Posted by Brian on Apr 2, 2010 in
Tournament 
Adepticon let Flames of War into the event for the first time this year. Game Korps ran the three tournaments this year. There were two 900 point tournaments, a mid-war one on Friday and a late-war one on Saturday. There was also the two-day 1750pt mid-war tournament running both Friday and Saturday. In addition to the tournaments there were a couple scenario games going.
I played in the 1750pt tournament, and Game Korps did a great job setting things up. The boards were beautiful, and best of all, there were multiple desert board for the mid-war tournament. Its so rare that you get to run mid-war desert equipment actually in the desert. There were also a number of really heavy city table that looked great, but I wasn’t particularly enthused about. City boards so heavily favor certain types of forces that I don’t think they have a lot of place in a tournament. Read more…
Tags: Flames of War, FOW, Italian, Mid War, North Africa, Tournament, WWII
Posted by Brian on Jan 14, 2010 in
Miniatures 
After many trials and posts on the blog about them, the Fiat Falcos are ready to fly. The decals turned out pretty nice I think. These guys are Reviresco plane kits. I clipped the props off them since they look better that way, as if they were in flight. The decals are blank sheets from Experts Choice. I show how I did the decals here. The last thing I need are some flight stands. Top Gun has some nice looking ones, but I’m interested if anyone else has some ideas. Let me know in the comments. More pics after the break. Read more…
Tags: Aircraft, Early War, Flames of War, FOW, Italian, Mid War, WWII
Posted by Brian on Jan 14, 2010 in
Miniatures 
I realized this afternoon that this battery had never got posted up on my blog. I finished it awhile ago and the basing was done with what colors I had on hand. Maybe I should have waited for greener static grass and flock, but its an interesting look.
The gun performance in game is great . It is nice to have something that really give the heavy tanks something to worry about. Pair it up with an AOP and its a very potent force. More pics after the break. Read more…
Tags: 5.5" BL, Artillery, British, Flames of War, FOW, Late War, Mid War, WWII
Posted by Brian on Jan 14, 2010 in
Miniatures 
Not all projects are a success, and sometimes you learn from your failures too. This little gem is an Auster AOP that I attempted to build out of green stuff, a Popsicle stick, and a little floral wire. First up is the wood in Popsicle sticks doesn’t shape well. It likes to splinter instead. The wing doesn’t have any cross section on it. Second up, is its almost impossible to get floral wire to go in perfectly strait lines. I should have bought brass rod and used that instead. Third up is the green stuff itself. Its the first time I’ve tried to make anything of it except filling gaps in models. What I didn’t realize is that it even really gets hard. Or at least the stuff I have still remains “flexy” I was intending to build the basic shape and then use files and sand paper to refine it and smooth it out. The green stuff never got hard enough to do this right. At least it isnt bittle I guess. All in all it makes a sad little airplane model, but at least its useable. Pics after the break. Read more…
Tags: AOP, Auster, British, Flames of War, FOW, WWII
Posted by Brian on Jan 14, 2010 in
Cases,
Tools and Supplies 
I’ve been using the War Store EconoBox cases for awhile. The idea of having easily stack-able “platoon” sized boxes for Flames of War really appealed to me. When you need a platoon, you can just pull it off the shelf and toss it in a wheeled roll-aboard suitcase. Foam alone doesn’t stack really well, and its a PITA to label and shuffle around when you need to get to something on the bottom of your stacks. These cases solve all that. The white corrugated cardboard boxes are easy to label, rigid enough to stack, and easy to pull out the bottom one from under a stack of ten of them.
