Battle Report: 4/6/2014 Flames Of War Introduction

It has been about 12 years since I have tried to get into the game Flames Of War by Battlefront, and yesterday was the very first time I actually had a 1 on 1 game.  I have always loved the WW2 era and really wanted to get into this game (hence all my models for Bolt Action now).  I bought the original rulebook (version 1) and some US Tank models originally and tried to find some players in Chicago, none of my gaming friend were into the game, so that did not go very far.  A few years later they released version 2 of the rules and of course I went and purchased the rulebook with hopes of playing.  During this time we have moved back to Chicago for a year and my son and I played in a few 'large' games where each only controlled 1-3 tanks.  Never a real 1 on 1 game.  During that time I also added a few Soviet tanks, and completed painting all my US models.  After a year we moved back to Phoenix and never picked it back up.

Now that I am back into gaming (2 year hiatus with other hobbies) and playing/loving Bolt Action, I decided to give Flames Of War another try.  A lot of people ask which game is better, "Bolt Action or Flames Of War", yes they are both WW2 games, but they are completely different games.  Bolt Action is more of a skirmish game and based on platoons, while Flames Of War is more of a Company/Battalion level of a game.  My thought going into yesterdays game was that I would play FOW for larger 'tank battles' and keep Bolt Action for my 'infantry' game (though this Summer, Bolt Action will be releasing a Tank Battles rule book.)

So I reached out to one of my friends (Robert from "Drunken Samurai Painting Blog") and asked if he could teach me an intro game to FOW.  We ended up meeting yesterday at Imperial Outpost Games and Robery brought with him about 1200 points of Mid-War Germans and Americans.  Robert elected to play Germans, and since I already have a US Tank Company, I played the Americans.

Grant it we only played with tanks, but Robert taught me a lot of the rules and now I can go back into the rule book as a reference and know what he was talking about.

The mission we ended up playing was "Hold The Line" (Defensive Battle) and the Germans were the Defenders and the Americans were the Attackers.  I know Robert is an experienced player and could have easily out played me, but somehow the Americans were able to capture and hold the objective and win the game.

In all honestly, I really enjoyed the game and Robert taught me a lot.  "Will I expand my current collection ?" that I am unsure at the moment.  I can see myself playing the game as larger Tank Battles like mentioned above, but with Bolt Action releasing their new rules soon, I may use the 15mm models and play the Bolt Action rules.  My son and I will play another game this weekend (smaller 600 points so we can both get more familiar) and we shall see how we feel about the game.

More than likely I will probably also be playing this game, but keep it to Tanks.  If I want Infantry based, I'll keep playing Bolt Action.

Here are just a few photos of our game.

View of the battlefield from the American side.

View of the battlefield from the German side.

US Shermans destroying the German HQ.

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Bolt Action: Soviet Union 'ZiS-3 76mm Divisional Gun'

Some of my Soviet models have started to trickle in from Warlord Games.  Once I saw I received my ZiS-3 76mm Divisional Gun, I knew I had to quickly assemble it and get it painted so it can hit the tabletop.

The 76mm was the backbone in many ways of the Soviet field guns. Capable of accurate direct fire and also as a howitzer, the 76mm was a classic in design and was universally used by the Russian armies even though the Korean War and beyond.

I cannot wait to see how this weapon does on the battlefield.

Soviet Union: ZiS-3 76mm Divisional Gun

Soviet Union: ZiS-3 76mm Divisional Gun

Painting Points: 3

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Bolt Action: Germany 'Forward Observation Officer - Spotter'

At the same time I was painting my Early War and Late War Officers, I also decided to paint my Forward Observation Officer (FOO).

This is not the 'official' FOO model that Warlord Games has to offer, but just a model I slightly converted to be played as one.  Once I do get the real model, more than likely this model will then be demoted to a Spotter for some of the Gun Teams.

