Review: Flames of War
Battlefront Miniatures Limited is a New Zealand company which manufactures 15mm (1:100) Scale models and miniatures from World War II for wargaming and collecting.
The BATTLEFRONT WWII range includes tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, artillery and anti-tank guns, infantry and support weapons for eight nations: Germany, the USSR, The United States of America, Great Britain, Italy, Hungary, Finland and Romania. The range currently consists of over 400 vehicle, infantry and gun packs and is constantly expanding. It will include other nationalities in the future.
Their vehicles are unique in that they are made of two mediums. The hulls are cast in polyester resin, which gives a sharp attention to detail, while more delicate components are cast in white metal to provide robustness. This allows you to easily and quickly construct your army in readiness for many future battles. Models assemble using Superglue or a two-part Epoxy Resin glue. They paint up well with any easily available model paint range.
Flames of War is a World War II tabletop game where you use armies represented by painted miniature tanks, soldiers, artillery, and aircraft against another similar opponent’s force.
To begin all you need is the Flames of War book/rules and a starting force of miniatures depending on what type of army you want to collect.
The game uses 15mm scale (around 1:100) miniatures, allowing miniatures from other manufacturers to be used. The game aspires to provide a good balance between playability and simulation and has a typical game running under 2 hours.
The Second Edition Rulebook launched in August 2006, took a lot of advice from the players and integrated a lot of the FAQ material previously written to cover First Edition.
Play
Troops are based either as individual vehicles or guns, or 4 to 5 soldiers per base. The lists included in the book show you how to build a company of Infantry, Mechanized, or Armored troops to field. You can also allocate Divisional and Corps assets (Artillery, Anti-Air, Anti-Tank, etc) to support your troops but these are rather limited.
Movement is basically by platoon and the turns are Move, Shoot, and Close Assault.
While the number of force books and the size of the rulebook may be overwhelming, FoW is actually quite a simple game to master.
Play revolves around company-level tactics, with each stand or element representing an infantry fire team (half-squad/section), an artillery piece and its crew, or a single vehicle (such as a tank, jeep, or armoured car). Air support is also available, in the form of fighters (like the Hawker Hurricane) and light bombers (like the Sturmovik), to players wishing to use it, with aircraft generally being represented by 1:144 scale models.
The main rulebook has numerous scenarios players can use for their games, from a simple all-out battle scenario to objective-taking missions. The army sourcebooks contain further scenarios, usually centered around events relevant to that particular book. Gameplay uses six-sided dice, and movement distances and weapon ranges are provided in both inches and centimeters.
Current army sourcebooks are based on particular campaigns and include lists for the German Wehrmacht (including the Deutsches Afrikakorps and non-Wehrmacht troops like the SS and Luftwaffe ground troops), the U.S. Army (including Rangers and Airborne units), the armies of Great Britain and the Commonwealth (India, Australia, Canada, South Africa, and New Zealand), the Red Army of the Soviet Union, the Italian army (including elite Bersaglieri and Paracudisti, regular Fucilieri, and fascist Blackshirts paramilitaries), as well as smaller nations such as the Hungarians, Finns, and Romanians.
A game can take about 2 hours, however I would imagine that much longer games are possible. The Good FoW is a simple system to master without getting bored. The rulebook is quite gorgeous, as well, full of easy-to-read text, great pictures, and a nice layout. The Bad Although it goes without saying that people will find more information on the internet than in a book, I thought that there was a lack of information about modeling and painting that may put new players off. The Ugly None. Interesting Notes
According to Bret Donaghy, Customer Services Manager Europe for Battlefront, Denmark is, per capita, the “best market for Flames of War”. While I don’t debate this whatsoever – I personally don’t know a single FoW player in this area – so I hope to change this, as the game looks to have wonderful possibilities.
Product Summary
Name: Flames of War
Publisher: Battlefront Miniatures Ltd
Game concept: Phil Yates
Category: Wargame
Cost: $50.00
Year: 2006
SKU: FW001
ISBN: 0-958-2536-9-2
Rating
