Flames of War

By Benny Christiansen

At any time, when I participate in a tournament, I have to choose what to field. Most gamers I know change their list from tournament to tournament. In parts because of points, restrictions or new lists being available, but for me, it’s also to continue trying out new things with old lists and seeing how they work.

In this article, I will try to give you a day-by-day look at how I plan my lists for a tournament that I participate in.

As I write this, I’m two months away from my next tournament. This is a great time to begin thinking about the list I want to bring to the event.

Embarking on a Great Crusade D-Day Mega-Game

The Huntsville Historical Gamers gathered on 8 June to recreate the Allied Invasion of Europe. Operation Overlord was the codename for the Allied invasion of northwest Europe. The assault phase of Operation Overlord, was known as Operation Neptune. Operation Neptune began on D-Day (6 June 1944) and ended on 30 June 1944. By this time, the Allies had established a firm foothold in Normandy. Operation Overlord also began on D-Day, and continued until Allied forces crossed the River Seine on 19 August 1944.

Tactics talk is back! North American FoW champ is back with Ian Birdwell and they talk all about the Fortress Europe book.

One of the great sections contained towards the back of the new D-Day American book by Battlefront is the special missions that are thematic to D-Day.  “Shot in the Dark“, “Help’s On Its Way” and “Fubar” model the airborne landings, the daring ranger assault on the coastal defenses and the landing themselves.

Battlefront has structured these such that they can be played individually or as a linked mini-campaign where the outcome of one game influences the next.  It’s not quite a firestorm campaigns of yore, but certainly within the spirit of those past designs.

Protection from who Tommy? Ze Shermans?

(Photo Above: This piece of history sits near Juno Beach, M4A4 Sherman with the Duplex Drive propellor add-on)

Right around the corner, we’ve got the two options for running armour in Late War. It’s been a while since the release of the Late War books for V3. In the new book for the American forces in Normandy BattleFront has delivered a collection of lists I think will get people excited about their models that have been collecting dust for a while.

Some chose to wait and see what V4 would bring in the way of options for Late War, book by book and the addition of cards has once again delivered some interesting choices for the US forces. You might have to wait some more to see some of the lists that are part of this era.

By Tom “Chairborne” Mullane

David Webster (101st Airborne)[at a passing column of German prisoners]  “Hey, you! That’s right, you stupid Kraut *%&$! That’s right! Say hello to Ford, and General &@#$in’ Motors! You stupid fascist pigs! Look at you! You have horses! What were you thinking?”

For the longest time back in version 3, my least favorite matchup was to be put against an armored rifle company.

Not because the game wasn’t fun, it almost always was.  But because, under V3 rules, I knew it would be an uphill road against a balanced, take all comers kind of force.

The Armored Rifle Company in Fighting First was always a competitive midwar choice in my opinion, but the strength of that list was in the support, not necessarily in the base platoons. It had Green Troops, and poor skill ratings, so many things became difficult. While shifting 14 stands will always present a problem, the Armored Rifles didn’t shine in midwar the way I knew they could. Those days are over here in Late War….

By Mitch Reed

The movie Saving Private Ryan featured a group of US Rangers and Paratroopers working together to defend a bridge right after the invasion of Normandy. Now places the same forces at your command in their new D-Day book.

You will notice that like most V4 lists, these forces are focused more on the actual OOB of these units in 1944. This is due to the fact that if you wanted to play paratroopers in the past, you had to hope that they had the right support features you needed.

That is no longer a problem in V4, because now you have the flexibility to tailor your forces just how you want them.

By Benny Christiansen

Hi, Ho Silver! Currahee! Rangers – lead the way!

One of the most (in)famous moments of the second world war seems to me to be D-Day. The landing on Omaha Beach was particularly hard but it was a huge undertaking and it must have been hard not to be awestruck at the sight of all the boats and airplanes.

With D-Day the Soviets finally had their second front opened. As I understand the history behind this, Stalin had been quite impatiently waiting for the Allies to put this operation into action to relieve some of the pressure on the Red Army.

In this article I’ll have a look at the Assault Company (also the veteran version) as well as Rifle Company (also the veteran version). I’ll try to make it like a tactical suggestion article, instead of the page-by-page version.

By Paolo Paglianti

The Battlefront plan is simple and bright.

Deploy the Fortress Europe book to start off the Late Period Flames of War V4, with all four principal armies in short form – good lists, but focused on the “general” armies after 1943 – and after that explore the various Late War theaters of war and their specific armies.

So, we’ve just finished drooling on Fortress Europe it’s already time to dive into a new, more specific book: ladies and gentlemen, time to get on our brand new Sherman 76mm and storm the D-Day beaches with your Late US army.