Easy Hills

Hey everyone, I haven't had much time for lengthy blog articles, so I have a feeling that most of my posts will now be made through the iPhone blogger app. Today I just wanted to share my experience making hills.

The hills in my local gaming group always seemed too small in terms of both height and area footprint. This led to "discussions" about whether the hills blocked lines of sight to larger vehicles, and it made the hills easy to bypass, to the point where they really had no impact on the game. I wanted to make some hills to change that. 

I started by shaping 2-inch pink insulation foam. The material I had on hand was left over from the table-topper I made. 

Next I would cover the hill in simple Elmer's Glue, then spread sand over it (this had to be done in sections on the larger hills). 

After that I hit the hills with a flat brown spraypaint. Normally the spraypaint would eat away at the foam, but since the hills were covered by glue and sand this didn't really happen. Green flock (from an industrial size flock container) was then spread on certain areas. As a final step I sprayed a matte varnish over the entire thing.

And there you have it. An easy way to add some great-looking terrain to your collection. Hills never go out of style either.

Battle Report: US Tank Destroyers vs. Panzers

Recently I got in a 1750 LW game with a very tough, probably cheesy list that I have been toying with. Although I like 1650 as the new official LW points level, there is a big tournament coming up in July that will be using 1750. The last time I attended a tournament in this area the locals were heavy on both German forces with big cats and on allied lists with Naval Gunfire Support (NGFS) [Editor's Note: Battlefront has now released changes to NGFS]. Although I'd like to see NGFS banned there hasn't been any indication that it will at this tournament.

Therefore I have been fine-tuning a Tank Destroyer (TD) list. TD's are good for many reasons and can take down a variety of opponents, but are particularly effective against slow-moving heavies. Their security sections can also keep them safe from NGFS, since killing the security section doesn't automatically result in the death of the unit. My opponent regularly plays German panzers, and despite my warnings about what list I'd be playing with he brought a tank-heavy force. We rolled Dust-Up for the mission, which would be a good test for my list, as I'll explain below.

Battle Report: HG Panzergrenadiers vs. Nisei

I have been hoping to play an Italy-themed game for weeks now, given the release of the stunning Italy campaign compilation books. These are gorgeous books, with excellently themed and balanced lists. The problem was that in my gaming group everyone has been absorbed in a non-themed campaign. Luckily one of my weekly opponents wanted a break from the campaign as well, and was down to try the Nisei infantry list. For my part I couldn't wait to give my HG Panzergrenadier list a chance to show what they're made of.

This little jerk has taken up a lot of hobby time

We set up the table with what terrain was available. This was the second game to be hosted at my apartment, and so in preparation I completed two hills, made some woods bases, re-configured my green trees, and ordered the "Small Autumn Wood" tree set from Battlefront/GF9. We rolled randomly for mission and got Pincer, with my HG Panzergrens attacking. This is exactly the type of situation I wanted to test out with them! Little did I know that this would become one of my all-time favorite Flames of War games.

Rant: Unpainted Models and Proxying Etiquette

Hi everyone, I know it's been a while since I posted on this little blog, which makes it all the more upsetting to me that what has finally motivated me to write is something that is a bit negative. I have still been playing as much as possible, which is a little tougher now that I have a puppy, but I don't feel like my hobby life has been suffering too much. What has affected the blog is something that I have found to be an ever-increasing problem in my club.

I started this blog mainly as a way to catalog and share battle reports. I love reading battle reports and seeing great pictures of models slugging it out on the tabletop. Lately, however, I haven't been able to provide anything like that to the community because of widespread problems with players not using models that make for good battle reports. So today I wanted to discuss my opinions on painting and proxying etiquette.

1485 Mid-War Batrep: Soviet Tanks vs. German Panzergrens

Continuing with my dual goal of playing more Mid-War games while also using non-veteran lists when possible, I was happy to get a game in a few nights ago with a new army. My opponent and I are both gearing up for a MW tournament on March 16th, but I'm also trying a completely new army for me: the Soviets! Yes, I finally took the plunge and have started collecting a communist horde. I found that my motivation stemmed from the models, not competitiveness, which helped me clear that final motivational hurdle. I really don't have the urge to play Soviets in LW at this stage, but in MW they're so...so...funny... Just look at the KV-2:

We had a shortage of objective markers, so the Sturmtigers subbed-in

The list I was running was built around the goal of fielding the KV-2's, which narrows it down to either Motostrelkovy or Mixed Tankovy. And so, in the spirit of adventure, I took the Fearless Conscript Mixed Tankovy into my first battle fielding Soviets.

