After Action Report – First Playtest of 6mm Flames of War

BREAKTHROUGH
The initial test of 6mm Flames of War involved my two 1,500 point playtest tank companies engaging in a Breakthrough mobile scenario – a good test of mobility! I won’t go into much detail for this battle. I took control of my German armour and AR took control of my newly completed British armour. A very fun game was had by all.

British victory 6:1

Battle summary

AR’s tanks and infantry raced across open ground to take the nearest objective while my command Panzer IV F2s tried with very minor success (killing one Grant tank) to distract or stop the advance. It was already three turns in before the first German platoons arrived from reserve.

Air support from RAAF 3 Squadron Kittyhawks proved devastating, destroying two Nebelwerfers and wiping out the truck-borne Schutzen Platoon which had taken a foolish gamble and moved at the double (hoping to receive the cover of some tree crops). British artillery also kept my own Nebel gunners’ heads down, ranging in on rising smoke columns. German air support did not perform as well, frequently being driven off by the RAAF (see right), but did succeed in hitting the Indian Motor Platoon, forcing them to deploy from their transports and encouraging them to dig in between my forces and the 25pdrs – where thy waited out the rest of the game.

Bomb runs

By the time my panzers arrived the British tanks were practically unopposed on their objective near a forest and used the terrain feature to concealment advantage. A very brief tank battle took place across the fields between the Panzer IIIs and IVs and the Shermans and Grants. The Panzer IIIJs 5cm KwK guns proved insufficient to defeat the Allied tanks frontal armour and only one got close enough to get a flank shot (it was quickly dealt with). After very successful British shooting and another bombing attack from Aussie Kittyhawks, the panzer platoons were eliminated and the German company fled the field.

 The forest objective held by British tanks

The Panzers are driven off or destroyed. 

 Mistakes were made and lessons learned. Here are the said lessons learned:
·         need a proper camera with macro zoom capability
·         need more terrain to fill the table
·         artillery are still quite balanced, with their targets’ greater ability to spread out in the larger playing area offset by the great range of bombardments relative to the usual ranges of direct fire weapons.
·         aircraft can be quite devastating, like artillery, having the ability to strike almost anywhere on the large playing area. This feature really makes both aircraft, as well as, anti-aircraft guns quite a valuable unit choice. I think I will be acquiring some flak quite soon.
·         because of greater engagement ranges, assaults may be rarer and chances to take tanks on their side armour may be reduced. It will be interesting to see how heavy armour performs given this particular aspect of the game
·         don’t forget Stormtrooping! (I almost never play Germans – a situation that is about to change).