Secrets Of The Third Reich - Another New Game.

I've decided in the last two weeks to start a force for West Wind Productions game; Secrets Of The Third Reich, due to the large number of models available and the background story for the game.

It's World War II, but D-Day in June 1944 was not the success it was in our timeline, instead Atomic Weapons have devastated London (Germans having stolen atomic weapon designs from America's atomic project) and Berlin, and the war has ground to a stalemate. The Germans have deployed a chemical weapon: V Gas, turning people into Zombies. The Soviets have become a seperate faction from either side; they continue to fight the German Nazis, but due to invading Finland and Swedon, have began a war with Britain and America also.

The Germans have supernatural beings; Werewolves and Vampires walk in the ranks. All factions have access to Mechs; walking tanks, with great variety, although the majority are bipedal. Traditional WW2 Vehicles remain in service alongside these machines, albeit with upgrades designed to stop gas attack and chemicals. Britain has become Nationalised, and is on it's last legs. Kent is Zombie territory due to V-gas attacks. Gas Masks are the norm for all troops in all armies. Armoured suits form part of the major factions (USA, Germany, Soviet and British), with different factions having variant versions. Drop Suits are also a feature.

There are two books for the game; the Core Rulebook, which features the basic rules, background and army lists. The second book being the Doomsday expansion, which adds to the rules, Errata on existing rules are also a feature, but new Units (Spider Mechs for the Soviets, Wasp Drop Troops for the British and so on) for existing factions along with variant Army Lists are present (E.g. Temple and MI-13 for the British). New factions are also presented such as Partisans.

After a read, I feel that I could manage a game without a huge amount of difficulty. The rules read as simple and effective, with orders being the basic way of controlling the troops in your force. Officers are important, and this shows by the higher the officer; the more types of orders your troops can perform.

I have the British Starter Set for the game, along with one (so far, with 4 more en route to make a legal unit) British Steel Armoured Suit. I have managed to make a legal army list using the starter set, with two spare troops.

Box art for the starter set

The contents of the starter set

Army lists are composed using RP as the currency for units and upgrades. Upgrades come in two forms; unit upgrades (e.g. Adding a special weapon to the unit) and force upgrades (Body Armour for the platoon), although these upgrades normally miss out Support units, as these have their own Special Rules which make up for this. The Core Rulebook uses the example of 50RP as the guideline to aim for when designing your force, and so this is what I'm going for. So far I've reached 29RP, including the British Steel Armoured Suit Squad, which without takes my force to 23RP using just the Starter Set. I've got two force upgrades, boosting their 'Cool', which represents troop confidence and courage; from Green to Veteran, so hopefully they will stay in the fight longer. The second upgrade is body armour, making the troops a bit more hard-wearing. Weapons are mixed as the majority don't seem to cost anything; Carbines, Brens, and Boyes Anti-Mech rifles all feature in my Rifle Squad. Snipers and a Vickers Heavy Machine Gun team come as the basic support options provided by the Starter Set.

The models come in metal, with slotta-bases. They are all (bar the HMG team) come as one piece models, except the heads, which are interchangeable as part of West Wind's Seperate Head System, enabling more customisation. The heads are provided in sets of 4, and you get more than you need, with the vast majority being virtually identical.

Heads to be attached... and have (as of 26/06/2012)

My first game is on Monday, against a fellow member of my local wargames club. I will provide information on what we have found out, as well as an oveview of the game/games we will have played. 

All in all this looks like a very promising addition to the catalogue of games I play.

Tomorrow I will stick in some pictures to fit in this post! Stand-by!