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This post is an After Action Report from a game of Flames of War I played at Morpeth Wargames club On tuesday night with three other guys (two of which I hadn’t met before).

The game wasn’t really planned, so we all just turned up with a 1750pts list, paired off and played a 2v2 game, which was a mismatch of British Para’s and Soviet Heavy armour facing A german Grenadier list and a German Panzer Lehr list. I got the idea to try out this game by having a fantastic read, on this website.

 

I attempted to write down the highlights and take a few photos, this will be my first attempt at a proper flames of war AAR, so please bear with me!

Here is the table after we finished setup.

Table setup

Sorry about the Quality of the photos for this review, I had REALLY shaky hands for some reason that night! and for the one above I was standing on a chair, and this is a photoshop stitch of three photos, as my mini camera couldnt get the whole thing in at once.

 

We rolled Free for all (probably for the best as we had limited time), and used a board that was 10′ x 4′

I was pretty surprised by the board actually, most of the terrain you can see on there is my own (you might recognise it if you’ve been reading my blog!) I managed to cover a table this big, and still had a TON of terrain left in my terrain box! I think i have an addiction!

Anywhoo.

The Axis players rolled to be the attacker, and we set up as you can see above. The paras and the soviets are at the bottom of the picture, and the german players forces are at the top.

I cant say for certain what the other guys had, and we had a couple of proxy units on the field but I can say that the soviet list was the IS2 list, mine was a british parachute company from Turning tide, and one of the german forces was a Panzer Lehr force from Earth and Steel, with the other being (i think) a grenadier company from cobra

Turn 1: Axis

  • Panzer IV’s move up the field in the middle of the table, Take a pot shot at the 17pdrs and the soviet AA guns, missing both.
  • Pumas fly up the flank, coming round from behind the woods after their recce move, They shoot at the commandos (who’ve deployed in the open), kill one stand but don’t manage to pin them (and here begins the pathetic infantry saving throws from Chris!!)
  • One of the Tiger’s manages to pop off one of the soviet AR-10 rifle kits.
  • The Pak 40’s split fire and manage to take out a 6pdr gun, but fail to touch the IS2’s
View from the Allied side of the table in turn one

View from the Allied side of the table in turn one

 

Turn 1: Allies

  • IS2’s take shots at the advancing PZ IV’s and miss!
  • The Tetrach’s move up beside the Puma’s, managing to kill one of them, while the commandos take refuge behind the woods.
  • 25pdrs range in on the enemy NW42’s (who didn’t get to fire in the first turn, as its a mobile battle), killing one gun and pinning the entire unit.
  • Typhoon air support is called in and range in on a Panzer Lehr platoon hiding behind the woods in the top corner of the table, pretty pathetic rolling from me meant I only killed one half track!
Aircraft range in on the panzer Lehr

Aircraft range in on the panzer Lehr

Turn 2:Axis

  • The NW42’s fail their moral test and stay pinned! (even with the help of the company commander!)
  • The Pak40’s manage to bail one of the IS2’s with a side armour shot
  • The Panzer IV’s take out another one of the AA guns
  • They Also take out a 17pdr, after failing to kill it with Main gun shots they manage to take it down with MG’s! typical!!
  • The artillery from the far corner decided to range in on the remaining 17pdr, but fails to hit the mark
  • The Tigers Snipe another of the AA guns (these guys are just being bullied now..)
 
