{"product_id":"into-the-rubble-2-2017-second-edition","title":"INTO THE RUBBLE 2 (2017) second edition","description":"\u003cp\u003e2nd edition (Into the Rubble II) contents: 4 8\" x 22\" unmounted geoboards (BFP-A, BFP-B, BFP DW-7a, BFP DW-7b), 1 8\" x 12\" Rubbled City overlay (RC-1), 1 Factory overlay (F1), 1 sheet of Debris overlays, 1 sheet of rubbled building overlays (R1-R7), 20 scenarios on glossy cardstock, 3 pages rules, 228 die-cut counters.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInto the Rubble, the inaugural publication of the “new” Bounding Fire Productions, is a collection of a variety of city-fighting scenario and map resources.  It features a number of components, all of which have a much higher production value than the “old” publication of BFP, the Hell on Wheels Battle Pack.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe title of this publication is a little misleading, insofar as Into the Rubble’s main attraction is not rubble, but rather its two geomorphic mapboards, neither one of which contains rubble (an overlay does, however).  Both mapboards depict urban train stations.  Some sort of train station map or overlay was sorely needed in ASL, as many World War II tactical actions involved fighting to control such objectives.  However, two urban train station maps in the same pack seems slightly odd; perhaps it would have been better had one map been a smaller train station, fit for a town rather than a major city, or some other subject entirely.  The maps can be fit together lengthwise to depict a really large, long station as well.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIT2 is a scenario\/map pack with mixed scenarios–i.e., the 20 scenarios included herein represent a range of actions from across the breadth, width, and length of the World War II era.  Actions include:  China 1937 [2] \u0026amp; 1938 [2], Spain 1938, Poland 1939, Soviet Union 1942 [3] \u0026amp; 1943 [2], France 1944, Germany 1944 [2], Italy 1944 [2], Hungary 1945 [2], Germany 1945, and the Philippines 1945.  Nationality appearances include the Nationalist Chinese [4], Japanese [5], Spanish Nationalists, Spanish Republicans, Soviets [7], Germans [13], Americans [6], Hungarians, Romanians, Polish, and British.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOfficial boards required include 1, 20, 21, 45, 49, 51, and 1a. This is a very small number, due in large part to the number of scenarios that use boards provided in ITR2 as well as BFP boards DW-4a and DW-4b from Crucible of Steel (2 scenarios) and BFP G from Blood and Jungle (one scenario); The three pages of rules lay out the specifics of boards BFP-A and BFP-B, explain the dedicated assault engineer counters (which should be familiar to ASLers now through recent official ASL products), and provide vehicle notes for a couple Soviet and German vehicles.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eITR2 comes with 2 half-sheets of counters, one for 1\/2″ counters (140 total) and one for 5\/8″ counters (88 total).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe half-sheet of 1\/2″ counters includes 36 Axis Minor, Japanese and American squads and half-squads as Assault Engineers, as well as 4 regular Japanese squads, 10 Japanese MG, and 10 Chinese squads (perhaps because some scenarios require more than the official countermix?). In addition, there are 5 (Poland in Flames) Polish HMG counters marked as “PiF Errata,” which presumably are for use with that product.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe rest of the counters on this sheet are game markers. These include a variety of what seem to be “Location” and “Hex” control markers, as well as some markers that seem to intended to designate entry areas for reinforcements.  There are also some markers that read “Factory Building,” the purpose of which is not entirely clear–perhaps to help players remember that certain buildings are designated as factories by SSR?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe most interesting markers are 23 CE\/BU markers that also serve as armor leader markers, the use of which can save players a bit of stack space by replacing two markers with one.  This is a nice little idea that many players might find useful.  The only knock on it is that the markers are “universal,” i.e., printed on white for use with all nationalities, instead of being nationality-specific, which a lot of ASLers might prefer.  Perhaps in the next release, who knows?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe half-sheet of 5\/8″ counters include 18 Soviet and German AFVs, most of which are flamethrowing tanks, as well as 2 Chinese AFVs and 2 aircraft counters (one German, one Chinese).  there are also 12 burning wreck markers, 24 Level 3 Building markers and 30 Debris counters.  Note that the Debris counters are much easier to use than the Debris overlays included in ITR (and again in ITR2), so it is nice that they are included, especially as a number of the ITR2 scenarios require the placement of a shit-ton of Debris counters\/overlays.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwo of the four boards included, BFP-A and BFP-B are described in the ITR write-up, above. They appear again in ITR for the most part unchanged.  ITR2 marketing copy says that BFP-B contains “an errata update,” the nature of which is unspecified anywhere. However, it seems that the only change was to have a road in hex T2 connect to a building hex in U2, so there are no major changes.  It would have been nice if the new version had been marked as such somewhere, so that players could easily distinguish between old board and new board.  The artwork is, of course, nice, although the buildings and woods (in these and all BFP boards) are a tad dark.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eITR2 also provides 2 new boards (BFP DW-7a and DW-7b) that are geomorphic on three sides only, allowing them to combine on their fourth side to form a mega-board.  The mega-board is essentially a city center board, complete with a wide-open city square surrounded by 3-level buildings.  The mega-board consists mostly of multi-hex, multi-level stone buildings, as one might see in a European city, but the buildings are not very densely packed.  There are now a lot of official urban boards, so these don’t add all that much in the way of innovative terrain depictions, but they are perfectly fine boards. Players may want to photocopy the city center area and create a play aid that either expands the area or reproduces it multiple times (once per level), because the counterstacks for four-story multi-hex buildings can get absolutely ginormous.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eITR2 comes with more overlays than you can shake a half-squad at, seven more than the original, and they are used in 90% of the scenarios.  ITR2 comes with 20 scenarios, more than twice as many as in the original edition, though they are very similar in nature to the original 8 scenarios. Specifically, the scenarios tend to be huge, SSR dense, overlay heavy, and lacking flavor SSRs (flavor SSRs, like the pop-up partisans in the classic scenario Urban Guerrillas, are SSRs that attempt to provide color and a bit of the unique feel of the historical action that inspired the scenario).  What one tends to see here are massive and relatively unsubtle head-on clashes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne of them, ITR-9 (Asia’s Stalingrad) is seems to be a generic scenario, ostensibly set during the fighting for Shanghai in 1937, rather than based on any actual specific action (as can be seen by the vague historical description and unit names). The other scenarios seem to be based on real actions. The most “unusual” of the scenarios is ITR-20 (Fill ‘Er Up, Mac?), which takes place in Manila in February 1945 and features the Americans making a crossing of the Pasig river using Assault Boats and a variety of LVTs.  Two scenarios of the 20 might possibly be suitable for tournament play:  ITR-13 (To the Last Bullet) and ITR-18 (Capital of the Ruins). Most, however, would take too long for a tournament situation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e(The above description is an edited version of that found on the Desperation Morale website)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Aus Squad Leader","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49170127683892,"sku":null,"price":149.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0750\/0660\/7668\/files\/IMG_E4555.jpg?v=1782260203","url":"https:\/\/squadleader.com.au\/products\/into-the-rubble-2-2017-second-edition","provider":"Aus Squad Leader","version":"1.0","type":"link"}