Tuesday, July 3, 2012

What Does A Competitive Flames Of War Army Cost?

by Sandwyrm


With the demise of Project Biomorph, Kirby has taken over that forum and is turning it into the  3++ forum. As part of that transition, he asked Farmpunk and I to come and be moderators for the Flames of War section. So we're now available over there for the asking of Flames-related questions.

The first question we've gotten, from Frost89, is a good one. What does a Flames army cost? So Farmpunk and I have both broken down the price of the 1625 tournament armies that we played with last weekend. The low prices may astound you. :)


Here's Frost89's Question:

"I've tried to ask this question several times, but i never got an answer.
I understand that it's difficult to answer because there are a lot of variables to account for!

What's the average price for a general (lets say mixed tank/infantry) force, which is roughly equivalent of 1500 points of warhammer 40000?

What's the average terrain required (and its price) for a 1500vs1500 skirmish battle?

thank you"

Sandwyrm's German Panzers

First up, I'll list the cheaper of our two armies. My Mid-War German Medium Panzer Company.


What you're seeing:
HQ
1iC: Panzer IV F2
2iC: Panzer III L w/Shürzen (armored side skirts)

Combat Platoons:
Panzer Platoon
3 Panzer IV F2

Panzer Platoon
4 Panzer III L w/Shürzen

Weapons Platoons
Panzer Scout Platoon
3 Scout Squads + Command Team w/Kübelwagons (German Jeeps)

Support Platoons
Heavy Anti-Aircraft Gun Platoon
2 8.8cm Flak36 w/Extra Crew (for ROF 3)

Light Anti-Aircraft Gun Platoon
2 Sd Kfz 10/5 (2cm) AA Half-Tracks

Total: 1625 (Same as Mid-War Nationals this July)
Here's my cost breakdown, based on retail at our FLGS. TheWarStore is even cheaper.
26.00 - 1 Box of PSC Panzer IV's (5 tanks)
26.00 - 1 Box of PSC Panzer III's (5 tanks)
23.00 - 1 Blister of BF Shützen Platoon (9 stands of Infantry, you need 4 for this list)
12.50 - 1 Blister of BF Motorcycles (4) with Sidecars (I used Kübels, but these are cheaper and work identically.)
26.00 - 1 Box - BF DAK Heavy Anti-Aircraft Gun Platoon
25.00 - 2 Blisters of BF Armored Sd/Kfz 10/5 (2cm) AA Half Track
Total: $138.50

Not bad at all.

I will warn you though, that BF transports are pretty pricey. So if you add in transports for the 88's in my list (a 5-point option you'll rarely use), then it would add another $33.50 to the cost. This is particularly a problem for Germans, as we have so many different kinds of transport vehicle and each infantry/gun platoon can use different types in different lists. But it's still peanuts compared to even cheap 40K armies.

So add in a rulebook set ($60 for 3 books - rules, forces, hobby), plus the North Africa campaign book ($50), and you're looking at not-quite $250 to start. Though if you just want to be able to make NA lists, you can go to easyarmy.com and pay them $3 to use the NA rules with their on-line army builder. It's a good deal and is approved by Battlefront.


Farmpunk's American Tank Company


The list I took last week to a local tourney would cost:
6 Sherman ($75 Battlefront, $32 PSC)
3 Priest ($33 BF, PSC will have models out this summer)
2 M10 Wolverine ($25 BF, PSC will release this summer)
2 M3A1 Scout cars ($25 BF)
5 M5 Stuarts ($52 BF)
3 M3 Halftracks ($33 BF)
5 Jeeps ($25 BF)
4 105 Howitzers ($60 BF)
2 Staff teams for artillery ($25 BF)
misc. infantry to emerge from the Recon patrol ($20 BF)
So that puts my 1625pt Mid-war nationals force at $350 if buying from BattleFront. Once Plastic Soldier Co is done with their releases this summer, that same force will probably cost $200
You can get by cheaper, but I would expect to put down $200-300 if you're buying from BattleFront. You'll also have a decent sized force to play with.


