The Italian Flames of War Nationals in Milan!
By Paolo Paglianti
Although I have been organizing tournaments in Milan for various Wargames for over twenty years, this year’s Flames of War tournament was very special. First of all, I organized it again with the support of Battlefront and the Austrian store S-Games.at, both of them generously provided us with prizes. Moreover, it is the first time I have organized the Italian Nationals, a true honor for me. And finally, we had some foreign guests – and what guests!
The captain of the English ETC team, Graham Willmott, the captain of the Swiss ETC team, Stefano Regazzoni (and his inseparable companion, Etienne Dufour), and the former captain of the French team, Frédéric Osio. Considering the presence of almost all Italian ETC team (the Captain Livio Tonazzo, Flaviano Maggioni, Antonio Soncini and Tiberio Vinante – we just missed Giacomo Velini) it was a very challenging tournament and a great practice for the ETC 2024, which is just around the corner – the Flames of War team world championship is set to take place in Krakow on the first weekend of August!
The location. We are now at home at the Sandro Pertini Sports Center in Cornaredo, the city where I live and that hosts my Flames of War and other wargame tournaments. The location is a tented sports hall that contains a basketball court, with heating for the winter months and the ability to open the sides in warmer ones, and with perfect lighting. Another noteworthy bonus is that the managers of the Sports Center are excellent cooks, and for lunch, we feasted on pizza with various toppings, pasta all’arrabbiata, burgers, and a ton of fries.
The furious noon assault on the food baggage, with players fighting for Pizza, Pasta and Salamella, a special juicy hamburger.
The Saturday dinner was in a fantastic Italian restaurant specializing in Risotto (Rice Italian style) and Mirto, a Sardinia Lemoncello-like shot.
The gadgets. When I organize a tournament, I always try to give a gadget to each player so that everyone takes home a memento of the event. For this tournament, I had personalized measuring tools for Flames of War made by an Italian company (FireForge Games), customized with the player’s name. I am very pleased with the result, and it seems that the players appreciated it as well. Each player also received a painted soldier with the tournament’s name and date, the official Battlefront 2024 Objectived and a Slitherine coupon to receive $20 of credit in their store to buy some of our digital video games, like Headquarters WW2 or Panzer Corps 2, given the tournament theme!
Every player received a 15mm soldier, a Slitherine 20$ coupon, and a special wooden rule for FOW with his/her name. Also, the Official 2024 Battlefront objective.
My list. After the Teutonic experience at the Lady of the Lake Tournament in Switzerland, where I had to play with the Germans on defense, I returned to using my “usual” British list for the Italian Nationals. However, on the advice of the Italian ETC team captain, Livio Tonazzo, I modified it by including the Desert Rats (instead of the usual Canadians) and two platoons of Crocodiles and only one of M10 (I usually play with 2 platoons of M10 and 1 of Crocodiles).
Additionally, small agile and fast scout units, and the Stan Hollis card, which boosts the rally of British infantry to 3+ instead of the poor 5+. To further ease recovering from being pinned, we also added the “Cautious, not stupid” card, which removes a pin from a unit per game, after all morale tests.
You can find the lists used in the tournament here: Italian Nationals 2024 -Lists.
A special thanks goes to my friend Søren Petersen, who, unable to come to Milan, helped me meticulously and patiently check all the tournament lists. Thank you, Søren!
For the first time since organizing tournaments, I used ChatGPT to create the pairings for the first round. It was not a simple procedure, as I had to avoid foreign players meeting in the first round (especially Stefano, Fred, and Etienne, who often play together since they are part of the same Swiss ETC team) and the same for Italian players from the same city. Technology at the service of wargaming!
First game, Matteo Simonetti with US D-Day America
Matteo is one of the friends who taught me how to play Team Yankee (and thus FOW) in 2018, although he later moved on to other games. It was a pleasure to see him again at the tournament in Milan! He chose a strong defensive list, and naturally, I attacked. Here is his list.
The mission we drew was Dogfight, and this is the deployment.
Matteo decided to place the five minefields in the center of the table, and I saw a good opportunity through the two woods at the bottom of the table, where I grouped practically the entire army. I immediately put the six Crocodiles to work, devastating the most advanced American defense platoons, and then with the British infantry, I seized the house on the objective.