For those of you familiar with the Sabol Army Transport foam, these trays are significantly larger, but use the same type of foam with the same size cubes. Just be aware that it won’t fit in your bags even if you take the foam out of the boxes. Compared to Crystal Caste Battle Hive storage, it has cubes about twice the size. The foam texture seems to be the same. Read more…
Tags: Case, EconoBox, Flames of War, Foam, FOW
Posted by Brian on Jan 9, 2010 in
Painting,
Tools and Supplies 
I have been frustrated by the fact that I couldn’t find any appropriate decals for my three 1/144 scale CR.42 Fiat Falcos that I painted up for my Italian force. After poking around a bit I found decal sheets that you can run through your printer and make whatever decals you need. I grabbed some fasces rondels for the wings, royal crests of the trail, blue fasces crest of the fuselage, and some number marking. I laid them all out in photoshop in huge groups and printed on some “Experts Choice” clear decal film. I used a 600dpi file to insure the file resolution exceeded my printer. I used my HP 3600n color laser to print. I’ve heard that inkjets have alot more problems since the ink will run. The printing on the laser was delicate, but waterproof at least. Read more…
Tags: Flames of War, FOW, Italian, Mid War, North Africa, WWII
Posted by Brian on Oct 7, 2009 in
Editorial,
Tournament 
If you look at the Flames of War tournament victory points system, you’ll notice its pretty flawed. Its designed to represent that you should get a higher quality of victory for preserving your troops lives just like a real commander should. Points are awarded based on the victor’s losses. 6-1 for no losses, 5-2 for 1 platoon loss, 4-3 for two or more platoon losses. Its real strength lies in that it is extremely simple to figure out points at the end of a game.
The system works on a basic level, but falls apart when armies of varying composition are compared. A four platoon tank army will loose a quarter or more of its fighting strength before it gives up a victory point, while an infantry company might lose less than a tenth of its strength before giving up a victory point. It gets worse for company types with very small platoons, or fragile units like armored cars. This hardly seems fair. Read more…
Tags: Flames of War, FOW, Tournament, Victory Points
Posted by Brian on Sep 25, 2009 in
Army Spreadsheets 
Since I’m up and using the new AS42 organization, I figured I should go ahead and make the excel spreadsheet for it. This sheet is all updated to the latest options. I have to say the German allies were kind of a PITA to create. Please let me know if there are any errors.
North_Africa_Italian_Battaglione_Bersaglieri_v0.1
Fixed significant issues
North_Africa_Italian_Battaglione_Bersaglieri_v0.2
Minor fixes with making names consistent, and demolisher org.
North_Africa_Italian_Battaglione_Bersaglieri_v0.3
Tags: Excel, Flames of War, FOW, Italian, Mid War, North Africa, Spreadsheet, XLS
Posted by Brian on Sep 22, 2009 in
Miniatures 
Since the new North Africa book came out, I have been excited about the reorganization of the Bersaglieri into the AS42 forces structure. They moved up a step like the Soviets from platoon sized units to company sized units. The new basic combat companies include one Bersaglieri infantry platoon plus the old weapons platoons- A platoon of 47/32 anti-tank guns, a platoon of heavy machine guns, and a platoon of optional Solothurn ATR or 20/65 AA guns. This makes for a huge 16 team strong unit that can have an impressive weight of fire and will be difficult to drive off the board.
Of course this new organization means I had to go buy a few new models for it. I got 2 blisters of 47/32. Too bad you need three and can only buy them in packs of two. I have the Bersaglieri HMG on order, and I finally finished up the Solothurn ATR that I never painted from the old company HQ. I also finished up a platoon of 81mm mortars that I’ll need to make up the newly reduced points, and the ground bases for the 20/65 AA guns that I already owned as portees. Gallery after the break. Read more…
Tags: AS42, Flames of War, FOW, Italian, Mid War, North Africa
Posted by Brian on Sep 8, 2009 in
GenCon,
History/Force List,
Tournament 
I can’t believe that I forgot to post this for so long. It wasn’t an award winning history, but I’m pretty proud of it anyways. The general area of the history is researched. Right Guards unit in the right area at the right time. Specifics… well its a Soviet force. Not alot of detailed info out there so I had to make a few details up. It hit every bullet point the TO’s had outlined for history scoring and should have received max points. I couldn’t get Photoshop to spit out the files into a 2 page PDF so unfortunately there are two files to this.
Brian Wright Gvardeyskiy-Tyazhelyy-Tankovy-Polk-1
Brian Wright Gvardeyskiy-Tyazhelyy-Tankovy-Polk-2
Tags: Flames of War, FOW, GenCon, History, Late War, Soviet
