Version 4 of Flames of War is finally here. A quick scan of the new rules tells me that Battlefront has adapted the Team Yankee rule set into the newest edition of Flames of War. Which is fine by me as I think the Team Yankee rules are easier to learn and use. Cause overall they are both essentially the same rule set, might as well go with the simpler version of the two. Taking a closer look at the rules however, I notice while Version 4 Flames of Wars has the same framework of Team Yankee, there were some easy to miss significant differences. I thought I would make my top 10 rule differences between Team Yankee and Version 4 to help people get into the game. Also if you never played Team Yankee as a Flames of War player, hopefully this guide can still be useful to you as there is a sea of changes between Version 3 and Version 4.
#10. Mistaken Targets - If you never played Team Yankee then something new you need to get use to is that the shooter gets to assigns hits, with some restrictions. To balance out the attacker picking the juiciest targets allowed, the defender on a +3 may swap all the hits on two teams. At first glance Version 4 Mistaken Targets rule (beside being better written) looks identical to Team Yankee's. However, there is one additional restriction that isn't in Team Yankee. In Version 4, hits can only be swap once! I'm not entirely sure how much this will make a difference. I need to see it in action and take some time theorycrafting to really understand what this change means. But in the mean time keep this difference in mind.
#9. Aircraft Spotting - Aircraft is very different in Version 4, if you haven't played Team Yankee. They now behave mostly like other units. A Team Yankee player will be used to the aircraft rules. Something that can be easily missed is that ground units can not spot for aircraft's artillery and vice verse. It makes sense in that communication between the ground and aircraft was probably very limited in World War 2.
#8. Repeating Bombardment - A couple things a Version 3 player needs to know about artillery is that staff teams is no longer used and the spotter picks a point on the board (not a unit) to be a target of the bombardment. There are three things different about doing repeating bombardment in Version 4 from Team Yankee. The first is that the spotter (who could be different from the one who did the initial bombardment) doesn't need line of sight to the aiming point!(there is a penalty for not having line of sight to the aiming point, but it doesn't stop the bombardment) Second, infantry and Gun Team hit by a repeat bombardment have to re-roll successful saves! Third, moving the artillery also removes the range in marker. This third one is something for a while I thought was in Team Yankee but its never mention in the actual rules. Version 4 on the other hand makes it loud and clear moving means losing the marker.
#7. Bombardment - To do a bombardment first you need a spotter, who does need to see the aiming point. The spotter can be a member of the artillery, Formation HQ or a specialist Observer. A Team Yankee player might notice the one thing not listed. Unit Commander! I know it will take me a while to get use to unit commanders not being able to spot for artillery. But that isn't the only change from Team Yankee. In Team Yankee spotters can only spot for a single artillery unit but there is no such restriction in Version 4. Spotters are still limited to 3 attempts but in Version 4, for example if they range in on the first attempt, the spotter can use their second and third attempts for a different artillery battery.
#6 Move Orders and Reserves - Not Team Yankee players will need to get use to movement order. They are a group of abilities that any unit can do and require a check to perform. One of these movement orders, Blitz move, has been extremely useful in Team Yankee for reserve units. It gave the possibility of move or shot units to arrive from reserves and still fire. This will not be an option in Version 4 because it block units from using movement orders until they are on the board.
#5 Reserves - How you pick what goes into reserves is completely difference from both Version 3 and Team Yankee. The rule in Version 4 is that no more than 60% of the agreed point total may be deployed on the table with the rest going into reserves. That means it no longer matters how many units you have in your list. In theory this should force closer to a 50/50 split between on the table and reserves. While this does prevent taking several cheap units to manipulate what goes into reserves, I'm not sure how much this will change stuff in actual games. I know it will change how people build some lists but beyond that I need to play a few games to see how this will truly affect the game.
#4 Commander Re-rolls - This would be a rare case that it would be better to have never played Team Yankee. Version 3 players are used to their HQ giving re-rolls. Team Yankee removed all those rules so its a little surprising to me to see that they are back. Failing to remounted bailed out tanks, rallying from pinned down or Last Stand Test can be re-rolled if the unit is within 6 inches of the commander (and line of sight to unit leader). Just when I was getting use to not worrying about when can I do re-rolls, its back.
#3 Starting Step - The Starting Step between Version 3 and Team Yankee is quite similar. However Version 4 is vastly different in many ways. First reserves is now before aircraft. Team Yankee has it the other way, which can frankly was mistake on the designers part and caused issues that had to be resolved in FAQs later. With reserves happening first, Version 4 no longer have those problems. A far more significant change is that the Formation more check has moved from the beginning like it is in Team Yankee and Version 3 to the middle of the Starting Step. This means you will have a chance to remount bailed out tanks, before dealing with the Formation morale. This rule change is quite beneficial to armor user. In Team Yankee, if you only had tank units in your formation and every tank was bailed out, you had to check whether you lost the game before you could remount. In Version 4, you roll for remount first and if you get enough success you no longer have to worry about auto losing.
