IABSM Japan Bundle

Blitzkrieg in the Far East 1: Japan is the sixth in the series of early war handbooks for I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum. The handbook is 116 pages long and covers the Japanese army during the first phase of the War in the Pacific, December 1941 to June 1942, when its battle-hardened armies inflicted defeat after defeat on the Allies.

Unlike the other titles so far in the series, the nature of Japan’s campaign of expansion means that the booklet is not divided into sections defined by the different types of division that fought, but into sections defined by the different geographical mini-campaigns: Malaya and Singapore, Burma, the Philippines, The Dutch East Indies and the South Seas. In effect, it is several theatre booklets rolled into one.

There are a total of forty-eight different lists split as follows:

• Malaya & Singapore: 7 lists from 25th Army
• Thailand & Burma: 5 lists from 15th Army
• The Philippines: 16 lists from 14th Army
• Hong Kong: 1 list from 38th Division
• Borneo: 2 lists from 35th Brigade
• The Dutch East Indies: 15 lists from 16th Army
• The South Seas: 2 lists from the South Seas Detachment

Finally, we have the usual ratings and armoury sections, and a note on air support.

Although designed for IABSM, Blitzkrieg in the Far East: Japan contains a vast amount of information useful to gamers of other systems, and is really a must-buy for anyone interested in the early war period.

I Ain't Been Shot Mum is designed for company sized games in WWII, where each figures represents one man, each model tank one real AFV.  The game is designed to put the emphasis on command and control on the battlefield, with the players commanding a company a side plus a range of support platoons.  The rules cover infantry and armour combat between 1939 and 1945 and may be used with our four theatre specific handbooks which provide full information on organisational structures and weapon capabilities.

The smallest tactical unit in I Ain't Been Shot Mum is the infantry section or squad of the weapons team with support weapons such as mortars or machine guns.  The basic command units are the platooons.  The rules handle fire by section or weapons team and the turn sequences are dictated by the Game Deck of cards which can be tailor made to suit any specific situation.  With sections covering infantry and armored combat, artillery and air support, and morale covered by the elegant and "test-free" shock system, the rules allow smooth flowing games where the players have minimal contact with the rules and maximum contact with the tactical situation.

Included in the rules is the Normandy Handbook which covers the periond June to August 1944.  There is a scenario generator which will provide fast set-up games with no advanced planning, a section on writing historical scenarios and four specific scenarios, two starter games and two historical actions.

The rules are available in hard copy, downloadable PDF or navigable Tablet format for the i-Pad and similar products. To read an interview with the authors you can head to the following:  https://toofatlardies.co.uk/blog/?p=580

Or why not read some of our after action reports here:  https://toofatlardies.co.uk/blog/

Interested in the Tablet version?  This has been specifically designed to work with the iPad.  It is an interactive PDF which can be used with a touch screen tablet providing users have a PDF viewer on their iPad that allows them to access the hyperlinks within the document. This might vary depending on what apps they have installed. If they don’t already have this capability, iPad users might wish to download the relevant software from the panoply of providers ready to meet their needs.

Victor Cina of Oregon has kindly reviewed the iPad version of the rules in a short film here.  http://operationwargaming.blogspot.com/
He claims not to be Spielburg, be we suspect he may be related!

Please Note:  The card deck for IABSM is no longer available.  However, we do have a free downloadable version available here:  Card Deck