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Well hello,

My buddies and I have played 40k for a long while, and I'm trying to convince them to start up Flames of War with me. I've always had a strong interest in WW2, and while they do share my interest in the period, they have concerns.

One I know some of them are apprehensive witching from 28mm to a 15mm game, and I can appreciate that. One of my buddies is a very good painter and I think he's worried there will be no opportunities to really paint something to as high a standard with such small infantry models. For those who have played both, what have your experiences been?

Most of the models also seem to be metal... is this in fact the case?

What point level do you find you play at most consistently and on what size table do you play it on?

For a small group that wants to start up, what is the easiest way to dive into the game?

What are the pros and cons to each time period and does it make a difference in terms of cost?

Can a mid war army play an early war and vice versa etc etc...?

What is the approximate startup cost for an army at the point level you described above? It seemed to me, that by sticking with BF models, and around a 600pt list, it shouldn't really cost much more than 100 bucks for the models to get started... not including books obviously...



That's about all I can think up at the moment but please feel free to enlighten me to anything else I should be aware of in regards to FoW. I'm kinda jazzed to get going, but it's going to take some work getting these guys convinced to start a new system

Well........

Painting is not a worry, Log onto the FOW website and look in the gallery section. There are some amazing things there, as good as any Golden Demon. 15mm painting is not harder or easier then 28mm, its just different.

All BF models are metal or resin. Don't feel you have to use BF products to play FOW, there are plenty of other companies out there and historical gamers don't care where you bought your figures. Lots of plastics are appearing.

1500 pts is normal on a 6x4 table.

I only play early war, so cant comment. Late War don't interest me, not much bang for your buck there. The earlier you go the more it will cost as you will get far more for the points.

Buy an Open Fire box set and play some starter games.

Any army can play any army BUT as an historical wargamer this is anathema to me, why play an historical game if your going to fight early war French against Tiger 2's? Stupid.

Depends, too many variables. I play early war Soviets and Ive tried to keep costs down by using several different makes and it still cost me over £100. A late war German Armored force would have cost a lot less.

Hope this helped.

As background, I have the FoW books and would probably play if I had more time. :(

RIGHT-Titan wrote:
My buddies and I have played 40k for a long while, and I'm trying to convince them to start up Flames of War with me. I've always had a strong interest in WW2, and while they do share my interest in the period, they have concerns.

Understandable. It is a different game than you're used to, after all.

RIGHT-Titan wrote:
One I know some of them are apprehensive witching from 28mm to a 15mm game, and I can appreciate that. One of my buddies is a very good painter and I think he's worried there will be no opportunities to really paint something to as high a standard with such small infantry models. For those who have played both, what have your experiences been?

As Stalin is often said to have said, "Quantity has a quality all it's own." Applied to wargaming, FoW has some impressive unit sizes. I think there's a lot of room with the smaller minis for a good painter to shine, and mediocre painters can get some respect just for finishing a large force. I've painted some roughly 12mm Heavy Gear Infantry and they're big enough that you can at least hit the faces with flesh and have a tiny bit of detail on bodies.

One big difference from 40k to FoW is that you're going from a setting where most armies favor bright colors to an era where camo was the rule of the day. Most FoW armies are going to take some sort of green, tan, grey, or brown depending on where they fought and who they were. Painting FoW is a bit different feel than painting 40k.

As a note for modelers, I think a lot of FoW tournaments require players bring objectives, which is a good modeling opportunity, and many of the box sets include objectives, terrain bits, or similar as well, i think. The heavy modelers int he group can focus on that kind of stuff.

RIGHT-Titan wrote:
Most of the models also seem to be metal... is this in fact the case?

I think most of the infantry is metal. Tanks may or may not be.

RIGHT-Titan wrote:
What point level do you find you play at most consistently and on what size table do you play it on?

I see a lot of lists at 1500 or 2000. From making lists, 1000 is very tight, but playable.

RIGHT-Titan wrote:
For a small group that wants to start up, what is the easiest way to dive into the game?

They do an 'Open Fire!' box set that has mini rules and some tank models to push around. They also do a lot of web-based 'Intelligence Briefings' that are pretty much official. Some have summaries of special rules for each nation, some are basically 'army lists.' A big difference from the GW way of doing things is that these are, generally, legal even in tournaments.

