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Flames Of War Second Edition

Goodbye Old Friend: Part One
A Farewell To Second Edition Battle Report
with Tony Vodanovich and Mike Haycock.

With the official release of the third edition of the Flames Of War rules set imminent, we thought we’d pay tribute to second edition by giving it one last hurrah with a final battle report. So we gathered up some models, set up a table and roped in a couple of New Zealand’s top ranked Flames Of War players to duke it out in the desert Early-war style and prove the Early-war isn't a Tankfest the rumours claim it to be.

Read part two here...
Read part three here...

Let the final battle begin...

The Player Profiles
The Allied General
Name:
Tony Vodanovich.
Nickname: Dirty Vod.
Favourite Nation in Flames Of War: British.
Known Traits in Flames Of War: A Solid list builder, excellent knowledge of the rules and the ability to stretch the rules to the absolute limit while still remaining in the spirit of the game.
Nation used for this battle report: Australia.
Force type used for this battle report: Commonwealth Rifle Company (Hellfire and Back, page 138).

Right: Tony in action at the 2011 New Zealand Masters.
Tony in action at the 2011 New Zealand Masters
Tony's New Zealand Rankings HQ Statistics For Flames Of War (as of 23/2/2012)
Rank
ID Number
Points
Movement
Tournaments
4.
322
318.2911
2
4
Tony's Flames Of War Tournament Results For the Last 12 Months
Tournament Name
Location
Number of Players
Nation
Placing
Points Earnt
FlamesCon LW New Zealand
40
  4
92.50
GuardCon FoW LW New Zealand 20
United Kingdom 5
64.00
NiCOon
New Zealand 26
United Kingdom 4
76.08
Mid War Doubles
New Zealand 42
United Kingdom 7
85.71
Mike accepts yet another accolade for his Flames Of War exploits The Axis General
Name:
Mike Haycock.
Nickname(s): Surfboard, The Battle Computer.
Favourite Nation in Flames Of War: No preference but maybe Italians.
Known Traits in Flames Of War: An outstanding list builder, excellent knowledge of the rules, can calculate the dice odds on the fly quickly for any given situation and the ability to do the right thing at the right time during a game.
Nation used for this battle report: Germany.
Force type used for this battle report: Leich Panzerkompanie (Hellfire and Back, page 60).

Left: Mike accepts yet another accolade for his Flames Of War exploits.
Mike's New Zealand Rankings HQ Statistics For Flames Of War (as of 23/2/2012)
Rank
ID Number
Points
Movement
Tournaments
2.
8325
347.0673
0
10
Mike's Flames Of War Tournament Results For the Last 12 Months
Tournament Name
Location
Number of Players
Nation
Placing
Points Earnt
FlamesCon LW New Zealand 40
  7
85.00
Rallypoint EW
New Zealand 16
Polish
8
42.75
GuardCon FoW LW New Zealand 20
Soviet
3

72.00

Fracas 2011
New Zealand 32
Italian
4
83.38
Panzerschreck 2011
New Zealand 36
German
1
96.00
NiCon
New Zealand
26
German
2
82.69
Mid War Doubles New Zealand
42
Italian
27
38.10
Taranaki War MW New Zealand 12
Italian
2
66.00
Taranaki War LW New Zealand 12
United Kingdom
2
66.00
Equinox Flames 2011
New Zealand 12
Italian
1 72.00

The Prelude To Battle
The Early-war books have been out for a while now and there’s been a lot of talk on the forums about how much more effective tank forces are when compared to infantry and guns in Early-war. As a long time British infantry player I still feel that there is a place in the game for infantry based armies in Early-war. So when the team at Battlefront asked me and Mike to play a battle report showcasing this match up naturally I jumped at the chance to take the infantry side of the battle. Mike is one of the best Flames Of War generals in New Zealand and consistently places well in tournaments, so if there was ever going to be a tough test for an Infantry vs. Tanks game – this would be it.

Right: Blitzkrieg: The German Invasion of Poland and France, 1939-1940.

Learn more about Blitzkrieg: The German Invasion of Poland and France, 1939-1940 here...

Blitzkrieg: The German Invasion of Poland and France, 1939-1940
Hellfire and Back: Early War Battles in North Africa, 1940-1941
Going in I didn’t know what scenario we’d be playing or what force Mike would be putting together, so I decided to put together a list that I thought would be competitive in an open tournament.  Even though the core of my army was going to be infantry and guns, I still needed to have a mobile element to my force to go out and threaten objectives if we ended up playing a mobile battle.  This is one of the biggest challenges for infantry players when building an all comers kind of list, you need to be able to have enough infantry and guns to be able to hold ground while having faster elements who can reach out and give the opponent a bloody nose.

~ Tony.

Left: Hellfire and Back: Early War Battles in North Africa, 1940-1941.

Learn more about Hellfire and Back: Early War Battles in North Africa, 1940-1941 here...
The Forces
Tony's Australian Commonwealth Rifle Company
I decided to use an Australian Commonwealth Rifles force from Hellfire and Back. This would present me with an additional challenge, being a New Zealander it breaks my heart to see Australians win at anything.
Commonwealth Rifle Company (Fearless Trained)
Commonwealth Rifle Company HQ with Sticky Bombs - 30 points.

