Saturday 7 June 2014

Thoughts at D+1

When do events become history?

I find it hard to believe that it is 70 years since D-Day. When I was a child in the early sixties, playing with my Airfix men, D-Day was less than 20 years old. Memories of the war amongst family and neighbours were vivid and often painful. When I started work in the 1970s, my colleagues included many ex-servicemen who had fought in Normandy and across the globe. They were then younger then than I am now. Suddenly, time has passed to the extent that there are few remaining veterans. Perhaps this is the point that D-Day now becomes history, a poignant thought.

Firestorm Overlord from FoW
Still, I'm pleased that the wargaming community has plenty going on to commemorate the event. 

Flames of War have contributed a new Firestorm module, Overlord, which is free and available from their website. At first sight, this looks great. There is also news that the second half of Firestorm Caen from earlier this year will be released at some stage covering Cherbourg and St Lo.


The M44 world has been particularly busy. I've already posted about Days of Wonder's massive D-Day landing expansion. As of yesterday we now have:

  • Brummbar's Battle Commander module for M44 which provides a way to play linked but variable scenarios from Juno Beach to Falaise.




  • Derek Whaley's 108 page M44 scenario compilation for the western front, including all the Normandy scenarios (except those subject to ongoing copyright). Phew!
On an Android note, I have been playing D-Day by Invertbit on the train. It is very similar to an old hex and counter game, reasonably historical and quite enjoyable.


My Father's day present arrived earlier today. Not to be touched until next weekend of course. It is Heroes of Normandie. I'm really looking forward to this to say the least. I opened the packed to check that it was OK (that's my excuse) and found these extra counters in the parcel. Nice!


 




Also, check out The Atlantic which has some great then and now style photos from Normandy. Well worth a look.


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