Flames of War: Afrika Korps, German Forces in the Desert 1942-43 by Phil Yates

Flames of War: Afrika Korps, German Forces in the Desert 1942-43 Reviews

• 
  Robert Brightwell

  Version 4 of Flames of War greatly simplified the game and one could say 'dumbed it down.' Afrika Korps represents a continuation of this dumbing down. The history is greatly oversimplified. The army lists, if they can even called that, get the same treatment. Sadly, there are only two or three pages that are even needed for the game as everything else of use can be obtained from a deck of unit cards. It is basically a huge waste of money as all of the useful information could have easily been included in the rules for the game. It gets two starts because it is pretty.
• 
  Walt

  At only 40 pages, that works out to $1 per sheet of paper between the hard covers. Now granted the quality of the graphics is very high as usual but you’re still not getting much for your money. There is a lot more fluff in these books than in the rule book. There are only 3 formations (companies) available: Panzer III Company, Panzer IV Company, and African Rifle Company. The old Panzer company allowed you to mix and match Panzer III and Panzer IVs. In the new version these are spate units. The cynical side says that this is because the sell the models in homogenous boxes of either Panzer IIIs or Panzer IVs as opposed to historical accuracy. So no pioneer company, which is not surprising since they removed pioneers from the game. I was surprised that there was no Panzerspahkompanie (Recon Company) though. The other company which is no longer available to DAK in Mid-War is the Fallschirmjagers. In addition to the companies which have been removed, there are a number of platoons types and miniatures which are no longer available:
  
  Light Infantry Gun Platoon (7.5cm IeI18s)
  Heavy Infantry Gun Platoon (15cm sIG33s).
  Schutzen Spah Platoon (Motorcycles)
  5cm Armoured Car Platoon
  Assault Gun Platoon (StuG Ds)
  Light Tank-Hunter Platoon (Panzerjager Is)
  Tank-Hunter Platoon (Dianas)
  Self-Propelled Infantry Gun Platoon (Bisons)
  Rocket Launcher Battery (Nebelwerfers)
  
  Basically if they don’t have models in the new range they just removed support for them in the rules. It seems wrong that for a new release the big news is what’s missing instead of what’s been added. It’s a long list. If they add the models back at some point, I’m sure Battlefront will add the lists in Forces of War to support those models (once they add Mid-War to Forces of War) which they will gladly charge you extra for. I’m not convinced they will add them back in this edition though.
  
  There were also a few additional companies and platoons available to the Germans in Tunisa which were removed as well. However most of the options in the North Africa book under the heading Tunisia and Italy were really Italy only. For example, I don’t count the Armoured Artillery Battery (Wespes or Hummels) as missing because to be fair the Germans only had these in Italy in 43 never in North Africa. I really feel like the only units missing from the later Desert War in Tunisia are the Options to field Gepanzerte Panzer Grenadiers (Mechanized Company in Sd Kfz251 halftracks) and the recon company and platoon options which include the Sd Kfs 250 halftracks. I actually really like the facts that they separated Italy and Sicily out from the North African Campaigns.
  
  When you’re choosing your panzers you no longer get to pick the tank by the historical designation (e.g., Panzer III M). They are now Panzer III Short, Panzer III Long, Panzer III Uparmoured, and Panzer III 7.5cm. As far as I can tell here is the mapping:
  
  Panzer III Short = Panzer III G, H, or J
  Panzer III Long = Panzer III J (late)
  Panzer III Uparmoured = Panzer III L or M
  Panzer III 7.5cm = Panzer III N
  Panzer IV Short = Panzer IV E or F1
  Panzer IV Long = F2 or G
  
  Note: The Panzer IV G (late) or H is no longer an option
  
  I had to rewrite this paragraph three times before I was finally able to remove all of the bitterness and sarcasm. In my opinion changing the names of the Panzers did little to simplify anything. It’s not a big deal from a game perspective but I play this game because I really like the history. If I didn’t, I’d go play 40K. One of the things that attracted me to Flames of War was the historical accuracy and detail. The least they could have done was to list the actual designation on the page which includes the technical specs for the Panzers (gun, length, weight, speed etc. Applause for this!). I play this game because of the historical details not in spite of them.