Band of Brothers and Flames of War

[barca]

Had a conversation briefly about this recently.

 

Dug up some relevant links if anyone is interested.

 

Angry Birds: Fielding Easy Company in Flames Of War
http://www.flamesofwar.com/hobby.aspx?art_id=3619

Easy Company (US887)
http://www.flamesofwar.com/hobby.aspx?art_id=3609

US887 Easy Company
Includes Captain Richard Winters, Captain Lewis Nixon, Lieutenant Ronald Speirs, First Sergent Carwood Lipton, Private Eugene Roe figure, Corporal Darrell Powers figure, five Toccoa figures, nine Small two-hole bases & one Medium four-hole base.
http://www.flamesofwar.com/Default.aspx?tabid=79&ProductID=5034
$13.00

Painting US Airborne troops
http://www.flamesofwar.com/hobby.aspx?art_id=737

Nuts Design Notes
http://www.flamesofwar.com/hobby.aspx?art_id=3521

 

UBX18 Parachute Rifle Company
USD 67.50
http://www.flamesofwar.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductID=3420

US Parachute Rifle Company (UBX18)
http://www.flamesofwar.com/hobby.aspx?art_id=1585

 

[ZEKE]

I had fun play-testing them.  The special characters are expensive so you have to limit yourself, but you can really customize your lists with how you want to play it.

 

Speirs was very useful with his special rule of holding him off the table til you need him. I would wait to see where the main attack was going then plut him in there.

Roe allows you to keep some of the killed from leaving the table.

The 81mm mortars were my workhorse, a veteran 6 pack can hit pretty hard.

The 57mm AntiTankGuns got better by getting rid of the "NO HE" rule so they can shoot at troops.

[ZEKE]

How Airborne & Glidermen are chosen:

 

"Do you want to jump out of an airplane?"

 

if they answer YES, "Welcome to the Airborne!"

 

if they answer NO, "We got another volunteer for gliders."

[barca]

Thx.

This series seems to be one of the most talked about topics for new comers.

I suggest we use this focus for a themed event sometime soon.

Although this would be mostly (but not exclusively) infantry.

 

Maybe consider a team event.

For example:

Set up several tables, one for each scenario that is a favorite episode.

Have teams of 2-3 American players vs 1-2 German players.

- the new players could run the airborne (one or two platoons per new player)(new players only deal with limited subset of the rules)

- experience player #1 runs the Allied support

- experienced player #2 runs the Germans.

 

At some point, a Tank Aces Escalation campaign might be attractive, as well.

[barca]

BTW, thx 4 the funny, snarky military humor

[Josh]

US Airborne is SO EXPENSIVE. They stick around for a long time, sure, but if you lose one platoon, you've lost a huge chunk of points. I don't see how you're building a serious list without taking the Hellcats or a pimped out Sherman platoon (that's Trained) too, so there's a huge percentage of your points sunk into just a few platoons. It's hard to fit the real money makers into US lists too: the Field Artillery.

 

The positives are the huge machine gun platoons that can get extra bazookas, and the Gammon Bombs. I never thought much of the special characters, except maybe Winters and the Toccoa sergeants.

 

It's a bummer the 60mm mortar doesn't get DFS, then it would be killer.

 

I've been playing US Rifles (normal leg infantry) since 2007, before it was cool, so I've got a bit of insight if anyone wants to compare notes.

[barca]

J,

Thx 4 the insight. Applies to Ger Airborne, too.

 

What I had in mind was customized scenarios - "demo style". to let noob 's have fun and learn about the game and connect with their video heroes in BoB.

 

All the while also connecting with a storyline that is some-what "historical".

 

(Aside on "historical"):

Book modified/edited from reality, TV one step removed from the book, and two steps from "reality." The reality we have is based on memories. You know the "historical argument" drill. Closer or farther, but never "there", again.

 

Back to the BoB scenarios:

If it gets them in the game, even if the list is not for tournaments, the recruiting part is good, and fun for old hands. More story, less competition.

[barca]

Btw, one prob we have in historical mini's is shortage of RECENT hard WWII movies/TV mini-series. And few good armor movies, from any decade.

 

Lots of soft movies, a few infantry movies, but not much WWII tank action.

[barca]

As former Army who did both boots and tracks, would like more GOOD video with tracks.

 

And yes, was grinding my teeth when Starship troopers did not really use PowerSuits.

[ZEKE]

CG can definitely do it now, would love to see some Epic panoramic tank battles such as Kursk, Nancy, or El Alemein. Maybe even some more modern say 73 Easting.  Something where we can see Units of tanks maneuvering instead of a tank goes here and a tank goes there.

[Josh]

Actually, the Baltic and Scandinavian countries have been making some badass war movies very recently. 

 

Tali-Ihantala 1944 is excellent, they drive around all of their captured Soviet armor, which they kept after the war in running condition! Sooo cool to see T-34s and KV-1s driving around. Finnish movie.

 

1944 is an Estonian war movie, I've only watched the first 15 minutes or so, which is basically the opening battle scene. Pretty awesome.

 

I saw both on Youtube, and I don't think there's an English version of either, not even subtitles. I thought they were still cool, and very well done.

[barca]

Sounds like we should have a thread just for WWII movies...