Friday, November 25, 2022

02 Hundred Hours, Starter Set; a skirmish game with a difference

nice box art on the cover, 
the box is kind of flimsy but you wont be using after
 you assemble the minis anyways so it doesn't really matter 

       I have been waiting to get my hands on this since I first read about it in the British glossies. I picked this up from the good folks at Michigan Toy Soldier. The central premise of the rules is a one-to-one skirmish in the dark. Strictly Special Ops/Commando/Resistance type stuff! This isn't a regular skirmish game that has been adapted to "playing in the dark" this system was built from the ground up to address the circumstance and difficulties of stealthy operations in the dark. There are some examples of play available on Youtube.
    
        But not only are the rules specially adapted the minis that come with this set were specially commissioned for this game (you can use them for other rules if you choose, of course). The remaining components, while fairly standard, are of very good quality as well.
 
         Let us take a look.

the back has the assembled and painted minis, you know exactly what you are getting

one of the side panels has a close up of the minis 
 
the small rule-book is nicely bound and heavily illustrated

the box with its contents; rulebook, special dice, counters, cards and minis

it even has a nifty tray to store the counters, cards and dice in

the cards are clearly printed on good-quality stock and have a semi-matte finish 
(which makes them easier to read) the dice, though smallish, are solid and roll well

three sprues of Germans and two sprues of S.A.S

German sprue, side A

German sprue, side B
 
detail is crisp, the faces are different from one another
this being a Wargames Atlantic product there are many more heads than you will need!

and the dogs actually look like dogs and some of the sentry hands have flashlights!
 
weapons are mostly slung,
 these are bored rear-area sentries so that is probably very much spot-on

the German troops are posed walking in an unhurried manner
 
S.A.S. sprue, side A

S.A.S. sprue, side B

much more actively posed, the draping of the fabrics is very well done

there is a fearsome collection of weraponry:
 from the dreaded Fairbairn-Sykes knife to  Tommy guns and rifles

a wide selection of headgear  and many different faces

including the ubiquitous beret

if you end up with any two figures alike from this set you just aren't trying

the chap with the knife in his teeth is amusing

the detail on the weapons is excellent

        Having watched several of the videos of games in action I have bumped the minis to the front of the "Build it Now!" queue and I am currently searching for info on S.A.S./ Commando uniform patterns and camouflage. The physical properties of this set alone would recommend the purchase but having seen the game-play I am going to give it a big thumbs-up and Very Highly Recommend to anyone bent on a bit of derring-do in the dark.

         I can see nearly endless variations on this theme; SPEC-OPS in Afghanistan, Resistance fighters vs Nazis, Great War trench raids, Iroquois vs Colonist, the limit is the entire span of history!

4 comments:

  1. Interesting, I have a box of warlords commandos painted for my Operation Claymore game I did at your home in 2017. Which everyone seemed bored playing the game. On my blog I have the British Para camo pattern with paint color. Commandos for the most part of my research are just the normal British army Khaki color. After WW2 is when the commando adopted the Para camo. Game looks interesting

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    1. These rules are fun, perhaps we should try running the game with this rules system?

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  2. I preordered this way back, and I like it for low figure count, table space, etc. Hits the itch without having to collect hundreds of minis. I've seen guys on the Face book page for this paint their figures in moonlight colors, it's pretty awesome. I still paint mine in color but there are a lot of fella's out there that have come up with interesting terrain etc.

    By the way Anton this is not a real review unless you put together the dog and dog handler and place a photo of them with above.... just saying:P

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    1. The entire set has been bumped to the front of the line. I have seen the black and white Film Noir paint scheme before and it looks the part, black and shades of gray, but I'm not about to develop an entire collection of terrain to match so I guess we will have to play with just a 40W bulb in the fixture

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