Side armour on the IS2

Side armour on the IS2

 

Turn 2: Allies

  • Air craft come in in the same place, only one aircraft this time, and kill another half track
  • IS2’s manage to kill two of the three Pak 40’s
  • Tetrach’s manage to get up to the HMG platoon, take the chance on a risky assault, one is taken out, one is bailed, but they manage to kill enough of the HMG platoon to force a moral check and they run off. (Tet’s pass theirs)
tetrach's after the assault

tetrach’s after the assault

 

Turn 3: Axis

  • Puma’s move back up and kill two more of the commando platoon.
  • Panzer IV’s make a move on the paras in the woods, but only take out one stand
  • The NW42’s fail their moral test again and stay pinned!!
  • The artillery that failed to range in on the 17pdr changes its target and goes for the IS2’s, has far greater success here, taking out one more of the AA guns, who then fail their moral test and run away, and kill an IS2 outright!
  • The tetrach’s in the open prove too much of a tasty target for the tigers to pass up, they take out one more (by sheer luck the other one survived)
Dead IS2

Dead IS2

 

Turn 3: Allies

  • Aircraft manage to arrive on the table, and even though they’ve bombed the same place twice already, they fail to range in.
  • Tetrach’s manage to rally up and flank the puma’s who have exploited their position and went for the commandos, with poor shooting they only manage to bail one of the pumas with main gun fire.
  • Commandos move up to aid the tetrach’s and manage to bail another with rifle/MG fire in the side firing from the hip.
  • With both Puma’s bailed, the commandos seize the initiative and assault, causing hits and no damage, but its fine, as they capture the bailed vehicles at the end of the assault.
  • 17pdr takes a shot at the tiger who opens himself up after going for the tetrach’s, the shot hits, but fails to do any damage.
  • IS2’s kill a Panzer IV
  • Pretty much everything that could fire at them, fired at the infantry who have moved up to support the Panzer IV’s in the middle of the table, arty, rifle fire, everything. They get Pinned, but take no casualties! this was a serious amount of dice flung at these guys, and nothing hit home!!
  • PIAT’s in the woods had a perfect opportunity to fire at the Panzer IV’s, but forget… idiots.
  • Paras move across the table and emerge from the woods, think about assualting but get talked out of it.
Piats not firing

Piats not firing

 

Turn 4: Axis

  • Finally the NW42’s pass their moral test!
  • Chris Passes two infantry saves! (believe me, this is worthy of note…)
  • Paras in the open (who have just emerged from the woods opposite the NW42’s get shot by everything on that side of the table, they are pinned, and take one casualty.
  • Artillery turns its attention to the remaining 17pdr, takes it out, and the command team fails its moral.
  • Tigers take out a tetrach (only one left!)
  • Grenadiers from the middle of the field, confident after taking no casualties last turn, make an assualt on the paras in the woods, Defensive fire kills one stand, and pins the unit.
  • IS2’s continue their advance across the field
NW42's finally unpin

NW42’s finally unpin

Commandos capturing pumas

Commandos capturing pumas (last turn)

 

Turn 4: Allies

  • IS2’s kill a tiger
  • Paras decide to charge the Panzer IV’s, two die, get pinned
  • Soviets also charge the Panzer IV’s, they manage to get in, and kill all the remaining tanks.
  • Tetrach’s push up to the objective (its the last turn, why the heck not?)
Dead Tiger

Dead Tiger

 

Couple more photos

Couple more photos

 

Couple more photos

Couple more photos

 

Paras come from the woods

Paras come from the woods

 

 

End of the game

End of the game

Final Thoughts
The game ended at the end of turn four, as we had run out of time, as it stood the game was a stalemate, but it was heading in the allies favour. that doesn’t really count for much though, as at the start of the game, we beleived the top right of the table, looking from the perspective of the photos, was the strongest side of the table, and it didn’t fair too well against one unit of tetrach’s and a unit of commandos, and, on the other side of the table, the masses of german infantry didn’t manage to break the smaller number of paras.
So who knows what would have happened?I thoroughly enjoyed the game, and I hope the other lads did too,  there were only a couple of rules queries which were quickly looked up and confirmed, and not a raised voice in the house, which is the way I like to play the game. nice and relaxed!
One of the other guys (the soviet player) Nate, has a blog which you can check out –> HERE
and the Morpeth wargames club which meets on a tuesday night from around 6-7pm can be found –> HERE

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