Hi guys. Truly great game from you both. For the US forces, great game strategy. A layered defence is always in FoW, a good game plan. Let the other guy wear himself down, breaking through the layers. Very good placement of the 3 " guns . It really slowed his advance down, which is an important factor in a layered defence. Did you know that the 3" gun crews are the same crew from the tank destroyers, and they were trained as specialists in hand to hand assaults. With the tank destroyers, I deploy either M20 security sections or M8 Greyhound recon patrols. At 3 to 5 points per unit is very cheap and are both scouts. I use the MGs to deal with infantry units and the 37mm guns of the M8 to deal with half tracks. The 60mm mortar is great for pinning infantry. These units I use to support the tank destroyers or as independent fire brigades to deal with infantry units. For the German forces, firstly, apologise to your dice and offer compensation for your transgressions. So far, Bulge games have not been kind to you. But you are producing very historical outcomes. By this stage of the war, German pushes tend to get to the final objective, only to not have the units to take it. When facing a layered defence, you need a reserve force that you have kept out of action to make the break out. Flames of War are different from other games in that firing at everything you can will lose the game for you. It actually dilutes your firepower in a game where you must use the weight of firepower. Movement is your most offensive weapon. It is better to get closer or around the cover they are using, so you're hitting on 3 or 4s instead of 5 or 6s, even if your rate of fire drops. 4 shots that will probably hit is far better than 8 shots that might hit. With planning my forces, I start with the last turn and a small force to win the game. This is my breakout force and the reserve force that will stay out of action for the most part. The rest of my force it designed to get my reserve force to the last, the last turn in good condition. I normally expect 15% to 20% of my force to survive to the last turn. Game wise, this is what military planners refer to as the economy of force. No commander will never have the force he wants to get the job done. So your force will need to be stripped down to the basic requirements with just enough to also be flexible. As your plan will not be the only plan on the table so you need the flexibility to deal with the other guy's plan. For this, I look at units that value add to each other. Such as my example above. The tank destroyers protect the patrols from tanks while the patrols protect the destroyers from infantry. In this way, both units value add to each other by boosting their strengths. I hope my reply does sound critical as this is not my intention. Nor I hope it was not too boring as at the end of the day our hobby is all about the fun we have on the way.
It does not at all sound critical my friend, it is as always an excellent and well thought out comment! I will get Ben to read through the allied section you have. For my side.. yea I don't know what god I offended but my dice man... what the hell lol! As for taking that approach to building the force that's an interesting idea. I can definitely give it a go, I am just unsure how well it will work out in practice. Ben usually is able to outmaneuver and slow me down right of the bat to the point that I have to commit everything just to break through the first line! lol
@LackofForesightGaming Thank you, kind sir. I think you need to get a dice blessing or something organised fast. My friend Richard committed a similar offence to the gods of randomisation, and to this day, his rolls are rubbish. What amazes me is that the last game he had with really good rolls was back in the mid 80's. He claimes today that he can poison dice just by touching them. Lol. You can use smoke and smoke barrages to isolate a small section of his army for elimination. Smoke is handy for protecting you engineers while clearing mine fields. The thing I like most about FoW and TY is that the rules only provide a framework for your tactics, and you can't use the rules to win for you. Unlike say 40K. One of the things I get asked most from 40K players that are trying out FoW is what rules do I use to win the game. So, this framework allows us to try out many different things, including methods we use to construct our forces. These Bulge games you've done have been good practice for the real pressure cooker, Peiper's Charge P108. I would get your dice issues sorted first. Lol
You know, I haven't played Flames of War because I'm more of a Team Yankee guy and said I wouldn't play Flames of War because it seems to play the same gameplay as Team Yankee. But looking at all your units on the table (unlike the three units you get as NATO) as well as the diversity is really enticing, I kinda like seeing variety and a well painted army play it out. I've also never seen cards before (or didn't pay attention) those are really cool. I kind of wish they'd bring those over as well.
You can definitely have a much larger variety of units on the board with flames yea. Both in that the armies typically have more models, as well as the nations are far less homogenous. I have always wished they would bring the command cards over to Team Yankee though, would be a great way to add some variety to the game yea.
Your MG halftrack doesn't get abandoned because you were bailed in defensive fire. It's sits bailed out 2 inches away. If you had been bailed and failed a counterattack, then it would have been captured. So in that assault step you lost 2 infantry stands and one halftrack that you didn't actually lose.
@@LackofForesightGaming don’t we all…. It’s the most complicated part of the game. I noticed you said this was one of the first assaults you successfully landed…. I recommend going in with just one or two stands….minimize defensive fire and force them to fall back, while only risking one or two teams.
heh yea... in like three years of filming I think this was the first successful contact through defensive fire and everything. Ben has a annoyingly good habit of maximizing placement of his teams to the point that hes almost always has 10 or more shots of defensive fire in almost every situation. And almost always seems to roll 5s or 6s lol. Our next game though I will try smaller assaults yea, see if I cant be more strategic in my placement of the teams : )
We don't have many of the cards unfortunately, just books. And have been jumping back and forth across game systems alot lately lol. Thats 100% on me not being more persistent in checking lol
Those 2 hills at the start of the german line look awesome...
Hi guys. Truly great game from you both. For the US forces, great game strategy. A layered defence is always in FoW, a good game plan. Let the other guy wear himself down, breaking through the layers. Very good placement of the 3 " guns . It really slowed his advance down, which is an important factor in a layered defence. Did you know that the 3" gun crews are the same crew from the tank destroyers, and they were trained as specialists in hand to hand assaults. With the tank destroyers, I deploy either M20 security sections or M8 Greyhound recon patrols. At 3 to 5 points per unit is very cheap and are both scouts. I use the MGs to deal with infantry units and the 37mm guns of the M8 to deal with half tracks. The 60mm mortar is great for pinning infantry. These units I use to support the tank destroyers or as independent fire brigades to deal with infantry units.