Quick MW Batrep: Schwere Panzers vs. US Armor

Our next tournament at my FLGS will be 1485 points Mid-War, which most of us haven't had the chance to practice for. Generally we prefer LW at our shop, but Mid-War offers a chance to get back to basics. Frankly, I think the game is easiest to learn in MW because of the lack of special rules (that said, I love LW - I just think that MW is easier on beginners). So a buddy of mine accepted my challenge to a MW game, and brought a list that you'll see at every MW tournament: Schwere Panzers. This list will rarely win the overall prize, but there is always going to be the guy who just wants to bring his big cats to town.

We rolled randomly for mission and got Breakthrough, and I'd have to defend. This was going to be tough. I'm going to keep this report quick and let the pictures do the talking, so don't expect too much tactical analysis.

February Late-War Tournament Report

Recently my FLGS, Brothers Grim Games and Hobbies, hosted a 1650 LW tournament, with no list restrictions. Having committed to trying Trained troops for a while I decided to run either US 7th Armored out of BG&G (a total cheese list) or Kampfgruppe Pieper, depending on whether we needed to balance Axis and Allied forces. Ultimately I ended up running the 7th Armored, and was soon to find out why many top players call it the best armored list in the game.

Battle Report: US 7th Armored vs. Panzers to the Meuse

I was finally able to play a game! For about three weeks the weather and other scheduling problems have wreaked havoc with my ability to get in some table time. For the next couple of months one of my gaming goals is to play more games with Trained units. Searching around on the intertubes I see a lot of the top players doing very well with Trained armies, and I have never been able to find success with them. My theory is that if I learn how to use them well then I'll eventually have more tools to work with because of the points savings.

And so I set out to try my luck with what is considered one of the top Trained lists in the game: US 7th Armored led by the big man himself, General Patton. Squaring off against me would be a tough opponent in the form of another auto-attack list: Panzers to the Meuse. We rolled randomly for mission and got Hasty Attack. then we had to roll-off for attacker, and I suddenly found myself on the defensive (gulp!). I was in for a tough fight.

The table. I would be defending the nearest long table edge

New Years Resolutions

Hi everyone, hope your holiday season was fruitful. Now that we're back in the swing of things I thought I needed to show a little love to the blog. This year I want to make a few New Years Resolutions, a la the WWPD crew, to help focus my hobby goals for the year. It'll be interesting to look back in December and see where I end up, but no matter what I think this will be fun.

Recent gaming, battle was pretty anti-climactic so I won't be posting a full write-up

So, without further delay:

A Quick Note: Negativity

Hey guys, in the interest of spreading a little holiday cheer I just wanted to make an observation about something that really bothers me in any game environment, but really came to a head when I was running a recent tournament. The level of negativity that some gamers have toward the hobby really baffles me sometimes. Whether on forums or in actual games it's getting to the point where it's affecting who I choose to play with and which sites I choose to visit.

"What do you mean tanks can move through each other?!?!?!"

Phase Craze: Shooting

Having explored the first two phases of any Flames of War game it is now time that we venture into the deadly phases, starting with Shooting. Granted, improper deployment and movement can be just as deadly to your toy soldiers as enemy fire, but neither of those phases involves rolling fistfuls of dice and dropping little smoke-and-flame markers where once-living tanks existed.

If you can't tell, I like the shooting phase, but I have only gotten a firm grasp on how to master the phase since I learned how to maximize an army's given firepower. I haven't mastered anything yet, but feel like I'm well on my way thanks to a few key developments in my play style. To many of you these pointers will seem obvious, but I hope that some of you will be able to use this advice in your own games.

Tournament Report from Dec. 8th

Recently I had my first experienced as a Tournament Organizer, due to a last-minute family obligation on the part of our normal TO. I was a little disappointed since I had been hoping to play in the tournament, although as it turned out I was still able to throw some dice thanks to an odd number of participants. I'm just going to do a quick recap of each of my games, a summary of the winners podium, followed by a picture dump, and round out with a short list of things I'd like to try the next time I'm a TO.

Phase Craze: Movement

Holy Hell, this is going to be a mammoth topic to cover so I apologize in advance for whatever shortcomings you feel this article contains. I'm going to do my level best to explain some of the ins-and-outs of the Movement Phase and why I think it's the most important phase in any game of FoW.

The precursor to hex-based board games, as well as the Allied Victory, whichever is more important...

