Charlie Kibler has just completed the counters for the game, and they are superb! His silhouettes for the ships are particularly noteworthy, and it’s a shame that players won’t be able to see them at 4x magnification like I can with the digital versions. Once the expansion is published, however, we (okay, probably some noble volunteer who is much more tech savvy than I) will update the VASSAL module and you’ll be able to see this beautiful work in all its glory.

As promised in my last Inside GMT post, the N40 unit counters are distinguishable from PQ-17 counters by having their names shaded for ease in sorting.  Here are some samples to whet your appetite.

Warspite is shown as she appeared at the Second Battle of Narvik. Close examination of the E and I class destroyers of the 20^th Destroyer Flotilla reveals two of their 4.7” guns and their torpedo tubes have been removed so they can load 30 mines along each side of the ship. And you’re welcome to compare Charlie’s rendering of Empress of Australia with my clumsy playtest version in the last installment.

We’ve gone with a lighter shade of green for the French, which makes the colored dots denoting maximum speed behind the Combat Strength numbers stand out better. And to prevent potential four-color printing problems, we opted for a brick red for the Poles rather than red with white silhouettes.

PQ-17 veterans will notice the blue dots on the French 2400t contretorpilleurs – say what? As you might guess, this denotes ships capable of Very High Speed, four hexes per turn. We’ll need this for the Abdiel-class minelayers in the Med anyway, so I decided to go ahead and incorporate it here. As an added benefit, this allows the historical French sweep into the Skagerrak in April 1940 (Operation RAKE) to happen in the proper length of time in the game.

Charlie had to work particularly hard on Jan Wellem’s silhouette, as neither he nor I could find any full-length photos of this vessel after her conversion to a whale factory ship. All we had were photos of 1:1200 models, and I had to use what photos exist of her in Kriegsmarine service to choose which model is most accurate. Motor torpedo boats (MTBs) also rate Very High Speed, although they have their own special movement rules.

Astute readers will notice that the version of Admiral Hipper shown here does not have her name shaded. I over-rated her in PQ-17 (holds out wrist to be slapped), and this is one of four replacement ship counters included in the expansion.

As one of only three completely new aircraft in N40, we have to show you the infamous Blackburn Roc, right?  Its stablemate, the Skua, doubles as both a Fighter and a Dive Bomber, though its performance in the former role is distinctly lacking. While technically replacements for the three counters included in PQ-17, the Skuas appear only in 1940, so I judged it appropriate to give them the N40 shading. The only two replacement air counters that are still used in PQ-17 are the two He111 medium bombers of I/KG 26.

I hope you join me in looking forward to the final printed examples of these beautiful counters.

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