News From the Front
Avalanche Press commits news early and often. We’ll post about it right here.
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Great War at Sea: Rise of the Dragon
 12 July 2024: In 1907, the Imperial Chinese Navy proposed a new building program to provide three regional fleets, each built around a new modern battleship. Two years later a naval commission headed by the Regent's brother, Prince Tsai-hsun, recommended a fleet of eight dreadnoughts and 20 cruisers plus supporting vessels, and began soliciting bids from shipyards around the world.
China never built that fleet, but that doesn’t stop you from leading it into battle against the Japanese imperialists. Great War at Sea: Rise of the Dragon presents the Chinese line of battle as proposed by Prince Tsai-hsun, made up of ships built in Germany, Britain, Japan, Austria-Hungary, Italy and the United States.
Rise of the Dragon is an expansion for the Great War at Sea series, based on battles that never happened. You’ll need Russo-Japanese War and Jutland to play all of the 41 scenarios included.
And you can have it right now.
You can order Rise of the Dragon (second edition) right here.
Prince Chun’s Dreadnoughts
Russo-Japanese War (Playbook)
Rise of the Dragon (2e)
Retail Price: $99.98
Package Price: $80.00
Gold Club Price: $64.00
You can order Prince Chun right here.
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Panzer Grenadier: Dragon’s Teeth
10 June 2024: On 11 September 1944, a patrol from the U.S. 5th Armored Division crossed the German border, beginning a campaign that would last three and a half months and cost over 140,000 casualties as the Americans tried to break through the Siegfried Line defenses, known to the Germans as the West Wall.
Dragon’s Teeth is a complete Panzer Grenadier game based on these epic battles, as America took the fight into Nazi territory. You get 42 scenarios of tank and infantry combat, in six chapters, each of those with a battle game to tie the scenarios together and let you play toward an operational goal. Plus you get four heavy cardstock maps and 495 playing pieces.
Everything you need, except dice, is right there in the package.
Publisher’s Preview
Order Dragon’s Teeth Here.
Siegfried Package
Dragon's Teeth
Spearhead Division
Journal No. 27: Sherman Tanks
Retail Price: $134.97
Package Price: $120
Gold Club Price: $96
You can experience the Siegfried Package right here.
You can join the Gold Club right here.
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Remember the Maine, Second Edition
4 May 2024: When the American battleship Maine exploded in Havana’s harbor, U.S. president William McKinley demanded that Spain withdraw from Cuba and ordered the U.S. Navy to blockade the Caribbean island. Spain declared war two days later, sending an ill-equipped fleet to the Caribbean to back up its four-centuries-old claim.
The fighting lasted less than four months, with Spain suffering a smashing defeat. It would take three-quarters of a century for Spanish democracy and constitutionalism to recover from the “Disaster of ’98.” The United States, meanwhile, had entered the world stage as a Great Power, completely changing the outlook of Americans both at home and abroad.
The Second Edition presents a completely new set of series rules (the Second Edition) and a completely new set of scenarios to go with them, in four chapters covering the naval war of 1898 as it happened, the war as it might have happened with Spanish reinforcements sent to the Philippines instead, the war as it might have occurred with the ships both sides hoped to build or purchase, and finally the war as it might have happened a few years later.
Remember the Maine is a complete game in the Great War at Sea game series, based on the Spanish-American naval war in the Caribbean Sea. You get 32 scenarios, and everything you need to play, except dice, is right there in the package: a 34x22-inch map of the central Caribbean basin, a 24 x 24-inch tactical map, 100 “long” double-sized ship pieces and 80 standard-sized pieces, all of them die-cut and silky-smooth.
You can order Remember the Maine (Second Edition) right here.
Coming This Spring:
Panzer Grenadier: Fire & Sword
25 February 2024: This long-awaited game of the 1944-45 tank battles around Budapest is almost here! It’s the biggest game in the Panzer Grenadier lineup, with five new maps, 913 pieces and 52 new scenarios. Like our newest Panzer Grenadier games, it’s an exercise in storytelling, picking up the action in late October 1944 with the first Soviet advances on Budapest and following through the Hungarian capital’s encirclement and the German attempts at relief, winding up in January 1945.
