A Skirmish in Normandy - Flames of War AAR

The last time time Curt and I played Flame of War was all the way back in July, 2013. Deciding it's been too long since our miniatures saw the table, Curt asked if we could play a game, and I agreed, especially since I wanted a chance to use the buildings I recently bought from Mk IV Miniatures. 

The table set up saw a large crop field and hedgerows on one side, and a forest on the other. A large stream flowed across the width of the table, and a small farming village was placed in the middle of the table. Kudos to Curt for putting out the terrain. 

Curt brought his trusty paratroopers:

Fallschirmjägerkompanie HQ

Fallschirmjäger Platoon

Fallschirmjäger Platoon

Fallschirmjäger Anti-tank Gun Platoon (PaK40s)

Fallschirmjäger Mortar Platoon

Heavy Tank Platoon (Tigers)

While I brought out my British rifles:

Rifle Company HQ

CSM Stan Hollis, VC 

Rifle Platoon

Rifle Platoon

Carrier Platoon 

Anti-tank Platoon (6 pdr)

Mortar Platoon 

Machine-gun Platoon 

Independent Armoured Platoon 

Independent Armoured Platoon 

I deployed my British in a line across the table, with an infantry platoon and both HQ elements in front of the one German objective, and the 6 pdrs covering the others. On the far flank, I planned to have my one tank platoon move through the woods, while the other tank and infantry platoon were on the other flank and ready to advance through the fields. My mortars sat back in a hedgerow corner (in what I thought was relative safety), next to my machine gun platoon. The more observant of you will probably realize that I completely forgot to deploy my Carrier Platoon. D'oh!

Curt deployed his PaK40s to cover the forest approach, while his two big platoons of paratroopers made ready to dash towards the farm buildings. His mortars deployed much like mine, safe behind the hedgerows, with their observer next to the anti-tank guns on Curt's left. His Tiger tanks - always the scariest part of Curt's lists, especially for my British - idled behind the infantry. 

We decided not to establish a time limit, and to just go until one side had won. 

One the first turn, Curt advanced his tigers and infantry towards the village. On the left, I double-timed one of the tank platoons, pushing them almost all the way through the fields. An infantry platoon followed them in, while the machine guns moved in to hug the hedgerow. One of the mortar observer teams hopped over the hedgerow to get a better line-of-sight. 

My infantry and anti-tank guns stayed put on the right, waiting for the advancing Germans. 

My other tank platoon began to move through the forest on the far right. While I needed to roll Bog Checks to see if they would stop moving, I was confident that I could keep myself from rolling poorly. 

Said confidence was quickly shattered when the platoon commander was the first to bog down, meaning my tank platoon quickly stopped its advance!

Our tanks began to play a game of 'cat and mouse' (I'll let you guess which platoons are which). My hope was that my tanks could at least machine-gun the mortars to pieces before being popped by the Tigers, since their shells were raining down and decimating my own mortars and machine guns. In fact, my Mortars were the only platoon to retreat off the table, thanks to their German counterparts. 

Curt's paratroopers moved forward as his anti-tank guns waited, listening to the British tank commander cursing his bad luck. 

My plan actually worked, with the Shermans rolling up to the hedgerows and starting to shoot at the Mortars, who lost two guns. The Tigers fire back, but the cover and range means Curt has to roll 6's to hit. 

Knowing I needed to get my tanks moving again, I had my platoon commander move from the bogged tank to a mobile one. The Firefly managed to move to the edge of the woods, but the new platoon commander's tank went and bogged down again! A certain driver was going to get a stern lecture after the fight. 

Curt's infantry finally moved through the town and into rifle range. My dug-infantry proved difficult to dislodge, however. 

My platoon commander managed to un-bog his tank, but then was forced to bail out by incoming Pak40 rounds. The other two tanks retaliated, blowing up one of the anti-tank guns. 

The two tank platoons continued to trade volleys with one another as the British infantry prepared to go up and over the hedgerow, led by Hollis. 

Unable to get enough hits with which to pin my infantry platoon, my own rifles chased off one of Curt's paratrooper platoons. 

Finally, Curt's Tigers blew up on of the Shermans. Deciding that they had waited long enough, the British infantry move out into the field, running towards the Tigers. 

The only remaining part of the anti-tank platoon was the command team, who passed the necessary morale checks and moved to stop the British from capturing the objective for at least another turn. 

The British infantry were finally pinned, but Curt's assault was held off for another turn by some lucky dice rolls. 

And in the next turn, the British had the objective in hand, winning 5-2. 

It was a fun game, although Curt and I had to knock some cobwebs out of our heads to remember the rules. I'll probably go over the rule book a couple more times, since we did have a few questionable calls (firing in and out of woods, for example).