For the German forces, firstly, apologise to your dice and offer compensation for your transgressions. So far, Bulge games have not been kind to you. But you are producing very historical outcomes. By this stage of the war, German pushes tend to get to the final objective, only to not have the units to take it. When facing a layered defence, you need a reserve force that you have kept out of action to make the break out. Flames of War are different from other games in that firing at everything you can will lose the game for you. It actually dilutes your firepower in a game where you must use the weight of firepower. Movement is your most offensive weapon. It is better to get closer or around the cover they are using, so you're hitting on 3 or 4s instead of 5 or 6s, even if your rate of fire drops. 4 shots that will probably hit is far better than 8 shots that might hit.
With planning my forces, I start with the last turn and a small force to win the game. This is my breakout force and the reserve force that will stay out of action for the most part. The rest of my force it designed to get my reserve force to the last, the last turn in good condition. I normally expect 15% to 20% of my force to survive to the last turn. Game wise, this is what military planners refer to as the economy of force. No commander will never have the force he wants to get the job done. So your force will need to be stripped down to the basic requirements with just enough to also be flexible. As your plan will not be the only plan on the table so you need the flexibility to deal with the other guy's plan. For this, I look at units that value add to each other. Such as my example above. The tank destroyers protect the patrols from tanks while the patrols protect the destroyers from infantry. In this way, both units value add to each other by boosting their strengths.
I hope my reply does sound critical as this is not my intention. Nor I hope it was not too boring as at the end of the day our hobby is all about the fun we have on the way.
It does not at all sound critical my friend, it is as always an excellent and well thought out comment! I will get Ben to read through the allied section you have. For my side.. yea I don't know what god I offended but my dice man... what the hell lol! As for taking that approach to building the force that's an interesting idea. I can definitely give it a go, I am just unsure how well it will work out in practice. Ben usually is able to outmaneuver and slow me down right of the bat to the point that I have to commit everything just to break through the first line! lol
@LackofForesightGaming Thank you, kind sir. I think you need to get a dice blessing or something organised fast. My friend Richard committed a similar offence to the gods of randomisation, and to this day, his rolls are rubbish. What amazes me is that the last game he had with really good rolls was back in the mid 80's. He claimes today that he can poison dice just by touching them. Lol.
You can use smoke and smoke barrages to isolate a small section of his army for elimination. Smoke is handy for protecting you engineers while clearing mine fields. The thing I like most about FoW and TY is that the rules only provide a framework for your tactics, and you can't use the rules to win for you. Unlike say 40K. One of the things I get asked most from 40K players that are trying out FoW is what rules do I use to win the game. So, this framework allows us to try out many different things, including methods we use to construct our forces.
These Bulge games you've done have been good practice for the real pressure cooker, Peiper's Charge P108. I would get your dice issues sorted first. Lol
You know, I haven't played Flames of War because I'm more of a Team Yankee guy and said I wouldn't play Flames of War because it seems to play the same gameplay as Team Yankee. But looking at all your units on the table (unlike the three units you get as NATO) as well as the diversity is really enticing, I kinda like seeing variety and a well painted army play it out.
I've also never seen cards before (or didn't pay attention) those are really cool. I kind of wish they'd bring those over as well.
You can definitely have a much larger variety of units on the board with flames yea. Both in that the armies typically have more models, as well as the nations are far less homogenous. I have always wished they would bring the command cards over to Team Yankee though, would be a great way to add some variety to the game yea.
That was a great game. I was involuntarily wincing at the number of ones rolled for the Germans. Ditch those dice, old boy!
Really glad you enjoyed! And the dice are just the way of it lol, iv tried tons of different dice and almost all are the same lol
Your MG halftrack doesn't get abandoned because you were bailed in defensive fire. It's sits bailed out 2 inches away. If you had been bailed and failed a counterattack, then it would have been captured. So in that assault step you lost 2 infantry stands and one halftrack that you didn't actually lose.
Thank you : ) Assaults are the one part of the game we consistently seem to mess up lol
@@LackofForesightGaming don’t we all…. It’s the most complicated part of the game. I noticed you said this was one of the first assaults you successfully landed…. I recommend going in with just one or two stands….minimize defensive fire and force them to fall back, while only risking one or two teams.
heh yea... in like three years of filming I think this was the first successful contact through defensive fire and everything. Ben has a annoyingly good habit of maximizing placement of his teams to the point that hes almost always has 10 or more shots of defensive fire in almost every situation. And almost always seems to roll 5s or 6s lol. Our next game though I will try smaller assaults yea, see if I cant be more strategic in my placement of the teams : )
Thanks for the game guys. Another tough mission for the attacker this one. The objectives are so far away.
Our pleasure as always! And thank you for watching! Yea alot of the book scenarios are very difficult missions for sure!
Thank you for the game.
Thank you for watching it!
Dammit Jim push left
Nests are too good.
Aye that they are! Might have to start using pakfront lol
Bazookas hit on 4 in assault? Edit: just looked, they hit on 5s
Thought it was that, but Ben was insistent it was otherwise..
@@LackofForesightGaming it's on the card....
We don't have many of the cards unfortunately, just books. And have been jumping back and forth across game systems alot lately lol. Thats 100% on me not being more persistent in checking lol