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Hey guys,

I'm more of a collector than a gamer (though I still enjoy gaming and like to have the option) and I've been thinking about trying FoW some time... I was hoping I could have some questions answered:

-Is FoW the most popular WWII tabletop game?

-What scale are the minis?

-How are minis moved? Individually or on trays? I think I've seen trays...

-Why are prices so varied? I see I can get a whole horde of minis for like £8 and yet some small teams cost the same amount! o.O

-Is the hobby overall cheaper than 40k?

-What paints should I use?

-If I chose to use GW paints, are there painting guides out there that can help me adapt them for FoW use?

-Why are some vehicles like the HS-129 so expensive? Is the HS-129 just a big model?

-I saw that the tanks seem to be really small... are they overpriced?

-Who are the most commonly played factions? Please list by popularity as far as you know...

-What time period/setting is the most common?

Thanks for any answers

Well the models arent really over price, If you buy the box set.... Most common armies wil be Germans and Russians (late war)

Germans and British,Russian) mid war

American are popular too but its army you either really love or really know how to play( in late war they get better but in the beginning there lacking leadership)
Why the HE 129 so much its big model of a plane and its pretty powerful in the game ( its a flying tank with a huge gun on it)
Tanks well I think there over priced too but when you just need a few of them for a list its easier too buy a blister then a box set and have a few extra laying around.....LOL

Henners91 wrote:Hey guys,
I'm more of a collector than a gamer (though I still enjoy gaming and like to have the option) and I've been thinking about trying FoW some time... I was hoping I could have some questions answered:

I'm by no means a FoW expert, but here's my opinions and thoughts:

Henners91 wrote:
-Is FoW the most popular WWII tabletop game?

Unknown. The big plus for many is that it has the same 'casual' nature as 40k and similar: You can build towards a common goal and don't need to worry about building forces for specific historical scenarios as many historical gamers seem to do. It doesn't worry about the weirdness of late-war Soviets fighting mediterranean British Paratroopers. Any forces of the same point value can play each other, although some matchups will make more sense than others.

They've done a pretty good job of building a tournament environment and such.

Henners91 wrote:
-What scale are the minis?

15mm

Henners91 wrote:
-How are minis moved? Individually or on trays? I think I've seen trays...

From reading the rules, they're based together as 'teams'. You don't deal with an individual soldier, but with a 'team' which has the equivalent of a pretty good armor save (to represent that losing a couple troopers doesn't kill the whole team). A team might be all rifleman, a mix of rifles and machine guns, or similar.

The army lists are based around selecting a company-sized force which generally roughs out an HQ choice (All lists I've seen have a single HQ 'choice' but may have various options for vehicles, add-ons, and upgrades), provides a 'troop' choice platoon you need a couple of, and then a list of platoons that can be added as desired. Each Platoon might be split into multiple sections/squads, which are then broken into a number of teams.

There's also some special rules for 'independent teams' and 'warriors' (I.E. Special Characters).

Henners91 wrote:
-Why are prices so varied? I see I can get a whole horde of minis for like £8 and yet some small teams cost the same amount! o.O

Not sure. Note that a lot of the Battlefront stuff is resin, I think.

Henners91 wrote:
-Is the hobby overall cheaper than 40k?

No clue. I think the books are a bit pricey, but I'm a cheap SOB. I like the idea that a group can get by with a single army book, and Battlefront publishes some very cool 'rules quick references' for each nation.

Henners91 wrote:
-What paints should I use?

Same as for any minis.

Henners91 wrote:
-If I chose to use GW paints, are there painting guides out there that can help me adapt them for FoW use?

Probably. One thing to note is that I don't get the 'detail-obsessiveness' vibe from the FoW community you hear about from the older historical gamers. As long as painting is done in appropriate colors, most FoW players don't seem too annoyed. Just avoid day-glo orange and purple or similar.

They do some painting guides on the FoW website for various regions as well, but you'd need to find a cheat sheet to convert to GW colors.

Henners91 wrote:
-Why are some vehicles like the HS-129 so expensive? Is the HS-129 just a big model?

Not sure. The plane boxes seem to be 3-packs, so it's a bit cheaper, I guess. Note that the planes appear to be a slightly different scale, as they're 1:144 which is roughly 12mm.

Henners91 wrote:
-I saw that the tanks seem to be really small... are they overpriced?

