Winner's Recent Mad Behaviour

Mornin' all, Winner Dave at your service.

Driving to work has given me more time for reflection, "Damn, I'm hot", "Adam's awful" and "I wish I'd had breakfast" are among some of my favourites.  I also end up thinking about painting...a lot!

Coupled to this I rarely manage to listen to the interviews Ben manages to do before we record, so I end up listening to them at the same time as you guys.  So, I sat down to do some painting (Soviet Infantry) and after listening to "News from the Front" I remembered there were a couple of interviews I needed to listen to.  As I was listening, diligently applying Black Grey to the boots of my infantry, I heard Evan say something along the lines of "I hate having to do the same thing over," and that struck a chord with me.  Now I don't know about you, but I got the feeling Evan may have experienced that scenario in a recent time frame to the interview and he needed to get that off his chest.

The Infamous FJs...just begging to be re-based

Like Evan, I hate having to do the same thing a second time and currently it seems this can be extended to I hate having to paint another couple of armies so I can play early war and mid war again. I wouldn't mind if I already had armies for those periods and I was simply extending them or painting new armies as a slow burn project, but because I'd made them a necessity, it just felt like work.

Cossacks in Flames of War

Hello All

Today we have a guest post from Christian - a Beyond the Foxholes fan all the way from Germany! I have been chatting to him about Cossacks, an army I keep almost collecting. He sent me his thoughts on the army and I thought they were too goo not to post on here. Anyway thats enough from me, here's Christian.

Here are my ideas and experiences concerning Soviet Cavalry, I will first go over the rules first and then move onto the individual lists in the different eras. The disadvantages, most of these are actually of no concern, and advantages of the Cavalry rules:

Review SBX33 Strelkovy Battalion (Plastic)

Morning all, Winner Dave here with a review of the new plastic Strelkovy Battalion.

This is my first box of plastic infantry so, I was expecting great things from what I'd read of other plastic infantry reviews.

Let's see what we get, inside the box are 6 sprues, and each sprue has 24 dudes in total or 25 bits as the HMG gunner comes in two halves.  So in total you get 144 soldiers, which is enough to make 4 platoons of 7 stands, 3 HMG bases and a command stand or 2.

Giving Up Infantry For Lent!

Welcome to the first ever ramble by Jersey, normally the sort of post Adam brings to the blog, looking at branching out away from the infantry lists and platoons that dominated my tactics and games over my first year in the hobby. This was written before Battlefront explained their schedule for 2015... the project I propose in this blog will be started after Brown Water Navy, which I'm very excited about but hopefully the sentiment is of use for those of you stuck in a "rut" with an army which you want to escape!

After playing Flames of War for a year, I’ve collected and finished painting two armies; a huge Italian infantry army with tanks and guns for three periods and a PAVN Local Forces Company for Vietnam games. At the start of the year I set myself a challenge in the form of New Year’s resolutions to finish companies from four different time periods and four different company types and if possible, use them at events. The last few units of PAVN were finished after this promise so count as Infantry and Vietnam time periods… now I just need something new!

Some Mid War Italians... where it all started.

Rescuing the Zvezda BA-10

First off let me say, there is a good chance this post will never see the light of day, so if you're reading this then a small miracle has occurred.

Intro
Back in my Mixed Tankovy days, I ran 5 BA10s.  As a unit they were awesome, I had to learn to use them as recce, so only shooting if they relatively safe and I didn't need to remove gtg.  However, there were times, when their AT7 was lethal and I had been able to advance them deep into enemy territory thanks to cautious movement.  These guys are fantastic flankers, they're fast and don't suffer Hen and Chicks, combine that with a pre-game recce move and you can find yourself thinking "damn, wish I had more of these fellas!"

Enter mixed tankovy 2.0.  I'm starting with the maximum BA10s I can take.  That's 1 platoon of 5 and 1 platoon of 10.  Unfortunately I'm not made of money, battlefront sell these in blisters of 1, so that's getting on for £100...not tempting.  Skytrex also make BA10s and the model looks lovely, but again I'm not parting with £7 per model.  So that brought me back to the Zvezda offering and what is possibly the worst model I have ever made...24 parts that send shivers down the spine.  If you haven't experienced it it's hideous.  When I sold Mixed Tankovy 1.0, I only charged the same as they had cost me, I was that embarrassed of the model.

So, what the hell am I doing with 15 fresh boxes of them?

Project Finland Epilogue - Panssari Kompanie

Hi all, 

One of the common questions which I got asked whilst painting my Finns was 'what do you think of the Panssari'. Honestly never thought about it, but then there was the EW sale, and I needed 2 blisters, so I ended up getting some T-28's...

So what is it about the Finnish panassari that is so appealing - obsolete fearless veteran tanks. I'll be honest I'm normally against fearless tanks on principle, and I prefer a few quality tanks over lots of chaff - but somehow with the Finns it works... Ok it kinda works in LW, but in MW...

