergrenadier Company has some small differences compared to the traditional D-Day PanzerGrenadier one. 

 

For the Supports, we have the new AntiTank (Marder) and Scout (Luchs or a platoon with SD KFZ 222, 221, and 231 at 4 points). There’s also support artillery with the 10.5 cm Lorraine Schlepper (3 for 8 points) and the 15 cm (3 for 11 points, but with a firepower of 2+), with the observer on the Lorraine hull. 

More artillery for the Germans – the 21st Panzer Hotchkiss.

 

The Reinhenwefer platoon costs 12 points for 4 vehicles and similar stats to the Nebelwefer (9 points for three guns), but it’s mobile and armoured. 

 

 

The 21st Panzer Artillery support mirrors the usual Wespe and Hunmel, with practically identical stats. They both loses the MGs and the Hummel has front armour 2 instead of 1, but they 21st Artilleries cost 1 point less. Not much, but if you just need 1 point in your list for the Lucky card…

I think competitive players with German armies will still have more interesting options in Berlin Book with their cheaper units, but the 21st Panzer addition is a tasty addition for limited D-Day tournaments or friendly scenarios.

 

The Germans also get the new Jadgpanther Tank Hunter company, with a HQ + three 2-4 tanks and an AA platoon. Their cost is massive (about 12 points per tanks), but I can imagine some players would love to field a two-tanks unit with 2 JadgPanthers with their AT 17 gun and front armour of 9. 

Who should buy the compendium? Well, If you already have all the D-Day books, there is no obvious reason to buy the new book. However, if you only have one D-Day book, could be a real bargain considering the cost: 50 euros or 60 dollars for this massive book, while each of the 4 D-Day volumes cost 25$. A very good way to fill up your D-Day collection, and you can give the single book you already have bought to some new players in your club to push them to build a new army. 

A final very good news – what I personally think is the best reason to buy the compendium book: Battlefront is putting a special code to redeem all formations on the Forces website. Each formation on Forces costs 1 dollar / 3 dollars with cards, and the D-Day Compendium includes 45+ formations and 4 “card decks”. Again, if you want to use Forces, could be a very good option. Most players normally “buy” on Forces only the formations they use. With 60$ you get all the physical books and access to all formations, filling up any missing Formation or deck. We really hope Battlefront Will continue to include in future books the forces code related to formations and corresponding cards.