Flames of War Battle Report - How to play intro Battle

[@onomatopoeia7505]

John and Jake (and all of your guests of course), you deserve a special recognition from the wargaming community for doing what you do. The videos you make are honest, wholesome and informative, and it's always good fun to watch. Great stuff guys, keep it up!

[@onomatopoeia7505]

Having said that, I do have some feedback regarding this video. As you present it as a video following your 'How to play'-videos, I expected more of a step-by-step battlereport. For example, when you shoot, show the stat line for the gun, the target, and the calculation involved in finding out what you need to roll. Now it's "just" a good battlereport, and not one specifically for explaining the rules.

[@AllMiniaturesGreatandSmall]

Thanks for the comment! We really appreciate it!

[@AllMiniaturesGreatandSmall]

We are always trying to improve our gameplay and content and we always appreciate your comments and suggestions on making things better!

[@steveredstone1487]

Crap

[@johntowers7813]

Watching this while painting 100pt of German DDay forces. Thanks for doing this for a new player to an "older" game!

[@AllMiniaturesGreatandSmall]

Thanks and my pleasure!

[@zachnar0125]

Glad to see you guys still doing this. Yes I know its two years old.

[@mouser98k]

Regarding the Blitz Move order, Lessons from the Front (LFTF) says "once it has finished its (Blitz) movement, it no longer counts as having moved" then, later in LFTF it says, regarding the Stormtrooper special rule, "You cannot Dig In if you’ve moved in any form, including using a Blitz Move order." So, once a unit finishes a blitz movement, it no longer counts as having moved, EXCEPT AND UNLESS the unit is a German unit with the Stormtrooper special rule that wants to Dig In, then it does count as having moved. Yeah makes sense... no.

[@AllMiniaturesGreatandSmall]

Thanks for the clarification. Learn something new every game!

[@mouser98k]

@@AllMiniaturesGreatandSmall Agreed. For example I didn't know that everyone within 8 inches of the assaulting unit could participate in the counterattack and that you only rolled one die for all the counterattacking units, comparing it to their counterattack or motivation ratings individually.

[@AllMiniaturesGreatandSmall]

@@mouser98k It's interesting how it works, while technically the assault "Bubble" is 8" you can only move if you can reach a target and get into base contact, so typically only those within 4" will have the chance to move and fight.

[@Raylorn]

Being a complete wonky person I have started with this one in your series. I will have to watch them in reverse.

[@WGB_Boardgamebros]

This is really helpful! Thanks for the tutorials!

[@Careoran]

well deserved victory, I won't spoil anything else ;)

[@randyp9954]

Great game and explanations!

[@marcela8769]

40:00 I believe the US paras are not pinned down because of participating in the platoon. Just the unit that broke off (either because of losing the combat or deciding to break off after a successful counterattack roll) is pinned down. You just conducted a consolidating move with the paratroopers allowing 4 inches movement in any direction with no need to pin them.

[@jlozano2615]

What a grind! Thanks for the intro battle!

[@PUBHEAD1]

Learned a lot from this. Thanks gents

[@ianfwhite7573]

I'm a bit late to the series, but will binge watch them. I see Jake looks at his phone for his unit stats. Is he referring to a PDF, website, unit builder, or a personal document/spreadsheet? Something like that would help me out immensely due to my poor eyesight (can zoom in on phone/iPad.) Cheers, Ian.

[@AllMiniaturesGreatandSmall]

Until Jake chimes in I think he was using Battlescribe list builder.

[@daveb8665]

Got hit the beach last weekend, after being introduced to it last friday. really enjoyed FoW, so sny advice on what units or boxed set to look at or army book whatever theyre called? Is there a new book incoming etc. If i get an early war is it compatable to late war? Or is it an issue. Tia

[@randyp9954]

Liked the intro theme to video

[@WARdROBEPlaysWWII]

Great report, nice and clear.

[@Oblomovrising]

Yes baby !

[@Snickersvandale]

You guys remember the little booklet called Das Book? Any idea if Battle Front is going to release another version? I guess not since they switched to the unit cards.

[@Dancagallifan]

I thought the mortar in the small parachute platoon did not have artillery template, and is only an indirect fire platform

[@e-4airman124]

thank you

[@DeathlySilent92]

Great battle report! Just curious - in V4, did they remove the 'Tank Terror' morale test for assault tanks? If they did, I have been playing a hybrid V3.5 ruleset for some time haha

[@AllMiniaturesGreatandSmall]

There is no Tank Terror in V4 you can always launch the assault without a test, however you do need to test to counter attack even if you didn't take any losses. So very different from V3.

[@DeathlySilent92]

@@AllMiniaturesGreatandSmall Wow, I've been playing incorrectly for some time now! Thanks for the information - cheers!

[@doubleseven5006]

I know this video is old, but at arpund 36 minutes when the americans go for assualt doesnt the rule say cover, concealment, bullet proof cover and so forth doesnt count? If so then the infantry should be hit on 4+ not 5+ correct?

[@ferdinandstrau3513]

Great Video, maybe you could tell me what laser that is?

[@AllMiniaturesGreatandSmall]

I think it's from Army Painter, but I can't remember, picked it up a while ago.

[@stevipedia]

In the beginning of the battle during the first turn, when the Sherman 76 fired at the Pak40, its 6 to hit should have been a 7 due to the "No HE" rule since the target is a gun team (not a tank). Someone please correct me if I am wrong. Otherwise, excellent video!

