A common discussion on various online groups for Flames of War is the unpopularity of Late-War Soviet forces. The Soviet lists do have their weakness, yet players have had success with them here in New Zealand. We have seen tournaments won by Hero Motor Rifle Battalions and Engineer-Sapper Battalions, so there are definitely ways to make them work.
The release of Berlin: Soviet provided me with a good excuse to try them for myself. The challenge I set myself was to build a competitive Soviet force and run it at our club’s 2023 Late-War tournament.
The Late-War period of Flames of War was completed last year with the release of the Berlin books. With no new releases over the last 12 months, the meta of the competitive scene is probably the most stable it has ever been.
A meta can be defined as “the game around the game”. In Flames of War this includes all of the things that go on up until you start deployment, such as the options that go into list building and your choice of Battle Plan. There’s always been a meta: those lists that appear, dominate the competitive scene for a while, become super popular, and then fade as players work out how to counter them and new books create new competitive opportunities.
Local metas are often created by the way that the most successful players in a particular region or gaming group approach the game. To find out more about the Late-War meta in our local region of Wellington, New Zealand, I recently spoke with four players who have for many years been among the top FOW players in New Zealand: Bede, Chris, and Simon from Wellington, and Sofia from Auckland, to hear their views of the state of the Late-War game in our corner of the world.
“Does anyone have any Wespes that I can borrow?” The request was posted by a friend on one of our local group chats ahead of a Late-War Flames of War tournament last year. Once the accusations of “meta chasing” died down, it led to a conversation about the role and effectiveness of artillery in the game.
As someone who primarily plays British forces, my contribution to the discussion was that while the Late-War British lists have a lot of artillery options, only mortars and AVREs offer good value. The British towed artillery piece, the 25pdr, is only Firepower 4+ and is expensive due to being Fearless Veteran. Where the Germans and Americans have cost-effective three-gun units of self-propelled artillery, the British Priest and Sexton troops are units of four, again being Fearless Veteran.
To cap it off, it’s not easy to make use of that Veteran skill because most British Formation Commanders are only rated as Trained. Almost everything that the 25pdr should be able to do in the game can be done more effectively by Crocodiles.
The 25pdr field gun played an immense role in British and Commonwealth actions throughout the war, and it’s a shame that they don’t see the table more often. To do my bit to help correct this, I challenged myself to build a British list that goes all-in on artillery.
The Flames of War army boxes are a great value. They are big boxes packed full of plastic sprues and are the ideal way to either start a new army or reinforce an existing one, at a significant price discount. The new British Crusader Armoured Squadron boxed set for North Africa is no exception. Containing 21 sprues and retailing for US$110, it compares very well to the usual price for a normal unit box.
While the Crusader Armoured Squadron box contains a lot of plastic for your money and a wide variety of models, a closer look at its contents reveals that it is an awkward combination of units. The default army list that is provided with the box is a legal force totaling 93 points, but game-wise it is not a great list.
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.
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.
provides Late-War German forces in with a wealth of list building options, including a wide variety of artillery units. Following on from last month’s article , it makes sense to subject the other side the same scrutiny.
To recap, the analysis a model that simulates each dice roll in the scenario being tested to find an outcome, then repeats that simulation thousands of times in order to find the likelihood of each particular outcome occurring. The targets are dug in Careful infantry teams, with five teams under the Artillery Template, or nine teams under a Salvo Template. The other assumptions are that the Spotting Team is the Formation Commander, and a +1 penalty is added for Ranging In on terrain.
Soviet artillery is quoted as being “the god of war”, so it is no surprise that there is a large array of artillery choices available in the book for Flames of War. Being so spoiled for choice leaves players with some difficult list-building decisions. Mortars or guns? One big battery or two smaller ones? Which of the 8pt units is the best? Is Soviet artillery even worth spending any points on in the first place?
To test this, I built a model that simulates each dice roll in the scenario being tested to find an outcome, then repeats that simulation thousands of times in order to find the likelihood of each particular outcome occurring. The targets are dug in Careful infantry teams, with five teams under the Artillery Template, or nine teams under a Salvo Template. The other assumptions are that the Spotting Team is the Formation Commander, and a +1 penalty is added for Ranging In on terrain.
It is important to remember that dice can do strange thing, and the numbers may not line up with your experience. There are always going to be patches of good or bad luck, or that one in a thousand chance which could occur in a game, but knowing the most likely outcome does help you have realistic expectations that can assist with your planning for the game.
Since arrived, we’ve seen four new books coming in place of the “old” (still valid) ones. Every new book has some sort of new equipment (as the BMP3 for the Soviets or the Warrior for the British), maybe some new formations (like the Gebirgsjager Brigade for Germans). But the new leading stars are definitely the new super heavy tanks. Each of the four new books has a new super-tank we can field, with armor so strong they can face almost any unfriendly attention without worrying to be killed. Are they worth their price?
Christmas comes early for Soviet Team Yankee players in the form of the book with its impressive array of new units and new formation options. In this article, I’m going to share with you what I’m thinking about in terms of list building ideas, how I’m planning to supercharge my Soviet Team Yankee armies to dominate the battlefield.
No matter if you are a new or experienced Team Yankee player, you’re probably looking to do your best to win some games. With the new book, Battlefront is giving you additional tools towards that goal. I’m going to come at this from a few different angles. One is what if I was an entirely new player, what would I recommend you buy to put together a fun and competitive force? As an experienced player, how will I modify my existing lists? Last what older lists might I refresh and bring out again?
