Flames of War - Tutorial - Gun Emplacements - Step by Step

While still trying to save some money on an expensive hobby, I came across the Gun Emplacements made by Battlefront. That indeed is something you can easily do yourself.

From my perspective these handy "Dug In" Markers for Artillery or similar stuff makes sense and is easy to build yourself.

Just to give you a basic understanding... these things will cost you approx 15 Euros for a pair of two. What you normally get is two for the front and two for the back side of a large base. Oh come on... this is something we can easily do ourselves.

Let us start with the components I used here:

- Beermatt (Still loving this stuff), substitude with 1mm Balsawood if that is more handy for you
- Sand
- PVA Glue
- Filler

The advanced version will also use:
- Miliput

We also need:

- Scissors
- putty knive or similar

Easy I guess ....

So lets begin the process.

Step 1:
Take some filler and put it into a container for mixing. I used an old youghurt type of thing. But also a newspaper could do this job. Then add some PVA to get a smooth working wet mixture. Add the sand to it and mix it through. Why we are doing this ?
Quite easy.. we get a bit more texture for painting later on. If you feel that painting is a bit not your type of thing you could also add cheap acrylic colour to this mixture. This will be your base tone.. so be carefull that it is indeed dark enought.

Step 2:
Cut your beermatt. I placed a large base somethere in the middle to get some measurements. If you have e.g. a fitting form upfront from e.g. infantry dug in markers you can also use these for the wide side of life. This makes it easier for the measurement part. That also leaves you with a stripe left after cutting of approx 1-2 cm... depending on the beermatt size.

Step 3:
Cut the above mentioned stripe down to approx 1cm height.

Step 4:
Use your putty knive to take up your mixture and carefully place it around the self made base. If you are not that kinda tidy here it is NOT a problem

Step 4. Build up slowly. No extra glue needed !

Step 5:
Use your cut stripe to match to your large artillery base. Make sure it fits in there and that you have a bit spare space in the inner room left. That helps later on to get the base out again.

This is how it should look like after Step 5.

Step 6: 
Let the whole stuff dry.  If you try the advanced version you know use your miliput here to place some sandbags or glue some wood pieces on it... either you can substitute "wood" with beermatt left overs.

Step 7:
Use some cheap primer (black) and prime it. Afterwards basecoat colour it with a cheap brown colour. If you need to add details on the inner parts.... use a knive and do some slight cutting into the beermatt parts. This gives later on the impression of wood. Drybrush and paint as desired.

Step 8:
Enjoy your work !

Total costs:

Sand - nothing , I got it from the beach
Beermatt - nothing, Taken from my local pub
PVA Glue - Whole Bottle 3,99 Euro. So this will approx have used up 10 cent
Filler - Whole 900 gramm container for 3,99 in sales at Lidl Ireland .., used approx for 20 cents
Colour - I used white and brown and later on mixed the stuff ... so 3,99 Each for 100ml, approx 50 cent altogether

Invest for two:

0,80 Cents Euro

vs:

15 Euros on cheapest mailorder i could find.

Saves: 14,20 Euro

Flames of War - Scenario - Skirmish / Soloplay - Dunajek Bridge

Eastern Front - 1944 January- Army Group North - Poland

Historical Background: 

On January 12, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front (Konev) launched a mayor attack from the Baranów bridgehead towards Silesia. With tremendous troop and material usage Soviet attacks smashed the german lines after two one hour each lasting artillery barrage. On the first day there were deep penetrations into the german front line done, and on January 15 there was no coherent German front in this area anymore.

German orders:
For hours there was this tremendous artillery barrage on the frontline troops. You are a bit backwards with the duty to fortify the wooden bridge for retreating own troops which are located at the city of Zabno some couple of kilometers away. The small town you made a home during the last couple of weeks is called Wai Ruda. The next german "fortress town" there your staff is awaiting orders is Szczurowa. The bridge is ready to be blown up but instead of doing so after this soviet attack you wait for german refugee units. Your orders are to hold open the bridge as long as possible for retreating german units. If soviet forces try to cross the river blow the bridge up.

