Open fire comes with 2 German Stugs, 3 American Shermans some dice, quickstart rules, and a smaller soft copy of the rulebook. Its basically the same as the Warhammmer starter sets but with less miniatures. I would buy it just for the small rulebook so I don't have to carry the big around, but I already have a small one from a promotion they ran a while ago. It would be great if your starting with a friend, or want to start a German or American army. Otherwise you might want to pass.
I finished the first stand of SS and a Jagdpanther today. I really need to get an airbrush one of these days.
I just picked up Open Fire, a rifle company + extra platoon, para platoon, and HQ. This stuff is pretty cool but can be very confusing, especially when Open Fire doesn't even tell you how to base your dudes.
Now I gotta figure out how I'm gonna paint this stuff.
I've been looking at some WW2 miniature games and Flames of War caught my eye. I've got the Open Fire starter set on order, but I was wondering if a German Army was a good starter army. I'm thinking of something like a mechanized tank battalion or something like that.
I've been looking at some WW2 miniature games and Flames of War caught my eye. I've got the Open Fire starter set on order, but I was wondering if a German Army was a good starter army. I'm thinking of something like a mechanized tank battalion or something like that.
Yeah, that would be a good idea. German tanks are very expensive point wise so they make a quick and easy 1500 or 1750 point force. You can get a whole army for ~ $80.
One thing to keep in mind is you probably don't want an Armored Rifle company (panzergrenadiers - ride in trucks into battle). Trucks are pretty useless and hella expensive (you need one per stand I believe, and they are $11 for two, unless you need a special kind of truck that isn't resin, in which case they are $18 for two).
Next question, I've got the smaller rule book coming from the Open fire set, but where do you find the German force organization charts? Are they in the full rule book?
Next question, I've got the smaller rule book coming from the Open fire set, but where do you find the German force organization charts? Are they in the full rule book?
No
There are actually a ton of "Intelligence Briefings". It isn't like 40k where you get the rule book and your army codex.
You get the rule book, then you can pick up any number of intelligence briefings that cover all of the armies involved in a specific battle / time period. For instance you can get D Minus 1, which is the force organization charts for British and American para / gliders. Or you can get D-Day, which includes American / British / Canadian assault companies and German defenders.
I would recommend Fortress Europe. That is a very large book with a bunch of different organizations and seems to be the standard for most games.
so another local gaming shop decided to carry FoW and there seems to be a lot of interest. so i finally decided to pick up some more things and actually build up a force. i grabbed Open Fire mostly because i wanted the smaller rule book, but it comes with shermans as well. today i picked up a rifle company and a field artillery battery. i was basing my starting force off of that 2nd Armored division boxset - which doesn't seem to make sense to me once i looked a little closer. its supposed to be an armored division but its infantry units aren't mechanized.
i'm building my force as infantry with armor support. so right now i have:
Company HQ
+ 2x Bazooka teams
+ 3 Sniper teams
2x Rifle Platoons
+ 3 Rifle Squads
+ Bazooka team
Weapons Platoon
+ 2x LMG sections
+ 60mm mortar team
Field Artillery Battery
+ 2x Gun Sections
Tank Platoon
+ 5x Sherman (76mm)
Tank Platoon (Open Fire tanks)
+ 3x Sherman
By my count, if I use all of that (except for the last tank platoon, since it looks like I can only field 1) my late war point total is 1220 so far. I was thinking of proxying the last 3 shermans as M10 tank destroyers or maybe a light tank platoon (but again, i think i can only have the one tank platoon). My goal with this army is to have it usable in both mid and late war.
The more I read the rules, the more it seems like infantry are pretty damn resilient and armor is relatively fragile. So even though I'm really drawn to armor, I think I want to lean toward a mass of troops supported by mortars and artillery batteries - but I still want to field that unit of 76mm shermans.
How good/useful are light tanks like the Stuart? Since I don't know what game types are common, I'm not sure what the best things are to field.
I also picked up some german forces to go along with the Stugs that came with Open Fire. Grabbed another Stug G and a Grenadierkompanie. I just wanted to have another small force I could use to play with some friends at the house who probably won't be getting their own stuff.
Company HQ
+ 2x Bazooka teams
+ 3 Sniper teams I have never seen sniper teams used once, so maybe your having good luck with them, but 150 points just for a chance to pin guys doesn't seem that great, Thats what you have artillery for.
2x Rifle Platoons
+ 3 Rifle Squads
+ Bazooka team Good
Weapons Platoon
+ 2x LMG sections
+ 60mm mortar team I'm not sure if this mortar works different but 1 mortar seems pretty useless. You really want mortars to fire smoke without wasting artillery. 1 Mortar can't fire smoke, and You have to re roll successful hits. 2 mortars are good for smoke, 1 template worth. 4 would be 2 templates. As US you want smoke to force your opponent to move, Your most likely going to be facing Germans and his big tanks have a lot better frontal armor, firepower, and range. the US have mobility with your stabilizers, use smoke to block shots and stop the enemy from being able to just sit back and fire, his RoF is reduced to 1 when he moves, yours isn't.