I don't know... I'm not actively buying FoW, but I'd rather get 4 tanks, albeit small ones, as opposed to 1 big tank (if I'm lucky!) for 40k.

The main thing is that there's a LOT of people making 15mm WWII stuff. A five minute Google search revealed a few vendors that have Shermans for a couple $ less per tank.

Henners91 wrote:
-Who are the most commonly played factions? Please list by popularity as far as you know...

US, Germans, Soviets, British... But as I said, each of these has several lists organized around various Company-scale formations.

I've heard the 'Armored Recon' lists are at a disadvantage as in an ugly spot. they're not as armored as true armor, nor as resilient as infantry. The consensus I've gotten seems to be to go for either an armor or foot infantry list.

Note that the main books (I have Fortress Europe and North Afrika) both have somewhat 'general' lists. The US Tank Company in North Afrika is kind of a typical tank company, while one presented in a more specific book might get special stuff related to that operation and the units involved. For example, if I had the D-Day book, it might include some of the special units that were actually landed on beaches, maybe even the floating Sherman DD tanks.

Henners91 wrote:
-What time period/setting is the most common?

Not really sure. Are you familiar with FoW's "Early/Middle/Late War" division? Early War currently has no official list but there seems to be a lot of interest in that project.

Henners91 wrote:
Thanks for any answers

Glad I could help, and I wish I could give more specifics.

Some neat things about FoW:
* Company publishes thorough summaries of each nation's special rules.
* Transports have a role, but are also a possible hindrance... So they're a gamble.
* Rules are written in a 'textbook' style with very clear delineation between rules and background.
* There do seem to be a lot of differences in various units.

Some things I don't like:
* The rules are very verbose, sometimes too much. One thing that bugged me was the pining rules basically break the concept into several subsections (good!) each covering how each section impacts armored vehicles, then the section ends with "Oh, and armored vehicles ignore these rules, so there's no real point in tracking it."
* The rules favor 'monolithic' rules. I.E. there's a mobility type of 'Jeep' which may impact a bunch of things. I would prefer a system with a generic clear note on the vehicle's speed as well as some clear traits to determine the tow capacity and similar.
* There's at least one instance of an army list option hidden in the main rulebook: Snipers are in the main rulebook and I think i've seen one reference to them in the army list books I have... but from my reading, they are essentially part of every army list.

-Is FoW the most popular WWII tabletop game?

Most popular maybe, but it seems to have the best organized tournaments and best distribution network making it more likely to find fellow gamers in a given area

-What scale are the minis?

As stated earlier, 15mm

-How are minis moved? Individually or on trays? I think I've seen trays...

Infantry and artillery are placed on bases and moved together, vehicles are usually individual. All models are collectively refferred to as "teams"

-Why are prices so varied? I see I can get a whole horde of minis for like £8 and yet some small teams cost the same amount! o.O

Same reason they are in 40K or WFB. Some units you simply won't sell that many of i.e. weapons platoons, while others are required for building certain armies i.e. rifle platoons.

-Is the hobby overall cheaper than 40k?

Not really. They both have the same aspect of "depending on what you run it could get pricey or cost very little". A Tiger marsch box set with some anti-air and an infantry platoon could make a decent sized list for only about 100USD (not sure what they're asking in pounds). On the other hand, a large infantry-based list complete with armor and artillery support could easily run 200-250.

-What paints should I use?

Whatever you're comfortable with

-If I chose to use GW paints, are there painting guides out there that can help me adapt them for FoW use?

No real "adapting" required, it's a different scale, not a different medium. With that being said though, GW doesn't have the extensive array of dull greens that BF produces.

-Why are some vehicles like the HS-129 so expensive? Is the HS-129 just a big model?

The HS-129 isn't sold individually, but as a flight of 3 aircraft, and the thing is pretty large to boot.

-I saw that the tanks seem to be really small... are they overpriced?

It's a hobby, with that being said, overpriced is a really subjective term. Things like the The War Store and eBay combined with buying boxed sets instead of individuals can cushion the cost pretty well.

-Who are the most commonly played factions? Please list by popularity as far as you know...

Germans and Soviets are pretty close as far as most common. I'd say Germans. British are 3rd and Americans are a distant 4th along with assorted minor axis powers.

-What time period/setting is the most common?

Currently late war is the most common of the time periods. Mid-war has a following, but with only 2 books, doesn't have anywhere near the options. Early war doesn't really exist at this point.

