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Hey dakka, I am looking for some help with Flames of War.

My brother said he bought me a lot of minis for Christmas, for use in FoW.

He said they were from the Plastic Soldier company, are these minis compatible with FoW?

Any comparisons you can draw to AoS, 40k or Mercs (the three game systems I am familiar with)

Any advice for finding a play group?

Where can I find the rules?

Thanks dakka!

In Boulder.

There is a group that plays FoW up in Fort Collins/Greeley Co area, I think pretty regularly.

There is also a group that use to play at Total Escape in Broomfield. Not sure about in Boulder though. I would love to play more, but finding locals in SE Metro is tougher.

Ghengiscon should have a FoW event coming up around President's day.

Plastic Soldier is to FoW what Mantic is to GW. Good qulaity models for the price, typically lower cost than the BF equivelent due to being all plastic and BF using mostly resin/metal.

Gameplay....similar to GW in the I go, You go turn style. A bit diffierent in the sense that your ability to hit your opponent is not based on your skill, but your opponent's skill. You might be playing US Armor, but it will be harder to hit Germans because they are rated Veterans than it will be to hit Soviets that are rated Trained.

However your there will be more Trained units on the table vs Vet units as Trained units are cheaper.

The rules are in a bit of flux as V4 is due Spring of 17 and there are some changes to be expected. The game is broken up into Early War (39-41) Mid War (42-43) Late War (44-45). Late is most popular in terms of number of players out there, but you will find most players have the ability to build a list for any era.

The important thing to realize though is that the minis really don't care what system you use them for. You have 15mm WWII minis. There are a ton of systems out there that use or can use that scale and era of models that if you don't like FoW, you can use them in other systems.

Awesome. I actually used to play 40k at Total Escape, but left because they met on Thursdays and that really conflicted with my schedule.

However, my brother and I have agreed on Late War, so its good to hear that is popular.

Are the rules split into codexes like GW? Where can I find the basic rulebook and armies?

I'm in Fort Collins and we have about 5 players up here who play at Gryphon Games on Thursdays and some Saturdays. They have a facebook page for setting up games too.

To get started just buy the $10 rule book and pick one of the late war books you want to run theater wise. You'll find a boat load of lists in there, pick the one you like and roll with it. Check out "The Acceptable Casulaties" on youtube, its my FoW channel. It might give you a good idea on what your about to get into. Its not like 40k at all. The game is a lot of fun but there is a lot more tactics involved. It's also way more balanced and has a ton of options once you start to grow out your army.

Shotgun wrote:
Plastic Soldier is to FoW what Mantic is to GW. Good qulaity models for the price, typically lower cost than the BF equivelent due to being all plastic and BF using mostly resin/metal.

PSC makes better quality model kits than BF, at a lower price point. The PSC range isn't as broad, but they cover the core units that most players would want.

 gummyofallbears wrote:
He said they were from the Plastic Soldier company, are these minis compatible with FoW?

Same scale. Lots of people use the PSC miniatures because they have plastic versions of many miniatures that Battlefront (the makers of FOW) only produce in resin and metal. They are also mostly cheaper that Battlefront.

Any comparisons you can draw to AoS, 40k or Mercs (the three game systems I am familiar with)

Its a bit hard to compare. The rules do have some resemblance to 40K or the old WFB rules, but there are lots of differences, too. FOW uses a sort of "force org chart" like 40K, with HQ, Combat Platoons, and Support. You need to take an HQ and generally at least two Combat Platoons (tanks for an armored company, infantry for an infantry company). Turns are standard IGOUGO, there is varying quality of troops, and either nationality has a handful of special rules.

Any advice for finding a play group?

Check you local game shops. There is also a section of the official Battlefront FOW forum that's for finding local groups.

Where can I find the rules?

Battlefront sells them as either a hardcover book, or an ebook through their iphone/android app. There is a new set of rules (version 4) coming March of next year so you might want to hold off on the rulebook, unless you can find a cheap copy.



Automatically Appended Next Post:

 JohnHwangDD wrote:
PSC makes better quality model kits than BF, at a lower price point. The PSC range isn't as broad, but they cover the core units that most players would want.

