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!

Rolling Towards Arnhem

We got in a large FoW game this last week with 2500 points per side, Brits versus Germans. This was my second game of Flames of War with my own forces, and only my fourth game overall. There's so many things I still don't know about the rules, which is probably because I don't have a rulebook, but it's an easy enough game to learn on the fly.

I'm a bit behind in my posting, well really there were just a lot of other posts already queued up, so chances are you've already seen this battle over at Little Lead Heroes. It's not really double-dipping though, different cameras, different summaries, et al.


We played the Roadblock scenario right of the rulebook. Did I mention I don't have a rulebook yet? Anyway, the scenario lent itself well to the forces we had on hand and played it out somewhere on Hell's Highway between Nijmegen and Arnhem itself.

The table layout was great and really put them game over the top. A platoon of British Shermans started the game on board, but unfortunately so did a pair of German 88's. They got a surprise round of firing to represent the ambush, and knocked out three of the four starting tanks on the British side. This locked up the remaining tank since they were without a lead tank. They could only pivot in place and shoot, normally not the worst situation, but it was also partially behind one of the houses, so it's arc was limited.


Another good reason to check out the sister batrep is because I took way too many photos of my tanks and not enough of the rest of the battle! You can't blame me though. Here are the two tank platoons that started the game on the road.


Before and (ka-blam) after...


Dug in and deadly, the German 88's


The British had their tanks on the board, but off-board they had seven dice of air support, which is above average I think, plus a couple of units of Sexton self-propelled artillery. It was weird because the Sextons weren't actually on the board, but their Sherman observers were. Nonetheless, the British artillery seemed to play a larger role than the Shermans themselves, and I know the air support did which was kind of nice given that air support is kind of abstract in the rules anyway. Between both the British planes and artillery they were able to hammer on the Germans to some effect. One of the 88's went down, as did a couple of the Panzer IV's that came rolling onto the table as well.


On the other side of the board a fresh platoon of Shermans rolled on, taaking cover behind a copse of trees. In the distance you can see German halftracks rolling in as well. The objective on this side of the table was about to get hotly contested. This was a good thing since it seemd that Germans were going to roll up the other objective.

German Sd.Kfz. 251's, ready to unlimber their PaK 40 anti-tank guns


I learned a lot in this game, mainly about my own forces. First off, I could've/should've/would've brought on my squadron HQ platoon with any of the reinforcements. I didn't know I could do the same thing with my warrior I brought along, Señor Vandeleur, and he came on very late in the game, probably too late.

Other things, hmm, air support is cool, rolling for reinforcements each turn...not so cool. Also there were three players controlling the British, and I learned that some players choose tactics and strategies I would've never dreamed of, for better or for worse. I learned I need to learn...the rules and that FoW ain't too shabby of a game. Most of all it left me wanting some more and thinking about what I'm going to paint up next for my Guards Armored force.

2nd HCR Armored Cars

Following up on yesterday's FoW post, here's another pic of my latest addition, a recce unit. These guys are actually the first non-Sherman minis for my growing army, so that's something right there. They will be an attached reconnaissance unit to my larger tank army. Intended for Late War, Market Garden action, the troops in the pic, also Irish Guards, are part of the 2nd Household Cavalry. First of all there was 'no assembly required' which compared to all those pesky Sherman parts, was a breath of fresh air!


It was kind of a bummer, these guys were slated for action just the other night in a debut game. Unfortunately a mis-communication between Andy, who was hosting the game, and Tom, the resident big German forces guy. We had to make some last minute list changing (cutting them down smaller) and my freshly painted armored car guys got the boot! It's just as well, technically they've got the wrong color berets on, and woe be to the player who puts these non-uniform models on the table. I might as well paint the cars purple!


Now for all the purists out there I just wanted you to know that after their battle, when I unpacked them that night, I immediately re-painted their berets black! It's those innocuous little nuances that are tricky going into a historical hobby via a very non-historical path. Really, no one cares that I game with, and I wouldn't game in circles that would care in the first place, and since I don't do the tournament scene, no harm, no foul. Nonetheless, I still want to try and do it right. I will say this, as I unpacked my twenty Shermans, armored car squad, and Vandeleur with his FAC I felt kind of proud having gotten all of that painted.

Two More Irish Guards Platoons

Here's two more platoons of British Sherman V tanks. I posted a WIP on these guys not that long ago, and here they are done! Not only did they paint up very quickly, comparing these with the first two platoons (and HQ platoon), the latter batch looks better too. Each platoons consists of two regular Sherman V tanks, one command Sherman, and one Firefly tank.



