Switch Theme:

Flames of War - Starting an Army  [RSS] Share on facebook Share on Twitter Submit to Reddit
»
Author Message
Advert


Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:
  • No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
  • Times and dates in your local timezone.
  • Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
  • Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
  • Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.
If you are already a member then feel free to login now.




Made in ca
Fresh-Faced New User



Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Hi

I am looking at starting an army for Flames of War.

I am interested in German forces and the Late War period.

I was wondering how I could get started, kind of overwhelming.

I would like to have an army that has a mix of tanks, artillery, and infantry.

Thanks!
   
Made in us
Ork Boy Hangin' off a Trukk





Fort Collins, CO

They have a starter box called "Rommels Wolves" that has everything you want minus the artillery. It comes with rule book and an army list book too.

I feel the need, the need for speed. 
   
Made in us
Stalwart Veteran Guard Sergeant




Virginia

As someone who started a little over a year ago, and can show my journey so far:

Plan an army (or three) using the free lists on blogspot. You can also set up an account with Digital Forces and get the V3 Forces late war lists for free. I would recommend actually purchasing the official Digital Lists once you've finalized on a specific list.
http://fowlists.blogspot.com/
http://Forces.FlamesofWar.com
If you'd like, you can get feedback on your lists from knowledgable players either here or on the FoW forums. I definitely skipped this step, as I was going for historical accuracy, not playability.

Buy stuff. Doesn't matter where or what, unless you have certain personal constraints (plastic only, Battlefront only for official tournaments, etc). Lots of manufacturers out there, Plastic Soldier Company (PSC), Zvezda, and Battlefront being the top three for plastic. Either buy all at once, or wait for sales, whatever your personal habits. Army deals are always a good idea, and as mentioned Battlefront has Rommels Wolves. PSC also has German army deals.

Start playing so you get a feel for the game, as inevitably things don't work out on the tabletop quite like they do in your head.

Buy more stuff and repeat the process. Eventually you'll have way more than you either need or want.

One quick caveat: the next version of FoW comes out in March. If you're trying to optimize your lists for performance, these new rules will likely change how you want your army set up. Also, lots of new plastic kits coming out.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/01/06 14:23:03


 
   
Made in gb
Yu Jing Martial Arts Ninja




KillerAngel is spot on, one thing I'd add on is do you have a campaign that interests you i.e. Normandy, battle of the bulge, fall of germany.
For me it's the Normandy breakout, i.e. Operation cobra, so the terrain I'm building goes hand in hand with the two forces I'm doing.
   
Made in us
Sinister Chaos Marine




DC Metro

First, find out what era/theater of operations people in your area are interested in playing. Even though any list from LW should be balanced against another LW list, you can really break down late war into its own early/late period and balance is much better when constrained to lists within the same campaign/time period.

Find a unit that interests you from that time period/campaign. You'll be much more emotionally invested in the game this way vs trying to build a killer tournament list which will change when the edition changes or the next book comes out. If you find you do like the game, you'll eventually branch out into other periods/forces anyways.

When starting Germans, consider starting with a tank or infantry company. Stay away from mechanized (armored panzergrenadiers) at first as those take a bit of finesse to learn. If you're building an infantry company, it may be more cost efficient to use the panzergrenadier box sets though and you can save the halftracks for later.
   
Made in gb
Wolf Guard Bodyguard in Terminator Armor





Pretty much what Cannonfodr said.

I started off with the Open Fire set as I built up both a british and german force. My Bro Inlaw enjoyed our game so much that he started a Soviet infantry battalion and thus we entered the Early war and Mid War.

The infantry can be used across all 3 theaters and some of the German Tanks stretch over the periods as well so it didn't take much extra to get a list built.


 
   
Made in ca
Fresh-Faced New User



Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Hi all,

Thank you for the replies!

I will answer some of the questions you raised.

I am interested in starting a German, Canadian and US Army.

Having done a bit more research I am really interested in the possibility of creating a Canadian Army....I am Canadian. I am also interested in palying the Germans and US though.

I am interested in playing only in the Late War era. I am interested in Battle of the Bulge and Ardennes Offensive the most, secondly would be the Market Garden/Atlantik Wall....really anything with Canadians/Germans/US. Being a Canadian I would like to play a Canadian army

I was thinking of starting off with the GBX18 SS-Panzergrenadierkompanie box for the Germans.

For a Canadian Army what should I start off with? (As there are no designated Flames of War units).


A good point that some of you raise is that there is a new version coming out this Spring, and I assume the Open Fire box will be replaced? Perhaps I should wait until that comes out to start purchasing?
Is there any speculation on what the new starter set may contain? What armies? I see that there is a new British and German Africa box set coming out....looks like it may be good for an addition to my idea of getting the GBX18 SS-Panzergrenadierkompanie??

Thoughts are most appreciated!
   
