Bloody Omaha is the first of many Battle books to come, this book, like all of the coming Battle books looks at a specific battle and details the forces and the fighting involved.

For those who missed Saving Private Ryan (and shame on you too!), Omaha Beach was one of two landing areas assaulted by the US Army on D-Day. The landings there were the most costly in lives and equipment of all the D-Day landings hence the name Bloody Omaha'. The German defenders along this section of the Normandy coastline were from 352. Infanteriedivision, the 352nd Infantry Division. This formation was fully prepared for combat and ready to return to the Eastern Front. Unusually for an infantry division, they had as many machine-guns as a Panzergrenadier division. Fully trained and well equipped, they were the best division defending the French coast. The American invasion force landing on Omaha beach were the veteran 1st Big Red One' Infantry Division and the green 29th Blue and Grey' Infantry Division.

The assault battalions of these divisions were reorganised for their assault-landing mission. The three rifle platoons and the weapons platoon of each company were split up to form six smaller boat sections.

Each boat section was a self-sufficient assault group with a flame-thrower, a mortar, two bazookas, and a pile of riflemen with demolition and obstacle-clearing gear. Incidentally this was one of the few instances the US Army used flame-throwers in the European Theatre.

Bloody Omaha includes Intelligence Briefings for both a German Festungskompanie (Fortress Company) from 352. Infanteriedivision and an Assault Company from either 1st or 29th Infantry Division, along with several interesting variations. As with all future battle books, these briefings are specific to this battle in terms of both organisation and special rules, although you can also use them as tournament forces if you want to.

The book also includes the Battle for Easy Green, a scenario using these forces in the fight for the Easy Green Beach and the Les Moulins draw in the middle of the Omaha sector. This scenario is a variant of the Hit the Beach mission in D-Day and needs the D-Day book for the amphibious landing rules. Unlike the Utah scenario in D-Day, Easy Green is a real nightmare for the US player. The enemy only have a platoon of infantry, but the bluffs and the anti-tank ditch, keep the tanks on the beach, leaving the infantry to assault the strongpoint pretty much on their own. Playing this scenario, you soon get to see why we call it bloody!

For something a bit different we stuck the Pointe du Hoc scenario in too! This battle saw three ranger companies scaling cliffs to assault a coastal gun battery in classic commando style.

Going back to the Intelligence Briefings, lets look at the Festungskompanie in more detail. Its core is a standard Grenadierkompanie with changes to match the circumstances of the battle. The two most obvious changes (aside from support being limited to that historically available) are the extra machine-guns of the Grenadier platoons and the fortifications. The extra machine-guns make the basic infantry team an MG team rather than a Rifle/MG team like most infantry divisions.

The fortifications are what make the Festungskompanie unique though. This is the only force in the Flames Of War that is allowed to take fortifications as part of its basic force. The result is a very defensive formation with almost no attacking capability, but when defending they are rock hard.

Your force can include diamonds like the 8.8cm Pak43 bunker, all the way down to the granite of HMG bunkers and the tank-turret bunkers, not to mention minefields and barbed wire. They even have 28cm static rocket launchers cheap ground-mounted versions of the Stuka zu fuss half-tracks.

If you really want to focus on the defensive side of things, you can take a Festungskompanie from 726. Grenadier regiment instead. This unit was a static unit incorporated into the division when it took over its coastal sector. This unit lacks the extra machine-guns and the experience of the veteran 352. Infanteriedivision but gives you more points available for fortifications. You'll need them though. Since you have zero, yep none at all, armoured vehicles available!

For the real aficionados of cheap, the Osttruppen support platoon is a must. These guys are Russian ex-prisoners of war recruited into the German Army. They are not very reliable, nor well trained, but they are certainly cheap!

If fortifications aren't your thing, there's always Kamfgruppe Meyer, the Corps reserve. With StuG assault guns and Marder tank-hunters, this battle group gives you the mobility and firepower lacking in the Festungskompanie.

The American Assault Company is equally cool. Rather than rifle platoons it has boat sections specifically organised for the assaulting fortifications on D-Day. Each boat section includes five rifle teams, two bazookas, an M2 60mm mortar and a flame-thrower. Along the pioneering abilities they gain from their Bangalore Torpedoes and demolition chargers, they have everything they need to storm fortifications.

The rest of the division is fairly standard with all of the usual support options, although limited specifically to those ones accompanied them ashore on D-Day. One of their unusual supporting units is an armoured field artillery battery attached to give them continuous fire support during the landings.

Where the differ the most from regular infantry divisions is the availability of naval gunfire support from cruisers sitting off shore and the lack of aircraft for close air support on the D-Day itself.

As I mentioned earlier, the book covers two divisions: the veteran Big Red One' and the fresh 'Blue and Grey' Division. The Assault Company reflects this by giving you the choice between veteran and trained troops.