Wednesday 10 July 2013

Flames of War Help Needed

Monday night saw a fun Flames of War evening, with my British being pitted against my FJ army.  I got my British Heavy mortar platoon painted in time and we got to try out the artillery rules / bombardments for the first time.  I'll give a few pictures, then ask some questions:

The set up late in the game.  Another epic dice role to the left
We called the game here for the Brits (me and Chris).  The germans pretty much had this left

Dusk in Normandy?

The Heavy Mortars - better photos of the British will follow
A few questions though that someone might help us with, which came out of the game:

1.Line of Sight

Perhaps a simple answer but I couldn't find it in the rules: an enemy team in a platoon being shot at is directly behind another enemy team in the same platoon.  Is it in line of sight (even though all teams in the shooting platoon cannot see it directly) such that hits are allocated against it as normal, or is it not?

Related to that - can infantry shoot through an enemy team at another enemy team from a different platoon behind it, which would be in range and line of sight but for the enemy team in front?

2. Bulletproof Cover

Can someone confirm you don't do an infantry save as well as a firepower test here?

3. Shooting at Two Platoons Mixed together

Hits are allocated to all teams within range and line of sight, even if they are from another enemy platoon that is different from the target platoon right?

Thought it would be helpful to record these questions after each game as we go so the same issues don't keep cropping up.  I do find the shooting and hit allocation stuff the most challenging aspect of the game.

Thanks for any help offered!

8 comments:

  1. Answers to your questions.

    1.Generally you can shoot through and over enemy teams. You can't shoot over friendly teams though unless they haven't moved or fired.

    2. Infantry save first and if you fail that then your opponent has to roll firepower to kill the team.

    3.You can only shoot at one Platoon at a time. Any hits you score have to be allocated to that Platoon, and cannot be allocated to teams from a non-targeted unit.

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    1. Thanks John for your reply. That helps clears up a bit of argument from the other night! Feels a bit counter-intuitive the hit allocation on point 3, but it does make it simpler. We had a few rules breaches on Monday night then, but that comes with the territory really as we get to grips with the rules.

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  2. Interesting follow up to Q1: Yes you can see and shoot through enemy teams, at those beyond, (the close ones are happy you are not shooting at them!) and those behind don't get any cover from those in front, even tanks behind tanks, as its assumed all is in state of flux and movement...

    Q3; When you shoot, your own platoon can split fire at differing targets, on a shooting team by team basis, but those shots fired by a single team, must all go against the same enemy platoon.

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    1. Q3 cont... for example your tank armed with main gun and machineguns, could NOT fire its main gun at an enemy tank platoon AND fire its machine guns at an Infantry platoon. It would have to fire all weapons at one platoon or the other.

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    2. Thanks Scott - that fleshes things out helpfully. regarding Q1, thinking of them as being in a state of flux is helpful rather than being fixed on the table. On question 3 - the rule does mean that one team from another platoon is safe from being hit, even though all the other teams around it are hit (which is a little weird), but again the point about the teams being in flux and moving on the table helps conceptualise it. These things have cropped up a bit, so it is good to get it sorted out before the next game.

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    3. I'll be the first to admit that FOW is not a simulation, its a game, played for the fun of it. Yeah sometimes some of the mechanics seems a little off, but once you get your head round the rules, game play and thence tactics, it all starts to make sense, and invariably a historic result that feels right in the end can be achieved. Think 'beer and pretzels meets WWII' ;-)

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    4. Beer and pretzels alone makes it worth it! Reminds me of the Hobbit rule book which said something like "make sure you have plenty of snacks for a game like seed-cake". Whatever seed-cake is, Ill take the beer.

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  3. Looked like a good game, glad others could answer some of your questions because I hadn't a clue!

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