Flames of War

[eldurand]

I played my first game of Flames of War, as a local game club that I just started going to plays fairly often. I was teamed up with a guy who has a huge Soviet force, and we played an Ostfront battle.

I had a blast, though I lost us the game when the tank column I was controlling failed a morale check and fled! But the whole thing (John, the group organizer built a MAGNIFICENT table to play on) was an amazing spectacle. The painted minis, buildings, terrain, etc. looked great. I am hooked!

I posted a bunch of photos I took on my photobucket site:

eldurand_public/Flames of War/April 26th SMGC - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Enjoy!

Henry

[TRDG]

Great pics Eldurand, love em'!!

Nice to see other Zone members here playing this game.
So, what was the more fun, and realistic part in your first battle by chance?

Cheers, thanks!!

Tom

[eldurand]

Glad you liked the pics! I had a good time lining up shots. My camera has a great macro and can take pics at up a focus distance of 0, yep 0! It is excellent for extreme close ups of small figures like this.

The game was great, though I said we lost. Some German infantry hiding in buildings ambushed the Soviet infantry transports, destroying many of them and forcing the infantry to assault their positions. It was a bloodbath, though the Germans were wiped out to the last man. Also, my tanks got caught in a duel with Hungarian tanks on the bridge we were supposed to cross, and thus we never made it across before the tanks routed.

I have begun collecting a small force, well two actually. A Finnish unit for the Eastern Front, and a US Armored Rifle Company for when we do D-Day and Western Europe. I will post details on my blog as work progresses. Right now I am still waiting for delivery of the first batch of lead - Command Decision models for my US force.

Henry

Plastic Pirates

[TRDG]

Any thoughts on the Cobra battle book coming out in June yet? Those SS units look mighty interesting!! As well as the Barkman Panther hero for me at least, the U.S. forces less so except the arty spotter planes and heavy arty models that is!!

Cheers, Looking forward to Bagration this fall as well?

TRDG

Tom

[eldurand]

I've not really gotten into the game yet, just having played the one time at our gaming group, so I am not the person to discuss how good or bad the new unites will be. But we have another game tonight and I have actually read the rules, so I should have a better idea of what is going on.

I am going to start a US Armored Rifle Company, since I am on a VERY tight budget and they seem to be a force you can use in many different theatres. We'll see how it goes...

Also, I have started a blog on my wargaming and the latest post is FoW related. If you are interested, check it out at:

Plastic Pirates

Thanks!

Henry

[TRDG]

Well, if you like the heavy U.S. arty guns or playing the SS, that is your book!!! As for the regular American tank force, there are some changes, but I don't see that much yet. You can still field only 1 platoon of 76mm Shermans, but I think some of the specific Companies are maybe confident vets.....

The SS platoons are still point pricy, so not sure it will add much to my force, and fielding only 1 Jagdpanther per Co really sucks as well, but maybe the linked battes/campaigns will have some good stuuf to to get ideas from as well!!

Cheers, godd luck on your second game and tell me how it went.

TRDG

Tom

I'll check out your blog when I have a chance here to!!!

[Whiterook]

Great pics thre Henry...great camera, which to me is an indispensable necessity! Mine can Macro wonderfully too, and paid for itself in what it can do. Anyway, I love the vehicles! I've said to many a person that I find it a tough call who has the better vehicles...Flames of War o Axis & Allies Miniatures. I'd probably have to side with FoW for ultimate quality, but I couldn't imagine all the work in painting them! But being such a fantastic minis painter yourself, I don't see that being a problem for you mate!

[eldurand]

Originally Posted by Whiterook

I couldn't imagine all the work in painting them! But being such a fantastic minis painter yourself, I don't see that being a problem for you mate!

Thanks! Painting those tiny planes for Memoir '44 was good practice for Flames of War!

I now have a couple of games under my belt, and I have started collecting a US force. My impressions of the games, and the results of my efforts at painting, can be seen on my blog at:

Plastic Pirates

As stated in the blog, I am trying to organize and collect a force that can do double duty as a regular infantry company as well as an armored rifle company. We will see how it goes...

Let me know what you think, this is my first time (both for the blogging and for painting those wee 15mm guys).

[Whiterook]

Wow Henry, great job on the figs...and I love your Blog site...I have to try a blog site someday (I'm not the most computer lierate guy around, but I can hold my own). I love the first paragraph of May 23rd section...that's so cool! The pictures are amazing. How did you do the smoke and flames on the tanks? Anyway, you're fast becoming an expert painter my friend! Keep up the good work, keep the details coming, and be sure to post some AAR's in the new sub-forum soon, so we can all get a taste of this cool game!

[eldurand]

Thanks for the kind words, I appreciate it!

Originally Posted by Whiterook

How did you do the smoke and flames on the tanks?

That's really easy - we use painted cotton, which comes from Flames of War: Product Details. We just put a tuft on each tank that gets smoked and they look good. Simple and effective.

Henry