Painting Update - WWII

Just a quick update for today. I managed to get some painting done, and finished a platoon of Pz. IV's for my Flames of War Germans. These are the Plastic Soldier Company models, and my Vallejo/Citadel paints and washes took to them incredibly well. Once I get done with my Battlefront models, I bet they're going to be indistinguishable at arms length.

Also, I've found it very difficult to sit down and get anything painted after buying a couple more pre-painted X-Wing miniatures, since they've both been done up to reasonable tabletop quality. I'm hoping to get more games in soon!

Army Spotlight - Flames of War, British (Late War)

I became interested in Flames of War a couple of years ago. It was around the same time that my interest in Warhammer 40k was waning, and I had also decided that 8th Edition Fantasy just wasn't for me. I had always been a bit of a WWII buff, and so it didn't take me long to find was is most likely the most mainstream, if not the most popular, of WWII miniature wargames. I ended up trading some Lord of the Rings SBG miniatures my sister's ex-boyfriend had given to me for the old mid-war British rifle company boxset, and a few other goodies. 

One of the problems I think most wargamers encounter is buying miniatures at a faster rate that they can be painted. Last summer (2012) I decided that wouldn't be the case with my British. Over those months I sat down and painted most of what I had - the infantry taking the longest compared to the vehicles. The result was an infantry company and two tank companies.

Here's the infantry. The company commander and 2iC are in front (no snipers, however. Never had much of a use for them in FoW). Behind are 3 full infantry platoons. Accompanying them is a few support platoons - machine guns, mortars, and 6-pdr anti-tank guns with Lloyd Carriers for additional mobility. 

I started playing FoW with the 2nd Edition 'Open Fire!' set, which came with 2 StuGs and 3 Shermans. Though they were American-models, they were the basis of a Sherman tank company. Unfortunately, it's a bit skewed toward Market-Garden then Normandy as half of each platoon is made up of Fireflies (I somehow managed to buy a lot of Fireflies). 

 

I was also a fan of the cruiser family of tanks that ended up in the form of the Cromwell and Challenger tanks, so I also have a company of them. In Normandy I replace the Challengers with Fireflies borrowed from the Sherman company. 

Here are the oddballs of my collection - more assets than anything else. In front are 3 Churchill Crocodiles - they're decent at anti-infantry work with their flamethrowers, and their heavy front armor gives them semi-decent chances against heavier German guns. 

Behind the Crocs are the Recon platoons I use. The first is a single section of a scout carrier platoon. I'd like to get a full platoon one of these days, as the Bren 'swarm' can deal with both infantry and armor (with Mounted PIATs). Recon moves help with that. The Bren carriers accompany the infantry. There's also a single platoon of Stuart Vs. While their guns aren't anything spectacular in Late War, they're little, fast, and can still put a dent in side armor.

Last are four M5 halftracks. If I'm looking to add a little infantry support that can keep up with my tanks, I mount a platoon in the halftracks.

Last is the artillery. 25 pdr guns on the left, and Sextons on the right. The last old 'Open Fire!' Sherman acts as an OP for the platoon, and a Grasshopper provides an aerial view. 

So that's the Brits. As I mentioned last week, I really need to work on my Germans, which are languishing in storage at the moment. I'd also like to start Americans at some point. 

Everything's FUBAR! - FoW Vietnam AAR

Once again, a group event was held at 7th Dimension Games. This time, Gary had brought out his FoW Vietnam collection, replete with fully painted models and excellent terrain. With four players, two were assigned to each side with myself taking control of two NVA infantry companies.

The mission was to rescue the crew of a downed helicopter. The Free World objective was located in the top left corner, between the small patch of woods on the right side of the river, and the larger half-circle of woods. The NVA objective was behind those woods.

The NVA force was an Infantry Battalion (Fearless Trained) which consisted off:

Battalion HQ

x2 Infantry companies (with B41 rpg upgrades)

Recoilless Gun company

Anti-Air company

Local Forces company

x2 HMG nests

The US force was a Rifle Company (Confident Trained) which consisted of:

Company HQ

x2 Rifle Platoons

Armored Cavalry Platoon with

-Command M113

-x2 Scout Sections

-x3 Sheridans

Tank Platoon

Aeroweapons Platoon

The game started with a bang when the local forces appeared in ambuscade and opened up on one of the two American platoons that had been on patrol, following the small stream. The Americans didn't take much damage (especially since each infantry stand can take two 'wounds' before being removed) and they fired back. Their return fire was near as ineffectual, and only removed a single stand.

The NVA came on in force. One of the infantry companies was placed just within the woods behind the American objective, safe from enemy fire in the cover of the trees. The two HMGs revealed their positions, hosing the Americans in a shower of hot lead. These nests would be critical to the NVA, keeping the Americans from advancing their infantry towards the objective.