Field Artillery Battery
+ 2x Gun Sections Good
Tank Platoon
+ 5x Sherman (76mm)
Tank Platoon (Open Fire tanks)
+ 3x Sherman I don't have any US books on hand so I'm not sure how many tank platoons you can field, I'm guessing this is from Fortress Europe? Either idea of yours works, the two tank platoons if you can or the 76's and tank destroyers. Stuarts are basically armored machine gun platforms in Late War. They can work pretty well if need be.
With your left over points I would try to grab some recon and AA. Recon is good to protect your tanks from ambushes when playing a mission that allows them, and AA will protect them from planes. You could also get your own Air instead of AA if you prefer that. I like AA because they also function as machine gun platforms if you got them on trucks. But some people like using air.
For the 2nd Armored box it is using the rules out of the Operation Cobra books, which allows them to take a rifle platoon with an armored company. As the 4th infantry division supported the 2nd Armored at Normandy.
Sorry I can't be more help. I was out of Flames of War until about 3 weeks ago due to school. And now my club is knee deep in a Firestorm Campaign so its all Germans vs Russians right now. If you have any specific questions I can ask some US players next saturday.
I posted this in the art of war thread but I don't think anyone noticed, I painted an Italian Bersaglieri Company last week.
You can see more pictures of the whole company in my photobucket
One of the good things from my point of view is that Battlefront is a New Zealand company, and being a New Zealander that means the local scene is getting a lot more help from them. In fact, I just got back from NICon (North Island Convention) yesterday where there was a 1750 point Mid-War tournament being run. Soviets can do very well without any armour, as 1750 points of Strelkovy Militia actually nets you 2100 points worth of gear, albeit for being confident conscripts rather than fearless conscripts. Add the Divisional Komissar and his Blocking Detachment and you have a very large army which still tends to stick around to the last man.
We've also got the official Mid-War GT next weekend, so I'm planning to take the militia again. It's only 1500 rather than 1750, so I'm not entirely sure if it will work as well this time but I'm looking forward to finding out.
Chrysis on
Tri-Optimum reminds you that there are only one-hundred-sixty-three shopping days until Christmas. Just 1 extra work cycle twice a week will give you the spending money you need to make this holiday a very special one.
Company HQ
+ 2x Bazooka teams
+ 3 Sniper teams I have never seen sniper teams used once, so maybe your having good luck with them, but 150 points just for a chance to pin guys doesn't seem that great, Thats what you have artillery for.
Weapons Platoon
+ 2x LMG sections
+ 60mm mortar team I'm not sure if this mortar works different but 1 mortar seems pretty useless. You really want mortars to fire smoke without wasting artillery. 1 Mortar can't fire smoke, and You have to re roll successful hits. 2 mortars are good for smoke, 1 template worth. 4 would be 2 templates. As US you want smoke to force your opponent to move, Your most likely going to be facing Germans and his big tanks have a lot better frontal armor, firepower, and range. the US have mobility with your stabilizers, use smoke to block shots and stop the enemy from being able to just sit back and fire, his RoF is reduced to 1 when he moves, yours isn't.
With your left over points I would try to grab some recon and AA. Recon is good to protect your tanks from ambushes when playing a mission that allows them, and AA will protect them from planes. You could also get your own Air instead of AA if you prefer that. I like AA because they also function as machine gun platforms if you got them on trucks. But some people like using air.
The snipers just came in the rifle company box, so I included them in the points. It didn't seem like they were worth the points. The 60mm mortar section is actually 3 mortars, so I should be good there. They can also direct fire at RoF 2 with a 3+ firepower.
I also picked up a M10 Tank Destroyer platoon, it only has 1 tank section but it was kinda pricey so I only grabbed one. And I picked up a chemical mortar platoon that I'm going to try as my 2nd artillery option - but if the M2A1 howitzers seem to work out awesome, I may grab another box of them to field 2 platoons of them instead. I'll definitely be looking into an AA squad as I know at least one guy likes to field air support with his army. Maybe a unit of my own tank busters would be a good idea too.
I got to play my first game over the weekend. That store I mentioned did a demo with one of veteran players showing us how the game worked. We used his Soviet Cossack army vs a German force of his. Definitely wasn't really a balanced setup though. The Soviet army was his main force that he fine tuned, and the German stuff seemed pumped up just to match in points (around 1875 i think). The German's only artillery was one light mortar platoon. They had a 5 tank mixed Panzer platton (3s and 4s), 1 Tiger, and 2 88s with extra crew (RoF 3 - scary shit right there) - along with infantry, HMGs, AA trucks, and an AT gun section. But they were veteran paratroopers so I'm sure that made them super expensive.
With the way the terrain was laid out there was basically two lanes, on the left and right side of the board, with cover in the center and the extreme flanks. I sent my Cossacks straight up the left flank and waited in the woods near one of their HMG squads and AT guns. My plan was to pin/kill them with heavy mortars then assault with the cossacks - that happened eventually, after all the T-34s slowly maneuvered in the center and killed all the panzers. It was a massacre, we didn't lose much. But again, I don't think it was a fair fight.