I'd suggest getting the box set to learn the rules. If you like, someone should get a full rulebook (which has some extra scenarios and some additional rules, like for combat engineers) and a book or two fro the appropriate theatre. One thing FoW does is that there's few nation-specific army books, more 'theatre-specific' so a book will have lists for all nations that fought in a specific time/region.

RIGHT-Titan wrote:
What are the pros and cons to each time period and does it make a difference in terms of cost?

I think it depends on what you want. Early War has some neat stuff like the funky inter-war tank designs and is popular right now as it jsut got a big new release.

Mid-War and Late-War is what I tend to think of as 'WWII.' I'm American, so it really doesn't count until we're involved, after all... Many armies can be built to cross boundaries, but you are playing a different list from era to era. Soviet troops, from what I've read, get much better to reflect them going from hordes of raw conscripts to a much better trained and equipped force as they got organized. Mid-War would probably be what I'd focus on, as it's pretty openand there's a feeling that things could go any way.

RIGHT-Titan wrote:
Can a mid war army play an early war and vice versa etc etc...?

In general, no. Point values are not designed with this in mind. WWII saw massive changes in doctrine for armor and anti-tank weapons went from rare to common, so the value of armor changed a bit as things progressed.

RIGHT-Titan wrote:
What is the approximate startup cost for an army at the point level you described above? It seemed to me, that by sticking with BF models, and around a 600pt list, it shouldn't really cost much more than 100 bucks for the models to get started... not including books obviously...

I know when I've roughed things out, prices vary a lot. Infantry tends to be pricier than tanks, especially if you stick to higher-end tanks.

By the way, if you're in the US the War Store usually has a good deal on the FoW books.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh, and since I notice you're Canadian, FoW is a game where you can play a force from your own country if you like.

What period you choose or decide to stick with is entirely up to you. However, it is best if you pick one that all those you plan to play with can agree on.

Crossing Periods isnt very fun. Not only is it not historically accurate, but balance wise, you will find those that play the early period at a distinct disadvantage. Just, delve into WWII and pick a theater and a time frame. Center it around a campaign or series of battles and roll from there.

And yeah, look at the painting guides! You can get some serious amount of detail even at 15mm. Models can look really good. Switched over from 40k over a year ago and have a pretty nice Fallschirmjager List for Late War Market Garden going!

That's a lot of help actually from all of you.

After having played 40k for a while and having 3 armies, 200 bucks for a full army is not bad at all lol...

I was looking up the "companies" you can buy as boxed sets... i.e. the Parachute Company boxed set, and while probably not optimal is like 600 points for 65 bucks locally... that's not too shabby.

It's ultimately going to depend on whether I can convince one of my friends to join in... if one will, probably one other will after, and then it's pretty simple to get the rest to join.

I'm realistically not going to get much traction in actually "switching" them to FoW, and I'm not really hoping to, but I do hope to have something else to play. I can't stand WHFB anymore, and 40k while great, pisses me off some times as I find the rules a little convoluted...

Maybe we'll try some Midwar or something. There seems to be a lot of "popular" nations you can play in the Africa book and Ostfront book. The main difference being Soviets or Americans lol...

I'm personally not concerned about the painting, as the vehicles are plenty big enough to offer pretty good opportunities, and the models on the bases can make for some cool scenics.

Is open fire! a good value for us to build on or is it a situation like with the AoBR boxed set that you end up with models that won't want?

Thanks!

The rules of FoW are very much 'similar to 40k' in the best way possible. Lots of similar concepts, albeit applied differently. In general the rules seem a bit tighter, but I did find the rulebook's organization a bit weird.

North Africa and Eastern front are both midwar and replace Afrika and Ostfront, I believe. Since they're from the same era, they are compatible and you could play a game (albeit probably one that annoys historians) between lists from the two. So your group could get one now and get the other if someone wants something from it.

fromw hat I've heard Open Fire! is a reasonably good deal with the usual caveat that you're getting a mix of German and US units. WWII has a lot of armor getting passed around by arms deals and capturing enemy armor, but you're still getting tanks that may not work fi you have your heart set on another faction's force.

Looking at Battlefront's website it's 3 Shermans and 2 German STuGs. I believe there's ways for the British, Soviets, and others to get the Shermans besides Americans. Not sure who might be able to get the STuGs other than Germans, though.

