"Flames of War - What books have mid-war British lists?" Topic

Hi TMP!

After playing Flames of War at Scale Creep in Chicago a couple of weeks ago, I decided to give the game a serious look.

I'd like to build an army that is (1) British, (2) mechanized or armored, (3) that is mid-war (late war would be okay, too, but I'd like to focus on mid-war first), and (4) that **specifically** uses British tanks. The British armored list in the core rulebook uses American tanks, and I'd like to avoid that if at all possible.

My problem is that there are a ton of books for Flames of War, and I'm having a hard time sorting through them to find what I need. Any suggestions or pointers on FoW books that would be helpful for someone new to the game?

Thanks in advance!

"North Africa" goes from Alamein to Italy.
It's Mid War.
In Tunisia, the British can use Churchill. So can Kingforce at Alamein.
It's also possible to use Crusader tanks.

During 'mid-war' (1942-43?) the only actual British tanks in large scale front line use were Crusaders, Valentines and Churchills (although there may have been the odd Vickers light, A9/10/13, Matildas etc knocking around too as well as fleets of useless Covenanters being used for training).

The rest came from our American chums.

I am going by Battlefront's definition of "Mid War".

The A9 trilogy are in the Early War books.
Valentines, Churchills etc are infantry tanks and are available as support for infantry companies.

Dieppe Forces

PDF link

Thanks for all the feedback. It definitely helps give me a sense of direction moving forward.

I also saw a product called *Desert Rats*, which looked like it was for a different edition of the game. Are second and third edition lists compatible?

Thanks again!

That was for 1st Edition rules.
Points costs are different over various editions of lists, if that concerns you.

I see too they are splitting periods smaller and smaller…now North Africa is two books, one for Britain one for the Germans….yeesh.

Mark, I'm sure they think they can justify that.

now North Africa is two books, one for Britain one for the Germans.

When did that happen ?

The Desert Rats book is from v1, it's waaaay out of date. As in, "superseded 10 years ago" out of date.

You will want the North Africa book(s), though it seems that there is a new set in production. The v2 North Africa book seems to be out of production now.

Thanks again for the advice and information. I've found a lot of material online, but it's not always clear how it all fits together, with different versions and editions.

I priced the North Africa book and used copies are pretty expensive, so I guess I'll wait on that.

With that in mind, I've decided to build a first list using the U.S. forces in the main rulebook; in particular, an armored rifle company or a tank company. Nothing fancy, but they look pretty flexible and mobile.

Brad

The "North Africa" book has been replaced by army lists in the "Forces" online army builder. They are mostly the same as the book but have had minimal update to V3 and are inline with the V3 MW Arsenal update.
BF have said they will be redoing all of MW to properly re-balance for V3 (and presumably add extra detail) sometime in the new few years so the current Forces lists are only "temporary".

I'd like to build an army that is (1) British, (2) mechanized or armored, (3) that is mid-war (late war would be okay, too, but I'd like to focus on mid-war first), and (4) that **specifically** uses British tanks.

That's actually a bit tough as most of the MW British tank lists use Sherman or Grant tanks. Your best choices might be the Light Armoured Squadron (8th Army) which can use Crusader II tanks, or one of the Infantry Tank Companies, which can use Valentine II, Matillda II or Churchill III tanks.

If you do prefer the Infantry Tank lists, the general opinion seems to be that they actually work better using these tanks as support for one of the Rifle Company (foot infantry) lists. Being infantry offers some rules advantages and you can field up to six infantry tanks in most lists.

I priced the North Africa book and used copies are pretty expensive, so I guess I'll wait on that.

If you are interested, Battleforce offers a digital version of the North Africa book for $23.00 USD. A bit pricy for a digital book IMO but another option.