Yes, the two photos are pretty much identical but I promise it's eight different tanks! You'll note on the Firefly turrets I added the black-and-white countershadowing pattern to help disguise their length. I wasn't thrilled about the last batch of Firefly turrets either so I went back and gave them another shot while I was at it.


This Sherman tank above is exactly what I'm shooting for. Exactly. I don't know where this one is on display at, but I'd love to see it in person. You can see the Guards Armored emblem on the front of the tank itself as well as the regiment number, the 53rd which is what I'm painting up. You can also see the bridging sign up above the right tread, and although my tanks are in 15mm, I think it'd be cool to add bridging signs as well. Now this one above also has its serial number on it, which I'll avoid, as well as the nickname "Little John", which although is cool, both might make for tedious decal application. The problem is that the only decals I have are the Guards Armored symbols themselves, so it may be a while before I track down the regiment numbers and bridging signs unfortunately.


All right, here it is, my Guards muster shot! Now there's been a lot of FoW army pics of late, Andy posted his Germans recently, and Steven's been going nuts with all of his armies over at WWPD. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Joe's FoW blog either, but he's been slacking on the muster pics! Anyway, point being, my little force here pales in in comparison all of those mentioned, but it is my force and I'm growing fond of it.

Using my Hell's Highway book I've maxed out my core choices of Sherman combat platoons and from here it's all about the support and weapons platoons. Next up is my armored car recce squad, which should be done by the time I write this, and then I've some self-propelled artillery to tackle as well as some other goodies.

More Irish Guards WIP

Not much going on in this post other than me putting much needed brush to much neglected fig. This is actually a big deal considering how incredibly slothful I've been around the painting table as of late.

So here I've got the last of my Guards Armoured Shermans, number 3 & 4 platoons. I've got turrets, details, and decals to go, but they're painting up fast enough. When these are done that will make four total armoured platoons, plus the company HQ, which I'd say is a solid foundation for the rest of the army. Don't forget, I've still got recce squads, self-propelled artillery, and more to whip up once these are all done. For those keeping score at home this will make just shy of 2,000 points:

• Guards Armoured No. 3 Squadron
• Lt. Col. JOE Vandeleur, 50pts
• Company HQ, 355pts
• No. 1 Platoon, 375pts
• No. 2 Platoon, 375pts
• No. 3 Platoon, 375pts
• No. 4 Platoon, 375pts
• TOTAL: 1905pts

By the way, I'll shamelessly ask anyone out there if you happen to have any of the following you can slide my way? I'm looking for spare infantry bases, any size, it doesn't matter. I'm toying around with a 15mm sci-fi project and they would help out a lot. Also, I'm looking for a single German Sd Kfz 251/1 Halftrack to use as a captured command vehicle with my Royal Field Artillery battery. I can trade, or just lavish you with praise publicly.

Workbench Update and a Chance Zombie Encounter

Going into these colder months, where sometimes a small space heater even makes it down to the game room at foot level, it's time to get productive on some workbench material! It's kind of cool to see it all laid out here because it covers time periods from 55kya to WWII, and genres from all over the map from fantasy to sci-fi to historic. Here's the breakdown:

• x10 Neandertals
• x1 Woolly Mammoth
• x2 Irish Elk
• x6 British Sherman Tanks
• x2 British Firefly Tanks
• x10 Alien Greys
• x1 Knight of Bal Timorea
• x1 LEGO Wraith Necromancer

Now while I was busy putting all of the above together, a couple of peeps were over to hang out and played a test game of Fear and Faith. All of my Fall-In! table pics, especially the Zombie tables, inspired Chri3 to really cement making the zombie theme "his thing".

I don't want to spoil too much of his ideas, but the nature of his particular zombie world is fresh and original, and there's plenty of room for more than just the walking dead. He's got weresharks, yeti, rogue cult psychics, chainsaw maniacs, and more.


Terrain, as you saw from the aforementioned con pics, makes the game. I'm almost in the boat now that it doesn't just merely complement your armies, without it everything else falls short. While Chri3 and Jake played some zombie hunting action notes were taken and house rules were being laid out. I love the Song of Blades system and it seems Fear and Faith keeps that goodness alive. We do have one Fear and Faith game under our belts, and it was a blast, it showed real promise. I'm hoping we'll get some serious time logged on the Zombpocalypse frontier in the near future. It's always good to have a few experts here and there in your group that shoulder a whole genre/rules and spread the games around to enjoy.