#2 Last Stand Test - Both Team Yankee and Version 3 have a rule that the last remaining infantry team in an unit need to make a check every turn to stay in the game. Version 4 has greatly expanded on that concept. Now what triggers a morale check also triggers the Last Stand Test. For infantry that means they need to start taking Last Stand Test when reduce to 2 teams instead of one every turn. For tanks which are normally immune to this rule are now affected. Lone tanks now have to check every turn or get destroyed, unless they started the game as single team (or they are warriors). And still lone non warriors/non commanders tanks that are bailed out also have to take the Last Stand Test. Another thing to keep in mind is that when unit leaders died, you immediately pick a new one unless no one was within 6 inches of the leader. If that happens then the unit remains leaderless and until the unit leader is replace that unit will have to make Last Stand Test no matter how big the unit is. This is a huge change. All the different ways this one change can impact games is almost too many to count. I thought this was the biggest and most significant difference in Version 4, until I read ...
#1 Formation Morale - In Team Yankee you need at least a single unit that is apart of the Formation to be in Good Spirits for the Formation to be consider in Good Spirits. Version 4 requires 2 units instead of just one. If that wasn't bad enough, a Formation not in Good Spirits in Version 4 is auto destroyed! There is no roll from the commander to stay in! The only bright side to Version 4 is that looks at both units on the table and in reserves while Team Yankee only checks units on the table. So you won't auto lose because of reserves but once everything is on the table this will end games much faster than either Team Yankee or Version 3 did.
If you are a Version 3 player and do not know what Formation are, everything but your support platoons are in your Formation. Combat platoon, Weapon platoons and sometimes Regimental/Brigade Support comprise your Formation. If you never played Team Yankee, this is only a taste of the differences between Version 3 and Version 4. It will probably take sometime to get used to the vast differences.
I have only skimmed the rules but these are the 10 things I thought were by far the biggest changes from Team Yankee. Still I'm more excited to try Flames of War again now than I have been in quite a while. When I get some games in I can provide more detailed thoughts on Version 4. Until then, I hope this was helpful and thank you for reading.
A War Gaming blog
Showing posts with label FoW. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FoW. Show all posts
Thursday, March 23, 2017
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
Three Battalions of Himmlisch Drachen Stamm
Episode 8 of War Journal: Flames of War was release over the weekend. If you haven't heard it yet you can listen to it here. The episode is a week late due to various issues, some of which I will discuss in the future when the pain is not as raw. I do want to expand on Episode 8's "Our Hobby" segment. I was a little nervous and I don't think I explain my three Battalions very well.
First I said I was going to named my army the Ruby Dragon Army. I misspoke. What I should have said was that I was going to named a branch of my army the Ruby Dragon Army. I also failed to mention that at this stage all my ideas have a historic mirror. The mirror for the Ruby Dragon Army was the Heer. I'm also toying with names for other branches of my army; Emerald, Sapphire and Diamond. If I go with these names Sapphire will be the mirror for the Luftwaffe and Diamond for the SS. I am more up in the air for what to use Emerald as. If I eventually go into more supernatural fantasy the Emerald Dragon Army could be the force that has steam punk elements like mechs or I could go into the mundane and use Emerald as the mirror for the Kriegsmarine/Navy. As far as I know Kriegsmarine is not in Flames of War in any way so it doesn't matter how I use Emerald Dragon until I bring Himmlisch Drachen Stamm to another game.
I touch on this lightly but the reason I am putting so much effect into the design structure of my army before I paint or even put anything together yet is because it does affect how the model looks. For example take the 3 digit number that is on many German tanks. That first digit refers to what company that tank is from so I need to know what company that tank belongs to when I'm painting it. I am sure there will be other things that are battalion or company specific that will affect the look of the model, either historically or of my own creation.
Bridge at Remagen has 4 German list to play as. Three are Heer and they work together. By working together I mean under the Support Platoons section of each list you can take elements from the other two. The fourth list is a SS one and their options for support are completely different with the exception of the 512th Heavy Tank Hunter Battalion 3rd Company. And the 3rd Company didn't work with the rest of the 512th. This basically means I have a choice between two separate webs/interconnected choices. Of the 4 lists the 512th is my favorite to play with so I pick the web that the 512th was apart of. So those three Heer list are 512th Heavy Tank Hunter Company, 654th Heavy Tank Hunter Battalion and the 506th Heavy Tank Battalion. All three are battalions so I am making my fantasy versions also battalions (the game list name for the 512th is Company but the description refers to it as the 512th Heavy Tank Hunter Battalion). I decided to call my versions of the Heavy Tank Hunter Battalions the Fire Dragon Battalions and for the Heavy Tank Battalion I call mine the Red Dragon Tank Battalion. I haven't decided on numbers yet. However to me it is more important to know what will be my unified forces.
Next I was going to break down what options can be used in other list but at this point it will not matter much. I will be starting with the 1st Company of the 512th and they have no options to take 654th or the 506th (they do have the option to take 512th 1st Company). At my current rate it will be many months before I would be ready to pick up anything from the 512th 2nd Company, 654th or the 506th and there is no telling if my plans will remain the same then. Say nothing of the fact that I still want to build an Italian force at the same time. Nevertheless I think I have address the elements I wanted to talk about. The big thing was the deal with Ruby/Heer which I completely failed to mention in the podcast. Hopefully my ideas are a lot clearer here but I am not sure if that is the case. If not, I'm sorry. In any event I hope you enjoy the podcast as well as this piece. Until next time!
