Flames of War – The Great War

We knew it was coming. One of the worse secrets in the industry, the list for Flames of War – The Great War Miniatures Game has been released.

I have play Flames of War a couple of times and it is interesting but not my cup of tea. I will stick with the Lardies. But, they make great miniatures and I wanted to see what they were going to release. We also can use the 6-Day War release as a guide to what they are going to do.

With all of that in mind I am disappointed in their releases. Their releases are for 1917-18, not 1914-15. Which is a shame as the uniforms and kit for the early days of the war are colorful and flashy. Just what a tabletop game needs. So we are looking at the end of the war, while the media today is talking of the opening moves of The Great War.

So lets looks at the parts list.  The Germans infantry have the standard kit, but grenades are only talked about with the shock troops. Not historically accurate but I can wait to see the figures. I also do not see the Lewis gun for either side. The Lewis was the preferred LMG used by the Germans and British. I hope they are somewhere in the figure mixes.

There are also a few strange occurrences with the tanks. We have the Mark IV tank for the British while the Mark V maybe more appropriate. It is good to see the Whippet, my favorite tank for the period. The behemoth A7V is shown. A battleship on tracks. Unfortunately it was not as good as the German propaganda would have us think. But Flames of War has this write up;

“The panzer is new and unstoppable weapon. Our A7V is more powerful, faster and bettered armoured than Tommy’s tanks. These steel beasts will break the British frontline, opening the way to victory.”

And this copy comes from the army list. I cannot wait to see the breakdown table in the rules.

For me I will look at the miniatures and I am sure I will buy the Whippets, Mark IVs and A7Vs. Well not to many A7V as the Germans only made twenty of them. I may even see if the figures will work with my Peter Pig miniatures. But I am afraid they missed a great market to enter into by focusing on the later war and trenches over the earlier period. As they have not expanded their AIW, I fear they will also not expand The Great War range. This release looks good but poorly executed.