Matteo might be a bit rusty, but he knows very well how to counterattack: he launched his Shermans along the road between the houses and woods, managing to flank the Crocodiles, destroying a couple of them, but my M10s emerged from hiding and returned the favor to the Shermans, and shortly after, the objective was taken. 7-2
Second game, Flaviano Maggioni with Bulge German
Flaviano is one of the strongest Italian players and a teammate at the ETC. He plays very well with his Germans and is dangerous both in defense and attack. At this tournament, he brought a Panther list, and I believe we will see several at ETC 2024, as they are excellent against Sherman spam. Here is the list – I like it a lot, it has a bit of everything.
Flaviano decided on Maneuver, and of course, I attacked. Mission Counterattack. Here is the table.
Flaviano placed a couple of Panther platoons in reserve, leaving the Pak 40s in ambush. I positioned the bulk of the army in the left quadrant of my deployment (after all, I have five Spearhead units!) and charged towards the most exposed objective.
Flaviano did not fall for it and quickly moved the Panthers on the table, along with the German scouts – perfect for countering moving infantry. Suddenly, the quarter of the table became very crowded! I decided to expose the M10s on the hill in my deployment for two reasons. The first is to target the Panther HQ. Panthers are almost indestructible to the rest of my army, but they have top armor 1 and are Reluctant, so in the second half of the game, the only way to counter them will be to flame them and hope they fail their remount rolls.
Taking out the HQ that allows them to reroll remount rolls is a great thing. Additionally, the M10s make excellent bait: Flaviano revealed the Pak 40 ambush on the opposite hill in the German deployment, and he wiped them out as expected. This, however, allowed me to BBQ the Pak 40s, which are very dangerous in ambush, and opened the way to the flank of the Panthers, which were then sandwiched in the next turn and unable to defend the more exposed objective.
By destroying the HQ, the exposed Panther platoon, and the AA platoon, the tank formation abandoned the field, I managed to take the objective. 7-2
Third game, Etienne Dufour with his nasty German Berlin
It is not the first time I have played against Etienne, and I know how skilled and attentive he is. The last time we faced each other, he was testing his Sherman spam list, and it ended in a 3-3 draw with a table full of destroyed tanks. This time, Etienne played with a German spam list.
Etienne aimed for maneuver, and I attacked, so we got the Bypass scenario. Here is the table.
Etienne deployed most of his army in the center of the table, using the buildings to create a solid defensive line. The idea was to prevent me from physically reaching the objectives behind him with several very tough defensive lines. The only chance I saw to achieve victory was to launch all the scout units at the bottom of the table, where Etienne could not place anything. A race to the objective, hoping he could not intercept all the units.
To strengthen the attack, I also positioned the M10s at the top, while the two Churchill platoons remained in reserve with the task of defending my objectives from Etienne’s inevitable counterattack. So I launched the Daimlers, the universal carriers, the MGs, and everything small and fast at the bottom at full speed, and at the same time sent the WASP on a suicide mission against the enemy line to take out the 88s, the only guns capable of destroying the Churchills, which I managed to do at the cost of the 6 WASPs.
Etienne sent all his reserves towards the mass of scouts, and, due to the lack of places to hide, managed to take out almost the entire attacking wing. My scouts defended well and secured the 3 platoons I needed to ensure the three points for a draw, and meanwhile, my Churchill Crocodiles entered and each positioned themselves on an objective.
Etienne is a very strong player because he leaves nothing to chance: once he stopped my attack, he reorganized his units and first attacked the lower objective, where he was effectively repelled by the Churchills and infantry, and then the upper one, helped by a couple of lucky rolls with the StuHs that took out two Crocodiles with bombardment. Although he could not drive me off the objectives, he still tried to take out all the platoons of the formation to cause the army’s collapse – and he came very close!
In the end, it was a Solomonic draw, 3-3, with the usual number of wrecks on the table!
Fourth game, Graham Willmott with German Bulge
Graham is not only the captain of the English ETC team but also one of the best FOW players around. We have already faced each other at Warfare 2023, with armies that were very similar to those used at the Nationals in Milan.
We are both attacking, and we find ourselves in the classic Free for All scenario, on a table full of buildings and with two attacking routes perpendicular to the long sides.
As often happens in Free for All, two practically independent mini-battles are created on the game table. On the left, it is Graham who attacks me: he positions the two platoons of Panzer IV/70, the Hitlerjung infantry with a plethora of Panzerfausts, and various units of SD KFZ with cannons of various calibers. In front of them is one of the Crocodile platoons, an infantry unit (without HQ nearby, so rally on 5+), a platoon of WASPs, and little else. Hold on, guys!
