Geoff was the steadfast German defender of a Russian village. Here he is looking at the oncoming hordes of T34s
There were also hordes of Russian infantry. There are always hordes of Russian infantry.
A long shot of the game. Dave was merely an observer. Tim looks concerned that my phone was going to steal his soul ...
Despite Geoff's concerned look his defenders did the job, easily holding off the Russian assault.
Anyway, I think we all came away impressed with how well marketed and presented Flames of War is, and with at least some idea of how the actual game works. At core it's a basic, old-school set, with lots of add-on special rules. My personal view is that it had great potential for pick-up games, but possibly wouldn't supplant Tac or Blitzkrieg Commander in my affections for scenario-based games, which I really how I prefer my WWII stuff.
Close your eyes and walk away. FoW is a treacherous slope that want no part of.
ReplyDeleteI can't see myself investing heavily in books. If it's a playable game from the basic rule-book, then I may be interested (on the grounds that any miniatures can be used for other rules as well). Otherwise I'll play it, but let other people spend money on it. That said, it strikes me as a good 'club project' kind of game, if you belong to a club that makes communal investments like that. I tend to prefer my wargames expenditure to be 'self-contained'; I prefer to own everything needed to play or run a particular game.
DeleteI'm chuffed with your comments about Tac. We wrote it in the mid 90s but it never took off because:
ReplyDeletea) we wrote it so that right-thinking folk could explore historical scenarios
b) we had no intention of following the GW "rip off the kids and make shed loads of money" business model (subsequently adopted by Battlefront).
c) my co-author turned out to be a tosser.
Oddly enough I don't own a copy of Tac, but we used to lay it a fair bit at the club I went to when I lived in the UK. I keep meaning to buy a copy. I do like how it allows a small, well-trained and motivated force to run rings around a larger, less sophisticated one, whilst still giving a viable game for both players. And one of my favourite wargames scenarios of all time is the Denmark 1940 one from the Blitzkrieg supplement.
DeleteOf course, when I do come to buy a copy I'll probably find it's out of print :)
DeleteWhich it is. Anyone know where I can buy a copy of Tac?
DeleteI've only got one copy left (mine). Irregular miniatures used to be a distributor, maybe ask them ?
ReplyDelete