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I'm tempted to play Romanian so I can play both sides, but I can't get Old Glory infantry for them. I don't suppose Russians can do in a pinch with the right paint job?
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Dec 23, 2011 13:30
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Serotonin posted:Play I ain't been shot Mum. Much better. Convert all your local FOW players. It's for the greater good. I actually picked up the rules, and plan to basically use the Romanians for both systems. Unfortunately I Ain't been shot Mum is a bit loosey-goosey with some of the rules as written, not as well-codified as a Flames of War, even though it has some neatness. Maybe i'm spoiled by games like FoW and Warmachine or something.
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Dec 23, 2011 13:45
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Colonial Air Force posted:Absolutely. The only problem with FoW bases in IABSM is that you'll need to keep some chips around to count individual casualties since the bases for FoW are 3-4 men, and IABSM counts the number of men in a section for many things. It also makes it more difficult to spread an infantry section out but you probably want to keep them together just to keep the game manageable.
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Dec 23, 2011 15:16
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Air support now automatically ranges in on units in the open, but only gets one chance to range in on units that are concealed. Also, MG teams got a huge buff, ROF 2 when pinned. Get your panzergrenadiers and EW French ready.
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Jan 10, 2012 02:50
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I basically got my information from an interview on a podcast.
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Jan 10, 2012 15:32
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Numlock posted:Don't forget they have an extra point of front armor, which in flames of war makes a ton of difference in how hard they are to kill. Yeah, with all the AT8/9 guns that are available to the Soviets/Romanians that extra point of front armor is really valuable.
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Jan 12, 2012 05:53
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Arquinsiel posted:IIRC the StuG III has the same front armour as the Pz IV exactly, but it's been a while since I checked. In game the stug has an additional point of FA.
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Jan 12, 2012 18:35
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Arquinsiel posted:There's really no reason not to just take lots of StuGs then I guess. Yeah, they made the Panzer IV cheaper for that reason, but it's not a lot cheaper. It's still mostly better to take StuGs. It would be nice if turretless vehicles had a penalty in assaults or something.
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Jan 13, 2012 00:03
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They also have top armor 2 which makes infantry assaults by non-sappers unprofitable against them.
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Jan 30, 2012 16:31
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YF19pilot posted:You "could" but you "shouldn't" and I believe it's highly discouraged, because you end up with things like German Panzer IIs going up against 76mm Shermans, 155mm Bunker Busters and M18s, and that's never fun. Not to mention points cost, etc. Yeah, units are costed against similar units during the time period. I can get Romanian 38ts for 35 points each in LW but german 38ts cost 87 each in EW.
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Feb 9, 2012 00:35
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I'm going to be the only Romanian player in West Virginia. This is also a country that fought on both sides and in all periods(hopefully they get EW lists in the barbarossa book).
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Feb 9, 2012 17:57
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Karandras posted:Ah right, of course. I guess a 1st Armoured Division Polish list would be kinda fun. As a general rule, infantry lists are inferior to armor lists because tanks are a better use of points than infantry except in certain circumstances, but infantry units have a lot of support options they can take since their core is dirt cheap(aside from battalion strength infantry). That being said, infantry will always defend against armor, and there are some tricks that the defenders have in the game. Also, almost every infantry company/battalion has access to armor anyway, so they're not that disadvantaged.
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Feb 20, 2012 05:46
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Numlock posted:Why do they care? Tanks can't be pinned is the big one, that and they can move far and shoot their machine guns at max ROF, more-so than infantry can. Infantry teams have their advantages, but Flames is ultimately a tank game.
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Feb 20, 2012 06:16
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Colonial Air Force posted:Tanks can't go to ground or hide behind bullet-proof cover, either. Well, terrain isn't universally a good thing for infantry, because they rely on anti-tank guns to get it done, which need long sight lines more than tanks because their mobility is fairly poor. I'm not saying tanks are unbeatable, I just think tanks are point for point a better investment than infantry.
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Feb 20, 2012 13:54
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I was tempted to run a Romanian Tancurii company, and then I realized, I can take every possible support platoon at 1750pts, but even when I do, I still won't have anything better than AT10 except for air support, and the German players at the shop really do like their king tigers, and the soviet player likes IS-2s.