-Is FoW the most popular WWII tabletop game?

Absolutely. FoW has had a major impact on Historical wargamer. It did what no other rules system has yet which was came up with a wide spread and standardized set of rules and army construction to let players be able to really tailor forces very closely based on what WWII minis that they want to play with. This is actually a new concept amoung historical gamers and many of the older generation take it about as well as an enema and hate it with a passion. Truth is, FoW is very popular among those who actually get out and play and it's drawing in a lot of converts and new players. It's multinational popularity has simply exploded and they have even been having various national level tournaments for years now.

-What scale are the minis?

15mm is 1:100 scale, which is nearly halfway between HO and N scale.

-How are minis moved? Individually or on trays? I think I've seen trays...

You have platoons (think squads) made up of individual tanks, or several stands of men (3-4 figs per stand). No movement trays.

-Why are prices so varied? I see I can get a whole horde of minis for like £8 and yet some small teams cost the same amount! o.O

The cost is based on the cost of materials to produce the models, NOT their game value.

-Is the hobby overall cheaper than 40k?

OMFG YES! As I said above, cost is really influenced by what it takes to produce the model, not some artificial inflated value placed on it. For the cost of a 40K troop unit and it's transport you could buy many different complete 1,500+ point armies for FoW. In addition, there are a slew of other makers for WWII 15mm. The Battlefront FoW models are some of the best out there, but they are far from the cheapest. You can make a FoW army very cheaply if you try. You are even allowed to use non-BF models in their official tournaments! The company recognizes they don't have a corner on the WWII miniatures market, their strong suit is selling rules so they don't turn off players by saying "no you can't play with your toys here!"

-If I chose to use GW paints, are there painting guides out there that can help me adapt them for FoW use?

Don't bother using GW paints. The colors are fine for fantasy/Sci-fi stuff but way off the mark for historical models. You'll regret it, seriously. Vallejo makes a great range and is very good quality. You know you will just have to buy more paint anyways.

-Why are some vehicles like the HS-129 so expensive? Is the HS-129 just a big model?

No, the planes are expensive but, with the HS-129 no one else makes a model! Again, you can find other sources cheaper if you look.

-I saw that the tanks seem to be really small... are they overpriced?

The tanks are about the size of hotwheels/matchbox cars. They are not overpriced in terms of $ or cost, but coming from a non-historical background you may think so at first. For example: while close in points cost, a US Sherman and a German Panzer IV were designed to do different things. The US tank is good vs infantry, the German tank is good vs other tanks. So, while they are similar in points if you put them against each other they are not equally matched.

-Who are the most commonly played factions? Please list by popularity as far as you know...

German, US, Russia, Britain. The big 4 countries in the European theater. Nearly everyone has a 2nd army that is German since they were the "bad guys".

-What time period/setting is the most common?

The war is broken into 3 periods, Mid, Late and Early. Each period has a strong following but Late War seams to be the most popular as it offers the largest variety of toys to choose from.

Swordbreaker wrote:

-Is FoW the most popular WWII tabletop game?

Absolutely.

Really?

Well I dont know anyone who plays it. On my forum, out of 700+ gamers (mostly WW2 guys) I only know one or two who plays FOW.

I think its a regional thing. Certainly in areas with local stockists its very popular, but the only rules that seem popular to me for WW2 are Rapid Fire. Just about all the WW2 gamers I know play Rapid Fire. Could be a scale thing, I play with 20mm figures, so all the gamers I know use the same scale, and Rapid Fire has always been a 20mm ruleset.

I suspect it is the most played WW2 game, and good on it. I dont play it myself (the rules dont appeal and Im too anal for some of its ahistorical selections) but anything that gets people interested in history is a good thing in my book.

As for it being cheap... Its cheap compared to GW, but expensive compared to alot of other historical games. I can get 20mm tanks for the same price as 15mm ones from FOW. And they look better too...

Just a view from one of the 'older generation' who prefers enemas to WW2 British versus US points match-ups.