The second NVA infantry company came in behind the Americans, and began to chase after them. Several assaults occurred, and while none where decisive, the Americans became trapped between the advancing NVA infantry and the HMG nests.

Of course, with the large amount of defensive fire the Americans could still put out, the NVA had to fall back. By this point the Americans were down to only 1 platoon at near full strength. The second platoon had been reduced to a single team, and the Company commander was safe after a couple close calls.

The 2iC was in a much worse position, however. His team advanced and attempted to put a LAW into one of the nests, but failed to hit. He was then butchered by the local forces, their black clothing wet with sweat and blood.

The situation on turn 4. Unfortunately, it came would be another two turns before any of the American reinforcements would arrive. 

Knowing that American reserves would be arriving regardless of what was rolled next turn, the NVA infantry stopped their pursuit of the Americans and turned to face the incoming armor. Unfortauntely, because they moved, they were unable to dig in. Fingers were crossed.

The American arrived, with the Armored Cavalry rolling onto the table in full force. The amount of fire the M113's alone could put out was disgusting, and the Sheridans added their Beehive ammo (basically turning their cannons into giant shotguns) into the mix.

The result was a decimated company. While they managed to pass their morale tests (thank goodness for Fearless infantry), the NVA plan was in tatters, so we decided to pull the infantry from the table. Another passed morale test, and Charlie melted away into the trees...

Only to reappear further away, and in greater numbers again. This heralded the end of the game - it would take too long for the American armor to get to the objective before the NVA could take it, and the infantry couldn't make it either. The main problem came from the lack of reserves on the American side - the tanks and helicopters never made it onto the table, and they could have rained terror on the NVA forces. 

It was a fun game, however. And while I'm not so interested in Vietnam, this definitely gets me interested in FoW set in the Cold War, which the group agrees we have a fantastic resource for that!

Panzerkompanie vs. Armoured Company - FoW AAR

Finally, a battle report! Sorry about the lack of a post last week to anyone who may actually be reading this and isn't a referral site bot. 

I decided that we needed a game to get back into FoW after a long absence, and in my own humble opinion FoW's best with a mid-point tank battle between tanks that are actually capable of do damage to each other. As such, I created a couple of lists in Easy Army (using the new Overlord book for the Allies and the older Fortress Europe for the Germans). They were:

Armoured Squadron, 4th (Confident Veteran)
HQ - 2 Shermans
Armoured Platoon - 2 , 1 Firefly
Armoured Platoon - 2 Shermans, 1 Firefly
Armoured Platoon - 2 Shermans, 1 Firefly
Armoured Regimental Recce Platoon - 3 Stuart Vs
Armoured Recce Platoon - 3 Cromwells (Confident Trained)

Panzerkompanie (Confident Trained)
Panzerkompanie HG - 2 Panzer IV
Panzer Platoon - 3 Panzer IV
Panzer Platoon - 3 Panzer IV
Panzer Platoon - 3 Panzer IV
Assault Gun Platoon - 2 StuG IV
Panzerspäh Patrol - Sd Kfz 234/2 (Puma)

Just from the lists, you can tell I was going with a semi-vanilla feel to ease us back in. I was glad I did so, as it had been awhile since we played - but I can say that the game went off without a hitch, with only a few glances to the rulebook.

We rolled up Encounter as the mission, and Curt choose to attack.

The table. Curt futilely tries to get the attention of one of the dogs. 

As we both started with only two platoons on the table, our opening turns were a game of move and countermove.

My 2ic takes a gander down a long firing lane.

What's the only way to counter an attack from cover?

Get stuck up in 'em!

My 2ic snuck into the field in an attempt to flank the British tanks. Poor dice rolls on both sides meant no casualties for the first few turns.

My company commander also tried to sneak around the British flank.

One of the defending Shermans was hit and burst into flames - first blood to the Germans!

Curt started getting reinforcements on Turn 4, at the top right of the table.

The fighting intensified as reinforcements began to arrive for both sides.

The platoon commander for one of the Panzer IV platoons retreated off the table after the rest of his platoon was destroyed.

Thankfully, a trio of Pumas arrived to cover the vulnerable objective.

The 2ic, still moving around the side, suddenly found himself swarmed by Stuarts!

Even at close range, however, the Stuart's tiny gun couldn't damage the Panzer IV, and the 2ic moved to attack his British counterpart.

The real fighting was on the right. With three platoons lost over the course of the game, Curt was forced to make a Company morale check, which he failed. The British retreat!

It was a fun game. The Germans are one of my various projects to get painted up during the summer, right after my Saga and French-Indian War miniatures.