First I said I was going to named my army the Ruby Dragon Army. I misspoke. What I should have said was that I was going to named a branch of my army the Ruby Dragon Army. I also failed to mention that at this stage all my ideas have a historic mirror. The mirror for the Ruby Dragon Army was the Heer. I'm also toying with names for other branches of my army; Emerald, Sapphire and Diamond. If I go with these names Sapphire will be the mirror for the Luftwaffe and Diamond for the SS. I am more up in the air for what to use Emerald as. If I eventually go into more supernatural fantasy the Emerald Dragon Army could be the force that has steam punk elements like mechs or I could go into the mundane and use Emerald as the mirror for the Kriegsmarine/Navy. As far as I know Kriegsmarine is not in Flames of War in any way so it doesn't matter how I use Emerald Dragon until I bring Himmlisch Drachen Stamm to another game.
I touch on this lightly but the reason I am putting so much effect into the design structure of my army before I paint or even put anything together yet is because it does affect how the model looks. For example take the 3 digit number that is on many German tanks. That first digit refers to what company that tank is from so I need to know what company that tank belongs to when I'm painting it. I am sure there will be other things that are battalion or company specific that will affect the look of the model, either historically or of my own creation.
Bridge at Remagen has 4 German list to play as. Three are Heer and they work together. By working together I mean under the Support Platoons section of each list you can take elements from the other two. The fourth list is a SS one and their options for support are completely different with the exception of the 512th Heavy Tank Hunter Battalion 3rd Company. And the 3rd Company didn't work with the rest of the 512th. This basically means I have a choice between two separate webs/interconnected choices. Of the 4 lists the 512th is my favorite to play with so I pick the web that the 512th was apart of. So those three Heer list are 512th Heavy Tank Hunter Company, 654th Heavy Tank Hunter Battalion and the 506th Heavy Tank Battalion. All three are battalions so I am making my fantasy versions also battalions (the game list name for the 512th is Company but the description refers to it as the 512th Heavy Tank Hunter Battalion). I decided to call my versions of the Heavy Tank Hunter Battalions the Fire Dragon Battalions and for the Heavy Tank Battalion I call mine the Red Dragon Tank Battalion. I haven't decided on numbers yet. However to me it is more important to know what will be my unified forces.
Next I was going to break down what options can be used in other list but at this point it will not matter much. I will be starting with the 1st Company of the 512th and they have no options to take 654th or the 506th (they do have the option to take 512th 1st Company). At my current rate it will be many months before I would be ready to pick up anything from the 512th 2nd Company, 654th or the 506th and there is no telling if my plans will remain the same then. Say nothing of the fact that I still want to build an Italian force at the same time. Nevertheless I think I have address the elements I wanted to talk about. The big thing was the deal with Ruby/Heer which I completely failed to mention in the podcast. Hopefully my ideas are a lot clearer here but I am not sure if that is the case. If not, I'm sorry. In any event I hope you enjoy the podcast as well as this piece. Until next time!
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Dealing with a Mistake - War Journal: Flames of War - Tigers in the Mud
First the newest episode of War Journal: Flames of War podcast is up. You can get it here or at iTunes.
Next I want to talk about an issue that came up with episode 6, Tigers in the Mud. Episode 6 was suppose to have 6 segments and we did record 6. While editing the "That's New" segment, we realize we made a mistake with a rule. You would think the difference between making a check at half and making a check at more than half is a minor thing. However this type of error is what ruined the entire segment. The core of our discussion dealt with platoon morale checks for armored vehicles. The dreaded example we were using was a platoon of four vehicles, 1 operational, 1 bailed out, 1 bogged down and 1 destroyed. For this type of check you ignore the bailed out and bogged down vehicles. That left the 1 operational and 1 destroyed vehicles. We assumed this was a platoon morale check and that assumption was used as the basis of the rest of the discussion. This is NOT a check. You need MORE than half of the unit to be destroyed to require a platoon morale check. We needed either the bailed out or bogged down vehicle to be destroyed instead or added a fifth vehicle that was destroyed for the example to be correct. That means all the various scenarios we talked about while correct on their own their own, in the overall context was wrong because of our previous mistake. We had an disagreement on what to do. I wanted to either record short correction to go with the segment or record a new segment where we talked about our mistake. I felt that outside the error, the segment still had value and though we had some good dialogue in it which included a call back to our mid war battle. Tracy wanted to either drop the segment or rerecord it. Given that it was late at the time and the final episode was over an hour long, dropping it was the correct decision. Still I felt the need to explain what happen which is why I'm writing this post.
We really dodge a bullet this time. We were over half way done editing before we realize the mistake. That means we were really close to releasing a podcast that got game rules really wrong. That is unacceptable to us. While the podcast is our thoughts and opinions on Flames of War, segments like "That's New", "Keep Your Enemies Close", and others like them that are about game rules need to be accurate. For nearly releasing false information I am truly sorry. We will be watchful for errors in the future. That said, mistakes happen. I have learned from mine and I am moving on. If you ever hear us get a game rule wrong please contact us and let us know. Please enjoy the episode and have a good game.