Germany: Forward Observation Officer-Spotter

Germany: Forward Observation Officer-Spotter

Painting Points: 1

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Bolt Action: Germany 'Early War - Late War Officers'

While my oldest son is away in Chicago at AdeptiCon playing with our miniatures, I am at home slaving away painting our miniatures.

Until I assemble the remaining 10 Assault Rifles for the Germany army, all I had left to paint in regards to infantry was an Early War and a Late War Officer / Soldier along with an Forward Observation Officer.

I decided to model the Early War Officer / Soldier with a SMG, and the Late War Officer / Soldier with an Assault Rifle.  Technically I could always interchange them as needed.

Germany: Early War Officer & Soldier

Germany: Early War Officer & Soldier

Germany: Late War Officer & Soldier

Germany: Late War Officer & Soldier

Painting Points: 4

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Bolt Action: Germany 'Heer Grenadier Assault Rifles x6'

Well April is here and it was time to get in some painting for the month.  As I mentioned in my previous posts about my 'Heer Infantry Squads' 1, 2, 3, I was planning on adding some assault rifles to those squads so they can be played as 'Heer Grenadier Squads' for Late War battles.

When I ordered the assault rifles from Warlord, I also added another German Infantry sprue.  As I was assembling the additional models, I noticed that the sprue was for Late War Germans, that was OK with me since these guys were going to be used for Late War anyways.  Once I started the painting the models, something did not look right.  They are actually slight larger than the Early War models.  You can notice in the legs, they look 'chunkier', I guess the Germans ate well in the Late War.

In the picture below, the front 3 models are from the Late War sprue, and the back 3 are still my Early War models.  I think next time I need to expand on this army, I will stick to the Early War models.

Germany: Heer Grenadier Assault Rifles

Germany: Heer Grenadier Assault Rifles

I have 10 additional assault rifles I need to model for my Veteran squads, but I have a Soviet ZiS-3 that is calling my name to be painted.  So we'll see what is next (most likely the ZiS-3).  If I do not get to the ZiS-3 by this weekend, then the German tank will be next.  I like to do my vehicles on the weekends when I have time to setup the airbrush.

Painting Points: 6

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Painting Points: March 2014

What a month in Painting Points for March 2014, in fact it was a record month, 177 points.  Grant it 60 of those points came from making terrain, but hey, that took away time I could have spent painting models.  Plus my other big months in the past involved painting a lot large tanks and less infantry.  The past two months were mainly painting nothing but infantry.

So my son's Bolt Action United States was completed to 1000 points plus some, I added a few units to my Soviet Union army, plus majority of our German army was also completed.

So what is the plan for April.....
Finish the German models that I have.
I have some new Soviet models coming in that will get completed.

After those two items, I do not know yet.....

Total Painting Points for the month: 177

Total Painting Points for the year: 288

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Battle Report: 3/30/2014 X-Wing Introduction

Seeing how this past weekend was my 40th birthday weekend :( I did not get as much modeling in as I wanted too (only assembled 6 assault rifle for Bolt Action), but I did manage to learn the game of X-Wing from Fantasy Flight Games.

My son has been playing this game all last year and this year, and it was one of the best selling games in 2013, so I thought it was finally time to learn the game.  I have always wanted to get involved with this game (since the miniatures are already painted), but time and other hobbies always got in the way.  Since my son has acquired a fairly decent collection of models, is was time to learn.  Plus he will be attending AdeptiCon next weekend and playing in this tournament, so I thought I'd warm him up a bit.

Of course when I get involved in a game, I really need to get involved.  So during the week I ordered us a 3'x3' space gaming mat from Miniature Market and had it delivered 2nd Day, along with the new X-Wing Imperial Aces expansion pack.

Friday night we started with the just the 'starter set' so I can get an idea on how the rules work.  After the intro game, we then moved on to the 100 point game.  My son was running a Rebel list he was originally planning on taking to AdeptiCon:  Luke, Biggs, A-Wing and a Y-Wing (not sure the upgrades he had selected), I ran the following list: Vader (PTL/Assault Missiles), Dark Curse, Kir Kands, Fel's Wrath.  I thought that I would give the new Imperial Aces a try.