So let's look at the two versions quickly

Winner Dave's DShk Trucks

Hey Guys

These guys represent the culmination of my Desperate Measures Tankovy list, which I started at the beginning of this year for the Corrivalry tournament.  Yes, it really does take me this long to paint an army.

I promise there's a driver in there, which I painted up really nicely, but you can't seem him...he could be all flat brown for anyone will ever know...sigh :)

AAR - Mid War - Mixed Tankovy Vs Panzer Pioneers - Dust

Hello All  I'm back again with another AAR with my Mixed Tankovy building up to Reading Warfare, this time I was playing Robin. As Robin is doing Early War at Reading he asked me what I waned to play against, I said "take something my Mixed Tankovy will struggle against". So I got to Robin's and found I was playing against Panzer Pioneers again... but the list was different (no Brummbars! But Panthers...).  We rolled up Dust Up, I was going to ask to re roll it as I had just played the same mission against KP last time out (see the AAR here), but I then thought it would be good to see if I had learned anything from my last game. Hopefully I learnt something.

Mixed Tankovy HQ KV-1e 6 KV-1e 10 Matilda CS 8 Stuarts + AAMGs 4 BA-64 Limited Seagull

Panzer Pioneers HQ + Panzerknackers Full Pioneer Platoon + Panzerknacker Full Pioneer Platoon + Panzerknacker 3 Pak 40s 1 Looted KV-1e (CT) 2 Panthers 3 Nebs

Project Finland – Mission Complete

Hi all Coxer here,

Wow, that’s another huge project completed. It’s been 6 months since my first post for this project went live, though with the planning which goes into it, the painting which normally starts before posts go live etc – I’ve been working on the army since January of this year

The aim was always to get an army which could be played in multiple time periods(EW/MW/LW) – and not only have I done that but I’ve also taken them to tournaments in three different time periods too, EW – Welsh open, MW – Breakthrough Assault MW one Day, and LW – Breakthrough Assault LW one day. Not too bad I think. I will admit though due to having lots of other lists and armies I’ve not played them in as many normal games as I’d have liked – in fact I’m going to take a little FoW painting break so I can catch up with playing these guys and also some of the other lists I have yet to play.

AAR - Mid War - Mixed Tankovy vs German Pioneers - Dust Up

It's been a while since I have posted up an AAR and with the combination that I haven't done an AAR with Kev "The Silver Fox" Perry yet and Reading Warfare around the corner it seemed like a good time to do another one.  I rocked up at KP's place and we rolled up Dust Up, one of my favourite missions. I had played against KP's army at the Breakthrough Assault MW One Dayer with my Armoured Rilfes and came off worst for it (Although I did give KP a few headaches!) so I was out for revenge.  Note:- This was to be my first game with the Mixed Tankovy and spoiler alert I made a few mistakes, but that's why you practice so you know what to do when your at the tournament.

Motorised Pioneer Company HQ Full Pioneer Platoon + Panzer Knacker Full Pioneer Platoon + Panzer Knacker Heavy Platoon - 2x Mortars + 2x HMGs 4 Pak 38s 4 Brummbärs 1 Looted KV-1e 2 8-Rads 3 Nebs

Mixed Tankovy 1 HQ KV-1e 6 KV-1es 10 Matilda CS 8 Stuarts + AAmgs 4 BA-64s Limted I-153

Fez's First Frothing Foray on BTA - BTA Mid War One Dayer AAR

Hello all!
Fez-man here, excited to join the Breakthrough Assault team. I've been playing Flames of War tournaments for just over a year, but have been a hobbyist for many more, working for Games Workshop for a few years, and I'm also Chairman of the Guildford Games Club.

For my first post, I'll be looking at the recent Breakthrough Assault One Dayer - Mid War, that I attended with my British Infantry Tank Company.

First, a quick look at the Venue, LvlUp Gaming in Bournemouth.

Not the largest selection, but at least its a start!

KV-1e (SU082) & KV-2 (SU081) Re-sculpts Review

Hello All

As part of the Early War Sale I ordered six KV-1e's (SU082) and two KV-2's (SU081) for my Mid War Soviets (well they could be used in Early War but those nine tanks would be something like 4,000 points by themselves!). I was quite surprised that when I received my KV's they were the new re-sculpted version!

I didn't know what to expect from the re-sculpts, I figured it would just be adding some new tools or something and maybe refining a few details of the model. Man I was wrong!

Project Finland - Finnish T-34

Hi all

Coxer here with some T-34's for my Finn's. Firstly These are the new Battlefront T-34's and just WOW!!! These models were a real pleasure to put together, I was properly impressed by the quality of the kit, and the details on it. The options for both the 76 and 85 were really appreciated too. But enough of the build quality, lets look at the painting of these - as I've refined this since I started way back with the T-26.

I started by basing the model black, I'm a big fan of this as opposed to grey for tanks, as it gives it depth I think.

Project Finland : Mid War Fun & Madness

Hi all welcome to the third part of my Finnish list discussions - this time Midwar! (Early and Late war are here.)

