Flames of War Berlin takes the struggle to the heart of
Germany, Berlin itself in the dying days of the European war in WW2. Its full of new lists and options to add to
your FOW gaming featuring German and Soviet Lists. The chaotic nature of the fighting
led to the defence having a mix of many troop types, such as Volkssturm, Hitler Youth all, supported by small remaining groups of well-trained troops and
Luftwaffe contributions.
There is just one Intelligence Briefing for the Germans in this book, but with so many options. The Berlin Kampfgruppe briefing has the usual structure of Headquarters, Combat Platoons, Weapons Platoons and Support Platoons as normal, but you can tailor it to your own tastes from a wide array of options.
As always the artwork is great, it is a full colour softback book with so many choices for the German Forces, so lets take a closer look.
For your HQ you have two options........
Heer which is rated Confident Veteran, or SS, which is Fearless Veteran.
Then you can pick your Combat Platoons from any combination of five different ones. Within these combat platoons there are then further choices and variations to provide you with even more options. This is great as it lets you build with a mix of forces you may have left around from different armies, or projects, and still "Feel" like the kind of thrown together force that was sent into combat in those last days.
The Panzergrenadier and Fresh Panzergrenadier Platoons offers both Heer and SS to choose from.
You can also field Fallschirmjäger Platoons , Hitlerjugend Platoons, and Volkssturm Platoons, all with differeing ratings, and these can be fielded as whole companies of any of them or a mix of different ones.
The Ratings and equipment are a key difference between these platoons, for example, the Panzergrenadier Platoon represents the veteran panzer and watch troops, made up of Panzerfaust MG teams and optional They Sd Kfz 251 half-tracks. You can also choose to re-arm them as Panzerfaust Assault Rifle teams
The Fresh Panzergrenadier Platoon represents the less experienced infantry from the Panzer and Panzergrenadier divisions. no Half Tracks for them, and a lesser rating, but otherwise the same equipment options.
The Fallschirmjäger Platoon are made of panzerfaust MG teams who can also be upgraded to Assault Rifles.
Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth) platoons are made up of Panzerfaust teams, and have a special rule that allows them to move and shoot their Panzerfausts. They can also upgrade to Panzerfaust Rifle teams. |
The Volkssturm Platoon. are usually armed with old, reserve, and captured equipment, usually with Panzerfaust Rifle with one team upgraded to a MG08/15 LMG team.
|
You get the usual nice background history, and maps to show you the battles and fill you in on the history of it
You also get an excellent painting guide, I really like these in the book as they help out on choosing colours, and when there are so many variants of green for camo it helps to know the right ones!
The German forces are my favourite part of the book, though not to say the Soviets do not get any love, they get a great Hero Tankovy company whichis my highlight for them for the book, and also a Hero Heavy Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment (ISU-122’s and 152’s) and Hero Rifle Regiment.
The book as always has the excellent layout and graphic design you have come to expect, and will add plenty of power and variety to your games. Its a great book o read, and game from, and I love the idea of trying al sorts of different combinations for the German forces.
Its the perfect book for the collector or hoarder, as you can try random mixes of all the models you may have left over, and all sorts of combinations. You can really personalize this list to your tastes, your style and interests. And of course its still compatible with V4 with the adjusted rules provided by Battlefront, so long as you have your new upgrade books.
Comments
Post a Comment