Here kitty, kitty, kitty...

Played an interesting game of Flames of War yesterday. Both my fellow players were named Frank. Made for an interesting moment of confusion when I said "I'll play on Frank's side". Brit's vs. Germans at I am guessing 2k points a side.

Let me be Frank...nope there are too many of them already... Yeah I am easily amused...

I decided to try my hand at the Brit's (German's can get boring at times). I ended up playing with Frank against Frank. Frank had the British left flank and I the right. Frank was the sole German commander.

Setup - Both sides made errors; Frank and I should have placed more infantry; Frank should have placed more armor.

The Game - Meeting engagement, standard setup, delayed reserves, scattered reserves. I hate scattered reserves, they never show up where you need them, which is suppose is the point. Despite the errors on both sides, us Brit's were ok, tactically.

The one problem was the German schewerePanzer Zug, i.e. Tigers. I love running Tigers... they have a psychological impact out of proportion to their actual effect on the battlefield. The standard way to deal with them is to smoke them, forcing them to move to shoot which reduces their ROF to 1. That simple tactic cuts their effectiveness in half. Problem is...you need something that can penetrate armor of 9/8.

So I am facing two Tiggers with three Shermans (75mm) and three Churchills (6 pdr.). Now the Churchill's armor is almost as good as the Tigers, but the gun is much worse. The math works like this:

Shooting at the Tiger: 10 AT vs. armor 9/8. Firing from the front has no chance of penetration, the best you can to is a bail. With protected ammo, you know he is getting back in on his turn (approx 9% chance of a kill with a side shot under 16").

Shooting at the Sherman: 13 AT vs. armor 6/3? You have to be at long range and roll an armor save of six to survive (approx 50% chance of a kill at long range).

Shooting at the Churchill: 13 AT vs. armor 9/7 (applique armor). Five at long range, a six under 16" will keep you safe (approx 20% chance of a kill at short range).

So...smoke and move...I lost all my tanks... But I held the Tigers off for five turns, and managed to finally kill one - Hurry for our side. Frank was upset... Frank was also happy...

When the surviving Tiger got across the board he ran smack into my infantry (w/piat). The infantry tied the him up for another three turns. At that point Frank had a platoon fall below half strength and auto-failed a company moral test (C-in-C killed in an assault with Frank's tanks).

And that as they say is that. Very tense game towards the end

Thanks to Franks for a good game.

Tim, they call him

General, benötige ich Verstärkungen jetzt!

Here are a few more of the rules I think we should be using for multi-company Flames of War games...

Tim, they call him

Flames of War – Battalion Sized Games

(Excerpted from Battalion-sized Battles in the HB Rule Book and Total War in the Operation Bagration Handbook)

Battalion HQ

• The Battalion HQ is the same as one of the Company HQ’s under its command.
• It is made up of a Battalion Command team; a 2iC and their transports.
• It has no HQ Support Weapons or other additional teams.
• A Battalion HQ costs the same as the equivalent Company HQ.
• The Battalion Command team and 2iC team are Higher Command teams; Independent teams and Warriors

Combat Companies

• A combat company is the core of a normal company. It must have a Company HQ and may contain any other Combat or Weapons Platoons the company is allowed, just so long as it has all of the necessary Combat Platoons.
• Your force must contain at least two combat companies.
• You can only have one combat company for each 1000 points in the force

Battalion Support Group

• At the start of the game all Support platoons from each company are pooled under the Battalion Support Group.
• The player controlling the Battalion HQ may immediately allocate out any of these platoons to any company in the force.
• Support platoons never take Company Morale Checks. Platoons that are part of the Battalion Support Group will fight on regardless of casualties to other platoons.
• Only one of the Combat Companies in your force may take Air Support

Company and Battalion Morale Checks

• Company Morale Checks are only required for companies that are reduced to a single Combat or Weapons platoon through having been destroyed (rather the when reduced below half strength).
• Additionally, the game no longer ends when a company fails a Company Morale Check. The game continues until one side starts their turn with either:
• a) No Combat Companies with platoons still on the table, or
• b) No Support Platoons on the table and only one Combat Company with platoons on the table.
• Check this in the Starting Step immediately after Company Morale Checks.
• Instead, at the beginning of any turn where the force is reduced to below half it starting number of companies, the Battalion Commander must make a Battalion Morale Check in the same manner that a Company Commander makes a Company Morale Check. If they fail this roll, the morale of the entire force breaks, the battalion is destroyed and the game is over.

Replacing Company Commanders

• If a Company Command team is destroyed, the Battalion 2iC Command team may be immediately appointed as the new Company Command team for that company and remains so for the remainder of the game.

Note: For Russian forces substitute division for battalion and battalion for company.

What have the Romans ever done for us?

Reg: All right, but apart from the sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?

Attendee: Brought peace?

Reg: Oh, peace - shut up!

