European Team Championship 1 – Introduction of the Danish Team

By Benny Christiansen and Helge Macintyre

A few years ago I attended my first ETC. It was a warm experience and even though I don’t see myself as a competitive player, I signed up for what I had been told was a very competitive event.

Our Danish team began after my friend, Helge, played on the Swedish team as a mercenary (the teams are allowed to have a certain amount of “foreigners”). He returned and began to build a team for the following year.

Playing the ETC was an exciting experience! I still remember the games from the first tournament, but I also remember the mood and the people and the nerves and all the other fantastic things.

Players from all over the world attend this event. I have met people from South Africa, all over Europe, America, Australia and Asia. The event started out as a European tournament, but it has gone global. This year has participants from Russia, New Zealand and Austria. Around 20 countries will be participating.

These ETC articles will be made in 3 parts. This first part introduces the Danish ETC Team and provides insight into who we are, as well as the strategy we are considering. The second article will be from them, while they are there, trying to give everyone a sense of the event by (hopefully) having one or two short videos, as well as an update on the games. The last part will be a post-tournament wrap-up and after action report.

Introduction

The ETC is the largest international wargaming team event in the world. A Flames Of War (FOW) team at ETC consists of six players. One of them will be the Captain of the team. This year’s Danish ETC team will be presented by their Captain, Helge:

Hi. My name is Helge Macintyre

I am writing This piece because my good friend Benny asked me to write a few words about our Flames Of War ETC team and commitment

I am a consultant anesthesiologist at a mid-sized Danish hospital, I have a lovely wife and three wonderful kids. This takes quite a big part of my time, but I make time for my hobby which is supported/accepted by my awesome spouse.

I have always enjoyed miniature wargames, from the day (around 1990) when I lay my hands on the brand new “Adeptus Titanics” game, many years ago.

Over the years many games have passed my way, and some 10 years ago while I was playing at a 40K tournament I saw some other guys playing a WW2 game with TIGER TANKS !!!

I have always been interested in military history, and particularly in the second world war. And here were guys playing a miniature wargame with Tiger and Sherman tanks, guns, infantry and even aircraft! I was sold!

Since then FOW gradually replaced the other games I played. Although I still have my 40k armies (from version 4), they’re collecting dust. I have become a passionate FOW enthusiast. My first experience with the ETC was in 40K many years ago. Since then, I have found ETC an event above any other tournament.

This is the World Championship Of War Gaming! If not in name, then definitely in spirit. Nations from all over the world attend. We battle hard at day against our bitter mortal enemies. But, at night we feast and drink together, having a great time, and becoming fast friends.

Hmm… This seems a bit like Valhalla; fighting each other by day and partying together at night.

In 2012 ETC accepted Flames Of War as one of its official games (alongside with 40k and Warhammer Fantasy Battles). I wanted to attend but, unfortunately, could not put a team together (I was the only one interested). So I joined the Swedish team as a Mercenary as they were a man short. I had a great tournament in Poland and became good friends with the Swedish guys. I decided that next year Denmark will participate in ETC!

In 2013 ETC was in Serbia and I started serious marketing for a Danish team. We got a team together, of both new and experienced players, and went off to meet new friends and defeat them on the Field Of Glory

Since then I have been captain of the Danish FOW team, and I am proud to say that we have been at every ETC since then.

This year was something different though. This is the first year we will use Version 4 at ETC, and we are playing Early War. I was concerned that we would not be able to put a team together. But we have a strong team.

The Team

This year’s team members are:

• Captain and player: Helge Macintyre Yours truly!
• Player Kristian Lyngvald
  – Kristian is a veteran gamer of many years and he has been on the team from the very start, and had been on the team all six years that Denmark has participated. From a young inexperienced boy, he has grown into a formidable gamer, giving me a hard run each time we play together
• Player Anders Jespersen
  – Like me, Anders has played wargames forever, he is cunning, resourceful and very skilled. He has always been “that guy” that I both admired and feared as an opponent when we met in a game. An ACE in my teams pocket
• Player Morten Schmidt
  – Morten might not have played FOW as long as some of us old guys, but he has a good grasp of the game based on his many years of experience with other wargames. He is the irritating kind of opponent, that keeps pulling rabbits up of the hat every time you think you’re about to win.
• Player Jesper Graff
  – an experienced player, he has played FOW several years. I have seen him play and I am pleased. I have not played against him myself. Our other team members recommend him highly, and we expect much from him
• Player Christian Bonde
  – Christian has been in the gaming business for many years. He has a very good grasp of the game, especially when he commands his Strelkovy Soviet infantry. I have met him in games, and come out the loser occasionally

Selection of forces

In ETC, the six players from a country will meet six other players from a rival faction in each round. In addition to normal victory points, the winner receives one extra point for the win. Thus a team can get between 0 and 7 points in each round.