   
This is a spectacular game. You are going to want this on your table, and we’ll support it for years to come with expansions. And right now, you can get 20 percent off your order:
Order Fire & Sword here.
Please allow an extra six weeks for delivery.
  
Now Shipping:
Second World War at Sea: Java Sea
11 February 2024: Second World War at Sea: Java Sea is shipping right now! This is a new title (re-using a few parts from the old Strike South) based on the 1941-42 Japanese offensives against the Philippines, Malaya and the Dutch East Indies.
Between December 1941 and March 1942, the Japanese “Strike South” offensives conquered the American, British and Dutch colonies of South-East Asia in a daring series of rapidly-paced, shoestring-resourced operations. The colonial powers’ small fleets and air forces resisted as best they could, achieving some tactical successes, but could not stop the brilliantly-executed Japanese plan.
Each Second World War at Sea game is different than the others; in the case of Java Sea, the over-riding theme is an under-resourced Japanese offensive trying to bluff its way past under-resourced Allied defenders. The risky Japanese plan means that an aggressive Allied defense can definitely put the hurt on the invaders if they strike carefully. The battlefield is huge, and the Japanese are trying to move in many places with wide spaces between their forces.
The Next Big Thing:
Second World War at Sea: Java Sea
14 December 2023: Between December 1941 and March 1942, the Japanese “Strike South” offensives conquered the American, British and Dutch colonies of South-East Asia in a daring series of rapidly-paced, shoestring-resourced operations. The colonial powers’ small fleets and air forces resisted as best they could, achieving some tactical successes, but could not stop the brilliantly-executed Japanese plan.
Java Sea is our new Second World War at Sea game based on these campaigns. It uses the maps and pieces from the long out-of-print Strike South game, with additional new pieces and a completely new scenario set with 30 scenarios in five chapters (Malaya, Philippines, Borneo, Java and the Franco-Thai War of 1940).
Each Second World War at Sea game is different than the others; in the case of Java Sea, the over-riding theme is an under-resourced Japanese offensive trying to bluff its way past under-resourced Allied defenders. The risky Japanese plan means that an aggressive Allied defense can definitely put the hurt on the invaders if they strike carefully. The battlefield is huge, and the Japanese are trying to move in many places with wide spaces between their forces.
Order Java Sea here.
Order Java Sea: Wicked Sisters here.
Great War at Sea Second Edition
Cruiser Warfare. Remember the Maine. Rise of the Dragon
 14 November 2023: When war came to Europe in August 1914, it left Maximilian Graf von Spee’s German cruiser squadron trapped on the far side of the globe. Their doomed attempt to return home, and the efforts of other German cruisers to attack Allied commerce, are the theme of Great War at Sea: Cruiser Warfare.
In February 1898, the American battleship Maine exploded in the harbor of Havana, Cuba. Two months later, the United States declared war on Spain, sparking a naval war in the Caribbean. That’s the theme of Great War at Sea: Remember the Maine.
We’ve brought both of them back in new editions, with new series rules built on more than 20 years’ experience. Both reflect the intense, interwoven history and game-play that’s become our calling card.
Cruiser Warfare’s Second Edition includes an all-new set of pieces, enlarged from prior editions with silky-smooth pieces and brand-new artwork. More ships, including the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Squadron and more Germans, and twenty ships moved from the small, square pieces to our long, beautiful pieces with top-down drawings. And with more ships, we need more scenarios so you can play with them.
There will be online play, too, so you can play both Remember the Maine and Cruiser Warfare with friends from around the world!
We’re going to support both of these games with scads of expansions, and your old copy won’t work with these and you’ll be sad. Don’t be sad!
You can order Cruiser Warfare right here.
Please allow an extra eight weeks for delivery.
You can order Remember the Maine right here.
Cruiser Package
Cruiser Warfare 2e (complete game)
Russo-Japanese War (complete game)
Rise of the Dragon 2e (complete expansion)
Retail Price: $169.97
Package Price: $140.00
Gold Price: $112.00
You can order the Cruiser Package right here.