North Africa is a neat book. It is a very 'dense' book in a lot of ways. Many of the lists have several overriding options that can drastically reshape the list. For example, the American forces can be set as either Italian or African forces. One is more experienced (and more points) while the other is a bit fresher. There's a few other options different between the two builds as well, even though all US lists use a common set of special rules.

I also like the idea of playing the Canadians in Italy.

They get all the same rules as the British, minus British Bulldog, but they gain Assault Troops (re-roll failed motivation tests to rally from being pinned down or to remount bailed out vehicles) and Woodsman.

Now it says for Woodsman that it gains the German Misstion Tactics special rule. What does that mean though? lol...

Also, I was trying to figure out what having the Otter I Light Recce Car does for me vs the Humber

Secondarily... why are Canadian troops so much cheaper than 8th Army Brits etc...I'm guessing because they are only Confident Trained?

Is it that much worse?

An Armored company HQ is 585 for the Brits with 4 Shermans, the Canadians are 455!

A Rifle Platoon is 145 for 3 Rifle Squads for the Brits, and 120 for Canada...

I was thinking of running a Canadian Rifle Company with some kind of Armored Support...

RIGHT-Titan wrote:I also like the idea of playing the Canadians in Italy.

They get all the same rules as the British, minus British Bulldog, but they gain Assault Troops (re-roll failed motivation tests to rally from being pinned down or to remount bailed out vehicles) and Woodsman.

Now it says for Woodsman that it gains the German Misstion Tactics special rule. What does that mean though? lol...

Also, I was trying to figure out what having the Otter I Light Recce Car does for me vs the Humber

Secondarily... why are Canadian troops so much cheaper than 8th Army Brits etc...I'm guessing because they are only Confident Trained?

Is it that much worse?

An Armored company HQ is 585 for the Brits with 4 Shermans, the Canadians are 455!

A Rifle Platoon is 145 for 3 Rifle Squads for the Brits, and 120 for Canada...

I was thinking of running a Canadian Rifle Company with some kind of Armored Support...

Well the German Mission Tactics rule basically means that if your platoon command team is destroyed, another team will take over platoon-command duties, thus not leaving the platoon leaderless.
This is key, since having a leaderless platoon (like which can happen to my Mid-War Italians) means that they cannot move and are pretty much sitting-ducks.

The reason Canadian troops are cheaper is really due to their skill-level; typically, you'll pay more for Confident-Vet or Fearless-Vet troops as ooposed to Confident-Trained.
8th Army Brits in North Africa are Confident-Vet for the most part. The Canadians are the more 'fresher' troops in the area other than the South Africans which are Recluctant-Vet, if I recall...lol!

There's nothing wrong with having Confident-trained troops as I tend to run a few platoons in my Italians with this rating (not that I have much choice...lol!). Usually, if you're running Confident-Trained troops, you have more of them for the cost, which can be the difference in having an extra gun-section or possibly another platoon if you were running a comparable vet-force.
All this really means is how often you can be hit; trained forces will be hit more often than vet forces, but Conscript forces will be hit much more often than that....lol!
Additionally, the skill level will really apply to any Pioneer troops (for flame throwers) or when doing infantry and tank assaults, as you use this skill to hit with them when in an assault.

Your vet troops will hit on 3+ in assaults as opposed to 4's needed by trained troops; so it's really about how you make your list and if you're wanting a little more on the field (using trained) or wanting to run a smaller hard, crack company list (vets).

Canadians are good as I like the mix of equipment they get.....hope this helps.

RIGHT-Titan wrote:I also like the idea of playing the Canadians in Italy.

They get all the same rules as the British, minus British Bulldog, but they gain Assault Troops (re-roll failed motivation tests to rally from being pinned down or to remount bailed out vehicles) and Woodsman.

Now it says for Woodsman that it gains the German Misstion Tactics special rule. What does that mean though? lol...

It means if your platoon leader is killed, you automatically get a new one and they can continue on without having to suffer the penalties of having lost their platoon leader. Don't quote me on this, but I believe without a leader you can't advance towards the enemy and you can't launch assaults. That and you would have to wait for your Company Commander or 2iC to come and appoint a new platoon leader.

Secondarily... why are Canadian troops so much cheaper than 8th Army Brits etc...I'm guessing because they are only Confident Trained?

Is it that much worse?

An Armored company HQ is 585 for the Brits with 4 Shermans, the Canadians are 455!

A Rifle Platoon is 145 for 3 Rifle Squads for the Brits, and 120 for Canada...