Fall-In! Dealer's Room, Flea Market, and Loot

This is a sight to bring a joyful tear to any gamer's eye; the dealer's room. I don't have the con experience to know what a lot or a little is, but it did seem there wasn't much room left in the dealer's room to squeeze much else into. There was a good-sized back corner that was relatively vacant, but otherwise booth to booth, stall to stall, this place was heaven.


Not only do you get to see all your favorite manufacturers in the flesh, but you get to see all of their beautifully painted samples too. Here you see some of the fantastic cavemen from Acheson Creations as well as some of their mammoths and mastodons. More on this below.


Eureka Miniatures' Jurrassic Reich figs...simply delicious


More Eureka goodness; Frog-riding, err, Frog Warriors!


Eureka's Turtle Tank!


Brilliant zombie diorama at the Miniature Building Authority booth


More MBA diorama goodness, what a great way to show off!


We're going to switch gears a little bit here and head over to the "flea market" area. Not a place for dealers and vendors, but for the regular gamers like us to show up and put their used stuff on sale. As you can see from the awesome Alien apparel above, anything and everything goes. I personally didn't see anything that grabbed me and I "just had to have", but many did. Sure the Sulaco hat and jacket would be cool, but I don't see myself actually wearing it any time soon. Other than that, lots of used minis, armies, and the like could be found.


Everyone loves free stuff, and that's what I got here! Toys for Tots was present, selling raffle tickets for loot gleaned from vendors at the show. I had my pick of the table when my ticket was drawn and among some very good prizes I had to opt for Wargames Factory new Greatcoat Troopers that are "so hot right now". Besides, I fondled this box off and on in the dealer's room over the course of two days.


So here's my loot haul, frankly an incredibly modest loot haul. It's no secret I was on a budget going up there, so I had to restrain myself as much as possible. Top right you'll note an old box of Star Frontiers miniatures. I'll have to do a separate post just for this purchase since it's kind of dear to me. Below that you'll see I snagged the Hell's Highway sourcebook for Flames of War to accompany all of my British armor, or I should say armour.

Scattered around are various dice I got, some pretty normal, others with things like a d10 that's labeled in Hebrew or Spanish. I even found some cool d8's that told compass directions and a d12 that was labeled with body parts. You already saw the box of Greatcoats, so that leaves us with the big pile of figs up top. I went cheerily to the Acheson Creations booth and picked up Neanderthals, giant Irish Elk, a huge Mammoth, and a Woolly Rhino. The last critter wasn't in stock, but they were cool enough to offer to ship it to me for free post-con.

So that's about it. I didn't have a ton of pics, but I felt there were enough to 'subcategorize' them here. If you're attending a con you always want to set aside a little bit for just such an occasion, at least put back more than I did! I was a tad disappointed there weren't any more incentives at the booths to buy there at the con as opposed to online, but I guess if nothing else you don't have to pay for shipping. Having said that, some kind of "con deal" would've been nice!

Fall-In! Day 1: Evening

Some pre-official convention pics. These were all taken while walking around Friday night, chatting with some gamers, and sitting in on a couple of games. Of note, there was a large DBA tournament going on as well, it looked great but I didn't snap any pics!


A healthy scattering of "pick up" games...


Early war practice game going with FoW and the guys from WWPD


A lonely, empty hall awaiting hordes of the games we love

FoW: Better Late Than Never

As the title states, better late than never indeed! This Flames of War game Andy, Miller, and I played occurred many, many days ago. Perhaps even weeks ago. We got together just for a quick game without a specific historical battle in mind. The forces arrayed were my Guards Armoured tank squads (an inaugural first for them) against some late-war German forces. We rolled up a scenario from the primary rulebook, and came up with some allied forces moving in from off-board in waves, trying to take the central town.


From what I recall of the game it swung wide from one end of the victory spectrum and back. The first three turns were abysmal, my forces were smashed to pieces and woefully short in numbers (because most of my army was off table and couldn't get their reserve rolls). However when my Shermans did happen to roll in, they steamrolled the Germans. At the end of turn three I was, literally, an inch or two from defeat. By the end of the fourth turn I felt confident in in perhaps pulling out a victory, which I eventually did. It wasn't tactical genius or anything, but my tanks came on strong, were getting lucky hits, and shrugged off lots of enemy fire.


I don't mean to cop out here, but I'm going to have to let the photos stand on their own. Thanks to Andy I was able to get these photos in the first place, otherwise I wouldn't even have these to post. I had to post it though, like I said it was my tanks' first game.



KA-BLAM!


My tanks, languishing in off-table reserves...


The Germans move to within breathing distance of the objective


An Airborne bazooka team slags another Jerry tank


German halftracks move through the town



The German forces at game start