Incoming - Heavy Mortar Platoon

Fresh off the painting table, a platoon of 4.2" Heavy Mortars complete with command observers and PIAT   team. At this stage I feel like I am getting the hang of painting infantry as I painted these all up ready to base in an afternoon. For my next batch of infantry I must try picking out pouches and webbing in a different colour and getting insignia patches on shoulders.

I must work out a way to capture better detail in the face

The motivation behind the mortars was smoke. However I have now used them twice and yet to fire smoke with them. In terms on offensive power they are not really able to recoup their cost having only take out one 8-Rad. That said the forces they have been fielded against have been fully armored, they should be more effective against infantry and half tracks. In the long run if it turns out that all they do is drop smoke from time to time I will switch them out for their smaller 3" brethren whom cost quite a bit less.

Fighting the Monday Knights

In an effort to get some practice in with my British I have been hunting around for a club with regular Flames of War players. After a little searching I found the Monday Knights Gaming Club with their Melbourne group  not to far from where I live. After organising a game on their forums a couple of weeks ago I went along last night to one of their regular meetings.

Straight off the bat I was very impressed with the friendly and jovial atmosphere. The majority of the club was planing the big final battle of their tank ace campaign but they still took the time to introduce themselves and make me feel welcome. Over the course of the night I managed to get in two games.




The first game was against a German Armored company which included about nine or ten Panzers, a small unit of infantry and limited air support. Despite destroying the majority of Panzers the result was a 4-3 loss as I wasn't fast enough moving on the rear objective and he easily captured it. There was a brief moment where I could have won by breaking his company but I am happy with the massive destruction or German armor.

Sherman tanks surround the Panzers

The second game was also against Germans, this time an Armored SS company including two Panthers, eight Stugs, two 8-Rads and recon infantry. The missing was dust up and my fortune here was that the first turn assault into my infantry by four Stugs resulted in one bogging on the way in, bailing two in the combat and then the last breaking (despite the re-roll for a near by company commander). From there with some fortune and helpful assistance of a my Typhoon I was able to take out the Panthers and just hang onto my objective long enough for the Churchills and Shermans to clean up the battle field. The end result was a 6-1 victory by breaking the German Company.

As closing thoughts I am reconsidering what I include in a list, the heavy mortars while able to provide smoke, spent all their time dropping rounds onto tanks with low success only managing to take out one 8-Rad. Additionally the infantry had a hard time dealing with tanks, the were pretty safe from the shooting but generally unable to effectively return fire. If my purpose for the mortars is only to provide smoke then I may be better off taking the 3" man packed version for 30 points less. Either way I need to invest into some Better Anti-tank defenses perhaps a small unit of 6 pounders.

The Churchill Tank

Background
In the era of Churchill tank British tank doctrine called for three types of armored fighting vehicles. Fast light recon tanks, heaver cruiser tanks and heavily armored and slow Infantry Tanks. The Churchill fit into the third category and as such was one of the heaviest allied tanks. As an Infantry tank it's role was to provide mobile support for advancing infantry just as the earliest tanks back in World War 1 had. It featured wide tracks and a high number of wheels within the tracks, as a result it was able to cross quite treacherous terrain.

 The Churchill saw service across multiple theaters and was adapted to suit multiple alternative roles. These included recovery vehicles, mobile bridges and a platform for a 290mm mortar designed to level fortifications.

Churchill VI Showing Turret Markings

The Models
Several variants of the Churchill tank are available in the Flames of War range. My force will include three Churchill VI. I have chosen a desert colour scheme and included unit markings as well as turret stripes. The turret marks are not historically accurate but the plain turret looked too boring. The colour pattern of red white red is actually the colours for the Royal Armored Corps. When I am able to get some transfers I intend to add more unit markings as well as vehicle names.

Churchill VI Showing Unit Markings and Weathering

I also tried out weathering powders on this model around the tracks as well as around the exhaust vents. You can see some of this in the images however the overall effect is a bit better in person.

Infantry Complete

British Rifle Company

After about four weeks of painting I now have a legally playable force with a HQ and two core platoons. The process of painting them defiantly accelerated towards the end when I had a whole platoon tacked to sticks and I started to build up a nice rhythm. All laid out, like they are above, it does feel like quite an achievement but I am still very excited about the tanks. In fact I have already started and will be posting pictures of my first Churchill Infantry Tank very soon.

