Late War

It is indeed Tiger time. The D-Day book for the Germans is out and we look at the armoured formations you can run out of this new release for Late War. No other commander during WW2 made such an impact in a tank as Michael Wittmann.

As a true Panzer Ace, his Tiger took its fight to the allies and he fought until he was finally KIA in August of 1944. Stopping by his final resting place in 2007 in a small cemetery in France was a small highlight of a trip that took me from Arras to Vimy and everything in between.

Before we look at the Heavy Tank formation from the D-Day book, why don’t we start a little ‘lighter’. Let’s have a good look at the Panzer IV Tank Coy, this list will likely be very popular to German tank purists.

By Tom Burgess

The Panzer Lehr Panzer Division has been brought into the realm of Version 4 Flames of War with the new D-Day German Forces in Normandy, 1944 army book. The elite Lehr has always been a FoW favorite with its Panzergrenadier platoons beefed up with extra Panzerschreck teams. Now there is, even more, to look forward to for veteran and beginning Panzer Lehr players. As the Panzer Lehr’s Panzer Regiment was a fairly standard German  Panzer formation, this article will focus on the infantry of the Lehr Division where it was far more unique.

By Chad Underdonk,

Last winter when Battlefront announced the return to late-war in V4 my heart began to pound a little faster as I’ve always been a big fan of the M8 Greyhounds and Jeeps of the US Cavalry. I immediately examined the announced title page of the US D-Day book and was a little upset to learn that there was no Reconnaissance formation listed for the United States. And worse, upon examination, I realized that the Germans, British, and Russians all had a reconnaissance formation on their title pages. So with much trepidation, I’ve been awaiting word of what is going on with my beloved US Cavalry.

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.

After two years of mid-war battles and tournaments, we’re all pretty excited for the release of Fortress Europe: new lists, more powerful vehicles and new stats to give a new flavour to FOW V4. Now that the book is only a couple of weeks from hitting the shelves, it’s time to have battle with the new forces – and we can’t wait to see how the “new” games taste.

With my friend Stefano Grombi, a veteran both for FOW and wargaming in general, we had our first battle with Fortress Europe lists. Reading the book it’s one thing, playing a game with the new lists is another.

By Benny Christiansen

After reading through the new LW book, Fortress Europe, I decided to challenge a friend of mine for a quick match. We decided on 71 points, and I would play the role of the Germans, while he would play the Soviets.

I decided on a list that would let me try some of the well-known things from MW and see how it would pan out in the LW era.

By Austin Coped

V4 Late War is so close I can almost taste it! And BLUF: While not super in-depth or unique, the British lists are super competitive with the lists that have been shared. List Gold!

***Disclaimer*** Buy Churchills before they go up in value from supply and demand!

Now that you have my initial thoughts, I want to show you a deep dive into the units, the formations and the rundown of National rules and tidbits of info I have run across. First up Special Rules.

Finally, the Late War has come! After two years from V4 release, we’re nearing to the most significant and hyped WW2 period, the latter two years of intense fighting towards Berlin. Battlefront is going to launch Late period with Fortress Europe, the first Late War book covering the period between the end of Mid-War period to D-Day.

The focus of this book is to ferry players from the desert and Russian plains to the later stages of war pre-D-Day. So, for British, we’re talking about the invasion of the Italian boot. In Mid, the British generals can count on a single book that is a bit outdated if compared to the last German Ghost Panzer army list. If you played a game between 8th Army vs Ferdinand or Panzer IV spam you’ll surely have that “unbeatable” feeling.  We can still win the day, since FOW scenarios are based on taking and defending objectives, but it’s really hard when you face lots of frontally uncrackable tanks. Well, in late-war this is going to change…

By Chris Jackson

The question on everyone’s lips on the interwebs these days, at least in the forums I frequent, is what’s coming for Late War? has given me a sneak peek at the new book Fortress Europe and I think they have done a good job with it.

A lot of thought was put into how to roll out the new era, and it seems to me a lot of the complaints we as a gaming community have made since V4 was released have been addressed. Now I’m not saying the new v4 is perfect, nor that I don’t have some issues with it, but I think, on the whole, BF has done a good job, particularly with the concept behind this book.

Fortress Europe is designed primarily to get existing FOW players into Late War with a minimum of muss and fuss. Almost every unit in the book (and for the Germans, EVERY unit in this book) is already produced. The units are simply repointed to Late War levels.

My focus for this article will be the German Forces in Fortress Europe.