FoW: Mastering the Charge



Good day internet. Wraith here with another FoW topic for your consumption and this time I want to touch on a subject that drives many FoW players' nuts: assaulting.

FoW: Rise of the Shermans

For years, American tank players have had it rough.  Though they can field lots of tanks, they’ve never really stacked up against the tanks of other armies, especially the Germans.  But all that may have changed with the release of the new Blood, Guts, & Glory book.

Prior to the release of Blood, Guts, & Glory, American tank armies suffered from the “jack of all trades, master of none” syndrome when it came to their primary tank, the M4 Sherman.  While a good all-around tank with descent armor, a good gun, and Stabilizers (allowing you to shoot on the move at full RoF, but suffering a +1 penalty to hit), the Sherman gave American players a cheaply pointed tank that could handle almost anything.  Sadly, the only thing it couldn’t handle was heavy armor, like the German Panther and Tiger tanks.  Against these heavily armored and well armed tanks, the M4 is found wanting, with its only advantage being that it is cheaper to field, giving you more M4s on the table.  But while Tigers were a rarity on the battlefields of WWII, they are a very common sight on the table tops of FoW.  Because of this and the simple fact that FoW is designed as an evenly balanced point-based system, it was very difficult for American players to win games with pure tank companies.  American players had to rely on their support units (artillery, air, infantry) to deal with or delay enemy heavy tanks while they used their tanks to flank or attack objectives.  This left a bitter feeling for many players, especially those with a historical bent.  While the Panther and Tiger tanks were great feats of engineering, it could be argued the M4 was more so.  German produced less than 7,000 Panthers and Tiger tanks combined, while the United States produced over 45,000 M4s.  The Sherman was prized for its mobility, mechanical reliability and the sheer numbers the Americans could throw at the enemy.   But recreating this feeling of overwhelming numbers is difficult to achieve in a points-based system and as a result, American tank players got the short end of the stick, with the war-winning M4 shoved to sidelines in favor of better game winning units. Even the release of the Sherman ‘76’, with a better gun capable of killing those dreaded kitties, didn’t change the overall game and American tank lists were an uncommon sight on FoW battlefields.

But the balance may be shifting.  With Blood, Guts, & Glory, the standard M4 is joined by its much improved and deadly younger siblings.  With the addition of the M4A3E8 ‘Easy Eight’ and M4 ‘Jumbo’, American tank lists are now more effective than ever.  Packing a late model 76mm gun and a host of special rules, the Easy Eight brings lethality back to the table for American tank lists.  With rules like Detroit’s Finest (movement Distance of 14”/35cm on Roads or Cross-country Terrain), Smooth Ride (Easy Eight tank does not suffer the +1 penalty to its score To Hit when using the Stabilizers special rule, provided that it did not move more than 6”/15cm during the Movement Step and it did not move in, enter, or move out of Rough Terrain), Protected Ammo (roll all failed Motivation Tests to Remount Bailed Out vehicles), and Wide Tracks, the Easy Eight is mobile killer. 

At the opposite end of the spectrum is the M4 Jumbo.  While the Jumbo is a Slow Tank (can only move 8” over Roads or Cross-Country Terrain) and is armed with the standard 75mm gun, it is its 12 Front Armor/8 Side Armor and Jumbos Lead the Way special rule that make them stand out.  Because the Jumbo looks very similar to a regular M4 but has much heavier armor, American tankers started Jumbos as the lead tank in their advances, deliberately encouraging the Germans to shoot at it rather than the lighter M4 Sherman tanks operating with it.  This special rule allows American players to allocate hits to an M4A3E2 Jumbo tank as if it had the lowest armor rating, assigning it a hit before the lesser armored tanks.  This means those pesky German panzers have a very low chance of killing the Jumbo on the front, giving the rest of the unit the chance to shoot back without fearing for their lives. 

While both the Easy Eight and the Jumbo have some impressive abilities, there is a down side.  Only a couple of tanks can be fielded per American tank platoon, limiting the amount of numbers of these bad boys you can bring to the table.  But like everything else, this limitation can still overcome with good  tactics and through building the right army list combinations.

