Flames of War is a 15mm (1/100 scale) miniature game focused on WW2.
The miniatures are pretty small, but that means they paint up pretty easily and you can actually have a full company of troops (or even more) engaging the enemy on the tabletop.
This is a fast-flowing ruleset where you can play a wide variety of forces: tanks, mechanized infantry, light vehicles and regular infantry can all form the core of your force and your style of fighting will really depend on what you decide to bring to the table. You're generally encouraged to bring a combined-arms force that can handle a variety of threats, though.
After all, infantry dug in in the open without anti-tank guns are going to have a hard time if some enemy tanks decide to roll over them while those tanks are going to struggle to clear infantry out of dense terrain without being knocked out in close assault.
The mission rules also make sure that armies end up fighting a kind of battle they're at least reasonably suited for; you won't be required to charge your infantry horde forwards against a company of tanks bristling with machine-guns, for example.
The game's manufacturers, Battlefront Miniatures, have provided a series of tutorial videos if you're curious about how the game works.
If you'd rather give the game a go in person, we've got a large and active FoW community locally and a whole bunch of us will be happy to arrange for a demo game.
Some of us also have a couple of spare pocket-sized rule books, so if you want one of those we can get you that too.
One serious advantage of FoW being a historical game is that you can use miniatures from a variety of manufacturers; after all, you can't copyright a Sherman tank.
This means there´s a wide range of affordable plastic kits available for the game, along with metal and resin kits for the more niche units.
Overall, a tournament-sized FoW army can be quite a lot cheaper than one in 40k or Warmachine, as long as you don't try to field some kind of horde army containing a lot of niche units.
The compact minis also make it quite easy to actually transport your force.
One thing to note is that FoW splits WW2 into several eras for balance reasons: Early War for 1939-1941, Mid War for 42 and 43 and Late War for 44-45. While many units are available across eras, some are only available in some (for example, some vehicles/guns were only available in 44 or 45 while others left front line service at a certain point).
This makes the choice of what to start with a bit more complex, though not ridiculously so.
Locally, we mostly play Mid War and Late War, which have a lot of unit overlap for most major countries.
In general, the Mid War starter boxes offer a good starting point for that era.
The Churchill's Kingforce and Patton's Fighting First boxes are both quite usable for Late War battles too.
If you're looking for a different kind of force we're happy to help you figure out what you'd like to put onto the tabletop, of course.
Some of us chose our first armies for gameplay reasons, others because they liked the look of certain vehicles or because they wanted to create a force based on a specific piece of history. There's (probably) no bad reason to pick a certain force.
The miniatures are pretty small, but that means they paint up pretty easily and you can actually have a full company of troops (or even more) engaging the enemy on the tabletop.
 |
| British Grants facing off against American Shermans, both with appropriate support; you're not limited to purely historical battles in this game. |
This is a fast-flowing ruleset where you can play a wide variety of forces: tanks, mechanized infantry, light vehicles and regular infantry can all form the core of your force and your style of fighting will really depend on what you decide to bring to the table. You're generally encouraged to bring a combined-arms force that can handle a variety of threats, though.
After all, infantry dug in in the open without anti-tank guns are going to have a hard time if some enemy tanks decide to roll over them while those tanks are going to struggle to clear infantry out of dense terrain without being knocked out in close assault.
The mission rules also make sure that armies end up fighting a kind of battle they're at least reasonably suited for; you won't be required to charge your infantry horde forwards against a company of tanks bristling with machine-guns, for example.
The game's manufacturers, Battlefront Miniatures, have provided a series of tutorial videos if you're curious about how the game works.
If you'd rather give the game a go in person, we've got a large and active FoW community locally and a whole bunch of us will be happy to arrange for a demo game.
Some of us also have a couple of spare pocket-sized rule books, so if you want one of those we can get you that too.
 |
| German infantry on the move in North Africa |
One serious advantage of FoW being a historical game is that you can use miniatures from a variety of manufacturers; after all, you can't copyright a Sherman tank.
This means there´s a wide range of affordable plastic kits available for the game, along with metal and resin kits for the more niche units.
Overall, a tournament-sized FoW army can be quite a lot cheaper than one in 40k or Warmachine, as long as you don't try to field some kind of horde army containing a lot of niche units.
The compact minis also make it quite easy to actually transport your force.
 |
| The Japanese are an option too, though their tanks are a bit underwhelming later into the war. |
One thing to note is that FoW splits WW2 into several eras for balance reasons: Early War for 1939-1941, Mid War for 42 and 43 and Late War for 44-45. While many units are available across eras, some are only available in some (for example, some vehicles/guns were only available in 44 or 45 while others left front line service at a certain point).
This makes the choice of what to start with a bit more complex, though not ridiculously so.
Locally, we mostly play Mid War and Late War, which have a lot of unit overlap for most major countries.
In general, the Mid War starter boxes offer a good starting point for that era.
The Churchill's Kingforce and Patton's Fighting First boxes are both quite usable for Late War battles too.
If you're looking for a different kind of force we're happy to help you figure out what you'd like to put onto the tabletop, of course.
Some of us chose our first armies for gameplay reasons, others because they liked the look of certain vehicles or because they wanted to create a force based on a specific piece of history. There's (probably) no bad reason to pick a certain force.
If you want to get in touch for a demo or if you have further questions, feel free to reply to this comment.
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