1944 Falaise Gap - FoBASM

It's been a while since I have posted, I have been studying part-time while working full-time so blogging time has been short.

I am playing a house ruled version of FoW that I am calling Flames of Bolt Action Shot Mum (FoBASM). The basic premise is that I like playing games that have reinforced companies or several companies, let's say about the forces a battalion commander would commit to a battle. I think FoW has good core mechanics that are simple, streamlined and fun. But I don't like the lack of battlefield friction and all the wonkiness with special rules and their army lists. I really like the blinds system and the command and control system of IABSM, and the ability in Bolt Action to decide which platoon to activate with the colored dice. So I have taken what I like from the three systems and merged them into a game that I think works quite well for what I want.

This scenario is loosely based on a Canadian armored regiment with supporting infantry, and artillery assets assaulting a set of towns in an attempt to close the Falaise Gap from the North. The Germans had an understrength company of SS Hitler Youth supported by platoon of Panthers trying to hold back the tide of the Canadian advance.

The Canadians advanced along the narrow edge from the West, they had to capture at least one of the first hamlets, either the Northern or Southern one and continue to capture the crossroads at the town with the Church at the far end of the table.

Miniatures are 15mm.

The battle from the Canadian perspective, the Canadians need to capture the crossroads on the far end of the table



The Germans deploy to defend the first two hamlets.



Canadian armor advances through wheatfields towards the Northern hamlet

Churchills advance towards the Southern hamlet

The Germans move up their Panther reserves towards the Northern hamlet to counter the Canadian Shermans.

Canadian rifles stalking their way through the wheat fields ready to assault the Northern hamlet.

Either the dug in SS were surprised or the Canadians very lucky as they assault and capture the Northern hamlet. The Canadians lost most of their platoon but captured their first objective.

The Canadians now shift the axis of their attack towards the Southern hamlet.

The German platoon defending the Southern hamlet opens up on the Canadian rifle platoon trying to replicate the success in the North.



The Canadian Shermans pour fire into the German defenders but cause no casualties against the dug in veterans. 



Unlike the first assault, the Canadian rifles attacking the Southern hamlet get mowed down by MG fire.

Canadians moving through the center and the Northern hamlet take out a Pak 40 one the hill and continue to advance.

The Panthers finally get into action and move around the Canadian flank. The Canadians call in an artillery strike and manage to knock out one Panther.

The remaining two Panthers tear apart two platoons of Shermans from the flank. Things aren't looking good for the Canadians.

In the final turn of the game, the Churchills and the last platoon of Shermans assault and breakthrough the Southern hamlet. The Panthers are once again caught by artillery and some unlucky rolls knocks out them both out. With the road to the crossroads clear, and their Panthers knocked out, the Germans have little left to fight with and we call the game for the Canadians. Albeit it was mostly a Pyrrhic victory as the Canadians lost their HQ almost all of their Shermans, and two platoons worth of infantry.

Flames of War V3 First Try: German Grenadiers vs British Motor Infantry

Last night I played my first game of FoW in three months. This was the first time trying out V3, and although I don’t have the rules (I only bought my V2 soft version and you can’t buy V3 yet) my opponent had read the rules and was well versed on the new changes. I do, however, have to thank the WWPD guys for their podcast that reviewed the rules changes, I was listening to it on my way to the game.

There are no drastic changes to V3, more of a rules clean up and re-balancing. The biggest change is to how Assaults work, though we did not test every new rule as the occasion didn’t come up.

We played a 1500pt MW game, the mission was the new Hold the Line, I was running a Grenadier list from Tunisia/Italy and my opponent was running a Motorized Infantry British list from North Africa. My army is painted for the European theatre but since my opponent had the 8^th Army we decided to play in the Desert anyway. If you’re a grognard you should stop reading right now….

We started a little late and played at a leisurely pace, it was one infantry co attacking another, and we were relearning some of the rules so our game didn’t reach a conclusive result. I was working my way through the village trying to take advantage of what little cover there was. I could've advanced faster but I have lost too many games lately by over extending myself so I wanted to co-ordinate my attack carefully. As I was getting close to my objective my infantry platoons got pinned down by artillery fire, further slowing down my advance. We ended the game on Turn 5 because we ran out of time. I think I could’ve won, I had very few losses and three nearly full strength infantry platoons on top of the objective, I bet my opponent would beg to differ though :)

Lastly, I am considering borrowing the spotting rules and blinds from IABSM and adapting them in FoW, I feel like FoW could use a little more surprises and it’s a mechanic that I like. We’ll see if any of my opponents agree to try it out.

The town in the middle dominates the terrain, surrounded by various dunes and hills.

The British deploy their 25 pdrs on the hill overlooking the town and objective



British infantry dug in around another objective



German right flank with the Panzer III's leading the spearhead



Massed German infantry formation moving on the left flank towards the town



Both flanks advance towards the town expecting enemy fire any second, the infantry takes direct and indirect fire from the British 25pdrs

A platoon of British AT guns ambushes the Panzer III's

After knocking out one tank the AT guns are overrun by supporting German infantry.

German infantry find the town clear of enemy forces but are pinned down by British artillery fire from the ridge. German counter battery fire from rocket launchers is ineffective.

British reveal another ambushing unit of M3 Lee's that take shots at the Panzer III's and miss

Last turn of the game, the British bring on their Crusaders as reserves, the Crusaders make an aggressive move to counter the infantry formation but are caught in the flank by the Panzer III's that escaped the ambush. The Germans and British are both contesting the objective so we call it a draw.