First Blood - British vs US

So over the weekend I got my first game of Flames of war at my local club. With a few substitutes I managed to field a 550(ish) point British Rifle list against a US Rifle list. Although I have watched some of the Battle Front training videos my opponent Viv has a few games under his belt was gracious enough to teach me the rules as we went.

British Rifle Platoon Faces off with a US Rifle Platoon

We had a mix of units on the table both fielding infantry and tanks with the US supported by some Mortars. I learnt a few things, firstly that infantry are pretty hard to kill especially when they are holed up in a building or dug in and concealed. Secondly that assaults are devastating and far more effective at getting the infantry out of buildings.

US Rifle Platoon rushes in to assault the British

The verdict? Very positive, I really enjoyed my first game and have found additional motivation to keep working on painting the rest of my infantry so I can get to the fun part, painting the tanks!

The Infantry

My first platoon as well as the Company HQ are now complete and I am quite happy with the results. It is hard to get lots of nice detail into something 15mm high and also tricky to stay within the lines.

Infantry Platoon with Company Command

I tried a few things on the first batches of infantry, most important was whether to base them and then paint them or paint them and then base them.This is especially pertinent considering that a Flames of war base could have five infantry on it and bases require puttying to get them looking nice not just some sand and flock. After attempting both options I have settled with painting them off the base, but with four or five attached to a stick, as it is far to fiddly to paint in among five infantry men.

Full Infantry Platoon with Company HQ

I decided to go with a desert theme as I had initially wanted to do a mid war North Africa list but settled with late war to increase the available player pool. As such my army isn't based upon a real unit or company from North Africa and will probably spend most of its time fighting on Europe themed battle fields.

Step One - The Maths

My first challenge is coming up with a simple list that I can quickly assemble and paint, so for simplicity sake my first army will be based on the generic “V3 Forces” British Rifle Company. This means that I need one Company HQ, two Rifle Platoons and then I can add a variety of support teams such as tanks, weapons teams and artillery. Thankfully last weekend I managed to pick up a second Late War British Rifle Platoon so when combined with what I already own I now have the models to field a legal army.

British PIAT Team in Desert Fatigues - My first completed infantry stand

This totals around 20 stands of infantry and 80 individual men. Initial experimentation has shown I can paint about 5 models an hour plus prep, basing and touch up time so I can expect the infantry to take approximately 16-20 hours to complete. At around 6-7 hours of painting a week I hope to have them done in two to three weeks. With a total time of 12 weeks available this will leave me in good steed to ensure that I can get some support units painted and have time to spare for touch ups, a practice game and the development of a transport system.

So with the mathematics under my belt time to button down and get painting. 

Ben - The Begining

Welcome to the Blog Jared and I plan to create as we battle our way through the process of turning piles of metal and plastic into the parts we need to recreate the battles of World War 2 using the Flames of War game system.

The first Flames of War model I painted a Panzer 38t as a gift for a friend

Why Flames of War
While Jared is a Flames of War player of some experience, I am new to this game system and more importantly new to the 15mm scale used in this game. My previous experience has been with Warhammer 40k/Fantasy, Malifaux, Dystopian Wars and Warmachine and while I still love those games there is something unique about Flames of War. First is the scale, Flames of War allows you to more easily create a large scale battle with multiple tanks and hordes of infantry. Something I hope to be able to do, but perhaps not in this first installment. Additionally Flames of War is based in reality, no lasers, dragons or or armored super soldiers wiping the field. I know for a lot of people reality might make it harder to play or understand Flames of War as stems from real wars where people actually fought and died. However World War two is also History and hopefully by playing this I can learn more about it and in some way I can pay homage to people involved.

The Goal
My goal first goal is facing Jared (and hopefully some other players) over a table with a British force in mid August at Gen Con. This will require a fully painted force (personally I can't stand using unpainted models) and secondly it will require some knowledge of the rules. For me, this blog will primarily be exploring the painting and building aspect however if I am lucky enough to get some games before August it may include some game write ups.


The Plan
Currently I have a very basic understanding of the rules and a pile of models of which one tank and 5 infantry are painted. Each week I will be working on painting some of my models and posting up my progress.