Brown Water Navy – Flames of War

Battlefront have published a state of the nation article about their forthcoming releases for 2015. One that piked my interest was Brown Water Navy.

Brown Water Navy

April sees us return to the jungle as we visit the Mekong Delta with the new Brown Water Navy book. This book cover the river fighting in the delta’s and allows you to fight a completely new style of Vietnam game. With a complete range of riverine boats to choose, from the little PBR’s to the big CCB Monitors these boats give your US forces the ability to assault the river banks and carve their way into the jungle. Never one to make it easy for the US the VC have a few tricks up their sleeves making this environment a truly unique gaming theatre.

Many years ago I bought some Skytrex 1/200th Vietnam Brown Water Navy models, which never got used for that era, but ended up as Epic 40K models.

The preview models look really nice.

Brown Water Navy - Flames of War

Of course the reality of the conflict, was that it was a little one-sided, the US had armed and armoured monitors, whilst the VC didn’t.

Brown Water Navy - Flames of War

I still have a wealth of Flames of War miniatures to paint, so I don’t think I will be getting some, but you never know.

Australian Army Centurion Mk5

ANZAC Centurion Mk5

Battlefront have put up the details about their 15mm Australian Mk5 Centurion for Vietnam.

It’s a really nice looking model, very crisp with lots of detail.

I have already made the decision not to play games for Flames of War Vietnam, as the era isn’t one where there were lots of tank battles and to be honest that’s the main reason I play Flames of War. Secondly I already have way too many models to paint anyhow…

However looking at the recent releases and I will say I much prefer the castings from Battlefront compared to some other manufacturers I have been thinking if I could use the models for another era. For example I wonder if the NVRA T55 tanks could be used for Middle East battles or for Warsaw Pact for a Cold War era game getting hot!

My first thought when I saw the Centurion Mk5 was how close was it to the early versions, could I get away with using it for my Late War British forces in say a 1946 scenario? Only a handful of Mk1s were made when in November 1945 the Mk2 started coming off the production lines. The Mk3 did not enter production until 1948, so for a 1946 scenario, it would be the Mk2. The main difference between the Mk5 and the Mk2 would the main weapon, with the Mk5 having the L7 105mm gun, whilst the 1945 version had the QF 20 pdr. Though it would appear from the Battlefront site that the Australian Army Centurions were armed with the QF 20 pdr. So maybe not too much conversion work then?

I am going to try and find some photographs and see if any what are the differences.

Return to Vietnam

Flames of War will be returning to Vietnam…

Last year in Wargames Illustrated we tried something new and let a charge of enthusiasm for an exciting period, led by Pete, culminate in our first attempt at adapting the Flames Of War mechanics to other periods. The result was a wonderful success and with so many people getting excited about both the idea and the period we realised that it could not simply be a one-off. What we have decided to do is bring you Vietnam part II this April with a following instalment each year. The rolling plan has us adding to the forces, models and how it can be played. This has made us realise that Flames Of War Vietnam has become our second period and it will receive ongoing support.

Phil takes us back to a Vietnam in WI282 to bring you the armour and new helicopters for the US and the big guns for the PAVN. Rather than just taking up space in WI we decided to include the 48 page intelligence handbook as a bonus with WI so that everything you need to play is now its own book as well as being free. Phil being the excellent chap he is did not only get you new lists but included everything from the first outing we made to Vietnam so this booklet really has everything you need to play.

Read more

There are going to be a range of new models too, including tanks and the M113 APC with variants.

Quite like the models. Not so sure I will be buying into the era though. Apart from NVA and Vietcong infantry, the US seem to have all the firepower and armour (as they did in Vietnam). Then again I did enjoy Full Metal Jacket and Platoon, so maybe…

Variant Ork Army Lists (part three) – slightly damp…

Another idea I have had based on this French Golden Demon entry.

The idea is a brown water riverine force. Lots of landing craft, small patrol boats and monitors.

Ork Landing Craft from my website.

Ork Riverine Monitors from my website (work in progress).

In case anyone doesn’t know what I am talking about, here is an excellent web article on Vietnam War Riverine Craft.

VIETNAM STUDIES – RIVERINE OPERATIONS – 1966-1969

Download in PDF format.

The best chapter, as in the one with the most pics is chapter two.