Next I want to talk about an issue that came up with episode 6, Tigers in the Mud. Episode 6 was suppose to have 6 segments and we did record 6. While editing the "That's New" segment, we realize we made a mistake with a rule. You would think the difference between making a check at half and making a check at more than half is a minor thing. However this type of error is what ruined the entire segment. The core of our discussion dealt with platoon morale checks for armored vehicles. The dreaded example we were using was a platoon of four vehicles, 1 operational, 1 bailed out, 1 bogged down and 1 destroyed. For this type of check you ignore the bailed out and bogged down vehicles. That left the 1 operational and 1 destroyed vehicles. We assumed this was a platoon morale check and that assumption was used as the basis of the rest of the discussion. This is NOT a check. You need MORE than half of the unit to be destroyed to require a platoon morale check. We needed either the bailed out or bogged down vehicle to be destroyed instead or added a fifth vehicle that was destroyed for the example to be correct. That means all the various scenarios we talked about while correct on their own their own, in the overall context was wrong because of our previous mistake. We had an disagreement on what to do. I wanted to either record short correction to go with the segment or record a new segment where we talked about our mistake. I felt that outside the error, the segment still had value and though we had some good dialogue in it which included a call back to our mid war battle. Tracy wanted to either drop the segment or rerecord it. Given that it was late at the time and the final episode was over an hour long, dropping it was the correct decision. Still I felt the need to explain what happen which is why I'm writing this post.
We really dodge a bullet this time. We were over half way done editing before we realize the mistake. That means we were really close to releasing a podcast that got game rules really wrong. That is unacceptable to us. While the podcast is our thoughts and opinions on Flames of War, segments like "That's New", "Keep Your Enemies Close", and others like them that are about game rules need to be accurate. For nearly releasing false information I am truly sorry. We will be watchful for errors in the future. That said, mistakes happen. I have learned from mine and I am moving on. If you ever hear us get a game rule wrong please contact us and let us know. Please enjoy the episode and have a good game.
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Himmlisch Drachen Stamm
I have not gotten much work done on my models as I would have like this year and I've gotten even less done on my Flames of War stuff. That said I have spent a lot of time thinking about my fantasy Flames of War force. Ideas are still in flux but I'm beginning to have a framework for how my fictional army is organized and the in-game, on the table composition of my force. For now I am calling my nation Himmlisch Drachen Stamm which should be German for Heavenly Dragon Clan. I thought this would be fitting as I used to name my German list on Easy Army after dragons: Blue Dragon, Fire Dragon, Eastern Dragon and so on. Continuing with this theme I will be naming my companies after dragons as well. When I started playing Flames of War I knew nothing of how real armies are organized. Since starting the War Journal podcast I have learn more about how German was organized during World War 2. I'm still no expert but I now have the desire to learn more. I will be adapting what I learn to my dragon companies so my fictional Himmlisch Drachen Stamm can somewhat mirror historic WWII Germany.
As for what my Himmlisch Drachen Stamm will look like on the table, I have a little more concrete ideas for that. Since I've started playing Mid War I have gain a liking for Italy. That means my army will be a mix of German and Italy forces on the gaming table. The storyline behind Himmlisch Drachen Stamm will be that of a single nation, not two ally nations. From here on I will be purchasing items from two separate intelligence briefings. An Italian mid war briefing that will most likely be the Parachute Company in the North Africa book. The other briefing will be something from the Bridge of Remagen book which will give me a late war German force to use. Once I have enough assembled models to make lists from either briefing, the next step will be to pick up the Fortress Italy book. Hopefully I can find an intelligence briefing in it that would allow me to use elements from both of my previous lists. I am undecided on how I will paint my force. Right now I am leading towards painting infantry in mostly historic colors while vehicles would be half historic, half my own creation. It doesn't help that none of the paint I currently own lends itself to being historically accurate. I will be designing my own logo to have on my vehicles instead of the Iron Cross.
As I write this I realize after playing Flames of War for almost two years I am still at the beginning of my hobby. I suppose it make sense given that I have invested most of what little resources I have into other games. Also until recently I had no idea of what I wanted my army to look like and even now I just have a rough draft. But I now have a direction where to head towards. While I can't paint anything until I decide on my schemes (and get those colors), I can have my vehicle assembled and primed. Infantry I want fully painted before I glue them to their base so it will be a while before I can finish my Volkssturm Platoon. My two Wirbelwinds on the other hand will be on the gaming table much sooner. Once they are assemble my next purchase will include my personal favorite tank, the Jagdtiger...
As for what my Himmlisch Drachen Stamm will look like on the table, I have a little more concrete ideas for that. Since I've started playing Mid War I have gain a liking for Italy. That means my army will be a mix of German and Italy forces on the gaming table. The storyline behind Himmlisch Drachen Stamm will be that of a single nation, not two ally nations. From here on I will be purchasing items from two separate intelligence briefings. An Italian mid war briefing that will most likely be the Parachute Company in the North Africa book. The other briefing will be something from the Bridge of Remagen book which will give me a late war German force to use. Once I have enough assembled models to make lists from either briefing, the next step will be to pick up the Fortress Italy book. Hopefully I can find an intelligence briefing in it that would allow me to use elements from both of my previous lists. I am undecided on how I will paint my force. Right now I am leading towards painting infantry in mostly historic colors while vehicles would be half historic, half my own creation. It doesn't help that none of the paint I currently own lends itself to being historically accurate. I will be designing my own logo to have on my vehicles instead of the Iron Cross.
As I write this I realize after playing Flames of War for almost two years I am still at the beginning of my hobby. I suppose it make sense given that I have invested most of what little resources I have into other games. Also until recently I had no idea of what I wanted my army to look like and even now I just have a rough draft. But I now have a direction where to head towards. While I can't paint anything until I decide on my schemes (and get those colors), I can have my vehicle assembled and primed. Infantry I want fully painted before I glue them to their base so it will be a while before I can finish my Volkssturm Platoon. My two Wirbelwinds on the other hand will be on the gaming table much sooner. Once they are assemble my next purchase will include my personal favorite tank, the Jagdtiger...
