Sound off like you got a pair!

Would you read tutorials written by this man?

I am Pete Pelkonen and I am a new contributor to this blog.

I first started modelling when I was a boy, but in my teens I found another hobbies, but every now and then I turned my thoughts on returning to the hobby. Years went on, I bought a lot of models for Normandy landing diorama in 1:35, but it didn't catch on. Yet.

In the year 2010 I bought a 1:48 Tamiya model of North American P-51D Mustang (Chuck Yeager) that I built and wrote an article of the process to Finnish modelling magazine Pienoismalli (2/2011). The real itch had begun.

In 2012 I happened to walk in a gaming store ("I'm just looking") my eye caught a starter set of Flames of War. The box included two StuGs and three Shermans. The same summer I ordered Tigers March and Panzergrenadier company. Since then, my armies have grown to include two companies of US paratroopers, an US beach assault company, an armoured US company, an SS company with strong support platoons... and in the boxes awaits a German armoured company and Soviet armoured battalion.

I am not a competetive player, but a recreational player. I like small games, but I love huge Total War games. I like the games to represent the true history and therefore I have played with few of my friends the Normandy landing and later the Market Garden. Still to come, the Bastogne. In talks are the Kursk and Berlin. The thing in common with all of these games is, that they were played at home. Hence, Homewargamer. Hence, lots of terrain at home.

Some scratch built nests.

My contribution to this blog is mostly going to be easy building tutorials concerning terrain features, but I will also write out our 5000+ point Total War games.

Why I like to stay at home? Wife, two kids. Questions?

Also, I'm trying to raise a next generation of wargamers.
Pictured the Normandy anniversary game, that my kids started to play,
but I ended up finishing with a friend.

Flames of War - the game, wth is it?

So, a friend of mine checked this blog and was dumbfounded about what is it all about. I realized that all the content here must be absolute gibberish to someone who isn't initiated in to the game.

So for all who don't know what the game or this blog is about, here are quick facts:

The game is a tactical, company-level wargame, that is played utilizing miniatures, in a scale of 1:100 or 15mm for the height of a man.

Game is usually played on a 6' by 4' table, 180cm x 120cm for metric people.

Infantry is usually depicted as platoons consisting of:
1 command team, 2-3 figures on a small base
2-3 squads, further divided into 2-3 sections each having 4-5 figures on a medium base

Support weapon platoons are pretty similar, with gun teams as sections.

Vehicles are organized into platoons as well (Soviets into companies), with 2-5 tank models each.

Generally the game is played with agreed point-levels, where each unit adds up to the total, until you reach the agreed level,

Tank company at 1650 points, might have around 10-15 tanks, some recon cars and possible artillery or infantry option.

Infantry company could f.ex have 2-3 platoons of infantry, some Anti-tank guns, artillery, tank platoon, tank destroyers.

The points are based on stats,
 the training level (Conscript, Trained, Veteran), which dictates how easily your units get hit, dig in, hit enemy on assaults and succeeds in other skill rolls as well.
morale level (Reluctant, Confident, Fearless)- this dictates your units will to fight, and is used in seeing if they have the guts to assault tanks, or how easily they get back to action after being pinned or bailed-out from a tank. It's also used when seeing if they break and flee the field, after suffering more than 50% casualties.

The game is usually played using the scenarios published by the Battlefront. Will go back to that in another post.