In Flames of War, flamers only get one round of shooting so it is essential to pick the right time to fire. From turn one you need to know what your plan is for the flame throwers and it is essential that you do not deviate from that plan. If you decide to send them after your opponents heavy armour, do that. If you want to use them to annihilate an opponents defensive line, do that. Changing your plan mid battle will result in these guys getting killed off before they can be effective more often than not.

You can use flame throwers on the defensive as well. They are especially good at ambushing tanks. A tank commander without recon is in for a serious pounding if you have flame throwers that can be deployed in an ambush. Positioning is the key to these units, good positioning will devastate your opponent, poor positioning will simply see these guys killed.

Many missions require there to be at least two objectives for the attacker to capture. They only need to secure one of them to win. This is where you can use your machine guns offensively to cover the flank of your main attack force. Since the defender will see which objective you are going for they may want to try and reposition their forces accordingly. By placing your MGs to cover your flank you force the defender to choose to either push through your guns to shore up his defense, or stay put and hope the other troops can hold out.

This is what good offense is about. Forcing your opponent to make the choice between two things that are going to hurt. Regardless of what decision they make, you can react accordingly, maintaining your inititive in the battle. MG’s when positioned properly are a deadly weapon on offense, plan to set them up so you force your opponent to move through them because there are no good choices left.

Whatever your enemies decision the infantry has the tools to deal with them. Infantry are a reactionary force there will be few times where the initive will be on your side but thats ok, its better for the enemy to come to you anyways, it gives your guns an extra round or so to fire before things get really messy.

Always on the defense, the infantry company is for players that like to plan a defense up front and execute that plan. There is little room for changing the battle plan on the fly. You live and die by your plan, there is no rewind button as a whole punched in your flank is not easily filled. When the plan comes together though it is a glorious thing indeed, little pieces of your enemy will be littered over the battlefield with hardly a scratch to your own forces.

If you like the idea of being adaptable to most situations and having the mobility to get your troops where you need them when you need them then the motor company is for you.

Playing a tank company requires you to always be on the offensive. Once you lose the initiative in a battle, giving up your flank or letting infantry dig in at a key location, things get very difficult. You must stay one step ahead of your opponent to win or face defeat at the hands of a well coordinated defense.

Tank companies are suited to a very aggressive play style. Set a goal, send your tanks to achieve it, move onto the next goal as quickly as possible. If you enjoy this style of play then the tank company is for you.

By picking an intelligence handbook you are committing to a certain period. Forces can be matched up against each other from different time periods  but when there is a shift in the skill level of the troops between the books, you must follow the formula laid out in the rulebook for mixed forces.

Picking the time you want to play in can be difficult initially if you are the first in your group to get into flames of war. It is important to note that the game is on its second edition and only the 2nd Ed rulebooks are considered current for tournament purposes. The late war books focus more on specific parts of the war and the specialized troops that fought. For a detailed overview of what armies are contained in each book see the source book page

This was the single biggest misunderstanding with flames of war that new players face, once you know how it works its not too complicated, but if you have no experience with flames of war, and no one to teach you it is a bit confusing.

Germany

The German armour is unmatched but it is also beastly expensive. Their infantry is no slouch either being confident veteran means they are very difficult to kill. They also are, you guessed it, expensive. If you want to run an elite force, few in number but unmatched in strength the Germans are it. See the german category for more information

Britain

The Brits have excellent infantry and artillery. They are also Confident veteran which increases their point cost substantially but makes them incredibly hard to dislodge. their main disadvantages are in its mediocre armour, it definitely pales when compared to the German panzers. The British Bulldog ability lets them re roll any failed morale tests when assaulting which makes their infantry very dangerous on the charge. See the British category for more information.

Americans

The Americans get to use pretty much all the support weaponry they want in their army lists. Their troops are Confident trained which free up a lot of points for adding in as many goodies as they can get their hands on. They are also one of the most mobile forces out there and can use this to great advantage. They are a swiss army knife, easily adaptable to many different situations, yet masters of none. See the Americans category for more info

Soviets

The Soviets are an army of conscripts, they are very poorly trained but also incredibly cheap. You will field an enormous number of troops while playing them and you should expect just as many to get shot up during the course of a battle. They are a swarm army but also have access to some very nice armour. Because of their poor training a soviet army needs to maximize the number of members in each unit since they have trouble hitting the broad side of a barn. Their mentality is if you put enough firepower on target some of it is bound to hit. see the soviet category for more articles

Italy

This army gets the “wild card” factor. The 8 million bayonets special rule means you wont know the skill rating of your troops before the battle. This can make for some very fun battles but also some very one sided ones. The Italian armour isn’t very good compared to the brits or Americans, but they are able to field a lot of tanks and with good positioning can be effective. They can also take German allied units and those panzers can make up this short coming. Their infantry are also able to move during their shooting phase some of the time (this is the random event army afterall). This makes them particularly useful when assaulting though like everything Italian its always a crapshoot. See the Italians category for more info.

Finland

The Finnish are highly trained fighters but under-equipped. They have a skill rating of Fearless Veteran (the highest rating available) and gain the brittish bulldog ability when fighting the Soviets. They also get the self-sufficient rule which means if you kill their HQ another squad simply steps into place. This makes it almost impossible to break their command and control down like the Germans. On the downside they are often limited in the number of big guns they can add to a support unit due to their lack of equipment.