flames of war Archives - Page 33 of 41

Hobbycraft stop the Flames of War

Okay this is based on what I saw, but it would appear that Hobbycraft (in Bristol anyhow) have decided to stop selling Flames of War in their store.

They have moved it all downstairs and are selling it off with most boxed sets and books at 20% off, the blisters appear to be between 10-20% off. There is a little sign that says “last chance to buy” too.
In case you are wondering, it is in the main Late War American, Russian and some German and British. They also have the main rulebook, North Africa and Blitzkrieg. Though I think these may be cheaper on Amazon.
No idea if this applies to other Hobbycraft stores that sell Flames of War, if it does, please leave a comment to that effect.

I am disappointed to see that Hobbycraft are stopping selling Flames of War, it was my only local supplier and it was better than nothing. The problem I found though was that the range was seriously limited, rarely updated and replaced and it never sold any of the new stuff, especially the Blitzkreig range. I did buy my first Flames of War models from the store and I doubt I would have bought them if I couldn’t actually see them and just take them to the till. Of course once the new Early War stuff was announced I was very disappointed to see that they didn’t stock any of the new stuff except the book!

Hobbycraft never seemed to take it seriously and I suspect that is what stopped it selling more than anything else. Any retailer can not rely on casual purchases and by getting the regular customers in on a regular basis they can then push more stock and make more sales. However to Hobbycraft it just seemed like another range of stuff that they sold, no one cared about it, so no one thought to promote it, check that it was what people wanted and in the end they pulled the entire range, which is a pity.
Of course from my perspective I can order from Wayland Games or similar, get a 10% discount and free shipping, but I do like the fact with a local retailer that I can see things I maybe wouldn’t have bought online or via mail-order. Let’s buy a single blister or boxed set and see where that takes us…

So for now I am reliant on online stores for my Flames of War purchases…

Did I buy anything I hear you ask?

Well I did get a Jagdpanther, the one in the boxed set with the building.

Only bought the one though…. Nice model.

Flames of War Rolls Royce Armoured Car

So there I was flicking through the most recent copy of Wargames Illustrated when I noticed in the Hellfire and Back battle report a wonderful looking Rolls Royce Armoured Car.

I believe that this is a new model for Flames of War and hasn’t been released before by Battlefront.

Flames of War Rolls Royce Armoured Cars

I’ve always liked the Rolls Royce Armoured Car and though this is a desert version, wondering if it wouldn’t take much to convert it for Home Guard use. I would need to convert the turrets back from the open ones used in the desert to the older closed ones. Of course it would be nice if a non-desert version of the Rolls Royce Armoured Car was sold as part of Blitzkreig, but I am guessing it won’t be.

I like the Morris CS9 model too.

Constructing the Flames of War French Char B1 bis

The Char B1 was a French heavy tank manufactured before the Second World War. It was a specialised heavy break-through vehicle, originally conceived as a self-propelled gun with a 75 mm howitzer in the hull; later a 47 mm gun in a turret was added, to allow it to function also as a Char de Bataille, a “battle tank” fighting enemy armour, equipping the armoured divisions of the Infantry Arm.

Within the blister you get the resin hull and turret whilst the rest of the model is whitemetal.

Here are the three resin hulls lined up.

They are smaller than I expected.

For some reason I had this impression that the Char B1 was a really large tank. Well compared to other Early War tanks it is, however compared to Late War tanks it’s quite small. Continue reading “Constructing the Flames of War French Char B1 bis”

Flames of War TOG2 Mid-War Monster

The Tank, Heavy, TOG 2 was a prototype British super-heavy tank design produced in the early part of the Second World War in case the battlefields of northern France turned into a morass of mud, trenches and craters as had happened during the First World War.

In the end it never went into production, but as part of the Flames of War Mid-War Monsters range you can buy it and use it in alternate history games. I liked the concept and the model on the Flames of War website is quite inspiring.

The Flames of War boxed set contains three of these monsters.

The hulls are quite plain in comparison to other tanks in the FoW range, however that is much more down to the actual design of the tank.

The tracks are two metal castings for each side. The turret is the same one that was eventually used on the Challenger A30, it was from a design perspective easier to use what was developed for the TOG2 then design a completely new turret for the Challenger in the time they had available and with limited resources.

However this is a different casting to the one found on the Challenger model. It looks like it should be pretty simple to put together, but first to clean up the metal and resin castings.

I do hope that we see future “monsters” for Flames of War, there are some nice concepts and ideas out there for both Early-War and Late-War, though I have a hunch that these did not sell as well as expected.

See the workbench feature on these huge tanks.

DUKW

The DUKW (colloquially known as duck) is a six-wheel-drive amphibious truck that was designed by a partnership under military auspicies of Sparkman & Stephens and General Motors Corporation during World War II for transporting goods and troops over land and water and for use approaching and crossing beaches in amphibious attacks.

The Flames of War model has a large resin hull with metal components.

15mm French Panhard 178

The Panhard 178 was an advanced French reconnaissance 4×4 armoured car that was designed for the French Cavalry before World War II. It had a crew of four and was equipped with an effective 25 mm main armament and a 7.5 mm coaxial machine gun.

Like some of my other models I am unsure of the manufacturer of this one, though think it might be SDD. It started with a white undercoat and I have started to paint the camouflage.

The FoW version is much more detailed and I will probably retire this model and use it within a piece of scenery.

Flames of War Sherman Firefly

Reading the army lists I realised I needed a Sherman Firefly either to accompany my Shermans or my Cromwell IVs.

The Sherman Firefly was a World War II British variant of the American Sherman tank, fitted with the powerful British 17 pounder anti-tank gun as its main weapon. Originally conceived as a stopgap until future British tank designs came into service, the Sherman Firefly became the most common vehicle with the 17 pounder in World War II.

Though the British expected to have their own new tank models developed soon (and were loath to consider using American tanks), British Major George Brighty championed the already-rejected idea of mounting the 17 pounder in the existing Sherman. With the help of Lieutenant Colonel Witheridge and despite official disapproval, he managed to get the concept accepted. This proved fortuitous, as both the Challenger and Cromwell tank designs experienced difficulties and delays.

After the problem of getting the gun to fit in the Sherman’s turret was solved, the Firefly was put into production in early 1944, in time to equip Field Marshal Montgomery’s forces for the Normandy landings. It soon became highly valued as the only British tank capable of defeating the Panther and Tiger tanks it faced in Normandy at standard combat ranges. In recognition of this, German tank and anti-tank gun crews were instructed to attack Fireflies first.