Soviet orders:
The attack is going well and the germans are withdrawing. We smashed through their lines and now our spearhead to the west is making fast progress. We just passed through Zabno without encountering any resistance at all and now are approaching the small wood between Zabno and Wai Ruda. Our orders are simple. Try to sniff our more german intruders and punch them into the snow. Any resistance is to be put down. Capture the bridge if it is not blown up already.

Tablesize:
This is a limited table sized 60cm by 120cm. The german deployment is on the southern part of the river. Every unit is entrenched. Pak and SMG are laid in ambush as well as the infantry.

Soviet forces start in the northern part. Mainly on the road with the two T-34 leading.
The river does not support a ford. The only crossing is the bridge. Whoever secures the bridge wins the game

Terrain (table size 60cm wide, 120cm long):
The river Dunajek divides the table into two halves. From the upper left corner a road commences in a corner towards the bridge which sits in the middle of the table. The area in the soviet deployment zone supports some more woods. A small hill covers the advance of the road starting from the corner.
The lower side has some small woods on the left corner. A hill is located on the right corner. Right before the hill two russian houses were build. In one the german SMG Team starts. A bit left you have the entrenched Pak38. The road commences from the bridge in an arc to the left corner. Foxholes for the infantry are dug before the wood.


Specials:

Due to heavy snowfall during the last days the communicationline to blow up the bridge doesnt work properly. To fix the problem the german player sends out one stand each round to fix the problem. This takes one full turn. Means the german player needs two turns in total to find and fix the line properly. The line can only be blown up by the Pak 38 crew. As the missing link is recognised in turn one this specialty starts in turn 2.

The german Pak Stand can only be penetrated by a shell from the ISU-152. However the T-34 shells can force the Pak team to hold their heads down.

Forces:

German Forces:
1 Pak 38 
1 SMG Team
1 Platoon Panzergrenadiers (free choice if you agree to use anti tank weapons or not)


Soviet Force:
1 T-34-85 OBR 1944
1 T-34 obr 1942-OT-34 (57mm gun) 
1 ISU-152
1 Platoon Strelkovy (Winter) without Komissar

Making the winner:

Victory Points:
Soviet Points:
+1 Capture the bridge
+1 for the soviets if they destroy the Pak Stand before the bridge can be blown up
+1 for the soviets for each stand destroyed who tries to fix and repair the line


German Points:
+1 hold the bridge or blow it up 
+1 for each stand of killed infantry
+2 for each tank destroyed

Germans can´t win on points if bridge is secured by soviet forces. Soviets can win on points even if bridge is destroyed.

 


 

Flames of War - Tutorial - Building things from the Battlefront Homepage - Minefields -

Browsing the Battefront Homepage you will find the Modeling section and some things on "How to do..."... Christmas brought some Balsa Wood to me and so I started redoing the tutorials from their webpage.

The Minefield:

As I am also building a 78. Sturm Division Unit I am in need of some trenches and stuff like that. The minefield from the BF webpage looked easy and I also would rate it as being easy.

Materials used:
Balsa Wood
Toothpicks/Partysticks
Superglue
Miliput
Filler
Wire


Step 1:
Scale for this one is 20cm by 5cm. This is also the exact sizing BF gives on their webpage. As Balsa Wood is a light and easy to work with wood you can take the Toothpicks/Partysticks as they are and simply press them into the four corners of the balsa piece. I also put one extra in the middle for the signpost. Afterwards I took a Miniature and cut the "posts" down to approx neck high of the miniature.

Step 2:
Mix the miliput or any other epoxy you are using and define the parts of the mines and a possible crater of an exploded one. The mines you will do with a bigger and a smaller piece which you roll into ball shape and first press the bigger, than the smaller one on top of the bigger one. The crater is a larger piece there you simply make a ring and then push down the size. If you have, like me, this cutter knife you can scratch in some lines into the miliput so you get a bit more texture to your crater.

Step 3:
After this is done you can either start painting and flocking or like me use some filler for more texture on the board.

Step 4:
After drying... apply some colour and flock to it.


