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Made in gb
Pauper with Promise




Notts, UK

A friend and I are looking to get into FoW.

We're not that interest in the desert campaign, more looking for mid war Eastern front, then moving into the Western front. What do we need to get started - and what's the best way to get bodies on the table and dice rolling?

Rule book is obvious, but are there any rules/ army books/ cards/ whatever for non-desert warfare? It's a little confusing & the official forums don't seem that useful...

Any help/ links appreciated.
   
Made in gb
Regular Dakkanaut





Scotland

There is no good way to get into mid war Eastern Front for the current rules. It doesn't exist yet and will be released sometime next year.

You can try to get a copy of the mid war Eastern Front book from the previous editions and use that instead with v3 or convert it to v4. A word of warning if you do that, the Desert armies have lost a lot of unit it's reasonable to assume the same will be try for the Eastern Front. So you should be careful of what you buy, other than popular stuff like T-34s it'll be hard to guess what.

Late War is a better starting point for the Eastern Front in v4. The old army books still work and they plan on releasing beginner books with the core lists so new players don't have to work out which list is in which book. I don't know when that will be released though. Grey Wolf and Red Bear are the two army book you'll want for the Eastern Front, no need to wait.

The problem with late war is the mid war and early/late war rulebooks have some difference and I'm not sure if you can buy the late war one. Hopefully someone else can clarify that. You can get the book that update the army books as a free pdf Link.

I don't imagine I managed to make it less confusing for you but it's a bit messy at the moment.
   
Made in gb
Pauper with Promise




Notts, UK

That's a bit disappointing.

Thanks for your help. I think I need to visit a FLGS and talk it through.
   
Made in gb
Regular Dakkanaut





Scotland

Sounds like a good idea to find out how your FLGS is playing. They also might have some leftover copies of the v4 EW/LW rulebook and be willing to give them to you without needing to have a v3 rulebook. Apparently the EW/LW rulebook is also free on FoW Digital.
   
Made in no
Longtime Dakkanaut






you are in a rough spot there.

v4 and its easy rules whit the desert setting is ment to replace the old midwar as it was a largly unsuported era in fow and as sutch the best testing ground for the new v4 rules.
early and late will change to v4 format eventualy, but it is a lot more work as early and late is more supported.

atleast on the offical webstore all early mid and lat war books are still for sale(if they are in stock is a totaly different question), and you can still use v3 rules for them if you want.

IF you can get hold of the no longer produced starter set called; open fire, then that is prolly the best way to get starting whit "normal" FoW even tough it is late war.
if you cant, you just simply have to buy books and models seperatly.



alternativly, you could go for their spinoff skirmish game from gale force 9 called: tanks.
it is a tank only skirmish game played on a 4x4 table using 1-4 tanks per player and consists of early to late war tanks, but it shouldent be any problem to make house rules to make the games a bit bigger.


This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2017/09/26 18:15:59


darkswordminiatures.com
gamersgrass.com
Collects: Wild West Exodus, SW Armada/Legion. Adeptus Titanicus, Dust1947. 
   
Made in gb
Dakka Veteran





Well you could start with the open Fire boxed set, I believe most of the units could technically be played in mid war (correct me if I'm wrong) Shermans and Fireflys with American infantry versus Stugs and Pak38's with German infantry. Plus all the basic rules.
It doesn't fit your exact requirements but is certainly a great way to start. From there you could purchase more flavourful units and corresponding books.
You could also start with just the infantry if you wanted.

I've been playing a while, my first model was a lead marine and my first White Dwarf was bound with staples 
   
Made in us
Lieutenant General





Florence, KY

Fireflies weren't introduced to the British armoured brigades until 1944, just in time for the Normandy landings of D-Day.

'It is a source of constant consternation that my opponents
cannot correlate their innate inferiority with their inevitable
defeat. It would seem that stupidity is as eternal as war.'

