No Retreat - Late War Version 4 Flames of War Playtest

Following an initial Mid-War Version 4, my good gaming buddy Ed and I returned to Hard Knox Games to borrow the store preview copy and give Version 4 a Late-War tryout. Again, we wanted to test out the "worse case" scenario of  a tank force attacking against a infantry & gun force in the No Retreat mission. The presumption was that tanks, especially medium tanks, were going to have no chance against a strong infantry & gun force.

The Forces

The Soviet Strelkovy Battalion

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Flames of War: Version 4 for Early/Late War, Rules Preview

Now that we have taken care of all of the Mid-War releases for Version 4, it is now time to turn our attention to something I am excited for, which is the EW/LW update to V4. For those who have been following my coverage may be thinking, what a hypocrite, he blasted MW V4, let likes it for EW/LW. First of all I do think we have two related but vastly different games here, and I feel after you have taken time to compare the two, and perhaps play them you will see the difference as well. Despite my praise I do feel gamers will have some issues with some of the concepts that have changed from Version 3. This article is the first of a series that will cover the V4 EW/LW rules, the next article will cover the Special and National Rules from this book and from the Special Rules book.
The new rules come in two books; the first are the core rules which comes out to 109 pages and is a standalone set of rules not a translation of the V3 rules for V4, so you do not have to keep referring back to V3. The other book, which covers Special Rules and Warriors is not a standalone book, and serves to translate, amend, and update the info from all of the previous EW/LW intelligence briefs to V4, so you will need to refer back to the original book.

Both books will be given to you free if you present a copy of the V3 book, and even that simple statement has led to many questions of the forums. So why have two books for the V4 rules? It goes back to what I stated above, they are different games now. All of the rules that dealt with things like warrior teams, pioneers, flame throwers, etc. are not out of the MW version of the game, so why have it the rules since they are no longer applicable. Also, the deep and interesting lists, with their unique special rules are unchanged and are no long comparable to the mid war game. Another big difference between the two is that MW will have a different point scale and use cards for players to keep track of their forces vice using lists.

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A Tale of Two Tournaments (Part 2)

And we're back for day 2 of my 2 day Flames of War binge.  My first tournament (Battle Report can be found here) ended in a 4th place finish after 3 fun but bloody games with armored lists in Manchester CT.

My second tournament, Sunday August 21st, would take me south to Cedar Grove NJ and the Time Warp Comics Store

The store was a crazy mix of stock.  Every game system was represented, and in the back were tables enough for 6 to 8 games simultaneously.  Much was taken up by comics or people's armies and terrain, but it was the kind of store you could get lost in while finding all sorts of crazy stuff.

There would be prizes for Best allied player, best axis player, and best painted. we had 6 players come in, but a wide variety of lists participate.

Game 1 - 51st Highland Division vs. Veteran Japanese infantry in fighting withdrawal

After 2 days, 6 games and a whirlwind of travel, I confess I forgot the name of my first opponent, should he read about himself here, I apologize! I think it was Dave.

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FoW Battle Report: HG Assault Gun Battery vs Finnish Pioneers 3/5

Hey Everyone,

Report 3 of HG Assault Gun Battery on the frontline is coming up. This time, I played Finnish Pioneer company in Fighting Withdrawal.
When I checked out my opponent's list, I already knew it was going to be a tough game. But when I saw the table on which we were supposed to play, I figured it would be next to impossible to beat them. But nevertheless, I did not travel 200+ kms to give up a game before it even began! :)

Finnish Pioneers:

During deployment, my opponent selected the table edge, where there was most concealing terrain, leaving me in a spot where I would have to cross almost completely open ground to be able to threaten his pioneers with direct confrontation. He placed his objective in the center of the table and I did the reverse, spreading out his forces as much as I possibly could so that I would not have to fight all of them at the same time.

Before the game even started, I was concentrated in an area on the left flank, in which there were only 2 houses to hide behind and a field of crops that I would have to leave anyway. Also, the pioneers somehow managed to install lines of barbed wire in front of my tanks to stop my armored cars from roaming around freely.

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FoW Battle Report: HG Assault Guns vs 12 SS Panzergrenadiers 2/5

Hi Everyone,

I think it is time for the next battle report of me running my HG Assault Gun Battery list. So here it goes.