Phase Craze: Intro and Deployment

Hey everyone. For a while now I've been wanting to write a series of general tactics articles concerning each of the turn phases and the deployment phase in Flames of War. Having been influenced by the math-wizardry of Eric Riha I have definitely developed my own theories about how best to exploit each one of the turn phases in Flames of War, and how to tailor that philosophy to the goals of different armies.

In this article we will explore my general philosophy and then delve into the basics of deployment, which won't take as long to explain as movement, shooting, and assaulting (although its importance is no less critical to victory than any of those phases).

"Which table quarter should we choose?"

BatRep: German Panzers vs. Brits in Counterattack

Hi everyone, I know it has been a while since my last post but work and vacation have left little time for our great hobby. Luckily I was able to get in a game the other night against my previous opponent, who was looking for a rematch after having me on the ropes in our last battle. We played a 1650 Late-War game, and I wanted to really try and challenge my army. Since my opponent has Crocs he becomes auto-attack, which can really knock my army off balance in missions with Mobile Reserves, or missions with screwy deployment zones. So, we decided to limit our options to Surrounded, Cauldron, or Counterattack (a highlight reel of most players' least favorite missions).

We rolled for Counterattack, which was fine by me since a similar list really struggled for me in this mission at a recent tournament. Just FYI, my iPhone camera ended up taking a slew of blurry pictures so there may be times in this report where words have to take the place of pictures (never ideal for batreps), so I apologize in advance.

Batrep: 1650 LW German Panzers vs. Brits

Recently I got in a very close game against one of my regular opponents. Unlike many of my battle reports where I go into detail on every move, I thought I'd try and let the pics do most of the talking, and save the blathering for the "lessons learned" section.

We rolled randomly for mission and got No Retreat. With Crocs gaining popularity among British players in the store I am starting to get used to being on the defensive, despite being a tank company. But let's be honest, this fits in with history a little bit since the Germans were almost continually on the defensive in the Late War period. The game was fun and came down to the wire, and I learned several lessons that will serve me well in the future.

Battle Report: LW US Tanks vs. SS-Panzergrens

Earlier this year I used the winnings from a tournament to get Easy-8's and Jumbo's, because the models and the lists for LW American tanks are simply awesome. The models were a blast to put together and paint up, and remain some of the finest examples of my airbrush weathering technique. Unfortunately, in the entire time since I have had them I have been able to get in all of one game with them. Well, I wanted to change that, and so decided to go full-cheese and run a 1650-point variation on Wilcox's crotch-stomping American Armor list.

My opponent, who is participating in the current league at Brothers Grim Games and Hobbies, wanted to try out some Fearless Veteran Germans. With armies in tow we rolled for mission and got Breakthrough, which is becoming one of my favorite missions.

The board, before deployment

Tournament Report from Nanuet, NY

Recently I was able to participate in a 1780-point Late-War tournament held at ToyWiz in Nanuet, NY (about 25 minutes north of NYC). I was eager to get in on this event because it would likely be the last of the 1780 tournaments for a while, since the official LW points levels will be dropping to 1650 (a good move in my opinion).

The rounds were short, roughly two hours and fifteen minutes per game, and so I wasn't able to get any good pictures of games in progress. However, I did get a few shots of the tables, and wanted to use this as a chance to talk a little about list-building and terrain. I'll also drop some historical pics to break up the narrative.

A preview of what's to come *wink wink*

List Discussion for Upcoming Tournament

This article was prompted by a tweet from @kenputski who asked that I share a list that I had recently come up with that didn't force the Sporadic Sturmvogel into it. First, some background: I love the Sturmvogel model, but hadn't yet figured out a way to fit it into a list without feeling like there weren't other things that I'd rather spend the 105 points on. However, while trying to figure out a 1650 veteran Panzer list (the new points standard for Late War) I stumbled into a list that features the Sturmvogel as an organic part of the army, as opposed to a last-minute add-on.

Army on a Budget: Chapter 1

Hi everyone, for a while now I have been thinking of writing a series of articles detailing how new and veteran players alike can go about building an army while sticking to a budget. Let's face it, this is an expensive hobby and once model addiction sets in (the first step is admitting I have problem! haha) the cost factor becomes a serious obstacle. For myself I know that I simply don't have the money or the time to build every army I want.

Lately I have been kicking around a few ideas for different armies, each with a different approach that would have to be taken toward completing it. In this article I want to set the parameters of the project and then lay out a few of my ideas, and hopefully I'll get some feedback before making my final decision. My goal for this long-term project is not just to build a new force, but to show my two readers out there that careful planning and financial discipline can still provide a rewarding experience.