Major Fawlkes' Flames of War Blog: November 2014

A new home for Flames of War tournaments in Scotland

Another early morning this week, but this time we're not going as far as last time. We're off to the fantastic venue of Common Ground Games in Stirling. Readers who have been for a little while will remember the couple of prior visits we've had to CGG. We've always been made to feel the most welcome you can be, and never had a bad experience.

The owner and proprietor, Steve Fettes, was kind enough to offer the Flames of War tournament scene a home after it was announced that Worlds at War, our previous home for many a year, was closing and would not be hosting the tournaments any more.

Out with the old in with the old?

For our first tournament we decided the old mantra of; 'If it isn't broke, don't fix it' was suitably apt. We decided the usual 1750pts, Late War Era was a good jumping off point with the scope to try other eras and points value in the future.

A ten a.m. start time seemed to suit most, and the 15th of November, the week after Targe was chosen to be the day. And of course, at ten in the morning yesterday, we got going with our first Flames of War tournament at our new home.

Forces, Lists and the like

Six brave players signed up to the tournament, and what follows is their list choices and a couple of pictures of some of their forces. Some declined for the reason of unfinished painting. First up, the Allies:

What's better than Chaffees? Reluctant Chaffees!

First up is Norman MacLean, and his Reluctant Veteran Light Tank Company from Bridge at Remagen. A dozen little Chaffees, and some Sherman support.

Motostrelkovy, a more pronounceable Soviet force for once

Next up is Greg Fyfe's Motostrelkovy from Desperate Measures. Combining SU-100s, IS-2s and a smattering of T-34s as an armoured arm of some Confident Trained Soviet infantry.

Lastly for the allies is Alistair Grant, who was fielding a Tankovy Batalon from Desperate Measures. A lot of tanks in the form of 76's, 85's, ISU-152s and a trio of SU-85Ms. Due to not being painted, Alistair declined a force photo.

And now for the Axis. Theee German forcesof varying composition and skill.

Many, many Panzers, and a very nicely painted force

First for the Axis forces is Chris Walsh, a regular at Common Ground Games, fielding a Hermann Goering Panzerkompanie from Fortress Italy, with StuH 42's in support, and the only player to field an aircraft. Almost everyone else fielded AA.

Second player for the Axis was Laurence Kettle, fielding Feldherrnhalle Reluctant Trained Panthers from the Blood, Guts & Glory book. I didn't manage to snap his force fully, but a few pictures later on should showcase his lovely Cats.

And lastly, Robert McLennan, a first-time tournament player coming along to be broken into the scene. He fielded a standard Grenadierkompanie from the V3 forces book, but given the simplicity of his force, he did rather well as you will soon see.

Round One, No Retreat

Since we had a perfect balance of Axis to Allied players, we also set a Red vs Blue competition in addition to the usual overall winner.

First mission rolled was No Retreat, and the match-ups made.

Norman's Light Tanks faced Chris' Panzerkompanie on Table 1
Greg's Motostrelkovy was to be Robert's first tournament opponent on Table 2
Alistair's Tankovy would be assaulting Laurence's Reluctant Panthers

The players set up for Round One

Unfortunately for newcomer Robert, Greg was unforgiving, rolling over his defences in the first few turns. Robert's set up lacking Anti-tank support, which against a force containing IS-2s and T-34s was a bad move. Which, more disappointingly for Robert would have been a bit more wary of advancing if he'd started his Tigers on the table. So a very quick victory for the Allies there.

Norman and Chris had a closer game, with Chris' air support managing to knock out two of his Sherman 76s in the first turn. But, he was unable to capitalise, as Norman's reinforcements brought on an entire platoon of the up-gunned tanks, and soon the Panzer-wave was brought to a halt, short of the objectives.

One by one the Panzers and the StuH's burst into flames, unable to push the little Chaffees off the objective

With the allies two games up, it fell to Laurence to salvage some pride for the Axis in the first round. Alistair's tank rush and encirclement tactic didn't quite pay off, and soon the table was covered in smouldering wrecks of burnt-out T-34s. But not before Alistair knocked off a few platoons,

Results from Round One:

Norman 5 - 2 Chris
Greg 6 - 1 Robert
Alistair 3 - 4 Laurence
Allies 14 - 7 Axis

Lunchtime!

We broke for lunch after the first game, and many of us opted for the 'famous' Double-pig toastie from Common Ground's kitchen. Bacon, Cheese and Ham. A filling meal that hit the spot as we all chatted about the nonsense that went down in the first turn. The 'what-ifs' and 'should-haves' out the way, we rolled up the next mission.

Round Two, Dust Up (groans ensue)

There was a bit of an audible groan as Dust Up was rolled to be the second mission. It's not that people dislike the mission, it just tends to go either really well, or really badly for those involved, and that was the case as you will soon see.