I'm going to be honest this post has been rewritten perhaps three times - because trying to come up with a Finnish list for Mid War is tough! I'm once again sticking with Jääkärikomppania, and once again I'm FV. I'm planning this list for the next BA one day event, and Reading Warfare!

So where am I going to start, well once again lets go with the compulsory choices Jääkäri platoons, unlike late war I don't think I have the points for lots of upgrades, except of course Torni for one platoon and a close defense team for the other.

I'm thinking that I'm going to be defensive quite a lot due to the overwhelming number of tankovy lists I've previously played in MW, as such I'm going a little different, I want big platoons on the board with everything. As such I'm going to next go for the Anti Tank Rifle Platoon, but going to make them all Close defense teams and I can combat attach them out.

Finnish BA-10 Armoured Cars

Hi all

just another little update for my Finn’s.

These little beauties are some Zvezda BA-10 armoured cars, they’re the only wheeled reconnaissance option available to the Finn’s and are useable in Mid and Late war.

The Definition of Madness (US Armoured Rifles Painting Challenge)

Hello All

From the title you may have guessed I'm doing another painting challenge. As I start typing this it's the morning on the 30th June and I'm planning on painting an Armoured Rifle Company for Devizes Attack 2014 on the 19th/20th July. As I have no painted models for the army yet that's 19 days to paint 1750pts of Mid War US! I do have two weeks off during the 19 days so I do hopefully have the spare time to be able to hopefully do it, but just to add a little extra pain to the whole thing I'm also painting up a few extra bits so I can do the army for Late War and as a standard infantry company.

Now you may ask why I would want to do this mad challenge, well that's not an easy answer. I have always wanted to do US Armoured Rifles as I love the platoons being so big and being almost a complete combined arms force in themselves. Add to that I have come to the painful conclusion that I'm an infantry player and not a tank commander, I felt I needed a new army. The final reason was I wanted a reason to use the new plastic Armoured Rifles as they looked great on the Battlefront Website (the guy how painted them shuld have his hands cut off).

Red Army Tankovy Conscript T34 Army Tactics

Today we have a guest post from Robin Spence. Robin has been playing Soviet tanks for almost a decade and he's forgotten more about playing Soviet tanks than I will ever know! So Robin take it away.

Hi All

Having used these chaps for a number of years I thought I would write down my thoughts on their use. Hopefully it may help somebody who is thinking of running them.

The conscript Red Army Mid War T34 army from Eastern Front, my favourite army of the war. Totally unsubtle. Lots of Rusting hulks grinding the Axis scum under their tracks LOL Gaming the army under Flames of War is great fun.

AAR - Mid War - Tankovy vs Panzer Company - Pincer

Hello All  Having mostly played LW for the last couple of years myself and Adam thought it would be nice to play some MW. I had just finished my Battlefront T-34's for the Art of War and wanted to use them. Adam wanted to try out Panzer IV's when they are one of the best tanks on the battlefield.  I got to Adam's and we rolled up Pincer both of us hadn't played Pincer for a while so it was a nice change and Adam won the dice off to attack, which he wasn't to happy with (he didn't like the idea of 10 Ambushing T-34's!). Note:- We did not use the Winter terrain rules for this game, we just wanted the look of the winter terrain and not to slow down the game.

Panzer Company HQ - 2 Panzer IV's 3 Panzer IV H and 1 Panzer III M 3 Panzer IV H and 1 Panzer III M 2 8 Rads 3 Nebs

Tankovy - Fearless Conscripts HQ T-34 7 T-34/76 and 3 T-34/57 7 T-34/76 and 3 T-34/57 10 T-60 (today being played by the T-70s) 4 BA-64 Limited I-153

The Road to The Art of War - More Soviets!

Hello All

In a little over two weeks I'll be going to The Art of War Late War Tournament. After my poor showing at Corrivalry the Matilda Horde was out and instead I decided to use a T-34/76 tank horde using Desperate Measures. Great I thought, little to no painting needed for the tournament, a rare thing for me and tournaments as I like to change lists to keep things fresh which normally means a lot of painting. But then in an epiphany/moment of madness I decided to sell all my PSC T-34's and buy the new plastic Battlefront T-34's.

This seemed to make sense as the PSC T-34's are a bit smaller than the BF models and did look a little small petite next to each other, add to that I picked up two boxes of the plastic SU-Cat Killers and found them to be a dream to build and paint it seemed like a no brainer. So off to Ebay my old T-34's went and a few days late 4 boxes of more T-34's turned up and the building began.

Brighton: Blood in the Snow AAR

I hope you all enjoy this AAR from the Brighton event!

As far as i'm concerned this was a brilliant event and the reason everyone should attend Flames of War events! (Especially themed ones!) Sorry about some of the pics, it was dark and I was playing games whilst taking them!

The games room at the Old King and Queen with accidental glare from every light source!

At the end of March 2014 I attended, Brighton: Blood in the Snow. A mid-war eastern front event that was perfect for my first Flames of War army. This blog is a report not only of how I got on but also how good the event was… which was really well run, lots of fun and very friendly and I had some brilliant games!