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Apr 3, 2012 11:45
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LintMan posted:Romanians have some great options to kill tanks. Going through the front armour is a bit pointless vs the German big cats. Oh yeah, the Romanians have plenty of strengths, but they're just not in the tancurii platoons in my opinion. The motorizata and puscasi company/battalions are quite a bit better and have more to offer. Also, the R-2 is a lot of fun but a maximum of 13 (light) tanks makes me sad in LW. Pioneers are nice, but about the only way they'll actually get in to take swipes at heavy tanks is if you ambush them to get just within sneak up range, and you still have to roll on the table right when you deploy them so they might be reluctant and fail their tank terror roll. I do think a list is kind of anemic in terms of AT ability if they're down to dropping templates as their only heavy anti-tank ability, or the single panzerfaust that a platoon can get(though it's handy for sure). Motorized companies can make a nice defensive AT group by mixing in the HQ panzershrecks, but tancurii can't do it. Still, I decided to run motorizata and build toward puscasi because they have some great options in those, like panzergrenadier-type units supported by a tankovy company, the Resita guns have a nice AT13 though they don't stack up to other countries' heavy guns, and puscasi has a 9-gun platoon of German 50mm guns avaiable to them, which can be murder as an ambush.
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Apr 3, 2012 13:21
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humannature posted:Alright, so I picked up Red Bear and a box of T-34/85's today. I think it's the old box because it was about 13 dollars less than what the box on the flames of war site lists and the box contents are different. I've been looking through the lists and I'm a bit overwhelmed. Is there anywhere I can find a good run down on how to make a balanced list? For instance, how important are AA guns vs. actual air support? Are the T-34/85s going to have enough stopping power to bring down the heavier German tanks or do I need to grab some assault guns? Congratulations! You've picked the Soviet list least likely to smack your wallet around, well, the start of one, anyway. T-34/85s can be deployed in two ways, basically, you either take them as five tanks as part of a 10-tank T-34/76 platoon, or you can take then as all 85s in a 10-tank platoon. The all 85 list is actually more economical points-wise. T-34/85s are AT12 which is adequate against anything short of Panthers and King Tigers. If you have 20 of them, which you probably will in an actual tank company, you could probably get away without heavy AT. If you're not, you'll probably want to get SU-100s or ISU-122s, depending on how much you want to shell out. In a typical list, the absolute minimum is basically tanks and some kind of recon. Now, with the Soviets you have the unique ability to have enough tanks to assault effectively, especially if you pay for tank escorts, but you may want some infantry to help out in assaults. The Soviets also have the best medium assault gun in the game for its price, the plain old SU-122 which will demolish any infantry it hits with its main gun. Heavy mortars are also a good value because they range in better than others, have solid FP, and 6 guns gives you re-rolls to hit on a normal template, very helpful for trained guns. Air support got better, and sometimes when you have an odd platoon situation, you'll want to take a cheap AA platoon to make it even, since being at an even number of platoons makes your company more resilient, as well as helping you in missions with reserves. Soviet air support is rather pricey because they decided to give you all the options in one plane, though.
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May 8, 2012 03:09
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humannature posted:Thanks for the advice! How big a difference is confident vs. fearless going to be? I'm not sure if I should go for guards or just red army. I know I've got my compulsory stuff, HQ tank, 2 tank units of at least 5 tanks, but after that I should grab some AA, some recon, and maybe some infantry? Are tank riders any good? Tank riders are basically a lower stand-count SMG infantry company, if you need something with which to assault. You can upgrade your tanks with tankodesantniki to get extra hits for your assaults if you want to, though it's a pricey upgrade at 10 points a tank. You can choose between armored car recon and spetznaz, depending on whether you want more, faster lightly armored vehicles or a low stand-count recon troop that can infiltrate your tanks in closer. Infiltrating is a somewhat risky move, but it can really affect your opponent's deployment with the threat. I would suggest, if you're looking to expand to a 1500 tank battalion, that you look to max out your tank companies at 10 vehicles, since that's the strength of Soviet tanks and you'll make the best use of your bulk discount in points. Also, for heavy AT purposes, all of your options are rather hit-or-miss. Air power has a tendency to not come in when you need it, and the IS-2, SU-100, and ISU-122 all have ROF 1 so you're really dependent on the dice love. They're more threat than reality for opposing tanks, but you still need them. Unlike the Americans and Brits, you can't rely on mid-tier AT13/14 to help. If you're looking to go in another direction, though, there are a lot of formations in Red Bear that can use tanks in support, from Rota Razvedki if you want low model-count mechanized infantry to motostrelkovy if you want to have virtually anything you might want, with blob infantry. The Soviet tanks are relatively self-sufficient in their large companies so they can go with anything, and almost every list can take them.
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May 8, 2012 12:45
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Fearless is not that important with tanks, honestly. You do want to use a big, even number with your tankovy companies. With no infantry, you're going to be relying on them to carry your assaults home.
