A few weeks back, Jason reached out to us about learning how to play
Flames Of War. He discovered that he lived quite close to me, and after some scheduling conflicts we were able to figure out a day to play! Jason had not played Flames Of War before, but had painted up an absolutely beautiful Cavalry Recon force out of
Bridge at Remagen. Knowing this was to be his first game, I decided to play both a historical and a static opponent. I went with SS Westfalen. We rolled for the mission and came up with Hold the Line. I knew it would be tough on him to punch through my lines, but I was also glad my turns would be quick so we could focus on walking Jason through the rules!
The board from the US board edge. Look at all that lovely
Crescent Root terrain!
Volkssturm hold the right flank...
as well as the left flank.
While one unit of Westfalen infantry hold the town. Jadgtigers and another platoon of SS infantry are in ambush. "Artillery", scouts, and Panzer IIIs are in delayed reserve.
The jump-off point!
Six veteran priests! How about Jason's excellent paint jobs? Fantastic!
"Roll Out!"
Here we go!
The Cav rolls out, guns blazing!
All the weight of fire, and even a Time on Target barrage only sees two dead teams! These old men and young boys are holding on tight!
The JTs spring their ambush!
And nail a pair of priests!
JTs stare down the Cav!
...and the Cav decide to head away from the big nasties!
Run away!
The JTs have no one left to shoot!
The speedy little vehicles zip around the church and prepare to hit the German right flank!
The Conscripts brace themselves as they see the horde of green armor!
While the Jagdtigers haven't killed much, they stalled the enemy long enough for the first reserves to arrive.
The second SS platoon also spring their ambush, ready to hold the anthill!
Jagdtigers cautiously advance into the town, careful not to expose their flank to the threat of Jacksons!
Artillery rips into the hill!
The Stuarts launch an assault on the hill! One Stuart takes a Panzerfaust up the tailpipe, but the assault continues!
Naturally, the Volksturm run away at the first sign of real combat, but the SS infantry come back in, Panzerfausts blazing.
Not expecting such stiff resistance, the US tanks think better of it, and turn back!
The Panzer IIIs and SS infantry solidly hold the right...
While the JTs switch back to hold the left.
At this point, it's gotten quite late and we decide to call the game- The US certainly has a chance to fight through the wall of infantry, but it may take quite a while! 6-1 to the Germans, though neither side lost any major combat strength. Consider it a recon in force by the US!