After the first game I thought I did a pretty good job stopping a US Tank company from overruning my positions. This time, I was about to be involved in some maneuvers against the 12 SS Panzergrenadiers. The mission was Dust Up. My opponent's list was:

We started off by rolling who gets to be the attacker and it was my opponent who got to choose his table quarter and nominate his reserves as well as deploy the first platoon. In fact, when he saw my assault gun horde on the opposite side of the table, he immediately deployed very defensively, putting his all his infantry with attached gun carriers and Barkmann on the table. His Brummbars, armored mortars and 8-rads were employed as reserves as he probably knew that he had to concentrate mainly on defending his own objectives as well as having mobile reserve units that could avoid annihilation by the ravenous StuGs :)

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Able Kompanie's Crossing the Rhine Tournament Report

Able Kompanie held a LW 1625pt. "Crossing the Rhine" Tournament at Sinclair Games in Carmel, Indiana on Saturday June 25, 2016.  Generally we like to run themed Tournaments and felt that limiting the event to Market Garden, Bridge by Bridge, Nachtjager and Bridge at Remagen might bring out some interesting lists we had not seen in a tournament setting.  We ended up with 6 Allied and 6 Axis Players.  No one brought a list from Nachtjager but we did have a good variety of lists from the other books.  The Germans tended to favor lists from Bridge by Bridge while the Americans chose Remagen and the British chose Market Garden.  Sinclair Games has two different gaming areas in addition to a well stocked store so our tables were split between the two spaces.  Several players brought terrain to augment the store's stock.

 The Upstairs Room

The Back Room

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FoW Battle Report: HG Assault Guns vs US 9th Armored 1/5

Hello Everybody, here is another article by Sexy Sixes!

As promised earlier, today I will cover the battles I fought last weekend using HG Assault Gun Battery from Flames of War Digital. The tournament format was the standard 1420 Late War, so no big surprises here. We played 5 battles in total: 2x Mobile, 2x Defensive and 1x Fair Fight (determined randomly before each round + scenarios could only be played once). My list was:

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FoW Batrep: Tankovy Batalon vs. Panzer Kampfgruppe (Trained)

My good friend Dennis Jensen has been working on his Soviet tank forces for the last year.  To test the latest additions to his army, we get together every 2-3 months at Island Games in Chantilly, VA.  For this go around, Dennis is playing a Confident Trained Tankovy force from Red Bear, while I am fielding a Trained Panzer Kampfgruppe from Desperate Measures.  I might be fielding portions of this Kampfgruppe next month at the FoW Doubles Tournament at Historicon, so this game is a small tune-up for me.

The armies courtesy of Easy Army:

We rolled randomly and came up with Hasty Attack as the scenario, Germans defending.


I chose to defend the near side of the table.  I was worried the ridges on the far side of the table were a barrier in case I needed to shift my forces.  We played the rail line as a slow-going embankment.

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Hero Soviet Tankovy Versus US 80th Infantry Division

By Luke Melia

Andy and I are at it again. This time he wanted to try out his late war Soviets against me.  We did not know what each other was playing and I actually thought he would be bringing Germans to the table.  This was a big surprise for me!  We had decided to play Late War at 1420 points and we set the table to not have a ton of linear obstacles, but we did use a lot of wheat fields.  We rolled for the mission and we played no retreat.  The 80th was the defender.


Andy's List Fearless Trained
Hero Tankovy from Red Bear
Command T-34/85
3 Platoons of 3x T-34/85s
1 Rota Platoon
3x BA-64 Recon
1 Platoon Heavy Mortars

We have all seen a horde of Soviet tanks staring down at us and for me this scene always fills me with a sense of dread.

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Long Time, No Heer: My Return to Flames of War

By Mitch Reed with Pictures from David Garvin

In the past I have penned more than a few articles on Flames of War that cover many aspects of the hobby, however now I cannot recall the last time I posted an article about the game.  I have not played Flames of War since the “Fall-In” tournament in early November 2015, a fact that shocked me because I was such an engaged player over the last few years.  My lack of play was not a conscious decision, and I guess I got wrapped up in other great games where I did not miss playing FoW.  Maybe a lot has to do with the fact that the new lines from Battlefront (Team Yankee and the Pacific) are not in my “wheel house”.  While they are great additions to the hobby neither of them gave me the same excitement as the Second World War and Eurocentric version of the game.

I guess it was an email from the I-95 Gamers Yahoo group many months ago that got me back into the fold.  It was for a Normandy themed tournament at Huzzah Hobbies in mid-April, and I quickly signed up for it.  The organizer for this event was David Garvin; a name I have never heard of him before and I thought (incorrectly) that I knew most of the folks who would try to organize a local tournament.

Bocage..... Sucks

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Jagdpanther Platoon (GBX84) Review

Ahhhhh, the Jagdpanther!  This is one of my favorite tanks in Flames of War!  Some time ago, Battlefront released the GBX84 box to provide plastic Panthers and Jagdpanthers.  I finally got around to building these guys, and of course went for more Jagdpanthers!  With the drive to plastic, it makes sense to have a Panther kit out, and I think it is a smart move to make this a multi-option kit, but including the JPs as well.

This box contains FIVE tanks, not three like the old kit.  This is great, as I can get a couple of boxes and mix and match my options as I please.