I definitely enjoyed the game - but everyone was kinda poking fun saying that I'm going to get destroyed playing as the Americans. I feel like I'm a good enough gamer to out play a german opponent though! It seems like they all think that since their armor is better its an auto win - but its pretty expensive, and I think I can field enough stuff to crack their armor and still be a potent force.
Yeah playing Fallschirmjager against soviet infantry has to be a damn tough fight. I played a German pioneer company against a strelkovy company last saturday, and the hordes just never stop coming. It was no retreat and I ended up losing as we both had just our artillery and one decimated platoon left. My guys ran leaving his 3 stands of Soviets standing on the objective. They managed to pass two consecutive morale checks claiming the objective and winning the game.
I'm not sure why people are talking shit about Americans, there is an american player at my club right now that has never lost a game, and he plays a balanced American Rifle company.
For fighting Germans, the most important thing to do is really just ignore there armor. Ive seen so many players lose everything trying to take down a couple tigers or panthers. To your infantry, theres no difference between a panzer III and a panther to your rifleman, they have the same number of machineguns and even die just as easy in assaults. So dont worry about taking them out. With the heavy armor they'll have a low number of platoons so concentrate on taking out the smaller weaker ones to break their company.
A common tactic here is to deploy your armor first on one side of the board, so the German deploys there Tiger or whatever there in reaction, then on your first turn move at the double to the other side of the board, leaving the slower tiger on a side with no armor targets.
thanks for the US strategy and overall tips, its encouraging. i'm all ears for anymore tactical advice. once i get my first real army list hammered out i'll post it up.
how long does it take you to paint a single base, or a platoon? i feel like i'm going way slower than i ever did with my warhammer stuff. i know the scale is smaller, but its also kind of less detailed. i keep sitting down to paint thinking i'll be able to crank out a platoon - then like 2 hours later i only did like 4-5 teams (without painting/grassing the bases).
i need to take some pics so i can share, maybe i'll do that later on.
How good a deal is this British Airborne box? (http://www.thewarstore.com/product1010.html) Would it comprise a real army, or is more stuff needed? How do British Paratroopers stack up next to the other armies?
thats just a company box - so it would have like a HQ section and 3-4 platoons (according to the box) with some other support / weapon teams. i'm guessing around 500-600 pts tops? that would form the core of an army, you would still need more stuff after that. games seem to be around 1500-2000pts
thanks for the US strategy and overall tips, its encouraging. i'm all ears for anymore tactical advice. once i get my first real army list hammered out i'll post it up.
how long does it take you to paint a single base, or a platoon? i feel like i'm going way slower than i ever did with my warhammer stuff. i know the scale is smaller, but its also kind of less detailed. i keep sitting down to paint thinking i'll be able to crank out a platoon - then like 2 hours later i only did like 4-5 teams (without painting/grassing the bases).
i need to take some pics so i can share, maybe i'll do that later on.
No problem, Ipost your list when your done and I can try to offer more specific advice as well.
2 hours for 4-5 teams seems pretty close to my speed, I tend to paint companies at a time, so usually I'll just do all the pants or all the flesh on like 30 stands in one sitting etc. Yeah its really boring but I found it to work best for me.
How good a deal is this British Airborne box? (http://www.thewarstore.com/product1010.html) Would it comprise a real army, or is more stuff needed? How do British Paratroopers stack up next to the other armies?
Thanks!
I believe that box is an HQ and 3 combat platoons. Or maybe 2. But no its not a full 1500 point army (standard size around here.) In 40k terms it would be like an HQ and 3 troops (or 2, it doesnt say exactly what it comes with.) You can play smaller games with that but for full size ones you would need. British Paratroopers are a tough army to play, in FoW I don't think any armies are really overpowered, but Paratroopers of any nations are difficult to play, simply because of the very small amount of elite troops you have.
Hey Krylon: Is that one store you were talking about earlier in this thread still having regular FoW games? I'm in the Philadelphia area (King of Prussia) and wondering if its somewhat local.
I... don't know why I looked in this thread. I have a ton of WH40K Imperial Guard and WHFB Skaven to paint already. Why must I like war toys so much.
yeah scribe, the Showcase Comics in the granite run mall definitely has weekly games (tuesday for sure, maybe saturday as well). not sure if other Showcase locations play. this store called Ye Olde Hobby Games in Cinnaminson NJ (probably like 45-60mins from KoP) just started carrying the game w/ a lot of interest in their player group. thats where i played the demo last week.
if you're thinking of getting into it, definitely let me know. i'd like to find more local war gamers. do you have a regular Warhammer game you go to or anything?
yeah scribe, the Showcase Comics in the granite run mall definitely has weekly games (tuesday for sure, maybe saturday as well). not sure if other Showcase locations play. this store called Ye Olde Hobby Games in Cinnaminson NJ (probably like 45-60mins from KoP) just started carrying the game w/ a lot of interest in their player group. thats where i played the demo last week.
if you're thinking of getting into it, definitely let me know. i'd like to find more local war gamers. do you have a regular Warhammer game you go to or anything?