Commonwealth Rifle Company HQ with Sticky Bombs
Commonwealth Rifle Platoon (3 Squads) with Sticky Bombs - 185 points.
Commonwealth Rifle Platoon (3 Squads) with Sticky Bombs
Commonwealth Rifle Platoon HQ (3 Squads) - 175 points.
Commonwealth Rifle Company HQ (3 Squads)
Anti-Tank Platoon, Royal Artillery (4 OQF 2pdr with 1 OQF 25 pdr) - 230 points.
Anti-Tank Platoon, Royal Artillery (4 OQF 2pdr with 1 OQF 25 pdr)
Commonwealth Mortar Platoon (2 Mortar sections) - 110 points.
Commonwealth Mortar Platoon (2 Mortar sections)
Commonwealth Carrier Platoon (1 Carrier Patrol) - 90 points.
Commonwealth Carrier Platoon (1 Carrier Patrol)
Divisional Cavalry Platoon (2 M11/39 with 1 M13/40) - 180 points.
Divisional Cavalry Platoon (2 M11/39 with 1 M13/40)
Divisional Cavalry Platoon (3 Light Mk VI B) - 100 points
Divisional Cavalry Platoon (3 Light Mk VI B)
Royal Horse Artillery Battery (1 Gun Troop) with Trucks - 345 points
Royal Horse Artillery Battery (1 Gun Troop) with Trucks
Brigadier J.C. 'Jock' Campbell - 60 points.
Brigadier J.C. 'Jock' Campbell
Total Points: 1500 points.
Mike's German Leichte Panzerkompanie
The army I made up had plenty of mobility with enough fire-power and speed to pick off the gun teams and open the way for the assault.
Leichte Panzerkompanie (Confident Veteran)
Leichte Panzerkompanie HQ with Sd Kfz 9 (18t) Recovery Half-track - 305 points.
Leichte Panzerkompanie HQ with Sd Kfz 9 (18t) Recovery Half-track
Panzer III Platoon (3 Panzer III F (late) or G) - 460 points.
Panzer III Platoon (3 Panzer III F (late) or G)
Panzer II Platoon (4 Panzer II C) - 225 points.
Panzer II Platoon (4 Panzer II C)
Leichte Pionier Platoon (3 squads) with Command Pioneer SMG team - 225 points.
Leichte Pionier Platoon (3 squads) with Command Pioneer SMG team
Heavy Panzerspäh Platoon (2 Panzerspäh Patrols) with one Patrol with PaK armour - 205 points.
Heavy Panzerspäh Platoon (2 Panzerspäh Patrols) with one Patrol with PaK armour
Anti-Tank Gun Platoon (2 3.7cm PaK36) - 75 points.
Anti-Tank Gun Platoon (2 3.7cm PaK36)
Total Points: 1495 points.
The Battlefield For Witch's Cauldron
The Battlefield For Witch's Cauldron
The Allied Plan
So I rocked up to Battlefront HQ and found out that Mike was using a Leichte Panzerkompanie with Panzer IIIs backed up by Panzer IIs, Recce (8-Rads) and Pioneers.  Given that we were both using lists from Hellfire and Back it was decided that we should play a mission from the book, Witch’s Cauldron.

This is a “half on, half off” mission where, as the defender, I would get to start dug in around the objectives but would have to wait till turn three before my Delayed Reserves turned up so I had to make sure that what I put down would be able to hold on until the cavalry arrived.  My plan was pretty simple really; deploy my two infantry platoons in staggered formation so that they could both cover each objective.  The platoon with Sticky Bombs would be in the second line so that they didn’t lose too many teams from any initial assault from Mike.  The infantry would be supported by the 18/25 pdrs deployed in the courtyard of the town in the centre, this meant that these heavy guns would be concealed and could cover advance lines to both objectives.  I had to sacrifice some ability to bombard with them due to being within 4”/10cm of buildings but in my experience hitting Early-war tanks with Anti-tank 8 in direct fire is much more effective anyway, and I really wanted them to be concealed as they were Veteran and would be very hard to hit in that position.  Jock Campbell would deploy close to the artillery to give them a hand by letting them re-roll misses at close range.  I held the 2 pdrs in immediate ambush to cover off any holes left in my line depending on where Mike ended up with his random deployment.  I left the two Divisional Cavalry platoons, Carriers and Mortars off table in Reserve; these would be crucial to harry the lighter elements in Mike’s army and threaten him from behind his line.


~ Tony.
The Allied Deployment
The Battlefield For Witch's Cauldron
The Axis Plan
The army I made up had plenty of mobility and included a platoon of Pioneers, a Panzer II platoon with four tanks to use as my assault unit, two 8-rads patrols for reconnaissance and two 3.7cm PaK36 Anti-tank guns for a bit of extra firepower. The five Panzer IIIs are the core of the army with enough firepower and speed to pick off the gun teams and open the way for the assault. The plan is to use my mobility and Stormtrooper moves to pick off the key gun teams to allow for an eventual assault on either of the objective.

~ Mike.
The Axis Deployment
The Axis Deployment
End of Part One
Stay tuned for the following couple of weeks as the battle unfold.

~ Tony & Mike.


Last Updated On Thursday, March 15, 2012 by Blake at Battlefront