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Hi fellow wargamers! [:)] I played Korsun Pocket but not Italy or Normandy. I will order Normandy Battle this week but just found out about this Italian one too. I know a computer game shop which can order American games and it takes a bit of time for the games to arrive in Japan so I have to plan in advance.

I'm wondering... is Monte Cassino in this battle? What is the scope of the game? I'm suspecting it is focused on Anzio beachhead area. Either way I like it just I'm a real fan of the Cassino battle and like to read about it. Also there was a further stand in Northern Italy where the Germans made a last ditch effort to block the Allies. I want to play all those battles.

So I'm considering ordering both Normandy and Italy with my limited game budget. I was quite fond of Korsun Pocket's game design with nice graphics and am looking forward to the stronger AI in Normandy to give me a good fight. And then have some PBEM fun trading gunfire with some war fans.

Please comment on the scope of the game. Thank you. [8D]

Battles in Italy includes three major battles: Husky (invasion of Sicily), Avalanche (invasion of mainland Italy), and Shingle (Anzio landings). The game's three battles are at regimental scale. So the battle at Monte Cassino is a critical element during the Shingle scenario (covers entire width of Italy... German response to landings affects the situation at Cassino).

BII comes with a map of the entire Italian theater. This would allow any battle to be created using the editor.

Think you'll enjoy BIN or BII (or both)!

Thanks for this JSS [:)] My dwindling bank account won't like it but I'm most probably gonna order both Normandy and Italy Battles. I hope there's a manual for them in the game boxes. I like to read the manual while riding the train.

Yep, boxed versions have print manuals; otherwise, I see little reason (other than haveing only dial-up) to get the boxed version. This point was hammered home to me recently when I lost my KP disk.

Printed manuals come in small text and in black and white.

The PDF version comes in colour. And can be printed on a colour printer.

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Ok, please let me clarify before someone gets mad at us again. The game on demand boxes do not have printed manuals. This is something we are working on that is not yet available due to the logistics of the game on demand process. They do have full color printed DVD boxes and a full color printed CD that is personalized to your order and serial number.

Only releases that went into retail as cardboard boxed games (rather than game on demand DVD plastic boxes) got printed manuals. The original Korsun Pocket release was one of those. KP is now a game on demand title and there is no printed manual.

With that said, the manuals provided are full, searchable and bookmarked PDFs. They print out well and are not "lite" or lacking on info as many printed "pamphlets" that come with games these days are.

Just to reiterate, the boxed game on demand does not include a printed manual.

Both Italy and Normany are excellent wargames, I hope you enjoy them. [8D]

Regards,

- Erik