Time of Day, Episode 1 - Late War Starter Rankings

Lee in the UK is joined by Mike in the US as they rank the Flames of War late war starter sets.
What should a new player buy?
What should an existing player get to expand their collection
Is there a good British starter?
All will be revealed.
Please leave feedback! I try to reply to each comment and we will incorporate suggestions into the next episode, Mid War Starter Boxes.

[@el-cee]

I enjoyed the format. What I would suggest, that while you are talking about a set, I would keep a picture of the box or a list of the content on the screen .

[@breakthroughassault4791]

Thanks Elcee, we'll build that in on the next one

[@el-cee]

I'm mostly watching this on a second screen on my PC, while doing other stuff (modeling, painting, working...), so having something that reminds me, what you are talking about would be helpful. Another idea would be adding chapter marks for every box, when making a video in this format.

[@mauton]

exactly the video I was looking for - but had to give up half way through the graphics were just too tiny... hopefully a v2 at some point.

[@breakthroughassault4791]

There is an update of sorts when we added the D-Day starters on

[@memorarenz]

Great ranking.

[@breakthroughassault4791]

Thanks Mat!

[@SolidCat]

Interesting video guys! Agree with most of the rankings. However, you did forget the liberation box - the special starter box in Asia!

[@breakthroughassault4791]

Thanks Harry! I also later noticed later that there *were* Fortress Europe starters for America and Germany. We debated the Blitz minis starter, but we skipped it because it's something you only find in one shop. We were meant to mention it though.

[@scarfacejosh123]

Will you guys do this for Mid War? EDIT: Watched this to the end and you are!

[@breakthroughassault4791]

Absolutely! That will be the next show. We'll try and get it done in the next couple weeks.

[@Edward-Plantagenet]

Interesting video. Seeing all these boxes together reminds me of how poor value many of these Starter boxes are. Sure they’re great value on a per model count basis but the continued inclusion of 2 unit platoons that are pretty worthless and almost impossible to bump up to, more viable, 4 unit platoons means that the 'savings' (unless you are buying them as collection boosters), will be mostl wiped out as you will need to buy full strength platoons of 4 or 5 for everything that you have just 2 of (except KTs). Sure you can double up on the boxes but this leaves you often overrun with stuff you don’t want. Just how many Pz IVs do we need? As an example, buying HTB and the German Kampfgruppe I used to see recommended a lot, problem is you end up with pairs of Tiger I, Flak 88, Pak 40s and 3 Stugs. You end up OK for infantry (ish) except only one platoon is Armoured and also get enough Pz IVs but everything else you need to do some running around (and most likely dropping a fair bit of cash) to make all the pairs viable, so not so great value after all. Until and if BF do units packed in pairs I can easily see why people turn to 3D printing to get the pairs they need to compensate for BFs odd packaging choices. In some cases, once you factor in buying the extras you will need, and then take out the junk that you likely won't want, it can be cheaper to just buy what you need. I like their models but I’ve never been of the opinion that these starter sets are great VFM if you want viable formations. TY is way way better on the VFM front IMO.

[@breakthroughassault4791]

Thanks! It'll be interesting to go through all the TY boxes as I haven't given them much thought in a long time. The MW boxes seemed to do a lot better than LW when we looked at them.

[@leppard57]

I used my Churchill's from the British fortress Europe starter to build crocodiles

[@breakthroughassault4791]

Yep, I got that wrong and, looking at the sprue later, it was clear that it was the LW one. Makes that box even better!