Greg was drawn against Laurence
Alistair faced Chris
Norman took on newcomer Robert

Greg measures out deployment facing down Laurence's beautiful Panthers

The thing about Dust Up, is the delayed reserves can very quickly put you in a very bad position. All it takes is for a few turns of not getting any and your opponent can roll right over you. Which is what Alistair discovered as his game with Chris was finished before reserves were rolled for. The Panzers rolling into the best positions over the burning husks of T-34s.

On table three, Norman and Robert were squaring off, the Tigers this time starting on the table, and giving the little Chaffees something to think about. across the middle line, Robert had set his PaK 40s too, meaning Norman's reinforcements would have to scoot as fast as they could right across the German lines to safety. Thankfully, the powerful engine of the Chaffees allowed this, but had they been anything else, a nasty surprise in the form of a 7.5cm shell would have followed. Eventually, the players decided that neither could take an opposing objective, and the game ended a draw, with Robert destroying more platooons to take the game 3-2.

The M4A3's find themselves in a bad spot as the Tigers range in

Greg and Laurence were still at it when time was called. However, with Greg having gone first, it was down to Laurence to grab an objective and force the win. Which was done in expert style. Greg's tank hunters were picked off by Panthers, and his dug in infantry in a forest pinned and assaulted, clearing his force off both objectives in a single turn, and leaving him far beyond even contesting one of them to prolong the game. The most galling part, was that he didn't even manage to take a platoon.

A resounding round for the Axis, with the Allies taking a beating on all three tables.

Greg's IS feels the wrath of a Panther barrage in the little town

Results from Round One:

Greg 1 - 6 Laurence
Alistair 1 - 6 Chris
Norman 2 - 3 Robert
Allies 4 - 15 Axis

Current Red / Blue standing: Allies: 18 - 22 Axis

Round Three, Breakthrough

Less moans about this one being rolled, but still a bit of trepidation with the defended spread thinly across the diagonal of the table and the attacker coming right at them. I don't know how we managed it, but every player played on each table once. And so, the final games came down to;

Norman's Light Tanks faced the hulks of Laurence's Panthers
Alistair took on Robert for the battle of last place
Greg was against Chris, T-34 on Panzer IV

Norman's Chaffees decide that surviving is better than a blaze of glory

The games were a lot closer in the last round, with no-one really being soundly beaten as in previous rounds. First game to finish up was Greg and Chris, with Greg's dice-luck costing him the game. A few bad early losses from his T-34s and his infantry giving him a bit of a challenge mid-game. Finally though, it came down to not being able to knock out a Panzer with an SU-100 shot. The firepower test coming up short, meaning that the game ended a 5-2 instead of a 3-4.

Robert and Alistair finished up next, with the first move of the game on Alistair's turn being an incredibly bad one. Trying to assault two 88's, with additional crew, without pinning them down first led to his assault faltering, and the follow up from the 88's spelling the end of the T-34 85 company. The game flowed back and forth for a while, with Robert's Tigers picking at the Assault Guns in the village, before finally getting the better of them. But alas, it wasn't enough as an objective was left open for the Soviets to roll onto to steal the game after a last ditch assault from the Grenadiers on some T-34s failed.

Who won this face-off? The Tigers, eventually

Finally, it was down to Laurence and Norman on the middle table. The Panthers had been picked apart slowly by fire from the 76s and the Easy Eights. It came down to the last turn. Laurence was on an objective, which would have gone live at the start of his next turn, winning him the game. However, the choice of Reluctant and Trained proved to be the deciding factor in the battle, as in Norman's turn, platoon after platoon was picked off, but only just, and finally a Company morale check was forced, with the 2iC not being able to hold the company together, the Germans quit the field, leaving the Objectives.

The Panthers advance on the Chaffees hiding in 'Not-La-Haye-Sainte'

And so the last round ended thus:

Norman 6 - 1 Laurence
Alistair 4 - 3 Robert
Greg 2 - 5 Chris
Allies 12 - 9 Axis

The end, the results

So, after three thrilling rounds of games,we had our final standings and of course our result for the Red / Blue face-offs.

Norman Maclean - 13pts*
Chris Walsh - 13pts*
Laurence Kettle - 11pts
Greg Fyfe - 9pts
Alistair Grant - 8pts
Robert McLennan - 7pts

* - Norman wins by virtue of beating Chris in their head-to-head game

And of course the final result for Allies vs Axis

Allies - 30pts
Axis - 31pts

The Axis tip it by a point overall, mainly due to their round two results.

Common Ground Games

I'd like to thank all the players for coming out and making this first tournament a success. But, I would like to offer special thanks to Steve at Common Ground for giving us a new home when we needed one, and for his wonderful hospitality. We will definitely be back for more tournaments in the not-to-distant future.

I can only say good things about Common Ground, they are a fantastic gaming venue, supporting a variety of systems, and with good transport links from anywhere in Scotland and the North of England, they're well worth checking out.

Find Common Ground Games on Facebook!

That's all for now guys, but stay tuned because in December, we have Mechanised Aces coming up, and I hear tell of another of the Hoff's relatives will be taking charge of a certain German army.

