Flames of War

By Tom Burgess

Fallschirmjägers are the second army I did for Flames of War some ten years ago. Since then they have been one of my most played forces. Though I have not been above running them as Grenadiers in Mid-War, now we can officially play them as a Mid-War Version 4 force option.  The new Death From Above books adds Fallschirmjägers to our Africa, Sicily, and even East Front  Mid-War Version 4 battlefield where they certainly are characterful and truly elite units.

By Benny Christiansen

The long wait is over!  Airborne forces in MW has arrived!  Along with it, we get the Rangers formation. I will share my thoughts and considerations with you in this article, as well as making the providing lists with the forces I would like to test.

It surprised me to read that the idea of an airborne force was inspired by Soviet Airborne forces and further focus came from the German Fallschirmstruppens success. I was not aware of any Soviet Airborne forces that had managed anything, so the history in the book once again provided me with new information and insight into the history of airborne envelopment.

By Paolo Paglianti

After years of Mid-War tournaments, finally we have some change.  Thanks to the books Battlefront published this summer we can play Late War with full V4 rules and point system.  Since I like to play with Allied forces, Mid War tournaments have always been on the “stay low” profile: with too many Tigers and Ferdies around (in Italy we saw the infamous list with 5 Ferdinands and the Italian L6 ally), Mid War US and British forces constantly faced tanks they can’t beat head to head, almost invulnerable armour that can only be avoided.  In Late War, as we foresaw, things are going to change.

Thanks to Mitch Reed, I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to build and review a box of the new . My German vehicles are all resin and metal to date. This is my first delve into doing any of the new plastic kits. Okay so let’s get going.

We are live from in Leesburg VA for a Flames of War D-Day tournament. We talk with Dane who runs the store and our favorite and yours, Pastor Peetz!

It has been one of the hottest summers ever for WW2 gamers. Battlefront deployed a full array of Late War books: the “transitional” Fortress Europe with all four armies on the Western/Russian front, the US D-Day and the incoming German Normandy focused one. At our club in Milan, we decided to play the D-Day scenarios in US D-Day book to “celebrate” both the 75^th anniversary of that fateful day and the starting of the Late War FOW season.

“This war is not limited to the unfortunate territory of our country. This war is not over as a result of the Battle of France. This war is a world war. All the mistakes, all the delays, all the suffering, do not alter the fact that there are, in the world, all the means necessary to crush our enemies one day. Vanquished today by mechanical force, in the future we will be able to overcome by a superior mechanical force. The fate of the world depends on it.   I, General de Gaulle, currently in London, invite the officers and the French soldiers who are located in British territory or who might end up here, with their weapons or without their weapons, I invite the engineers and the specialised workers of the armament industries who are located in British territory or who might end up here, to put themselves in contact with me.”
Charles de Gaulles
Extract from BBC broadcast, 18th June 1940

NOTE the history is first, Formations, Units and Cards at the bottom

Reporting and photography by Troy A. Hill

We are live with Troy at Southern California’s Strategicon/Gateway Convention.

Troy talks with the crazy people running and playing in The Longest Day, a 24-hour-long Flames of War tournament. He also talks with Strategicon Events Chairman, the HMGS-PSW Convention chair about an upcoming convention, and with several independent game designers from the Pacific Southwest. Click the MORE tab to see links and photos for each.

Photos below:

The Late War books are a welcomed breath of fresh air after a couple of years of V4 Mid War. , a new balance in the point system with tanks costing a third of what they used to in Desert and Russian 1943 fronts is really changing the “meta” game and the armies we’re going to field.

Traditionally, I play only with Allied armies. I began with the British 8^th army and added some US troops to use as an ally in my fight against the Mid war Axis. So I naturally moved on to Late war sticking to Allied, adding some new troops to my existing pool of units.

It is indeed Tiger time. The D-Day book for the Germans is out and we look at the armoured formations you can run out of this new release for Late War. No other commander during WW2 made such an impact in a tank as Michael Wittmann.

As a true Panzer Ace, his Tiger took its fight to the allies and he fought until he was finally KIA in August of 1944. Stopping by his final resting place in 2007 in a small cemetery in France was a small highlight of a trip that took me from Arras to Vimy and everything in between.

Before we look at the Heavy Tank formation from the D-Day book, why don’t we start a little ‘lighter’. Let’s have a good look at the Panzer IV Tank Coy, this list will likely be very popular to German tank purists.