Battle of the Boxes! – Flames of War Tournament in Delmarva AAR

By Tom Mullane

It’s been a long time since I’ve played a competitive game of Flames of War (FOW). The last major event I participated in was back in 2018 when I was competing in the MidWar Nationals. And I was less interested in winning than snagging that sweet custom objective (the Back to the Future Car).

After that, I drifted off to other games, and with the tournament and tabletop scene in much of my area vanishing, I tried to find other ways to spend my hobby time. Blood and Plunder, terrain building, and organizing my local gaming club with my high school students took up much of my time.

But then an opportunity presented itself. Pastor Pete Zerphy, competitive tournament player, kind soul, and man of many talents has been running an active series of events in Delmarva, DE.

Up until this past month, the stars didn’t align, and I never had the time off I needed to make the drive worth it. But this time, it coincided with the February break that teachers in NY get some time in the middle of the month. I dusted off my models and made the trip.

This would be the first time I would get to see my Friend and newly minted Master’s participant Preston Jacob since he moved down to North Carolina for work. You can see from the picture how excited he was to see me.

In our hands, the fruits of our labors, we wound up taking advantage of the store sale while there and bought a whole bunch of models we had been looking at for a while.

FLGS (friendly local gaming stores) that host events, normally sell a lot more products…..even when it’s to people that have plenty of lead piled up at home in the closet.

We were all glad to give The Vault Gaming Lounge the business, as they were wonderful hosts and the space was great. The owner put up camo netting and had the walls repainted. I imagine next time I head down, even more, will be set up for gamers.

The catch for the tournament was that players would be limited to making a list based on what comes in any of the starter boxes. They could expand on units sold in those boxes, but they MUST take everything in the box. This had the effect of pushing players to try some kit they normally wouldn’t and helped level the playing field for new players (of which we had a few.)

My hope was for 3 games where I had some fun. East Coast Parings was used to help run the tournament and it was an interesting setup. It certainly made things easier for Pete, and I can see myself trying it out as a TO in the future.

On to the games:

First my list… As a British player primarily, I brought the British Box.

The Desert Rats List from the D-Day – British book would be my canvas, and I would use the starter box in its entirety. I filled in the remaining points with cards.

My list was as follows.

Cmd Cromwell

1. 2 Cromwells and 1 Firefly
2. 2 Cromwells and 1 Firefly
3. 4 Stuarts

Support

4. 3 Churchill Crocodiles

5. Airlanding Platoon (full)

6. 4×25 pounder artillery (represented by the heavy mortar models since I was not packing with a clear head)

7. 2xM10 17 pounder Tank destroyers

8. 3 Universal Carriers with Piats attached

I also took several command cards: French Resistance Raid(discard to force a reroll on reserves), Total Air Superiority (which never mattered since no list brought planes), Artillery AGRA (recalled bombardments have FP 3+), and Gammon Bombs for my Airlanding boys.

Game 1 – Preston Jacob

Preston brought his Americans and tricked out his tanks. Easy 8s and Pershings, along with Jumbos and Calliopes made up his list of elite armored tanks from the American Bulge box. I knew my reluctant core was likely to run quickly. We drew Free for All and tried to deploy in cover.

On my right flank, I deployed a platoon of Cromwell’s and a firefly, my Stuarts, and my airlanding platoon right on the objective.

Preston’s Chaffees and a platoon of Easy8s and Jumbos would charge the flank supported by the security section of jeeps and scout cars. The gunbattle here would go poorly for me.

On the left flank, I put most of my armor, including the Churchills. The Commander set in the middle directing bombardments and trying not to die, while the M10s thought their concealment and range would help them stay alive. They were wrong.

After only 3 turns, Preston had killed or routed my Stuarts, my Cromwells on the right, and my Cromwells on the left, meaning I was in bad spirits and had to run. Only my commander remained, and to be real, he was not long for this world. 8-1 loss for me.

Game 2 – Kurt Reese

Kurt brought himself Panzer IV-70s and a pile of support for them. He also brought a platoon of four 88s, but used the Pakfront card to turn each of them into independent teams and nests. Which meant that me crossing the river in encounter would be a challenge.

 

Kurt deployed in the corner protected by the river, and we had two objectives, one on the bridge, and one in the woods.

Because of the huge point sink the 88s and Panzer IV-70s were, a huge number of forces he had were held in reserve. This meant I would need to push up fast and use my speed if I were to pull out a victory in this one.

My tanks bravely hid behind as many buildings as possible.

My infantry managed to race across a field and take a position across a street from one of his 88s. His infantry advanced and tried to assault me out of the house to no avail.

Kurt’s Dice also betrayed him. Despite having countless shots on my tanks from 88s and Panzer IV70s, one horrible round of shooting was all it took to help me streak across the table.

Some lucky dice for me later and one 88 was down, while his infantry had run away.

Having won their assault against the German Infantry, and then charged across the River to murder an 88, the airlanding boys decided to assault through the woods to try and kill the Panzer IV70s and push them off the objective. They succeeded and the game ended with an 8-1 victory. The crocs arrived from reserves and murdered a gun on the bridge, but it didn’t affect the outcome (since they can’t contest objectives anyhow).

Both my first and second games ended in record time, allowing me to browse and see what other players were up to. Here are some action shots of the other participants (14 in all.)

Game 3 – James Best Jr.

Another great player, I hadn’t played against James since an early war tournament years ago. So I was excited to see what he was going to throw at me. He brought SS Panzer IVs and a variety of support. The Pakfront card also made an appearance again, as I got to try and kill 4 separate 88s for no gain.

We decided together to try out Pete Zerphy’s modified encounter mission to see how it played, and it was pretty fun. it includes scattered immediate reserves, which had an impact on the mission for both of us, but didn’t decide the issue.

I played super-aggressive, because I wanted my Crocs to clear a path to the objective before his tigers arrived from reserve to ruin my day.

In retrospect, I should have hung back a bit. Especially since his “hit on 3+” tanks don’t survive long in the wild.

His Panzer IVs and Command Platoon rode out to meet me. and my Stuarts mostly tried to hide.

Zipping out from the woods and passing their cross checks, the Stuarts manage to kill some Panzer IVs with side shots.

Stugs arrive from reserve and get annihilated by a combination of bad dice and lucky Cromwells. The Crocs are cooked by 88s after taking one of them with them.

On the left, I push with some arriving reserves and try to sneak onto the objective. But 88s and arriving Tigers make short work of that.

With everything stalled, we are at a crossroads. If he kills my command squad OR my Stuarts, it’s game over. BUT if I can kill his Command tank, I CAN WIN. Cue the tiny trumpets of the arriving Universal Carriers…which I paid for PIATS on….

The UCs manage to kill the 2ic….but they can’t land a shot on the final tank. 88s rock what is left of my commander’s tank and the game is over. Despite taking out a platoon of tanks and some 88s, it’s not enough to grab me a point. James wins 8-1.

The assembled folks await results…

with a multiway tie in 2nd and 3rd, it comes down to strength of schedule. And Best Coast Pairings helps sort through the mess with the following results:

My only regret was not getting to play against my arch enemy, Brian Reid. I offered to bribe Pete, but he gave me a look of disapproval that only a pastor can give.

Still, I enjoyed my trip down and will try and make the drive again if I can find some folks to make it with me. Three hours and 45 minutes without traffic aren’t terrible? But the NJ turnpike is a lonely road without some fellow travelers.

The assembled players!

The Box gimmick was smart. It leveled the playing field a bit, prevented horrible spam, and forced some folks into creative list construction. Limitations can bring out creativity for sure. Best Coast Pairings was smooth once we got started and took a lot of the headaches out of scorekeeping for the TO. If you are in the Northern Virginia Area and can make the drive, I recommend joining an event soon, they host one a month, and I hope to be back this summer when I can make an excuse to get away from all the projects I have left at home.

Thomas “Chairborne” Mullane has been a writer and podcaster for No Dice No Glory since its inception. He teaches High School History in NY and Lives in Danbury, CT. He is a player of Flames of War, Bolt Action, Dungeons and Dragons, and Blood and Plunder. Tune in to “Tales of the Sail” if you want to hear what he sounds like, and please say hi during the next HMGS convention.