Thursday, September 22, 2011

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.

6 comments:

  1. Glad you enjoyed your first taste of FoW. I have been playing for about a year and it is a good time to be getting into FoW. Check out the Plastic Soldier Company and Zvezda Miniatures for Cheaper Plastic 15mm minis to use. Battlefront has come out and said they will never require official Battlefront Minis at event their national qualifier events so feel free to use what ever companies minis you want when building armies.

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  2. Those plastic soldier company miniatures look great.

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  3. Uh-oh...I think FoW has a new convert...
    FoW is pretty bad-ass.

    OMG how I LOATHE the American 'excellent communication' rules when they bring a lotta Arty.
    And those spotter planes...so annoying if one doesn't have AA.

    Aww....now I wanna play with my lil' tankies...

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  4. FoW is a fun game. I haven't bought an army yet since I'm into too many hobbies right now, but I've played a little.

    The problem for me is that I'd have a problem trying to be historic about my army. I'd rather build something cool and paint it the way I want it. I can feel the history-geek rage already.

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  5. RecklessFable - Just be close. Sure some uber History guys might complain, but if it is close then that is fine. For example, I am doing my 10/5 AA Halftracks German Grey. Were they German Grey in EW? Yeah, but usually with brown camo on them. Where they German Grey in LW? No not really. Do I care? No not really.

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  6. Huh- I bought little 15 mm 'aliens and robots' to represent my HQ's, as my German force is based off the fluff from things like Hellboy and the anime/manga Hellsing.

    Cuz I kinda have a problem with the German Real-Life 'fluff.'

    the FoW community hasn't given me a problem.
    You can go to the FoW website and check their 'hobby' posts...plenty of paint jobs there that aren't based off of the genuine articles.
    I don't think everyone wants their armies looking the same, regardless of the game.

    The whole 'it's gotta be historical' thing is kinda a myth.

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out dang bot!

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