Step 5:
Connect your wire around the outlining poles. And ready you are. As I am using a 120x120cm gaming table it suits for me to do six of these to get a whole table covered. Easy to do and doesnt take much of a time

Flames of War - Scenario - "Unternehmen Trappenjagd" Part 1 - Historical Background

Battle of the Kerch Peninsula (German: Unternehmen Trappenjagd) (Russian Керченско-Феодосийская десантная операция (Kerchensko-Feodosiyskaya desantnaya operatsiya, 'Kerch-Feodosiya landing operation')) was a World War II offensive by German and Romanian armies against the Soviet Crimean Front forces defending the Kerch Peninsula, in the eastern part of the Crimea. It was launched on 8 May 1942 and concluded around 18 May 1942 with the near complete destruction of the Soviet defending forces. The Red Army lost over 170,000 men killed or taken prisoner, and three armies (44th, 47th, and 51st) with twenty-one divisions.The operation was one of the battles immediately preceding the German summer offensive (Fall Blau), and its successful conclusion made it possible for the Axis to launch a successful assault on Sevastopol in the following months.
Some groups of Soviet survivors refused to surrender and fought on for many months, hiding in the catacombs of the quarries. Many of these soldiers were occupying the caves along with many civilians, who had fled the city of Kerch.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Historical Background:

The Battle:

Trappenjagd began at 04:15 on 8 May. Fliegerkorps VIII operating under Luftflotte 4, began operations against lines of communication and against Soviet airfields. Within hours, Ju 87s of StG 77 had knocked out most of the Soviet 44th Army's communications. The airfields were also virtually destroyed and 57 of the 401 Soviet aircraft in the area were shot down in just 2,100 sorties. Having knocked out the army's Headquarters, the Soviets could not organise a counter offensive and the 44th Army collapsed into a retreat when von Manstein launched the ground attack.
Von Manstein had five infantry divisions, one Panzer Division (22nd Panzer Division), and two and a half Romanian Divisions against 19 Soviet divisions and four armoured brigades at Kerch. He committed his units in the south against the 44th Army. The 902nd Assault Boat Command of the 436th Regiment, 132nd German Infantry Division, landed behind the Soviet lines and helped unbuckle the Soviet second lines. The artillery bombardment lasted only 10 minutes, and within three and a half hours of the assault being launched, the 44th Army collapsed. On the first day, XXX Corps, attacking with the 28th, 50th and 132nd Divisions had broken through in the south. At a cost of 104 killed and 284 wounded, they captured 4,514 Soviet soldiers. Kozlov did not appreciate the significance of the German breakthrough and failed to release reserves for a counter-attack. On 9 May, von Manstein committed the 22nd Panzer Division, which swung north and trapped the 51st Army against the Sea of Azov. Soviet morale and organisation collapsed, and a stampede to the rear areas began. Once this happened, the eight divisions of the 51st Army surrendered releasing XXX Corps to pursue the fragments of retreating Soviet forces to Marfovka, barely eight miles from Kerch.

Flames of War - Tutorial - Fences (the not so tricky ones)

After the tricky fences we also can work out the better concealing ones.... takes also less then 5 minutes.
For this purpose I took the same stuff for cleaning ears.. but you can also use the toothpicks if you bought them for the other projects


So here we go...

What do we need ..

Materials:

Tongue depressor
Toothpicks (Partysticks) / or earcleaners
Superglue

Step 1:
No coffee today.... take a look at the gathered materials

Step 2:
Superglue the lowest "log"row directly on the tongue depressor.

Step 3:
Use the lowest row as hold for glueing one (NOT BOTH!) side of the  upright standing logs of your fence. Place as many as desired....

Step 4:
Build up one to two more log rows like Step 2.. but simply superglue them to the pins as well as to the row below.

Step5:
Superglue the other upright standing parts of your fence

Step 6:
Superglue the last row... paint and flock as desired... enjoy your result

Flames of War - Tutorial - Fences (the tricky ones)

Today it is time to again work a bit around on something that takes less then 5 minutes for at least 2 parts of todays fences.

Everyone knows the classic ones. Being a one piece cast thing totally shutting down any view and giving concealment to troops. Why should that always be the case ? Why cant a fence not be a hinderance for advancing troops instead of giving concealment ? ....


So here we go...

What do we need ..

Materials:

Tongue depressor
Toothpicks (Partysticks)
Superglue

and thats it....