Cool. Granite Run is about a half hour from me, not bad. Thanks for the info! Do they have evening games on Tuesdays? I could try stopping in there next week.
As for Warhammer: The Compleat Strategist in KOP hosts meet-ups of WH40K guys on Friday afternoons/evenings for gaming. I usually make that since its right next to my apartment complex, but it depends on my Friday evening plans. The manager of that store has an Empire WHFB army and is open to playing with it (though he focuses more on D&D and is hard to get available to wargame). A friend of his has High Elves but I hardly see him. I'm putting together Skaven. I've yet to actually play a WHFB game.
WH40K tournaments happen every once in a while at Alternate Universes in nearby Blue Bell, but I haven't done tournaments yet because my IG force still needs some painting (and growing, thanks to the new codex!) and I suck. More of the latter. I'm kinda new to wargaming and don't play enough games.
I think the Compleat Strategist has FoW stuff, but the store doesn't host FoW games there... yet. If I have time tomorrow evening I'll stop in there to see what he's got. I've never really looked for that stuff before.
I'm cool with meeting up somewhere to play in the near future.
I saw a couple of games last night and they have whetted my appetite, thanks to Krylon's suggestion of a great somewhat local store. I considered Open Fire! but I don't know know if I want to go German or American. I'll be getting the big rules book from my LGS next week because I like fluff and big rules books.
I'm somewhat new to tabletop wargaming, so I don't know what my preferred playstyle would be. I've been partial to turtling it without much mobility and just blasting away from a good defensive position while sending out some special teams to probe the enemy and capture objectives. Is that a Russian thing? Or are they supposed to just push swarms of men forward? Or both?
What is the attraction of Finlandian or Romanian armies? Do they just use Allies/Axis equipment with different color palletes and options?
Thats funny you mention the Fins cause I was just looking into them for a midwar army. Their special rules aren't really that great. They get the German Mission Tactics rule, they treat deep snow as cross-country terrain, and the can use the British Bulldog move if they're playing against the Russians (bitter rivals). I'm more attracted to them from a historical standpoint. Its cool playing as some of the minor powers that still had a pretty significant role in the war.
Most of their armor is stolen Russian stuff, along with their HMGs. Looks like their artillery and direct fire guns are german. Its kind of just a mix of things that they could get their hands on really. They were known for being great soldiers that had to do what could with inferior equipment.
The Ostfront book has army lists and rules for Germans, Russians, Fins, Hungarians, Romanians, and Italians in the eastern front.
Hmm. Not sure I want to do Axis but I do like the minor powers idea, and that it interesting about the Finns. I'll need to do some reading about Finland in the war. I realize just how little I know about WWII.
And I see from the FoW website that Romanians have cavalry. Heh, I just want to put horse units down against tanks, machine guns and artillery. Have a little "Charge of the Light Brigade" action on the table (probably works better in my head). I'll definitely have to check out that Ostfront book. Anything good about the cavalry? I assume they are very fast but expensive units. And could they be used for other powers?
Russians still appeal to me for some reason even though I thought I had enough of their mililtary philosophy playing Imperial Guard in WH40K. I may just need to get a couple infantry units and paint and flock them to make sure I want to do it a hundred times. Heh. But who knows, maybe after I read the books I may actually do something weird and go British.
The Finns were in a hard spot. I don't have tons of historical knowledge on the situation, but basically they were invaded by the Russians so they allied with Germany.
I mentioned before about that game I played the other week. It was a Russian Cossack army, which is a cavalry force. The rules for cavalry are pretty cool. They move 10" (infantry move 6") and they can move through woods with no problem. Their assault move is 8" instead of 4" as well. So they have an effective assault range of 18" which is pretty damn good if you support it well (pin down/kill the defender in the shooting phase). I'm not sure if this was a special rule for the cossacks, but any team that retreats from your assault that is still within 8" (instead of 4") is overrun and wiped out. So yeah, they can be pretty effective if used properly. This is WW2 however, so shooting them is a pretty good counter.
A thing to keep in mind with this game, which is different from 40k and a lot of other table top games, is that you successfully hit your opponent in the shooting phase based on their skill instead of your own. Assaults are skill checks based on your skill. So if you go with a Conscript level infantry army they will be easy to shoot and it will be hard for them to assault.
Oh yeah, Cossacks. For some reason, when I read your post back there, I didn't associate Cossacks with horses. I don't know why. I guess I thought they may have been dismounted infantry or in vehicles in something. Duh, I know. Taking them seems to be a good counter for anything but vehicles. I saw a Cavalry tab for Russia in the FoW Online Store, but the page is blank. I guess the Romanian cavalry models could be used?
Thanks for the tip on shooting and assaulting. I didn't notice that while watching the game the other night, and reading that in the books would have thrown me for a loop. Good to know that about conscripts, too. They would definitely be cannon fodder then.
well i've been slacking hard on painting my minis, but i do have something to contribute! i went down to the Aberdeen Proving Grounds yesterday to visit their Ordnance Museum. i haven't been down there for years.. its so fucking awesome. enjoy my pics!