Sunday, February 8, 2015
FoW Podcast
I've start co-working on a Flames of War podcast with Tracy George. Its called War Journal: Flames of War and we will talk about various subjects related to the game and our own personal twist to the hobby. The first episode is done and while its pretty rough I'm confident that over time our podcast will get better and sound more natural. You can listen to the podcast here: http://neaceul.podbean.com/.
Future episode will be out every other week. You can post comments or questions either here or at the address above.
We are now up on iTunes here.
Future episode will be out every other week. You can post comments or questions either here or at the address above.
We are now up on iTunes here.
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
FoW #2
Being late seem to be a common theme for me this week. This battle took place 2 weeks ago and I'm just now writing up a report. This will be a brief summary of what happen. The next battle will be a video report which should allow me to post it faster.
There was a lot of proxying in this game on both side. I will try to point this out but I am not that familiar with the American units and the entire German side was proxy with Americans. With that out the way, on to the report.
There was a lot of proxying in this game on both side. I will try to point this out but I am not that familiar with the American units and the entire German side was proxy with Americans. With that out the way, on to the report.
SS-Panzerkompanie
Fearless/Veteran
Headquarters
SS-Panzerkompanie HQ
2 StuG IV
Combat Platoons
SS-Panzer Platoon
3 StuG IV
SS-Panzer Platoon
3 StuG IV
Weapons Platoons
SS-Panzer Anti-aircraft Gun Platoon
3 Sd Kfz 7/1 (Quad 2cm) (armoured)
Divisional Support
Fallschirmjager Platoon / Allied Platoon
1 Cmd Rifle/MG team
9 Panzerfaust Rifle/MG team
Motorised SS-Artillery Battery / Fearless/Trained
1 Cmd SMG team
1 Kfz 15 field car
1 Staff team
1 Kfz 68 radio truck
6 10.5cm leFH18 howitzer
6 3-ton truck
2 Observer Rifle team
2 Kubelwagen
Rocket Launcher Battery (Heer) / Confident/Veteran / Allied Platoon
1 Cmd SMG team
1 Kfz 15 field car
1 Observer Rifle team
1 Kubelwagen
2 21cm NW42
2 Sd Kfz 11
Rifle Company (1st I.D.)
Confident/Veteran
Headquarters
Rifle Company HQ (1st I.D.)
2 Cmd Carbine team
2 Bazooka team
Combat Platoon
Rifle Platoon (1st I.D.)
1 Cmd Rifle team
1 Bazooka team
9 Rifle Team
Rifle Platoon (1st I.D.)
1 Cmd Rifle team
1 Bazooka team
9 Rifle Team
Rifle Platoon (1st I.D.)
1 Cmd Rifle team
1 Bazooka team
9 Rifle Team
Weapons Platoon (1st I.D.)
1 Cmd Carbine team
4 M1919 LMG team
3 M2 60mm mortar
Weapons Platoon
Machine-gun Platoon (1st I.D.)
1 Cmd Carbine team
4 M1917 HMG team
Machine-gun Platoon (1st I.D.)
1 Cmd Carbine team
4 M1917 HMG team
Divisional Support
Field Artillery Battery (1st I.D.)
1 Cmd Carbine team
1 Staff team
1 Observer Carbine team
4 M2A1 105mm howitzer
5 DUKW truck
Field Artillery Battery (155mm) (1st I.D.)
1 Cmd Carbine team
1 Staff team
2 3/4 ton truck
1 Observer Carbine team
1 Jeep
4 M1 155mm howitzer
4 M5 high-speed tractor
Air Support
7 Priority Air Support P-47 Thunderbolt
The Battlefield
1st I.D
The Germans
Quick thing to notice is that we did not have enough howitzer models for both side. The Priest were used as howitzers. For the Germans the tanks that are group up with the Priest were also howitzers.
The mission was 1/1, free-for-all. Both sides deployed as follows:
In the top right corner are the German's howitzers.
The red and white bases are two separate platoons for 1st I.D. Next to them were the 155 howitzers.
Germans got first turn but could not use any bombardment. The Germans moved up and only manage to kill a single team in the shooting phase. The Americans first turn was far more deadly. The airplane came in and attack the howitzers. My AA guns had a shorter range than I thought and was unable to give cover fire for them. The plane destroyed 2 howitzers. On the other side, the 155mm bombardment destroyed both rocket launcher batteries as I was looking up rules for them. The near by platoon was pinned down because of the bombardment.
Turn 2 had the Germans failed to rally from pinned down and the howitzers failed to range in on the enemy 105mm howitzers. The tanks manage to killed a few teams but there was so many troops for 1st I.D. that it felt like it barely made a dent. On the Americans turn 2 they decide to assault the tanks left too close to them.
Unfornately for them that they only manage to bailed out a single tank, lost a few teams in return and was force to retreat.
The next 2 or 4 turns were similar to each other. The Germans failed to rally from pinned and range in for the howitzers. The tanks and later the AA guns killed a few more teams. The Americans failed everything they attempted. For 2 or 3 straight turns, this was the exact result. It might have been 4 turns and the Americans might have gotten another plane in but it was shot down by the Germans AA guns.
