Following on the heels of the first Squadron Pack for the Down in Flames series of WWII air combat card games comes Squadron Pack 2: Bombers. While the first pack contained new fighters, this one adds more Light Bombers and Formation aircraft to the system.

The pack will include such famous aircraft as the B-25H (complete with 75mm gun) and the Il-2m3 Shturmovik. But there will be lesser-known planes as well, like the German Hs-129B-1/R2 (a sort of WWII version of today's A-10) and the Italian CANT Z.501 Gabbiano flying boat. All the cards will be printed in the eight-per-sheet (cut 'em out yourself) style of C3i-DiF module inserts that you've enjoyed over the years.

One of the difficulties in creating a pack of bombers and patrol planes is that up until now these aircraft types have only been used in the context of a Down in Flames campaign. The rules included in the pack provide three ways around this problem. First, there are guidelines for adding Formation aircraft to basic game dogfights. Second, the pack includes a number of stand-alone generic missions into which players can simply "plug in" appropriate aircraft. Finally, we have included rules (courtesy of Roger Horky) that allow Formation aircraft to engage in a form of dogfighting (called Gunnery Duels in the game) with other Formation planes. So if you've ever wanted to fly a Short Stirling against an FW-200 Condor, now's your chance.

Squadron Pack 2's rules also contain reprints of some of the rules from Corsairs and Hellcats for the benefit of those players who don't own that game (you know who you are). In addition, there are rules for two new ground attack weapons: the German Hs 293 radio-controlled air to surface missile and Fritz X radio-controlled glide bomb.

Like the first pack, Squadron Pack 2: Bombers will contain 64 new aircraft cards printed 8 to a sheet in the same enhanced graphic style as Squadron Pack 1. The pack will also include a short (4-8 page) rulebook and an 11x17 wrap around cover decorated with Rodger MacGowan's gorgeous artwork. The inside of the cover sheet will form a play mat for use during Gunnery Duels.

Developers: Mike Lemick and Rodger B. MacGowan

Beginning of August 1870. Prussian Chancellor Bismarck has pulled off a master diplomatic coup thanks to Ems's dispatch: France has just declared war on Prussia. Prussia has been able to gather around it all the German states, while the Empire of Napoleon III is alone, no nation having wanted to support the one who passes for the aggressor.

In Paris, the frenzy of war heated the minds of the population in blanks: everyone can already see each other in Berlin. France is said to have the best army. Didn't the Minister of War, Marshal Leboeuf, declare with peremptory assurance, in the face of an Adolphe Thiers with little confidence in the preparation of the country: "We are ready and very ready. Should the war last two years, our soldiers wouldn't miss a button.

The mobilization is launched, the troops flock to their point of concentration on the border. But indolence is competing with incompetence: plans prepared long ago are changed several times, the mess in the stations is indescribable. And it is an incomplete army, led by senior officers who do not know their troops well, who position themselves to lead an offensive without a plan, but which has become obligatory through popular pressure.

On the other hand, the Prussian state has drawn experience from its two previous campaigns: the Duchy War against Denmark in 1864 and especially the Seven Weeks War against Austria in 1866. The mobilization then the concentration took place following a perfect clockwork mechanics. The plans and orders, long established, are followed to the letter. The invasion can begin as planned.

Through this game, evolution of the system The Marshals in the campaigns of the Second Empire, will you know, Napoleon III, will you finally be the worthy military heir of your uncle by preserving your country from the Prussian enemy? Will you, von Moltke, be able to skillfully manoeuvre your divisions to push the French into the decisive battle at the time and place of your choice?

2 Players
210 Min
Age: 12+

A Game Module in the Europa series that adds maps of the Urals region of the Soviet Union, various play aids, an updated rules set, and a 1943 Scenario to the game "Scorched Earth".