Rumble In The Jungle (FoW Pacific review

Hello Readers,

Fred here. With a pause in March due to lack of activity and news for FoW, back in the game with the long-expected release of Pacific! This exciting new book for Mid War completes the trilogy initiated by North Africa and Easter Front, bringing the last front of 1942-1943 from History to tabletop gaming. Let’s deep dive together in the battered yet unbroken British (and Indians!) forces in the East.

Pacific book

As a brief foreword, Pacific is perfectly in line with its two brothers. It’s a massive book, combining:
– historical background (maps, timelines, stories…)
– gaming (3-4 Factions, including 1-2 new, several new toys, many Formations, additional options with Cards…)
– and hobbying (catalogue, painting guide…)

The book is really colorful – all the senses of this adjective! It is definitely a good buy, either for veteran players wanting to have the full scope of the Mid War period, or for new players wanting to tip-toe in this period and/or this portion of the WW2 battlefields depicted by FoW. Same negative feedback as per the other two, Command Cards being separated is still not great.

From a gaming perspective, this book has no reason to be used without the Dynamic Points, which hopefully will be released at the same time. Otherwise, I don’t see this Book used in any competition (which will be a shame). The analysis made in this article are with DP 2025 (Pacific).
The general gaming feeling is it’s good to have new toys for British and American, and excellent to have a new faction introduced, Japan. One would argue Australia is also a new faction, I personally believe it is simply a new sub-faction within the British, but not a new Nation per se.

As per combination with the rest of MW, I would say Pacific is :
– a meta-changer : Japan is really different from what we saw elsewhere, and can’t be ignored as a new Faction / new way to play the game. I would say US and UK (including Australia) are different from what we saw in North Africa and you can’t really expect them to behave the same
– is on par with MW : analyzing the book and toying a bit with it, personal opinion, I have the same mixed feeling already described. Summarizing: this book complete the MW circle, not shifting the way this period is played (for good and bad), and missing the opportunity to address the overall balance issue.

Danger in the Far East

British (or UK) in Pacific depict the troops from the British Empire fighting in South East Asia against the Japanese in 1942 and 1943. Bearing in mind the offensive of the Rising Sun Empire (Japan) started in December 1941, catching the Allies in the region on their back foot, players get access to forces centered around infantry (and guns…), with poorly trained and unexperienced troops. Forget about the grim veterans of the African campaign, UK in the Far East are newbies who didn’t expect THAT fight!

The general rating is Confident – Green – Aggressive (CGA), meaning average motivation, low resilience, and bad damaging capacity.
This is provided to the 2 Formations available, the Rifle (Regular) and the Indian Rifle. Both are organized the same, with HQ, 2 to 3 Rifle platoons (5 to 7 rifle/mg, with optional AT Rifle and 2inch mortar), HMG, Mortars, Carriers, and AT Guns. On the later, UK in Pacific got access to the outdated 2pdr (only range 24’/60cm, AT7 and No-HE, but 360° firing and cheaper), and the new 6pdr (same as North Africa, but with HE). Both comes in pack of 2 to 6. Overall, everything is quite cheap, leading to some sort of “quality of quantity”, or inexpensive basis, allowing budget for more efficient troops. Don’t forget you get what you pay for, and don’t expect these guys to be stellar performers.

The same pattern is used in the Support, with access to 25pdr, 20mm AA, 6pdr, Recce, all CGA, and Hurricane Bomber (which is Trained, not to make it Green-lessly useless).
One thing that strikes is the access to AT-guns (or dual purpose guns), from low to medium caliber (from AT5 to AT9). 2 AT Guns slots in the Rifle Formations, 1 in Support, combined with 1 AAA in Support, and up to 3 25pdr batteries (that can be Command Card-modified to light 3.7inch or heavy 4.5inch guns). It really feels like a gun line to me!

Fun fact, both Rifle companies don’t get access to Night Attack, probably enforcing their “defensive” nature, as maybe the designers assessed running those Green/Aggressive boys in No Man’s Land may not be the greatest idea… Infantry (HQ and Platoon) still get Deadly thou, meaning slightly better in Assault, as well as better 3+ Counterattack (Bulldog for the regular British, and native for the Indians).

