Upcoming Flames of War Events in Regina Area: 2017

[Lance]

Flames of War Demo – Fourth Version – Late War!
May 13th, 2017
By Lance Mathew

So, I threw down the gauntlet the other day and challenged the Flames of War gaming group! V4 (Version Four) is still new and quite a few of the guys are still skeptical. I had quite a few replies – especially from those that had been skeptics that they were busy on the Ides of May. I heard all sorts of excuses from eye surgery, to I am out of town at a National Gymnastics meet – you know the usual. Moreover, I had a few interested and one confirmed challenger – Matt. During the course of the day we had quite a few 'interruptions' of people interested in the game. Maybe, I will have to start doing more demos on Saturdays...

Meanwhile, Matt and I faced off. He had brought Late WWII Canadians from Road to Rome however; I was unfazed as I had brought Late WWII Canadians from Market Garden! So, literally and figuratively we were doing a training mission. In V4 there is only one dice roll by one player to determine the mission – Matt rolled it up as Counter Attack! Then, Matt and I rolled off to be the attacker as both of us had equal infantry amounts. After several ties I emerged as the attacker; I was actually hoping to be the defender with a platoon of six 6 pounders I wanted to put into ambush. Alas, I instead watched Matt put his two 17 pounders into ambush. Matt as the defender with reserves was able to put 60% of his force on the table against my 100% (well almost – later I realized to my horror I had left my M10Cs at home; what's 20%?).

Matt deployed two units of 25 pounders, two units of infantry, and one unit of 17 pounders which he kept in ambush; everything else was in placed in reserve. Almost all in, I had my Infantry buttoned up in my Kangaroos, my Sherman Crabs ready to walk sideways, my land mattresses ready to cloud the issue, and my six 6 pounders protecting my artillery. As the attacker I dashed both my Roo'd infantry towards the far objective, and blitzed my Breaching group around a hill to semi-indirect at the spotter before moving up next turn (as well as possibly flush the ambush). Matt rolled his tank troop on with a blitz and brewed up one of my Kangaroos, Matt also took the bait and blasted into my Crabs brewing one up and bailing another with his ambush.

The game went back and forth and by the end I had secured the far objective but at a lengthy time frame of which a normal tournament game would have given the win to Matt. So, it was a great game in which I was able to see how great an artist Matt was with his bombshells on the nose of his Spitfires as well as letting us see how the V4 game has evolved from V3. Thanks Matt – I had a great game!

If you would like a demo game or to challenge -> please e-mail cigamnogard@sasktel.net
I am willing to play any era – just name a time and place!

[Lance]

Tournament Mayday MAYDAY Mayday (WWIII)
♠ May 27th @ 9am - 1700
* Team Yankee Rules
$5.00 entry fee
• Tramp's Comics & games
♥ 100 points World War III armies - please e-mail list to cigamnogard@sasktel.net

Results:
Tournament Name   
Mayday MAYDAY Mayday   
5/27/2017         
Player Name   Army   Position         
Michael Yule   British   1         
Kyle Stevens   American   2         
Matt Valgardson   Soviet   3         
Justin Scherban   West German   4         
James Milli   Soviet   5         
Chris Mueller   West German   6         
Brody Mazurick   East German/DDR   6         
Cody Youle   British   8         
Lance Mathew   Soviet   9      

[Lance]

Demonstration Team Game - Operation Red Sheet (AIW)
♠ June 3rd @ Noon - 16:30
• Tramp's Comics & Games (1828 Scarth Street)
♥ 2000 Arab-Israeli points per player
50th Anniversary of 6 Day War

Flames of War Demo – Operation Red Sheet!
June 3rd, 2017
By Lance Mathew

After the Team Yankee Tournament I turned to the AIW (Arab – Israeli War) group of us and said, "See you next weekend!" To which they replied, "Ummm – why?" At which point I got a little worried as that was not quite the answer I expected. I replied in kind, "Operation Red Sheet – the big game that was planned out almost a year ago – that one?" "Oh...ummm --> I have work, I have to man a charity booth, and I have to spend time with the girlfriend." Now, life is like that from time to time so I considered cancelling the event but I figured the FoW Regina Rifles are a pretty big group and I asked to borrow the guys AIW armies to provide the necessary fodder for the event; to which everyone agreed. So after a couple of days I secured Alex and finally almost at the eleventh hour Sean F. also volunteered for the war in the desert!

Jace and I arrived early on Saturday and set the table up in a "T" shape which I figured would be different from the norm. We also sprinkled oasis and desert terrain throughout the table giving it an interesting feel compared to most other Flames of War games. By, the time Alex and Sean showed up Jace and I had already broken for lunch and returned to Tramp's ready for the big game.

