What's Your Objective? Part 2

In Whats Your Objective? Part 1 we reviewed how important it was to have objectives and what resources are available to gamers who want to either buy pre-made objectives or build their own.  In todays article I will be showing you how I build an objective from inspiration to table ready using items if found in my bits box.

Inspiration
When ever I get in the objective building mood it usually starts with inspiration from some source.  Inspiration can come from a variety of places. Battlefront did a Secret Santa a while back where staff built objectives from scratch.  All of them turned out great and clearly each member of the  staff drew on a different source for their inspiration.  This included Hell Boy, a damsel in distress, Pimp my Ride, and a trip to the beach.  The Battlefront article shows that objectives don't have to be serious all the time, you can really be creative and have fun with them as well.  Here is another gallery of custom objectives I found online which are unique.

For todays drew my inspiration from, surprise surprise, Stalingrad.  Specifically civilians trying to navigate the ruins.  When I build my objectives I like them to look like they are part of the terrain and having civilians trying to make their way through the rubble add life to a ruined city fight.  I am going to call this one "Escape from Stalingrad".

Resources
Like many of you I have boxes of bits laying around my hobby room. I frequently access these bits when tinkering with models and when building my objectives.  Objectives are a great way to use up all those extra goodies you get when you purchase miniatures. Especially Battlefront who is really good about having lots of extra stuff in their boxes and blisters.

When I built those Greek Refugee objectives I had purchased a bunch of civilians from Peter Pig and had some left over so I will be using the figures up for this objective. I also had a bunch of loose Soviet troops.  I am going to add one to the objective as a guide/ protector for the civilians.   We are going to top that off with a couple random barrels from Baueda's WWII Accessories Range and other odds that I have laying around.

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Operation Sea Lion Fiction!

We've been absolutely blown away by the community's embracing of our Sea Lion campaign!  We were especially surprised at the amount of Fiction that sprang forth from the players' as they got into the alternate setting!  Below are a few highlights.  Apologies if I've left anyone out- post in the comments and I will update!

Bridges by Tom de Mayo.  A ragtag group of Home Guard defend a crucial village from a German assault.  Click Here to Download.

Operation Rob Roy by Jeff Kautz.  A daring rescue mission is launched by Free Soviet forces in an attempt to rescue an important British officer.  Read Part One. Read Part Two.

Letters From Cletus by Ferb at Ferb's Fighting Forces.  A Country boy writes letters from the front lines in Southern England.  Part One.  Part Two.  Part Three.

The Hungarian First Army by Ben at Breakthrough Assault.  The tale of the Hungarian army as they cross the channel and set foot on English Soil.  Part One.  Part Two.

And of course, we'd be remiss to not make mention of Patrick Gribble's excellent BBC-style topical updates, incorporating all the recent Battle Reports and map conditions.  These are visible in an ongoing fashion on the Operation Sea Lion News Page.

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German Heavy Tank Company vs. Irish Guards Tank Company

Dan and I got together at FTW Games to play a game among the 40K crowd. I went back to my beloved Irish Guards and Dan showed up with the Heavy Tank Company. This would be very tough for the Irish. Luckily, we got Fighting Withdrawal and Dan was the attacker - this made my fleeing in terror look like strategy!

Dan's German Heavy Tank Company CiC - 1 Tiger I E 2iC - 1 Tiger I E 1st Tiger Platoon - 2 Tiger I E 2nd Tiger Platoon - 2 Tiger I E 4 Panzer IV H 2 Whirblewinds

Jon's Irish Guards Tank Company CiC - Sherman 2iC - Sherman 1st Tank Platoon - 3 Shermans + 1 Firefly Vc 2nd Tank Platoon - 3 Shermans + 1 Firefly Vc Anti-Tank Platoon - 4 M10 Achilles Recce Patrol - 3 Stuarts Recce Patrol - 2 Daimler Is + 2 Dingos (ate my babies!) Column Patrol - 3 Universal Carriers

SETUP AND DEPLOYMENT

A tank platoon guards the two closest objectives. The 2iC and CiC guard the far one.

