Flames of War FTW: Ambushes Exposed Gaming Tips!
August 22, 2014 by warzan
Warren & Dave are back for another installment of Flames of War For the Win and this time they're talking about ambushes!
The guys will be going into how they work on the tabletop and of course how you should then be applying the tactic against your enemies. These are some very cool and sneaky rules!
































Excellent Video guys
Good stuff – looking at adding some Hellcat TDs to my new army (yes I’m a noob) and ambush is a lovely little trick they have
Great opening, guys! AMBUSH! Dave isn’t having it. 🙂 “I was GOING” to be nice . . .”
And I definitely liked this episode’s “Know My Enemy” segment, and Robin’s preference for Easy Eights. I know Fireflies are very popular in Flames of War, but it’s nice to see American Easy Eights get some love. 🙂
I’m not sure you got that thing about Line of Sight correct, I’m sure it’s 360 degrees, to be out of sight, you would need a forrest, wood, building, hill etc between you and the target.
Bearing in mind you can see 6″ into a wood.
Also pretty sure Ambush isn’t allowed outside of your own deployment zone in most missions.
Don’t feel bad about troubles deploy 88s, @warzan . 88s are difficult to deploy in almost any game system because while they are devastating weapons, they’re also very large, very obvious, and completely unarmoured. Also, they scare the crap out of people so they’re always the first thing your opponent shoots at. Long range artillery (25 pounders, 105mms, etc.) are favourite “88 busters.”
I noticed in the video “footnotes” for rules clarification, that the ambush rules might be a little different for “heavy, immobile, or breakthrough” guns. Just asking the FoW experts here . . . would the 88 (especially the FlaK variants) count as “heavy” or “immobile” guns? When deployed the wheels were no sometimes longer on the mounting and the crew would have some work to do before the gun was ready for towing. Of course, the PaK 43 88 was much lower to the ground, it was a dedicated ground antitank gun (with wheels always ready to go) that would be much easier to hide (still huge, though) and move. But those FlaK 88s are something like 12’ high, and really not mobile in a tactical sense. How easy are they to use in ambush in FoW?
An 88 is immobile. You need a transport to move it at all. So no ambushing with it.
Best of digging them in and going to ground with them.
Erwin Rommel and numerous British tankers in North Africa would like to have a discussion about that “no ambushing with 88’s” thought.
You can ambush with 88s, but there are limitations in placing them.
Page 266 in rulebook:
“Heavy and Immobile Gun teams and vehicles equipped with a weapon rated as Bunker Buster cannot be placed in Ambush closer than 16″/40cm to any enemy team within Line of Sight.”
i thought regular ambush was only on your deployment zone (or sometimes with a special rules like panzerfaust trap it will be either your deployment zone or the no man’s land)
do i make a mistake ? (i’m french and it happened that i don’t understand some tough sentence)
Oh : another tips here :
1) if your scenario have prepared position the troops that are ambushing may start dug in,
conceal and bulletproof can give you a serious advantage.
2) don’t be too quick to reveal your ambushes.
You are correct. Deployment zone is where you will ussually deploy.
USA Tank destroyers work a touch differenty 🙂
love the video… makes me want to spend more money
I want to play an ambush with a copy of flames of war
great video guys
I havent used ambush alot. What i would like to c is how can i handle delayed reserves. I always seem the get the worst end of the stick on that one.
Aweom video once again guys. I really appreciate your in depth stuff.
Great video – hope to see a lot more individual tactic videos and maybe an occasional game employing ‘tactics so far’.
Another great video, thanks.
poor Stugs
Another good video. Do like ‘know you’re enemy’.
Any chance if some bat reps soon ?
Bat reps would be great.
I would love to see Dave and Warren swop outfits for an episode
Really love your FOW video’s guys, great job!
I would like to see the 8.8 ambush in the upcoming game 😀
One of the Afrika Korps tricks with the Pak38 was to hide it very close to the opposition, even manhandling it into position during the battle because it was small enough and light enough to manage whereas the Pak40 was just a bit too big. I like the ambush rules. Keeps people guessing 🙂
Amazing video. I am a new flames of war player and this has really cleared up the ambush rules for me
Great video and really useful tactics.
Dave certainly caught off guard by that ambush 😀
Great video! And I like this series highlighting different rules and aspects of the game. Though I’m wondering, are we going to see any more full games played out?
