Flames of War General: Hit the beach edition

>Trump/Hitler jokes

Talk about low-hanging fruit...

It's an interesting concept, but I'd say it probably needs a bit of play-testing.

Unpainted infantry

And to think I felt bad about half my army sitting on unfinished bases for the Firestorm: Overlord campaign I'm doing this Sunday.

That's terrible as well, though not as bad

So I have some Fallschirmjagers and Italian paratroopers lying around so I put together this Infantry Aces list that I'll probably never play. Speaking of which, anyone ever played Infantry Aces?

German 4. Fallschirmjagerkompanie
Infantry Company, from Fortress Italy, page 74

Compulsory Fallschirmjager Company HQ (4. Fallschirmjagerdivision) (p.75) - CinC SMG, 2iC SMG (55 pts)
- Upgrade CinC SMG to CinC Panzerfaust SMG (10 pts)
- Upgrade 2iC SMG to 2iC Panzerfaust SMG (10 pts)
- Panzerschrek (30 pts)

Compulsory Fallschirmjager Platoon (4. Fallschirmjagerdivision) (p.75) - Command Rifle/MG, 9x Rifle/MG (265 pts)
- Upgrade Command Rifle/MG to Command Panzerfaust SMG (10 pts)

Compulsory Italian Paracadutisti Platoon (p.177) - Command Rifle/MG, 6x Rifle/MG (175 pts)
- Replace Command Rifle/MG with Command Panzerknacker SMG (5 pts)

Fallschirmjager Machine-gun Platoon (4. Fallschirmjagerdivision) (p.76) - Command SMG, 4x MG42 HMG (150 pts)
- Replace Command SMG with Command Panzerknacker SMG (5 pts)

Fallschirmjager Mortar Platoon (4. Fallschirmjagerdivision) (p.76) - Command SMG, 2x Observer Rifle, 4x 8cm GW42 (Stummelwerfer) mortar (120 pts)
- Replace Command SMG with Command Panzerknacker SMG (5 pts)

Fallschirmjager Light Gun Platoon (4. Fallschirmjagerdivision) (p.76) - Command SMG, 2x 7.5cm LG40 recoilless gun (55 pts)
- Replace Command SMG with Command Panzerknacker SMG (5 pts)

900 Points, 5 Platoons

damn, i mean, i know people tend to whitewash history but i feel like thats taking it too far

goddammit Im not even a dad why do I keep making such terrible dad jokes

Playing historical war games brings out the dad in all of us.

I don't suppose anyone here has a copy of Osprey's "Universal Carrier 1936–48" book? A several hour trawl only pulled up polish, br, and ru scam sites.

Just finished the Girl und Panzer movie.

it's just as cheezy-cute as you expect, with plenty of new tanks.

>nice exhibition match
>fucking university and all their LLW tanks!
>T28 can get confusing....
>then...bolted on treads? what?
>Christie Suspension
>the rides never end....literally.

>and, you know you have taste when your command tank is a Centurion

all in all, a nice cap to the enterprize.
it'll get a TANKS version, but so many of those things are in Metal-Resin...

FoW GuP is now feasible, esp with the Pro-Level 30 tank games....

they even split to platoons in the movie....

shit, forgot to spoiler the image.

ok. manual spoilers above....

I'm guessing by the pic you found a copy with subs? I'd only seen the raw floating around until now.

I might try to grab that and watch it at the weekend.

>Alexander the sleepy

The Christie tank was phenomenal, yeah.

I was watching and thinking "Huh? Centurion? How's that legal?", but then I realised it's the prototype mark 1. That was clever.

The T28 had four sets of tracks, which made it too wide for rail. To overcome this, the exterior track could be detached to narrow the vehicle down (though it took two hours, rather than just popping off like in the movie).

>>Christie Suspension
That, and Säkkijärven Polkka. Pure awesome.

I really wish you could do a "gotta go fast" panssarikomppania in FoW

Blitzkrieg only, 1420 points, final destination.

