I had a chance to play a FOW V4 game with one of my regular opponents, Karl this past week. My purpose was to test the new formations in the new Armies of Late War (AoLW) book. Ed Sales has written a review of the forces in the book which can be .
Scouting Stuarts prepare for the battle of the century
I knew from looking at the book that it was geared more towards newer players. And in that respect, it accomplishes its goals well. In others, it falls a bit short. But to be fair, the old Forces book had generic lists as well. This book was never intended as a points fixing cure-all for LW issues. It was meant to give new players a simplified system for list building, to provide force diagrams, and to give a look at the command cards for LW forces BF is working to put out.
February 7, 2018 | Benny Christiansen | Flames of War
By Benny Christiansen
The typical Dane. Happy-go-lucky with a positive look at almost everything. Giving you a glimpse of the way the Danes do it.
In the first article, I focused on the Fog Of War cards in the game. In this article, I try to give you examples of how we play with the Flames of War (FOW) V4 rules.
The Third Game of the day
Notice the minefields in the middle of the table. I wanted to ignore them
In the final game, I had the privilege to play against two of my dear friends, Helge and Lynge, who some of the ETC community may know. Helge is the Captain of the Danish FOW team and also a person who is involved in the ETC community for FOW. Lynge is a regular on the Danish ETC Team, and I see him as one of the best players in a tournament, as he never knows how to give up or give in.
Our games were to be two vs two players. In order to keep the number of players even and an equal number of Axis vs Allies, I had agreed to run two forces at a time. Against these two, I knew I was in for a challenge. I rarely win in games against Helge, and to play against Lynge and Helge at the same time… well… I decided that I would do my best, at least to give them as good a challenge as possible.
February 5, 2018 | administrator_NDNG | Flames of War
By Tom Burgess
“Battle Buddy” Ed and I had a chance to test out the new Avanti Mid War lists for Flames of War. As a diehard Italian player, Ed was particularly excited to get his miniatures on the table. We thought that the best test of the new Avanti Italians would be to throw them up against the dreaded British Crusader Horde.
Random selection gave us Dust Up as a mission. We gamed on a suitably open desert table. We chose to play at 71 points so I could also get some practice for Adepticon. Given that we were playing a fair fight on a fairly open board, I thought my chances were good.
January 29, 2018 | Benny Christiansen | Flames of War
By: Benny Christiansen
The typical Dane. Happy-go-lucky with a positive look upon almost everything. Giving you a glimpse of the way the Danes do it.
In these two articles I would like to present the Fog Of War cards used at the event and also, by going through the last game in detail, I try to give you examples of how we play with the V4 rules.
In Denmark we have a concept called “Hygge.” Try to look it up, as the closest translation is probably “Cosy”, but that does not fully cover the meaning.
We try to keep the gaming community active by hosting one-day events, where the main focus is on meeting each other and playing. For this event, the guys in Aarhus (Denmark) had arranged one of those one-day events. The games were two vs two, with 1000 pts lists for each participant. Each game would be determined by Battle Plan Cards and then a dice to see which of the missions in the Battle Plan we would play.
Originally, I was paired with my friend Stephan. We agreed that we would field some fun lists. However, due to last-minute sign-ups, I played as a solo-player with two lists of 1000 points alone. This way we had an equal number of teams on Axis and Allied side.
Here we have the 2nd game using the Italians out of AVANTI, this time versus the British ‘Desert Rats,’ Encounter, 71 points. Nothing like playing Desert armies when it is -40 something degrees outside! Chris Caron once again obliged me in being my opponent and hosting, this time playing the British, and he opted for a Combined Arms approach, as he usually does, with an Infantry formation, an Armoured formation, and some Artillery support.
Brit 25 pdrs, 2 on the hill, 2 off for maximum visibility, he had no OP
Photos by the Author (apart from the propaganda poster, and images by BattleFront from Avanti)
NOTE: Preview of AVANTI & Video Battle Report is at the end of this article.