I must go to this place. Why have I not yet been to this place? Nice pics!
I found another place local to Philly that does FoW open play on Thursdays from 3pm to 10pm. Alternate Universes in Holmes, PA, not far from Media. I'm not sure i'll be making it there this week. Probably next week.
I'm planning to go to Showcase tomorrow night to see more gaming, maybe buy some stuff. I got the big rule book and just today bought the Ostfront book. I think the ability to play Cossacks may have tipped me inevitably toward the Soviets.
I played an awesome game last night against the new German list in River Of Heroes. He had some panzers, some Sturmtigers (ridiculously engineered arty), some infantry and some PAK / AA.
On the first turn I revealed my immediate ambush 57mms. They blew up 3 of the 4 panzers and caused the last one to run. This really turned the battle for me - he couldn't roll over my lines and my guys just held on for 7 turns (it was cauldron).
I picked up Midwar Monsters last night and the Sturer Emil platoon. Pretty awesome models. My German army is slowly building.
Had a game vs german infantry with nebelwerfers. We played 1000 points, I was paras (vet + fearless is awesome). My mortars really pounded his lines and even with scattered reserves I managed to win. That was pretty cool.
So we've been talking about FoW a fair bit in the 40k thread, so I thought a Revival was in order. So, who plays what around these parts? How many of you play regularly? What's this game actually like?
I have just bought an SS Panzerkompanie off Ebay, courtesy of TalonZahn's tip off which I'm rally happy about. I was planning on doing a Panzer Lehr Panzerkompanie, but a preconstructed army which gives me more stuff for the same amount of monies I was looking at anyway is very nice. A few of my friends have either just started armies or are interested in playing the game, so it looks like we'll be having a play around with the rules tomorrow. I'm pretty keen to get into this game so here's hoping it's fun!
I just got into it with a mid-war Ranger Battalion. Need to buy a recon platoon to bump it up to 2k but I've been having a lot of fun with it so far. There seems to be just as many odd little rules in FoW as there are on 40k though. Only gotten to play 3-4 games but it's pretty rad, plus I get to yell "Amuurrica, fuck yeah!" every time my dudes do something awesome.
Even after having a thorough read of the rulebook and a couple of intelligence handbooks I'm still confused about army lists. I really think I just need to get my feet wet and do some playing
I think they best thing they've done with a lot of the books is make them almost modular.
As I said before, you can almost plug and play all the core units (tanks and infantry). The major differences seem to be points costs and ratings.
I was going to do a whole 2nd SS army and a Panzer Lehr army. After I compared the two, many of the units are the same. It's the supporting units that are slightly different.
Hell, you can even paint them same, of course no unit decals. :P
It's not the actual building of a list, I can do that fine. The real problem is lack of understanding. I don't really comprehend what all the various guns, tanks and mans do except in very general terms. There are like 8 different half track varied for pete's sake! It's the variety that confuses me. I'm glad I got a boxed army because then I know that all the stuff is the RIGHT STUFF, rather than worrying about different models of different things.
Also I have no idea what a balanced army looks like, so I have no idea how to build a force that functions, let alone be effective.
Still, I'm sure I'll figure it out in the next little while.
FoW has always been mildly tempting, unfortunately no one around my area plays it, from what I've seen.
Just as well, I guess, I don't think I could resist spending a boatload on some minis from Peter Pig, a UK 15mm mini maker whose work I've always liked the look of. Price is right too, £2.40 (about $3.70) for 8 dudes, £6-7 ($9.80-10.85) for most larger vehicles (tracks, tanks, etc). He's got a lot of variety for WWII stuff, too. Only bad part would be waiting for them to ship over the ocean.
GalagaGalaxian on
Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how.
Yea, alot of the other 15mm companies do better infantry than Battlefront, imho.
The Battlefront armor is where they really shine.
@ Asher - Just think like 40k. You need Infantry to Assault and hold Objectives, armor to attack, random support depending on enemy.
I like Rocket Arty and a couple big ass AT guns. Which is why that boxed set is great for me.
You have some mounted Infantry for assault, FJ for sitting on an Objective, tanks for some flank/punch, an AT gun to hold a lane, rocket arty for bombard, and you just toss in a couple more tanks and you are at 2k.
Longest name is best. Still working on my first 600 points but I've been playing around with some friends at the local store and it's a really nice game. Currently more fun than 40k which is something I wasn't expecting. I just wanted to paint some small WW2 dudes.
I'm building Soviets, leaning toward Motostrelkovy Batalon (Mechanized Company) now so I can have fast moving mans, but I am focused on getting as much infantry as possible, supported by T-34's, PTRD anti-tank platoons and Katyusha rocket artillery. I'm going to have some flamethrowers as well.
I still have a lot of painting ahead of me, but the Philadelphia area has a decently active FoW scene in which I've already played a couple of games using somebody else's American rifle infantry.
Posts
I finished the first stand of SS and a Jagdpanther today. I really need to get an airbrush one of these days.