British Infantry Tank
Tank Company, from Blitzkrieg, page 120

Compulsory Infantry Tank Company HQ (p.120) - CinC A11 Matilda, 2iC Light Tank Mk VI B (90 pts)
- Replace A11 Matilda with A11 Matilda (0.5" MG) (15 pts)

Compulsory A12 Tank Platoon (p.121) - Command A12 Matilda Senior, A12 Matilda Senior (475 pts)

Compulsory A11 Tank Platoon (p.121) - Command A11 Matilda (0.5" MG), 2x A11 Matilda (200 pts)

A12 Tank Platoon (p.121) - Command A12 Matilda Senior, A12 Matilda Senior (475 pts)

Motorised Battery, Royal Artillery (p.121) - Command Rifle, Staff, Observer Rifle, 15-cwt truck, 2x OQF 18 pdr gun (120 pts)

Air Support (p.129) - Sporadic Hurricane I (25 pts)

1400 Points, 4 Platoons

I was a little leary of leaving out infantry, but all the infantry tanks ought to hold up just fine in assault at this stage of the war. Top 2 means even ATRs are going to do very little and side shots do nothing. I was even considering leaving out arty, but I'm thinking it should be useful for pinning even if I don't need smoke to cover assaults.

From the FOW Forum, comment by JP on the Bulge Compilations thread:

"They are right after the Leopard book and its releases in September along with a couple of new plastic kits for late war."

>" a couple of new plastic kits for late war."

One of them will be (without a doubt) a Tiger 1 in plastic since they're seriously missing one for TANKS...and you can't to a tank based game without the Tiger tank (its like trying a Star Trek-game without any incarnarion of the Enterprise)

Wonder what the plastics are. Most of the vehicles and infantry are covered; we've got plastic US and germans with their halftracks and plastic M4s, Panzer IVs and Panthers. Plastic arty for the yanks and germans maybe, like the soviets got? I can't see them doing scout/armoured cars in plastic. I could see plastic TDs/hellcats, given their somewhat legendary role in the bulge, but I don't know what the germans could get they don't already have.

Ah, shame. PSC already do one and I'm quite happy with those. Tiger IIs, OTOH...

Hopefully, it's M10/M36. A kit was rumored when BF first launched their plastics, but has since disappeared.

It is likely to include the plastic M10/M36 kit as that has been m.i.a. for ages. I'm hopeful for a plastic KT sans zimerit, and a plastic Hetzer. Maybe a Panzer IV J with plastic mesh shüten? Plastic Panzer IV L/70 (V) would be awesome.

I hope for a Tiger I, or at least plastic parts to go with the resin hulls, but it does not fit the Bulge time-frame.

If you're ever looking for an Osprey user, go mention it over in /hwg/ and I'll upload it for you. I have pretty much everything. No need to go trawling through the scam sites!

mediafire.com/download/udtmnl3nmn0rdmb/Osprey - NVA 110 - Universal Carrier 1936–48.pdf

Thanks a lot, wish I had just asked here in the first place. Now to get to reading...

It'd be a shame not to include the M18, it had a sterling reputation and had it's last hurrah as a TD in the bulge.

Subs are on Kiss Animne. have fun with stopping and backing up, though.

oh, i did not know that one tidbit about the tracks. yes, GuP is filled with artistic licence...like all the 'tank rides'

if you play EW, then agree to support companies, you can get all kinds of awesome, like BunkerFlak/Dicker max companies or Polish Tankette Companies.why not Christie Tank Companies w tank riders?

we covered this in a PanzerFunk.

most likely candidates:

Tiger 1
M10/M36
Churchills
Stuarts

just for wide-application use
of course, they made plastic Pershings, so it's not like they stick to the wide-use items

we might get plastic KingTiger/JagdTiger kits....

I though it was pretty great on the whole, though I wish Rosehip and the Crusader had a little more time to shine.

