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.
A lot of the focus on the upcoming North Africa release for Flames of War has been on the new units that have been added, and the historical units that haven’t been. This is understandable because as gamers we love having new toys to play with. One area that I haven’t seen much discussion about is the force charts in the book and the way that the source material for the compilation has been combined. In particular, the German support options have some subtle structural changes that are worth taking a closer look at.
The North African campaign has always been the theatre of World War II that I have been most interested in, and specifically the British perspective of the conflict. This interest carried over into , with British forces in the Mediterranean has been my primary focus in the game.
To be honest, I was pretty disappointed with the first releases for FOW V4. Desert Rats and felt very lightweight compared to the previous lists for the African Campaign that we had been playing with, being the original North Africa compilation from 2009. That’s not to say that the V4 lists were bad. On the contrary, with the exception of the 17/25pdr anti-tank gun, Desert Rats was a reasonably historical representation of the most common British armored formations in Egypt and Libya in the middle of 1942. The British lists from Desert Rats were later expanded and re-released as Armoured Fist, which filled in many of the gaps, but the fact remained that the army lists had taken a step backward in detail and completeness under V4.
When we first saw the Flames of War Version 4 Formations charts, we all wondered what the “Wildcard” box was meant for. Many of us speculated that perhaps that might have some future tie-in with “Mid-War Monsters” or some future rare/special units. Battlefront has been mum on the purpose “Wildcard” for over four years. With the release of the North Africa Mid-War Forces compilation, we know that this was an avenue to bring Mid-War Monsters back into the game.
But that’s not the only way the new North Africa Compilation will let you add for Mid-War Monsters. Battlefront also added new formations to utilize these beasts in their full glory. I think many of us expected to see Mid-War monsters to come back into the game at some point with Version 4, but I don’t think any of us expected to see new formations explicitly for these special units.
is the latest release for Flames of War, covering the US forces in Northwest Europe from September 1944 through to the end of the war, and includes a vast array of artillery options for players to choose from. This is the third post in a series that analyzes the cost-effectiveness of artillery units in FOW, with the previous articles covering the and German forces from the Bagration series of books.
The located near Pittsburgh, PA hosted a Flames of War Tournament on December 18th, 2021 The Fabricators Forge is a a hybrid gaming club / store that is funded by members and aspires to be the premium place to play all types of tabletop games in Western PA. They opened in 2021 and this was the fifth Flames of War or Team Yankee tournament that Fabricator’s Forge has hosted since September 2021.
Flames of War Bulge Theme Tournament SATURDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2021
In the greater Pittsburgh area, the local Flames of War community has been having annual Bulge Tournaments for many years. Our original tournaments were based on the Devils Charge and Nuts books from Battle Front Miniatures. We then moved on to The Ardennes Offensive and The Battle of the Bulge books when they became available. When the new Bulge American Book came out, the question was not are we going to have our annual Bulge tournament, but what weekend in December?
Tournament Info:
We used the following points Americans 110 points, 125 Points for the Germans. The point level for the German Players was to represent the original numerical advantage, confusion, and surprise that the German Army had in the first few days of the Bulge Campaign. The German players will be the attacker in all 3 missions. This will be a RED vs BLUE tournament. Each round was 2.5 hours, all games had a hard stop when time runs out.
Books allowed:
V4 Bulge American Book and the would be used only if you have an American Bulge Command Card that calls for an American Unit or Formation out of the D-Day book. Ex: The US 99th Infantry Divisions Battle Babbie’s Card calls for a US Infantry Formation out of the V4 D-Day American Book. The rest of the American D-day Book and the Fortress Europe Book will not be used. The German D-Day and the WAFFEN-SS D-Day Books will be only used, plus the Hetzer Company or PANZER IV/70 Tank Company out of the German Bagration Book. The rest of the Bagration Book will not be used. Nothing from Fortress Europe would be used, including support options. Also, no Soviets or British Units or Formations will be used
The November 2021 FAQ + the More Missions Extended Matrix The German players will be the attacker for all 3 games. In Round #1 the Americans will Defend, Round #2 the Americans could Maneuver or Defend in Round #3 the Americans will Maneuver.
Saturday, Dec 18th, 2022 Tournament Weather Report
The weather here in Pittsburgh was very Ardennes-like, we had misty rain and low hanging fog till mid-day. Then we had misty rain and low-hanging clouds the rest of the day preventing any potential air cover for the US players. The temperature ranged from the low 30s to the mid 40s.
The Authors List:
Enclosed is the list that I used for this tournament. Earlier this year I was one of the No Dice No Glory reviewers for the book from Battle Front Miniatures. Enclosed is the link to my comparison of the new V4 American Bulge Book vs its predecessor, I wanted to try out many of the units that I discussed in my review article. One of my normal Flames of War lists that I play is an American D-Day TD list with various support options. I liked how this list played and will try it again in a nonthemed tournament and see how it plays.
Round #1
The German Players attacked on all seven tables. Across the American front lines, the German players laid down well-placed barrages on several of the tables and disrupted the US defenders enabling the German players to advance along their assigned routes deep into the American Lines towards their Round #1 Objectives.
