Flames nipping at our heels

by: farmpunk

Last night SandWyrm and I embarked on upon a new journey, and we tried a NEW GAME. We met up at Gamerz (SandWyrm wrote up a report about the store), and we played Flames of War.

I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it quite a bit, actually. I spent a couple of hours perusing the rule book and blitzkreig supplement while at work using online PDF's, and was pretty pumped to go try it out.

I should have had SandWyrm get pics of the game, but alas, I was too excited about playing this new game, which is both like, and unlike 40K. There were some other FoW players who showed up, some of whom organize Able Kompanie (Indianapolis' FoW association, they do the FoW at GenCon).

not our table, this one's from Historicon

We had a German player, and an American player, so we made 2 American 750 lists, and 2 German 750 lists, and had a game of it. Using 2 Force Charts per side ended up meaning we had a lot more basic troops than in a normal game, but it worked.
Both sides started from infantry lists, as most lists will want some infantry, and it was a good way for SandWyrm and I to get a feel for the mechanics.

I'll admit, I got hooked reading the rules, and wrapping my brain around new mechanics. I got more excited as we made our lists, and liked setting up a board with roads, hedges, hills, buildings, and fields. Compared to a 40K table, it was cluttered. I liked it.

My temmate and I made two very similar lists, (I think you kind of have to at the low points lvl) Using two platoons (one large, and one medium), We made them Veterans, and moved on to other goodies.

M10 Tank Destroyers

We wanted tanks, and some kind of artillery. My half of the force got an artillery battery of 4 105's, and two M10 Tank Destroyers. We filled it out with some bazookas to add some points.
My teammate's half of the force took a Mortar platoon, and 3 Shermans, and a Spotter plane, then some bazookas, and a sniper.

Pz IV

SandWyrm and his partner had two platoons of veterans, one large and one medium, like we did. They both had 3 Panzer4's. SandWyrm had 3 Nebelwerfers, and his partner had a two gun artillery battery.

Nebelwerfers!

We started our game, my team going first. So we deployed first. Like old 4th ed 40K, you take turns deploying. We set up our objectives in our opponent's homefield, and started putting down our troops.
The taking turns deploying unit by unit was nice. You can start seeing our opponent's plans, and try to guess what they're going to do.
We played a few turns, and called the game. It was getting late, but we got a feel for the game.

Overall, it's different than 40K, and I think some things make more sense than 40K. It takes some getting used to to disengage your brain from 40K mode, and engage FoW logic for why what is done when. I like the tit-for tat of shooting, and saving, and firepower rolls. I also like the simplicity and brutality of assaults and defensive fire.
US arty with the spotter plane is fun.
I found it interesting to see how the two seemingly similar forces had to play differently because of their respective special rules. Both the Germans and American have their trade-offs. American radios for communication are nice, so is the German Stormtrooper move, and promoting a rank and file squad to command in the platoons is nice.

Overall, I enjoyed playing, and look forward to trying it again.