- Nemesor Zahndrekh of the Sautekh Dynasty
Overlord of the Crownworld of Gidrim
 
   
Made in us
Dakka Veteran





Charleston, SC, USA

I second starting with Open Fire. It's an all around good value and easily gets two people started. I doubt you would have any problem using the German grenadier platoons in mid war either. Don't know about the stugs as they seem to be late war marks.
   
Made in us
Major




In a van down by the river

 Strombones wrote:
I second starting with Open Fire. It's an all around good value and easily gets two people started. I doubt you would have any problem using the German grenadier platoons in mid war either. Don't know about the stugs as they seem to be late war marks.


The StuG III G entered service in December of 1942, so it will likely be used in at least some MId-War lists as that's right in the middle of BF's definition as I recall.

With Open Fire make sure the front of the box says "We'll Start the War From Here!" under the Open Fire logo. Boxes without that are the original set with some of the worst plastic tanks BF ever made in them. The StuGs were "okay" but can't hold a candle to their replacements.
   
Made in gb
Dakka Veteran





 Krinsath wrote:
 Strombones wrote:
I second starting with Open Fire. It's an all around good value and easily gets two people started. I doubt you would have any problem using the German grenadier platoons in mid war either. Don't know about the stugs as they seem to be late war marks.


The StuG III G entered service in December of 1942, so it will likely be used in at least some MId-War lists as that's right in the middle of BF's definition as I recall.

With Open Fire make sure the front of the box says "We'll Start the War From Here!" under the Open Fire logo. Boxes without that are the original set with some of the worst plastic tanks BF ever made in them. The StuGs were "okay" but can't hold a candle to their replacements.


I got the old set, the tanks just needed a bit more work

I've been playing a while, my first model was a lead marine and my first White Dwarf was bound with staples 
   
Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut




I got the old set, the tanks just needed a bit more work


This is putting is mildly.. a bit more work, a vice, a small saw, a prayer to the gods of model making and a glue thats actually welds the plastic.

They are salvageable, but likely not by an inexperienced model maker...

Rest of the set is good, its probably the best starter set contents I've ever come across.

Pity they decided to 'streamline' the rules and stop putting the actual rulebook in there (this was the point BF lost the plot)
   
Made in ie
Gefreiter




Ireland

 Russell's teapot wrote:
A friend and I are looking to get into FoW.

We're not that interest in the desert campaign, more looking for mid war Eastern front, then moving into the Western front. What do we need to get started - and what's the best way to get bodies on the table and dice rolling?

Rule book is obvious, but are there any rules/ army books/ cards/ whatever for non-desert warfare? It's a little confusing & the official forums don't seem that useful...

Any help/ links appreciated.


According to the FoW website, there will be a compilation "bootstrap" Late War rulebook later this year (allegedly November, so you won't have to wait too long). It won't have everything, but sounds like a great buy (I will certainly be picking it up): https://www.flamesofwar.com/hobby.aspx?art_id=5741

Meanwhile, the Open Fire rules, including some Late War units for multiple sides, may be enough to get you going with some box sets of models: https://www.flamesofwar.com/hobby.aspx?art_id=3547

Edit: This link has both the rule book and a wider forces list that includes US, UK, Russian and German Late War forces for use with Open Fire (until the v4 Late War rulebook comes out next month): https://www.flamesofwar.com/hobby.aspx?art_id=4818

Hope this is useful and welcome to the game !

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/10/15 23:10:07


 
   
Made in ie
Gefreiter




Ireland

The Late War book and new boxed sets (including v4 rule book) are now up for pre-order ...

https://www.flamesofwar.com/hobby.aspx?art_id=5824
   
Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut




daisy666 wrote:
The Late War book and new boxed sets (including v4 rule book) are now up for pre-order ...

https://www.flamesofwar.com/hobby.aspx?art_id=5824


Have to love BF's sense of humour, giving the Soviets an IS-2 list...
   
 
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