I was keen to try out the new Italians out of the AVANTI book, and my good friend Chris Caron obliged by hosting an impromptu game on a weeknight! We agreed on the 2018 Mid-War 71pts, as we are going to be attending Canadian Nationals in September 2018. We rolled Free-for-All, both of us were using forces with 1 Infantry, 1 Tank formation in each, so I rolled highest and was the Attacker. While Chris’ list is from the Afrika Korps book, he has awesome Eastern front paint jobs:
8-Rads Spearhead to allow his AA halftracks good shots at my infantry. This would force me to use the town for my advance
AVANTI rounds out the North African theatre with Italian forces. What does Battlefront have in store for the 4th Mid-War book? Let’s dive straight in and find out!
Army-Wide Special Rules
8 Million Bayonets: Italian unit cards have two columns for Skill and Motivation ratings. After deployment (or entry from Reserves) you roll the 8 Million Bayonets die, and you get to use the Elite column if you roll the symbol (or 5+ on a regular D6)
This is a greatly simplified way to simulate the random quality of troops and leadership. What I find nice is that my units are regular and can only improve, not get a bad rating like in previous editions. I hope my Artillery units get it, so they can Range In on 3+!
Avanti: All Italian units have an improved Follow Me rating, 2+ for M14/41s and 3+ for almost all other units.. but if you get Elite per the 8 Million Bayonets, it is 2+! Very useful for getting your infantry forward quickly (12 inch Dash, 4-inch Follow Me) and then Assaulting (Tactical then Follow Me) on Turn 2 in most cases, before your opponent can get crucial reserves. Determined: Better Rally/Remount rating.
Focused: Tank commanders who also have to be the Gunner have a worse Tactics rating for Movement Orders. Elite on the 8 Million bayonets dice mitigates this. Protected Ammo: Improved Remount rating. Stacks with Determined, so M14/41s Remount on a 2+ even if you do not roll Elite! HEAT rounds: Armour rating on enemy teams not increased due to incoming fire from 16 inches or more. This makes long-range shots at Anti-Tank 6 just as effective as a short-range Anti-Tank 7 hit (IE, 2lbr or 5cm short) Careful: Not really a special rule, but it is worth noting up-front that EVERYTHING is hit on a 4+. It’s like being Germans!
Missing: Unknown Hero. No longer a chance for a unit leader to get improved stats. Fucilieri, Black Shirts, Motociclisti and Paraducisti also all missing, possibly chilling in a Cafe in Tripoli, sipping an Espresso! Word has it that some of these will be in a Card. I liked Unknown Hero the best.. if you HAVE to lose a unit leader, it was cool to have come back and Rambo his way to glory!
Armies of Late War Book – Credit to Battlefront for Photo.
By Ed Sales
Additional photos courtesy of BattleFront, or as noted.
Today we take a look at Flames of War’s most recent book, Armies of Late War. This book was released as a basic starter book for Late War Version 4, with four major nations, Germany, United States of America, Britain, and the Soviet Union having their standard armies released, with adjusted rules. Repointed units are here to go with the recent Late War rules updates, this includes the removal of redundant teams and properly adjusted aircraft stats.
The book is well written, and the graphics were laid out nicely. All the nations special rules are listed. Also, before you get to each nation’s forces there are brief histories of the nations’ armored forces history in the war, followed by a Know Your Tanks section, which gives brief stats of the tanks and helps those unfamiliar with the different tanks be able to identify them.
In this article, I will break down and highlight several things that I noticed which stood out to me in the lists. For experienced gamers, most of these lists were pulled and modified from other books that we have already seen and owned.
Why is this book needed? For those who started their foray into FOW with Version 4 Mid War, or who have played Team Yankee and want to see what all the fun with FOW Late War is about, this book helps those individuals make a much easier transition.
All the force diagrams in this book have been updated to what we expect to see in Team Yankee and Mid War Version 4, and you build your force in the same manner. There are also unit cards to go with every unit in the book. The cards are sold separately for each nation and are not needed to play. They are a nice addition if you’re already used to using the cards.
Units have had their points and stats updated to the most recent Late War Rules update, so you should see some of the units with different point costs, and you will no longer see Observers and Command Teams within the Unit structure. If you’re a veteran player, such as myself, and you are asking questions like “why did this book come out?” or “Are these the super competitive lists you’d want to take to a tournament?” or, you have noticed “These aren’t new lists!” then this book is probably not for you.
This book was made for new FOW players who want to transition to Late War Version 4 with a force building diagram they are already used to. It also allows people to work with the most recent Late War Rules updates already incorporated into the points and stats of those units in the book.
Army-Wide Special Rules