Eventually the Fallschirmjager Platoon rally and was able to advance forward. The howitzers on both side started to range in and stuff started dying. The Germans manage to wiped out the 105 but most of their StuG in returned was destroyed. The Americans assaulted the Fallschirmjager when the moved up close enough but their defensive fire force the Americans to retreat. The Fallschirmjager launch their own assault with cover fire from the AA guns. The Germans wiped out the American platoon in a very bloody battle. However the second American platoon avenge their fallen brothers by assaulting and wiping out the remanding Fallschirmjager.
Moving toward the end of the game, Germans only hope was to get their remaining StuG to the objective that was being covered by the American machine gun platoons. The 1st I.D. on the other hand was trying to get the surviving rifle platoon to the undefended German objective for the victory. In responds, the German sent the AA guns to intercept.
The American machine gun platoons assaulted the StuGs, passed the tank terror test and destroyed the last remaining hope. The 155mm bombard the AAs and took one out. The rifle platoon move on to the objective, forcing the last AA to move up next to it to contest. On the Americans next turn they assaulted the AA, blew it up and the game was over. The Americans won 5 to 2.
*update*
My opponent has inform me that machine gun platoons can not assaulted and that it was another team that had moved across the board for a few turns to help support the machine gun platoon that actually did the assault on the StuGs. I thought that sounded right when I heard it from him. Still the end result of the game was the same.
The mission was 1/1, free-for-all. Both sides deployed as follows:
In the top right corner are the German's howitzers.
The red and white bases are two separate platoons for 1st I.D. Next to them were the 155 howitzers.
Germans got first turn but could not use any bombardment. The Germans moved up and only manage to kill a single team in the shooting phase. The Americans first turn was far more deadly. The airplane came in and attack the howitzers. My AA guns had a shorter range than I thought and was unable to give cover fire for them. The plane destroyed 2 howitzers. On the other side, the 155mm bombardment destroyed both rocket launcher batteries as I was looking up rules for them. The near by platoon was pinned down because of the bombardment.
Turn 2 had the Germans failed to rally from pinned down and the howitzers failed to range in on the enemy 105mm howitzers. The tanks manage to killed a few teams but there was so many troops for 1st I.D. that it felt like it barely made a dent. On the Americans turn 2 they decide to assault the tanks left too close to them.
Unfornately for them that they only manage to bailed out a single tank, lost a few teams in return and was force to retreat.
The next 2 or 4 turns were similar to each other. The Germans failed to rally from pinned and range in for the howitzers. The tanks and later the AA guns killed a few more teams. The Americans failed everything they attempted. For 2 or 3 straight turns, this was the exact result. It might have been 4 turns and the Americans might have gotten another plane in but it was shot down by the Germans AA guns.
Eventually the Fallschirmjager Platoon rally and was able to advance forward. The howitzers on both side started to range in and stuff started dying. The Germans manage to wiped out the 105 but most of their StuG in returned was destroyed. The Americans assaulted the Fallschirmjager when the moved up close enough but their defensive fire force the Americans to retreat. The Fallschirmjager launch their own assault with cover fire from the AA guns. The Germans wiped out the American platoon in a very bloody battle. However the second American platoon avenge their fallen brothers by assaulting and wiping out the remanding Fallschirmjager.
Moving toward the end of the game, Germans only hope was to get their remaining StuG to the objective that was being covered by the American machine gun platoons. The 1st I.D. on the other hand was trying to get the surviving rifle platoon to the undefended German objective for the victory. In responds, the German sent the AA guns to intercept.
The American machine gun platoons assaulted the StuGs, passed the tank terror test and destroyed the last remaining hope. The 155mm bombard the AAs and took one out. The rifle platoon move on to the objective, forcing the last AA to move up next to it to contest. On the Americans next turn they assaulted the AA, blew it up and the game was over. The Americans won 5 to 2.
*update*
My opponent has inform me that machine gun platoons can not assaulted and that it was another team that had moved across the board for a few turns to help support the machine gun platoon that actually did the assault on the StuGs. I thought that sounded right when I heard it from him. Still the end result of the game was the same.
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
FoW: First Campaign Battle
FoW
Parachute Rifle Company (101st) Vs. SS-Panzergrenadierkompanie
Parachute Rifle Company (101st) Vs. SS-Panzergrenadierkompanie
We played our first game of the Operation Overlord campaign and it was interesting to say the least. There were many mistakes on both side but overall it was a fun game. The 101st was played by neaceul and I played the Germans. As I still don't have any models yet all the German models were proxy with Allies with a little Soviet forces borrowed from a friend. I believe the 101st had some slight proxying as well. I will try to make things as clear as possible.