The back of the box lists all the options you can build and all the things that come in the box.  Though the Panther turret is set up for magnets, none come in the box.  Bummer.

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Battlefront StuG G Platoon (GBX83) Review

by "Dirty" Jon Baber

I have plenty of StuGs available for my German Army, but they were assembled over the years and have a bit of a hodge podge appearance.  I got a hold of the new Battlefront StuG G Platoon to start the process of unifying the look of my models. Thought the art looks the same, this is quite a different box than the old StuG platoon.  Before we get in to the models, let's talk a little about the StuG.

For about 95 Late War points, you can get a Confident Veteran StuG.  FA 7, SA 3, TA 1 with Hull MG, Protected Ammo and Schurzen.  The gun is ROF 2, AT 11, 3+ Firepower and Hull Mounted.  Compared to the Panzer IV H, you get +1 FA, but lose a Machine Gun and your turret.  The StuG is 5 more points, so... is it worth it?  Ahhhh, a great question!  The German Flames of War player confronts this question all the time - you will have to decide for yourself!

I was pleased to see a fairly simple sprue with not very many parts.  Including the StuH 42 and the earlier StuG design was a big upgrade from the previous box.  The diagram is pretty clear and easy to understand.

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Late War Fighting Withdrawal - Germans vs. USSR

by "Dirty" Jon 

Tarzan and I decided to play a Late War game of Flames of War before recording the podcast.  We wanted to do something weird, so we jacked up the points and both picked lists that are not great. I wanted to get the old Panzer IV/70s on the board - which I love.

I went with an entire company of CT PzIV/70s, some Nebs, Ostwinds, a little Infantry, a CV King Tiger and Rudel.

Eric made up a hero IS-2 list and we went at it. His list had three platoons of two IS-2s with the FA 11 upgrade.  He also had a unit of T-34/85s, some arty, two Assault Guns (I think ISU...something) and air.

We rolled up a random mission and got Fighting Withdrawal.  I won the game roll (by rolling low) and got to Defend - yay! 

Zee Germans take the lower half of this board.

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A Visit to the 2015 North American Masters Tournament

By Mitch Reed with photographs by Sean Sarah

As the skies get darker earlier and the air becomes chilly another year of Flames of War tournament play ends with the North American Masters event.

The 2015 installment of what is billed as the tournament between of the best players on the continent was held at Games and Stuff, a gaming shop just south of Baltimore on 14-15 November.

The annual affair pits the players who have won a nationals level event or have played well during the year and have made it to the top of the North American rankings.  I had the opportunity to visit with the players and organizers during the first day of competition and left with a better understanding on what the Masters Tournament is all about.

The Organizer
The first person I spoke with is Dave Griffin who works for Battlefront and runs all of the events Battlefront runs during the year along with the master’s tournament.  Dave is running his third Masters event this year and tries to add some wrinkles to the game in order to create a more challenging environment for the competitors.

This year he limited lists to those that are contained in the 8 hardcover late war books; Dave explained how those lists which represent the early part of the late war period are “classical lists” and, as a whole, are very well balanced for players to pick from. This year Dave had each player develop a 1400 point base list and then create three 250-point task forces from the same list.

Before each game, a die was rolled and results could range from selecting one of the three task forces to add to that game, to having the player or the opponent chose to the final result in which none of the task forces are used.  Dave also limited the amount of times a player could use a particular task force during the course of the tournament, so if one of your task forces are used twice, they are no longer eligible for use in a later game.

To me this is an interesting twist that, while it does change things up, can also be manipulated when your opponent picks a task force.  With most of the players coming from two distinct regions (more on this later) you could have a buddy pick an already used task force that would cause your list issues in order to make it ineligible for a later game when you may have to play that opponent.

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Flames Of War: 71st Anniversary Market Garden Battle Report

Guest Article by Igor "Yegr" Modelski

2 times Canadian, 2 times Polish National Team representative on FoW ETC

On 17th of September 1944 started the greatest airborne operation up to date. In nine day’s it would be over with British and American forces failing to achieve a breakthrough into the Rhineland.

Shan Morris has donated a wonderful Holland table to the ETC, and as we got the Stewardship over it – what better way was there to celebrate it, then to do a climactic battle report.

So I’ve asked P. and StaryKur to take part in the battle report. They would each prepare their 1780pts lists without knowing what they were up against – only that they were to choose a force that could possibly appear during Operation Market Garden.

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Hero Soviet Tank vs. German Assault Gun Company

 By Eric Lauterbach

So I was over at my buddy Bob Rossi's house and he showed me his brand new Panzer IV/70 A which looked great. So I said these guys look so cool let's play these guys right now! So Bob whipped up some lists and we threw down.