Reg: There is not one of us who would not gladly suffer death to rid this country of the Romans once and for all.

Dissenter: Uh, well, one.

Reg: Oh, yeah, yeah, there's one. But otherwise, we're solid.

Hans? Hans? wo bist du?

Last weekend the forces of Mother Russia and the Third Reich fought to a standstill inside a tractor factory deep in Stalingrad. Everyone was a little unsatisfied with the street fighting rules, so I dug up an earlier (and better I think) version of the rules. See what you think...

Tim, they call him...

Troops in Buildings

Only as many teams as can fit in a room without their bases overlapping can occupy a room at the same time

Openings

• A single door, window or similar opening is only big enough for a single team to fire out of.
• Only one team can occupy or use an opening at a time unless it is wider than one base.

Moving Near the Enemy

• As long as a room is not occupied by the enemy, your teams may move freely within it, even if enemy teams are adjacent to openings into the room.
• A team cannot enter a room occupied by the enemy unless it is assaulting into the room.

Moving in Buildings
Infantry

• Infantry teams may only enter or exit a room at the start of their movement.
• A team must be adjacent to an opening or adjacent to a team that is adjacent to the opening to enter or exit a room.
• Most rooms are less than 6” across; this means you can freely rearrange teams without measuring.
• Infantry in multi-storied buildings, that start their movement in the building may move through openings up or down by up to two floors at the start of their movement.
• All buildings are rough terrain; as such troops cannot move At the Double in or through buildings.
• Cavalry and other mounted infantry must dismount (leaving their mounts outside) to enter a building.
• Troops making Stormtrooper or Avanti moves can enter a building by starting adjacent to an opening just like normal movement

Tanks & Transport

• Most vehicles can only enter buildings through large openings and doors.
• Fully tracked enclosed armored vehicles can drive through normal building walls. Such walls are treated as Very Difficult Going. The vehicle must pass a Skill test to avoid Bogging Down as it passes through each wall.
• Vehicles moving entirely within a building treat the building as Very Difficult Going and must pass a Skill test to avoid Bogging Down at the start of its movement.
• Solidly built industrial buildings are sufficiently tough to render them impassable to all vehicles except through large openings.

Guns

• Man-packed gun teams can freely enter or exit buildings and be taken up stairs and deployed on upper floors.
• Other gun teams may only enter buildings through openings big enough for them to fit through. Any such openings count as Difficult Going for the gun teams.
• Wheeled gun teams may not be taken up stairs; unless deployed there at the start of the game. Any guns so deployed may not move during the game.
• Immobile guns cannot be deployed on upper floors.

Streets & Rubble

• In a street fighting game, roads are classified as Difficult Going within 4” of a damaged building and Cross Country terrain within 12” of a damaged building. If there are no damaged buildings about, roads count as normal.
• Rubble is classed as Very Difficult Going and provides bullet-proof cover for troops hiding behind it.

Entrenching, Loopholes & Mouseholes

Entrenching

• Troops cannot entrench on streets. Troops can entrench in parks and other open spaces

Loop Holes

• Teams can make loopholes to shoot through walls lacking openings by passing a Skill test. They cease to exist if the teams end their turn away from them.

Mouse Holes

• Teams can dig mouseholes through the walls to allow them to work their way from room to room. An infantry team starting the turn adjacent to wall that does not move or shoot, can take a Skill test at the beginning of the Assault step to make a mousehole in the wall
• If the team fails its Skill test, it does nothing else this turn.
• If the team passes its Skill test it makes an opening in the wall. If more than one team succeeds only one opening is made.

The successful team can use this opening to:

• move through to the next room. If the team does this, any adjacent teams may move through the opening as well. At this point, the mousehole is removed.
• Or Launch an assault into the next room (see Launching An Assault below). Fight the assault as normal. Once the assault is finished, the mousehole is removed.

Pioneer teams re-roll failed Skill tests when digging a mousehole.

Platoon Command in Street Fighting

Teams inside a building are in command if they are:

• in the same room as the platoon command or a team that is in command,
• in an adjacent room connected by an opening to a room that contains teams of the platoon that are in command, or
• adjacent to an opening that has line of sight to a team from the platoon that is outside the building, within command distance and is in command.

Teams outside a building containing there command team are in command it they are:

• in line of sight and within command distance of an opening to a room that contains teas mot the platoon that are in command, or
• within command distance of a team outside the building that is in command

Line of Sight in Street Fighting

Shooting At Troops in Buildings

Line of sight stops at the edge of a building or wall. Troops on the other side of the wall are out of sight unless either team is adjacent to an opening in a wall.

Shooting in a Room

• Teams in a room always count as concealed. They also count as being in bullet-proof cover unless the shooting team is in the same room or is adjacent to an opening into the room.
• Any team that is in a room or adjacent to an opening into the room can see and shoot at any team in the room.