Step 1: Did I state that I like coffee ... so lets start with one upfront and have a few on our materials

Step 2:
The more tricky variaton.. Superglue upright standing "bolts" on your base.

Step 3:
Put a lose layer (I took two here) on a 180 degree ankle on your base. In my case it is 2 toothpicks... Why ? Because a fence does not start on the bottom but somethere on the first third.

Step 4:
Superglue toothpicks from one upright "bolt" to another. To give the more hold we first layed the 180 degree toothpicks. So you can simply go ahead and place your fence parts simply in 180 degree again on the already existing bolts.

Step 5:
as seen on the picture and


Step 6:
Equal steps 3 and 4.

Step 7:
Base as desired and enjoy your result.....

Flames of War - Tutorial - Entrenchment Markers (easy way)

After looking around on the web in search of entrechment markers I was wondering why there is a prize for approx 15 Euros or 12 british pounds for a bit of markers... ok they come prepainted and possibly also with some flock... too expensive in my opinion.

So lets take a look at them closer and substitude some things.

Scaling... 

always the worse problem to encounter... I scaled mine to approx half of the width of a small base. Means you take your small base. Place it and then use half of the smallest side. Thats my base width.
For its length I took two medium sized infantry platoon bases and put them next to each other. With this I still keep the opportunity to work out a complete entrenchment for a much lengthier part.. e.g. dug in platoon etc.


With this settled.... start ...

Substitution....

Materials needed:
The base I have done upfront
Partysticks
Superglue
Filler


Step 1:

Make sure you have everything by hand... enjoy your coffee....

Cut the partysticks to an even length. I personally dont like the more upper and lower parts.. I only took the middle part from it.


Step 2:
Use some rest from your base cutting part and glue it on top of the base. Afterwards Superglue the Partysticks alongside.

Step 3:
Cut some smaller parts from the partysticks as to stabilize the thing.

Step 4:
Use filler to get some sort of upwards hill to your entrechment.

Step 5:
Wait till dry.. Decorate, Prime, paint and flock it as desired.... and, of course,  have fun....

P.S.: Time on this one is nothing more than 5 Minutes......

Flames of War - Tutorial - Building Wood Trees the njami way

Still cheaper then the last one but takes more time is this variation. Suits perfect for more mediterrain environments etc.. is also quite easy scaleable up to 28mm. The earstick variation is a bit ... well lets say limited... :)

What you need:

- Grapes (red or green one ... doesnt matter) from the supermarket
- Base
- Superglue
- Flock
- Miliput or other putty



Step 1:
After buying the grapes.. enjoy them (NJAMI) but dont throw away the part they grow on.. thats the thing we need. Let it dry out for a week and then go ahead (you can also start right away ... I just like the dry variation a bit more)

Step 2:
Use Superglue and miliput to get your "tree" stand up the way you like it to be.


Step 3:
Superglue Flock on the parts there your fruits have been growing. Much space here to attach something.

Step 4:
Wait till everything dryed and do your basing...

Enjoy your lovely result

Flames of War - Tutorial - Building Wood Trees the cheap way

Was a bit quite lately , but work and a serious blood infection really chained me to the bed and far away from anything that had to do with wargaming or similar stuff.

I often find myself on websites offereing the different sorts of trees suitable for wargaming. Most often I am also wondering which size does matter to 15mm and Flames of War... the answer I finally found in my bathroom....

What you need:
- Earsticks for cleaning your ears (pls unused !)
- Miliput or other putty
- a base
- Superglue
- Flock


Step 1:

Take all the stuff you need and crosscheck if you have everything... have a cup of coffee.

Step 2:
Take the earsticks and superglue them to your base. Afterwards put some miliput or putty around it.
After crosschecking both variants (with or without the stuff you clean your ears with I highly recommend the ones with that stuff)

Step 3:
Superglue flock as desired to your stick... et voila... tres chic :)

Step 4:
Do your basing stuff around it and it should blend perfectly to your gaming table. Doesnt cost a fortune and is easy to make within 2 Minutes.