Six rounds will be played at the ETC. In each round each team must assign battleplans; two attack, two maneuver and two defend. The missions are predetermined, so the battleplans only tell you who is the attacker and who defends.

With this setup, it is important to consider the team’s combination of force types. If all the team members’ forces were tank formations, then some of them will automatically be defending. That can be very costly in missions with deep reserves.

There must be a mix of formation types, to make our team strong, both in attack and defense. Being aware of this, our team started brainstorming ideas.

Many formations were planned and tested. Regardless of deeper tactical thoughts, the most important factor to me is that the player likes the list he is using. The best list in the world will be of little use if the player is not enthusiastic about it. Therefore team members should play what they like.

We discussed several sets of lists and came up with a good set of formations that give our team a good balance of forces.

My force

I went for the Soviet tank list.  These lists are brutal in tactics, plenty of tanks and some of them are among the toughest tanks in the game (Especially in early/mid war).

My first choice was the Fast Tankovy company from Barbarossa Digital. This formation has as its primary tank the BT-5 and BT-7 light but fast tanks. They are not expensive, so you can get them in big formations. I find that a unit size of eight tanks is the number to go for, because their price increase dramatically after that, and a platoon with eight tanks is a horror to combat. Our opponents will need to destroy or bail seven tanks to make them break.

The BT tanks are also very good. They have a very, very good gun. The 45mm Soviet gun with a good range 60cm and they are fast tanks. Fast tanks have gotten a huge and deserved boost in V.4, increasing their tactical move to 30cm, and their dash move is also much faster than standard tanks. Their big drawback is their thin armor, Bt-5 has 0-0-1 and the Bt-7 has 1-1-1.

My initial plan was for two or three platoons of these tanks, to race around the enemy defensive positions. This would make for quick redeployment away from their big guns, and I could hit them where they were vulnerable. The force would be supported by a thickly armored KV-1 tank which can go toe to toe with anything less than an 88mm gun. The force would also be supported by Katyushas and unarmed pioneers. Unarmed pioneers are dirt cheap, and still have Tank Assault 3. They are good for clearing minefields and attacking buildings where my tanks cannot go.

I playtested the force extensively, bought and painted a beautiful BT formation. I had some success, but also, again and again, my tanks were cut down by light anti-tank guns, and even rifles. They were especially vulnerable in assaults, as defensive fire with machine-guns can bail out the Bt-7 and even penetrate the armor of the thinly armored Bt-5. Since they are conscripts, your opponent’s defensive fire can be withering.

I, therefore, cast my eyes on another Soviet oddity, the T-28 medium tank. This tank was made in 1933 and was the first true medium tank in the world. For an early war medium tank, it is quite extraordinary.

The front armor is not as good as the Somua, but with a 3-2-2 armor it can deflect quite a few AT rounds. This tank is good against artillery and infantry assault. Its mobility is not bad either, as it is a standard tank with wide track. So it is fast (not as fast as the BT series) and rarely fails a cross test. Its gun, a Short barreled 76mm gun with a shorter range 40cm and less anti-tank capacity AT 5, but a nice Fp3+, is not as good as the BT series.

So in many ways, this is the opposite of the BT series. They have better armor, but a weaker gun.

My tactics with these tanks obviously differ quite a bit from that of the BT-series. Where the BT would be flanking and moving, these slower tanks will be more of a direct armored punch right into the enemy main line.

These tanks lack the Anti-tank capacity of the BT series. Therefore, I have Added an Il-2 Sturmovik. Presently the Il-2 is far, far too powerful. It is VERY, VERY hard to shoot it down (being a flying tank) and its weaponry with AT 7 cannons AT 5 Rockets and bombs make a mockery of Luftwaffes weak (nearly useless in my opinion) Stukas.

So it is an obvious choice to include one of these Aircraft in my force, to compensate for fewer AT guns. I have tested the list a few times, but since it was a last minute change, I do feel I need more experience in fielding this force. I also hope I will be able to have a game with Benny before ETC. but time is running short.

The 2016 ETC in Greece. Seventh place is the highest ranking the Danish team has achieved so far.