{"id":8498,"date":"2025-08-08T12:15:25","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T16:15:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chrisbaer.net\/mp\/?p=8498"},"modified":"2025-08-09T08:40:49","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T12:40:49","slug":"bagged-bocage-drop-zone-chef-du-pont-mmp-released","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chrisbaer.net\/mp\/2025\/08\/08\/bagged-bocage-drop-zone-chef-du-pont-mmp-released\/","title":{"rendered":"Bagged Bocage: Drop Zone: Chef-du-Pont (MMP) Released"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new historical module for Advanced Squad Leader<\/a>, everyone’s favorite tactical simulation of World War II combat, typically lands with a thud, representing pounds of paper and cardboard that recreate, in loving and occasionally overwrought detail, the specifics of a particular campaign. Multi-Man Publishing<\/a>‘s latest, however, makes a more modest appearance on the proverbial doorstep. Drop Zone: Chef-du-Pont<\/a><\/strong>, just released, comes not in a box but in the crinkle-wrapped plastic shrouding more commonly seen with paper-only products like Action Packs and Winter Offensive Bonus Packs<\/a>. Which makes sense, as Ken Dunn’s follow on to his Drop Zone: Sainte-M\u00e8re-\u00c9glise<\/a>, from 2023, ships with front and end sheets (featuring cover artwork by Nicol\u00e1s Eskubi), six scenarios on three sheets of cardstock, a single 22″ x 30.5″ semi-glossy paper map, a few pages of special rules for the scenarios and campaign games, and a chapter divider on glossy stock.<\/p>\n

\"Content<\/p>\n

That’s right, no counters. And for those of us with groaning Planos that long-since lost any semblance of order or harmony, who despair at trying to fit yet another squad type or vehicle variant into the mix, it’s a welcome change, one representing an awareness that new counters are not necessary for a quality product. Sometimes, working with the colors you have proves a finer design feat than insisting on a box of crayons with a hundred subtly different shades, and Ken Dunn demonstrates his design chops here again. (There is cardboard in the package, though—MMP thoughtfully includes a piece for stiffening the bagged package, which otherwise might wobble like my defensive setups in ASL…)<\/p>\n

\"Rule<\/p>\n

Drop Zone: Chef-du-Pont<\/a> focuses on the fighting between elements of the American 82nd Airborne and scrounged-together German forces around the hamlet of the same name in Normandy, which hosted a crucial river crossing needed in the immediate aftermath of the D-Day air drops and invasion. The area is best known in ASL circles for hosting 10-3 Brigadier General Gavin, of “Gavin Take” fame, and Drop Zone: Chef-du-Pont<\/a> brings welcome context to the fighting in and around the classic scenario, even taking on the sacred cow by adapting it to the historical map.<\/p>\n

\"Scenario<\/p>\n

Indeed, the scenarios, all by Ken Dunn, have a “traditional” feel to them, heavy on infantry engagements with minimal use of special rules. Bocage and slopes do feature on the map by Charlie Kibler, but they seem the only obstacles to jumping right in, regardless of one’s experience with ASL. All six scenarios can be completed in a sitting by reasonably prompt players, with moderate countermixes and restrained turn lengths. No night scenarios, and only one with OBA, of a sort—CdP6 Consolidation lets the German player use an INF gun as an indirect\/OBA piece, an interesting tweaking of the basic rules. My pick of the cards is CdP5 Desperate Defense, probably the biggest card of the lot, using most of the map, with a scant nine elite American squads packing a single Bazooka defending against Germans marshaling captured French tanks.<\/p>\n

\"Scenario<\/p>\n

Drop Zone: Chef-du-Pont<\/a> might seem slim on first glance, but with a commensurately tiny US$32 retail price and six scenarios that are easy to break out at a club meeting or tournament, it’s a value. Players just starting with ASL will find much to appreciate here, with only Beyond Valor<\/a> (second edition or newer) and Yanks<\/a> needed to play everything in the box, er, bag. The connection to Drop Zone: Sainte-M\u00e8re-\u00c9glise<\/a> is thematic rather than in the nature of a sequel, so ownership of that module is not required—but it has cow counters, so why wouldn’t you? Plus you can throw Chef-du-Pont in the Sainte-M\u00e8re-\u00c9glise box with no fuss.<\/p>\n

\"Scenario<\/p>\n

As a fresh type of product presentation for Multi-Man Publishing in these, shall we say, intriguing economic times, Drop Zone: Chef-du-Pont<\/a> feels like a positive step forward, one that recognizes most players have all the foxhole counters and German second line squads they will ever need. Though I hesitate to speak ex cathedra<\/em> for ASL players as a whole, we want new experiences—with the polish we expect from MMP, that find their way to the table rather than collect dust in the “eventually” pile—rather than new stuff<\/em>. I love my chrome-laden monster scenarios as much as the next person, but sometimes you just want to pull a card from the binder, throw some counters and maps down in an interesting configuration, learn a little something about a conflict, and spend a pleasant afternoon rolling dice and pushing counters you already own rather than punching (and rounding!) new counters and absorbing pages of special rules. Ken Dunn and MMP deliver that here, with a ton of bang for the buck.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new historical module for Advanced Squad Leader, everyone’s favorite tactical simulation of World War II combat, typically lands with a thud, representing pounds of paper and cardboard that recreate, in loving and occasionally overwrought detail, the specifics of a particular campaign. Multi-Man Publishing‘s latest, however, makes a more modest appearance on the proverbial doorstep. … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8497,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3,4,231,243],"class_list":["post-8498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wargaming","tag-advanced-squad-leader","tag-mmp","tag-review","tag-world-war-ii"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chrisbaer.net\/mp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/cdp_feature.jpeg?fit=1280%2C960&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pedXm-2d4","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chrisbaer.net\/mp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chrisbaer.net\/mp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chrisbaer.net\/mp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chrisbaer.net\/mp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chrisbaer.net\/mp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8498"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/chrisbaer.net\/mp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8502,"href":"https:\/\/chrisbaer.net\/mp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8498\/revisions\/8502"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chrisbaer.net\/mp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chrisbaer.net\/mp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chrisbaer.net\/mp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chrisbaer.net\/mp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}