Please allow an extra eight weeks for delivery.
Jutland: Second Edition
 24 October 2023: On the last day of May 1916, the British Grand Fleet met the German High Seas Fleet off the coast of Denmark, in what would be the largest battle ever fought between dreadnought battleships. That’s the subject of our Great War at Sea: Jutland Second Edition, our best-selling wargame ever.
We’ve brought it back in a new edition, with a new series rulebook built on more than 20 years’ experience. It’s been reborn with the intense, interwoven history and game-play that’s become our calling card.
Great War at Sea: Jutland Second Edition is a spectacular game. It’s focused on the Battle of Jutland and the operations that followed, with scenarios picking up the action at key moments, and scenarios looking at what each side planned, and of course the grand scenario showing the entire operation. Operational scenarios let you play out the movement of fleets; battle scenarios let you fight with them.
You can read a Designer Preview right here.
And you can pick up even more scenarios in Jutland: North Sea 1914, a book and history, scenarios and analysis based on naval operations on the North Sea in the first year of the Great War. Thirty-nine more scenarios!
There will be online play, too, so you can play Jutland with friends from around the world!
The Jutland Experience
 Jutland Second Edition (full game)
Jutland: North Sea 1914
Jutland: Dogger Bank
Journal No. 46: Iron Dogs
Retail Price: $209.96
Package Price: $170.00
Gold Club Price: $134.00
You can order the Jutland Experience right here.
Grossdeutschland at Kursk
14 October 2023: It’s got eleven new scenarios for Kursk: Burning Tigers, all drawn from the battles of the Grossdeutschland Panzer Grenadier Division at the Battle of Kursk. And best of all, it’s here and shipping right now.
Grossdeutschland at Kursk is a Campaign Study, one of our small books of history and scenarios. It’s tightly focused on the actions of just one German division, against a variety of Soviet units that at first slowed and then blunted the advance of the German Army’s best unit (in terms of both experience and weaponry). You also get two more “battle games” that tie the scenarios together.
And you get a free download to go with it: Grossdeutschland 1943 has 165 pieces showing the division’s units in their own special color scheme. You’ll have to assemble them yourself (see how right here), but you won’t have to pay for them.
You can order Grossdeutschland at Kursk right here.
Panzer Grenadier Deals
 10 September 2023: Island of Death Twelve deals on Panzer Grenadier games plus one for Infantry Attacks. You learn the rules just once, and you get to keep playing!
Details right here.
Island of Death
Fortress Malta
Return to Malta
Back Again and Downloadable
24 August 2023: Island of Death is our game of the planned 1942 Axis invasion of Malta. It’s a complete game, with a 22x17-inch map, 420 playing pieces and four scenarios.
The expansion book Fortress Malta expands that with the 1940 and 1941 plans as well, plus some more variations. The smaller expansion Return to Malta lets the Allies try to take the island back with Poles, Canadians, Royal Marines and U.S. Marines. This was never an actual war plan (although the Axis garrison IS the one they planned to station there) but it is a great deal of added fun.
It's mostly battalion-scale, but due to the subject the company-level breakdown pieces play a bigger role than they did in other games that used this system. Each hex is one kilometer across.
All three of these titles are downloading now: for free, if you belong to the Gold Club. Or you can download them at Wargame Vault for $65.97 for all three.
You can download Island of Death right here.
You can download Fortress Malta right here.
You can download Return to Malta right here.
You can join the Gold Club right here.
All of these are print-and-play: you’re going to have to assemble the pieces yourself.
Now Available!
Steppe and Sky: Essays on Ukraine
 24 August 2023: A year ago, I conceived of this book as a way to assist relief operations in Ukraine. Unlike most, I did expect Ukraine to effectively resist Russian aggression, though I did imagine that such resistance would eventually shift to partisan warfare.
I did not expect pushback, but it seems that Vlad has more friends in my own country than I had imagined (though likely, I was deluded in this belief). That was disheartening.