But The Cheapest Option Just To Start Flames Is...

Go to TheWarStore.com and buy the rulebook set for $30.50. Then buy the 'Tigers Marsch' box set for $72 and you're all set for slightly more than $100 total. For an army list, you can download the free Tunisian Tigers list from the Flames of War website and get rolling right away. :)

Head over to the forum for what we have to say about terrain costs.


11 comments:

  1. actually,

    the cheapest comes in at Don's 8 Panthers.

    You can buy 5 Panthers from PSC for $32. so for $64, you've got your army. add in $12 for the recovery vehicle he was running, and you're looking at $75, with 2 spare tanks. wow.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Plus $3 to use easyarmy.com for making lists from Eastern Front. But yeah. Wow!

      Jerry's been selling the PSC tank kits at Games 2D4 for $26, so if your store can order their stuff, you can probably get it for $52 total. Double-wow!

      Delete
  2. And all I got were 5 terminators and a landraider. Geesh!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That GW LandRaider is now worth $80 though.

      and the Pro-painted Termies are sweet.

      Dunno what the Dark Eldar Warriors with Raider box costs now. Prob. $80 now too.

      Delete
  3. STOP.. must stay away.. wife would ship me off to siberia....;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. She won't ship you off. Talk her into a hobby night, where the two of you can make miniature houses, and trees, and watch movies together... Hobby time is quality time ;p

      Delete
    2. The 2 Panther boxes plus the FoW rulebook set is $80 on TheWarStore. Would you rather have the 6th Edition 40K rulebook, or an entire FoW army plus rulebooks for just $5 more?

      I can tell you right now which game is easier to learn, in addition to being more tactical and fun.

      Delete
    3. Actually, I have a brilliant plan in the works..... I'm waiting for her to by this $600.00 wheelset for her road bike. Then I'll chime in with my less costly hobby.

      Delete
  4. I think it's hard to put a price on. My friends who have big FoW armies have spent a lot on them but I don't think they consider any of it "non essential". Once you get into multiple time periods or want say infantry or artillery additions it gets pretty expensive.

    Also the forces you have there look pretty puny. You're not going to be fighting Kursk or Stalingrad with them any time soon :P

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think you could end up saying the same thing about a 40k army. How much is enough?

      is 3000pts of your favorite army enough? I know some people who have 10K points of their chosen army. Then there's some crazy ork players who have close to 20Kpts.

      We're talking about typical tourney armies.

      Compared to my GK or SoB 1500pt 40K armies, FoW is cheap.

      Delete
    2. I guess it depends on your definition of puny. My old 2000 point Imperial Guard list had 12 vehicles in it and 76 infantry. This German list is 15 vehicles and 34 infantry. So it's really the same size, more or less. It's just organized more cleanly.

      I can tell you that I've bought about 5500 points worth of Germans since last November. How much did that cost? About $500. About what you'd pay for an average Marine army.

      The important difference though, is this: Can I use all of that? The answer is: Yes I can!

      I can run a Heavy Tank list, A Medium Tank List, A Pioneer Infantry Company, and a Shützen Company. Which one works best? All of them. The 2K Tiger list is a rock with certain weaknesses. But the rest of those lists are perfectly viable. I can run any of them and have fun. So can my opponents if they're tired of facing one kind of list from me.

      And if I go buy 2 boxes of Half-Tracks, I can run a mechanized infantry list. If I add a box of Panthers, I can run lists from the Eastern Front Book. It's that easy. I'm not locked into one or two builds for my $600+ the way I am in 40K. I'm both spending less and getting more variety. All from a 4 year old book that's still perfectly competitive in the new rules. Nothing I had before the new edition is on the shelf. Everything is viable in some way.

      Delete

out dang bot!

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