I was thinking of running a Canadian Rifle Company with some kind of Armored Support...

No, it's not worse at all, just a bit different. Your troops will be easier to hit than Veterans, but at the same time you'll be able to pack more goodies into your list because your stuff generally won't be so expensive. I've seen some convincing arguments that Confident Trained is the best rating because it provides you with a nice balance between effectiveness and cost.

In my opinion Rifle Companies are the way to go, because you can switch between Mid- and Late-War with little difficulty. You'll already have your Combat Platoons out of the way and all you'll need is some different support options. I'm by no means an expert on British/Canadian forces, but I believe that you could run a Mid-War Canadian Rifle Company from North Africa and have most of it transfer well to a Late-War 3rd Canadian Division Rifle Company from Monty's Meatgrinder (correction: Turning Tide) with little difficulty.

*edited for accuracy

So let me recap to make sure I'm following ok:

1: Pick a time and theatre that most appeals to you
2: Pick sides based on that theatre.
3: The game is not designed to cross between time periods really but there is some cross over as long as you have a few extra models to swap support choices etc and aren't a big time tank company.

Now are there varying levels of competitiveness in FoW armies? Like as much as I like a rifle company, I'm used to 40k where Mech is king. I don't want to field my poor infantry and have them run into the immovable wall of German armor.

I know things are supposed to be balanced but it's always a bit of a rock paper scissors thing in any of these games. Gotta have the tool for the job. I assume that based on the fact that there are so many different lists that there are good options to make them all competitive?

Maybe someone can shed some light on what works, what doesn't so I can try to direct my group into some kind of fun campaign.

Are there things that just flat out don't work?

I don't think you need to limit yourself by theatre.

The biggest advice I've heard for FoW list building is go heavy-tank or heavy-infantry.rying to go half and half can be a problem. Also, the recon companies I thought looked cool aren' very useful as the game isn't really about hit and run tactics. (On the other hand, a couple recon vehicle squads can be a nice surprise flanker.)

When you say tank heavy I assume you mean like an armored company? And when you say infantry like a Grenadier company or rifle company or parachute company etc...

Now you say don't try to go half and half, is that to say that if you go Rifle you shouldn't try to roll in some tanks with it? But instead go with some halftracks or universal carriers or something? Or go with Artillery. I hear British Arty is awesome.

Makes me wonder about the efficacy of Panzer grenadiers and mechanized infantry.

I had considered doing British Armor but not sure if it's viable. I always hear how fearsome the German armor is and that British armor is so weak by comparison.

Presumably you can still do a British armored company and you'll just have more not so good tanks as opposed to a small number of panzers or tigers etc.

You dont have to necessarily restrict yourself to a specific Theater. However, using a specific theater to give you an idea or examples of your force or a force you want to build is a good way to go about it. In building an army, depending on your "faction" you wont necessarily be limited to a specific theater.

for example, building an Airborne company for the American's doesnt mean you are stuck only doing D-Day or Market Garden.

The game is ultimately what you want it to be. It can be as historically accurate or as historically inaccurate as you want to make it. Afterall, it is your game.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

RIGHT-Titan wrote:

I had considered doing British Armor but not sure if it's viable. I always hear how fearsome the German armor is and that British armor is so weak by comparison.

Presumably you can still do a British armored company and you'll just have more not so good tanks as opposed to a small number of panzers or tigers etc.

British armor has its own bonuses. Agaisnt German Armor you will most likely always outnumber them. You also have access to Fireflies and Cromwells are pretty "zippy" if in the right terrain. You wont be able to go head on with a Panther, but a Cromwell can certainly move fast enough to get around to the sides and deal with them easily enough.

You will find that the game is actually rather balanced for the most part. Id say alot more balanced then the way 40k is heading.

RIGHT-Titan wrote:When you say tank heavy I assume you mean like an armored company? And when you say infantry like a Grenadier company or rifle company or parachute company etc...

Now you say don't try to go half and half, is that to say that if you go Rifle you shouldn't try to roll in some tanks with it? But instead go with some halftracks or universal carriers or something? Or go with Artillery. I hear British Arty is awesome.

Makes me wonder about the efficacy of Panzer grenadiers and mechanized infantry.

I've heard that, in general, lists that try to run a bunch of tanks and a bunch of infantry do poorly. Specific lists may be exceptions, of course. Nothing wrong with a few tanks and a bunch of infantry, though. It's a kind of specialization vs. generalist thing.

