Changing Lists in the Digital Age

So this post has been inspired by a little thing I noticed when I was online the other day. If you go back to my list review of Berlin (digital) you'll get this about Munchberg

'We get two lists here, the first is a CV panzer list - with IR equipment! So we have all those nachtjager nightlight rules! And thrown into that is a far better list IMHO! Your core platoons are panthers or tigers - though the tigers have no skills and no IR. the other option in a combat platoon is 4 StuG late - with one upgradable to a hetzer, and another to a 4/70.'

Well I went to fiddle with this list the other day, and it had changed! you could now take StuH42's and also Panzer 4/70's in this slot. So following that I went to the forums, and there was loads of chatter about other options which could/should be in some of these lists (look at this thread for further reading)

Team Yankee - Shilka review

So here's the first platoon which I've done for my Soviet force. I chose to do the Shilka first as it was the most tank like of what I had, as such I could have a real play with the scheme I wanted to go across my whole army

Army Collecting

Hey all

Coxer back with some more musings on wargaming. This time it's about collecting your army.

Over the last month I've painted up 

Scout platoon for my UAR 

T26's for my Finnish

Kleinpanzers, kv1's Flammpanzer for my Germans.

And to me these three all show the different ways in which you can collect an army.

That specific list. This is how I would imagine most people start 

an army - and it's how I started my Germans/French/UAR - you come up with a list, bye the list and well - that's it! It's about working it out before you bye, whether by rule of cool or a tournament researched list - you buy what you need and leave it at that - quick efficient simple. The problem I always get with this approach is that every time I do this it ends up getting changed with play testing, but if you want to copy a net list then this really works for you. 

AAR 3RTR vs FJ - No Retreat - Firestorm in the City

Myself and Winner got together for some FoW for Cameron's Firestorm Caen Campaign. We agreed that we wanted something a little more interesting than British Para's vs FJ's, so I bust out the 3RTR from overlord.

We each put together a 1500 point list and rolled to see which Beach I'd be hitting - we got Gold beach - I opted for the actual firestorm troops, where as Winner opted for the extra Points.

Berlin Digital - German List Review

Hi all coxer here, I thought having done my in depth review of the Volksgrenadier lists from Berlin digital I would take a glance over the other German lists to help those of you who want something extra for your games.

502 and 503 SS Schwere panzerkompanie

So these two lists have one thing in common - the need to spend close to 1200 points on your minimum compulsory purchases. Now that does not leave you with much for anything else - but there is something completely overpowers by the idea of FV king tigers (unless there is a pesky AoP around).

The problem will be making a list which can attack infantry - you'll need to recon and AA cover, and both lists have these (with 502 having the puma pak40!) but there is not enough left in a typical pointed game to get the things you need to dig out hoards of infantry (or even just some vets)

Early War AAR - French Escadron de reconnaissance vs Hungarian KÖNNYÜHARCKOCSIZÓ SZÁZAD - Cauldron

Hi all another ahistorical AAR this time it's EW and my French have some Hungarians to deal with!
Dave P was bringing his Hungarian tanks to the table for the second time, he rolled up cauldron.

Dice of War - Dice Review

Hello all

We recently got sent these great dice by Adam over at Dice of War. They are a great set of designs which cover a wide variety of designs, we had a selection including 6th Gerbisjager, Panzer Lehr, New Zealand, Black Bull - for a full listing and also his next wave of dice go check his Facebook page.

The dice themselves seem slightly larger than the Dice you got in the FoW tins, as they didn't quite fit in but only just - you can still have them loose in a tin and close the lid easily.

Great War Book Review

Hello All

In the tradition of Vietnam and The Six Days War, Great War is graduating from a Wargames Illustrated booklet to a full briefing book. Coming in at 74 pages and including two new armies, three new army lists, new missions and French Saint-Chamond tank (I love this tank!), Great War is now a full period with far more options. Battlefront kindle sent us a preview copy to read and it seemed a little rude not to review it and give you all a few spoilers!

First Impressions

The book looks great, what else do you expect from a Battlefront briefing book? Coming in at 76 pages the history sections in particular stands out and as normal do a good job of giving you an overview of the battles you will be fighting. There is quite a bit of reuse of the old Wargames Illustrated booklet for the German and British sections but if it ain't broke don't fix it.

The Road to Art of War Too - 3RTR - Part Three

Hello All

As this goes out to you it's three days until Art of War Too and the good news is I have finished the army! It took a bit of an effort mainly as I have also been painting up my Israelis, Cromwells and some Great War stuff you will see soon. I have also played quite a few games which I will detail here.

The last time I spoke to you I had to finish off the Shermans and I had all bit finished the breaching group, they are done and here they are.

AIW Painting Challenge Month Two - Adam's UAR

So I wrote this and it seems to have vanished into the ether hmm...

Anyway, this month I had the relatively small task of only 8 T55's this was due to me being on holiday so needed to be small - though having a large chunk this month moving house may be a challenge too...

Plastic Cromwell (BBX31) - Review

Hello All,

The guys at Battlefront very kindly sent us a box of the new plastic Cromwells to review. Despite having a massive amount of stuff on my painting table I always really wanted to collect a Cromwell force so I pushed everything off the table, not quite literally, and went to work painting them up.

Whats in the box?

In the box you get enough bits to make 5 Cromwell tanks, the tank itself comes on a single sprue, with the only extra sprue being the same commander sprue you find in the Sherman and Comet box set. The decal sheet is the same one you got in the old Cromwell box with the Firefly, unfortunately this means that the vehicle numbers don't quite work for the box. Also it's missing any Squadron markers (the coloured triangle, square or circle), not a problem for me as I have a load of left over ones from the BR946 British Decals (Late), but something to think about when you pick up the box set.