Fields of Fire in Street Fighting
Shooting From Buildings

• Teams occupying an opening in a wall can fire at any target on the other side of a line drawn parallel to the wall (subject to normal field of fire restrictions).
• Teams above the ground floor cannot shoot at teams on the ground adjacent to the wall they are firing from.

Artillery Firing Over Buildings

• Mortars may not fire over a building within 4”. Over 4” they may fire over any building (regardless of height).
• Other Artillery may not fire over a building within 4” or the height of the building, whichever is greater.

Shooting At a Room

• If a heavy enough shell is fired into a room, the walls will contain and concentrate the blast killing or wounding most of the occupants.
• Roll for the effect of the shot on the team that was hit as normal.
• If the hit was from firepower 1+, 2+ or 3+ weapons, the target player rolls a save for every other team in the same room. Any team failing its save, the shooting player rolls on the table below. If they score the roll needed, the blast destroys the team.

Blast Firepower Table
Firepower 3+ needs to roll 6+
Firepower 2+ needs to roll 4+
Firepower 1+ needs to roll 2+
Automatic = Automatic

Pinning Down
Both the original hit and any additional hits scored by the blast on any teams that fail their saves count as hits for the purposes of Pinning Down the target platoon

Artillery in Street Fighting

• To simplify matters artillery bombardments are assumed to land inside or outside the building. If a template is placed on troops outside a building and part of it includes a building, only teams adjacent to the wall openings inside the template can be hit.
• Rather than using a template in a building, assume that the bombardment hits one room to the building. All teams in that room are under the template. Only teams adjacent to openings leading into the room can be hit if they are not in the room.
• If the bombardment has a double-sized template, it hits two side-by-side rooms (chosen by the shooter). If the building only has one room, place the double-sized template over the building so that all teams in the building; any under the template outside the building can also be hit.

Multiple Story Buildings

• An artillery bombardment firing at a multiple story building will hit the room containing the target team and any room directly above or below it.
• If troops being bombarded are in a room that is not on the top floor, add +1 to the score needed on the artillery firepower table for each floor the rounds must penetrate to reach them.

Aircraft in Street Fighting
Aircraft are not allowed to attack targets in a city
Assaults in Street Fighting
Launching an Assault
In order to launch an assault into a room a platoon must have at least one team in an adjacent room connected by an opening to the room being assaulted, or outside the building and within 4” of an opening into the room.
Charge to Contact

• If the defenders have a team adjacent to an opening the assaulting teams cannot enter the room, but must fight through the opening.
• If an opening is undefended, then the assaulting teams enter the room occupying empty spaces in the room. Assaulting teams may not pass through enemy teams to occupy space behind them. They can only occupy spaces then can reach from the opening.

Defensive Fire

• Unless an opening is wider than one base, only one team can fire through the opening.
• If the defensive fire kills an assaulting team, the assaulting player can immediately move adjacent teams to occupy their position.
• If a building is a solid model, assume there is only one opening between rooms.

Fighting in an Assault
Who Fights

• Every enemy team in a room can fight any enemy teams in the same room in an assault.
• Only one team may fight through a doorway or opening unless it is bigger than a base wide.
• Teams must break into a room to gain the space foe more teams to fight. Once a team has broken into a room, another may take its place at the opening and join the fight.

Breaking into a Room
Any team destroying an enemy unit in an assault inside a building may immediately advance to occupy the enemy team’s position
Assaulting up Floors
Teams assaulting up through an opening between floors must re-roll successful rolls to hit.
Defender Checks Motivation

• When a platoon fails a Motivation test to counterattack in an assault, its teams must flee or surrender.
• Teams in a room with enemy teams, where the enemy holds all the exits surrender if their platoon flees.
• Teams in a room that does not contain any enemy do not need to flee, and will not surrender even if the enemy holds all the exits. Instead they remain where they are and the combat continues. The platoon that ‘fled’ does not get to make any attacks in the round that it fled, so play goes immediately to the opponents next counterattack.

Counterattacking

• Counterattacking teams in a building move from one room to the next each time they counterattack.
• Teams moving to counterattack can enter or exit the building through an adjacent opening before moving as for normal movement.

Victory and Consolidation
Victory
The assault ends where there are no defending teams in any of the rooms occupied by the attacking platoon; in any rooms connected by openings to the attacking platoon; or outside the building and within 4” of a ground-floor opening occupied by the attacking platoon.
Consolidation

• Consolidating teams may stay in the same room, move into an adjacent room (on the same or different floor level), or exit the room through an opening and move 4”.
• Teams outside the building, may enter it as part of their consolidation movement if they are adjacent to an opening or a team adjacent to an opening in the same manner as normal movement.

Assaulting Tanks
Tanks may not fire Defensive Fire if it is in contact with an assaulting team that started its assault movement in a building.