FOW: Testing the New Armies of Late War Book – AAR

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.

I brought Churchills, and Karl brought a pile of infantry and some Tiger Tanks. We rolled up Bridgehead, which is the new replacement for the old Cauldron mission.  While it’s certainly an improvement over the original mission, it has its drawbacks for sure. In Karl’s case, the reserves really hamstrung his ability to mount an effective defense.

I threw my force at him in several places and used artillery to try and whittle down his panzerfausted infantry.  I also found the Churchill CS tanks were pretty damned effective throughout game. Improved bombardment stats really let these guys shine in a fight. I’m tempted to bring a full battery next time so I don’t need to re-roll hits in the bombardment.

Karl’s right flank as bombardments commence

On the left flank, a brutal battle ensured between Karl’s AA vehicles and the Stuarts. With the Stuarts somehow bouncing shots constantly. The only thing that saved them from running was a 3+ last stand check courtesy of being guards tanks

Stuarts struggle to stay alive

On Karl’s left flank, the bulk of the fighting took place. Ambushing Pak 40s whiffed, and an assault by Churchills ended in a blaze of glory. There was an infantry duel with his Tigers which ended in their falling back after doing damage. Eventually, my infantry charged the house and mopped up forces near the hedge. But losses were heavy on all sides.

His troops were holed up in a church, and the terrain made it hard to approach him from any angle. I lost three platoons in the lead up to the final assaults. Karl’s forces held fast, and with most of his units in the core of his formation, I couldn’t break him. With his infantry covered in Panzerfausts and MGs, I couldn’t assault him. Without clear sight lines for the artillery, whittling him down was a costly and lengthy proposition.

Conclusions

1. Prior to the release of Armies of Late War, and the unit cards, even as an experienced player, I found myself referencing the movement rates CONSTANTLY for various units. How far is dash speed on this vehicle? How much cross country? Is this vehicle classified as a jeep for movement? These are all questions I asked in every game. But, with the AoLW book, I can look these up or have the card out without a problem.
2. The forces diagrams make it easier to know what is core and what is support. For the beginning player, it is a bit tricky to figure that out based on the older or V3 books. With these it’s easy.
3. No heavy artillery in this book. The 5.5s are gone. There has been a lot of back and forth on stats for these, and for the planes as well, as BF has sought to rebalance things they didn’t anticipate being an issue.
4. Redundant teams are fixed.  The spotter is now 10 points flat.  and the cmd teams for the guns and artillery, as well as the staff teams are corrected. At a recent tournament, I needed to plot out how I corrected for nearly 10 redundant teams. Since the British have a surplus of spotters, higher cmd teams and gun team commanders, especially in their Airlanding platoons, my 1780 list was nearly 1900 points on forces. Referencing the page in that BF released to address the rebates for redundant teams is a big old pain in the tush when using Forces of War, and figuring point percentages.

 

Thanks for reading!