I'll leave you with some of the other images from the day:

Off to Kirriemuir in Angus

At quarter to six on a dreary Scottish Saturday morning, I pulled myself out of bed and dressed to meet up with my good friend Gordon. We were off to run a participation table at Targe. Targe is the Wargames Show for the Kirriemuir Wargames Society on the East Coast of Scotland, near the town of Forfar. It was a two hour drive, but thankfully as we set out from our rendezvous point, the weather cleared and the journey up was rather quite pleasant.

Two hours of lovely Scottish countryside between us and our destination

Two hours later, and we were there at Webster's High School in Kirriemuir, the venue for the day. It was already bustling with other clubs and traders ready to start their day.

Of course the day couldn't start without a bacon roll and a cup of coffee.

Flames of Tanks

Flames of Tanks is becoming one of my favourite little mini-games to play using the Flames of War rules and Battlefront miniatures. Quick, easy and so much fun to play, it's based off the highly successful free-to-play online game 'World of Tanks'. The difference is that the rules have been simplified, everyone starts with the same statistics block and the only difference is the class of tank you have. Light tanks are faster, but can't carry as many upgrades, while the Heavy tanks are slowest, but can be upgraded the most. And of course, the middle ground is the medium tanks that go the usual 12" a turn, and can carry the middling amount of upgrades.

The rules for the game can be found on the Flames of War website, via the link below.

Flames of Tanks (right-click and select 'save as')

Flames of Tanks can be played with as few as one tank a side, or as many as ten players!

Grudge Matches abound!

Throughout the day, we had just over a dozen participants in our games of Flames of Tanks. Table size limiting the amount of players we could have at the same time. The majority of matches were brother against brother, or father against son, and a few friend versus friend. Making the games a little more personal add to the excitement as you try to outwit your closest friends, or take great pride in seeing your brother's tank go up in flames.

Our first game of the day was two friend facing off against each other, with another player and Gordon taking a side to even the numbers up.

The table was set up simply, with a central focal point, and plenty of scenery for tanks to hide behind

The picture above shows them in action, with the Axis side electing to take a Panzer IV and a Toldi II light tank. On the other side you can see the plastic T-34 and the Sherman V from the Open Fire set being put to good use by the Allies. The Toldi commander was brave, reckless but had the luck of the Gods on his side as he drove his little tank around, firing off shots at the larger, more intimidating opponents. With each kill, players receive upgrades to their tanks; these can be +AT, + Armour, +Range or an augmentation to give them a special ability such as Stormtroopers or the equivalent of Indirect Fire, called Advanced Optics.

After much to-ing and fro-ing, the Axis came out on top, and the Ace badge awarded to the Toldi commander for managing to knock out both enemy tanks in the last turn of the game. The 'extra man' was Andy, who had been looking at the Open Fire set, but undecided on it, and by the praise he was giving the game at the end, I'm sure he's now going to go invest in a set, and that'll be the first step into Flames of War for him.

Shh, I know it's not the Tank Aces badge, but players were grateful to be awarded it any way

Daniel's tank served him well, winning him the match and an Ace badge

One of the most fun games we had all day was a grudge match between two brothers; Matthew and Daniel. The latter had just bought a toy tank from one of the stalls in the hall and wanted to use it. And who was I to stop him?
Overseen by their father, the two took to the game with great enthusiasm, with friendly taunting from both sides, drama, emotion and the dice doing what dice do (i.e. not rolling the numbers you want them to), the two fought a very close battle over the middle of the table, with kills being exchanged and the objective changing hands a few times until finally Daniel emerged the winner by holding the objective for a count of six.

Daniel (in the GAP hoody) taking his victory with poise and grace... of course not. And a rare picture of yours truly.

The final match of note for the day was between the two brothers Angus and Sam, who have always visited on G3's games whenever we tour the shows, much like Daniel and Matthew in the previous match. The two went through by far the most brutal slog of the day, with neither really managing to get ground on the objective until Sam's dice luck started to fail him. Below is a picture of the main objective after a couple of turns, just to show you how devastating the fire was in the first few exchanges.

In the middle of the wreckage, a tiny FT-17, that almost knocked out the mighty Panther

With the middle of the table filled with burning tanks, and both players running low on replacements, it came down to ticking up points on the objective. And with Angus sneaking it by 6-5, he secured himself the victory and an Ace badge.

A final few words and pictures

Flames of Tanks is a fun little game that can be set up and played in half an hour, if you're burnt out from full games, or if you're just wanting a little something to fill some time, and I can think of nothing better.
In the run-up to this event, I've added some strange tanks to my collection, with some from Armies I don't even collect, but it has given me a chance to try out some painting techniques and have a go at some camouflage schemes that are a little different (The odd green, tan and brown of the French?).

Stay tuned because next month, I'm starting up another Aces campaign to continue on from the popular Tank and Infantry ones run in the past. This time it's Mechanised Aces, and the players are getting their half-tacks all spruced up in preparation. What will I take? I'm actually looking at armoured cars, just for a little variety.
Thank you very much for reading, and I'll leave you with a few choice pictures from the day.