Nebelwerfer Battery providing fire supportTigers on the prowl advancing towards the American Objectives for Round#1KG FITZ Advancing towards the American Lines
The Germans attained breakthroughs on six of the seven boards. The only American Force to stop the surprise German attack was Task Force Jake’s Dammed Engineers.
The Score after round #1 was Germans 43 Americans 20 a sounding breakthrough for the Germans on 5 out of the 7 boards.
Round#2
Again the German Players attacked on all 7 tables. The German players have lost the effect of the surprise attack and the American players were better prepared in this so-called quiet sector. Depending on the American player some chose to play a more mobile maneuver defense in Round #2 and some chose a more rigid defend option. The George S Patton and Richard Winters cards were very active this round, and large qualities of HAVP 76mm rounds from American Tank Destroyer units came into play and the 90mm armed M-36 Jacksons left their mark on many German tanks in Round #2. Also, the Battle Weary Infantry did not look so tired this round.
American Tank Destroyers and Anti Tank Gun Units Waiting in Ambush.
American Airborne Defending can they stop the German Armored thrust?
The Score for Round #2 was Germans 26 Americans 35 points a nice comeback round for the Americans. But not all of the German Armored Thrust’s have been stopped. Several now are deep into the American Rear areas. Running total after Round #2 was Germans 69 Americans 55 points.
Round #3
Again the German Players attacked on all 7 tables. The American players had to maneuver for Round #3. The George S Patton Jr. and Richard Winters cards again were very active this round, and large qualities of HAVP 76mm rounds from American Tank Destroyer units continue across the front lines. Several of the American players had close games in Round #3, but could not close the deal and turn them into wins for the Americans.
German Nebelwerfers providing artillery support for Round#3 – Many Nebels were werfed
Another German KG trying to find a weak spot in the hardened American linesFast KG Schwille breaking thru the American lines and nearing the Meuse River.
The Score for Round#3 was Germans 38 vs Americans 25 points, for a final total of Germans 107 vs Americans 80 points for the tournament. The Americans could not close the gap created by the Germans in the Round #1 blowout. Congrats to the German players for a well-played tournament.
Some of the armies that were entered
The Winning List
The highest-scoring player’s list is included below and is a good example of the types of lists that the Germans players built for this tournament. Even though they did not have access to a V4 Bulge German, the German players were able to build lists that would have been similar to lists that you could have created with the V3 The Ardennes Offensive book.
Summary
So another annual Bulge tournament is in the Flames of War history books here in Western PA. We would like to thank Dom and the Fabricators Forge team for hosting us again and look forward to a busy 2022 of Flames of War and Team Yankee at Fabricators Forge. One of our goals besides having our annual tournament was to have the tournament different than just a normal 110 point or 90 point blah blah blah tournament. We tried making it a challenge for both sides of the table and still have a great time. And that was accomplished. We also did not let the lack of a V4 German Bulge book stop us from having a good tournament. Congrats again to our German opponents and remember we have D-Day and Bagration-themed tournaments coming up in 2022. Maybe the allies can return the favor back to the German side.
Every year, our wargaming club in Upper Hutt, New Zealand, runs a one-day tournament for club members at the final meeting of the year. Named Remember December, this event was first run in memory of Nick Garden, a valued member of the club and the wider New Zealand wargaming community, who passed away in 2015. The 2021 edition of Remember December was held on 11 December, playing in a 1100pt Early-War format.
The Early-War era of Flames of War has always been my favorite. The oddball vehicles, the wide range of nations represented, and the generally weaker stat lines, all combine to create a game of huge variety that feels very different from the way that the Mid-War and Late-War eras play, despite using identical rules. While there has been no recent indication of the timeframe for Early-War being re-released for V4, for now, it is still able to be played using a conversion of the V2/V3 lists.
In Canada, it was decided (during our lockdown this summer) to not have one Canadian Nationals event in Ottawa (since we could no longer book the Marriott we usually go to), but instead have several Regional events. Overall winner would be the person with the highest total points, tie breakers going to number of wins, and then if still tied, going to the person who attended the larger event.
The National Capital Region (NCR) event was put on by Darko Prodanovic and John Edward (Jed) and hosted by a local game store across the river in Quebec called Freres de Bataille (Translation: Battle Brothers, hereafter FdB). Our event in the NCR occurred Nov 20-21 was , Late War 105 points (No Bulge US). Regionals in Winnipeg, Maritimes, and Edmonton also occurred. After compiling the results from the regionals, the winner is…
Photos supplied in this article by Anthony Burger, Rich Baier and Howard West
HMGS Inc. in normal times has three historical gaming conventions a year, Cold Wars in the Winter to Early Spring, Historicon in July, and Fall-Inn in November. Historicon 2021 was moved to the Fall-Inn time slot and took place November 10th -14th, 2021 at the Valley Forge Casino Resort, King of Prussia.
This was the first convention that HMGS was able to have since Cold Wars March 2020 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. It is located right off the PA turnpike near the King of Prussia Mall and about 30-40 minutes from the Philadelphia Airport.
By Tom Mullane