I can see LA Rochelle having more US armour with Tigers exposed to nifty 6 pounders, Big Macs hold the fries, as ever informative, the info encouraging, the scenery as ever awesome, with more B and Q mats repositioned. So what with Recon, Smoke, Artillery, now Ambushes…..Awesome guys, awesome and then some…..
love the strategy and tactic videos
As a non-FoW player*, can I just say that this is very, very nasty. I approve!
* not yet
FOW FTW is what got me into this game and just keeps getting better at introducing additional rules. Great series.
Good video again. Ambushes gets really nasty, when you can pull one of with not only 2 but 4 or 6 AT-Guns.
Nasty nice/n nasty.
great job, find the tactics interesting and adding to my list of games to play
Well the last video of FOW FTW got me to pick up the Achtung mini box set. I know it isn’t the best introduction but with the rule book I can now pay attention to the rules featured in the videos.
I would like to point out that there was a small issue with the set that I purchased. The customer service is OUTSTANDING!! and they deserve a little special recognition. Thank you!
Battlefront and Warlord both have had wonderful support and they have made getting into this hobby a lot more fun.
Was wondering when they would be touching this nice little tactic. Very under used IMO. I always had good success with ambushes. Then again I play Finns a lot. HUHAHA!
Great video guys, love the way that you present the rules of the game. But Warren I would like to see a narrative campaign involving the Nacht Wlofen. Because that would be awesome! hope to see it soon.
The ambush mechanic seems like it could easily abused in many ways, but the fact that it is there shows that the creators of the game have put great care in making the game.
NIce, useful and enjoyable as always.
Great video, as always. Recce is a big part of my force, even though I haven’t committed that many points to them.
Top quality video guys, love this series.
Which should help prevent you from getting ambushed, my drunk butt forgot to say. Also, US Tank Destroyers FTW, hahahaha.
Ambush is easier than I though.
More videos of this. 🙂
Thanks of the vid, I am really enjoying the fow coverage
Finally FTWs back – hopefully, more often this fall.
BoW ads page – Wanted, more videos with Dave in them!
Another excellent video in this great series, much appreciated!
haha
I really do like the ‘know your enemies’ section as it helps me to see what sort of style armies you can make. Again another very informative and enjoyable video 🙂
Lovely video!
I am totally not leaving a comment because of the freebies!
awesome vid, great work!
Played my very first FoW game today with my 15th Scottish army and has been great. This videos are really helpful to understand the special features of the game so please keep doing ’em!
“AMBUSH!!!!”
Had me in stitches.
Looks great ww2 strategy games are brill thanks David
Ahhh its always a good day when I can watch Warren and Dave wax lyrical about Flames of War.
Another cracking video, looking to get back in to flames of war, finding few reasons not to. Is it payday yet? 😉
Every new rule that you show on FoW FTW makes me wanna get in the game, let’s wait for the end of this season to see if I’m going to get my FEB on the battlefield
I’m hoping there is a series of batrep’s at the end of this series a la series 1, as well as teaching a whole load they are hugely entertaining.
all i am thinking while watching this video is wolverines!!!!!!
Loving the videos, could you guys do a bat rep at some stage?
Once again a great video!
I can’t wait to try the ambush rules out myself. I love these videos, they really help keep things clean and simple. I just wish there were more of them, like a weekly feature at least. Would also like to see a few more games.
Oh, and if there is anything to win for posting. Just remember, I am a great guy and my dear mom really loves me, even after all these years… 😀
I’ll have to remember that about the recce teams, cause i either read past it or completely forgot about it…
Nice video
Finally, ambushes… it would still be nice to see these in action. Maybe excerpts from tournaments? Or some more involved, orchestrated examples?
The game mechanics are incredible. Every bit of information and rule can be surprisingly simple and at the same time, encompass the volume of the real live deal. And, of course, our hosts are the greatest!
Can’t wait to try this against my friends, hopefully using my StuG’s to their full capability!!!!!!!
Love this series. Thanks guys.
Recently started playing FoW, and i find your series a great way to learn about the rules and get some information about my units and to get inspiration of which new units to add in to the army.
Looking forward to another battle video!
Another excellent FoW video, any chance of a battle report soon?
Great video guys!
This will definatly help me (a new-ish player) to beat those pesky Jagdtigers 😀
nothing in my army (Frost’s Perimeter Force) can penetrate their front armour, meaning a well placed ambush to the side may give me a chance to take out some heavy tanks! 😀
Ambush really adds a great “fog of war” element to the game
Could you guys make a battle report in which you use these tactics?
That would put them in a clear game context as well as a better tactical appreciation over the board.
great video, i’m very new to flames of war and from watching your video’s of it i’m looking forward to really getting in and building an army.