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 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 Aug 16, 2009 in
GenCon,
Terrain,
Tournament 
There were alot of really really nice tables at GenCon this year. Most if not all were player provided. These shots are all from the start of the Ironman tournament. I may have missed a couple of tables if any were added for the grand tournament the next day. Many of these were re-arranged on Saturday for the roadblock scenario. It’s somewhat unfortunate that the voting for best table wasn’t accomplished in their original state. Onto the pictures after the break. Read more…
Tags: Flames of War, FOW, GenCon, Terrain, Tournament, WWII
Posted by Brian on Jun 29, 2009 in
After Action Report 
First of all, I want to thank Jeff for setting up and running this tournament. I know that these things can be a lot of work, and I appreciate all the effort that he put in to making things work.
On Saturday I went to a tournament themed on Sicily for Flames of War. It was held in Mount Prospect, Il at Games Plus. 18 players were involved, 9 axis, 9 allied. All fights were red on blue. We ran fighting withdrawal, cauldron, and free for all. It was 1500 pts Mid-War with a couple different rules.
1) Sicily units only
2) For the purposes of defensive battles, if the points of armor in support exceeds that in combat and weapons platoons you are upgraded one class. IE infantry becomes mechanized, mechanized becomes armored.
3) Defensive battles must achieve the turn is which it is possible to win, or it will be scored a tie. (Turn 6 in Cauldron for example) Basically no stalling victories.
4) Rank will be by Wins, then points, then sports.
5) Sportsmanship score is 7pts to be divided between your 3 opponents however you see fit.
The forces entered were predominately infantry, a relief after the heavy tank based games late war always seems to bring.
Allies
Simon Babbs – British Rifle
Myles Toomey – Canadian Recce
Wade Phillips – US Airborne
Lysander Lysandrou – US Rifle
Rett Kipp – US Armored Rifles
Geoff Holt – US Rifles
John Hess – US Rangers
Pat Kirby – US Rangers
Rick Christian – British Commandos
Axis
Dan Larson – German Panzer Grenadier
Paul DeVolpi – German Panzer
Brian Wright – Italian Bersaglieri
John Curran – German Panzer Grenadier
Liam Harding – Italian Bersaglieri
Anthony Domenico – German Panzer
Mark Humel – German Panzer Grenadier
Don Billings – German Grenadier
Owen Kirby – German Panzer
Read more…
Tags: Flames of War, FOW, Italian, Mid War, Tournament, WWII
Posted by Brian on Jun 25, 2009 in
Miniatures 
I have a tournament this weekend based in Sicily. Of course we have to use only units available in Sicily. Unfortunately for my Italians that means that quite a few of my units simply aren’t there. The Lancia da 90/53 Gone. The M14/41 Gone. Only L6 and R35 tanks were available there. No demolishers either. My collection of Italians is pretty small and mostly of the units that I can’t field.
So I ran out and got the last couple units to fill this platoon. I’d had part of it sitting around in my gaming closet for years. It’ll fill the last few points I need to make 1500. Hopefully my force won’t be too rag-tag to work well, but Italians were pretty handicapped in this fight.
The painting of these consistent of a Ochre Green base, Brown ink and Dark Sand dry brush. A few highlights of silver on the cab and gun. I’m slightly disappointed with the guy mounting the gun. I forgot which colors I used for my older Bersaglieri troops and this didn’t come out as well. I might repaint, but it’ll be fine for Saturday.
Tags: 20/65, AA, Flames of War, Italian, Mid War, North Africa, Paint, WWII
Posted by Brian on Jun 15, 2009 in
Editorial 
At what level do you draw the line in a historical game? There has been alot of uproar over the announcement of Mid War Monsters by Battlefront for their game- Flames of War. I know there are the grognards that get in a tizzy if you don’t have the right number of rivets on your hull, or the wrong color of mud on your fenders for the theatre your armor is operating in. On the other hand there are some folks who are okay with walkers and zombie Nazis and still calling it a world war II game. Read more…
Tags: Midwar Monsters, Nazi, WWII, Zombies
Posted by Brian on May 28, 2009 in
Miniatures 
These Bishops had been sitting around on my painting table practically since I started playing Flames of War. I bought them along with a whole bunch of armor from War Web. Most of the Old Glory minis like this come 3 to a pack. Its really a great deal, but unfortunately you need 4 guns for the Brits. I ordered without bothering to look this up and when I got them I had 4x 25lb guns I got with my army box and 8x Priests I ordered at the same time so I never bothered to get that extra Bishop to complete the unit. If you look closely you’ll notice one is not like the others. I finished this unit out with a battlefront model rather than buy 3 more Old Glory Bishops.
The Bishop in the war was a bit of an odd duck. Its a 25lb Artillery piece mounted on a Valentine hull with a fixed thinly armored plated turret. It was cramped and hot to work in and had very little traverse. The Bishop had to have ramps built for it to elevate its gun enough to get maximum range out of it. It was very unpopular with its crews and was abandoned as soon as the Priest became available in numbers.
I painted these Bishops in the colors of the 6th Armored Division in Tunisia. They were service color with dark brown patches. I think I have the markings correct, and even though most of the photos of Bishops don’t have prominent camouflage there has been quite a bit of analysis showing that they were camouflaged. Pics after the break. Read more…
Tags: Artillery, Bishop, British, Flames of War, FOW, Mid War, WWII