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May 11, 2012 02:48
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The Gate posted:So, our local crowd is getting into FoW, and I'm going to follow. I want to play Soviets so I can speak in a bad Russian accent the whole game, plus they get some stupidly big nasty guns and lots of artillery. But I can't decide what to collect. I like some of the tanks, but I don't really want to run a tank company, thinking something a little more combined arms. The Rota Razvedki motorized recon unit kinda caught my eye as being kinda cool, since as I understand it recon units can run away when shot at. On the other hand, I don't want to buy something that's going to be really awkward to learn to play. Any tips on cool Soviet lists? Rota Razvedki is interesting, but you do have to buy a lot of transports if you want them. The razvedki platoons are not recce platoons, unfortunately, but small platoons have an advantage in the new rules with respect to efficiency. You can get virtually anything you want to support Rota, though. The other option for a force that can take almost anything is motostrelk, which takes away the pesky always attack but forces you to take some SMG platoons. Sometimes always attack takes away some uncertainty, though. A lot of guys take forward detachments because it lets you take a tank and cheap tank-rider company as required platoons, but you're forced to take guards support. Do beware, Soviets are kind of expensive to play if you want to make use of their huge companies compared to everyone else.
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May 11, 2012 03:16
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humannature posted:I could switch that to red army and get 3 tanks and an extra armored car. Just depends on how my wallet is doing. How do you deal with heavier German armor in a soviet medium tank list? I imagine panthers are going to be a pain. Panthers pretty much hard counter medium armor in this game, but if you're just up against a few you can always try to get that juicy side armor. Tigers are relatively easy, and not a big deal in LW. You should have enough tanks to survive and get into the flanks of opposing tanks, but it's dicey, and not your list's strength. You'll do well against other medium tank and infantry lists, though. Armored rifles might give you trouble.
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May 11, 2012 04:24
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Panthers cost as much as heavy tanks but lack their valuable side armor and top armor. They are very inefficient against infantry, and without the numbers to reach a sort of 'critical mass' they can still be swamped and flanked by tanks. The new BGG Americans now even have the firepower to go at them frontally, though easy 8s start to run toward Panther prices.
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May 11, 2012 11:51
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Russian TDs aren't as good as Americans. You choose between ROF2 AT12 or ROF1 AT15/16, and they all have Hen and Chicks which provides a double penalty for moving and shooting with ROF1 weapons.
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May 11, 2012 15:46
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The Gate posted:I guess that's a reason to run the list from the V3 Forces book. The Guards Heavy Assault Gun and Heavy Tanks (ISU's and IS's basically) no longer have Hen and Chick. Yeah, that's true. I didn't really think about the guards heavy ISUs and I read Red Bear for some inspiration. I think KV-85s could actually be interesting because of their low price for heavy tanks and no hen and chicks.
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May 12, 2012 01:01
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humannature posted:How would a Soviet Heavy Assault gun list work anyway? It seems like ROF 1 would really hurt, even without hen and chicks. The infantry options in the list seem nice to my untrained eye, but the guns themselves seem like they'd be really hit or miss. I'm not so sure myself, honestly, the heavy guns are way too expensive. The light list is more viable because the SU-122 is the ultimate economical dug-in infantry destruction platform. HBG and a 2+ firepower rating means almost every hit kills infantry. Volley fire helps to hit. They also have a huge recon platoon to help with that. However, the light list really needs AT support and probably something with which to carry on an assault. Maybe a maxed out recon platoon will do for that purpose.
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May 12, 2012 02:34
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Colonial Air Force posted:Except they did update all the points values in new books. That's why Red Bear exists and why there's points values in the rulebook trilogy. BF pretty much said that they're fine with the Soviet tank costs in MW because they were a bit expensive before, so with the new H&C rules, they're just right.
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Jul 1, 2012 13:10
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YF19pilot posted:I think this guy's argument was the new Hen & Chicks makes his Russian tanks worse, and therefor they're even more expensive than they should be. I don't really deal with Russians so I'm not sure how much of that is true, but I also don't think it matters - new rules are new rules and anyone who might come that is new to the game won't know the old rules and can get screwed by someone like this. New Hen & Chicks is better for tanks that want to move, and worse for tanks that don't, for what that's worth. I think, since most Soviet tanks want to go fast and get up the board, the new hen and chicks is better, but perhaps in mid war, since their guns are still good enough to stand and shoot, they might prefer the old rules, where you can move 6" and still shoot without the +1 to hit.. Of course if you move further you can't shoot at all under the old rules. With the new rules it's +1 to hit if you move at all, but you can still shoot after moving more than 6". He's being a douchenozzle, though, so you really should boot him, or at least warn him about it. You can't have that kind of person there.
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Jul 1, 2012 13:38
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YF19pilot posted:I'll have to wait untill my next payday to start ordering for now. I just couldn't believe how brazen he was about the whole deal. Don't even bother to see if you can order it (Scale Creep is the US supplier, apparently), just gives me a line of poo poo like a used car salesman. IS-85s don't have ROF2 on the move. They have ROF2, yes, but not stabilizers. What Soviet heavy tanks in LW don't have is hen and chicks.
