New Arrival: 02 Hundred Hours
A 28mm skirmish game simulating "Night Raids in WWII"
We’ve just received our order from Grey For Now Games including the starter sets and several expansions for their exciting WWII skirmish game, 02 Hundred Hours. We’ve also received the starter sets and some minis for their samurai wargame, Test of Honor, and their fantasy skirmish game, Guards of Traitor’s Toll, but we’ll cover them in a future installment.
02 Hundred Hours is a different from your typical 28mm platoon-sized WW2 game, like Bolt Action or Chain of Command, in that a typical force is between 5-20 men. This bite sized approach may be more palatable to new wargamers, or old veterans who want to try a new time period but aren’t interested in adding another 50-100 minis to their “to-do” pile. But it’s not just the size of the game that sets 02 Hundred Hours apart, it’s the theme. Rather than fighting pitched battles, this game pits small teams of raiders running covert or clandestine assaults on enemy installations. This might be SAS scouts attacking a fuel dump in North Africa, SOE or OSS agents trying to rescue a VIP from a prisoner of war camp, or resistance fighters trying to assassinate an enemy general.
Let’s take a look at the starter box contents:
You get the full rulebook, which is nicely illustrated and has very thematic ‘night’ photography of miniatures skulking around shadowy installations, two sheets of counters, a set of proprietary dice, and several decks of cards representing unit recruitment, equipment requisition, orders, and events.
Admittedly, I am not a fan of games with proprietary dice, but a quick perusal of the rules has me almost convinced of the value and fun of the system. White dice represent “noisy” activities that are likely to attract attention, while the grey dice represent stealthier actions. It actually seems pretty intuitive, but you can judge for yourself. Here’s a ‘how-to’ video from the manufacturer:
Moving on, the box set comes with plenty of plastic miniatures. These are designed by Wargames Atlantic and include two sprues each of British SAS commandos and German sentries, plus enough plastic bases for each. The minis are very nice and can be affordably expanded by buying the full box sets from Wargames Atlantic (which we also carry at The Victor’s Spoils!). The Germans are unique in that they are mostly in ‘at ease’ or patrol poses rather than action/shooting poses. They also come with guard dogs (German Shepherds, naturally)! These multipart frames can make up to 12 British and 18 Germans.
As far as starter sets go, this is a pretty good value at $62.00. But wait, there’s more!
We’ve also got two expansion sets, the Desert Raid set featuring Long Range Desert Group commandos fighting Deutsches Afrika Korps (including Rommel!) and the Escape from Stalag Luft III, which is obviously inspired by The Great Escape, Hogan’s Heroes, or Stalag 17. Both of these sets sell for $49.
Have I piqued your interest yet? If so, drop by The Victor’s Spoils this weekend. We’re open June 14 and 15th for the St. Clair yard sale and for Father’s Day. That’s all day gaming for $10! And remember: Dad’s play free with another paying guest on Sunday!