The stories we choose to tell reveal who we are. As do the stories we choose not to tell. I felt it important to tell these stories. I would have thought that by this point, anyone reading this knows what to expect from us. We’re never going to tell you to enjoy the games and not think about the squirmy parts.
Anyway, Steppe and Sky: Essays on Ukraine (the subtitle’s been altered a little to better reflect the contents) is now available. We have some extra copies and we’ll sell those at the usual Campaign Study price ($12.99) without a donation, so we can recoup a little of our costs (which, as is always the case, were more than anticipated, so we could use a few sales).
You can order Steppe and Sky right here.
Downloadable Fun!
24 July 2023: We’ve started adding some of our downloadable titles to the Wargame Vault site. We used to sell downloads, long ago, but then the European Union starting taxing digital goods, expecting us to serve as their agents, and it just wasn’t worth rebuilding our webstore to accommodate them.
But the nice people at the Vault take care of that for us, so you can access these downloadable expansion sets:
Great War at Sea: Caribbean Empires
 It’s an expansion for Remember the Maine, looking at a Spanish-American War breaking out 10 years later, with more advanced ships and more of them. It’s also a chance to use some of those extra pieces from Remember the Maine.
You can download Caribbean Empires right here.
It’s $19.99, but if you’re a Gold Club member, it’s free to you as part of the Golden Library (there’s no Gold Club discount or freeness through Wargame Vault).
Panzer Grenadier: Peace in Our Time
 Panzer Grenadier travels to a war that never happened, the planned 1938 German invasion of Czechoslovakia. You get 176 pieces showing the Czech Army of 1938, plus ten scenarios drawn from the German Plan Green to attack Czechoslovakia. You’ll need 1940: The Fall of France, Fire in the Steppe, Elsenborn Ridge and Broken Axis to play the scenarios.
You can download Peace in Our Time right here.
It’s $19.99, but if you’re a Gold Club member, it’s free to you as part of the Golden Library (there’s no Gold Club discount or freeness through Wargame Vault).
Panzer Grenadier: Changsha Operation
 The Japanese 11th Army’s offensive in Hunan Province in December 1941 and January 1942 was turned back by stout Chinese resistance. With 88 new pieces and eight new scenarios. You’ll need Pusan Perimeter and Counter Attack to play all of the scenarios.
You can download Changsha Operation right here.
It’s $15.99, but if you’re a Gold Club member, it’s free to you as part of the Golden Library (there’s no Gold Club discount or freeness through Wargame Vault).
Bismarck: Online Play
 21 July 2023: We’ve authorized a VASSAL online play module for Second World War at Sea: Bismarck Playbook Edition, created by Matt Brown. It’s yet another addition to WAS Fleet Command, the exclusive place to play Second World War at Sea online. Nowhere else!
You can request the module right here.
You’ll have to register.
You’ll need a copy of Bismarck Playbook Edition to play the module. It’s not a free computer version.
You can order Bismarck Playbook Edition here.
Bismarck: Force de Raid adds 14 new scenarios to Bismarck: Playbook or Second Edition (you only need Bismarck: Playbook or Second Edition to play them). They’re based on a French campaign to keep the North Atlantic clear of German surface raiders, while Britain remains neutral. $12.99.
You can order Bismarck: Force de Raid right here.
The 1940 Campaign
 13 July 2023: In May 1940, German panzer division launched an offensive into Belgium with the ultimate goal of outflanking the French Maginot Line defenses. The German high command expected the campaign to last two years; instead, it was over in six weeks. The French fought hard, but German mobility rapidly bypassed their defenses.
1940: The Fall of France is a Panzer Grenadier game based on this campaign, with 40 scenarios, or separate game situations. The new Playbook edition is a complete revision of the first edition, with re-made scenarios and “battle games” that let you play the scenarios in a sequence with victory conditions that link them together.
All Panzer Grenadier games use the same series rulebook: it’s not a difficult game to play, as hex-and-counter wargames go, and once you’ve mastered one game, you’re ready to play them all. Dozens of books and games, and thousands of scenarios. With online play available through Panzer Grenadier Headquarters, friends you haven’t met yet are ready to play with you.
