"Two good flames of war starter armies for under 140$?" Topic

I am building a flames of war list, (Brit armored car) and my freind says he wants to play as well. So I scrap my list, and try to build two roughly even lists on the cheap. Can someone help?

We can probably do you something

Two Open Fire starter sets will actually set you up really well. You get British Armored Squadron and German infantry force backed up with STUGs. You get all the tokens for both forces and dice, core rulebook and at the Forces book which lets you choose basic forces from Brits, US, German and Russians. You also get thick cardstock terrain for fences, woods, and buildings. It's a very nice starter set IMO.

One box gives you about 650 pts and we usually play around 1500-1750. Should be very doable but you will have some duplicates that can't normally be fielded (e.g., the Brits have a US paratrooper infantry unit and you can only take one).

Here's the contents
link

Open Fire retails for $70 USD USD.

I already got one, HATED the plastic infantry, and the tanks were fiddly. Not repeating that again. Sorry.

P.S.
Sorry

No need to be sorry.
If you don't like the set, you don't like the set.

British commando force with two platoons, 25pdr battery and three Churchills . German force with Panzer IVs panzergrenadiers, mortars.

Whichever manufacturer you use you cannot have a lot if tanks as these are relatively expensive in cash terms. So you need to buy the best tanks in period which makes them costly in points, but you only get a few.
Hence Russkies with 30 tanks are out.
Both the Brit commandos and the panzergrenadiers are high points cost so they will both be small armies and thus cheaper.
You do not need to buy tows fir the guns so that saves on cost .

THANK YOU. I really think this will work, and the armies are pretty balanced. I am probably going to not take the artillery options, as those cost green. Also, can I use Opel blitzes instead of sdkfz 251's?

I added them up, and WELL over 140$… Plus paint, basing, makes me cringe. I'll keep this in mind however. Plus… Well, my buddy can't base for his life, and giving him some panzergrenadiers (shudders).

He told me to take that back.
He can totally *winks* base

Buy and play in 10mm, should be easily do-able then.

Im planning on getting back into FOW, but ill be using 6mm GHQ microarmour.

Much cheaper than 15mm.

Steve

I completely forgot to suggest armored companies using Plastic Soldier Company. You can get a platoon for around $30 USD USD each. They also have some nice 15mm infantry in plastic.

As to basing, an easy way is to buy coarse pumice gel from arts and crafts stores (don't know if you have Michaels or Hobby Lobby but the gel is in the artist's aisle). Take a brown, green or other earth color mix of your choice and mix it with the gel. The gel can then be easily spatula-ed and brushed onto bases to fill in the spaces. It dries super durable and with a light drybrush looks as nice as the BF bases I've seen.

Plastic Soldier Company is easily half the cost of FOW.

Check out details on some of my forces using PSC kits here:

link

link

link

Yeah, I think I'll do psc, but I've heard that their barrels are flimsy… Can they survive the wear and tear of battle?

Yes they can. Mine have held up nicely.

Sorry i said panzergrenadier, its plain old grenadiers you want as then they do not have 251s and you can ignore the trucks for game purposes.

We have already made lists for Psc tanks,
(not so much lists as box- grabs)
My 15 t-34/85s
VS
His 4 tigers and some tank hunters… He is about to get destroyed…
At 12 vs front 9 on the, and I quote, "best tank in ww2"… I suspect we will need 4 cotton balls very soon!

You might be surprised. Good rolls on the Tiger Ace skills can make a world of difference!

Are you wanting to build BOTH armies for a total of $140 USD, or each army for $140 USD separately?

You mentioned you had the starter set but hated it. Do you still have any parts? Any parts that you would use? Any parts that your buddy would use?

Both armies for a total of 140$, would be 160, but S+H…
Nothing but shermans and stugs, but nothing that can be remotely be called a unit, I think 3 sherms and 2 stugs. The tanks were actually nice, but were impossible to build.

If you did Mid War, then a unit of 2 StuGs in support is good, but they don't cut it in Late War.

Unfortunately the plastic Shermans in Battlefront's FoW starter kit are the worst plastic tank kits currently out there. Their other plastic kits are MUCH improved.

PSC's plastic infantry are "thinner", proportionately closer to scale, than Battlefront's almost heroic scale 15mm plastics. PSC is also cheaper but they don't necessarily match up to what you'd need to make a platoon like the Battlefront kits do, and so you end up needing more PSC stuff to make up the difference. In the end, going with plastic PSC infantry really isn't that much cheaper than going with Battlefront's metal infantry.

I personally feel that $140 USD for two 1500~1750 point armies is unrealistic, even if that $140 USD only counts for models and not materials (paints, brushes, glue, flock, etc). You both might be better off shooting for 700~1250 points and add onto your forces in the future.

PSC vehicles are cheaper than Battlefront. I have a lot of the various PSC kits myself as well as their Battlefront counterparts. The Battlefront kits are the superior product, simple as that. I understand money is a big factor, as it was for me, but I regret it and plan to replace my PSC kits with Battlefront models.

You are correct that for some reason gun teams seam to be priced very expensively.

For other wallet friendly alternative sources for models, there is Old Glory & A&A Minis!

A&A minis are "collectible miniatures" which means their prices can vary wildly. An A&A King Tiger will cost you more than a Battlefront one, but you can pick up the "crappy" A&A units nobody likes for a extremely cheap. Things like light tanks and armored cars or transports can still be found in the singles section of many toy and gaming store sites or on e-bay. You might even find your Brit armored cars!

Old Glory models are still going for about $15 USD for 3. They are cheap, but I personally hate them. In length and width they aren't to bad, but for some reason all Old Glory models look "squashed" to me: An M3 half-track from old glory only comes up to the shoulders of a Battlefront infantry figure. Some of their molds have also not aged well and the flash and deformation is particularly bad. Still, they are an option for the cash strapped gamer.

Generally speaking, it sounds like you are committed to starting a FoW force and your buddy is interested enough to play if you do. Rather than buying yourself and him an army, trying to cut all the corners you can, I'd get what you want but maybe scale it back some to like 1000 points and buy yourself and Ops Force your buddy would like to play as well. That way you end up with two armies, both an Axis and Allied force, but they are what YOU want. Otherwise your may find your friend just isn't as interested and now you are stuck with two armies that you just aren't as happy with, so your own interest wanes and you slip out away from the game.

I hve a number of the Plastic Soldier Company tanks and was worried about the gun barrels. I just replaced them with brass rod and am happy with the result.