Against the Odds Annual 2020: The Cruelest Month – Air War over Arras, April 1917

Against the Odds Annual 2020: The Cruelest Month – Air War over Arras, April 1917 is a magazine-annual wargame on the air campaign over Arras during “Bloody April” in 1917.

Product Type: Annual magazine issue with included wargame.

Designed by Paul Rohrbaugh, The Cruelest Month focuses on the deadly air operations that supported the Battle of Arras. The Royal Flying Corps must keep flying reconnaissance, artillery observation, bombing, ground attack, and balloon-busting missions despite heavy losses and outdated aircraft. The German player commands better-armed modern fighters, including the deadly Jastas that made April 1917 so costly for the RFC.

The game combines an Arras area map with air combat displays. Air missions affect the ground battle, while the fighting on the ground gives those aerial operations their purpose. The British player must protect vulnerable two-seaters and keep information flowing to the army below. The German player must disrupt those missions, contest the skies, and help hold the defensive lines against mines, tanks, creeping barrages, and Allied pressure.

The Annual also includes the bonus game Backlash!, covering the Imperial campaign against the Ottoman Empire during the Great Turkish War of 1684–1699.

Contents include: one full-color 22” x 34” hex map, 176 full-color 5/8” die-cut counters, 2 air displays, 16 pages of rules, 2 pages of charts and tables, bonus game material, and the 2020 Against the Odds Annual.