Fez's Road to Art of War Too Part 2

Hello there,
Fez here again with an update on the road to Art of War Too - apparently, this road is paved with dead T34's.

Bovingdon's T34/85 - Nice detail on the Cast Mantle

I tried another game with the FT Hero Tankovy list, as I hadn't had time to adjust the models from before, my opponent for this one Justin with his Nisei. The fact that I didn't take pictures is evident of the death he tolled out - That list is horrible! Fearless everywhere, Jumbos, time on target, it was just horrific. I got a small victory in shooting down his AoP with the IS-2 AA, but that's about it!

Volksgrenadiers - The Next Generation

Well I'm in a really good mood! It's well known that there has been one list I've been looking forwards to for, well forever - and when we chatted to Battlefront about the Berlin books and they said it would happen in the digital release - I started salivating - and now it's here! Yes Volksgrenadiers are back, and this time they're more reluctant and confident than ever before!

Just so you can catch up on why I love volksgrenadiers you can see my old articles on them here and here.

ETC Team Profiles - Team Scotland

Groundskeeper Willie: It won't last. Brothers and sisters are natural enemies. Like Englishmen and Scots! Or Welshmen and Scots! Or Japanese and Scots! Or Scots and other Scots! Damn Scots! They ruined Scotland!
As you must be aware by now the Tartan wearing, Whiskey drinking Scottish ETC team is making its way to Prague and Victory in the ETC. I thought that our readers here at Breakthrough Assault would appreciate an in depth view on our future FoW champion team.

Robin 'Too much spare time' Spence
Robin is team Scotland's fearless leader, he has more experience with different armies in FoW than any other human alive, able to take an army, sometime only play it once, analyse its strengths and weakness's before selling it on EBay. He is the brains behind team Scotland having worked out all the match ups, and already engaged in vicious psychological warfare with other teams to make them think he's a blithering idiot with no idea. In fact he is as cunning as a fox who's just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford University....

ETC Team Profiles - Team Northern Ireland

Guest post by Matt McVeigh 
After a good start, (14th in 2012) Team Northern Ireland have fallen upon hard times over the last two ETC’s, coming last in 2013 and in 2014 last but one. In 2015 a team of elite warriors has been selected to address this issue and to bring Team ‘Norn Iron’ back up the rankings (by one more spot at least hopefully!).

Team Captain – Jonny ‘Jonny 65’ Fisher

The ‘point collector’ of the team using an all-out attack tank list. Jonny will be looking for some good match ups – which is looking good since he is doing the pairings! A veteran of every ETC, Jonny is the first name on the team sheet and our best player. He’s tee-total though, which is a bit odd on this team, but then someone has to drive!

ETC Team Profiles - Team Wales

Guest post by Roger Whittam
Last year was Team Wales first time attending the ETC and surprisingly enough we managed to finish 9th overall with the best result of all the Commonwealth Nations. We were stunned and this year had a flood of offers for players for the team to pick from as a result. Even this became a nightmare as who you do and don’t take and not wanting to upset anybody. Still it was a matter of elimination and we came down to the final 6:

Infantry

Paul Frith – Red Banner Strelkovy.
Paul has the nickname “Digger” for a reason and really I should of had him in with an autodefend force but constraints of painting he opted for a solid Red Banner Strelkovy and trusting to the match up strategy to get him defending. It is true, I expect Paul to win the defensive mission, draw the fair fight games and panic in the mobile mission as he will actually have to move something!

Wins Expected 2 or 3

ETC Team Profiles - Team England

Special article by the most Special Lord C

Jez Evans (Captain)

Jez has been wargaming to a high standard for years getting to the top of DBM rankings. He enjoys wargaminng so much he has his own shop! But this is not his profession. His FoW achievements include being the UKs No.1 ranked player in the past, Currently No.3 (I think due to the site being down), at just about every event he enters Jez is in the top 3 players. He is the only other player to win the Welsh Open besides Steve Charlton, this year he shared this with Steve C. He is very consistant and one of his biggest strengths is the ability to compose a very difficult list to beat.

Flames of War World War III - Team Yankee

Hello All

Welcome to an exclusive sneak peak at the new Flames of War era. Back in February JP talked about Cold War Gone Hot as the new period for Flames of War this year, well it seems details are starting to come out and we have a name for this exciting new period. It's called Team Yankee.

Flames of War World War Three is based on the novel by Harold Coyle of the same name.

Fez's Road to Art of War Too Part 1

Hello there!

Having a busy work schedule has meant that I've not been able to get many games in or make it to the tournaments with the other guys, so I've been a bit quiet on the Flames of War front. I was then pleasantly surprised to see the announcement of 'Art of War Too', a late war weekender at the Sanctuary gaming centre! After playing so much Early war, it was interesting to go back to late.

But what to play? Jagdtigers? Nachjager Panthers? One of the other 100 lists I've got on forces of war/easy army?

To be honest, the answer came from another of my latest past times - World of Tanks Blitz!

So much bling!

The Road to Art of War Too - 3RTR - Part One

Hello All,

Art of War Too is around the corner (well September 26th and 27th) and I was struggling to work out what army to take. I played around with British Infantry, British Paras, US Armour, US Infantry, etc etc. Nothing quite seemed right.

I almost caved in and took 7th Armoured to help free up my painting time for Great War and the AIW painting challenge, when a conversation with Adam and an Interview for an upcoming Beyond The Foxholes: Eyes and Ears made the choice for me.