Flames of War 1000pts newbie tournament AAR

This is a guest post by my buddy David who went to this tournament in Malmö, I intended to swing by myself and have a look and take some pictures but other things came up. Luckily David acted the correspondent for this one, below is his summary of the action and the pictures he snapped:

Newbie tournament i Malmö, Sweden

I went to a 1000pts late war FoW tournament in Malmö. The tournament was actually a newbie tournament so I didn’t actually qualify for it but since there were a few spots left I was allowed to participate. I reminded the tournament organizer that it was for newbs to learn, not for me to be an ass (the baseball bat of Damocles was hung over my head to empathize this by the organizer).

In the spirit of newbness i took my newly painted Cossacks led by the suicidal Pavel Kamnev

The list was as follows

HQ with Pavel Kamnev and 4 bases sappers
3 platoon Cossack company, 1 with SMG´s and with 1 tachanka attached.
3 platoon dismounted Cossacks, 1 with SMG´s (accompanied by the sappers and battalion commissar)
4 76mm Guns
4 120mm mortars

My memory is a bit hazy as to the exact contents of my opponents. There was 3 Brits, 2 Germans and 3 soviets.

Brit 1

Paras
2 combat platoons
2 pack howizers
2 17 pounders
3 or 4 6 pounders

Brit 2

Paras
2 combat platoons
4 pack howizers
4 DD shermans

Brit 3

Rifles
2 combat platoons
4 6 pounders
4 25 pounders

German 1

Kampfgruppe Arnhem
Assorted rag-tag infantry
2 88s
3 Stug Gs
2 Pak 40´s

German 2
SS Wiking
2 combat platoons
2 88s
4 HMGs
2 Pak 40s
6 mortars

Soviet 1

Assault guns
1 IS2 HQ
2x 3 ISU 122s
Scouts

Soviet 2

Sturmovoye
1 Sturmo platoon
1 Strelk
2 100mm AT guns
and something more I don’t remember

Soviet 3

That was me


Game 1 was against British paras (the ones with tanks)

The mission was a fair fight one with 2 objectives each, they both ended up on separate ends of the table. I deployed my guns and cavalry on the left, infantry and mortars on the right. Facing my cav was a para platoon and the tanks, on the right, another para platoon and the howitzers.

The game plan was to use the threat of the horses to draw off the tanks while the infantry swarmed the other flank and use mortars and guns to keep him at bay from the left objective. The plan went off without a hitch. The a howitzer barrage in turn 3 killed a third of the infantry and pinned the rest for 2 turns, despite the commissar making a lot of new friends.

After that the tanks came rolling round a wood followed by the paras and it was basically all over. I managed to get rid of the tanks with mortar fire and point blank arty fire before the objective was conquered and the guns killed off, along with mr Kamnev who was the sole survivor of the cavalry to make it back to friendly lines

2-5 in favor to the Brits

Game 2 was against ”ze Germans” of SS Wiking (Danes), which we both found appropriate.

The Germans dug in infantry to cover both objectives and some mortars bringing up the rear. I sent cavalry and infantry charging towards the right objective in an effort to claim it before the reinforcements started to come in. In a fell swoop the cavalry swept through withering MG fire from the enemy, loosing almost half the company in the bargain but swept the objective area clean of Germans, all but a single German sergeant who was taking a bratwurst break during the assault and came back to haunt me throughout the game, refusing to go home. The cavalry proceeded to sweep down the mortars to in the passing and was about to proceed back towards the objective to link up with the approaching infantry. The brilliant maneuvering was shot short when my opponent in a flurry of dice rolls managed to get 3 5+ on his turn 3 reserve rolls and half his force appeared behind the cavalry, shooting them into tiny hamburger sized bits. After that it went from ”wooo! Cossacks” to ”OMG!? WTF! FASCISTS EVERYWHERE! SAVE US COMERADE STALIN!” to put it simply. My infantry got to the objective and was slowly ground down by MG and AT fire.

3-4 in favor of the Germans

Game 3 faced my Soviets against the soviet infantry in a hasty attack. 

2 objective in a village, covered by a mass of SMGs and machine guns by the sturmovoye and one in a wood on the far flank covered by a small Strelk. I deployed my cavalry against the small strelk and my infantry to go into the village.
This game was over in turn 3. The horses swept across the plains and woods and swept the wood clean of infantry in a bloody melee and then drove of the relief infantry coming from the village.

6-1 to me

All in all i had loads of fun and met nice new players which i hope to see at out gaming sessions.
The first price went to Kampfgruppe Arnhem, The sportsmanship went to a clubmate, Fredrick, he of the limey paras and I took home the painting award.

The tournament was nicely organized and the play area was nice, although a bit cramped at times.

The emphasis on the prices was on the sportsmanship award which I found fitting as it is not only important to face nicely painted armies, but also nice players. I would happily face off against any of them again. Hopefully with more hoof beats across the glades.