I’ve been in a bit of a scramble all this weekend preparing for our gaming session. We had completed the base set of scenarios for Tide of Iron (and a few user designed ones…the competition voting ends soon!) and with the new Mediterranean expansion just around the corner for Memoir ‘44 I really wanted to crack open Days of the Fox and get into it.

My problem has always been I want the full kit before I start playing (I still remember back to Battle Cry when I read the rules and though…”oh, I have got to paint these figs first!”). This can sometimes delay the playing. Fortunately with Tide of Iron, the figures are few and I could paint them up in a fraction of the time. Of course, I had to make my terrain as well!

However, yesterday I ran into a new problem…I needed Pz IVe’s! So ironic how I was just mentioning how the M’44 tanks could easily be converted. So I worked feverishly yesterday to get them prepared for Operation Crusader, the Days of the Fox tank battle. While I lost the battle, I managed to get them done on time and into play. They acquited themselves well scoring a few knock outs. There are a few new vehicle images in the gallery.

Days of the Fox is an excellent Tide of Iron expansion. I really enjoy the figures (no doubt those 88’s will be in action as guns for the Memoir ‘44 desert battles as well). With the prices set to rise on the Fantasy Flight Games, fans of WWII gaming would be wise to grab a copy of both the base game and the expansion.

Book Review
The Campaign for North Africa

I picked this gem up over the summer and was instantly impressed with it. This book is amazing for it’s illustrations alone (I wish I could post some of them here…truly brilliant!). There are a number of hand drawn maps of all the action in North Africa by the author himself, Jack Coggins who served in WWII as an artist correspondent.

While the book proper picks up with Operation Torch, the author does an excellent visual recap of the events leading up to it with a chonological timeline and maps from Graziani’s advance into Egypt (13/09/40) to the eve of El Alamein (23/10/42). It then continues on into that battle and the pursuit to Tripoli. Then the book really takes off with Operation Torch and all of the action that followed all wonderfully detailed with unit illustrations and data, maps and diagrams.

This book is a welcome addition to my library and will be a main resource for any who want an well illustrated understanding of the desert war. The applications for scenario creation in both Memoir ‘44 for the upcoming Mediterranean Theater expansion and the existing Tide of Iron, Days of the Fox expansion are obvious.

While this book is no longer in print, you can get a copy through AbeBooks (each purchase helps support this website).

208 pgs. Hard cover. Illustrated (over 250 maps, diagrams and illustrations)

In preparation for the upcoming expansion now might be the time to break out those tanks you’ve been meaning to paint and start making your Afrika Korps. That’s my plan anyway.

I will be using the same desert colors as the Afrika Korp for my tanks which is an acrylic paint from Testors (code 4789). Officially it was Sandgelb.

The tank shown here is from the Tide of Iron set, Days of the Fox which unfortunately only has 4 of them. However, while they weren’t as common, the Pzkw IV’s were present in the desert in two varieties. The IVf and the IVe. The main difference between the two was the length of the barrel (well, visually speaking anyway). The IVe was more of an infantry support tank. It can be easily made with your standard M’44 tanks by clipping the barrel. The IVf is fine as is…just needs some color. I’ll be working on setting up a set and will post some pics when they are ready. In the meantime, just follow my tank painting tutorial but substitute the color.