On the right, the roles are reversed. Although Graham intends to defend here, he positions a horrible series of two platoons of 88s (AT 14), the “elder” Volks infantry, and another avalanche of assorted SD KFZs, including 4 flamers; however, apart from the 88s, he has little to stop my Crocodiles, which are accompanied by the infantry platoon with HQ (and thus rally on 3+), and a platoon of WASPs. I place the solitary M10 platoon a bit more in the center, with the idea of launching it at full speed towards the Panzer IV/70.
As expected, Graham attacks the left side, pushing with everything he has. My Crocodiles advance to get within flamethrower range – the Panzer IV/70 have top armor 1 and remount on 5+, so they suffer against flamethrowers, and I keep the infantry’s heads down. I manage to take out one Panzer IV/70 per platoon, but thanks to the HQ providentially positioned behind the tanks, Graham doesn’t lose any platoons and retaliates with heavy fire, which eventually takes down my Crocodiles.
However, it takes him a few too many turns to get within 8” of my objective and prepare for the decisive charge. Meanwhile, I changed my mind and the M10s stay put and support my assault on the right, with the Crocodiles and WASPs launching forward under the protection of the only smoke screen I have.
In the next turn, they barbecue the 88s, while the M10s take out most of the SD KFZs, especially the flamers. In this way, the Desert Rats + HQ move through the buildings and assault the Volks defending Graham’s objective: it’s an uneven fight, and I manage to drive every Teutonic troop off the objective just before Graham does the same on the other side. A very fortunate 6-3.
Fifth Game, Fred Oz with his mega spam of German Berlin
I had no doubts about Fred Oz’s skill as a player, but the demonstration came in the first 15 minutes of play when we chose our stance (I attack and Fred defends), and my opponent spent a quarter of an hour mapping out the two possible deployments of his and my troops for the Killing Ground scenario. Every player should do this, especially the defender when choosing which side of the table to deploy on.
Here is list
and here is the table
Indeed, Fred decides the better side: he divides the table into two halves, with an objective on my right defended by three or four light units but also by 4 minefields, while on my left there is a mass of units but only one minefield. The Killing Ground scenario is very tricky for the attacker because the defender can deploy the ambush on the flanks, even where the attacker has already passed.
Aware of this problem, I position a platoon of Crocodiles in front of the objective, along with two infantry units and the HQ in the middle of the group. On the left, I launch the second platoon of Crocodiles, intending to circle around the ruined church and take the rough terrain between two fires (of flamethrowers!), but I also keep three scout platoons to hold the wheat fields on the left flank, to prevent Fred from easily positioning the Hitlerjung he kept in ambush.
Unfortunately, Fred’s army is doubly insidious because it is a spam of German Berlin full of high-quality troops that cost (a bit too) little in terms of army points – for example, the StuH platoon costs 8 points, the same as 3 American Priests, taken at 4+ and has the armor of a true German tank.
My plan is to concentrate the fire of 6 Crocodiles, using both flames and cannons, to prepare the charge of the Desert Rats on the objective and keep the M10s a bit farther back to take out the StuHs and the SD KFZs with the 7.5 cm cannon. I would like to say that it went poorly due to bad luck since in four full turns of firing, I managed to destroy less than a platoon of SD KFZs, but as I often say, luck has nothing to do with it. I made a mistake in my attack, concentrating all my troops on a single objective and allowing Fred to do the same, moving practically his entire army from the right side to the left. And I attacked in an uncoordinated manner.
The final result is a 3-6 for Fred. Next time will be different, mon ami!
Final Ranking
As we usually do in Italy, the first day of the tournament led to a first ladder with prizes and cups (valid for the Italian FOW championship). For this reason, you can see some players have only 3 games – they played only on Saturday. A couple joined in for the Sunday, and they have two games.
After five games, Fred Oz takes the top spot on the podium with four wins and a draw with Etienne, who comes second. Third, with great luck, is yours truly. Graham wins the Sportsmanship award, well-deserved according to all five of his opponents (including me). Seeing such an experienced, competitive, and challenging player be liked by all five of his opponents is a real pleasure, an inspiration for everyone!
Finally, Stefano Regazzoni wins the award for the best-painted army. A fantastic weekend of gaming, with over 25 Italian and foreign players for the Flames of War Nationals, and just as many for two parallel tournaments of Saga and Warhammer 40,000: Killteam – unity is strength!
I told Fred that the flag he brought on the podium had one wrong color, but he is so sturdy! Should be green, my friend!
A group selfie with the 50+ players of the Sunday tournaments – it includes Flames of War, Saga, and Warhammer 40,000 Killteam.