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Hello everyone, my friends and I have decided to leave 40k for good and take up flames of war.
One of us is set on the Soviets so I will go German (another friend has also decided on German)
Here is my quandary, I want to build a 3rd SS "totenkopf" force, but I have no idea where to start, does anyone have any helpful advice? Is there a good box set to start with? What books Will we need for eastern front operations?(barbarossa?)

My budget is about 100 dollars maybe a bit more. (that's to get started at least)


Thanks in advance,
Clinton

The new box army deals are 100 bucks and well worth the money! The German one is . around 1300 points and makes a very good starting place for Germans. What period are you wanting to play? The 3 SS are in grey wolf which is a 50 dollar book or you can use the new forces of war app for a few bucks. A bit of advice fearless veteran units are very expensive and sometimes hard to play in the beginning since they aren't very forgiving.

I think the period we are most keen on playing is mid-war to late war.
Do you happen to know the name of the German army box? The flames of war web store only has "Rämsch's Charge" and that's only 960 points (is the average game 1000 points?)
I've heard that the elite troop armies can be challenging, I've always been a fan of a small, hardened force fighting hordes of uncertain foes. Red army hordes

Ill look into that app! Thanks!

EDIT: The app isn't available for droid :/

Ok if you want to play Germans in Mid war, there is the book 'eastern front' if you want late war you have some eastern front books - grey wolf (with totenkopf in), desperate measures, and Berlin. But there are some more generic German lists in all the other books etc. look at the 'forces of war' web page for lists if you have android

Whilst the battlefront box is good, you'll get more models for your money from companies like 'plastic soldier company'

For me - if I wanted a good starter German force I'd buy
2 boxes of panzer 4's
1 box of panthers (all of this can be BF or PSC)
A couple of Pumas (recon)
Nebelwerfers for arty/smoke
Some type of mobile AA

Second of PSC stuff there are good.
I would add in some infantry and StuG G.
Make the nebelwerfers is 15cm type. The 20mm and 30mm donot have smoke.

 ClintonG wrote:
I think the period we are most keen on playing is mid-war to late war.
Do you happen to know the name of the German army box? The flames of war web store only has "Rämsch's Charge" and that's only 960 points (is the average game 1000 points?)
I've heard that the elite troop armies can be challenging, I've always been a fan of a small, hardened force fighting hordes of uncertain foes. Red army hordes

Ill look into that app! Thanks!

EDIT: The app isn't available for droid :/

Games can be as big or small as you like (though if you go to small you get to the point where core platoons don't fit and you can't run lists properly ). 1000pts is a good starting point for beginners. Most "tournaments" have point sizes varying from 1350 to 1900... People sometimes play larger points for later periods. The more elite your army and the more expensive the units are, the less you have to buy.

I think Ramsch's charge is a pretty good starting point. It can easily be increased points wise later on by some 15cm nebelwerfers and german tiger/King tiger tanks. (don't know whats available on the SS list but with fow you get a lot of lists that use similar/same models).

You can buy the ss list for a dollar in the FOW list builder- Forces of War. All you need is the printed out list and a rulebook and your good to play. http://forces.flamesofwar.com/

Well here is what i would buy if i wanted to get for a hundred bucks for SS tanks.
I would stick with "Rämsch's Charge"
and buy a couple of Zvezda 222 Armored cars and a Command car from BF.
I wouldnt worry about the NEbs so much i would just take a mortar plt. instead and cheaper too.Buy BF mortar set. If you need trans for them buy you a couple of the Zvezda half traxs, Yes they are for EW but most players wont care. Also another product are the pre painted Point of contact models. from the Warstore,especially the Tigers which I heard are awesome.
One last thing that would help you is the GErman side of the open fire set.Maybe add some Zvezda Opels for trans for the set and of course a STUKA Zvezda.
YOu should be able to everything from the Warstore, just depends on stock levels.

Thanks for all the advice! I think Ill Pick up Rämsch's Charge, and use the forces of war to get the grey wolf list any build up from there. Do I also need a separate rulebook?