That scene was great.

/a/'s got a thread up with the subbed 1080p version and OVA bundled last I checked, if you're still looking.

Looking through the scans , I don't actually see any terrain scans. I need to make a beach in the next few days for a dday game this weekend. I figured some shaped styrofoam, water effect, and paint? And docs or pdfs? Already Google fu'd but those guides seem really lacking.

While I have this idea, any color pictures of the beaches and French country sides? I can either find b&w pics of the assaults, or colored pics of today where everything is overgrown and faded.

Pic unrelated.

If you want to want to properly download your copy and watch it using your player of choice (or >VLC), it's also up at nyaa.se

There are lots of blogs on this sort of thing, if you search for "wargaming D-Day" you'll find several schools of thought on the subject.

You might also like to look for a magazine called After The Battle, which was published in the 80s and has detailed "walk arounds" of famous battlefields.

Yeah, that's the one linked in the /a/ thread.

Why would Churchills be in the Bulge compilation? It's going to be US and German. KT/JTs seem plausible; they're in an awful lot of LLW books, KTs are in almost every LW book, even.

Well, XXX Corps and the 6th Airborne did fight in the Ardennes, not sure if any Churchills were with the units involved though.

oh, that is just a list of tanks so commonly used a plastic set would be a smart idea.

Honestly we were looking at it from the perspective of the new Tanks game.

What vehicles could they add to that that would also make sense to have plastic kits for in regular Flames of War?

And those were the likely options we thought of.

Problem is that the M18 has a completely different chassi compared to the M10 and M36. And it would seem a bit superflouos to release two US Tank Destroyer plastic kits, especially since there is so much more that people want covered.

>And it would seem a bit superflouos to release two US Tank Destroyer plastic kits
Obligatory reminder that the M10 and M10C were heavily used by the brits.

I mean, you're not wrong and there was technically a tank regiment involved (that is not "armoured") but I feel it's really unlikely they'll include the brits. They didn't in any of the books that're going to be compiled/revised.

And especially with the 17 pdr. One of the better options for Brit mobile anti-big cats.

And in some cases (Churchill lists), the only option.

I may not recall this correctly, but I think the Wolverine also pops up in Soviet Lend-Lease lists?

Not unless it's in a digital list.

I tell a lie; looks like they were in the revised edition.

>like all the 'tank rides'
Tank rides?

>brings out the dad in all of us

oh i know. The ex used to mention that I had the most groan inducing dad jokes she'd ever heard. Saying "well you gotta practice, never know when youll be a parent someday" probably wasnt the smartest answer now that i think about it...

if you watch the film, you will see how they run tanks on over-sized amusement park tracks, and how they in one segment, equip tanks w duck-heads to blend into a theme park. they also scoot down an escalator w a super-light, and they weaponize a few amusement park items and terrain pieces.

what about hetzers? you could make a hetzer with variant vehicles built off the main hull like marders, the tractors, or even just panzer 35/38t's.

Even though the hull was a bit different length on the hetzer, it wouldnt be too noticeable at tabletop scale. Its possible at least and makes sense as a nitch not filled by psc.

The other possible German design would be a pak 40/50 and potentially 38 as well kit, since thats a very widespread german unit and both the open fire and metal ones are a pain in the ass to build.

I'm pretty sure that any PaK 40s you now buy are the plastic PaK 40s.

As for Hetzers/38t's, that is certainly an idea.

PSC do a 38(t) with an option to build a couple of types of Marder, but these are generally the mid-war Marders.

It'd certainly be nice to see something like a "Pz38(t) LW" box, with the option to build Grilles, Marder IIIs, etc, plus possibly Hetzers (and Flammhetzers). Given that a total of nearly 2000 Marder IIIs were produced, it also seems reasonable.

>It'd certainly be nice to see something like a "Pz38(t) LW" box, with the option to build Grilles, Marder IIIs, etc, plus possibly Hetzers (and Flammhetzers)

Such a kit was promised by PSC....nearly three years back. Now they're mostly doing board games, their actual miniature releases have slowed considerably.

Eh; there's probably more money in them. They're also manufacturing a huge range, now.

Do PSC's pz 38t boxes not make marder IIIs? I thought they did.

Also
>mfw the captcha box has a sdkfz251

They make Marder III H, but not Marder III M

...

...

That picture reminded me that I wanted to ask you guys about A-10s in Team Yankee.

Have people used them? Are they better in groups of 2 or 4? Are they worth their points? Or are they too vulnerable to Soviet AA?

My (for now) finished bunch of Type 2 Ka-Mi tanks... I might go back later and re-do some of the unit markings, as I did botch a few of them.

In total, it's 2 company HQ tanks, 1 platoon of 5 tanks and 2 platoons of 4 tanks each. Might get a 4th box of them at some point later on to max out the 2 remaining platoons to 5 tanks each, though that would leave me with 3 tanks I can't fit into the list.

Do things like bazookas and light mortars only have a 5+ save? If so, do command teams upgraded with panzerschrecks also have the 5+ save?

I also just realized that my figures are actually relevant to the current general.

>though that would leave me with 3 tanks I can't fit into the list.
Chop them up and use as scenery/objectives? That's basically the plan I have for Stuarts, since I'd end up with 2 spare from a PSC box of them.

Infantry teams have a 3+ save. Bazookas are infantry team, 3+ save. Command Teams with Panzeraust upgrade are Infantry team, so 3+ save. Panzershrecks are separate team, also infantry teams.

Some light mortars are Infantry Teams (e.g. British 2-inch Mortar, German 5cm), mounted on small bases, and have a 3+ save as infantry.

Other light mortars (e.g. US 60mm, Romanian 60mm, etc.) are Gun Teams, and have a 5+ save unless they are Gone to Ground, then 3+ save, etc.

Right, so it's not "man packed", it's being in the infantry or gun section?

Yes.

The 60mm mortars are "Man Packed Guns", just like HMGs. Infantry team light mortars are listed as such in the arsenals.

I've got an upcoming multiplayer D-Day game, and I've come to a list, but I have some wiggle with my weapons options. I'm looking at either 4 three-inch mortars, 2 machineguns, or 4 four-inch mortars and two three-inch mortars.

The machineguns might be able to hurt some infantry and would serve to pin, while the mortars can pin and smoke but are unlikely to do much hurting. Conversely, my main mortars being 4" gives me somewhat reasonable odds of actually killing some dug-in infantry the 3" don't have, and might hurt tanks (hey, it's technically possible...).

And yeah, the tiny extra platoon is pretty important to get me to 8 overall and I don't care about a small fragile platoon since the landing mission doesn't care about teams killed.

4.2" mortars for killing and smoke. A pair of 3" mortars for dedicate smoke and the odd pin...would be my choice

Good point, the smoke bombardment won't be too badly affected by the small unit size.

If you're doing a beach landing, bear in mind smoke will do nearly fuck all against bunkers. Bunkers ignore the concealment and the gone to ground effect; the only thing smoke would do is reduce the bunker's range to 16". And you need to be within 16" to attack it anyway.

Does anyone know a place where I can get a small number of bren guns and crew for cheap? I'm trying to add some to my Wasps, but am having serious issues finding usable models. The best I've found state-side is a pack of command decision bren carrier crew, but they're only sold in 50-crew lots for $13. International options are more reasonable, until you throw in the $10+ in shipping that makes it more expensive to buy 10 than 50.

Oh, I'm aware, but it might let me get past a bunker, and it'll work fine against infantry and tanks and the like.

A burger is not a sandwich recaptcha.

>A burger is not a sandwich recaptcha.

Technically it is. It's chopmeat, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, and sometimes cheese and bacon, on a roll.

I haven't had the chance to use A-10s yet in any of my games, but I plan to once I have them assembled.