Alex new to AIW selected the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) that my son usually plays. Seemed pretty straight forward to him as he normally plays Americans against his dad who plays Germans – the Israelis have both rules sets. Sean, also new to AIW selected my Jordanians who are akin to the British Sean normally plays (the Jordanians were trained by the British and have several rulesets that make them similar). Jace retained his massive UAR (United Arab Republic) list and I used a loaned IDF list from Kyle. 

The game was a rough one from the start as the IDF had to remain within 4" of objectives to get a point and with small amount of platoons they were at a huge disadvantage to go forward and get any more points. Nevertheless, Alex and I sent out our Mechanized infantry to capture the middle objectives. I was able to lock one down but Alex was rebuffed by Sean who had doubled his Mechanized platoon. Alex, Sean, and Jace began to duel for that middle objective and with so many tanks and infantry Alex was at a huge disadvantage so it was no real surprise when he crumbled and his relief forces also were scattered to the desert wind. I had even sent in a platoon of Sho'ts (up gunned Centurions) to offer support but they were also brewed up. My forces were able to maintain company morale but only because my platoons were only two tank teams strong which is not very effective for sallying forth. In the end Alex's Company was completely decimated and we called it. However, it had been a close game with the Arabs only winning by a few points (platoon kills).

If you would like a demo game or to challenge -> please e-mail cigamnogard@sasktel.net
I am willing to play any era – just name a time and place!

[Lance]

Demo: 'Nam/Tour of Duty (Vietnam)
♠ June 7th @ 1815 (615pm) - 2015 (815pm)
• Tramp's Comics & Games (1828 Scarth Street)
♥ 1,000 point World War I armies will be provided by the Flames of War Regina Rifles

Flames of War Demo – Tour of Duty/'Nam!
June 7th, 2017
By Lance Mathew

After the two back to back weekends of a tournament and then a big team game - of course it is time for a Flames of War Demo as it is the first Wednesday night of the month. Brody, my son, got the lists/armies ready as we would be in a time crunch with his class at 1730 (5:30pm) and the demo at 1815 (6:15pm) when I get off work at 1630 (4:30ish-5pm). Thanks again Brody!

So, after I dropped Brody off - I was quite early; so I set up the table and paraded the two armies. And, I waited. And, I waited. I took a few pictures and waited some more.

Eventually the waiting resulted in Chris B, an old player who has been working and traveling across North America, walked in the front door and shook my hand. He had owned a Hummel (rag tag of refit) list of Tiger IEs and some infantry that had 'vanished' in a move in British Columbia. Now he asked for some help assembling a Berlin list. Of course I said yes.

No sooner had Chris B left and I had sat down again when Mark from a previous demo walked in. Unfortunately, it had gotten a little late and I would soon have to pack up to go pick up Brody. I managed to discuss the pros of Tour of Duty/'Nam Era with Mark. He felt bad for arriving so late but I told him no problem as I can set up a demo any time. He said he would for sure be back for the AIW (Arab-Israeli War) Demo next month. I encouraged him that I could make myself available for any era all he had to do was let me know.

Meanwhile, you as the reader - if you would like a demo game or to challenge -> please e-mail cigamnogard@sasktel.net or show up on the evening of the first Wednesday of the month at Tramp's Comics & Games. Also, we have a large Facebook group: FoW Regina Rifles

[Lance]

Demo: AIW (Arab-Israeli Wars)
♠ July 5th @ 1815 (615pm) - 2015 (815pm)
• Tramp's Comics & Games (1828 Scarth Street)
♥ 1,000 point World War I armies will be provided by the Flames of War Regina Rifles

Flames of War Demo – AIW (Arab/Israeli Wars)!
July 5th, 2017
By Lance Mathew

On the first Wednesday of July we had a dry heat of 36˚ a perfect for an AIW Demo! The 'word' on the FoW (Flames of War) forums is that the AIW era will be transitioning to the TY (Team Yankee/WWIII) rule set. So, with an IDF (Israeli Defense Force) and a Jordanian army I set off to Tramp's with a large slurpee to do a TY/AIW Demo.

I waited for a bit before I posted some pictures on the FoW Regina Rifles Facebook page; hoping to draw attention to the demo. I saw from the Facebook page that there were quite a few interested and last month at the demo Mark had arrived late but said he would be there/here for this demo.  After a bit – Jason (Alex's dad) said he had a free evening so would be down to give the AIW era a test run. When he arrived he let me know that Alex was keen on getting an IDF list as soon as his Americans were complete – which was only a few models away. Alex had been so impressed with the AIW era that his final school report of the year –' teach the teacher' – was on the Six Day War!