Made in us
Sinister Chaos Marine




DC Metro

The SS Panzergrenadierkompanie box is a good starting core for an infantry company for any of the late war books as IIRC, it contains the core of an infantry company (Company HQ w/ AT Section, 3 Snipers, 2 full infantry platoons, HMG platoon and an AT Platoon with PaK 40s. If you want to build an infantry company, I'd look to getting a blister of 8cm mortars which can be combined with the HMGs to make your weapons (heavy) platoon or separate mortar platoon. 8cm mortars are pretty useful as a cheap unit for smoke/pinning enemies before assaulting. You'll probably want to look at getting a tank/tank hunter platoon (Panzer IV/StUG IIIs are the most flexible, but the Panzer IV/70 and Panther can work, but you either be limited to later periods and/or fewer hulls due to points) of some sort and an artillery unit (Nebelwerfers/12 cm mortars are cheap, Panzerwerfers are great, but not always available, 105s and 155s can get expensive in points) to round out your forces with a little bit of everything. After playing a few games you should be able to figure out where you want to go from there.

The Open Fire box set isn't bad either as it gives you a stuff that can be used for british/canadian armor, american paratroopers and german forces.

The british and german army boxes are primarily geared for mid-war forces whereas the SS Panzergrenadierkompanie box is a late war force. The german box wouldn't be too bad for a late-late war list (see Berlin or Desperate Measures, possibly even Fortress Italy) as by late war, the Panzer IV had largely overtaken the Panzer III, but by late-late war, the germans were so desperate they were using older/obsolete tanks.

I haven't played any Canadian lists (I've got British Paras for late war and Indians for early/mid-war desert, late-war italy) so I'm not too familiar with their builds. I think they pretty much get the same kit as regular british troops, but generally have Shermans instead of Cromwell/Challenger tanks.
   
Made in us
Stalwart Veteran Guard Sergeant




Virginia

Canadians (as well as late war Greeks, Poles, etc) are just Brits with even weirder accents

Step one is read the lists, step two is buy the stuff.
   
Made in us
Oberleutnant





The current Open Fire box will be useful regardless of rule change. Further, you will be able to show your FLGS your rule book and obtain the free updated rules for EW/LW when they are released. The British half of that box is pretty much a 1500 point list out of Market Garden.

Unless you have a group looking to get into FoW at once and play MW, I would obstain from the newly announced Afrika sets. They are mid war based and the German one is barely transferable to LW, the Brit one not at all.

fowlists.blogspot.ca is a nice free list builder online. There could be a few errors and it doesn't have special rules for any nationality listed, and its not updated anymore due to an agreement with the creator and BF but it will give you a good idea on what you might need.

Canadians have solid lists out of Market Garden, Road to Rome, Overlord. Those are the three main theatre books for allies in LW. Canadians play a lot like Germans in that they both have Mission Tactics and are typically veteran lists. Canadians also have access to Ram Kangaroos which are excellent troop transports and when used in an Infantry list, can Night Attack and Spearhead at night. British Infantry is probably the most effective of the Brit lists as Brit armor suffers from small unit size and is pretty effectively guntanked (special targeting situation) by their opponents, which has the nasty effect of removing your best AT assets.







 
   
Made in us
Dakka Veteran






sscory wrote:
Having done a bit more research I am really interested in the possibility of creating a Canadian Army....I am Canadian. I am also interested in palying the Germans and US though.

I am interested in playing only in the Late War era. I am interested in Battle of the Bulge and Ardennes Offensive the most, secondly would be the Market Garden/Atlantik Wall....really anything with Canadians/Germans/US. Being a Canadian I would like to play a Canadian army

FOW has a number of theater and battle specific army list books. There area no Canadian lists in the recently released Battle of the Bulge book, but there are a selection of them in the Market Garden book.

For a Canadian Army what should I start off with? (As there are no designated Flames of War units).

In the army list books, Canadians are a sub set of the British Lists. There are some differences in the organization and equipment of the Canadian lists compared to the British lists, although there are a lot of similarities, too. They are generally listed as Company Type (Canadian), with "company type" being Rifle, Motor, Armoured Car, or Armoured. Which of those would you be interested in? You can take tanks as support in the Rifle and Motor (infantry) lists, and you can take Rifle or Motor platoons in Armoured (tank) lists so you can go either way.

A good point that some of you raise is that there is a new version coming out this Spring, and I assume the Open Fire box will be replaced? Perhaps I should wait until that comes out to start purchasing?

There will be changes in the rules, but the LW army lists will not be changing significantly in the immediate future.

I see that there is a new British and German Africa box set coming out....looks like it may be good for an addition to my idea of getting the GBX18 SS-Panzergrenadierkompanie??

Battlefront is going to be focusing on MW for the next year or so. I would not expect much of anything new for LW for quite some time (2019? 2020?). I'd go with what's available right now.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/01/11 20:14:31


 
   
 
Forum Index » Historical Miniature Games: WW1 to Modern
Go to: