Flames Of War V4 Launch Weekend

Over the Flames Of War V4 Launch Weekend I was pulling a little bit of double duty; hanging with most of the studio team assembling my DAK Panzers, whilst jumping back to the desk every now and then to web content. I thought it would be fun to shoot a little time lapse footage of what I was up to.

Saturday was a lot of fun and whilst it looks like I spent most of the day assembling Panzer III's, it wasn't as time consuming as it appears. 

Sunday was a bit of mess as the website decided to take a little break and all of our content dissapeared due to the quantity of content and massive amount of traffic generated by visitors coming by to check out the event.

The weekend was a blast and I now have (spoilers!) all of my Panzers and SP AT assembled for my Early/Mid War DAK tanks. Just need to get some recon and potentially aircraft or AA.

Hope you enjoy the video.

Mid War Plastics At FlamesCon 2016

Its pretty traditional these days for Battlefront to bring a few rapid prototypes of some of the new plastics we can expect to see over the coming months. This time was no exception and we had a few of the new Mid War plastics we can expect to see on shelves in early 2017.

The models are rapid prototypes based on the CAD data that will go to the toolmakers, assembled and then given a quick coat of primer. They are used to make sure that the model will look right and go together correctly. Much easier than staring at 2D printouts of components.

There were also a few new goodies for the East Germans in Team Yankee. These are traditional metal/resin models and are looking awesome!

 

Ahh, 2017 so many projects for me to start.... will I finish any of them?

See, Want, Must Have Now (SWMHN) Disorder, and Berlin

I thought that I might put up a little public service announcement this week about a serious disease that effects many people, not just miniature gamers. It is known as See, Want, Must Have Now (SWMHN) Disorder.

It involves you seeing something, deciding that you must have it... NOW. In most cases this resolves itself normally and goes away over time, but in a surprising large number of people it takes a turn for the worse where the afflicted person gains a variant of the disorder commonly known as See, Want, Must Have Now, Put In A Box And Do Something With It Later (SWMHN-PIABADSWITL) Disorder. This obviously does not roll off the tongue so easily but is very serious indeed.

After careful research I have found that I am in fact a sufferer of this Disorder and instead of hiding it, I am going to wear it as a badge of honor! How does it effect me? It does it in the most insidious way... it makes me buy figures that I intend on doing something with, but if I am being honest I think I may never get around to actually assembling, painting, or even gaming with!

In all seriousness though, if you see a post tagged with SWMHN it means I want to do this pretty desperately, but if this is the last time you see me excited about it before jumping into something new then don't be surprised!

Take the recent Flames Of War book Berlin. I love this book (of course I may be biased!) and think that it has some really fun flavourful lists. I also think that in the right hands they could be pretty nasty. Today I am going to take a look at my favourite list, and possibly one of the most flexible German lists ever (and thats saying something!).

The Berlin Kampfgruppe Company gives you a choices for your combat platoons, starting off with the traditional Panzergrenadier Platoon in Confident Veteran or Fearless Veteran and with or without halftracks. The Fresh Panzergrenadier Platoon recently brought to the fight as Confident Trained or Fearless Trained, Fallshirmjager Platoons, Volkssturm Platoons (yep and army of those outstanding figures) or my personal favourite, the Hitlerjugend Platoon. Seven Fearless Conscript Panzerfaust infantry teams for 85 points (and they can move and shoot with them unlike traditional 'faust teams). Plus they wear a blue uniform that looks pretty straight forward to paint up and (unlike the Volkssturm) they benefit from the "Enjoy the War" special rule meaning that they will stick around even when pushing to the limit.

Hitlerjugend Panzerfaust team

Once you have your infantry you have a pretty traditional mix of Weapons Platoons, but with the cool exception that you can have Volkssturm versions. Now if I were a better, faster, or more regular painter I would be all over these! For less than 200 points you can have 4 HMGs, 4 mortars and 2 infantry guns. Yeah they are Reluctant Conscripts so you are going to bleed VPs but thats three platoons that look cool, boost your platoon count and won't require much luck to get their points back.

Waffentrager (8.8cm)

Moving up to the Support Platoons you have the usual stuff - Panzer IV, Panther, Tiger 1, King Tiger, StuG and so on. I can field these in plenty of lists so whilst cool they are not what I get immediately drawn to. The Waffentrager (8.8cm) and Bedbug on the other hand really are a piece of me. In World Of Tanks I still haven't made it to one of the Waffletractors yet (so close) but "unlocking" it in Flames Of War is pretty close. Packing a nice long 88 on the back they can take down pretty much anything with ROF 2, AT 16, FP 3+ and the three of them only set you back 315 points. They don't want to move and shoot but whatever is in front of them is in some trouble. 

Kleinpanzer Wanze

The Bedbug (or Kleinpanzer Wanze) is tiny and had a couple of crew, but more importantly  it had a pod of 6 Panzerschrecks. It basically darts out, fires (at for ROF of 3 even when moving!), then runs off and spends a turn reloading. The Panzerschrecks have a normal stat line with AT 11, FP 5+ so they may not be outstanding but a platoon of three vehicles comes in at 65 points making it pretty impressive on a points to weight ratio.

For the rest of the support you have the options you would expect to see in pretty much any Late War German company diagram: 105mm and 150mm artillery, Nebelwerfers, Heavy Mortars and lots of 88's. What makes this a bit different is that amongst the 3 platoons of Luftwaffe Heavy AA Platoons you have a couple of interesting options over and above the traditional 88. There is the 8.8cm FlaK 41 (ROF 2, AT 16, FP 3+ and with a Gun shield) and the 10.5cm FlaK39
(ROF 1, AT 17, FP 2+. Both of which can have extra crew to bump their ROF up by 1 for 10 points per gun. Basically you always find that 10 points because you are missing out if you dont. 

8.8cm FlaK 41

The only downside of these guns is that being crewed by Luftwaffe they are Reluctant Trained so you may not get to use that extra ROF too many times if you get pinned down. 

So don't get pinned down...

So, with all that said what am I planning in putting in my Filemaster storage box labelled Berlin:

1500 points

Berlin Kampfgruppe HQ	60 points
Hitlerjugend Platoon - 3 Squads	85 points
Hitlerjugend Platoon - 3 Squads	85 points
Hitlerjugend Platoon - 3 Squads	85 points
Panzergrenadier Anti-tank Gun Platoon - 3 PaK40 guns	165 points
Tank-hunter Platoon - 3 Waffentrager (8.8cm)	315 points
Bedbug Platoon Platoon - 3 Bedbug	65 points
Volkssturm Platoon - 4 Squads	105 points
Luftwaffe Heavy AA Platoon - 2 8.8cm FlaK 41 (extra crew)	170 points
Luftwaffe Heavy AA Platoon - 2 8.8cm FlaK 41 (extra crew)	170 points
Luftwaffe Heavy AA Platoon - 2 8.8cm FlaK 41 (extra crew)	170 points

With this list I would be very tempted to swap out the PaK40 platoon for some Nebelwerfers or other artillery just to put a bit of smoke in the list to help hide some of my troops. And if you bumped it up to 1750 points I'd keep both the PaK40 and Nebelwerfers and add in some of those Volkssturm platoons I mentioned before. Having 12 platoons can't be a bad thing right?

Is this a meta-defeating, all conquering list? Probably not, but with this much AT lurking around a tank player better not mess up his alpha strike or he will be scraping his Shermans up and putting them in the bin! Plus with some creative basing it would look outstanding!

Next time, Soviet Hero Guards Heavy Tanks!

Volkssturm infantry and a 10.5cm FlaK39

Getting Excited About Panzerschreck 2015

About 12 months ago on the long drive from Palmerston North and Panzerschreck 2014 Phil and I started discussing a possible team up for this years event. It seemed like a match made in heaven, he claims to know the rules well and I bring a level of charm and sophistication…..

What is Panzerschreck?
For those of you that do not know, Panzerschreck is the oldest (and first) Flames Of War Tournament in the world. It is run by the Manawatu Duellists Society, including our own figure sculptor Evan. For the past few years it has been a teams event where you pick a friend (or rules writer in my case) and build a pair of 1000 point armies. You can trade up to 100 points to help with the list building. You also get to play your games on big 8’ x 4’ tables meaning that there is a lot of real estate to cover. Located in sunny but cold Palmerston North it is a quick 7 hour drive down south so the BF boys get together, hire a big van and declare a road trip!

What are we taking?
Phil already had a list lined up with what he wanted to play – an FHH Panzersturmkompanie from Blood, Guts, & Glory – so I started thinking (as we drove home) about what I could take, but by the time I dropped him off I had a basic idea. Phil had no recon, I wanted to paint Pumas… job done, list built!

Phil’s Component: FHH Panzersturmkompanie from Blood, Guts, & Glory (1090 points)
FHH Panzersturmkompanie HQ 60 points
FHH Panzersturm Platoon 190 points
FHH FlaK Platoon (6x Sd Kfz 251/21)  190 points
FHH Panzerjaeger Platoon (3x Panzer IV/70(V)) 305 points
FHH Mortar Platoon (with Stuka zu Fuss) 165 points
FHH Armoured Flame-thrower Platoon (2x Sd Kfz 251/16) 70 points
FHH Cannon Platoon (4x Sd Kfz 251/9) 110 points

Chris’s Component: Panzerspahkompanie from Atlantik Wall (910 points)
Panzerspahkompanie HQ (1x Sdkfz 234/2 Puma) 50 points
Puma Panzerspah Platoon (1x Panzerspah Patrol - 2 Puma) 100 points
Puma Panzerspah Platoon (1x Panzerspah Patrol - 2 Puma) 100 points
Puma Panzerspah Platoon (1x Panzerspah Patrol - 2 Puma) 100 points
Radio-control Tank Platoon (1x Konigstiger (Porshe)) 250 points
Gepanzerte Panzergrenadier Anti-tank Gun Platoon (3x 7.5cm PaK40) 155 points
Anti-tank Gun Platoon (3x 7.5cm PaK40) 155 points

With the lists largely settled on quite early you would have expect that I would have gotten straight into assembling and painting the key components quite early. Regular readers will know that I never assemble or paint anything early! As the months slipped by, we found ourselves a few months out with nothing started. Phil got stuck in and made up for lost time, I….. well let’s say I kept thinking about it!

As the last few weeks ticked by I started contemplating wholesale list changes till my previous team mate (Mike Haycock) offered the use of his Panzerspahkompanie. Normally I hate borrowing figures as it means I don’t get things painted (tournaments are a great incentive to finish off the odd unit or army) but this time I was exceptionally grateful as I knew I had no chance of finishing (or starting) the force.

What’s our plan?
Don’t really have one! I’ve never used Pumas (well not since a few games during the V2 rules playtesting) so I am going to learn on the job. Lurking, sneaking, and avoiding the enemy will be my top priority. The Tiger II with its host of special rules will find a nice hill to sit on and try to avoid moving, whilst the PaKs blaze away at enemy medium armour, and occasionally move up if necessary. Phil’s job is to take care of aircraft, infantry, medium tanks, guns, and anything else that the opposition has! Looks like we have a plan after all…


Post Match Entertainment
One of the biggest reasons for heading to Panzerschreck is the fun during the drive down and the gaming in the evening. Every year we make a brief stop in at the Waiouru Army Museum but this year we have decided to come back a day later (and avoid the 2am Monday morning arrival at home) and come back on Monday, and include a stop in and tour at the Museum. We are also going to take down BSG (Phil loves being a Cylon!) and a few other games to keep us entertained during the long cold evenings…

As you can tell I am pretty excited about the weekend away “with the lads”, pushing some toy soldiers around the table and generally having a bit of a laugh. All Phil and I need to do now is get a few wins to top it all off.

I'm Back... and I've been busy!

I've been a bit slack (I say that a lot) on the blog front over the past few months. Between work, home, hobby time... and some World of Tanks I have found it difficult to get act together.

Hopefully over the next few weeks I am going to get caught up as I have a pile of photos on my camera and a quickly fading memory of what I have been up to over the past few months. But to help jog my memory here is the short version:

• June - The Tauranga Open Warhammer Tournament with my Orcs and Goblins.
• July - Panzerschreck Flames Of War Doubles Tournament in Palmerston North with Jagdtigers and friends.
• August - no tournament but a lot of painting for a web Dust Battle Report (my intro, part 1, part 2).
• September - Lords of Ruin Warmachine Tournament in Wellington with pMorvahna.
• September - Wayne-Con - the Battlefront Staff Early War Tournament and my French infantry.
• October - FlamesCon (okay so this one has not been yet but I am painting for it...).
• And... we have been playing quite a bit of X-Wing at lunch recently.

First up will be the Tauranga Open and my first Warhammer game in probably five years, but in the meantime here are a few photos from the past couple of months...

Tauranga Open - high tables, no post event sore back!

Stopping at the Army Museum on the way to Panzerschreck

Road tripping in the big van to Palmerston North

Sean Lincoln (Lords Of Ruin organiser) and some seriously cool trophies!

Work in progress Somua tanks for FlamesCon

Jagdtigers: the biggest of all the cats!

I’ve been thinking a lot about Jagdtigers over the past few months thanks to the development work on Nuts and Bridge At Remagen and have been quietly putting aside figures to paint up as I play around with some list options. I’ve written an article on the Flames Of War site that talks about some of the various strengths of Carrius’ 512. Schwere Panzerjagerkompanie as I see it so I won’t revisit too much, other than to talk about some of the options that I am either painting up currently, or have put aside to work on as time permits!

Carrius and the Jagdtigers
I’ve painted up six Jagdtigers and although I still have a little finishing work to do - Carrius’ tank needs to have the extra crew figures added to help him stand out on the table top, and I might add some foliage to the tanks – but they are all ready for the battlefield. My thoughts for doing six were simple…. Flexibility! I can run four tanks as a support platoon, I can play a big game

where I put 1605 points of Jagdtigers, or I can run a smaller company with plenty of support. Carrius will generally be taking to the role of “super cool Company Commander model”, rather than being the Carrius himself, but if I have the points I think he is an easy choice to include.

Weapons Platoons
Whilst I have not gotten around to assembling my Wirbelwinds or Ostwinds, they are definitely on the plan somewhere! After all every Late War list these days has them in some shape or form so painting them just makes sense. Plus I’ve used Sd Kfz 7/1 AA vehicles in the past as aggressive infantry hunters and assuming the enemies AT is busy they are great value. I really like the idea of the Panzer Scout Platoon as that gives you a pile of machine-guns to mow down infantry, then combine a smoke bombardment from some Nebelwerfers and you can probably get off an Assault with their Mounted Assault rules.

Armoured Support 
In the short term I am planning on running my Jagdtigers as the Reluctant Trained 2. Kompanie so I won’t need to paint any StuGs or Panzer IV Js, and I have some Tigers from my Panzer Ausbildungs Abteilung 500 that I can use, should I feel like adding them.

