V4

By Tom Burgess

The No Nice No Glory and Breakthrough Assault’s online Firestorm Gazala Campaign is now rolling into it’s third and final phase. The campaign has been driven so far by the 47 games played around the world from Turn 1 and Turn 2. The battle still hangs very much in the balance and either side could claim victory based on how the next four battles in Turn 3 go.

Turn 2 Analysis

The five battles in Turn 2 went three to the German/Italian forces and two to the Commonwealth forces.  Most importantly, British players in Turn 2 won some of the battles that mattered. The British line held to the south of Gazala at Knightsbridge (B5) and southwest of Gazala at El Adem (B6). However, to the southeast of Gazala at Belhamed (B7), Rommel did turn the flank and is now on the outskirts of Tobruk.

By Ed Hall and Tom Burgess

Continuing with the Breakthrough Assault and No Dice No Glory online Firestorm Gazala Campaign.  Ed wanted to play Battle 5 at area C5 “Hill 171.” Ed selected 80 points, before the addition of Firestorm Troops as the point level for this battle.

We both chose formations representative of the forces committed to this battle.  So for Tom that would be a Motor Co, backed up by a reinforcing Crusader Squadron. Ed wen with an Afrika Korps Shutzen Co. Tom chose a Defense stance to model the situation and Ed chose Maneuver.  Using the Battle Plans matrix this resulted in a Dust Up Mission.

By Tom Burgess

Turn One of the Firestorm Campaign was a complete success…maybe not so much for the British effort per say but overall we had 21 games from around the globe reported in. Additionally, Battlefront has risen to the occasion and is now offering two boxed sets each turn as awards for those who submit the most/best written Battle AARs.

So the campaign, as joint Breakthrough Assault and No Dice No Glory effort, is doing exactly what we had hoped it would do, generate themed Flames of War games.  Though Mark, allowed any mid-war forces be used for games in this campaign, the AARs I have seen all have used proper Mid-war Desert British, German, and Italian miniatures on nice desert boards. Huzzah to you all in the field!

So how did Turn One’s 21 battles turn out from the British Perspective?

By Tom Burgess

One of my major projects of 2019 was to complete an all plastic German East Front Mid-War army. I chose to focus on Gepanzert Panzer Grenadiers. To do this I had two boxes of Battlefront’s ‘s and two Boxes of Plastic Soldier Company’s ‘s. So I thought this provided a nice opportunity to review and compare what these two companies offer for the same model.

Both companies provide the SdKfz-251/C in unit boxes of five vehicles. The Plastic Soldier Company (PSC) boxed set cost $29.99 (US) with crews/passengers but only the machinegun armed transport option and no decals.

Battlefront (BF) box set cost $45.99 (US) and comes with parts to build all five models as the transport (with or without 3.7cm anti-tank gun), the 7.5cm short assault gun, or the 8cm armored mortar version. The BF set also the proprietary unit cards, for use in Flames of War, as well as a sheet of waterslide decals.

By Tom Burgess

My good friend Ed and I were very excited to acquire last month’s release of the 21st Panzer Division expansion books/cards for the D-Day Germans in Flames of War Version 4. We both have a lot of 21st Panzer Division kit in our collections, but only Ed had any of it done.  So I rolled out my new US Sheman Company so we could get in a game with the new hotness.

by Matt Varnish

Here we go, myself and fellow No Dice No Glory contributor Scott ‘Obsidian23’ Roach, get in a game using the new British D-Day book. As always, the video of the game is linked at the end of the article.

We actually debated using the special D-Day missions in the book but they were either on 4ft by 4ft tables or Airlanding, so we opted to use the normal Battle Planner.. and wound up with Free-For-All. We WERE using the new Bocage rules, however, Bocage Hedgerows are Tall Terrain and provide Bulletproof Cover to gun and infantry teams shot through them. Looking at the above table Scott laid out, you can see that Line of Sight would be an issue for things like Achilles, 88s and Panthers.

D-Day +2, Monty’s forces have pushed past the beachheads and are heading towards Caen.   In their way lies a German Recon Coy sitting in an outskirt called Herouville-St-Clair.

The British army has landed on D-Day shores, and we finally got our nerdy hands on the new D-Day book. Mitch did , while Tom M. went for . In this article, we’ll look after four 100 points lists you can now do with the new D-Day book, expanding the Fortress Europe basic list we all used in the last months.

By Preston Jacob

 

“We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender!” – Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

That speech rings no truer than with all the new units you can find in the new Flames of War D:Day British book. For any British player who felt they may have been cheated with the small list and force selection from Fortress Europe, worry no more. There are over 100 pages in this new book and brings the British fully into late war. Whether you’re an infantry or armored player, you’ll find everything you could want from the Normandy campaign and will be able to drive the Germans back to the Fatherland by Christmas.

Since the beginning of FOW’s Version 4 I’ve been patient. Taking the opportunity through the midwar releases to buy, build and paint an entire British armored company, and a motor and infantry company. An entire cornucopia of Churchills, Grants, and tin hatted tommies have graced my painting table all gussied up in the Tobruk Finest camo schemes.

What I have been waiting for, however, is the Airborne. Because I have three full companies already painted in their signature smock. And its’ been a long wait.

Let’s see what the new D-Day British book gives us, shall we?

Ed and Tom hit the air-waves again for the second installment of No Dice No Glory’s  BattleVault podcast.