I think FoW has a good setup that while not formally broken up this way, you can divide units into core, artillery, anti-air, support. At low points, you'll probably skip one or two of these. At high points, you need to balance all of these.

I'd strongly recommend getting either the main book or the Open Fire set. I think it's a good game and would probably actually be pursuing it if I had the time.

I have more questions. But a quick one now. How long do various point levels take to play?

RIGHT-Titan wrote:I have more questions. But a quick one now. How long do various point levels take to play?

From the games I've played they run about the same time that a game of the equivalent 40k points value would. So, for me, 1k to 1250 is about an hour, maybe hour and a half whereas 1500 or 1750 is moving to two hours.

So I convinced a buddy of mine to join in. But he stole my army He decided he wants to play the Allies and specifically the Canadians...

As a result lol, I'll probably end up going German. I think we're going to start with the North Africa and Mediterranean book. I'll maybe give either some Panzer Grenadiers a go or a Panzer Company a shot... Also tempted to do Fallschrimjagr.

What's important to us now is keeping cost down. So we're looking at smaller games to get our feet wet, we might both pick up a company box or something relatively inexpensive.

Thoughts?

If cost is a concern, try alternative mini companies.

The nice part about FoW is that Battlefront doesn't demand you play with their minis, not even in tournies. This is especially nice since they don't make all the miniatures for units covered in their army lists. For example, they (accurately) list Renault P-16 armoured cars in their EW French lists, but don't produce a mini. Quality Castings does.

Command Decision/Skytrex offer 3-packs of tanks for about $20, 6-packs of artillery for $16, and 50-packs of various infantry for $16. They're also all metal (not metal/resin like BF).

FiB has good Mega-Deals as well. I just bought an Early War French Fusiliers-Voltigeurs force of 2 FV platoons, a Command Squad, an HMG platoon, and a Mortar platoon for $52 shipped to the US. I plan to flesh it out with some CD Somuas, Chars, Renault UEs, 75mm artillery and some Quality Castings P-16 Combat Cars for about $55. That gives me a 1500pt army for about $100 total.

If you like Early War Poles, check out True North. They sell tanks for $5, 24-packs of infantry for $10, etc. and it's some of the best sculpts in 15mm.

Zvezda is releasing PLASTIC 1/100 tanks for both Germans and Soviets. So far, they have the T-26 (very nice) and the PzKpw II (not so much) for about $5/tank.

Plastic Soldier Co. is releasing sets of plastic Soviet tanks/infantry on the cheap as well.

RIGHT-Titan wrote:So I convinced a buddy of mine to join in. But he stole my army He decided he wants to play the Allies and specifically the Canadians...

As a result lol, I'll probably end up going German. I think we're going to start with the North Africa and Mediterranean book. I'll maybe give either some Panzer Grenadiers a go or a Panzer Company a shot... Also tempted to do Fallschrimjagr.

What's important to us now is keeping cost down. So we're looking at smaller games to get our feet wet, we might both pick up a company box or something relatively inexpensive.

Thoughts?

If you're looking to keep costs down you're going to want to play the more elite armies. Fallschirmjaegers would be a good choice because they're Fearless Veterans (making them expensive points-wise) and you could use the Fallchirmjaeger platoons in either Mid or Late-War, just switch out the options. A Panzerkompanie is going to need to switch tanks between Mid and Late because Germany switched from using the Pzkw III to the Pzkw IV almost exclusively towards the end of the war.

WW2 is all about combined arms warfare and you need to think in those terms.

You will need to Look at balancing Armour, Infantry, Artillary and Anti air/Airpower.

One thing me and my friend did when we started FoW, and perhaps this isnt the road you want to go. But we wanted to see if the rules were something we liked, and did not want to rush into buying models immediately. We bought the Rule Book, and it gives you the template size for all infantry and gun sections. So what we did is we took quality card stock and printed out units on them.

Like:

Fallschirmjager A
section I, II, II

That way we built an army out of the card stock bases. This allowed us to play, test the rules, see how the units performed. We bought the units as we felt we wanted them.

Now, you obviously cant play in tournaments like that, nor at game clubs. However, we started on our own and it worked well for us. He now has a US Airborne, and I jump between a Fallschirmjager Force & Panzerkompanie! (actual models now)

But also, what they said up there. Small Versions of Combat Platoons, elite forces. Small point value. By doing that, you also wont get overwhelmed in trying to paint the force either.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Aldramelech wrote:WW2 is all about combined arms warfare and you need to think in those terms.