Imperial list.

I do not recall all the details or all the moves.... just that the Imperial were able to shoot down Luke Skywalker and the Imperial won the game.

Then on my actual birthday yesterday, we decided to play one more game.  We changed up our lists quite a bit.  My son was now testing a 3 X-Wing/1 Y-Wing list and for myself, on Saturday I went out and got us another starter set with some more Tie-Fighters and I wanted to try the Vader's Escort list: Vader (Squad Leader), Howlrunner (Swarm Tactics), 4x Academy Tie.

Maneuvering a 'swarm list' takes skill, and I realized it is very hard to keep them in formations with using the movement templates.  It was very fun game and twice for myself moving through asteroids destroyed my ships (once being Vader).  My son played a bit better and learned to concentrate fire on a single ship at a time to eliminate them.  In the end it was a one on one between Howlrunner and Luke Skywalker and the Rebels pulled out the victory.

Vader going through an asteroid and losing his last hull point.

Afterwards we once again thought about changing my son's list for AdeptiCon.  It was hard to get him away from using 'Luke', but I said "try it for this 'tournament' and see how it does...... you can always play Luke for fun at home".  So we'll see next weekend how he does.

For myself personally, I'm not sure if I want to do tournaments with this game, I think for me this will be just a pickup game and try to play different ships.... but who knows.............

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Bolt Action: Germany 'Heer Veteran Infantry Squads 1 & 2'

Since there was not much on TV to my liking last night, I was able to get both 5 man 'Heer Veteran Infantry Squads' completed from start to finish.

As I mentioned with the three 'Heer Infantry Squads' I painted this week, these two Veteran Squads will each receive an addition 5 men with assault rifles so they can be use in 'Late War'.  I just need to find the time this weekend to assemble all the assault rifles.  My new ZiS-3 for my Soviet army also came in yesterday, so the weekend may see that model being assembled.

I still have an 'Early War' Officer/Soldier that I can paint for the Germans along with a FOO/Spotter model.  Then the Stug III will get painted (most likely next weekend).

Germany: Heer Veteran Infantry Squad 01

Germany: Heer Veteran Infantry Squad 02

Painting Points: 10

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Bolt Action: Germany 'Heer Infantry Squad 3'

The third 'Heer Infantry Squad' of three are now completed for my German army.  Up next I will be working on my two 5-men Veteran Sqauds, I am hoping to have them completed by Saturday (if not then on Saturday).

Good news for my 'Late War' models, my assault rifles finally came in yesterday from Warlord.  I had originally thought that I ordered 10 assault rifles, it turns out that I actually ordered 20 (better for the Germans).  So now my plan with these are, I will be assembling 2 each for my 'Heer Infantry Squads' so they will then become 'Heer Grenadier Squads' for 'Late War'.  Then I will assemble 10 additional men so I can add 5 each to my 'Veteran Squads'.  Well that still leaves me with 4, I will then make a 'Late War' Officer and Soldier with assault rifles.  This way I can have an 'Early War' and 'Late War' Officers.

It looks to be a pretty busy Spring, I have some more Soviet models coming in, then in late May my son will also be getting some more US models for his army.  Plus wrapping up the Germans.

So my next project after the Germans will more than likely be a Summer project.

Germany: Heer Infantry Squad 03

Germany: Heer Infantry Squad 03

Painting Points: 10

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Bolt Action: Germany 'Heer Infantry Squad 2'

I was able to start/finish the second of third 'Heer Infantry Squads' for my German army last night.  Just like the first squad, these are modeled for 'Early War' (with ability to add assault rifles for 'Late War'.

The plan is to start on squad three tonight with the hopes of finishing them on Thursday night (real work tomorrow night will delay me a day).

Then on Friday night I would like to start on the two 5-men Veteran Squads.  We'll see how much actually gets done.... TV time always gets in the way.

Germany: Heer Infantry Squad 02

Germany: Heer Infantry Squad 02

Painting Points: 10

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