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Battlefield in a Box: Train Station

It's about that time again!  Let me drool over some new Battlefield in a Box terrain from Battlefront Miniatures!  Today we're looking at the new Train Station.  As usual, everything comes fully painted and ready to play right out of the box!  At the time of writing I can't find a listed price, but based on the cost of the Church, I'd expect $40 USD.  Since you all probably know how much I love this entire series, I will spare you a wordy review and instead let the pictures do the talking.

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Somethin' Else Sunday: Viking Bondi

WWPD has talked on both the podcast and the forum about trying other stuff on Sundays.  I present for your amusement my Vikings for Gripping Beast's SAGA!

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Decoy Panthers

Just a quick post today. Jon gave me 2 Panthers from the boxes of Plastic Soldier Company Panthers he picked up so I could paint them up for my Reds. Quite pleased with how they came out!

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EW Poles vs German Fallschirmjägers Pincer AAR

Guest post by the inimitable Anatoli from Anatoli's Game Room.


The second Early War battle played last weekend, this battle was fought with the same Polish army that I used against Andreas Slovaks. David, my opponent, was playing German Fallschirmsjägers - another army that is missing from the Blitzkrieg book.

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Episode 37 and After Hours Now Available!

Episode 37 is now Live!  The dudes are back in action and ready to chat about a variety of topics!  On the table are Recon, Tank Destroyers, Diablo, Disney, and terrain!  Plenty of silly antics, of course, and lots of crunchy bits too!  We also make completely baseless guesses to the content of Devil's Charge (note- they are a bit outlandish!)




Episode 37: After Hours is also Live!  After recording episode 37 and a long day, the dudes are instantly goofy!  They talk more Tank Destroyers (Seriously, Luke can make a cheesy list!), movies, their upcoming tournaments and more!  Jon also tells the ballad of the Crunk Cups that were not to be! 

edit: Sorry guys, it seems like the metadata is not set correctly so After Hours is still not showing up as a Podcast in iTunes.  This seems to be much more complicated than I thought but we've got top men on it.  Top men.  Anyhow, if you select the track, right click, and go to "Get Info", you can then click the Options tab and select "Podcast" in the Media Type dropdown.  


Terribly sorry, I will try my best to get to the bottom of this!

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What's Your Objective? Part 1

Editor's Note: Introducing the fabulous Craig Baxter of Frozen Gamer AK who's agreed to write some regular articles for us!
Thanks to WWPD.net I got back into Flames of War about two and a half years ago.  I had played previously on and off again prior to that in a tournament that was held annually at “Brimfrost”, our now defunct local convention, and occasionally if there was club play.  Flames of War gaming seemed to cease when one of the pillars in our gaming community and subsequently the owner of most the 15mm terrain moved to Colorado.  The Flames of War community more or less dissolved.  I continued to collect 15mm World War Two and played a lot of Blitzkrieg Commander.  When I got back into Flames of War I had plenty of figures, but I was lacking one major piece required for every game, objectives.  Since other rule systems don’t use objectives like Flames of War do I didn’t have any readily available for use.

Other than collecting your army, objectives are arguably the most important models you put on the table each time you play Flames of War.  Since Flames of War missions and scenarios are based around the taking and holding of objectives, failure to have an objective can result in an inability to play, or at least some improvisation that looks awkward on the tabletop.  I have seen the stray artillery piece, two medium bases of random figures back to back and even cut out paper used when someone doesn’t have or forgets their objectives.  While this can work in a pinch, it also detracts from all the hard work you and your opponent put into painting your armies and building your terrain.

Every time I start a new army I build new objectives for that force.  I like to have my objectives match the army’s style and theme.  From the uniforms to the flock, I build my objectives to be a part of the force to ensure they look like they belong with the army they go with and the part of the war they should be in.  I also like my objectives to be dynamic or themed to give them character.   Objectives don't have to be boring.

My Mid War Germans for example are based around a Stalingrad 1942 theme.  So the bases are intended to resemble rubble and urban debris, the uniforms match the uniforms of the Army, and any extra bits I find or attempt to resemble items found in the besieged city.

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New Subscription Format for After Hours + More Premium Content

Guys, let me start by saying a HUGE thank you to everyone who's purchased After Hours up to now. It's been a big success, and we have a ton of fun recording it- we hope you have fun listening!

CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE

For a while now I've known a major decision point was approaching. Our current service (e-junkie) is reaching a point where we are going to need to rethink where the files are hosted, and while they've been fine to work with- I think it's time to move forward. There are a number of concerns that we've heard from you all, such as:
1) clunky interface. No good way to buy more than one episode that isn't a royal pain.
2) lack of meta data means the MP3s never show up as podcasts, putting additional work on you
3) you have to manually go download the episode which is inconvenient

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Firestorm Turn 2 has Begun! Soviet Forward Det vs Panzers

To kick off Turn 2 of our Firestorm Campaign, Sean attempted to blunt the spear of the soviet advance by hitting the out of supply forces in Borizov. However, despite being out of supply, the Soviet Forces are determined and thus have vastly improved morale! The mission is Counter Attack with Sean's Panzers defending.

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Southern England is burning!

The first full week of Operation Sea Lion is almost behind us!  We've had more than 30 battles fought from around the world as the Axis powers expand their beach head in the face of stiff Allied resistance!  Join the fight now and help turn the tide of History!

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May Arnhem Update

Yet another update for the Arnhem themed game at Historicon this year. I got most of the wooded areas done - I do need to Matte Medium the trees. I also got the towers done and base coated.


The area in the middle with the woods is not yet finished -- I need to add tufts and underbrush. You see where the towers will be on either side. I still need to finish the bridge, or course.


Here you see the woods and a wall I have installed.

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New Battlefield in a Box: Rural church

Battlefront sent us one of the new Rural Churches to have a look at.  By now anyone reading this knows how much I love the Battlefield in a Box line, so this is going to be less of a review and more of a showcase.
Suffice it to say at the $40 price point, I am certainly impressed with this set!

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Why the Pie Hates You

The Math Behind Artillery and Air

Soviet forces come under fire from a German armored train

By now, I'm sure you've all read Eric Riha's excellent article on artillery math in Flames of War.  (If not, go read it here.)  You'll notice he has a whole bunch of complicated charts calculating the chance of killing a single tank under an artillery template. You'll also notice those numbers are pretty small.

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The NOOb goes to War ... V3 - Weapons Platoon Support Options

Greetings Recruit NOObs,

     Commander NOOb Mezz here to present our second article of the "NOOb goes to War" series.

     If you need to catch up with the briefing, you can check out the previous article NOOb goes to War ... Version 3

     In our previous article, we addressed planning around forces that could be used in numerous lists.  To remind you, I find this saves time and money as well as making your forces more adaptable for the future.

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What Are Those Red and White Poles For?

Editor's Note: This is a guest article by Rob Kelly- I found it incredibly informative, I hope you do too!  Thanks Rob!

I’m sure that everyone has seen those red and white poles either mounted on the trails of a gun or howitzer or on the side of an armoured vehicle.  I served 18 years in the Royal Canadian Artillery, so I feel qualified to answer that question.

The short answer is that they are “aiming posts”.  The longer answer is that they are cleaning staves painted up to look like aiming posts. So, what exactly are aiming posts and what are they used for?  First of all aiming posts are only used for indirect fire weapons such as artillery guns and howitzers or mortars. When guns are deployed by an artillery battery a survey device known as an aiming circle or director is set up to the left front of the battery.

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After Hours Episode 19: Pigeons Never Break

After Hours 19- After recording episode 36 the dudes are chatty! We talk TV and movies, and of course Flames of War. By the end of the episode they are a complete train wreck, and Steven and Jon are revealed for the true A-holes they are.

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Somethin' Else Sunday: SAGA Vikings

WWPD has talked on both the podcast and the forum about trying other stuff on Sundays.  I present for your amusement my Vikings for Gripping Beast's SAGA!

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Operation Sea Lion is Now Live!

Southern England has been invaded!  A 3 pronged amphibious invasion was launched across the English Channel and preceeded by several highly coordinated airborne landings.  Seizing strategic locations in Kent, Dorset, and Cornwall, the Germans successfully established beach heads in those 3 regions.  While both Kent and Dorset fell alarmingly quickly, Cornwall remains contested as stiff British and American defense continues to hold up the German advance.

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News From the Front Episode 36

"Comin' at you live from Studio B!"


The dudes talk Operation Sea Lion, Adepticon, Tank Destroyers, and more!  Steven talks about his recent tournament at Huzzah Hobbies, Steven and Jon take a quick tangent to discuss SAGA, and the crew generally hams it up as usual!


TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• 0:00 ACT I: Intro, What We've Been Up To, Adepticon AAR, Otto Carrius!
• 0:42 ACT II: Operation Sea Lion, Hot Lists & US Tank Destroyers, World of Tanks, WSS Magazine
• 1:19 ACT III: Huzzah Hobbies Tournament AAR, Saga Chat

Download this week's episode directly:
http://archive.org/download/WwpdNewsFromTheFrontEpisode36/Episode36.mp3
Subscribe via iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wwpd-news-from-the-front/id398903039
Subscribe with other: http://feeds.feedburner.com/WWPDPodCast
Links discussed in this episode:
http://www.odms-club.com/convention/
http://www.flamesofwar.com
http://www.wssmagazine.com/cms/
http://www.adepticon.org/
http://www.huzzahhobbies.com/
http://www.novaopen.com/


 EDITOR'S NOTES:
First time in Studio B!  I really enjoyed doing it on a weeknight- I think we will keep up with this, and thus be able to get back to our every other week schedule!

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Achtung! Plastics: Review

Sherman Sprue

As you no doubt know by now, Battlefront's new starter set "Achtung!" dropped recently and includes fully plastic kits for 3 British Shermans and 2 German Stugs.  Of course we're all excited about Battlefront's jump into plastics, so let's have a look!

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N00b Zone: More Painting and Modeling Tips

Let's continue our series of modeling tips for Flames of War! This series of tips will cover some of the things already mentioned in the podcast, but we think it is important to get these on the site for reference. Enjoy!

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Template Weapon Mathemagic

Hi Everyone,

Stolen from Krynn72 on the FoW forums

Today's Flames of War Statistics article is a relatively straightforward one and it deals with Artillery Template Weapon Systems. I had originally drawn up some work related to both Artillery and Airplane weapons in V2, but since probabilities for air planes got so much easier (read: 1 chance to range in), I added several more options for basic Artillery.

I developed a set of equations that would calculate the probability of killing a single armoured team under a template given a set of conditions (Target Skill, Top Armor, Artillery Skill, AT, FP) over all 3 attempts to range in. While it is relatively easy to hammer out an EV for a single attempt to range in, accounting for subsequent attempts/success is more complicated.

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Operation Sea Lion Beach Assault AAR!

Operation Sea Lion is off! Barges and amphibious tanks hit the British coast near Chesil beach, and Hauptman Von Odenkirk's pioneers are tasked with securing the beach head. The mission is a slightly modified Fighting Withdrawal. SIGN UP NOW FOR OPERATION SEA LION

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Something Else Sunday: Normans for Saga

As we've mentioned on both the podcast and the forum, we though it would be neat to "try something different" every Sunday.  We plan to stay focused on FoW Monday through Saturday, but we're versatile gamers and we're willing to bet you are too.  So, to kick off these Something Else Sundays, here are a few pics of my first Normans for SAGA!

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Total System Scenic Train Tracks

Back when I posted my Battlefront Train Tracks review, I lamented the lack of curved pieces.  I really liked the Battle Front offering, but have trouble seeing myself using them much without the curved option!  I contacted several alternative manufacturers, and Total System Scenic responded with a sampling of their tracks!

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Jumbos Lead the Way!

We received the Sherman M4A3E2 "Jumbo" box in addition to the M4A3E8 Easy Eight Box to take a look at- and I couldn't be happier!  These are of course by Battlefront Miniatures for use in Flames of War .  The box comes with 4 Sherman Jumbos, which is the maximum number a tank company from Blood Guts & Glory can field.

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British Armoured Regiment vs Italian Compagnia Carri

Before we return to our Firestorm Campaign, Sean and I wanted to hit a few theaters we've neglected as a result of the Eastern Front Focus. A desert armor scrape was at the top of our list! As usual we rolled for mission and came up with Free For All- which suited us just fine!

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Sherman M4A3E8 "Easy 8" Review

 At long last, some new US Armor!  Got my hands on a brand spankin' new box of Detroit's finest!  The M4A3E8 is easily the coolest of all the Shermans.  With neat new rules to set it apart, The Easy 8 is giving American and German players in Flames of War a lot to think about!

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My Soviet Army Collection (April 2012)

The 4th installment in my Flames of War Army Collection Videos.

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