The Fames of War Pacific War releases are in full swing. We just had some of the US kits and US Unit Cards released a week ago. I have plenty of US forces painted already, so am not dunking too deep into those offerings (I did just get some SP halftracks for my marines though….). However, what I did want was the card packs.
I picked these up and finally had a chance to look through them and post them. The set is not too large, but covers all the entries in the army book that came out last month. All are of the usual well done print quality. There was an opportunity here for Battlefront to make some extra money and sell the Army and Marine cards separately. Luckily for us, they did not do that, so we get everything in one set for both forces. All together, the cards cover the US Army tank and Infantry companies and the Marine tank and Infantry companies, with plenty of support units for both.
We start with the Army Tank company. This unit is all M3 Stuarts. For those of you like me that have M2a4 Stuarts, these work just fine. Like the army book, I think they could have added M3 Lees also, since they have the figures, but they were not used too much. With that said, I think the canister option on these really makes these even better against infantry than the huge pile of MG dice!
The Army Infantry Company comes with all the troops as Aggressive. I think this is a conscious decision with all the slow firing weapons out there. As with the other fronts, you get the same infantry platoons, HMGs and Mortars to fill out an entire company.
Ordinance support includes halftrack mounted mortars and 75mm howitzers. There is also the 37mm ATG platoon and of course an observer. There is no vehicle option for the latter. Everything is wrapped up with the normal 105mm Howitzer battery.
The Army units are finished out with some recon forces. You get the mid war mech platoon (M3s and Jeeps), with a dismounted option. Still Aggressive and Green, so one will have to be a little careful when using them, not to give up easy victory points!
That takes us into the marine cards. We start with the Marine Infantry Company and its component platoons. We get the same Infantry, HMG and Mortar options. There is a second weapons card to cover all the attachments for the Rifle platoon, as I guess there was one too many options to fit on the card (that option being a flamethrower!). The Marines are definitely made of sterner stuff and are all careful and trained, with a tactics rating of 3+. They are naturally more costly in points.
Next we have the armor options for the Marines. Like the Army, we have a Stuart company and platoons. However, we also get the Shermans. These are rated the same as the army, but with better assault.
The Marines get a different ordinance selection. No 81mm or howitzer halftracks, but a 75mm gun on theirs. This gives the marines a better AT option. With that said, the Japanese do not have anything that needs high AT, so this is just bonus for range. The 37mm ATG is still there. There is a towed 75mm howitzer option and the ubiquitous 105s. We fish up with a light AA option. I think the lack of 40mm is a bit of a miss here. I wish Battlefront would have done some M2a2 (French 75s on US carriage) guns for early pacific, but you just get these on the halftracks. Then again, no one else makes these either, so I guess this is me being too obscure….
The alternative infantry options for the Marines are rather neat. You get two foot recon options, all being careful. However, you also get a card for an Engineer Assault section to get more flamethrowers into the fight and even some Naval Construction troops to work on defending your airfield!
The set ends with a P-40 air support card and a mid war monster. I don’t really care about the latter (see my comments on the army book review), but am happy with the former. As stated in my army book review, I would have liked a Corsair (battlefront made these) for 43. I will be using the P-40 card to proxy for some F4Fs (battlefront never made those) when playing my marines and P-40s, when playing army troops. Overall, a nice set for those like me that like unit cards!
- Manteuffel