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Ok so I need the rulebook - that's not a problem.

I'm getting kinda confused about how to build an army. Do I need to choose a nationality and a timescale; like late war USSR?
I'm interested in a russian army, mainly as there's a high chance of my opponents choosing the more accessible forces.

But there doesn't seem to be a clear-cut process; I mean, there's not an Army Book, or a Codex per se.

I'm a little confused about the whole matter. If I buy the Fortress Europe book, will this give me a head start? Do I need to buy other books to field alternative units?

Any help greatly appreciated.

If you're playing late-War 'Fortress Europe' has briefings (army lists) for Soviets (British, German and U.S.). There are a couple of Eastern Front dedicated books (River of Heroes, Stalin's Onslaught and Hammer & Sickle) that have some more Soviet briefings in them though they are a little more specific than the ones in Fortress Europe.

There are also some free briefings on the Flames of War Website, again these lists are quite specific.

Mid-War all the Soviet briefings are contained in the 'Ostfront' book, however this book is due to be revised.

So I'll get the rulebook and the Fortress Europe Book. Thanks George!

Yes,

Fortress Europe has quite generic lists, for instace Soviet Infantry Batalion. Where as the other books (like Hammer and Sickle) have specific ones, what was stationed at a particular area or under a particular officer for instance.

The advice given above is all correct and wise. I just wanted to add that it can be a little confusing getting started but the more you read the easier and more interesting it gets. The rulebook is obviously the main thing for getting started, either the full hardback version or the mini version in the open fire box set (though the mini version is missing a few things). For late war russians, fotress europe is indeed the best and as stated has lots of generic lists that are easy to read and understand with decent explanations and diagrams of each unit. It can take a while to get your head around all the rules and it is quite different from 40k, but close enough that you should be able to make some interesting lists fairly quickly.

If you can flick through river of heroes, stalin's onslaught and hammer and sickle then you will see the more esoteric lists like engineer lists, heavy tank lists and lend-lease US/UK tank lists. If you want to do something special then that is the way to go, otherwise fortress europe will give you a good, balanced, normal list.

One other thing that struck me when coming to FOW from 40k was just how many lists there were and I was nervous that battlefront would not support them all properly. It seems now though that these fears are unfounded. There are not that many unique units and so those that do exist have been playtested and use formulas to make them fair. Any list that is made by battlefront and printed as either a campaign book or main book is official, along with any lists marked 'official' on their website. Some of the older books are a bit hard to read compared to the newer format too fwiw.

One other fun thing is that there is no killer list each time a new book comes out. Every army has multiple strengths and weaknesses, so really you are free to build a list that interests you in whatever way without worrying about getting creamed. So long as you have some anti-tank, some tank defense (assuming you take tanks) and maybe some smoke to enhance tactical options you'll do fine

Enjoy, and dont forget to post pics of your work to help enhance interest in FoW

Tek wrote:I'm getting kinda confused about how to build an army. Do I need to choose a nationality and a timescale; like late war USSR?

To answer the OP's first question, yes, you do need to choose both a nationality (American/British/German/Soviet etc) and a period (Early/Mid/Late War).

The "Early War" period isn't seeing much support yet, although BattleFront's supposed to be working on that in the near future.
In fact, the "Late War" period seems to be the best supported one, although I may be mistaken on this.

The "Open Fire!" starter set wouldn't be of much use if you're going to play Soviets, since it comes with StuGs (German) and Shermans (American).

On the other hand, you could always trade away the StuGs and use the Shermans as lend/lease units.

Welcome to FoW, and to WW2 wargaming in general!

Thanks guys, I like how Dakka has this little area devoted to a pretty low-key game. There's a gaming club in my town, run by Dakka's very own Lupercal; I believe they have FoW games there.

In response to several posts, I did actually buy "Open Fire!" as I figured this would be a good starting point for learning the game. If I get some buddies into it I can always trade away the models, or I might just change my mind about which army I'd like to play, who knows?

I will indeed be posting up my work when it's done (although I am terrible at keeping things up to date).

I'll post back when it gets here.

Thanks Dakka!

it depends on the armies you play... If you want to play american para troopers or assault boat force, or british paratroopers you need to get the bloody Omaha book and D minus one for those armies .....