You will need a copy of the main rule book. Or the Mini rule book from the open fire set that you can usually get cheaply on ebay. It does fall apart as soon as you breath on it though.

 carlos13th wrote:
You will need a copy of the main rule book. Or the Mini rule book from the open fire set that you can usually get cheaply on ebay. It does fall apart as soon as you breath on it though.

Note that the current Open Fire rulebook is a simplified version of the game. It's a training version that doesn't include all of the rules found in the full game.

Unlike Games Workshop, Battlefront does sell the Flames of War 3rd edition rulebook - Pocket Edition separately for the low price of $10. No need for eBay.

Eumerin wrote:

 carlos13th wrote:
You will need a copy of the main rule book. Or the Mini rule book from the open fire set that you can usually get cheaply on ebay. It does fall apart as soon as you breath on it though.

Note that the current Open Fire rulebook is a simplified version of the game. It's a training version that doesn't include all of the rules found in the full game.

Open fire no longer contains the full mini rule book then? Thats a shame.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Ghaz wrote:
Unlike Games Workshop, Battlefront does sell the Flames of War 3rd edition rulebook - Pocket Edition separately for the low price of $10. No need for eBay.

I wasnt aware of that. Thanks.

Yes, Open Fire! is basically Flames of War Lite for those looking for a less in-depth beer & pretzels game with its own rules and forces lists. It still works as a starter as it shares the same basic game mechanics as Flames of War.

I Picked up the pocket rulebook and grey wolf. I shot my budget by about 50 dollars but hey, its not the first time and certainly won't be the last.

 Ghaz wrote:
Yes, Open Fire! is basically Flames of War Lite for those looking for a less in-depth beer & pretzels game with its own rules and forces lists. It still works as a starter as it shares the same basic game mechanics as Flames of War.

From what I understand, the core of the game is the same. But they've left out some of the special rules, like Protected Ammo, in order to make things simpler. It comes with its own late war force lists for all of the major nations (including the Soviets). But since units don't have the usual special rules, the points costs are slightly different.

Yes. That's what I meant when I said it has the same basic game mechanics as you can see in the link to the rules in my post (both the Open Fire! rules and Forces lists are free PDFs on Battlefront's website).

 ClintonG wrote:
I Picked up the pocket rulebook and grey wolf. I shot my budget by about 50 dollars but hey, its not the first time and certainly won't be the last.

Take your mini rule book to an FedExOffice and get it spiral bound w plastic covers.

AndrasOtto wrote:

 ClintonG wrote:
I Picked up the pocket rulebook and grey wolf. I shot my budget by about 50 dollars but hey, its not the first time and certainly won't be the last.

Take your mini rule book to an FedExOffice and get it spiral bound w plastic covers.

Repeated for emphasis. It's unfortunate, but Battlefront has had a problem in the past with some of their books falling apart a bit too easily (I haven't noticed it in the more recent books, though). The small edition of the rulebook was the worst offender in that regard.

Yeah I am still looking for somewhere that will bind my book. The mini rulebook is great value but unless you want to be chasing pages around the room while playing getting it rebound is a great idea.

OP does this mean you got everything you need to play for £150 dollars? If so that's not a bad deal at all.

Make sure you have the revised edition of Grey Wolf. Here are the changes http://www.flamesofwar.com/hobby.aspx?art_id=4481.

AndrasOtto wrote:

 ClintonG wrote:
I Picked up the pocket rulebook and grey wolf. I shot my budget by about 50 dollars but hey, its not the first time and certainly won't be the last.

Take your mini rule book to an FedExOffice and get it spiral bound w plastic covers.

That is a great idea! Thank you!

 carlos13th wrote:
Yeah I am still looking for somewhere that will bind my book. The mini rulebook is great value but unless you want to be chasing pages around the room while playing getting it rebound is a great idea.

OP does this mean you got everything you need to play for £150 dollars? If so that's not a bad deal at all.

It's even better than that, I got all I needed to play ( minus things like dice and measuring devices) for 150 USD so you'll have a better time of it with your stronger currency.



As for the revision, I got it from battlefront so hopefully it's the new edition!

Congrats mate. That's a decent for a brand new miniatures game.

Now I just need opponets and time to play