Flames of War - Scenario - Solo Gaming - Release of the Partizans/PoW

Solo Gaming - Scenario - Release of the Partizans/PoW:

Table size: 120 by 120cm
Terrain: centerpiece is a barn. Place approx one road leading to the barn, couple of woods or cropfields around it or small hills (whatever suits best to your campaignsetting)

A leader of the local partizan group has tried to make contact with the Allied. Allied intelligence has despatched a small force to meet with the resistance and to bring him to Headquarters. Unfortunately a roving patrol of Germans stumble on the partizans hiding place.
The leader of the German patrol suspects the mysterious group of being a partizan and send for assistance while he questions him.
The allies realise what has happened and must rescue the Partizan leader before he can be taken away by the Germans.

The game begins with a unit of three squads infantry led by a command occupying the farm. The officers command and one stand of germans are positioned inside the barn guarding the partizan leader and his companion (one stand of allied force ) . The others are stationed around the farm.

The eight allied stands enter the table with their officer on the road at the eastern edge of the table.

From Turn three onwards roll to see if any reinforcements arrive. On a d6 roll of 1 or 6 the reinforcements would turn up 2-5 nothing arrives. At a dice score of 1 German troops arrive, on a score of  6 Allied troops come. After the reinforcements start to arrive this dice roll turns to 1-3 German reinforcements would come, 4-6 Allied reinforcements come, each turn. Each side gains d6 stands reinforcements entering at the initial starting points.

As soon as hand to hand combat can be heard in the farm yard, the two Partizans have to make a test (in this case they are handled as veterans). If they pass they attack the soldier guarding them and attempt to escape.

Victory Conditions:

The Allied must release the two Partizans and escape off the board with them.

The Germans must prevent the escape of the Partizans.

If the Partizans die, the game is a draw.




Initial forces:
Axis:
1 Platoon of German Infantry

Allies:
1 Platoon of Allied Infantry


PS: This also is compatible with Bolt Action..if you substitute Stand with one Bolt Action Miniature or Platoon with score

"Other Realms" in Cork City now stocks FoW

Hi all,

some posts earlier I told about the presentation I had with the manager of the store called "Other Realms" in Cork City.
Yesterday evening I got informed that they now Stock a limited supply of Battlefront Miniatures including the Starter Box (YEAH) and a couple of German and Allied tanks.

Support your local business !



In case someone is interested:

I will be displaying my display board in the upcoming weeks there including my homemade terrain as well as parts of my armies there. Currently we are looking how the display should look like.

I will also be holding a couple of demo games along during the next week. So drop in and have fun !

Flames of War - Tutorial - How to build a barn

After reading through OntheStep.net I thought it is time to build a bit more terrain. Also the WWPD.net guys inspired me heavily on building some new stuff.

As to figure out measurements etc... I will give you some hints here on what I used on mine.

Things used:

Foamboard
thin cardboard
Coffee sticks
Small metal pin (old needle cut down)
Beer matt
PVA Glue
Filler
Sand

Measurements:

Front side heigth 35mm, wide 75mm
Back side heigth 40mm , wide 75mm
Both sides approx size of a medium FoW base with heigth going from 35 up to 40mm


Step 1: Cut your pieces out of the foamboard

Step 2: Cut the two doors out of the beer matt and glue them to the smaller front side and scratch in the panels, also glue smaller crap pieces as handle and for the bars

Step 3: Use filler on each wall section so that you will have approx 3mm thick walls (that also matches the beer matt part then and the total thickness includes the foamboard)

Step 4: Stick the metal pin as a bar above the larger door.

Step 5: Put sand on each of your filler filled wall parts and gently press it into the filler. This gives texture for painting and an old worn feeling to the building.

Step 6: Let the parts dry

Step 7: Meanwhile cut your card board a bit larger then the overall building will be. Start glueing your coffee sticks on it (I did cut them before and broke them off, you could also wait and cut them afterwards)

Step 8: After everything is dry basecoat your wall sections as well as the roof part. If you are sure that you sealed your foamboard with the filler you can use a normal spray primer on that. If you are unsure just be on the safe side and prime it with a colour and a brush.

Step 9: After the primer dried the sand should stick in place as you first pressed it into the hardening filler and then sealed it in with the primer. Yeah !

Step 10: Paint as desired.

Step 11: Highlight as desired

Step 12: After drying .. enjoy the result