Being a fellow not-FoW player, but seeing it played consistently at my FLGS, I'll give you my impression from the local scene. There are 5 I've seen people that play locally under the age of 29 out of a good 25 or so at least. The people over the age of 29 are extremely picky about how your list is built, if your guys are painted (some even complain if you bought the model that day and it's not painted), or even if they're the correct shade of army green or not. The people who cross over from 40k to FoW get in rules arguments constantly, but are usually right since the rules are a lot tighter. Overall the players around here killed any interest I had in the game to sum it up, though I'm by no means trying to say every area is the same and I have no clue how "most players" are. You might check and see how players are around you though On the plus side, you can bring in those old Micro Machine tanks you've had forever and piss off a bunch of old men by trying to field them.

Well, for starters BF models are on the high end cost wise. A typical tank from BF costs $12USD, another manufacturer's cost about $4USD and you can go as low as $2 of even less if you hunt (e-bay, sales etc). So FoW does not have to be expensive.

Locally we have a few players with 1/72 scale, a few with 20mm, some with 28mm, etc, etc... It's rare to even get two people together at the same time who have not only opposing forces in the same scale but also agree on a rules set. The standardization and inclusiveness of forces in FoW is really what unified everyone to one game system.

When FoW came along you had a very interesting collision of gamers. You had the guys who liked the current style of games, which tend to forgo heavy detail in favor of playability. Then you had the old crusty gorgnards who aren't into gaming so much as they are into arguing about if you painted the shirt buttons the exact right color and want to play games that take like 6 hours per turn and require you cross reference an endless sea of charts to find out what happens. Also in that is you have gamers who don't give two turds if there toys are even glued together, forget painted, vs people who have taken the time to fully finish their models because they want things to look nice and not like a pile of glue encrusted crap. It's two different gamer ideologies that were until then largely separated.

FoW is almost a "coming of age" game. The players I see coming to it are maturing as gamers: Learning that it is rewarding to do a good job and finish a model you can be proud of. Learning to just enjoy playing a game rather than feeling a need to play for an ego boost from winning. Learning that is okay to play a game you can finish in less than two hours and admit you had fun. Learning that you don't need to have memorized a library full of research material to somehow validate your right to play a historical based game.

Edited to add:
The comment about use the Mirco Machines tanks to annoy your opponent? Well, I considered painting a FoW Panzer in full Ultramarine colors with markings and everything just to annoy those guys too! However, taking a Micro Machine tank to play FoW is on the same level of using an Epic Landraider in 40K and making fun of your for having a problem with it.

-Is FoW the most popular WWII tabletop game? : To this id say not the most popular you still have Anzio for the more die hard gamer and Open Fire for squad level games FoW tends to be on the Company,Regiment,Battalion,Army Group scale its a large game but is digestable enough to get done and dusted in a few hours (Depending on size of the game) Ive not actually played yet but am in the process of constructing a late war Panzergrenadier force.

-What scale are the minis?:1/100 I think on the same par if not a bit larger then epic think the fine scaled Airfix soldiers and you'll get a idea

-How are minis moved? Individually or on trays? I think I've seen trays...: No they are on stands

1 squad= 5 men on a stand 11 stands=1 platoon and 1 extra for command team and attached machine gun teams
1 Artillery piece on 1 stand
tanks can be mounted on stands but thats optional


-Why are prices so varied? I see I can get a whole horde of minis for like £8 and yet some small teams cost the same amount! o.O : *Cough* (spits coffee everywhere) where do you get your FoW mini's I pay £45 for one Company or Tank Platoon £5.50 for a blister Each! my last bulk buy was
Tigers March: £45
3 Jagpanthers: £5.50 each
3 Panzer Mk 3: £5.50 each

Do the Math it was a wallet buster!

Ebay is your friend though I personally go retail as I dont internet shop.

-Is the hobby overall cheaper than 40k?: Oh no no no but for what you spend you get more mini's but I get heart failure every time I buy new FoW stuff

-What paints should I use? : Vallerio,Citadel either one works well but Ive heard the Vallerio stuff holds better

-If I chose to use GW paints, are there painting guides out there that can help me adapt them for FoW use?: You have the Art Of War they have different editions.

-Why are some vehicles like the HS-129 so expensive? Is the HS-129 just a big model?: HS-129??? wasnt aware they made a model

-I saw that the tanks seem to be really small... are they overpriced?: Sometimes the Blisters are F**king £5.50 each

-Who are the most commonly played factions? Please list by popularity as far as you know...

German EW/LW
Soviet EW/MW/LW
British EW/LW

-What time period/setting is the most common?:LW is all the rage at the moment but apprently there is a expansion for mainly EW battles coming out.