I recently had my first chance to play a Flames of War game, and overall, I (and my group as well) liked it. It’s got me thinking about getting back into WWII in 15mm.
We played a post-normandy scenario, where the Americans were advancing on a German held position. It was all infantry for our first game.
It played a bit like the old Space Marine (which is no insult—we always have a rowdy good time with Space Marine). Roll to hit on d6s, if a stand is in cover, it gets a saving throw. (someone will ahve to correct me if I get the details wrong ... I wasn’t running the game and don’t have a rule book).
The different nationalities have different special abilities. The Americans can move and shoot with their Garands, and if they don’t move, get to unload at twice the dice (but with a harder to-hit number).
That worked well in our game. I moved my American troops into position in cover and then blasted away at the Germans, eventually forcing them out of their positions.
I’m really looking forward to another game, this time with armor, to see how that works.
some friends of mine enjoy it immensely. we were told to buy the rules from flames of war, and buy up the axis and allies mini’s at a much reduced rate than the FoW mini’s
not an expert by any means, but aren’t they still quite cheaper than FoW ? I know there are many sites that sell individual pieces for seemilingly quite a reasonable price. ( already painted, etc. )
if -all- of your forces are say 12mm (for lack of a better example) vs. 15 mm. w/o 15’s on the board at the saem time, how much of a difference will it make?
affirmative action strikes again, have an all midget army… ?
I don’t think that the size of the miniatures make any difference in the game—its the base sizes that count—and as long as those are the same, I don’t see any real requirement that it be 15mm.
Hi all. This is my first post. I like the game. While the company’s figs are expensive, you do get complete units. This is not too bad for infantry units. For tanks I have snagged die cast shermans that were sold in blister packs for less than a dollar each. They are 15mm on the money. Most of my other armor and guns are Old Glory stuff. I have used Corgy(sp?) tanks with my 15mm infantry and it is passable as long as there are no other tanks on the table.
We have played one game with a company of shermans and a company of GIs against two under strength german infantry companies with some AT guns. That played well. I have been trying to get a game with the same American force against some German armor and Infantry to see how that will go. Once we do, I will let you know how the tank vs tank combat played using FoW.
I’ve been edging around FoW for some time now but the expense caused me to finally opt for the upcoming “Tide of Iron” game instead. I do like the idea of larger sized WW2 battles.
For any player who isn’t yet locked into 15mm, Wal-Mart currently has a selection of 1:144 scale late WWII AFVs in stock at about $2 each (Panthers, PzKwIVs, Tigers, and others). These should scale perfectly with N- guage or 12mm, and would probably fit well with 10mm infantry. They’re also much more nicely painted than the A & A minis.
It’s always good to remind ourselves that rules and figures are not parts of a symbiotic system-- rules can be adapted to allow for different scales of figures and “non- chapter- approved” minis can always be used in informal games.
I try to be as flexable as I can. I use my minies for Squad Leader, FoW and Spearhead. As I am the only one bringing troops for WWII 15mm battles I do not have to worry about not having the same base size as the “other guy”. I agree with the other posts about vehicle size and keeping the same make of figs in the same unit… but that does not have to be a hard and fast rule. I have several “mixed” units that look just fine on the table.
Let me just begin by saying that I LOVE FLAMES OF WAR!
I can’t say enough good things about this game. If you are on the fence and trying to decide to get the $50 rulebook(ouch!) here’s what I think: Its worth every penny.
Battlefront, the company that produces FoW and their figures, makes super miniatures - excellent detail, slightly “chunky” in proportion, but not really noticeable. They are very nicely sculpted and their range is very big and always growing. FoW is a 1:1 game scale where one figure represents one man, 1 tank model=1 tank, etc. So your gaming force is roughly equivalent to a company sided unit. The rules are very straightforward and fast playing. The guys who designed it are very WW2-knowledgeable and deliberately took into consideration the various cultures, doctrines, weapons and equipment and real history when designing the ruleset. Different nationalities have different strengths and weaknesses.
When you buy a pack of FoW minis, you are buyng ALL the figures you need to play that whole unit, be it a platoon, or a company, or whatever. All the standard bases you will need to base that unit are included in the blister/box. They are also cast slightly “harder” than many other figures out there(more like white metal/pewter) and hold up very well against wear and tear(ie, not as many “bent” gun barrels over time) You can buy a whole company at a time or just individual platoons.
The downside is that you have to purchase the rule book(which is expensive, about $50 USD) and then there is a different “intelligence briefing” book for each period of the war(Mid-war Eastern front/Late war “Fortress Europe"/Afrika and Mediterranean/D-Day, etc. You have to purchase the book that contains the type of force you want to build/play. This has all the information on the makeup of the units and what your “options” are or what you can include in your gaming unit. It also has all the statistical/game info/charts for that particular unit.
As for gameplay, I think it plays fast while maintaining a good level of realism. Frontal, unsupported infantry attacks usually fail. Tanks usually bowl over unsupported infantry, artillery kills lots of people and supresses. Its pretty good. There are a few “gamey” aspects to it as well that I’m not all that into like you can opt to include special “hero” characters in your force (for a price) and there is often a lot of artillery - on the table(which is not always the most relaistic), but I can overlook these things as they are minor and do not detract from gameplay.
The other adantage to FoW is that it is so big now that you can go almost anywhere and find a group that plays it. It is the “historical” equivalent of warhammer and those types of games. (I think its based on the Games Workshop format)
Old Glory Command Descision figures are roughly the same size and match up well with Battlefront figures and I use them a lot with the plastic Battlefront bases that you use for the game.
OK, I’ll shut up now before you all think I work for Battlefront - because I don’t
Its a really good game an worth checking it out. Thats my opinion on it.
