For King and Country Unboxing

On May 21, 1940, the British did something nobody expected. They counterattacked out of Arras, straight into the flank of Rommel’s racing panzers. The infantry got stopped, but the British tanks kept rolling deep into the German lines. Rommel had to throw together a defense outside the village of Beaurains with whatever guns he could grab.

That’s Ad Hoc at Beaurains, scenario 91 and the first of 20 in For King and Country. This is the module that brings the British into ASL, the third major combatant after the Germans and Russians of Beyond Valor. Like Beyond Valor, it’s been unboxed many times. I wanted one on my channel anyway.

Getting It

My copy came from Todd, the same fellow YouTuber who sold me my Beyond Valor. It’s brand new, with only a few counters punched. Mine is the second edition. As far as I can tell, the third edition is a straight reprint, and the only difference is the box. The third edition’s box is solid light blue, and mine fades from light blue to tan.

Right now it’s sold out. MMP lists it at $120, and Ritterkrieg is out of stock too. Until the next printing, the secondhand market is your friend. As usual, the links are at the bottom of the article.

Contents:

• Eight 8″ x 22″ mapboards, boards 6, 7, 10, 12 to 15 and 32
• Four full counter sheets and two half sheets, in both counter sizes
• 20 scenarios, 91 to 110
• The British Chapter H

It isn’t a complete game. You’ll need the ASL Rulebook, and to play all 20 scenarios you’ll also need Beyond Valor plus boards 2 to 5, 8, 9, 11, 16 to 23 and 33. That’s a lot of cardboard, so check each card before you plan your evening.

Goodbye, West of Alamein Counters

You get the whole British order of battle, including the American Lend-Lease vehicles, guns and support weapons the Commonwealth used. That’s infantry, leaders, heroes, support weapons, vehicles, heavy mortars, anti-tank guns, artillery and anti-aircraft guns, plus concealment and sniper counters.

These counters are much better than my old West of Alamein set. In my opinion, those were the worst ASL counters ever printed. The printing wasn’t clear, the die cutting was bad, and the lamination peels off and leaves little bits all over the table. They’ve served their purpose. Time to retire them.

Twenty Fights for the Empire

The scenarios run from France in 1940 to Crete in 1941, Sicily in 1943, and finally D-Day and Market Garden in 1944. The map shows where each one happened, with the scenario table right under it.

Gray markers are fights where the Germans attack, and blue ones are where the British or Canadians do. Thirteen of the 20 came from the out-of-print ASL Annuals, six from The General and one from MMP’s fanzine Backblast. MMP renumbered and rebalanced them, then folded in all the errata.

Retreat, From Calais to Crete

The first half is mostly the British on the back foot. After Arras, Stand Fast the Guards puts the 2nd Irish Guards in Boulogne against the 2nd Panzer Division in May 1940. Two days later, The Crux of Calais has a battalion of riflemen holding the canal bridges in a city that was doomed from the start. There’s an AAR of Ad Hoc at Beaurains here on the site, if you want to see how the Arras counterattack plays.

Then it’s Crete, and there are a lot of Crete scenarios. I never noticed that before. Bring a parachute. Tavronitis Bridge and Bofors Bashing are the German glider landings around Maleme airfield on May 20, 1941, against the New Zealanders and the Bofors gunners. Descent into Hell joins those two into one bigger game.

On Silent Wings is another glider attack, this time on an anti-aircraft battery south of Canea. In A Desperate Affair, German paratroopers drop on Heraklion and find out their intelligence badly underestimated the Black Watch. Probing Layforce closes out Crete with commandos as the rearguard at Babali Hani, holding the road while the army streams south to be evacuated.

Regalbuto Ridge jumps to Sicily on July 31, 1943. The Devons have taken the ridge above town with a night march, and now the Hermann Göring Division wants it back.

Back on the Continent

The second half is 1944, and the British are on the attack. Throwing Down the Gauntlet is D-Day, with the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion going after a strongpoint near Varaville. Point of the Sword has commandos and French-Canadians pushing into Langrune-sur-Mer off Sword Beach. We played that one in 2021, and I took the Germans. If I remember right, I won, and you can watch how it went in the Point of the Sword AAR.

A Day by the Shore follows 45 Royal Marine Commando into Franceville-Plage the next day. Hill of Death is Hill 112 near Caen in July, where the SS and their Tigers came back for the hill the British had just taken. Going to Church is a fairly popular one from The General. The Fusiliers Mont-Royal have the whole village of St. Martin-de-Fontenay except the church, and the brigadier wants the church.

Kangaroo Hop has Canadian infantry riding Kangaroo carriers up Mont Lambert, the high ground over Boulogne. Funny enough, the module ends where it started, near the Channel ports… and then it heads for Holland. Tettau’s Attack, Guards Attack, Dreil Team and North Bank are all Market Garden. North Bank is the last stand in the Oosterbeek perimeter, with the South Staffords facing SS panzergrenadiers and Tigers. For the bigger picture of the battle, my A Bridge Too Far unboxing covers the whole thing.

Eight Boards

Like the Beyond Valor boards, these are the lighter Starter Kit-style boards. Board 6 is a classic, with orchards, a manor in the middle and lots of walls. Next is the huge river board, number 7. Expect plenty of river crossings. I’ve played on board 10 a few times, including the crazy Merzenhausen Zoo. Then there’s a small village on 12, home to that oddball building with its own section in Chapter B.

A stream and gully wind across board 13, past a pond and a long embankment. Then comes countryside with a runway on 14. Board 15 is another hill board, a lot like board 2 but different, with big hills that climb to level 4. Board 32 is heavy forest with a stream that could pass for a gully when it’s dry. I could see it in some PTO scenarios too.

Read Your Chapter H

The module also comes with the British Chapter H, over 30 pages of notes on every British gun and vehicle. It’s not homework you can skip. Those notes are real rules, and they can help you or hurt you. If your opponent knows a weakness of your vehicle and you don’t, they’ll use it. Read the entry for every vehicle and gun in the scenario before you play.

One quirk. Beyond Valor doesn’t come with the German and Russian Chapter H. Those notes come with the ASL Rulebook instead, and the PDF rulebook has all the listings. If you play on VASL, you can even add Chapter H notes to your counters.

Where to Buy

MMP: For King and Country

Ritterkrieg

Debriefing

For King and Country adds the British to ASL, with eight boards, 20 rebalanced scenarios and the British Chapter H. It covers the retreats of 1940 and 1941 and the comeback of 1944, with a surprising amount of Crete in the middle.

If you’re starting out with the British, try one of the Crete scenarios. They’re airborne fights with light orders of battle. Then read your Chapter H before the Churchills show up.

Academy Out!

GET TO THE CHOPPA…!!!

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