Stout Hearts & Iron Troopers

Having liked Through the Mud & the Blood after our first playtest I was keen to get the first official WW1 scenario booklet from the TooFatLardies when it came out.

Stout Hearts & Iron Troopers is available PDF direct from the Lardies and packs quite a lot into its 88 pages. After a brief introduction the next section is entitled "Basic Training" and provides some background and basic WW1 tactics. This is followed by "Training the Entente" which encompasses four training scenarios which allow you to get familar with the different Allied troop types and the appropriate tactics. These scenarios cover an attack on a strongpoint, attacking between trench lines, clearing a village and an infantry assault with tank support. The first three are at platoon strength whilst the latter involves at least two platoons and three tanks although a larger version could also be played.

The next section, "Training the Imperial German Army", includes two scenarios designed to introduce you to the German troops and tactics. These cover attacking a strongpoint and an entrenched position.

Following the introductory scenarios are fourteen historical scenarios spanning the full length os the war with two from 1914, one from 1915, four in 1916, two in 1917 and the remaining four in 1918.

Each scenario contains an introduction, a briefing for each side, the units available, a map, some umpire's notes, the cards required and an outline of the historical outcome. The scenarios do vary in both size and composition, so they may not all be playable with the troops you already have but make interesting reading nonetheless.

Unfortunately the use of coloured page backgrounds throughout do not make the booklet particularly printer friendly and some minor typos are annoying; however, this is a very nicely researched and presented book packed with useful and interesting background information and scenarios.