Flames of War

Flames of War Logo

Morris C8 Quad

Flames of War Rules

Flames of War (abbreviated as FoW) is a World War II tabletop miniatures wargame produced by the New Zealand company Battlefront Miniatures Ltd. The 1st Edition set of rules was published in 2002. Flames of War allows players to wargame company level battles from the European, Pacific and North African Theatres of World War Two, using 1/100 scale miniatures (15 mm figure scale) and miniature armour. In the 1st Edition rulebook basic army lists were provided for the mid-war period (1942–1943), while Battlefront published early (1939–1941) and late war (1944–1945) army lists on their website (subsequently these early and late war lists were removed). The 2nd Edition of the rulebook was published in 2006. The 3rd Edition of the rules was released on March 10, 2012. The 4th Edition rules were released in March, 2017.

Getting started

Since finding out about Flames of War, I had been, for some time, thinking about getting into it, but had been putting it off. I was pleasantly surprised to find  in Hobbycraft of all places a starter set for Flames of War that included as well as a pocket set of the full rules, three Sherman Tanks and two Stug G Assault Guns.

Open Fire Starter Set

Open Fire! has been carefully designed for someone who has never heard of Flames Of War before, or has seen the 256 page rulebook and not known where to start. Open Fire is not a simplified set of the Flames Of War rules, but rather a complete introductory box for a new player!

Really nice idea and perfect for me.

16 page full-colour introduction booklet.
3 detailed American Sherman tank miniatures.
2 detailed German StuG G assault gun miniatures.
3 American dice.
2 German dice.

Miniatures Gallery

These are photographs of Flames of War miniatures. From Simon’s and Felix’s collections.

Flames of War Miniatures Gallery

Sherman Firefly

Time to start painting…

As well as Flames of War miniatures I also will be using and painting miniatures that I already have in my collection (from the 1990s) and some stuff from other manufacturers. Within the workbench are various pages for the different countries and eras I am painting.

Painting Sherman Tanks

Alternatives

I have been thinking about some alternate Flames of War backgrounds.

One inspiration is the “Monsters” produced by Battlefront for Flames of War, which got me thinking about a 1946 background.

Another idea is to use the A Very British Civil War sourcebook.

One further idea is a Space 1889 variant, Space 1939.

I have purchased a War with out End 15mm US Kodiak Assault Walker.

Sherman Tank