You will need to Look at balancing Armour, Infantry, Artillary and Anti air/Airpower.

I recommend you sit down with your buddy/buddies who will be playing and get a general feel for what everyone wants to bring. If no one is going to be using Aircraft, no sense in getting AA units. The game is generally way more balanced then 40k in my opinion and once you play a few games, you will see for yourself.

a 1500 pt Tigergruppen wont field many models, but you will be surprised how tough and balanced the game goes even when you are outnumber 5 - 1 in some respects. Working with those you will be playing with and knowing what everyone wants to bring or would like to try can help you sort of keeping spending in line.

Trying the game with cardboard tokens is certainly a reasonable idea. Keep in mind that some people just don't 'work' that way and need the graphical units to get into the action, so it's not going to be the 'true' game experience.

Sorry to rehash a previous question, but can someone briefly explain the differences between mid war and late war?

I was looking over the Fortress Europe book and it looked pretty snazzy.

RIGHT-Titan wrote:Sorry to rehash a previous question, but can someone briefly explain the differences between mid war and late war?

I was looking over the Fortress Europe book and it looked pretty snazzy.

It's the years covered. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but Late War is the final big pushes of WWII.

I have Fortress Europe as well as North Africa (Which, along with the rulebook, is the extent of my FoW stuff). it's a neat book, as it again covers a lot of stuff.

Ok... so We're going to go with Mid war as one of our friends is Italian so in a gesture to convince him lol... we're going to throw that out there.

I was playing around trying to make a SMALL Panzerkompanie list...

Seems a challenge to make anything at about 1000 pts that is not just 8 tanks lol.

Not that I'm complaining... but am I missing something? I'm sure they are a very potent 8 tanks, but I was trying to see if I'm just out to lunch and missing a key factor in building from their lists.

On page 54 under Italy and Tunisia it lists the requirements (I think) as a Company Command Squad and 2 Panzer platoons.

On the next page the bare minimum is a slew of Panzer III Ls, which in the Command Squad come up at 230 points and then 345 for each platoon.

230+345+345 is 920. It leaves a little bit for some Schurzen Armor and an upgrade of one tank to a Panzer IV G, but nothing else.


Flipping back a few pages to the North Africa Panzer Company, they start with only Panzer III Js which have the same ROF, worse Anti-tank, and worse firepower. They also have less armor... but! They are considerably cheaper.

The base list for North Africa vs Italy & Tunisia is: 180+270+270 for a total of 720. 200 points less!

Is it really worth it at this stage in the game to upgrade?

We want to play some smaller games to learn with, hence the lower point totals.

Early War = 1939-1941
Emphasis on infantry/cavalry, tanks relegated to supporting infantry pushes (unless it's German), air support generally relegated to interception, no USA

Mid-War = 1942-1943
Probably most popular era, USA joins the war, North African campaign gets serious, forces are a bit more balanced, most infantry forces become mechanised

Late War = 1944-1945
almost exact opposite of EW as German forces are thin and rely on infantry, this era almost exclusively takes place in Central/Western Europe, most expensive forces

Thanks, ancientsociety!

Coming from 40K the biggest adjustment is that skill equates to your WS & BS. Just it is your opponents skill (or lack thereof) that really determines how accurate your fire will be. So when you see Veteran think you will be firing at veterans as if you have a BS 2 while Conscripts will be like having BS 4. So in some ways, the effectiveness of your fire will be affected most by your opponent's skill.
Also FoW points is quite balanced - unlike 40k. You may know that EW russians are pretty scummy but you will be fielding platoons of 10 or so stands versus his blocky companies of 20+ stands. Don't get hooked on numbers - quality of training and morale will make up for a lot of sins in the army of your choice.

In addition to my other questions, I'm curious... what is the point of the top armor rating? Don't you just use side/front etc?

I think certain attacks use top. I'd have to look in the rules, but I think top might be used for Infantry assaults (I.E. guys chucking bombs or actually messing with a tank close-up), air strikes, and actual attacks from on high.

FoW is a bit 'abstract' at times. For example, the figures being removed as bases. This extends to vehicles, where 'bailed out' is a general 'stunned' condition that if taken literally can seema bit ridiculous.