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Author Topic: Fields of Fire  (Read 6302 times)

judgedredd

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Reply #15 on: September 20, 2021, 05:06:50 AM
Thanks for the link...I look forward to watching your playthrough.

I did start on the first one and you are one lucky bugger. Moving two units forward and getting no contact on either AND both finding cover is rare in my experience. Even rarer is not making contact on an A Potential Contact Marker. That often only happens for me when Engaged or Heavily Engaged - and I believe you are only at Contact level at the beginning of that video.

I saw you moved assault teams forward. Assault teams can only attack on the terrain card they occupy and I've seldom had a German unit spawn  on the same card - generally they spawn left/right/forward at max LoS...so I always send forward Fire Teams. Assault Teams have the benefit of aautomatic VoF which is -1 whereas Fire Teams only have Small Arms VoF of 0. But the -1 is no good to you if the enemy is on a different card (and that's more often than not the case)

Of course - Fire Teams are Green whereas Assault Teams are the experience same as the spawning unit (Line in the first mission) and so Assault Teams don't have a modifier to their card draw for finding cover - they get 2 cards whereas the Fire Teams only get one card.

But Fire Teams can fire on adjacent terrain whereas Assault Teams can't.


Having said all that.......often the spawning German unit is not spotted and so the Fire Team can't fire anyway.

Lots to think about.



judgedredd

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Reply #16 on: September 20, 2021, 05:23:55 AM
I heard GMT is currently working on a propper rewrite of the rules, which are a pain. Unteil then, there are some awesome player-made rewrites on BGG which help alot, if you don't want to jump back and forth through this concatenation of concepts.

I should finally continue my campaign...

I would like to add - you explained the mechanics very well.

Although - at 24:11 I don't think a pinned unit can concentrate fire. You may have looked at the Enemy Defensive Action Table and got that result instead of the LAT Action table (which is used for pinned units also). He'd have likely retreated or tried to rally.

Also - at 26:00 - the All Pinned VoF for the German LMG Team should be changed to Automatic VoF

And finally - you did what I ALWAYS forget to do also - adjust ammo  ;D

Still - very good playthrough
« Last Edit: September 20, 2021, 05:35:42 AM by judgedredd »



bbmike

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Reply #17 on: September 20, 2021, 08:02:01 AM
This is all good stuff as Fields of Fire 2 has recently arrived at the door.  8)

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judgedredd

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Reply #18 on: September 20, 2021, 08:37:07 AM
Is a truly superb game. The rules are a mess and vague in lots of places. I still come across situations where I need to post on BGG.

I was positive I read that the Germans had to shift fire to a US unit that entered their card...but I now can't find it anywhere



judgedredd

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Reply #19 on: September 20, 2021, 10:54:40 AM
....
I saw you moved assault teams forward. Assault teams can only attack on the terrain card they occupy and I've seldom had a German unit spawn  on the same card - generally they spawn left/right/forward at max LoS...so I always send forward Fire Teams. Assault Teams have the benefit of automatic VoF which is -1 whereas Fire Teams only have Small Arms VoF of 0. But the -1 is no good to you if the enemy is on a different card (and that's more often than not the case)

Of course - Fire Teams are Green whereas Assault Teams are the experience same as the spawning unit (Line in the first mission) and so Assault Teams don't have a modifier to their card draw for finding cover - they get 2 cards whereas the Fire Teams only get one card.

But Fire Teams can fire on adjacent terrain whereas Assault Teams can't.


Having said all that.......often the spawning German unit is not spotted and so the Fire Team can't fire anyway.

Lots to think about.
One other major benefit of using Assault Teams is they can move onto an enemy occupied card - a Fire Team cannot. I over looked this rule (as is so easy to do).