Speaking of which, Indian are a soft upgrade of the regular British. Almost all the Formation is Fearless instead of Confident, of course with a premium. Only the 6pdr aren’t (I guess explanation is they are British detached to them and not Indian). Indian Pattern Carriers are the same as Universal Carriers, just with better Road Dash and less Cross-country and Terrain Dash. HQ and Rifle platoons got the War Cry special rule: enemy Units must re-roll their first successful Motivation test to Counterattack. Word of advice to players: slow down a bit in the Assault phase to properly use it (remember: you can’t re-roll a die twice).

Armored (limited) support

Albeit the Queen of Battlefield (a.k.a Infantry) is the bulk of the UK in Pacific, the book gives access to some Tanks: 2 Formations (Lee and Stuart), and Valentine in Support (2 slots). OK that’s not much (hello War in the Desert!), and those UK Tanks are OKayish. All of them are Confident – Trained – Careful, a decent rating to be honest. Their pricing is not that bad either, maybe slightly “not quite there”: Lee come at 16 points/3 (17 if you add the useful Grant turrets for more MG), Stuart come at 8 points/3, Valentine come at 12 points/3. Surely you will miss the extra +1/+2 points when you will round up your list, but thanks to DP 2025, it could have been worse.

On top of specific ratings, all Tanks are different from Desert:
– Lee don’t have Last Stand 5+ (yeah!) and have Remount 3+ (double yeah!)
– Stuart move only Tactical 10’/25cm (wait, what?) and have No He/Overworked
– Valentine are Val’ III, so only side 5 and 2pdr gun/No HE. But no Overworked.

In term of Formations, UK armor are … complex. First because we are talking about British Tanks. Hint: US does it better. Second, players got access to a Formation of Lee and a Formation of Stuart. Both are strictly limited: HQ Lee + 2-4 Lee Units, HQ Stuart + 2-4 Stuart Units. No mix and match. Units are straightforward: 3 Tanks. Same for the Valentine in Support. Only Formations HQ have 2 to 3 Tanks (Lee) or 3 to 4 Tanks (Stuart).
The issues I see are:
– Tanks per se are average or below average, having distasteful flaws making you wonder every time “did I pay the right price for that” or “why didn’t I picked US?”
– Formations are not great. Not having the possibility to mix and match Tanks types, limited Units, no specifics (like Artillery or Recce or else). Not sexy.
– those Units and Formations are fragile in term of Morale. Not reliable.

I see two possible uses:
– adding 1 or several of Tanks Unit(s) to your Infantry Core. It seems to be the way forward here, easy and sensitive considering the rest of the Build is a little bit static.
– throwing in a Stuart or Lee Formation as Secondary to your Primary Infantry Formation. This one is tricky, as you would have a small Formation, weak in Morale. However, a small Formation of Tanks completes well the rest of the Build, providing projection, speed, and moving firefighting (both useful in Offense and Defense).

Also, not spoiling Martin’s part over the Pacific US, let me just say the “Tunisian Combo”, classic in MW North Africa with US and UK (both completing well each other) is quite different with this book. Not so sure we will find a “Tropic Thunder Combo” apart from a straightforward drop of a US Tanks Unit in Support of the UK, and vice versa.

Last and least, Pacific went the “what if” way of its older brothers, and the MW Monster Wildcard is the Boarhound. Same as its NA version, a cumbersome yet well-armed and well-armored Recce. Why not if you play a little bit of fantasy.

Striking Back in Burma

Now we have concluded the majority of the Pacific UK are punching balls. Kidding; just expect a lot of Sons of Albion not to see Motherland again while fighting in the jungles of Asia.
If you want to increase their survivability, Pacific offers 3 options, with Command Cards, all shifting Aggressive Infantry to Careful ones.

The Chindits are commandos, brawlers of non-armored teams. On top of being Fearless, they are also Veteran, for a neat FVC rating (albeit: expensive). You can either play Chindits in Formation (removing their AT capacities), or as upgraded Units (in your Formation or in Support). Note also the opportunity to have SMG replacing Rifle/MG. Elite infantry, expect them to be deadly in assault… until you meet a Tank.

