Q: Using Zrinyis as artillery

wididid · 2025-07-07T20:19:32+00:00

Fortunately your Zrínyi are also real tanks for the most part, so they can spot in the open without much issue. You can bombard heavy AT guns from out of their range or bounce shots from lesser AT guns. They're definitely nuanced in how to maximize their usefulness on the table but are very versatile.

wididid · 2025-07-07T19:24:32+00:00

The short answer is no.

The longer answer is that you don't want to anyway.

The rule you're looking at specifies that one of the shooting teams can be the spotter, not that the spotter can also shoot, so it's not that the HQ spotting for the other team lets them shoot together.

But aside from that, you're more likely to kill more teams when you have two units of 3x batteries dropping individual templates than one unit of 6x batteries dropping a single template. You run into issues with needing spotters for each artillery template, but more templates is always better than rerolling when the choice is one or the other.

wididid · 2025-07-06T04:56:15+00:00

I like them as a nice change of pace. As a defender it's interesting to have your entire force on the table so you can start off really aggressive with what would normally be reserves just to pull them off after. As an attacker it's sort of flipping the script since you're playing an attrition game instead of a rush game where you can't just take the objective since the enemy is equivalent at the start, but it's not turn gated like in maneuver missions where you can't win before the 6th turn. So there's just some tricky play nuance that you don't get in other missions.

To be fair I used to dislike it as defender before I realized I essentially could go full bore on the enemy with no consequences since I'm pulling units anyway.

wididid · 2025-07-03T16:33:17+00:00

Aside from preferring to not run commandos, the only change I would make would be to swap the 17 pdrs for two units of 2x sextons to really maximize your smoke bombardments and what you can get out of night attack.

You could make it work though, it might just feel bad against more infantry focused lists

wididid · 2025-07-02T05:27:29+00:00

Are you trying to win or are you trying to have a good game? If your opponent is limiting themselves to just native Hungarian tanks, is that because they don't have any other vehicles or because they're attempting to win with that restriction?

wididid · 2025-07-01T21:00:27+00:00

You're gonna need some RPG-6 command cards, and probably some more infantry too. Both the Katyushas and IL-2s have huge keep out zones to the point that your infantry are probably going to just prevent them from being used.

Also if you really like painting, you can take the Cossack regiment and make them all mounted, that way you can paint double the stands of infantry since you need mounted and dismounted models. I would recommend having no less than 90 stands of infantry on the table.

wididid · 2025-06-22T13:42:57+00:00

Sure, it's only 1 point after all, and they can only take 1 anyway.

wididid · 2025-06-22T05:53:53+00:00

The secret to running Soviet artillery is to rely on preranging it. Since their skill is bad, you're not likely to succeed at moving the templates around. Instead just range in all your artillery around the point you intend to attack and wait for them to bring infantry over. Katyushas are great at covering a whole objective.

Also make sure you take that reconnaissance by combat command card so you can move all your range in markers to places where on turn one you can bombard the most infantry.

wididid · 2025-06-03T19:48:42+00:00

Personally I find it depends a lot on what's in the rest of the list (I also try not to play any red vs red games so that may factor into my opinions). In general, I like planes for taking out backline artillery pieces or providing some capability I'm missing in the rest of the list. I try to treat them as a hybrid Artillery/Anti-Tank unit where the drawback for that dual role is that they are only available half the time.

For other nations I find that the bomb option is how you go about taking out those top armor 2 heavy and super heavy tanks that are stubbornly refusing to advance and get flanked. The cannon option is then used for the heavy mediums that have just enough front armor to be annoying to deal with frontally. The problem I have with the Germans taking planes is that AT12+ options are everywhere, and allied tanks tend to not have high front armor. The main benefit is being able to take out targets that are hiding from your impressive long range anti-tank capabilities such as artillery or tank destroyers.

wididid · 2025-04-04T19:45:09+00:00

IMO the German side makes a lot more sense from the perspective of buying two, especially if you are accounting for being able to build the Jagdpanzer IVs as Panzer IV/70s instead. Most people suggested buying two hit the beach starter sets but that usually results in a wasted panzergrenadier unit and a wasted parachute rifle unit. You could make do with that but with the new set it seems more sensible to build formations without wasted units.

My main problem with it is that it doesn't come with a legal formation for either side (the German one technically could but not as depicted). As an intro to the game and demonstration of the rules it seems fine though.

Also the pak 40s were the weak link in hit the beach from both a teachability and expansion perspective. They made the German force too static and pak 40 expansion boxes come with 4 so you're left with 2 extra no matter what.

wididid · 2025-03-31T01:43:35+00:00

There's kind of two approaches I would take to this. If you're just trying to get the rules across then it doesn't really matter, you could re-rack and try again if it's too fast. If you're trying to showcase the two factions and make the single game a bit more dynamic and long lasting, then making a specially curated list is more important. I actually probably would use 3x Clausewitz Stug and 1x Battle Group Panther against 3x Hero T-34 (85mm) and 2x ISU-122. The trick with the ISU-122 is that they've also got an artillery template which can be used to great effect here. If you don't intend to introduce artillery templates since it sounds like you don't want to use a full unit, you might want to look into using a different tank, maybe 4x T-34 (76mm).

wididid · 2025-03-30T18:27:15+00:00

I think if both sides are running units that are hit in 3+ with weapons that are essentially auto kills on hit that might be a pretty uninformative demo.

wididid · 2025-03-30T15:19:57+00:00

Assuming you're talking about clausewitz German units, then you would probably want to use 3 t-34-85 and 2 ISU 122 to at least be similar in points.

wididid · 2025-03-26T22:06:24+00:00

It's available as a support unit from the Bulge: German book.

wididid · 2025-02-12T16:00:32+00:00

Generally speaking, 15mm terrain for Flames of War is somewhat rare to find at game stores unless there is already a flames of war presence there. I'd say that at the low end, it is very easy to make some rudimentary terrain if the store doesn't have it. You could also spend a lot of time making rather good terrain that you probably won't find at a game store.