That's one of the reasons why LetsPlayHistory is using Assault Teams.



judgedredd

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Reply #20 on: September 20, 2021, 02:27:23 PM
After saying you were lucky in your pulls for contacts and I'd never experienced such an easy start,  there I go and clear the whole front row of C Potential Contacts with no contact. First time ever.  ;D  ;D



thecommandtent

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Reply #21 on: September 20, 2021, 07:37:52 PM
If they really do rewrite the rules I think I might finally pull the trigger on this one.



judgedredd

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Reply #22 on: September 26, 2021, 05:45:25 AM
I accept the fact that I'm at a happy middle place with the rules now. I've probably got about 80 or 90% of them down...just little nuances escape me from time to time...but they don't break the game for me



Advocator (Scott)

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Reply #23 on: September 26, 2021, 09:52:17 AM
If they really do rewrite the rules I think I might finally pull the trigger on this one.

I know someone who is helping on the rules re-write, so it's happening... Probably won't see it for another year or so. My insider has played lots of FoF over the years and is very happy with how the rewrite is going. When I discussed the game, he suggested I wait for the new rules before buying it.



LetsPlayHistory

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Reply #24 on: September 26, 2021, 01:51:26 PM
Although - at 24:11 I don't think a pinned unit can concentrate fire. You may have looked at the Enemy Defensive Action Table and got that result instead of the LAT Action table (which is used for pinned units also). He'd have likely retreated or tried to rally.

Also - at 26:00 - the All Pinned VoF for the German LMG Team should be changed to Automatic VoF

And finally - you did what I ALWAYS forget to do also - adjust ammo  ;D

Still - very good playthrough

Yeah, sure, there are probably a few mistakes there. Would be worse if I grad it and continue now.  ;D
I believe I adjusted ammo off cam.

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thecommandtent

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Reply #25 on: September 26, 2021, 02:24:02 PM
If they really do rewrite the rules I think I might finally pull the trigger on this one.

I know someone who is helping on the rules re-write, so it's happening... Probably won't see it for another year or so. My insider has played lots of FoF over the years and is very happy with how the rewrite is going. When I discussed the game, he suggested I wait for the new rules before buying it.

Thanks for the insight. Looks like I'll wait for the rewrite then :)



judgedredd

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Reply #26 on: October 04, 2021, 04:29:03 AM
I decided to give FoF2 a try.

It's not as fun for me. Peleliu is fixed maps. Kind of suits the region...but I liked drawing for a random map - it was an additional level to the replayability as no map was ever the same.

Also - it's brutal. Every single time I've tried the first mission, I've lost Amtraks and people...lots of people. Whole squads at a time in some instances. Truly - sounds terrifying and probably very realistic.

However I watched a video fo a guy playing and he moved his first 4 Amtraks onto the Surf Zone. When checking for Potential Contacts, his first was automatic (Potential Contact A and No Contact means you have automatically made contact)...he pulled for bombardment (mostly what you'll pull in that phase. He then pulled for each of the other 3  Potential Contact A markers...Because he was now in Contact, each Potential A contact Marker pulls 7 cards to see if there's contact...he pulled 3 lots of 7 cards and all 3 of his Potential Contact A markers resulted in No Contact!!!

Lucky bugger. On my first time trying the mission, I made contact on ALL 4 cards and had 2 Amtraks Brewed Up (all passengers marked as casualties) and the other two were Knocked Out resulting in a check for each step of infantry being carried. The second wave did not fair much better with 2 Brewed up and 1 knocked out.

Absolute disaster from the off. Scrapped that one and started again - which resulted in a poor start again so I'm on my third attempt.

Long and short of it is - it's not as fun as the first one imo - mostly due to the fixed maps. I am going to carry on playing - and I'll play this next retry through to the end.

Kind of itching to get Holland '44 back on the table as I only ever got a few turns into my one and only playthrough before I had to move it off the table. And I'm reading a book on it which has piqued my interest in playing it again.

But I really am enjoying Fields of Fire.



judgedredd

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Reply #27 on: October 14, 2021, 08:03:15 AM
This has now been on my table for over a month. I've played the FoF Vol 1 Normandy mission 1 4 times, mission 2 3 times and FoF Vol 2 Peleliu Mission 1 twice

FoF Vol 1 is definitely my favourite.



bayonetbrant

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Reply #28 on: July 29, 2022, 05:41:02 PM

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