I would agree that PSC plastics are better than BF resin and metal vehicles. The plastic vehicles that BF makes are at least as good as the PSC versions, although PSC is generally cheaper.

 mdauben wrote:

 gummyofallbears wrote:
He said they were from the Plastic Soldier company, are these minis compatible with FoW?

Same scale. Lots of people use the PSC miniatures because they have plastic versions of many miniatures that Battlefront (the makers of FOW) only produce in resin and metal. They are also mostly cheaper that Battlefront.

I will note that PSC does make more than 1/100th scale models.

 mdauben wrote:

 JohnHwangDD wrote:
PSC makes better quality model kits than BF, at a lower price point. The PSC range isn't as broad, but they cover the core units that most players would want.

I would agree that PSC plastics are better than BF resin and metal vehicles. The plastic vehicles that BF makes are at least as good as the PSC versions, although PSC is generally cheaper.

We built the BF Open Fire plastics, and StuG weren't that good. The BF Open Fire Shermans? OMFG, those were the definition of fail.

I understand that BF has gotten better (hard to imagine worse!), but that might only bring them to par with PSC. Which would be totally OK.

The key thing is that any 1/100 model would work - a Panzer IV is a Panzer IV, and any differences should be within millimeters at scale. Even stuff like my old Peter Pig metals.

 JohnHwangDD wrote:
We built the BF Open Fire plastics, and StuG weren't that good. The BF Open Fire Shermans? OMFG, those were the definition of fail.

Which edition of Open Fire? There's been at least three, each of varying quality.

This was the one from about 5 years ago, with the V-1 scenery piece (very nice, BTW). It's obvious that the StuG & Sherman models were carryover from something even older.

Stug And Sherman were designed specifically for that release, just BFs first real attempt at plastics, something slipped in the design so the Stugs were 'ok', crude but ok, the M4 were horrible with a misalignment of one of the sides - cutting part of the plastic away and they can go together pretty nicely - just way harder than they needed to be to build.

Current ones are fine, they have a few plus points over PSC - they are more robust being the main one, stuff like gun barrels are over scale so a bit stronger.

Prefer PSC though

Basing your opinions on Battlefront's plastics based on the old Open Fire starter (which had some of their first plastics, IIRC) is unfair. Battlefront's latest plastics are as far ahead of those in that Open Fire starter as GW's current Dark Eldar are as far ahead of those in the 3rd edition starter.

Same would apply to PSC and Zvesda's older kits. There are a few companies putting out excellent plastic kits at the moment. My suggestion would be to choose on a type by type basis.

I'm tempted to pick up some lend lease 76mm Shermans for my Soviets. I'm not sure which manufacturer to go with yet.

 JohnHwangDD wrote:
We built the BF Open Fire plastics, and StuG weren't that good. The BF Open Fire Shermans? OMFG, those were the definition of fail.

I have heard there were problems with those Open Fire kits.

I've got three boxes of the current BF StuG G Platoon, one box of the Panther A platoon and two of the Cromwell Platoon and they are all great kits. Loads of crisp detail, easy to assemble, and look great painted up.

I've also got a box of the PCS Panzer 38(t) tanks that I've assembled as Marders (I love the way you can assemble three different vehicles from the same kit), and two boxes of their Churchill tanks. I think the BF plastics I own are just as good as the PCS plastics I have.

So this is kinda unrelated, but I did find out what I got.

I am not sure if this is a lot or a little, so help me out.

I have like four hundred something infantry.

20 Shermans/fireflys

10 Cromwell tanks

10 stuart tanks

10 halftracks

Is this a lot or a little for FoW? I am not sure the scale of a game.

You have more than enough to get started. You'll be able to play a decent mix of lists with that as your core. All you're going to need is some support units like artillery, mortars, planes and AA.

Yeah, that's a lot. The game is usually in the 1500 to 1750 point range and that's like 1380 points just for the Shermans.

 TheWaspinator wrote:
Yeah, that's a lot. The game is usually in the 1500 to 1750 point range and that's like 1380 points just for the Shermans.

Wow, I guess my brother really does love me

I guess he was offset by the cheapness of the minis on PSC, but hey, at least I'll have options.