Infantry Support
I think you are setting yourself up for disaster by not running some infantry with the big cats. At Panzerschreck 2014 (more on this in a later post) I had 3 platoons of infantry supporting and

screening my Jagdtigers and they were great. A single platoon can effectively deny enemy tanks the ability to easily get around your flanks and given that this is the only way they are going to kill you it seems like common sense to stop them. I have my Panzer Ausbildungs Abteilung 500 infantry that will work nicely as either Panzergrenadiers (just need to paint up some plastic 251s) or Volksgrenadiers. I love the new Volkssturm infantry, I just need to come up with a cunning plan to get a platoon painted (and convince Mike that we need a “Volkssturm Kompanie”).

Artillery Support

I’ve painted up my Nebelwerfer platoon as that was all I could fit in my Panzerschreck army – plus no one ever regretted having a battery of 15cm Nebels. I did run a little short on time so I only have the first 3 launchers finished but I definitely think it is worth making the time to finish the entire Battery. My plan is to also paint up the 30cm Nebelwerfers as well because I think they are just so cool! I was thinking about making them appear as though they are about to fire so not having many crew on the base – it will also make them quick to do! Not sure that the Trained rating makes them worth it in game terms, but I come back to their coolness and the fact that if you fail your save… bye bye!

The other options that I have stashed aside to paint are the PaK40s and 15cm guns. Not sure which to work on first as they are competing with the Nebelwerfers in terms of what you can field in the army. Either way though they are good support options for almost any army and I’ve found that if you are outnumbered by enemy tanks, or if they are Veteran (and you are therefore likely to miss) you can find yourself swarmed and they are both add to your direct fire capabilities.

Anti-Aircraft Support 
Once again I am heading back to my Panzer Ausbildungs Abteilung 500 to leverage some already painted troops and using the 3.7cm FlaK. I’ve already painted up a battery of three guns and plan to do another three as their extra range and AT wins out over the higher ROF of

the Quad 2cm. I’m not planning on doing any 88s in the near future, but it is on my “must do some time plan” – after all you cannot go wrong with some 88s in Late War! Plus I really want to do a Kampfgruppe von Swoboda at some point and you need many many many 88s for that!

The lists!These are the lists that I am currently playing around with.

945 points – Panzerschreck 2014 (my teams partner "borrowed"the extra 55 points)

512. Schwere Panzerjagerkompanie HQ
Jagdtiger	x1	270 points
512. Schwere Panzerjager Platoons
Jagdtiger	x1	270 points
Jagdtiger	x1	270 points
Volks Rocket Launcher Battery
15cm NW41 Launchers	x3	70 points
Light Anti-aircraft Gun Battery
3.7cm FlaK43	x3	65 points

1500 points

512. Schwere Panzerjagerkompanie HQ
Jagdtiger	x1	270 points
512. Schwere Panzerjager Platoons
Jagdtiger	x1	270 points
Jagdtiger	x1	270 points
512. Panzer Anti-aircraft Platoon
Wirbelwind	x4	150 points
Volksgrenadier Platoon (Reluctant Trained)
Full strength with Panzerschreck team		180 points
Volks Light Artillery Battery (Reluctant Veteran)
7.5cm FK40 (PaK40) guns	x6	295 points
Light Anti-aircraft Gun Battery
3.7cm FlaK43	x3	65 points

1750 points

512. Schwere Panzerjagerkompanie HQ
Jagdtiger	x1	270 points
512. Schwere Panzerjager Platoons
Jagdtiger	x2	535 points
Jagdtiger	x1	270 points
512. Panzer Anti-aircraft Platoon
Wirbelwind	x3	110 points
Volkssturm Platoon
Full strength		105 points
Volksgrenadier Platoon (Reluctant Trained)
Full strength with Panzerschreck team		180 points
Volks Rocket Launcher Battery
15cm NW41 Launchers	x6	135 points
Light Anti-aircraft Gun Battery
3.7cm FlaK43	x3	125 points

Hopefully you can see you are not short of options even though your Jagdtigers can take up quite a few points. It really is just a case of picking some lists and giving them a go!

