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Hi guys. Recently found a club in Brighton to play 40K and see they also play FoW. I've been fairly interested in it for a while now and was wondering what the start up costs are for a decent force? Ive got glue/paints etc from 40k. Is it GW prices for a full force or does it work out cheaper?

There was a thread regarding this topic recently. http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/498113.page

FoW is much cheaper than GW Games. With some lists and using alternative manufacturers like Plastic Soldier Company, Wargames Factory, Forged in Battle, Peter Pig etc pp. Its possible to build a 1500-1750 pts army for under 100 Euro although some lists are more expensive. WW2 isnt copyrightable and therefore everyone and his mum is able to produce 15mm minis for use in game.

Certainly depends on what you want to do. Overall, it's MUCH cheaper if you don't buy from BF (which, there are much higher quality mini's out there so....). Of course, if you want to play an "elite" army like Germany it will cost less than if you want to play Soviets (which, to give you an idea, you control a company made up of platoons. The soviets, they control a battalion made up of companies So, in a Soviet Infantry Battalion you will end up having more Infantry at your minimum than any other armies maximum)

A good starting point is the Open Fire! Box. It contains a start for a german infantry and a british tank company (also usable for american lists). If youve got another player just starting get 2 open fire boxes and trade the contents. This way you get a ~1500 pts army of both nations for ~60 Euro.

Wow that box looks good and only £40!. crazy....

Do I need to buy rules books for each force seperately?

chuxfm wrote:
Wow that box looks good and only £40!. crazy....

Do I need to buy rules books for each force seperately?

You dont even "need" to buy any books if you dont want to. They are very good quality and a gem on a bookshelf but also somewhat expensive.

You can use www.easyarmy.com -> here you can view the lists from several books and the free pdfs that are available from the battlefront homepage. You donate a dollar or two to the easyarmy site and unlock the lists that are used in the respective books. The free PDFs and the Forces from the Mainrulebook are free to use on easyarmy. Especially when you are trying to save money you get the relevant content of a 40Euro book for a dollar . The lists used to built the armies in the Open Fire! box are free there.

I'd also suggest reading this dakka article before buying anything. It helped me a lot when i started out FoW 3 months ago, http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Starting_a_Flames_of_War_Force

Thanks a lot for the help

Can’t go wrong with Open Fire. If you can find an opponent who also wants to start you always buy one each and swap the contents. That’s essentially a whole army each. The Allied force, being a mix of British and Yank, is a bit of an oddball and only really compatible with the Market Garden lists, but as a starting point it’s excellent.

Factor in the likes of Plastic Soldier Company and FOW is potentially cheap as chips.

Regarding paints you will find that most of the GW range is ok and there are plenty of conversion charts online so you can work of each Vallejo paints GW equivalent.

I used to buy GW paints, these days I buy multiple different Vallejo ranges, the FOW ones, the Panzer Aces ones, and the Game colour ones.

I think Vallejo paints are superior in every regard, including bottle dropper design. They simply don't dry out like GW ones.

FOW is at least 40% cheaper than GW per 100 points (some BF armies are more expensive, like Vehicle heavy Recce lists). I base this on things like a Terminator Squad of 200 points costing £28 - £30 quid. Equally a 250 points force of Tactical Squad and Rhino is what £45?

So 1750 is going to cost approx 45 x 7 = £350? And thats without Landraiders special vehicles or Characters. All told you are looking at £400 for a boxed, new 40k army coming in at 2000pts.

FOW, you can buy a 2000 points force easily for £200. And thats if you aren't very shrewd, with clever spending or buying an Official Boxed set, you can get a whole viable competitive army for £120.

If you go to extremes further and use other 15mm producers you can make a 2000pt army, that will look glorious and cost you under £100, all new and delivered to your door.

You would be hard pressed to get a second hand 40k army, at 2000pts unpainted at under £100 on ebay or anywhere else.

Thanks for the input.

I've been looking at your Breports on here mwnciboo and must say im impressed/interested. I hope my local club does stuff like that.

All this depends on how supported FoW is at my local club. I hope so. The rules are intruiging, the cost is right and World War 2 is just an interesting setting. I understand that most armies are made up of 2 companies. I fancy a playing a German army with a Panzer division (with lots of tigers) and an SS infantry division. Is that doable/any good?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
(Please bare in mind I have no idea what im talking about)

You actually have your 'company' and they have combat platoons (tiger company, has tigers in it's combat platoons) weapons platoon (integral support such as AA ) and then brigade/divisional support (other available troops such as heer or SS infantry)

chuxfm wrote:
I understand that most armies are made up of 2 companies.

Err actually no unless you're playing a really big game or something

You most likely will be running one type of main list and then add on extra support from there for example

And be careful about running German Cat lists. You'll find yourself with very few tanks and in late war the original Tiger isnt as invincible as they seem

If you want lots to tigers there's a list in the new Bridge by Bridge book, but they're not great, you just get lots of then

The whole thing replicates, you being the tip of the spear as a Company Commander. Your Boss (The Battalion Commander usually a Colonel) has said "Take this position" and you go "okay".

"To support your attack I will give you our Mortar Platoon and the Machine gun platoon" Great you think! "Oh and Division has sent down some Tank's and Recce unit which will be under your command for the attack. The rest of the Battalion will be in reserve to exploit your breakthrough when you smash through".

So if you imagine, you've got a Core Company Command with a few addon units which have been lent to you for this attack and will return to the Division Pool of assets once this battle is completed. So after the Battle you will have your Company back, but the other units will return to their respective Companies / Commands.

Only the Soviets differ because they use Hordes so they use a Battalion like everyone else would use a company!

 mwnciboo wrote:


Only the Soviets differ because they use Hordes so they use a Battalion like everyone else would use a company!

And certain italian lists too

Forgot that... Good Call Kenshin...

I recommend you to check out Plastic Soldier Company. I don't play FOW but I ordered some German tanks, halftracks and infantry just because of how dirt cheap they were. Great looking models as well.

If you fancy playing Germans, the Open Fire box set gives you a good start of 'core late war ' units.

Infantry company.
CHQ and 2 full platoons,
an anti tank gun platoon,(Hq and 2 pak 40s.)
and a SP gun platoon.(3 Stug 3.)

Rule book ,starter guide, British Armoured company(8 Sherman tanks including 2 Fireflys.)with American para platoon for support, terrain ,counter dice etc.

All for £50 full retail, (as low as £40 for some online retailers. )

The minatures are excellent and the total quality and value is AWSOME .(IMO.)

Plastic Soldier company do 5 tanks for £18.50.

Easy army.com give you some army lists (the ones from the Forces books and PDF lists) for FREE!!!!

If you are new to FoW , Battlefront have lots of excellent how to videos, for Open Fire starter set on their website.

So to start FoW , £50 for the Open Fire box would be my suggestion!(The best starter set for a game ever!)