Flames of War Missions Pack Update

By Richard Steer

Battlefront has released an update to the Missions Packs for  and . This update, available as a free download (located  and ), adds a number of new missions including some that were first published in the D-Day series of books, and introduces an expanded version of the Battle Plans mission selector.

Vanguard Mission

The Missions Pack introduces a new style of mission: Vanguard. This is a Meeting Engagement with the deployment areas in opposite corners, with reserves arriving in two waves. You deploy a Scouting Force of up to 15% of the points total, which is not allowed to include Battle Tank Units (using the same definition as the Deep Reserves rule).

The first reserves to arrive are your Vanguard, arriving from Turn 3. This is followed by your Main Force, which must comprise at least 50% of the points total, arriving from Turn 5.

The normal Objective and Victory Points rules do not apply, with this mission following a new Cumulative Victory Points rule. You score Victory Points every turn for each Objective in your opponent’s table half that you are contesting, and the presence of enemy teams within 4″/10cm of the objective does not prevent you scoring – you have to shoot the enemy off the objective to prevent them scoring. It is important to note that Gone to Ground teams cannot score Victory Points. The game ends when a combined total of 9 Victory Points have been scored by the players, a  player reaches 8 Victory Points, or a player has no Formations in Good Spirits.

Vanguard is not included in the mission selector, and it may not be suitable for tournament play. As an example of this, the way Cumulative Victory Points work means that it’s possible to win the game by breaking your opponent’s Force, but still finish with fewer Victory Points than the loser.

Battle Plans

Your Battle Plan is a key component of the game, sitting right alongside list building and tabletop tactics. At the start of each game you choose the posture that you want your force to adopt: Attack, Manoeuvre, or Defend. The combination of your Battle Plan with your opponent’s determines the type of mission you will be playing. A poorly-chosen Battle Plan risks you entering the game at a disadvantage, facing an uphill struggle with a force ill-suited to the mission. But choose the right plan, taking into account the two forces and the table setup, and you can maximize your force’s strengths while throwing your opponent off-balance and preventing them playing the way that they want to.

The original Battle Plans mission selector from the rulebook remains part of the Missions Pack, with the Extended mission selector offered as an optional enhancement. There are 18 different missions in the Extended version, an increase from nine. Each box in the selector has six different missions, eliminating the double ups that are present in the original version, and giving each combination a distinct flavor.

While some of the implications of the mission selector remain unchanged (build your list with your reserve units already in mind, don’t choose to Defend with a Tank Company), the biggest change is the emergence of the Manoeuvre battle plan as a meaningful alternative to the Attack and Defend stances.

Attack-Attack/Manoeuvre-Manoeuvre/Defend-Defend
When both sides choose the same Battle Plan, you are likely to get a symmetrical Meeting Engagement mission, with a few of the mobile attack/defense missions also possible. Each box has a slightly different combination of missions. There is nothing particularly curly about the missions if you’re comfortable with Attack or Manoeuvre, but if you plan on choosing Defend there is still a small chance that you will end up having to attack in the Breakthrough mission.
Attack-Defend
This is the most predictable of all of the boxes, but with three additional missions (Dogfight, Encirclement, and Killing Ground) offering some welcome variation. All of the missions require the Attacker to capture an objective inside the Defender’s deployment area, and all include minefields and ambushes.

Five have reserves (the sixth is Fighting Withdrawal where the Defender removes units during the game rather than adds them), including four with Deep Reserves. The objectives are live immediately in all but one mission (Bridgehead), allowing the Attacker to drive hard at the objectives before the reserves can make an impact. The Defender has to hold on for six turns and then try to push the Attacker back outside of 8″ of the objectives to win.

Manoeuvre-Defend
In the original mission selector, the Manoeuvre-Defend and Attack-Defend boxes are almost identical. With the Extended version, if you are facing an opponent who you suspect will choose to defend, the Manoeuvre battle plan is a tempting option. If you choose Manoeuvre you are much less likely to run into minefields (2/6 missions), and there is a significant chance that the defender will need to move out of their deployment area to contest the objectives (3/6 missions). All six missions place 40% of the Defender’s force in reserve, with Delayed Reserves in two of them. Choosing Manoeuvre could upset the plans of static forces designed around the traditional attack/defend missions.

Attack-Manoeuvre
This is an incredibly interesting box. A common theme is of the attacker being enfiladed, often without options for a quick win. Some of the missions look potentially quite nasty for the Attacker:

• Escape shares a lot in common with No Retreat, but the Defender’s Immediate Reserves arrive from the Attacker’s table edge.
• Gauntlet has the Attacker driving for uncontested objectives that doesn’t go live until Turn 6, with the Defender deployed on both flanks.

Most of the missions have an Ambush platoon, but a majority also require the Defender to move to contest the objectives.

If you have confidence in your ability to operate a mobile defence while having reserves off the table, it would be very tempting to throw a Manoeuvre battle plan against an opponent who is likely to choose Attack.

Verdict

The updated Missions Packs are an exciting development for Flames of War and World War III: Team Yankee. They refresh the games by bringing a number of new missions into mainstream use, and creating a new way to play with Vanguard. The Extended Battle Plans mission selector gives the Manoeuvre battle plan a new role, which has the potential to change the metagame in a way that is almost as significant as the publication of a new army handbook. It’s an excellent addition to the game and is well worth checking out.