Parachute Rifle Company (101st)
Parachute Rifle Company HQ (company command carbine team, 2iC command carbine team, 3 bazookas)
Parachute Rifle Platoon (hq, mortar squad, 3 rifle squads, 3 extra rifle/mg teams)
Parachute Rifle Platoon (hq, mortar squad, 3 rifle squads, 3 extra rifle/mg teams)
Parachute Rifle Platoon (hq, mortar squad, 3 rifle squads, 3 extra rifle/mg teams)
Parachute Machine-Gun Platoon (hq, 1 machine gun section, 2 bazookas)
Parachute Mortar Platoon (hq, 2 mortar sections, 2 bazookas)
Parachute Field Artillery Battery (hq, 2 gun sections)
Priority Air Support
The list
Parachute Rifle Company (101st)
Parachute Rifle Company HQ (company command carbine team, 2iC command carbine team, 3 bazookas)
Parachute Rifle Platoon (hq, mortar squad, 3 rifle squads, 3 extra rifle/mg teams)
Parachute Rifle Platoon (hq, mortar squad, 3 rifle squads, 3 extra rifle/mg teams)
Parachute Rifle Platoon (hq, mortar squad, 3 rifle squads, 3 extra rifle/mg teams)
Parachute Machine-Gun Platoon (hq, 1 machine gun section, 2 bazookas)
Parachute Mortar Platoon (hq, 2 mortar sections, 2 bazookas)
Parachute Field Artillery Battery (hq, 2 gun sections)
Priority Air Support
Panzergrenadierkompanie
Headquarters HQ
Headquarters HQ
SS-Panzergrenadierkompanie
HQ
2 Cmd
Panzeraust SMG team
1 Kfz 15 field
car
1 Motorcycle &
Sidecar
Combat Platoons
SS-Panzergrenadier
Platoon
1 Cmd MG team
6 MG team
SS-Panzergrenadier
Platoon
1 Cmd
Panzerfaust SMG team
6 MG team
SS-Panzergrenadier
Platoon
1 Cmd MG team
6 MG team
3 3-ton truck
Weapons
Platoons
SS-Mortar
Platoon
1 Cmd SMG team
1 Kfz 15 field
car
3 Observer
Rifle team
3 Kubelwagen
6 8cm GW34
mortar
6 3-ton truck
Divisional
Support
2. SS-Panzer
Platoon (Fearless Veteran)
4 Panther A
SS-Tank-hunter
Platoon
3 Marder III M
We played the Airborne Assaults Rules & Seize and Hold mission. 101st parachuted in on the unsuspecting Germans a little before dawn. It was a long night. The table looked as follows:
Both sides had to hold half of our forces in reserved. The German side look like this:
The units with dice next to them were what I held in reserves. Those were all three of the Panzergrenadier Platoons and Marder III Tank-hunter Platoon.
Because of the way the objectives were place, the game was split into 2 halves. For easy I will call it the West and the East. German had to deploy their 3 units first anywhere on the board. My HQ was on the board but they essentially did nothing all game. On the West I had my mortar platoon. The East had my platoon of Panther As. The Panthers were spread out to also defend a third objective that was removed by neaceul.
The 101st also had 7 units so only 3 could come on at turn 1 plus reserves. No reserve showed up. Since the 101st platoons are parachuting in, they showed up on a random position on the board. In short, on a 6 six sided die a roll of a 1, 2 or 3 the platoon would land somewhere on the East, 4, 5 or 6, the West. It just happen that all three landed in different places on the East.
The 101st had first turn. They move up but had nothing shoot because of night fighting rules. My turn 1 saw a Panzergrenadier Platoon enter from reserves. The panthers started the game bailed out but all four passed their skill test to get back in. The Panzergrenadier Platoon and the Panthers moved up and shot a lot of machine gun fire at the red and blue teams of the 101st. The results were lackluster. Only a single blue team was killed. Neither were even pinned down.
The Panzergrenadier Platoon tried to move to a better position with the storm trooper move but the 101st was not having it. On turn 2, still with no reserves the 101st moved up and shredded the Panzergrenadiers leaving only two alive. They failed their motivation test and the last two were removed.
My turn 2 I was able to get the Tank-hunters from reserves. The Marder and Panthers shot into the two Parachute Rifle Platoons and manage to inflict several casualties and even pinning them.
Here is where I think I made my first major mistake. I had forgotten that no one could win the game until turn 6. I did not move my Panthers because I did not want the 101st to control the objective. I also had fault faith in my defensive fire.
So far my mortars have not done anything. This was because all the action have been on the East and because of the night fighting rules they could not see far enough to shoot. This change at turn 3. The 101st received it first reserves and they landed on the West.
However the game was essentially decide when the red Parachute Rifle Platoon assaulted the Panthers. They passed their tank terror test and the Panthers failed to get 5 hits on defensive fire to force them to retreat. The assaulted was brutal and ended with ...
The game continue on until turn 6 but the Germans had little control in the East. The 101st was able to neutralize any threats in the East relatively quickly and reserve showed up to help with the West.
The 101st wins 5 to 2.
 |
| part of the proxy German army. |
The Game
We played the Airborne Assaults Rules & Seize and Hold mission. 101st parachuted in on the unsuspecting Germans a little before dawn. It was a long night. The table looked as follows:
The units with dice next to them were what I held in reserves. Those were all three of the Panzergrenadier Platoons and Marder III Tank-hunter Platoon.
Because of the way the objectives were place, the game was split into 2 halves. For easy I will call it the West and the East. German had to deploy their 3 units first anywhere on the board. My HQ was on the board but they essentially did nothing all game. On the West I had my mortar platoon. The East had my platoon of Panther As. The Panthers were spread out to also defend a third objective that was removed by neaceul.
 |
| The mortar platoon in the West |
 |
| The mortar team's observers resting in buildings |
 |
| The dreaded Panther As |
The 101st had first turn. They move up but had nothing shoot because of night fighting rules. My turn 1 saw a Panzergrenadier Platoon enter from reserves. The panthers started the game bailed out but all four passed their skill test to get back in. The Panzergrenadier Platoon and the Panthers moved up and shot a lot of machine gun fire at the red and blue teams of the 101st. The results were lackluster. Only a single blue team was killed. Neither were even pinned down.
