"Flames of War 1918" Topic

Here is my take on the History of WWI according to Flames of War.
link

Jon
lebanon1982.blogspot.com

According to the latest FoW fluff in WI and their own little releases, the mud, machine guns, mud, barbed wire, mud, artillery and mud were highly overrated. YMMV

The Late WWI uniforms are too much like the Early WWII uniforms.

I might try the game once they make Early WWI uniforms so I can get some red pants and pickelhaubes mixed in with the tanks.

BF did put in the propaganda piece reading as though it were the German company commander convincing his troops that their tanks are superior. Like much propaganda, reality (game stats) doesn't always agree.

Anybody who's read the actual lists and the supplemental rules at any length can see that relying overmuch on tanks is a good way to lose the game. In fact, if you don't bring a lot of infantry and HMGs with supporting arty, you're going to be at disadvantage.

HMGs taken in 3s can be replaced with HMG pillboxes. These can't be taken out by ranged fire (even pinning them still allows them to fire but at reduced ROF) and must be assaulted to go away. HMGs can bombard to pin enemy infantry.

Every game starts with defender pinned due to a pre-attack bombardment. The board can be designated as having patches of mud or the entire thing being muddy or regular terrain at your discretion. You can recycle infantry platoons that are destroyed and bring them on as new platoons fully reconstituted (lose enough and you'll soon be taking Company Morale checks and losing the game).

AFVs are a points sink and are entirely optional support. Their stats aren't that impressive but they do have some perks like being hard to hit and they fire well on the move. W/o those bennies, they'd die in a turn pretty easily.

Germans have option of taking captured Brit tanks instead of the much more rare A7Vs which many folks have kittens over (the A7Vs not them taking captured Brit armament).

AFVs get damaged if they bog down and the best front armor is Armor 2. Fastest tank has 6" movement and AFVs can't move at the double. AFV max range is 24". HMGs can damage tanks and if artillery hits them in direct fire they are pretty much hosed. AT values for big guns range from 5-8.

"The Late WWI uniforms are too much like the Early WWII uniforms.

I might try the game once they make Early WWI uniforms so I can get some red pants and pickelhaubes mixed in with the tanks."

I think that was called the Franco-Prussian war….

I think that was called the Franco-Prussian war….

In 1914 well into 1915, the French were still in red pants and blue coats. They began to replace them with the 'horizon blue' in 1915. Germans wore pickelhaubes into 1916.

Not all French infantry units wore red pants, or even blue coats. in 1914. The alpine and chasseur a pied units were two examples. The elite colonial divisions also had blue pants. Several of their regiments suffered very heavy casualties, for example at Rossignol. This points to the fact that red pants were not the major factor in the casualty rates of the early weeks of the war. Blue trousers were issued as a replacement to other units almost from the start of the war. This process was well underway by 1915, prompted in no small measure by the fact that the garance colour required alizarine, a synthetic dye that had to be imported from Germany before the war.

Robert

You can see the 1915 uniform here:

with the dark blue trousers that replaced the garance (appropriately translated as 'madder red') version.

Robert

Point taken, but to say that the French in red pants or the Germans in pickelhaubes didn't happen since the Franco-Prussian War is a real stretch!

I totally agree. Thank you for re-emphasising that point. There was another discussion about this aspect as well, noting that the tactics used in 1914 were not like those of the FPW either. Storm trooper tactics (Stosstaktiken) were just a refinement of 1914, not a replacement.

Robert

With a little surprise on my part I see they skipped the battle of maneuver in 1914 and the trenches of 1915-17 straight to the breakout offensives of 1918.

Jony, on 1914, I got you covered.

Khurasan – And with great looking figs I might add!

Not so sure about Khurasan's take on the pickelhaube, they have it too pointy. I think Peter Pig and QRF get the shape rather better.

Not so sure about Khurasan's take on the pickelhaube, they have it too pointy. I think Peter Pig and QRF get the shape rather better.

The Khurasan French looked fine.

@jony

I think your take could have at least been based upon reading the Great War rules booklet where it clearly lays out how few A7V's Germany had.

The reason the German army box has two is because it is based upon the tank battle at Villers-Bretonneux.

And **all** unit descriptions in FoW are written as own side propaganda.

Honestly, this is like complaining that the whole Vietnam war wasn't air mobile based upon the initial Vietnam release being focused around the battle of Ia Drang.

10mm – 1914: link …. Sorted, but no red pants yet.

What does the blue star on the upper right sleeve of the 1915 "poilu" signify?

That's a customer service star. 5 stars are the best, meaning you can serve a pretty mean burger family deluxe meal in 0.5mS.

The star was the symbol for someone who had been trained as a scout. You can see the badge on scouts in the cavalry too.

Robert

Are the rules out yet – I can't seem to find them