[@onomatopoeia7505]

You're not wrong. The basic to hit was 4+, and gets a +1 for long range, +1 for concealment, and +1 for No HE.

[@kev_mclernon_family_channe4745]

Is the gun shield a +1? Or is that the concealment? If always needing normal range for a 6, makes them a smart choice.

[@onomatopoeia7505]

@@kev_mclernon_family_channe4745 The gun shield gives the gun team a 3+ save against all shots coming from the front (this can differ for other units with gun shields, like the Flak 88s, which have a 4+ shield save). When you're dig in, you get a 3+ save no matter what facing the shots come from. But being dug in also gives you concealment, no matter what terrain you're in.

[@ScottKraft]

I used to play a game called Command Decision. We would play with a referee. A lot of our games we would play with hidden movement/units (Each side had a gridded map and would confer with the ref for moving and spotting), pieces wouldn't be on the board until they were spotted or encountered each other, this made reconnaissance units an important aspect of the game. Is there anything like that in Flames of War?

[@AllMiniaturesGreatandSmall]

Not really, I've seen Command Decision played a few times and it looked interesting but I feel is different kind of game. FOW streamlines everything for a fast paced game that takes 2-3 hours to play. Recon can be helpful via spearhead rule, etc but the only real hidden "movement" would be the ambush mechanic.

[@marcela8769]

57:50 would yoo not need to pass a motivation test to make „Follow Me“ work? You passed the cross check, though, but I believe forgot the motivation test for Follow Me?

[@digaum]

Just some constructive feedback : you guys really, really should start using dice trays to roll your dice. You're constantly bumping and moving the terrain and even some minis due to dice being rolled over the table. It may not seem like much, but when you're playing at this scale, any inch makes a difference. Cheers.

[@onomatopoeia7505]

The first time Jake gets defensive fire, why did he only roll for three bases? It looked like a lot more were in range and with line of sight (as infantry that didn't move don't block LoS).

[@onomatopoeia7505]

58:28 The PaKs are dug in, so moving to face their targets/ get them in line of sight doesn't count as moving for ROF purposes.

[@onomatopoeia7505]

Choosing to break off with the Panzer IVs while one is bailed and the other needs to roll a cross check. That's a death warrant.

[@AllMiniaturesGreatandSmall]

Thanks for the replies and comments! Not sure on the Defensive Fire. I just took Jake at his word. :-). Not sure on the paks and dug in but it's good to know. Do you have a page number I can look at? Is this true even it the target is behind a forward facing gun?

[@onomatopoeia7505]

@@AllMiniaturesGreatandSmall You guys deserve all the praise! Regarding facing a target with a dug in gun team, I mixed an old v3 rule up with a v4 rule. Yes you can still rotate to face a target, but of course, only when the target is in the field of fire. My mistake!

[@terrywitzu7874]

I would love to see a vid usng an Infantry formation vs. a guy using a German (or Russian) Tank Formation. More of a Real-World application towards playing the game. I would sure appreciate it. I love the channel and have just SUBBED. Look forward to all your vids. Please consider the my vid request. It happens all the time.

[@thomasparksjr8197]

How do you find out about what ur vechicles or infantry points are?

[@onomatopoeia7505]

There are army books which lists how you can build your army (with mandatory and optional choices), and you can use Forces of War, a list-building website where you can buy army lists for a dollar each and build your army there.

[@thomasparksjr8197]

Thank U!

[@onomatopoeia7505]

@@thomasparksjr8197 😎👍

[@zachnar0125]

Dam I miss V3 so much!!!!! I feel like V4 is too simplified.

[@marcela8769]

V3 was a mature system, agreed. But it felt repetitive in terms of lists encountered and became stale a bit. A lot of people appeared to complain just because their maxed unicorn lists did not work so well anymore without really having issues with the rules as such. V4 is something a bit different that offers new possibilities and with all books out should give enough iptions again. But keep on playing v3 if it is not for you. I know quite a bunch of groups still playing v3 and even doing smaller scale tournaments. Or try a new system - I feel FoW spawned off quite a number with BattleGroup being one of the most prominent.

[@felixguzman5958]

What happens to the paratroopers platoon us?

[@AllMiniaturesGreatandSmall]

Hi Felix, Not sure what you mean, the Paras survived with a couple of stands left, however they were not part of the core formation, they were support. So when the formation broke they broke with them.

[@felixguzman5958]

@@AllMiniaturesGreatandSmall I am sorry I jumped the gun my mistake. All good 👍🏽

[@V081WLBlue]

Is this game ONLY with tanks, the box comes with infantry but all games I see on youtube are all tanks?

[@AllMiniaturesGreatandSmall]

I would say tanks are in the majority. Personally painting tanks is more fun then Infantry. That said almost every battle report we have created includes at least 1 or more Infantry platoons.

[@marcela8769]

I think it depends on what you are playing in terms of missions. Terrain-heavy games and/or with objectives, I personally believe there is hardly a way around infantry to dig those enemy infantry out around objectives, especially when reinforced by PAKs. You might pin them but you need to rout them to get the objectives. Hard doing it with tanks only.

[@marcela8769]

To add: I think only playing with tanks is a bit off since imho the game shines when scaling down combined arms warfare to a small level and capturing the feel for it. When only tanks are of interest I would recommend the game Tanks! This is a nice game in itself with really individualizing the tanks quite a bit and having fun.