Overall, Blood, Guts, & Glory will breathe new life into American tank armies.  The Easy Eights and Jumbos fill holes the other lists had while bringing interesting new rules to the table top.  Combine these new tanks with a Veteran Skill rating and some really neat Warrior characters (Ole Blood & Guts Patton anyone?) and you have the making of a well balanced and highly effective tank army that still has access to a wide array of support choices (remember that awesome American artillery).  While the Tiger and Panther tanks are still some of the best in the game, the new Sherman variants from Blood, Guts, & Glory may seriously challenge the reign of the German panzers as kings of the table top. 

So…will these new M4 variants shift the balance of power when it comes to armored warfare?  Or will the German panzers hold onto the title?  Only time will tell. Comments and suggestions are always welcomed!

FoW: Combined Arms

Wraith here, bringing you another FoW topic for your intellectual digestion.  FoW can be a very complicated game of rock, paper, scissors, where one unit is good at taking on a particular part of your opponents force.  Because of this, the key to victory in many FoW games is the art of mastering combined arms tactics.

The New and Improved Russian Tank Horde

Wraith here with another FoW topic for your viewing and discussion pleasure. This week, we'll look at the changes to the Soviet Hens and Chicks special rule brought on by the release of Red Bear and its impact on the game.

Photos from the Front - Tanksgiving 2011

Here are some photos from our annual Tanksgiving battle held at Gamer's Haven every November.  We had a great turnout, with about ten players and well over 20,000 pts worth of tanks. 

Bring the Rain....or Not

Artillery...never in FoW has there been a more intense debate on how effective or useless a unit can be on the table. Love it or Hate, artillery units can be major game changers. This article will look at the good, the bad, and the ugly of artillery in FoW.

While any FoW player will tell you that German panzers are generally superior to most Allied armor, their true strength comes not just from their better armor or guns, but in the end-turn mobility provided by the German Stormtrooper Special Rule.

FoW is divided into three phases similar to 40k, with each turn composed of the Movement phase, the Shooting phase, and the Assault phase. And just like 40k, in the Assault phase, a player can choose to launch a close combat attack against an opponent. However, the German Stromtrooper Special Rule allows any German player to forgo assaulting a target and instead make a skill test for each of their platoons (which most German units pass on 3+). If this test is passed, then that platoon is permitted an extra 4” of movement, following certain restrictions with regards to the platoons Pinned Down status or if it moved At The Double or fired a bombardment,

While this ability affects every German Army unit, the units that benefit most are the German panzer units. Most German tanks already possess good mobility, have good armor, and have some of the best guns in the game, making them more than a match for Allied tanks. But it is their ability to move again, after having fired, that makes them on of the best units in the game.

Dubbed “The Panzer Dance” by my local gaming group, Stormtrooping German panzers offer a major tactical advantage that no other army possesses in FoW. Because FoW is an attrition-based game, the ability to do maximum damage to your opponents army while preventing damage to yours is the key to victory. Because German panzer units are some of the best in the game, they are few in number on the table and must rely on a quality vs. quantity factor in their games. While their tanks can beat most allied tanks 1on 1, this is almost never the case in a FoW games, where Allied units almost always outnumber their German opponents, sometimes as much as 3 to 1. As a result, German players generally must play an aggressive, but cautious game. They must strike decisive blows, but at the same time, protect their units from return fire. “The Panzer Dance” allows a German player to do just this.

“The Panzer Dance” tactic calls for a German player to move their panzers into positions on wood lines, hill tops, or other areas that provide excellent line of sight and good firing positions while at the same time providing escape routes in the form of cover or line-of-sight blocking terrain. After the German player has fired, they then stormtroop out of their firing positions and into cover or out of line of sight. In this way, a German player denies a return shot at his panzers from his opponent while doing maximum damage to his enemy. While not always guaranteed, the fact that the test is made on a 3+ (or better for some special units) means that the German player can confidently rely on this tactic working most of the time.

Using this shoot-and-scoot strategy, the German player can dictate the flow of battle and force their opponent to come to them. The “Panzer Dance” has become a popular tactic in my local gaming group, allowing a smart German player to wreak havoc against the enemy while safeguarding his own forces. While not always guarantee, the fact that this tactic is always an option for a German player leaves them a great deal of tactical flexibility on the table, something no other FoW army can do. 

Well, here it is...the first tactics post for this blog.  I know it might be a little over the top for new players, but I felt I needed to get something out before this died.  Comments and suggestions are always welcome!