In version three I think the IDF is slightly over pointed so giving them the normal German and British special rules I think they are now bang on allowing them to do two movement orders if successful on the first.  Jason went with the Jordanian force and I went with the 'modified' IDF. However, my dice rolling was abysmal while Jason's was average to very good. In the opening turns of the game I lost an entire platoon of IShermans plus my company commander with only one destroyed and two bailed out. It was pretty much game right there with Jason already having the numerical advantage prior to my losses. But, we played it out and Jason got to experience the TY rule set while giving me a good thrashing – a win win for him!

And directed at you, the reader, – if you would like a demo game or to challenge when a time is good for you –> please e-mail cigamnogard@sasktel.net or show up on the evening of the first Wednesday of the month at Tramp's Comics & Games. Also, we have a large Facebook group: FoW Regina Rifles please check us out there!

Post script – our next tournament is an Early World War II style – entitled 'Rumble in July' on July 22nd at Tramp's Comics and Games – come on down and see all the action.

[Lance]

Tournament Rumble in July (EWWII)
♠ July 22nd @ 9am - 1700
* V4 Rules (1st one)
$5.00 entry fee
• Tramp's Comics & games
♥ 1650 points Early War World War II armies - please e-mail list to cigamnogard@sasktel.net no later than July 8th

Results:
Rumble in July
Player Name Army Position
Lorne Sveinbjornson Soviet  1
Lance Mathew Italian   1
Matt Valgardson Indian   3
Shaun Webster German        4
Tim Miler Soviet           4
Brody Mazurick Soviet   6
Jason Berkan German        7
Alex Berkan Soviet   8

[Lance]

Tournament September Seconds (LWWII)
♠ September 23rd @ 10am - 1730
* Version #4
$10.00 entry fee per player
• Highland Curling Club
♥ 1250 Late War per player [Doubles tournament]:
-> however 250 may be swapped (ie one player at 1500 and the other at 1000
-> also, if a brand new player (never having played in a FoW Tournament before +100 points =ie one player may have 1600 and another 1100)
~ please e-mail list(s) to cigamnogard@sasktel.net no later than September 9th

Tournament Name   
September Doubles   
Player Name   Army   Position
Lorne Sveinbjornson   German   1
Jeff Stehr   German   1
Tim Miller   Soviet    1
Rob Duchene    Soviet   1
Shawn Morris   German   1
Lance Mathew   German   1
Jason Berkan   German   7
Jace Pippin   German   7
Christopher Mueller    German   9
Michael Yule   German   9
Kyle Stevens   German   9
Tyler Hutchinson    Soviet   9

Regina Rifles After Action Report:
Version 4 (V4): Late War Doubles Tournament
September 23rd, 2017
By Lance Mathew

With the demise of Tramp's, our local game store and playground, we set up a tournament at the Regina Highland Curling Club. The Manager – Dave Loos – has been great to deal with and the facility is fantastic. We were able to come in the night before and set up tables – again my thanks to the FoW Regina Rifles for their assistance in both setting up and taking down; and, of course many tanks to Dave and the Highland Curling Club. And, last but not least thanks again to Battlefront for sending the prize support!

We had six teams for a total of twelve players. My partner Shawn and I had brought Late War Germans. He brought his well painted Volksgrenadier while I brought my tried and true Lehr Gepanzerte Panzergrenadierkompanie. We planned on defending but in Flames of War, especially V4, plans do not always go the way you want them to. I had done a 'custom' modification to the roll off with our mission selection; I had placed a "0" modifier with imnfantry, a "+1" with mechanized, and a "+2" with tank armies. Everyone seemed to like the V4 'hack' and off we went.

For our first match Shawn and I faced off against the top two players in Canada for our first match – Tim and Rob.  We all expected a draw going into the game as it was Fair Fight scenario and none of us were surprised when it happened. It was a great game and we all learned quite a bit about the rules for V4 – yes, even the top players can still be taught a few tricks. However, all the other games had not ended in a draw but victories and in V4 that is a huge point's difference. On the positive note our next two games had us doing much better and the other teams not doing as well resulted in a three way tie for first place!

If you are curious how the tournament standings are please follow the link below:
http://www.rankings.wwpd.net/ranking/region=5&game=3&season=0
If you are curious about the game or are interested in a demo please follow us on Facebook:
Facebook.com/groups/fowreginarifles
Alternatively please e-mail me directly at:
cigamnogard@sasktel.net

       

[Lance]

Demonstration Team Game: October War AIW (Arab-Israeli Wars)
♠ October 14th @ 11am to 1700 (5pm)
• Beer Brothers (1821 Scarth Street)
♥ 2,000 point AIW armies + 100/side
~ Team Yankee Rules

Flames of War Regina Rifles After Action Report:
Version 4 (V4) & Team Yankee (TY): October War – Total War Event
October 14th, 2017
By Lance Mathew

Still looking for places to hold events we invaded Beer Brothers Gastropub. The Manager – Matt Braun – has been very easy to deal with and the location was almost like home; especially since most of our large games like these we have previously had our lunches there.
We set up in a side room and decided on a diagonal table set up from the Normandy Battles book. It gave a different feel to a very fast and fun era of Flames of War.