I've played two games where my opponent had 4 of them in his list.

In the first game, he messed up so badly I'd won before he ever got them to appear since he put them in reserve to start the game.
Ambushing a company of T-72s into the flank of a platoon of 4 Abrams can tilt games like that. My opponent had forgotten they can move and still fire at full effect.

In the second game, they were stuck in reserve again, followed by a pair of bad rolls to make them appear.
When they did arrive, he made the mistake of placing them within firing range of a platoon of 4 Shilkas.
Some average to-hit rolls, horrendous saves and great firepower rolls later, three out of the four Warthogs were gone.
After blowing up a single T-72, the last one decided to flee as well.

To be fair, these were some of the worst-case scenarios for using the things.

To be fair, bad dice rolls and poor situational awareness can happen to anyone.

Yeah.
The worst thing about losing the aircraft in that second game is that it was wholly unneeded.

There was plenty of table space outside the reach of the Shilkas but within attack range of those T-72s without granting them concealment.
After all, those AtG missiles have ridiculous range.

My opponent was just a bit too focused on also placing them along the road the tanks were on, probably because it did look really cinematic.

>probably because it did look really cinematic.

It's a temptation of mine as well.

But sometimes you need to think tactically, not cinematically.

that is some glorious bullshit.

Im playing a dday game this weekend, and im using a fortress company of germans. What is my best bet on strategy? Should i bunker and dig in as many MGs as possible and pin the americans on the beach? I dont really have any arty, an oversight on my part.

They'll probably get off the beach eventually. The troops you kill get recycled into new new waves of landing craft.

It's not a question of keeping them on the beach.

It's how do you stop them once they're off the beach?

Kill them once they're off the beach. Every turn they fought and struggled to get off the beach is another turn that they have to repeat that performance in the next wave.

>But sometimes you need to think tactically, not cinematically.

I'm fairly certain you mean most of the time.

As tempting as it might be to shout "Wolverines!" As you attempt to single handedly shoot down a HIND, it's not very realistic. :-P

Shoot down one.

I've got seven more.

And my silly pet project hits v0.2. Now includes expanded rules for Hobart's Funnies, a background and formatting, and some rules for the weird stuff the brits did with the Bofors.

Not included:
>Rules for the Churchill and Matilda CDLs
Only thing hinting they may have even possibly left england is a single passage in a diary mentioning a Churchill with a powerful spotlight. Meanwhile I've got a few sources saying the Grant CDLs both shot and got shot at while helping the americans and brits cross the Rhine.
>A fix for british pioneer platoons
They're just too damn tiny, and I can't come up with anything that isn't illogical. At least the Dragoons rule makes some sense.

If you think something in here is overpowered, is written poorly, or if you have a suggestion for something, please post your thoughts.

The major suggestion I'd give is to make some of these upgrades free. British platoons are already paying a lot for a little.
Also sundry changes to other British Heroes, like giving Robert Henry Cain his PIAT, and make the Forward Air Observer more effective.

>They're just too damn tiny, and I can't come up with anything that isn't illogical. At least the Dragoons rule makes some sense.

I had in mind a sort of universal rule that FoW could use.

Basically
>If a 1iC or 2iC is in command distance of two seperate platoons, a successful skill check may allow the two platoons to be treated as a single platoon for the purposes of moving, shooting, or launching assaults.

25 pounders shouldn't get Brutal, because they already have twice the ROF as most arty.

>Fireflies and Shermans with Tally Ho!
Are you insane? That's an incredible buff to their effectiveness. To the point of being an auto-include.

Their cost per team isn't remarkable one way or the other. Their biggest problem is small platoons. Everything else is froth.

Literally only works with JOE Vandeleur, and currently at a Fifty Point buy in, and only available to Guards Armoured and Guards Lorried Rifles.

So only a few armies get a badly balanced option. I'm not sure if you appreciate just how brutal Tally Ho can be with guns that don't suck.