Bob played his new tanks of course and based it of Desperate Measures with a lot of Stugs as the base. I played a Hero Tankovey company based on T-34/85s with some Assault gun Support. Since we wanted action quick we played Free-for-all.

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Product Review Battlefront's Panzersturm Platoon (GE848)

By Jeff "SonBae" Flint



Finally! My FLGS got the Flames of War Panzersturm Platoon (GE848) in from Battlefront. This is a follow on to the article on on the IR equipped Sdkfz251s. These carry the Infra-red night sights to the infantry and gives you a platoon of 7 Assault Rifle/Panzerfaust stands all with the "Infra-red Equipment" special rule where a German company with troops with Infra-red Equipment may take Night Attack in ANY mission and they get the Always Attack special rule if they do Night Attack. Additionally, platoons with Infra-red Equipment get Spearhead. Whoa!

Night is falling...prepare for action!

If that wasn't enough, these Vampirs get an added advantage of rolling 2 dice to when rolling on the Night Visibility Table... and if the unit they are shooting at is spotlighted by a Uhu (GBX82) (review) they don't have to roll on the table at all!  I know, their range is only 8 inches....bout you don't have to worry about rolling that 1! The target sadly is still concealed.

The night isn't safe for the allies anymore.

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FoW: Late War Italy 26th Panzer vs 3rd Infantry Division

By Eric Lauterbach

When Sean said "hey lets get together and play an Italy battle", I thought "great I all ready have a list!"

I happily dusted off my mid-war Panzer-Grenadier army. The problem was, when Sean said Italy he meant Late War Italy... Doh!!

So, I took my mid-war list and made it a late war.  The only real changes were the Nebs got heavier and PzIIIs became PzIVs.

My list was two Panzer-Grenadier platoons in trucks and a Aufklarungs platoon in halftracks, 4 PzIVs, a Pak 40 platoon, HMGs, Nebs 21cm, and a Tiger. Sean had a assault platoon, infantry platoon, 6 Hellcats, 6 Sherman 105s, two 57mm platoons, and recon.

We randomly rolled the mission Hasty Attack. We rolled again and Sean was the defender. With seven platoons Sean put one infantry on, the Sherman 105s and the assault platoon in immediate ambush.

One objective was in the town which could be problem so I decided to go for the one behind the hill

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Patton's Dream, Independence Day Tank Fest

By Mitch Reed, With Jay Mischo 
Photos By Greg Cilia

A while back I wrote an article about playing historical based scenarios with a gaming group here in Northern Virginia.  While work has kept me away from playing on Friday afternoons, I was able to take advantage of the day off prior to July 4th and join these guys for yet another great game.

In my absence I did read the many emails prior to each weeks game; battlefields such as the snowy steppes of Russia to the arid desert of North Africa were some of the many scenarios that were recreated for the group that assembles at the Game Parlor in Chantilly VA at noon every Friday.  While I am sorry I missed these great games, the holiday weekend had a great topic ready for me to play; a "what-if" scenario between the victorious Allies vs. the Soviets in the months following the end of the war in Europe.

The players were instructed to bring 2000 points from any late war American, British, or Soviet briefing. With the Berlin book not yet out, the Soviet forces were taken from Desperate Measures and Red Bear, while the Remagen and Nachtjager books made up the bulk of the allied lists.  The allied players were allowed to use a limited number of German units that would represent the Germans who would carry on the fight with the Soviets after the surrender of Germany.

Having picked up way to many Comet's over the last few months, my list was the Armoured Squadron from Nachtjager.

From Forces at War

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PanzerSturm Halftracks (Review of GBX85 Sdkfz 251 Platoon with GSO180 IR Equipment)



https://www.ww2incolor.com/d/609488-2/251ir

By Jeff "SonBae" Flint

Oh man!  I just love that image of the IR Scoped MG42.

Sooooo S-I-C-K!!!!

When Battlefront's last army book for WWII Flames of War, Nachtjager, hit the shelves I knew I had to have these halftracks. They provide the inherent transport for the equally, nasty IR equipped Assault Rifle/Panzerfaust teams of the Panzersturm Platoon (GE848)...Drooooool...As soon as my LGS can get their distributor to fulfill my order for these Vampir equipped infantry, I will have a review of them as well. Until then, I just couldn't help but start the review process.

There is plenty to do too.  Here, I will talk about how to make these IR equipped halftracks, do a review of Battlefront's Sdkfz 251 Night vision set (GSO206), their new Plastic Sdkfz 251 Transport Platoon (GBX85)and compare the new plastic half tracks with the old Battlefront Resin ones as well as with Plastic Soldier Company Sdkfz 251 Auf C plastic set while I am at it.

Phew!  This will be a long one (that's what Luke said..couldn't resist, you knew he was going to say SOMETHING anyways), so sit down, grab a cool drink and let's get started!

First lets talk a little on the Panzersturm Platoon....

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