Not everything we wanted to put in 1940: The Fall of France would fit. 1940: The Last Days of May is what we call a Campaign Study, a scenario book with 11 scenarios. Six of them are revised versions of first edition Fall of France scenarios, and the other five are completely new.
1940: Swallows of Death adds the elite Moroccan regiments to 1940: The Fall of France. They fought alongside the French Army and were the only unit to defeat a German panzer division during the campaign. The book comes with 33 new scenarios plus 88 new pieces showing the Moroccan troops in their own color scheme.
Le Forfait 1940
1940: The Fall of France (Playbook ed)
1940: The Last Days of May
1940: Swallows of Death
Retail Price: $147.97
Package Price: $130
Gold Club Price: $104
You can order Le Forfait 1940 right here.
Voice of the Arabs
 25 June 2023:During the June 1967 Six-Day War, the Israeli Defense Forces smashed the Arab armies facing them. While it’s called the Six-Day War, it was even shorter than that, since they fought the Egyptians and Jordanians for the first four, and the Syrians for the last two.
But that’s not the story the public heard from the Arab world’s most popular news program, Radio Cairo’s Voice of the Arabs. According to presenter Ahmed al-Said, working from (and further embellishing) a script provided by the Egyptian General Staff, the Egyptians fought the Israeli invaders to a standstill, and then mounted their own invasion of Israel along with their Jordanian sidekicks.
That fantasy – widely-believed in the Arab world, at least until the broken armies streamed back home - is the basis for Panzer Grenadier (Modern): 1967 Voice of the Arabs. It’s a scenario book for Panzer Grenadier (Modern): 1967 Sword of Israel, our tactical-level game of the Six-Day War (units are platoons, hexes are 200 meters across).
In Voice of the Arabs, the Israelis are still really good at war – but this time, so are the Arabs. The Egyptians and Jordanians can meet them on an equal footing, making for some pretty intense fighting as the Arabs push forward trying to make gains before the United Nations can invoke a cease-fire (much like the Israelis did in the actual conflict). You get 11 new scenarios that let the Egyptians and Jordanians match up with the IDF; you’ll need 1967: Sword of Israel to play them.
You can order Voice of the Arabs right here.
Arab-Israeli Package
1967: Sword of Israel (Playbook)
IDF: Israel Defense Forces
Voice of the Arabs
Retail Price: $147.97
Package Price: $120
Gold Club Price: $96
You can experience the Arab-Israeli Package right here.
Storm Division
8 June 2023: Our newest Golden Journal is all about the German 78th Storm Division, a heavily-armed infantry division that fought on the left flank of the northern German advance at Kursk in July 1943. Equipped with dozens of extra 75mm anti-tank guns and hundreds of extra machine guns, it boasted enormous firepower.
Open in new tab to embiggen the image and be amazed.
Golden Journal No. 49: Storm Division has 24 new die-cut and silky-smooth Panzer Grenadier pieces with Storm infantry and additional heavy weapons, all in the Storm Division livery. And you get nine scenarios for Kursk: Burning Tigers, so you can play with them.
It’s a Gold Club exclusive, just for members. Click here to join the Gold Club.
Bismarck: Force de Raid
25 May 2023: We inserted this Campaign Study into the schedule and brought it out last week without prior fanfare. It’s an expansion book for Second World War at Sea: Bismarck, with France forced to fight a naval war with Germany in the North Atlantic as Britain remains neutral in the fall of 1939. The French built a modern fleet to hedge against just such a possibility, and in Force de Raid (the name of the French rapid-reaction squadron) they’re forced to use it.
You get 14 new scenarios, and you get to use the French fleet from Bismarck, which otherwise doesn’t see a whole lot of play in the standard game. You only need Bismarck to play – this little book lets you refresh a game you already know how to play, that’s already on your shelf. That’s some pretty cheap fun!
You can order Bismarck: Force de Raid right here. It’s just $12.99!
Triple Bismarck
Bismarck (Playbook edition)
Bismarck: Force de Raid
Journal No. 31: Deluxe Bismarck
Retail Price: $112.97
Package Price: $90
Gold Club Price: $72
You can order Triple Bismarck right here.