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Jul 15, 2012 13:48
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LintMan posted:Or they enjoy painting a certain force, enjoy the history of a particular unit or even enjoy the challenge of playing a sub optimal force. Yeah, I run a non-Soviet infantry horde list, so I don't run the best tournament stuff but it works anyway, i've won all my games that i've played with it, though I think it has to do with my opponents' insistence on playing FV panzergrenadier lists out of old books. I do think scenario type play is a lot of fun, but also enjoy list building? I can see both sides of it. One of the advantages of systems that are more pick-up based is that I can take my one army and play it against a variety of stuff. Romanians vs Americans is always fun.
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Jul 19, 2012 12:37
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R.S. Gumby posted:I don't even play FoW, but dammit, I'm really tempted by that box. Haven't seen the price yet though. I'd love to paint some WWII stuff (even if it's Russians I really want). The box is $70 in the US, so, going halfsies on two boxes pretty much gets all the shermans a brit(and probably american) will ever need, a good start to a US airborne force, and plenty of Germans for one of the more generic forces.
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Sep 1, 2012 20:39
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Beardless posted:Got a question that's really only slightly related, but I figure if anyone's gonna know this it's one of you guys. Is there a good way to pronounce the acronym Sd.Kfz. (As in an Sd.Kfz. 251 half-track for example)? I've always heard it in my head as Skid-fizz, which I know probably isn't right, and gently caress saying Sonderkraftfahrzeug. I just say, 251 if I have to or, "those german half-tracks".
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Sep 2, 2012 15:18
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Arquinsiel posted:Doesn't the German end up with two armies in that scenario? Just a pair of the HQs really. Everything else can be used in one list or the other. 6 stugs and 4 paks is a good German core, along with all the infantry. In fact, that starter box is basically the cheapest way to get battlefront Shermans even if you get only $20 selling the rest of the box. PSC's still cheaper and better quality, though.
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Dec 17, 2012 04:27
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Arquinsiel posted:I don't really need it, but I do need it... You can sub in some of the infantry as pioneers/recon so you can still make use of them.
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Dec 18, 2012 15:27
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I got in two games of Bolt Action, which actually played better than I thought, though 330 point games tend to swing on the dice fairly hard. I had a lot of fun with it.
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Jan 14, 2013 18:16
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If you ignore the armored, mechanized, cavalry, and artillery forces of all stripes, yeah, the French soldier of 1940 was not much different from that of 1919. Also the small arms bit is not true, either. They had a new rifle(for front-line troops, anyway), a new light machine gun, and sub machine guns.
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Feb 7, 2013 15:12
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Colonial Air Force posted:I have two entire Saga forces from WGF, so don't think I hate them outright or anything, but there's absolutely no comparison between them and Perry miniatures. WGF is cheap, in every definition of that word. The models have awkward poses, the heads suck to put on (the necks are universally too long), and it's really just... cheap. I do hear their 28mm WW2 Germans are actually fairly similar to everyone else's while being half the price, and their Americans are decent, too, though people sperg out over their packs.
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Feb 7, 2013 15:39
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Colonial Air Force posted:Are those Chauseur helmets!? Most ww2 armies used rifles that were used in ww1.
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Feb 7, 2013 15:59
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Torabi posted:Me and a buddy of mine feel like trying Flames of War. Is the Open Fire box a good starter set? Seems to include just about everything you need. Open fire is a pretty good starter set, if you like the forces involved(British Armor, American Paras, or German infantry). It has better value than a lot of the BF packs themselves. However, you can't mix units from different periods because the periods operate on different point scales. Though the Shermans in Open Fire are a good value for battlefront models, there are cheaper Shermans and Stugs available from other companies. One of the advantages of historicals is being able to shop around, so you'll find that aside from esoteric stuff, you can find miniatures cheaper from other companies.
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Feb 28, 2013 23:19
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Torabi posted:What can I exactly build with one of these boxes? You can pretty much use any infantry for any era for the Germans, and that will make you about 20+ stands of infantry, which is about what any army will need anyway. While the game has different kinds of infantry teams, since almost all platoons consist of the same type of infantry, you don't need to model MG, Rifle/MG, and Rifle teams seperately.
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Mar 2, 2013 21:59
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El Estrago Bonito posted:The T34 option mainly serves to be able to convert your HMG slots into more AT guns in the event that you face things like huge Tank companies against whom HMG's will be useless. I personally think they dont serve much use outside of really high point games. Not that T34 turrets are bad or anything, its just for the points you put into them you're encroaching on the points cost of actual artillery, AT guns or tanks. The bigger problem with the MG-artillery battalions is that most of the AT guns aren't very good in a late war setting. If you come up against anything with FA7 or up you'll pretty much have trouble dealing with it unless they decide to assault in your DF bubble. If you're going to run an infantry company, you need antitank that is AT12+ or a bazooka(which is mostly for assault purposes), whereas with a tank company you might be able to finesse normal medium tanks with like AT9-10 with mobility.
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Mar 15, 2013 13:07
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