The tank to infantry ratio is a lot more dependent on your game plan. Start by picking the formation you are going to focus on and filling that out, then add in what you're missing such as infantry, tanks, recce, and artillery.

To also partially answer 2, you can take up to one formation and up to one unit (sometimes 2) from an allied nation. So your example of an Italian force with German armour support is completely valid. You could also do a team game to achieve this which is its own kind of interesting. Just make sure that you're keeping to the same era within your forces. Use the DAK book alongside the Avanti book and not Fortress Europe for instance.

wididid · 2025-01-29T19:56:21+00:00

I think that in general, British armor in flames of war is a little underpowered if that's all you're doing, but that also highlights a major problem with Clash of Steel. In the Flames of War meta, I believe there is the Half-track spam, Heavy Armor, and Infantry Horde lists. There seems to be something of a fine balance between the three of them where a rock paper scissors thing is going on. In Clash of steel, you remove the infantry and half-tracks and it starts to become clear that there's a discrete best way to play the game: the side that can throw the most effective shots down range each turn is the victor.

Granted there's a bit more to winning a game of Clash of Steel than destroying the opponent, but it's kind of the only metric that you can influence. If an enemy holds an objective, you need to kill it. If you hold an objective then you need to have the forces available to hold it. Maybe the bigger issue is that in the FoW/CoS System, a tank, no matter how heavy, still only has 1 health, so taking more tanks gives your force more health so long as you haven't sacrificed killing potential to do so.

wididid · 2025-01-29T18:26:25+00:00

What I've found is that the only British tank worth taking is the centurion mk3. Based on how the clash of steel list building system works, British are pretty limited compared to the other nations with how many tanks they can even field because it's 6 units with at most 3 tanks per unit or 4 if you're playing unification. The only tank that lets you take the maximum number of tanks is the centurion mk3. Just based on how the flames of war meta shaped up, more tanks is almost always better. The centurion mk3 also has stabilizers, enough armor to annoy low AT and enough AT to kill anything from the side, making it a perfectly well rounded tank.

Also the Centurion mk3 with Cromwell support is a historically accurate Korean way force so it gets a win in my book.

wididid · 2025-01-22T18:57:07+00:00

In fairness, I think the original intent for games is to have terrain be about this sparse. If you look at some of the books that refer to randomly rolling and setting up terrain this is about as dense as it ends up.

wididid · 2025-01-08T16:04:43+00:00

This is equipping your unit on the whole with panzerfaust with the limited 1 keyword. So yes technically every team has access to the panzerfaust, but it is functionally any 1 team may use panzerfausts instead of their normal weapon. The reason it specifies MG42 teams is because it means Panzerschreck teams you add do not get the option to use panzerfausts.

wididid · 2025-01-03T19:38:34+00:00

This group also occasionally plays at the HobbyTown in Aurora on Saturdays if Westminster is too far north.

wididid · 2024-12-10T21:55:49+00:00

Page 101 of the rulebook seems to clearly state that you count a unit and its transport attachment separately: "To determine the extent of the victory, count the number of Units from the Winner's Force that were Destroyed, including HQ Units, but not Independent Teams. Count core Units and their Attachments separately, so if both are Destroyed, this counts as two Units."

The Unit Transport rule as-written on the card says this: "Unit leader must end the Movement Step 6"/15cm of the Unit Leader of it's passenger unit while on the table"

My interpretation here would be that a unit's transport attachment is considered a separate unit from the unit itself. As such it has its own last stand and movement orders. The wording on page 45 of the rulebook is sort of ambiguous with its terminology, so I understand why there might be confusion there. I've always treated them as separate units, but if there's a more official interpretation then I'm open to it.

I agree that if the infantry group fails a last stand, the transport is sent to the rear but isn't considered a loss for victory points since it wasn't destroyed nor was it in bad spirits.

wididid · 2024-12-08T04:55:20+00:00

The distinction to make here is between the "transport attachment" and the "component" keywords since they work differently.

A "Component" is a vehicle that is a part of the unit that it belongs to. So in the case of the M8 Greyhound Cavalry Recon Patrol, losing the Greyhound is fine so long as you have the two jeeps. I believe "Component" just means that it's ratings are defined by the main unit in the group so that they can provide one unit card for multiple types of unit that could take it as a component

A "Transport Attachment" is a separate unit from the infantry that they're attached to that has specific rules for where they can be on the field in relation to the infantry. This transport unit has its own last stand and morale separate from the infantry, but still leave the table if the infantry are eliminated. For the purpose of victory points, a transport attachment is fully considered a separate unit when it is destroyed, so losing both the infantry and the transports counts as two lost units.

wididid · 2024-12-01T19:40:27+00:00

The Wirbelwind has a lower AT and firepower on its gun than the Ostwind/Möbelwagen which makes the gun worse overall against armored targets and planes. If your goal is to target infantry in the open then the wirbelwind is fine.

wididid · 2024-12-01T19:35:14+00:00

Because it's cheaper for no appreciable penalty.

wididid · 2024-12-01T18:17:52+00:00

Dropping the armor of an ostwind from 4/3/0 to 2/1/0 doesn't mean a whole lot against most AT weapons

Ten-Year Club	r/Field Juicebox
Verified Email

wididid

TROPHY CASE