Now I gotta figure out how I'm gonna paint this stuff.
One thing to keep in mind is you probably don't want an Armored Rifle company (panzergrenadiers - ride in trucks into battle). Trucks are pretty useless and hella expensive (you need one per stand I believe, and they are $11 for two, unless you need a special kind of truck that isn't resin, in which case they are $18 for two).
There are actually a ton of "Intelligence Briefings". It isn't like 40k where you get the rule book and your army codex.
You get the rule book, then you can pick up any number of intelligence briefings that cover all of the armies involved in a specific battle / time period. For instance you can get D Minus 1, which is the force organization charts for British and American para / gliders. Or you can get D-Day, which includes American / British / Canadian assault companies and German defenders.
I would recommend Fortress Europe. That is a very large book with a bunch of different organizations and seems to be the standard for most games.
You can see a list of the books here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flames_of_war
i'm building my force as infantry with armor support. so right now i have:
Company HQ
+ 2x Bazooka teams
+ 3 Sniper teams
2x Rifle Platoons
+ 3 Rifle Squads
+ Bazooka team
Weapons Platoon
+ 2x LMG sections
+ 60mm mortar team
Field Artillery Battery
+ 2x Gun Sections
Tank Platoon
+ 5x Sherman (76mm)
Tank Platoon (Open Fire tanks)
+ 3x Sherman
By my count, if I use all of that (except for the last tank platoon, since it looks like I can only field 1) my late war point total is 1220 so far. I was thinking of proxying the last 3 shermans as M10 tank destroyers or maybe a light tank platoon (but again, i think i can only have the one tank platoon). My goal with this army is to have it usable in both mid and late war.
The more I read the rules, the more it seems like infantry are pretty damn resilient and armor is relatively fragile. So even though I'm really drawn to armor, I think I want to lean toward a mass of troops supported by mortars and artillery batteries - but I still want to field that unit of 76mm shermans.
How good/useful are light tanks like the Stuart? Since I don't know what game types are common, I'm not sure what the best things are to field.
I also picked up some german forces to go along with the Stugs that came with Open Fire. Grabbed another Stug G and a Grenadierkompanie. I just wanted to have another small force I could use to play with some friends at the house who probably won't be getting their own stuff.
And with all that, I resurrect the thread!
With your left over points I would try to grab some recon and AA. Recon is good to protect your tanks from ambushes when playing a mission that allows them, and AA will protect them from planes. You could also get your own Air instead of AA if you prefer that. I like AA because they also function as machine gun platforms if you got them on trucks. But some people like using air.
For the 2nd Armored box it is using the rules out of the Operation Cobra books, which allows them to take a rifle platoon with an armored company. As the 4th infantry division supported the 2nd Armored at Normandy.
Sorry I can't be more help. I was out of Flames of War until about 3 weeks ago due to school. And now my club is knee deep in a Firestorm Campaign so its all Germans vs Russians right now. If you have any specific questions I can ask some US players next saturday.
I posted this in the art of war thread but I don't think anyone noticed, I painted an Italian Bersaglieri Company last week.
You can see more pictures of the whole company in my photobucket
We've also got the official Mid-War GT next weekend, so I'm planning to take the militia again. It's only 1500 rather than 1750, so I'm not entirely sure if it will work as well this time but I'm looking forward to finding out.
The snipers just came in the rifle company box, so I included them in the points. It didn't seem like they were worth the points. The 60mm mortar section is actually 3 mortars, so I should be good there. They can also direct fire at RoF 2 with a 3+ firepower.
I also picked up a M10 Tank Destroyer platoon, it only has 1 tank section but it was kinda pricey so I only grabbed one. And I picked up a chemical mortar platoon that I'm going to try as my 2nd artillery option - but if the M2A1 howitzers seem to work out awesome, I may grab another box of them to field 2 platoons of them instead. I'll definitely be looking into an AA squad as I know at least one guy likes to field air support with his army. Maybe a unit of my own tank busters would be a good idea too.
I got to play my first game over the weekend. That store I mentioned did a demo with one of veteran players showing us how the game worked. We used his Soviet Cossack army vs a German force of his. Definitely wasn't really a balanced setup though. The Soviet army was his main force that he fine tuned, and the German stuff seemed pumped up just to match in points (around 1875 i think). The German's only artillery was one light mortar platoon. They had a 5 tank mixed Panzer platton (3s and 4s), 1 Tiger, and 2 88s with extra crew (RoF 3 - scary shit right there) - along with infantry, HMGs, AA trucks, and an AT gun section. But they were veteran paratroopers so I'm sure that made them super expensive.
With the way the terrain was laid out there was basically two lanes, on the left and right side of the board, with cover in the center and the extreme flanks. I sent my Cossacks straight up the left flank and waited in the woods near one of their HMG squads and AT guns. My plan was to pin/kill them with heavy mortars then assault with the cossacks - that happened eventually, after all the T-34s slowly maneuvered in the center and killed all the panzers. It was a massacre, we didn't lose much. But again, I don't think it was a fair fight.