Swallows of Death: The Pieces
13 May 2023: 1940: Swallows of Death is shipping right now, with a new set of die-cut-silky smooth pieces. These are the wonder of the gaming world: cut with atomically-sharp blades needing minimal force, so they’re smooth on both sides and cut so cleanly that they just fall out of the sprues at a touch. No more game pieces that look like an elephant stomped on them. See the stripe on the flip side? We have to put that there, so you can tell the difference.
Open in new tab to embiggen the photo and be amazed.
You get 88 new pieces, most of them Moroccans that you’ll use in the 30 new scenarios, and can also use them in 1940: The Fall of France. The Moroccans are the toughest troops in the French Army, so you can use them to make Nazis cry.
Open in new tab to embiggen the photo and be amazed.
You can order Swallows of Death right here.
Shipping now - no waiting!
Sword of the Sea: The Pieces
21 April 2023: We’ve received our pieces for the upcoming book, Second Great War at Sea: Sword of the Sea. It’s an alternative-history expansion for Second World War at Sea: Horn of Africa, from our Second Great War background.
Open in new tab to embiggen the photo and be amazed.
You can read about the Second Great War here.
It’s got 180 pieces: 100 double-sized long ones, and 80 normal-sized square ones. They’re our usual die-cut and silky-smooth type, cut with blades so sharp that the cutting leaves no impression. That’s right – you know those trough-like gouges you see on those other guys’ pieces? Not here. Smooth on both sides, so smooth that we have to mark the flip side, or else you can’t tell which is which. Cut so cleanly that they just fall out of the sprues at a touch.
Open in new tab to embiggen the photo and be amazed.
You can order Sword the Sea right here.
Midway Deluxe: Online Play
 17 April 2023: We’ve authorized an experiment: a VASSAL online play module for Second World War at Sea: Midway Deluxe Edition, created by Matt Brown. It’s planned as the cornerstone of an online play site much like that hosted by the very popular Panzer Grenadier Headquarters. This will be, like PGHQ, the exclusive place to play Second World War at Sea online. Nowhere else!
You can request the module right here.
You’ll have to register.
You’ll need a copy of Midway Deluxe to play the module. It’s not a free computer version.
You can order Midway Deluxe Edition right here.
Midway: Aftermath adds 11 more scenarios to Midway Deluxe (you only need Midway Deluxe to play them). They’re based on action in the Hawaiian Islands following a mutually-destructive result of the historical Battle of Midway (rather than the one-sided outcome). You can play these scenarios with your new VASSAL Module!
You can order Midway: Aftermath right here.
The Iron Dogs Are Here!
 13 April 2023: Our newest Golden Journal (No. 46 Iron Dogs) comes with giant-sized pieces for the battle cruisers that fought at Dogger Bank in January 1915, and a couple extras that could have been there but weren’t. The British get six of them (New Zealand, Indomitable, Lion, Tiger, Princess Royal, and Queen Mary) while the Germans get six as well (von der Tann, Moltke, Goeben, Seydlitz, Derfflinger, and Blücher, which wasn’t a battle cruiser but looks good on the big piece).
The pieces just fit on the Naval Tactical Map, and they’re perfectly die-cut, falling right out the sprue without provocation. They’re cut with a special process using microscopically-sharp blades that slice with minimal force. That means there’s no mark on the back where the die smashed into the sheet. They have incredibly sharp reproduction (see the photo?), rich color and a silky coating that makes them a pleasure to handle. We gave them brand-new artwork and filled the piece for it.
These are the best wargame pieces ever made.
Open in new tab to vastly embiggen the photo.
The Golden Journal is an exclusive little magazine-like publication, just for the Gold Club, that we bring out when we feel like it. It has no ads, so it’s not a real magazine, and you can’t subscribe to it. It’s free when we first offer it, then you have to pay for it, but it’s still only $12.99. Most volumes come with die-cut and silky-smooth playing pieces just like our games.
You can join the Gold Club right here.
And get your own set of Iron Dogs.
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