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Getting Started with FoW WW2
#31
Nice one Si, looks like there's plenty of scope for smaller "raiding" scenarios then? And I can get started pretty cheaply Smile

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#32
Another potential idea for a participation game ?

Si
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#33
That could be cool - some quick "raid" skirmishes on North African terrain? Might need some interesting features to break up the desert a bit - perhaps something coastal, airstrip, etc?
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#34
(26-04-2012, 11:46 AM)Stuart Wrote: That could be cool - some quick "raid" skirmishes on North African terrain? Might need some interesting features to break up the desert a bit - perhaps something coastal, airstrip, etc?

I have an Italian army and plenty of desert terrain - houses, walls, palm trees, hills and a vinyard. i haven't played any of the raid scenarios yet and would like to have a go too - they look quite good.

For example:
http://www.flamesofwar.com/Default.aspx?..._cat_id=31

I've got the rest on my computer - added them before Battlefront wiped them off their website (just before the re-release of the SAS stuff).

Andy T
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#35
Sounds good to me Andy, I'll have to get started on assembling a raiding party. Not off to the best start though; finally got around to opening the pair of LRDG/SAS jeeps I got a couple of months back to qualify for the free FoW rulebook, only to find they've been mis-cast and half the wheels have sheered off Sad
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#36
I would love at some point, to sit down with someone and them explain how I go about creating a FoW army. As to be honest, looking at the 2nd mini-book and ficking through the various source books, I have no idea what is available. That to me is the biggest stumbling block behind the whole system, it just doesn't appear to intuitive on force creation, unlike other games I have played.
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#37
Well going by the 3rd edition forces book you do this:

1) Pick what country you want to fight for, the main ones being Germany, Britain, Russia and the USA (although with expansions I think there are forces for Poland, Finland, Hungary etc etc). My understanding is Germany is small and elite, Britain is stoic, Russia is horde-like but easier to destroy, dunno about USA cos not looked at them yet.
2) Pick what typre of Battalion you want: they seem to be armoured tank battalions, motorised infantry or rifle battalions. (all with overlapping options ie you can take tanks as support for a rifle battalion).
3) Pick your command section and two compulsory companies.
4) Pick any support you want up to a points limit.

Maybe they have made it easier with the new 3rd edition to pick a force? I think it seems to be very flexible what you can take and having not played a game yet I'm not sure what works and what doesn't.
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#38
Yeah that still doesn't make as much sense as it should. I'm not in a rush, to invest in another game, but it is something in the future, that I could do with being shown.
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#39
I'll gladly spend some time with you whenever to organise an army.

For me because I am so crap at this wargaming thing, it's the building of the army that is just as much fun as playing.

A lot of ppl play ww2 because they have an interest in a unit, person, battle or theatre of war, like Steve and his Arnhem fixation 8¬). So deciding on an army to field for them is easy.

If you're coming into it from a completely unknowing dispassionate perspective then picking an army is like any other system. And as with other systems you need to know the strengths and weaknesses of certain units, and some element of how the game works.

It's also worth bearing in mind the other armies people are fielding and I think it's currently running like this:
Steve, Late War British
Si A, Late War British, Late War Germans, Mid War British/American (in the pipeline)
Paul, Mid War Germans
Kris, Late War Americans
Chris, Late War Russians

But you do need some points as guidance so if you decide on say 1500 points, you can then pick a nationality and an army type. The army is generally a company but there is some semantic difference with British regiments. However, the idea is essentially the same.

The 2 basic tenets of an army are motivation and skill. These are important as it can directly affect how the game plays for you.

Skill can be: Conscript (worst), Trained or Veteran (best).
Motivation can be: Reluctant (worst), Confident or Fearless (best).

For shooting, the skill of you troops directly affects their ability to AVOID being hit. When under artillery fire it determines how easy it is for the enemy to range their guns on you (targets skill), and then how difficult it is to hit you (firers skill). For assaulting (melee, Hand to hand) it determines how successful you are at hitting the enemy.

The better the skill level, the better your troops will be at either avoiding hits, or giving hits.

Motivation is more about the morale of your troops. Their ability to remount bailed out tanks, and also whether they will continue fighting when the going gets tough.

This time, the better the motivation level the more likely it is that your troops will carry on fighting.

There are special rules for commanders and warriors that can help mitigate some of these effects.

The next thing to decide is whether you want an army that is primarily tanks, with infantry support, or infantry with tank support. Sometimes this can be down to what you prefer painting.

Now it gets interesting.

You need to now have a look at the armour lists and get some idea of the power of the vehicles, and also understand how shooting works.

In its simplest form tank combat has 3 parts...Attacker rolls to hit, Defender rolls to save, Attacker rolls firepower test.

Rolling to hit is easy, roll greater than the skill level of the target (plus any modifiers).
The number of dice you roll to hit is dependent on the Rate of Fire of the weapon firing, and whether you moved in the move phase of the same turn.

Rolling saves. So you've hit the enemy tank what now ? This is where the stats come into it.
Defender rolls a save and adds this to the armour rating of the vehicle being shot (Vehicles have front, side and rear/top armour stats), and adds 1 if the range is 16" or more.
If the save value is less than the anti-tank rating of the firing vehicle, the attacker rolls a firepower test to either knock out or bail out the vehicle that's been hit.
If the save value is equal to the anti-tank rating of the firing vehicle, the attacker rolls a firepower test to bail the vehicle out, otherwise no effect.
If the save value is greater than the anti-tank rating of the firing vehicle, then its no effect.

Bailing a vehicle out means the crew have panicked and jumped out.
They need to successfully roll a motivation test to get back in during the start phase of that players turn.

The Anti-tank rating, Firepower and Armour ratings are all on the armour stats sheets in the army list books.

So...if you know someone is fielding Tiger 1E's you can look up the stats and you'll find that they have front armour of 9.

You can then look up vehicles that have good anti-tank ratings for your nationality and army type and decide the best ones to buy. Speed can also be important. Side and rear/top armour was always the weakest, so you might want to field lots of quick tanks with high rate of fire in order to out manoeuvre your opponent and get side/rear shots in.

This is a very simplistic view of it, but it's how tank combat in FoW works.

Generally vehicles that have good armour, and good anti-tank values are the most expensive, but can also be the slowest.

So in the end it doesn’t matter whether you know the names of the tanks, how many were made or who had the most kills in one. What does matter is knowing the anti-tank, armour and firepower ratings and what special rules may be applicable to the vehicle that can affect its overall performance.

Expanding a bit on Chris' post. Each Company is made up of a number of Platoons, with each Platoon being made up of a number of squads or sections. All this is led by the Company HQ. Platoons can either be combat platoons or support platoons. Some of the platoons are compulsory depending on the type of company you're fielding. Armour companies will have compulsory armoured platoons, infantry companies will have compulsory infantry platoons. Some platoons are of a fixed size, others you can spend more points to get a bigger platoon.

The art is trying to get the balance right.

Some examples of the Orders of battle are:

Early War British-Armoured-Regiment

Early war British-Rifle-Company

Online PDF army sheet

Si
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#40
There's a nice German army list in the latest wargames illustrated. mainly russian front , but could be used in western europe. Have a look at that cheaper than buying a sourcebook. I like it because you could field some nice Panther tanks!!
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