by The Command Tent, 17 March 2022 ~ #UnboxingDay
My latest arrival to the Command Tent was courtesy of GMT’s latest P500 motherload and is my third entry in Mark Simonitch’s 194X wargames, or as the cool kids call it, the ZOC Bond series.
click images to enlarge
First impressions are everything and the cover art nailed it!
Game at a glance
Right off the bat you notice this is a smaller box than other entries in the series at 2 inches. That’s because, according to GMT’s website, this is entry #1 in a planned 3-part series covering the Allied invasion of Italy. Presumably you will be able to link the 3 games together.
Small box, lots of goodness
Being a smaller box there is not as much inside as there has been in other games in the series but that does not mean there are not plenty of goodies to fill the table.
One counter sheet. For the civilized amongst us, this will make clipping the counters a breeze
Word on the street is that Salerno ’43 will make a great introductory game to the ZOC Bond series as well as a game that can easily be taught and played in an evening. To that end there is only one counter sheet with all unit and admin counters included.
Easy setup and reinforcement organization. Also, scratches that OCD itch.
Quality and utilitarian
The first few pages of the rule book are always a much appreciated part of this series’ rulebooks.
The game much like the others in the series includes a card stock setup chart and 2 incredibly useful player aid charts. The rule book is standard GMT fare with a good index and plenty of colorful examples of play.
Game map with lots of useful game info
Properly clipped Allied units poised to come ashore.
The game includes a single 22” x 25.5” map which features familiar terrain features and icons. The turn track, full of important information, as well as map key and sequence of play are all displayed clearly and will be useful during gameplay. The color palette appears a bit drab until you realize it really does emphasize the mountainous terrain that needs to be dealt with on the Italian Peninsula.
Thanks for joining this month’s #UnboxingDay with the Armchair Dragoons and we hope you enjoyed our recon of our recent acquisitions. You can always leave us your feedback in our #UnboxingDay thread, or in the comment area on this article, below.
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