Armies of Late War: Book Review (First Thoughts)

Morning everyone,

James here with a look at the new Late War book: Armies of Late War

Let’s start with the biggest recommendation I can give this book: Even though I have a lot going on in my life and I’m having to be more frugal than I normally would with my hobby budgets, just flicking through Armies of Late War made me want to collect new armies with the possibility of multiple formations in each collection!  However it is focused on the new players, who want to easily get into Late War following the familiar structure of MW both inf formations and cards.

Now for the key information that we as a community want to know about:

This book does not overwrite all the V3 books you have at home and all the historical lists in region specific compilations, PDFs and digital content, it is fully compatible with them.

Each of the four major nations covered in this book have formation diagrams like those in the Mid War and Team Yankee books giving core formations and their units, followed by the support that can be taken, making list building very flexible. This includes appropriate allies and options for wild cards and support from core choices in other formations.

It’s a one stop shop for new players into the four big nations.  Forces of War remains a quick easy way for any of us to get into the other nations and specific historical or themed lists (Ie the V3 books). What I mean by this is I can hand this book to a new player and they can walk around their local hobby store easily able to pick out new toys to make a list that fits what they want to game with or a list which resembles famous forces.

What’s in the new book?

Now you’ve read above and most probably read the article of what companies are included on the Flames of War website, you’ll have a good idea of what’s here but here’s a list of the book sections:

• A nicely formatted section on the history and maps of the late war European Theatre
• Four sections, one on each nation, including a description of what the nation plays like, what it did in the war, special rules, force diagrams, formation diagrams, unit rules and support.

• Then there is a special rules section for the relevant special rules on each of the unit profiles
• Hobby and painting guides for each of the nations.
• Information on the new box sets which do look very attractive to me as I don’t have late war Soviets, Americans or British with those vehicles and guns
• Finally there is the Flames of War quick reference guide.

It’s all nicely laid out and presented with a great feel and look that matches the new mid war books, which are fantastically printed.

I’m going to be writing some more articles on this book including the differences between the lists in this book and existing lists in V3 books but for now here are some interesting features:

• The British and Americans can ally with each other like they can in the desert but you can’t ally the Soviets to them, they’re standalone which of course is correct as Soviet and British/American Forces didn’t fight company level battles together.
• Every nation has some good support choices with the Germans getting heavy tank hunters, Hetzers or Marders, lots of artillery choices including the nebs and a choice of Stuka dive bombers with lots of recon.
• Lots of the tank formations are flexible, allowing you to take different types of tanks as core platoons. What that means is you can create some nice historic lists and or create a list that fits the points for tournaments.
• Infantry formations have a lot of options and when combined with support really allow for new, aggressive or defensive forces to be created. They also allow for second smaller infantry formations to support the tanks or be taken to support to a primary tank formation.

Keep and eye out if you’re interested in seeing more about the specific nations. I was pleasantly surprised when I read the book and looked at it for its intended purpose. It isn’t a replacement for V3 late war, it’s a starting point for new players or new collections.  It may even be a useful tool to balance out tournaments in LW.

Happy hobby everyone,

Jersey