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As the title says have ordered the books and such get them tomorrow. Russians for me German for my mate. Was struggleing to pick between Russian and British but in the end I picked Russian mostly because I have found about a dozen t34/85 and some troops in one of those forgotten boxes we all have . I have heard lots of people dissing the Russians and Germans so figured be a good match then.

So I got to ask why all the Russian hate ?

Is there anything I should know about playing them maybe a tip or two if some ones feeling generous ?
Will be starting late war era to begin with

Most of my army will be from psc as I feel there products are better than the fow stuff I have seen and my memory of putting Sherman's together from two boxes of open fire put me off fow products so will only buy small amounts.

What's a good amount of points to start with for a nice mixed game?

10penceman wrote:
Most of my army will be from psc as I feel there products are better than the fow stuff I have seen and my memory of putting Sherman's together from two boxes of open fire put me off fow products so will only buy small amounts.

The original Open Fire set was sculpted by hand and converted to plastic without the aid of CAD, hence the problems. The current plastics are some of the best 1/100th scale WWII kits in the industry

Well, with any units of tanks that have Hens and Chicks, they should not fire on the move, that said, with the new Berlin book, Soviet finally get some true veteran units. Soviets have great morale(fearless with rerolls), great infantry(numbers, QoQ), great flamethrowers(lots of them and cheap too), okay assault guns(Cat killers and volley fire but ROF1) and good anti-tanks guns(ROF2 large numbers). Soviet lack two thing and that is smoke(one unit that can fire smoke, smoke pots only in assault) and firing on the move with tanks(Hens and Chicks and ROF1). Yes, there are heroes but they cost too much. Skip the IS-2 and rockets, and get some infantry with 160mm, with some vet tanks and Spetsnaz to sneak in a platoon. Soviet are the assault elite of FOW, with great infantry and morale and flames, they can attack any objectives. Some great books are Red Bear and Berlin. If you have any question fell free to ask, I am on the dakka dakka forum, the FOW forum, and the WWPD forum

Looked at the fow site ghaz they dont do alot of plastics but will stick with psc for the most part build my core of my force up at the very least then see where I go from there.

Bobjoerock have ordered the red bear book the rule book and the small nachtjager book figured it would be a good start book wise. Are the zis 3 any good? Don't get my books till 3-4pm. I must admit I love lots of infantry that's what swayed me to the Russians. So what's wrong with the is2? Have noticed people seem to like the kv's

FOW is mostly switching to plastic now. The nachtjaer book only have British and German forces. Zis-3 is pretty good gun with ROF2 and volley fire. IS-2 (a) cost to much and (b) have ROF1 which means +1 to hit when on the moving which is very bad in FOW. KV are quite good because they have ROF2 which is big plus thing. Skip the IS-2, take all the infantry, with 160mm mortar and full God of War artillery.

"Cat killers and volley fire but ROF1"
Cat killer is effectively ROF2, you usually hit on a 5/6+ (vets, long range, conceal) so it's not that much different in ROF1+ reroll and ROF2.
Su100s are cheap as dirt, good armor and very powerful gun. I'd happily exchange ROF2 of my jagdpanthers for cat killer with such a point reduction. Su100 is a beast as is, it would be absurd with ROF2.

IS2 has decent armor and good AT but it is a slow tank, ROF1 and over costed by soviet standards. One king tiger or jag tiger will kill all of them well before that can kill the German tank. They just don't fit any roles in the soviet army that other stuff doesn't fill better and cheaper. That's my thoughts on them anyways

10penceman wrote:
Looked at the fow site ghaz they dont do alot of plastics...

They do a large number of plastics for Soviets. In plastic, you have the T-34, T-34/76, T-34/85, IS-2 obr 1943m, IS-2 obr 1944, ISU-152, ISU-122, ZIS-2, ZIS-3, 122mm obr 1938 gun, 152mm obr 1943 gun and a Strelkovy Company plus the Sherman kitl you can use as Lend-Lease tanks.

Just reading through the books now.

Fow models still seem a soar subject to me would prob get the assault guns maybe or reserve guns the rest psc does but see how that all goes no point putting the cart before the horse.

I don't think I would include any lend lease stuff I love Cromwell's and comets but no lead lease of them so maybe later will add in British allies.

Next is how to paint stuff up the standard Russian colours or snow feel or sod it all and go a cool desert camo.

Well off to flick through the books see what's changed since v2

Lend-lease tanks came from the United States, so no Cromwells or Comets since those were British tanks.

Also, there are no 'allies' as such in Flames of War unless specifically noted in the Intelligence Briefing. Having Soviets and British in the same force would be ahistorical in the extreme.

 Ghaz wrote:
Lend-lease tanks came from the United States, so no Cromwells or Comets since those were British tanks.

In the first year of the GPW almost all the tanks leased to the Soviets were British [making up 75% of the former's tank battlions at the battle of Moscow] since the US had not fully entered the war at that point, but by Kursk [when neither of the 2 cruisers he mentioned had not even been prototyped] the English-speaking allies are mostly stopped leasing equipment to the Soviets.

Getting my head out of Late War, the British did supply some tanks to the Soviets (Churchills, Valentines and Matildas).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lend-Lease#British_deliveries_to_the_USSR

Indeed the Valentine was kept in production solely as the Russians liked it...

2nd Guards Tank Army had them and Shermans when they rolled into Berlin.

Someone found one in a Polish river not so long back.