I definitely enjoyed the game - but everyone was kinda poking fun saying that I'm going to get destroyed playing as the Americans. I feel like I'm a good enough gamer to out play a german opponent though! It seems like they all think that since their armor is better its an auto win - but its pretty expensive, and I think I can field enough stuff to crack their armor and still be a potent force.
I'm not sure why people are talking shit about Americans, there is an american player at my club right now that has never lost a game, and he plays a balanced American Rifle company.
For fighting Germans, the most important thing to do is really just ignore there armor. Ive seen so many players lose everything trying to take down a couple tigers or panthers. To your infantry, theres no difference between a panzer III and a panther to your rifleman, they have the same number of machineguns and even die just as easy in assaults. So dont worry about taking them out. With the heavy armor they'll have a low number of platoons so concentrate on taking out the smaller weaker ones to break their company.
A common tactic here is to deploy your armor first on one side of the board, so the German deploys there Tiger or whatever there in reaction, then on your first turn move at the double to the other side of the board, leaving the slower tiger on a side with no armor targets.
how long does it take you to paint a single base, or a platoon? i feel like i'm going way slower than i ever did with my warhammer stuff. i know the scale is smaller, but its also kind of less detailed. i keep sitting down to paint thinking i'll be able to crank out a platoon - then like 2 hours later i only did like 4-5 teams (without painting/grassing the bases).
i need to take some pics so i can share, maybe i'll do that later on.
Thanks!
No problem, Ipost your list when your done and I can try to offer more specific advice as well.
2 hours for 4-5 teams seems pretty close to my speed, I tend to paint companies at a time, so usually I'll just do all the pants or all the flesh on like 30 stands in one sitting etc. Yeah its really boring but I found it to work best for me.
I believe that box is an HQ and 3 combat platoons. Or maybe 2. But no its not a full 1500 point army (standard size around here.) In 40k terms it would be like an HQ and 3 troops (or 2, it doesnt say exactly what it comes with.) You can play smaller games with that but for full size ones you would need. British Paratroopers are a tough army to play, in FoW I don't think any armies are really overpowered, but Paratroopers of any nations are difficult to play, simply because of the very small amount of elite troops you have.
Edit: just beat by Krylon
I... don't know why I looked in this thread. I have a ton of WH40K Imperial Guard and WHFB Skaven to paint already. Why must I like war toys so much.
if you're thinking of getting into it, definitely let me know. i'd like to find more local war gamers. do you have a regular Warhammer game you go to or anything?
Cool. Granite Run is about a half hour from me, not bad. Thanks for the info! Do they have evening games on Tuesdays? I could try stopping in there next week.
As for Warhammer: The Compleat Strategist in KOP hosts meet-ups of WH40K guys on Friday afternoons/evenings for gaming. I usually make that since its right next to my apartment complex, but it depends on my Friday evening plans. The manager of that store has an Empire WHFB army and is open to playing with it (though he focuses more on D&D and is hard to get available to wargame). A friend of his has High Elves but I hardly see him. I'm putting together Skaven. I've yet to actually play a WHFB game.
WH40K tournaments happen every once in a while at Alternate Universes in nearby Blue Bell, but I haven't done tournaments yet because my IG force still needs some painting (and growing, thanks to the new codex!) and I suck. More of the latter. I'm kinda new to wargaming and don't play enough games.
I think the Compleat Strategist has FoW stuff, but the store doesn't host FoW games there... yet. If I have time tomorrow evening I'll stop in there to see what he's got. I've never really looked for that stuff before.
I'm cool with meeting up somewhere to play in the near future.
I saw a couple of games last night and they have whetted my appetite, thanks to Krylon's suggestion of a great somewhat local store. I considered Open Fire! but I don't know know if I want to go German or American. I'll be getting the big rules book from my LGS next week because I like fluff and big rules books.
I'm somewhat new to tabletop wargaming, so I don't know what my preferred playstyle would be. I've been partial to turtling it without much mobility and just blasting away from a good defensive position while sending out some special teams to probe the enemy and capture objectives. Is that a Russian thing? Or are they supposed to just push swarms of men forward? Or both?
What is the attraction of Finlandian or Romanian armies? Do they just use Allies/Axis equipment with different color palletes and options?
Most of their armor is stolen Russian stuff, along with their HMGs. Looks like their artillery and direct fire guns are german. Its kind of just a mix of things that they could get their hands on really. They were known for being great soldiers that had to do what could with inferior equipment.
The Ostfront book has army lists and rules for Germans, Russians, Fins, Hungarians, Romanians, and Italians in the eastern front.
And I see from the FoW website that Romanians have cavalry. Heh, I just want to put horse units down against tanks, machine guns and artillery. Have a little "Charge of the Light Brigade" action on the table (probably works better in my head). I'll definitely have to check out that Ostfront book. Anything good about the cavalry? I assume they are very fast but expensive units. And could they be used for other powers?
Russians still appeal to me for some reason even though I thought I had enough of their mililtary philosophy playing Imperial Guard in WH40K. I may just need to get a couple infantry units and paint and flock them to make sure I want to do it a hundred times. Heh. But who knows, maybe after I read the books I may actually do something weird and go British.