Otto Carrius and his Jagdtiger Company

For a quick update I thought I would post the army that I took to Panzerschreck with Mike Haycock, along with the few extra bits and pieces I've painted up for the 512. Schwere Panzerjagerkompanie that I have been working on. I'll have a full event report (of sorts) up over the weekend but hopefully this will suffice for now.

The Panzerchreck 2014 Army

Carrius in his Jagdtiger (left) along with the 2iC. I still need to paint up some extra crew for Carrius' vehicle...

First Platoon of Jagdtigers

Second Platoon of Jagdtigers

15cm Nebelwerfer Battery

Nebelwerfer Command and OP team

Close up of one of the Nebelwerfers

Battlecry 2014 Photo Dump

I've given up writing some sort of event report from Battlecry as time seems like it is flying by! Instead here are some brief notes, and some photos - sadly I was very slack with my in-game shots...
The list:  
HQ Platoon
1 Tiger I E

Combat Platoons
Schwere Panzer Ausbildungs Platoons
2 Tiger I E
2 Tiger I E
2 Konigstiger (Porshe) 

Leichte Panzer Ausbildungs Platoon
4 Panzer III N

Weapons Platoons
Panzergrenadier Ausbildungs Platoons
3 Grenadier Squads with 6 Pioneer MG teams

Support Platoons
Luftwaffe Light Anti-aircraft Gun Platoon
3 3.7cm FlaK43

Round 1 vs Lance (British Commandos). I spread my forces to avoid the NFGS whilst I waited for reserves. Luckily Lance got a little keen with his Archilles and I knocked them out early.

My Panzer IIIs spent the game dodging 6"shells and shooting up infantry, at the far end of the table my Tigers, King Tigers, and 37mm AA fought hard to keep the objective safe. In the end the Pz IIIs took the centre objective and I won

Round 2 vs Steven (Soviet 76mm horde). Steven and I had been discussing this match up at work, thinking that he would need the right mission to have a chance... turns out he got it. With half of our armies in reserve and mine turning up at the far end of the table he was able to jump them and easily knock them out one at a time. At the near end my infantry found themselves assaulted by another T-34 tank company and were quickly knocked out... a 1-6 loss

Part of Stevens horde on the starting line!

Round 3 vs Rob T (PAA500... with an extra King Tiger, but no Panzer IIIs). Rob and I had a bit of a mirror match, from lists through deployment. Unfortunately his extra King Tiger meant he had a leg up and I had to attack.... and that ended badly! I pushed on both flanks but lost things early, my King Tigers rescued some honor though by taking out his 37mm tucked behind the treeline by the river!

Round 4 vs Tony (Hero Motor Strelk). Tony and I are old mates and I knew he had a few tricks up his sleeve. I deployed hard on one flank knowing I would have to attack up the length of the table. I hide my infantry and 37mm AA inside forests to stop him picking up easy kills

Advancing up the table, slowing grinding my way (one infantry company down)

Tigers in trouble... luckily I diced my way out of that one! I eventually managed to knock out enough of Tony's infantry that I freed up some terrain to move around, allowing me to pick off some of his units piecemeal, resulting in a drawn out win.

Round 5 vs Rob S (PAA500...same list as the other Rob). Last game, another half on, half off mission... and lots of objectives to defend. Rob and I danced around a little, trying to minimise and maximise (depending on perspective) the effects of the 3rd King Tiger. In the end Rob got Tigers near one objective, and infantry on the other but I managed to hold him off (I even employed a dirty trick Tony taught me about making tanks flee off table in an assault) whilst my Panzer IIIs snuck down the near flank and took out his AA, resulting in Rob's company breaking.

Super cool Lego Star Wars!

 

In the end I came in the top half with three wins, but 2 solid losses. Really happy with how the list came together and found it to be really fun to run. Not sure if I would change anything to be honest... In a 1750 point event I would definitely upgrade the Pioneers to MG Panzerfaust teams, and try to fit in a 2iC to give the list a little more flexibility!