Kyle’s Journey into the Hobby

Kyle's Journey Into the Hobby

Kyle’s Journey into the Hobby
With Kyle

Kyle DeRiemer is a newly hired Account Manager in the North America office. Although being a gamer, Kyle is unfamiliar with Flames of War so the Hobby League became a great place to introduce him to the game. Join us as we follow Kyle through his journey of learning Flames of War.

Q: So, for the Hobby League, why did you choose the Nation you did?

A: The Americans seemed like a good place to start. I know I have a lot to learn in this game, and having some familiarity with the Nation, the Units involved, and honestly the phrases or names of equipment was a bit intimidating for the other forces.

As far as the Germans, I could be off base here, but their tanks seem bigger, harder to kill, but they look like they have less numbers. I felt having less tanks would mean I needed to be more precise with them, and as I am just learning that didn’t seem like something that gave me the ability to make mistakes, and recover.

On the British, looking through Fortress Europe it seemed they were using mostly American tanks. So again, learn with Americans, and then expand on how they differ. Aside from knowing they fought alongside the Americans in Italy, and were on the other beaches at No

rmandy trying to learn their wartime history and units, and playstyle became a bit intimidating.

As for the Soviets, honestly, I feel I have the most to learn there. I know the least about their wartime involvement.

Kyle's Journey Into the Hobby

Q: Ok, now that you’ve finished your first game. What did you learn, and what were your take-away thoughts?

A: Well it went better than I thought it would. The most difficult thing was to remember what does what, where. When I first looked at the demo army, I thought the M-10’s was my best tank, because they were the biggest. Wait don’t let them know that; people will think I’m a complete idiot. I was happy when I killed that first Tiger, and that I was able to fight it out to turn 6. Learning that I actually had a chance to win, if I had just passed a last stand role encourages me that this game isn’t going to be something where the new guy just loses, because he is new. Of course, I had a lot of help with that first game.

Kyle's Journey Into the Hobby

Q: We just went through list building techniques. Why did you choose what you did for your 50-point force?

A: Affordability, page 88 of the D-Day American book shows an example force of 100 points that is just 3 box sets. From a novice’s standpoint at 50 points having 9 tanks, and all those vehicles in my support choices allows me flexibility, and how different support units work with my mostly tank force. I mean, I just think infantry would just get shot compared to the metal tanks that have armor to resist it, right?

Kyle’s 50-point list is as follows:

M4 Tank Company

  • HQ – 2x 75mm Shermans
  • Platoon 1- 3x 76mm Shermans
  • Platoon 2- 4x 75mm Shermans
  • Support Artillery 3x M7 Priest
  • M4 Sherman Observation Tank 
  • Support Cavalry Recon Patrol
Kyle's Journey Into the Hobby