Currently, Battlefront, the makers of Flames of War have just come out with a Version 4 and have not yet had a chance to update the Arab-Israeli-Wars (AIW) era. So, we did our best to update the rules ourselves using the V4 and TY ruleset:
•   V4 movement and movement orders were added in; with the Israelis getting the German Stormtrooper rules that they have in WWII. An exception to the V4 movement we used TY bogging checks.
•   Artillery and gun teams had the reduction in crews and bombardment antitank; with smoke being treated the same as in both V4 and TY.
•   Morale was done using the TY system.
•   Aircraft: down to one dice had the Israelis fly in on a 3+ while the UAR plane was a 4+ to arrive.

We had six players: three IDF (Israeli Defense Force) against three Arab nations – two Jordanian and one UAR (United Arab Rebublic):
Alex – IDF         Jace – UAR
Brody – IDF      Lance-Jordanian
Kyle – IDF         Sean – Jordanian

Just as in the October War in history so too had the Arab nations learned their lessons. With four smoke templates the first two turns allowed the Arab nations to move under the cover of smoke and advance safely in the open towards the middle objectives. Normally, they would have suffered enormous casualties and broken. Instead they arrived intact and held the objectives while the IDF seemed to be powerless to stop them. The game from the Arab perspective was never in any doubt and even with the staggering loses of twenty T34-85s was just a means to the end. From the IDF perspective they maybe should have deployed better or possibly kept some units in reserve for a counterattack. Also, a key IDF infantry unit was pinned in the early stages of the game and never unpinned. Alternatively, the IDF units only had a single smoke unit which was brewed up by a MiG in the first turn.

The venue and food were great and lots of people stopped by to check out the table/event. Meanwhile, if you are curious about the game or are interested in a demo please follow us on Facebook:
Facebook.com/groups/fowreginarifles
Alternatively please e-mail me directly at:
cigamnogard@sasktel.net

[Lance]

Tournament Remember the 25th of November (WWIII)
♠ November 25th@ 10am - 1730
* Team Yankee Rules
$5.00 entry fee
• Highland Curling Club
♥ 100 points World War III armies - please e-mail list to cigamnogard@sasktel.net
https://www.flamesofwar.com/Default.aspx?tabid=126&aff=14&aft=579090&afv=topic

Flames of War Regina Rifles After Action Report:
WWIII/TY(Team Yankee) Tournament: Remember the 25th of November
November 25th, 2017
By Lance Mathew

For our second tournament at the Highland Curling Club we had a decent turnout for our Cold War era tournament also known as TY (Team Yankee). It is really great to see all the MBT (Main Battle tanks) roaming around the different tables as the players battled for dominance. The 'back hat' armies included both current Warsaw Pact countries the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) and the Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR/East Germany). The 'white hat armies' also had all three of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Our tournament roster:
Brody – DDR (Warsaw Pact)      Chris – West German (NATO)
James – USSR (Warsaw Pact)      Lance – United States (NATO)
Kyle – USSR (Warsaw Pact)      Michael – United Kingdom (NATO
Matt – USSR (Warsaw Pact)   
Tim – DDR (Warsaw Pact)   
There are a quite a few more WWIII players but all were unable to get off of work or maybe had forgotten the 25th? Also, there are rumors of more Nations arriving on the Cold War battlefield. The United States will soon see an updated book called Stars and Stripes (similar to the Red Thunder update for the USSR. Personally, I would like to see the Poland or the Czech Republic but only time will tell what new Nations will be blasting away at a table near you!

As for the tournament it was a very competitive/close as the first game left pretty much everyone with either a three or a four for a score. Leaving no one was really in the lead after game one. The second game actually resulted with Michael and me pulling ahead but both Chris and Brody were not far behind. Game three saw Michael and I knock ourselves bloody only to have Chris soundly beat Brody and win the tournament!

The venue was great, the food was good, and lots of people stopped by to check out the event. Meanwhile, if you are curious about the game (there are eras from WWI through till WWIII) or are interested in a demo please follow us on Facebook:
Facebook.com/groups/fowreginarifles
Alternatively please e-mail me directly at:
cigamnogard@sasktel.net