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/valentine-tank-from-world-war-ii-found-in-polish-warta-river.html

It's a shame that the early war lend lease list is so restrictive and there is no valentine model available (for the period) as point for point the valentine is one of the better options available to the Soviets in early war.

Right flicked through the books
Does chick and hen mean they do what the company Commander does (tank in charge of 3 platoons) or the battalion commander (tank in charge of the whole section ) ?

As for no allies in fow don't worry will make up a mission and all is good but that's along way off.

Tank that is the company commander for hens and chicks and the battalion commander is in charge of the entire battalion

Big P wrote:
Indeed the Valentine was kept in production solely as the Russians liked it...

2nd Guards Tank Army had them and Shermans when they rolled into Berlin.

There was also the 17 pounder mark XI version the British themselves used to command their Archer TD platoons.

The Valentine XI had a OQF 75mm gun, not a 17-pounder. The turret ring is far to small to mount a 17-pounder.

It was used as a command tank and was a welded version with Canadian style cast nose.

Been looking through the Russian book and am nstarting to think I might buy the British book just to finally pick a side before I buy any models so which book for late war?

If you want British armour for late war I would suggest 'market garden' for shermans/cromwells or 'nachtjager' for comets. There are other British tanks lists (and quite a few) in overlord and also in 'road to Rome '

 Reaver83 wrote:
If you want British armour for late war I would suggest 'market garden' for shermans/cromwells or 'nachtjager' for comets. There are other British tanks lists (and quite a few) in overlord and also in 'road to Rome '

I agree with the MArket GArden Book,it is one of my favs,Also i you are not to picky you can buy the Shermans pretty cheap.

Points wise, Comets are expensive and cost about double what an equivalently rated Sherman or Cromwell would. For an armoured company I would use either Shermans or Cromwells and only use Comets as a support platoon in another list.

Have dug up 5 Cromwell's and a crap load of Sherman's and firefly's. Isn't it good when those forgotten boxes yeild hidden gems.

Has the market garden book changed ? As I think I may have one I got in a set of books if I can find it.

Big P wrote:
The Valentine XI had a OQF 75mm gun, not a 17-pounder. The turret ring is far to small to mount a 17-pounder.

It was used as a command tank and was a welded version with Canadian style cast nose.

Yes, it seems the sources I was using were confusing the former gun with the 17 pdr on the archers it was accomplice to [which had a similar muzzle break and bore width]

For western allies I would pick up Overlord and Atlantic Wall. The lists are less powered than later lists, but that to me is an advantage. Later lists for western front rely too heavily on special equipment, Normandy lists had more 'average' hardware and average stats were less of a handicap. In later books there is too many 17pdrs with special ammo or Panzerfausts on every stand. Yes those lists are very effective for tourney play, but only really any good for balance against each other.

I think you will get a better quality game with stock Panzer IVs and Shermans, or similar. Average AT guns and standard infantry. After all it should be about how you use them, not having large numbers of units with very high attack stats.


For Soviets you cant go wrong with a crapton of T4/85s and tank riders, ZIS support, and mortars. Its bread and butter, but its balanced bread and butter and gives yu a good insight into how to play the faction. You can buy wierd special toy units afterwards, There will be plenty of room for them.

Having played for the past few years my advice to new player is simple. Start with an armored company. It's the fastest to get to the tabletop and you learn the basics of the rules with it. Once you start piling in all the other stuff it gets complicated fast.

The other thing advice I give new players is that it is a mistake to think of a tank as a juggernaut that is going to roll over the battlefield. Generally I'm ignored and they learn it the hard way in their first game.

I have a blog that you may appreciate. Spotting Round is all about WW2 wargaming. The vast majority of stuff there is for 15 mm/1:100 with a ton of reviews of different models. I'm in the middle of updating the whole site, so it is a bit disorganized right now. Use the search bar.

Oh, and I've also collected a ton of painting guides for different WW2 armies. The guides themselves are from all around the internet.

10penceman wrote:
Have dug up 5 Cromwell's and a crap load of Sherman's and firefly's. Isn't it good when those forgotten boxes yeild hidden gems.

Has the market garden book changed ? As I think I may have one I got in a set of books if I can find it.

Easiest way to tell is it a Hardback?
As for your starter tanks i would chek out lorried rifle probably one f the best list in the book.
As you can run 3 platoons and use 2 of them as tank riders. that can be mounted on 2 tank platoons shermans or cromwells.
But the regular armor list is good too,2 fireflies and 2 shermans pretty decent combo.

Market Garden has always been a hardback. The paperbacks that were used to make Market Garden and Bridge by Bridge were A Bridge Too Far and Hell's Highway.

Got my first small battle on Tuesday my soviets vs Germans
Running HQ
1 t34/85
7 t34/85
5 Sherman's
1 platoon of rifle/my + hmg

Comes to 1130pts

Facing off against basicly the Germans from 2 open fire boxes.

Just hoping the terrain from 4ground arrives in time as well.

Can't seem to get the paint scheme right for my tanks though so may add some snow to them to cover it up a bit.

10penceman wrote:
Got my first small battle on Tuesday my soviets vs Germans
Running HQ
1 t34/85
7 t34/85
5 Sherman's
1 platoon of rifle/my + hmg

Comes to 1130pts

Facing off against basicly the Germans from 2 open fire boxes.

Just hoping the terrain from 4ground arrives in time as well.

Can't seem to get the paint scheme right for my tanks though so may add some snow to them to cover it up a bit.

Who won?