I mentioned before about that game I played the other week. It was a Russian Cossack army, which is a cavalry force. The rules for cavalry are pretty cool. They move 10" (infantry move 6") and they can move through woods with no problem. Their assault move is 8" instead of 4" as well. So they have an effective assault range of 18" which is pretty damn good if you support it well (pin down/kill the defender in the shooting phase). I'm not sure if this was a special rule for the cossacks, but any team that retreats from your assault that is still within 8" (instead of 4") is overrun and wiped out. So yeah, they can be pretty effective if used properly. This is WW2 however, so shooting them is a pretty good counter.
A thing to keep in mind with this game, which is different from 40k and a lot of other table top games, is that you successfully hit your opponent in the shooting phase based on their skill instead of your own. Assaults are skill checks based on your skill. So if you go with a Conscript level infantry army they will be easy to shoot and it will be hard for them to assault.
Thanks for the tip on shooting and assaulting. I didn't notice that while watching the game the other night, and reading that in the books would have thrown me for a loop. Good to know that about conscripts, too. They would definitely be cannon fodder then.
well i've been slacking hard on painting my minis, but i do have something to contribute! i went down to the Aberdeen Proving Grounds yesterday to visit their Ordnance Museum. i haven't been down there for years.. its so fucking awesome. enjoy my pics!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattx/sets/72157620229851834/
I found another place local to Philly that does FoW open play on Thursdays from 3pm to 10pm. Alternate Universes in Holmes, PA, not far from Media. I'm not sure i'll be making it there this week. Probably next week.
I'm planning to go to Showcase tomorrow night to see more gaming, maybe buy some stuff. I got the big rule book and just today bought the Ostfront book. I think the ability to play Cossacks may have tipped me inevitably toward the Soviets.
On the first turn I revealed my immediate ambush 57mms. They blew up 3 of the 4 panzers and caused the last one to run. This really turned the battle for me - he couldn't roll over my lines and my guys just held on for 7 turns (it was cauldron).
Had a game vs german infantry with nebelwerfers. We played 1000 points, I was paras (vet + fearless is awesome). My mortars really pounded his lines and even with scattered reserves I managed to win. That was pretty cool.
So we've been talking about FoW a fair bit in the 40k thread, so I thought a Revival was in order. So, who plays what around these parts? How many of you play regularly? What's this game actually like?
I have just bought an SS Panzerkompanie off Ebay, courtesy of TalonZahn's tip off which I'm rally happy about. I was planning on doing a Panzer Lehr Panzerkompanie, but a preconstructed army which gives me more stuff for the same amount of monies I was looking at anyway is very nice. A few of my friends have either just started armies or are interested in playing the game, so it looks like we'll be having a play around with the rules tomorrow. I'm pretty keen to get into this game so here's hoping it's fun!
Also, check out these battle reports. They are making me want to play.
And honestly the lists are pretty easy to figure out after they're explained. Anything you need help with?
As I said before, you can almost plug and play all the core units (tanks and infantry). The major differences seem to be points costs and ratings.
I was going to do a whole 2nd SS army and a Panzer Lehr army. After I compared the two, many of the units are the same. It's the supporting units that are slightly different.
Hell, you can even paint them same, of course no unit decals. :P
Also I have no idea what a balanced army looks like, so I have no idea how to build a force that functions, let alone be effective.
Still, I'm sure I'll figure it out in the next little while.
Just as well, I guess, I don't think I could resist spending a boatload on some minis from Peter Pig, a UK 15mm mini maker whose work I've always liked the look of. Price is right too, £2.40 (about $3.70) for 8 dudes, £6-7 ($9.80-10.85) for most larger vehicles (tracks, tanks, etc). He's got a lot of variety for WWII stuff, too. Only bad part would be waiting for them to ship over the ocean.
The Battlefront armor is where they really shine.
@ Asher - Just think like 40k. You need Infantry to Assault and hold Objectives, armor to attack, random support depending on enemy.
I like Rocket Arty and a couple big ass AT guns. Which is why that boxed set is great for me.
You have some mounted Infantry for assault, FJ for sitting on an Objective, tanks for some flank/punch, an AT gun to hold a lane, rocket arty for bombard, and you just toss in a couple more tanks and you are at 2k.
Longest name is best. Still working on my first 600 points but I've been playing around with some friends at the local store and it's a really nice game. Currently more fun than 40k which is something I wasn't expecting. I just wanted to paint some small WW2 dudes.
I'm building Soviets, leaning toward Motostrelkovy Batalon (Mechanized Company) now so I can have fast moving mans, but I am focused on getting as much infantry as possible, supported by T-34's, PTRD anti-tank platoons and Katyusha rocket artillery. I'm going to have some flamethrowers as well.
I still have a lot of painting ahead of me, but the Philadelphia area has a decently active FoW scene in which I've already played a couple of games using somebody else's American rifle infantry.
Really thinking about starting an early war force, but I wouldn't mind being part of a play group first...
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