Yeah, you should have a decent range of options between tank-heavy and infantry-focused with that. But I agree with stashgordon, you might want some stuff like mortars (not sure if those are part of the infantry you mentioned) but you've got plenty for the bulk of an army. As I was saying, if you want to go Sherman-heavy you've got enough of them to mostly-fill an army before we even talk about the other stuff.

GEt you plastic 25 pounders ,some Infanrty AND SOME aa AND YOU ARE GOOD TO GO.

If I were you, I'd build half of it, and trade the other half for PSC Germans. Then you'll be able to bring a full game to the table to play with variety.

Germans are definitely my favorite of the options available, I like the idea of lots of heavy tanks, but you gotta work with what you got.

What AA/arty would you recommend for the Brits? It is very overwhelming to get started with my crappy knowledge of WWII.

 gummyofallbears wrote:
So this is kinda unrelated, but I did find out what I got.
I have like four hundred something infantry.

More than enough to do a full Rifle company, which would require around 120 figures for a Rifle HQ and three full Rifle platoons. You could use a few more for a Pioneer platoon or as gun crews (if you have them).

20 Shermans/fireflys

Unless you are playing really large games you probably won't need more than 8-11 Shermans and 3-6 Fireflys for an Armoured Squadron (tank HQ and three full tank platoons)

10 Cromwell tanks

In an 7th Army list you could mix these with the Fireflys to make an Armoured company. Otherwise Cromwells generally go in Armoured Recce Squadrons, which are a mix of Cromwells and Challengers (British built 17pdr tanks)

You can also use either Shermans or Cromwells as support for lorried or motor rifle companies.

10 stuart tanks

You will probably not use more than 4 as a recce platoon.

10 halftracks

These would be used for a motor rifle company (4 per motor rifle platoon), or possibly as tow vehicles for 17pdr guns (2-4 per gun platoon).





Automatically Appended Next Post:

 gummyofallbears wrote:
What AA/arty would you recommend for the Brits? It is very overwhelming to get started with my crappy knowledge of WWII.

Generally, you need to start with 25pdrs. They are the mainstay of the British artillery. Once your army has a battery of 25pdrs, some lists allow you to add a battery of heavier 5.5 inch guns. As an alternative to the 25pdrs, some lists allow you to use heavy mortars, which are generally a bit cheaper (points) than regular artillery if you find yourself pressed for points. On the other hand if you have plenty of points available, you could consider Sextons, which are 25pdrs mounted in armored, tracked transports.

Can I field an only tank army? I really like the look and size of the tanks, and I'm not too keen on the look or idea of painting a ton of 15mm infantry.

What additions would you recommend to supplement such an army?

I know that this is totally random but which is the best type of artillery for the uk and commonwealth I need to see what type I should get from the PSC

25 pdrs should cover you through all 3 periods (Early/Mid/Late). They're extremely expensive in Early, amazing as direct fire AT or indirect bombardement in mid and ok in late.

The British artillery rules offset their lower bombardment firepower rating vs 105s and in most cases, you'll need a battery in order to take the larger 5.5s which are great for digging out infantry and can threaten heavy tanks.

While nothing stops you from fielding an all-tank army, there are certain missions where you'll be at a distinct disadvantage. I recall there being a mobile reserves rule on some missions where you're only allowed so many armored/vehicle platoons on the table at the start.

If I were doing a late war british armor list, this wouild be my general breakdown. Exact details would vary based off the actual list.
HQ: 2 tanks
2-3 Tank Platoons (typically 3 Sherman/Cromwells + 1 Firefly/Challenger per platoon)
1 Infantry Platoon to either hold a backfield objective or to deal with panzerfaust infantry
1 Recce Platoon (Armored Cars/Stuarts)
1 Artillery/Mortar for smoke

No AA or Air as Germans typically don't have much air late war and with tank armies, you generally want to get up close where air would get waved off anyways.

Mid War is painful as you're stuck with 3 tank platoons so I'd try to get to 10 platoons so you don't give a VP for your first platoon loss. Unfortunately, Shermans are expensive in Mid-War and Cromwells don't exist so you can't easily port a British tank list between mid and late war.