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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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.
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| 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.
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.
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| Shh, I know it's not the Tank Aces badge, but players were grateful to be awarded it any way |
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| 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.
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.
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| 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.
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| 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?).
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.
Thank you very much for reading, and I'll leave you with a few choice pictures from the day.
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