My turn 2 I was able to get the Tank-hunters from reserves. The Marder and Panthers shot into the two Parachute Rifle Platoons and manage to inflict several casualties and even pinning them.
So far my mortars have not done anything. This was because all the action have been on the East and because of the night fighting rules they could not see far enough to shoot. This change at turn 3. The 101st received it first reserves and they landed on the West.
However the game was essentially decide when the red Parachute Rifle Platoon assaulted the Panthers. They passed their tank terror test and the Panthers failed to get 5 hits on defensive fire to force them to retreat. The assaulted was brutal and ended with ...
The game continue on until turn 6 but the Germans had little control in the East. The 101st was able to neutralize any threats in the East relatively quickly and reserve showed up to help with the West.
The 101st wins 5 to 2.
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Flames of War fantasy?
A couple of my friends wanted me to try out the Flames of War game. I initially resisted because I thought it clash with my hobby goals. Flames of War is a historic World War 2 game and I know many in its community take the historic aspect very serious. And they have every right to. It is a game that can help people explore events where real people fought and died. It is a subject that deserves respect. Truth be told I also enjoy studying history. However when it comes to miniatures my interest lays in fantasy. I want to create my own stories with my miniatures and use my own paint schemes to achieve those ends.
In May as I prepared for the GM campaign I also had an urge to try out other types of miniature games. So I gave my friends a call and they were more than happy to show me the game. I found the game to be fun, easy to learn and seems to be pretty balance. Learning the game was help with the fact that Battlefront, the makers of the game, has a series of youtube videos explaining how to play. After playing a few more games I have fell in love with Flames of War. It also helps that it is on the cheaper side of miniature games. My only mild complain is the scale of the game is different from Warhammer and most other miniatures I'm thinking of picking up. This is only an issue because one of my long term goals is to do a miniature comic with my miniatures and having such a difference in scale (and setting for that matter) will make such a project much harder. Nevertheless I have a few options make it work so I will be adding Flames of War to my collection list. My Flames of War army will be on the fantastical side in a similar vein as the anime Pumpkin Scissors or the video game Valkyria Chronicles with my own twist. Maybe at some point down the road I will do a more historic accurate Flames of War army but for now I am all fantasy. For this blog I figure the change would be a few tanks in the painting log every so often.
And then I learn about WWPD's Flames of War: Operation Overlord campaign. Its a world wide campaign where every Flames of War battle you play can affect the outcome of the event. As cool and exciting the campaign sounded I was not planning on participating. I currently do not own any Flames of War miniatures and for an event like this I prefer at least using some of my own figures. But then I learn my friends really, REALLY wants to participate and at the time I was their only German player. So I decide to signup for the campaign. The icing on this cake however is that for players' battles to be counted in the event, a battle report of the game must be post somewhere online. Neither of my friends have a website nor do they want to write the battle reports. So I volunteered this space to have the Flames of War reports. I had planned on expanding the number of games I would write battle report on and post them on Chaos Magic, just not this soon. Oh well. The global campaign will be starting at the end of this month. Between the Flames of War campaign and the GM Warhammer fantasy campaign, this space will be getting busy real quick. Watch this space.
In May as I prepared for the GM campaign I also had an urge to try out other types of miniature games. So I gave my friends a call and they were more than happy to show me the game. I found the game to be fun, easy to learn and seems to be pretty balance. Learning the game was help with the fact that Battlefront, the makers of the game, has a series of youtube videos explaining how to play. After playing a few more games I have fell in love with Flames of War. It also helps that it is on the cheaper side of miniature games. My only mild complain is the scale of the game is different from Warhammer and most other miniatures I'm thinking of picking up. This is only an issue because one of my long term goals is to do a miniature comic with my miniatures and having such a difference in scale (and setting for that matter) will make such a project much harder. Nevertheless I have a few options make it work so I will be adding Flames of War to my collection list. My Flames of War army will be on the fantastical side in a similar vein as the anime Pumpkin Scissors or the video game Valkyria Chronicles with my own twist. Maybe at some point down the road I will do a more historic accurate Flames of War army but for now I am all fantasy. For this blog I figure the change would be a few tanks in the painting log every so often.
And then I learn about WWPD's Flames of War: Operation Overlord campaign. Its a world wide campaign where every Flames of War battle you play can affect the outcome of the event. As cool and exciting the campaign sounded I was not planning on participating. I currently do not own any Flames of War miniatures and for an event like this I prefer at least using some of my own figures. But then I learn my friends really, REALLY wants to participate and at the time I was their only German player. So I decide to signup for the campaign. The icing on this cake however is that for players' battles to be counted in the event, a battle report of the game must be post somewhere online. Neither of my friends have a website nor do they want to write the battle reports. So I volunteered this space to have the Flames of War reports. I had planned on expanding the number of games I would write battle report on and post them on Chaos Magic, just not this soon. Oh well. The global campaign will be starting at the end of this month. Between the Flames of War campaign and the GM Warhammer fantasy campaign, this space will be getting busy real quick. Watch this space.
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