The Gurkhas are Indian on steroids. On top of being Careful, they remain Fearless as per every Indian, and they gain Trained (instead of Green). To stress Gurkhas habits to chop heads off, Gurkhas HQ and Rifle platoon Hit on 2+ in Assault (except Boys ATR and 2in mortar, 4+). Yep, that’s Commando strike here. You can upgrade Units or a full Formations, bearing in mind Elite = costy.

Lastly, the 6^th Brigade allow players to field a Rifle Formation as a North Africa Rifle Company. So Confident-Trained-Careful, more reliable than the CGA regular Pacific UK rating. To be noted, the 6^th Brigade doesn’t have access to 6pdr, but 2pdr only, who also become CTC then.

As per other Command Cards available, players will find back the classics, such as Lucky, Div Tac, Tenacity, Sticky Bombs or PIAT (you know, the very expensive options leaving you a slight chance to damage Tanks?)… As per other Cards provided by the book, let’s note Jungle Fighters, a very thematical Card making Tactics 3+ on one Infantry Unit, and 3 warriors (Gaje Ghale, Parkash Singh, Arthur Cumming) to boost your Infantry Formations, as always maybe too expensive to see play outside casual games.

I sincerely regret BF didn’t propose option for Reluctant, which would have depicted British Empire forces battered by the Japanese. Maybe the current debate on Reluctant pricing makes the exercice too risky for the designers?

Rounding Up Pacific UK

It’s a fine book for the British in MW.
Albeit using almost the same toys as the North Africa’s tommies, we have 5 Infantry Formations (Regular, Indians, Chindits, Gurkha, 6^th Brigade) and 2 Tank Formations (Lee, Stuart), all 7 playing fairly different from the ones we used to know from the African desert.

I believe it’s possible to play them all positional, including Offense. I have the feeling they are more designed to play in Defense, but it will be challenging to scratch our heads to try solutions for playing them out of their comfort zone. This book is definitely a Queen of Battlefield one. Tanks appear underwhelming, so as per everything “British Armor” related. However, I’m pretty much convinced adding a couple of real tracks (not looking at you Carriers!) would be positive to help the foot-slogging boys, and there may be niche ways to use more Tanks to spice up gaming with this book.

The infantry-gun line style may be old-school (some would say “very too much V3”), but interesting to see how this kind of slow and cumbersome army can be efficient. I guess they are quite born to suffer, but wasn’t it historically the lot of the British in South East Asia ?

If you like challenges, jungle grass and funky hats, then British in the Pacific are the way to go!

BF, we have a balance issue (again)

Please ignore this part if you are a pure Casual player.
Go buy your Pacific Book, a safe investment.

If you want fair games, including in Competition, I can’t conclude such article without addressing the balance issues MW is suffering from, and that will affect these new British Pacific.

They have no way to handle Heavies. Sure, you can hope for your AT9 shots to bail a KV, or you can pay a fortune for Sticky Bombs and PIAT that will cripple your budget for barely scratching the beasts’ armor. But let’s be honest: while UK in North Africa got options (17pdr, US M10), UK in Pacific are helpless.

I hear “historian” say “but they never fight KV nor Tiger in Asia”. Sure. But it’s a game. And this book is designed to work with 2 others. While every Nation has solution to Heavies, this one doesn’t. If you run against Heavies, the best you can hope is for your opponent to miss key counterattack rolls. And that’s potentially not even a Win, or Draw at best. Period.
It would have been so much better design to include high AT weapons, or just get back giving good ways for Infantry to tackle Tanks. Not aiming for the moon, spoiling Mark’s article over the Japanese: the way Human Bullet Card is designed is way better than Sticky Bombs.
I’m simply pointing this is the kind of thing making the MW experience less pleasant than the LW one, with fear for EW incoming.

To add salt over salt, we can also say British Pacific have no way to handle airplanes. Nope, those little ROF3/FP5+ 20mm AAA won’t do a thing to a Hit on 5+ / Save 3+. Any aircraft will be a nuisance, and the popular IL2 will murder them as long as USSR’s player roll 4+.
Salt mode out.
Go buy your Pacific Book, a safe investment.