Flames of War: Germans vs. British

Last week we were able to get in some Flames of War. I really like FoW, there's something about a historical miniatures game that's so huge in scope and so accessible to so many gamers. It's a great game for laid back, hanging out and rolling dice forays, or for fierce head-to-head competition (the latter which is not for me). Also, unlike other mainstream games, you've got lots of options for miniatures, you're not stuck buying one company's stuff.

Enough of my ooing and awwing though, we've got a game to report! I am very pleased to say I provided all of the forces for one side of the table, British XXX Corps, and my painted total to date equals 2065 points (mostly Shermans). We were playing late war, and the opponent was Tom's German forces which I can't elaborate anymore on, there were anti-tank guns and artillery guns, some infantry, and some other stuff.


The scenario was hasty assault, and the British were to engage the Germans on their half of the table, run up on some objectives, and hold said objectives. A bit unconventional, I still rolled to see which side I was on, and got Germans, so I would get to be one of the guys hammering my own models.


There were incoming reinforcements for both sides, and the British rolled extremely well every time, they got the most number of units on the table as fast as you possibly could. The main British force drove right up the middle while a platoon scooted around the flank.


German paratroopers were in the woods out on the flank, and their mere presence armed with Panzerfausts was enough to hold that whole flank. The British tanks preferred to keep their distance than get stuck in with these pesky troopers. A hailstorm of Sherman machine gun fire thinned the Panzerfaust ranks quickly enough, but the Germans had a 'hero' class stand, whose name I forget, that was able to save a destroyed stand of infantry each turn.


The British employed an interesting strategy that by the middle of the game seemed to not work out. They all rushed right up to the halfway point...then sat there, trying to trade turret fire with anti-tank fire. It was a good match-up, and all my British Shermans became little more than a burning steel wall. I don't know, if it was me, I would've advanced right on top of the Germans and, I don't know, tried to hold an objective. The name of the scenario was "hasty assault", that sounds pretty hasty to me. As it was, the British sat on the center line of the table, kept getting blasted, and we called the game early.

Afterwards, there was talk like, "How do the allies win this?" and the like. The answer is simple; smoke. Throw smoke at one row of artillery, then advance. I've got said answer in the form of a huge, eight strong unit of Sexton self-propelled artillery. I need to get cracking and build/paint them mind you, but I've got them at least. I've also got a recon unit of Stuarts I'd like to paint up, I just like the tank that's why I got them.

All in all it was good night of gaming and hanging out. Since we called the FoW battle early we managed to get in a couple of games of Dominion: Intrigue as a bonus. Oh, and please forgive my phone pics, I forgot to bring a real camera!