IBuyWargames tournament

A number of months ago one of the guys I game with let me know about a 1675 late-war one-day tournament being hosted by Ibuywargames on Halloween this year. I haven’t played a Flames of War tournament since North Afrika (the original) was a new and exciting book, but I thought it would be a great opportunity to get a few games in and motivate myself to finish one of my late war armies.

I have a completed grenadier army, but I find it somewhat uninspiring. I’ve started to update the paint jobs from the rushed work I did previously, but although complete, I knew I didn’t want to bring it to the tournament.

I do have two late-war forces that would be able to be finished in time and that I’ve really enjoyed playing with thus far. One force is an American tank company, freshly reinforced with Patton and a full load of easy eights. The other is my 5^th SS Wiking company that I’ve been using quite a bit recently.

 

My usual panthers, to be replaced by fresh SS ambush pattern panthers

One thing I picked up from the Mad Tin Hatter blog (absolutely 100% worth checking out at http://themadtinhatter.blogspot.com/) is the use of color coded progress diagrams for armies I’m working on. Using powerpoint, I’m able to put together an easy to reference report of where things stand in a force I want to build.

Here is the progress chart that I’ve put together to compare what I would have to do with each army to get it ready for the tournament:

There is far too much yellow there. 

As you can see, there is some work to be done on either force.

The Wiking need to have the Panthers, SS Scouts and artillery painted before they hit the table. The artillery is nearly done and the Panthers would be nice and quick to do in an ambush pattern. I'm still working with the list, but if I end up doing my normal 3 panther/5 panzer IV list, I don't need to paint any panthers. If I'm very unproductive this weekend, I may default to that plan so I only have SS scouts and some wespes to paint. 

The Americans are in similar shape. Most of the tanks are completed and decaled. They only need some weathering and mud. The easy 8s need their decals before weathering. The serious work is with the halftracks. They are basecoated and drybrushed, but will need to have their tracks painted, wheels painted, crew painted and decaling before weathering and sealing.

The 3 tanks in the 105 platoon need to have their turrets assembled, painted and decaled (they will be mated to the hulls of the former M4A3 76mm tanks I used before the E8s were purchased).

 

First unit of U.S. tanks I completed awhile ago. The 76mm tanks are being replaced by E8s, however.

Either army may seem like quite the task for a tournament that takes place in 8 days. However, I had to spend some holiday so I’m taking off Tuesday-Friday next week with the goal of completing whichever force I decide to play. Additionally, my wife is in Romania for the weekend to surprise her mother for her birthday (La multi ani, Soacra!). I should have plenty of time to get painting and decaling the armies.

Here are the lists I put together for each force:

Wiking SS (Fearless/Trained)

I’m a little worried about this list. I’ve played it plenty against my friend Alex’s 7^th armoured division Cromwell list and it’s done fine. However, I’m worried that heavy tanks or strong infantry will be difficult to root out.

It is a trained list and does tend to shed platoons. However, re-rolling skill tests makes stormtroop and assault quite effective (better than veterans) and if I roll well the command tanks can become beasts. Additionally, the artillery is cheap and bombards like vets.

It’s a very fun list to play, but I’m worried it doesn’t have the mass of a trained army and may be quite vulnerable to late-late lists.

US Armor (Confident/Trained)

This is a Patton list that is meant to auto-attack, spearhead and be in your face. It’s not a particularly original list, but in theory it’s quite good. I’ve had a great deal of fun with the non-Patton variety.

The heavy hitter in the list if the 6 tank 105 battery. With the CiC and Jumbo attached, it is an 8 tank, heavy breakthrough gun assault nightmare. It is supported by 2 move 6 and shoot Sherman platoons protected by their own Jumbo, while smoke is taken care of by the mortars. I’m worried the recon platoon is far too tiny for its own good, but that’s all I could afford.

I’m worried about Westphalia lists or having to defend against another auto-attack list like one of the Meuse lists. I also have no idea how I’ll keep Patton alive so that may also bleed VPs.

Right now I’m edging towards the Americans as I feel it’s a nicer looking army, a force I want to make myself finish (once American tanks are done, support units are easy to add in). I think that going all out on attack could be really enjoyable and it’ll go against my usual nature to play defensively.

Tournament Goals

I have thought about my expectations for the tournament and they are not high. It is a 3 game, 1 day tournament with the missions provided on the day of the tournament.

Here are some goals:

I would like win at least one game

I don’t want to give up a 7-0 (if I go Americans) or a 6-1 (Germans) during the tournament.

I would like to kill at least 1 heavy tank

I want to get off one successful assault. I’ve found I’m too reluctant to assault with tanks and I want to learn how to do it well.

I hope to decide on a force before close of business today and start on whichever army I decide on tonight. With 8 days to go, I think I can still get everything ready to go. I will try to post the units I complete and once the army is done I’ll make sure to do an “army showcase” post. 

As a final note, I want to give a shout out to my amazing wife for letting me play in the tournament. We got legally married 5 years ago on Halloween and we've always celebrated it as a secondary anniversary (the main one being when we had our wedding in May). She wasn't super happy about the tournament but is always supportive of my gaming, so thank you to her.