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Conspiracy

2022-05-03T02:09:36Z

2A0A:8C43:0:0:0:0:0:6F: /* Conspiracy-based or -heavy Tabletop Games */ alphabetize

Technically a '''conspiracy''' is a plan made by a group of individuals to achieve some goal in secret, more likely than not this goal is somewhat nefarious in nature. For our purposes, it also refers to a set of fiction and modern mythology based around various alleged conspiracies and fiction which is derived there-of. From Area 51 and the Philadelphia Experiment to Nazi Moon bases and reptilians from the hollow earth.

Get your cork boards, string, trench coats and tin foil hats because we got codes to crack and mysteries to expose.
== The Mindset of Conspiracy Theorists ==
First of all, there is a spectrum of interest in conspiracies and similar. This ranges from interest in the mythology and legitimate investigation of shady events by journalists and similar to full blown wack-a-doodles who end up stockpiling meat, ammo and gold and are set off by pizza parlors.

Conspiracy theorists are well known for coming up with totally batshit ideas, taking a few random points of data ranging from symbols on dollar bills to the price of cheese to Backstreet Boys lyrics and linking them together to get people to believe that a 300 year old English gentleman's club is plotting to retake the 13 colonies for the British Empire to facilitate the ambitions of the squid people of Tau-Ceti (or something else equally absurd). Sometimes you get people which end up falling down the rabbit hole into a dream world of aliens, real magic, torture and shadowy cabals. Outsiders who are critical are either mindless sheep or to some degree working for THEM. A group of these guys can end up reinforcing their shared delusion.

Most obviously, conspiracy theorists (at least the hardcore ones) are often paranoid and some are even schizophrenic. There's also an element of wonder to it; the same thing that made people imagine fairies living in the forest in the middle ages. If aliens actually were sending ships to earth to monitor people, that would be kind of cool. But a big factor about it is simplification. We live in a world with a vast web of people, groups, organizations and interests constantly trying to make their way and achieve their goals around various human and non-human factors, often against each other. A mess of monkeys fumbling for meaning and working at cross purposes is inevitably a mess and often highly inefficient, confusing, frustrating and a hazard to those caught up in it. To some people, the notion that the current state of the world can be deciphered and in the end the mess that the world is in can be traced to a single group with an written agenda is appealing.

This is not to say that there are not people in power which try to pull shady shit in the shadows. It does happen, but (among other things) they have a distinct diseconomy of scale. The larger the conspiracy the more points of failure and the greater the risk of exposure. Your typical conspiracy is not a secret society with a thousand year plan to dominate the earth, but more to the effect of some corporate types and their 'fixers', some government agency or some other body with money and influence doing something to make off with money, eliminate a rival or to achieve some other specific immediate goal.

Ironically enough, one thing that groups in power can use to get their way is capitalizing on conspiracy theorists and their ideas. In the 19th century the absolutist monarchy of the Russian Empire found itself under pressure by various groups of reformers and revolutionaries. To counter this, the Tsar's secret police directed ire away from the Romanovs (the ruling family) and the nobility and towards the Jewish minority and, later, other ethnic groups such as the Japanese.

== Media with a Conspiracy Elements in it ==
{{stub}}

X-Files: Perhaps the quintessential conspiracy theory show with much of the focus being on extraterrestrial aliens and the organization in charge of hiding said aliens from prying eyes. That said, it also touches on a lot of other ideas such as wish magics, invisible thought demons, and numerous cryptids.

[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]: The big twist of this infamous anime series is that ultimately the conflict is rooted in the struggle between two different conspiracies who each want to literally remake the world according to their own desires.

===Conspiracy-based or -heavy Tabletop Games===
* [[Bureau 13]]
* [[Call of Cthulhu]]
* [[Children of the Sun]]
* [[Conspiracy X]]
* [[Dark Conspiracy]]
* [[Dark Matter]]
* [[Delta Green]]
* [[Hunter: The Reckoning]]
* [[Hunter: The Vigil]]
* [[Little Fears]]
* [[Paranoia]]
* [[Species]]
* [[Unknown Armies]]
* [[Witchcraft]]

Flames of War

2022-05-03T02:03:56Z

2A0A:8C43:0:0:0:0:0:6F: fix

{{Game Infobox
|name = Flames of War
|picture = [[File:FOW-Logo-Color2.jpg]]
|type = [[Miniatures]]-based [[Wargame]]
|system =
|playno =
|time =
|publisher = Battlefront Miniatures
|authors =
|year = 2002
|books = Flames of War: Fourth Edition and Flames of War: Forces
}}

'''Flames of War''' is a tabletop [[wargame]], first released in 2002, by the New Zealand company Battlefront Miniatures. It recreates the fighting in the European and North African theaters of World War II using 15mm scale models. There are also expansions that cover Vietnam, World War 1, and the Arab-Israeli Wars. Play simulates combat between company-level forces, with each stand of infantry typically representing half a squad. In the mid-2010s its popularity outside its homeland has skyrocketed, and it is moving rapidly on its way to joining <s>[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]</s> (Lol dead), [[Warhammer 40,000]] and [[Warmachine]]/[[Hordes]] as one of THE big-name tabletop wargames. Also like those games, it is quickly developing a strong community of whiny, sophist 'YouTube War Expert' players. Still, most players are quite friendly and welcoming to newbs, newbies, noobs, and nubs. Even if they often make typos. Also developed by a team of mainly very nice gentlemen.

Battlefront Miniatures itself has become fairly popular in comparison to [[Games Workshop|other well-known companies]], as they have given their blessing for players to use other company's products in games, even allowing them in tournaments; and for making many of the army lists available on their website. Also the prices from the company aren't that high ($52.00 USD is pretty good for 2 Rifle platoons, a weapons platoon, a Company command squad and a few bazooka teams), and in addition to that, most of the stuff you own can be mix-and-match as those infantry platoons you own can be used with your armoured companies and vice versa. Also, as infantry don't really change much, and since at 15mm it's hard to tell what they are equipped with anyway, you can use your infantry platoon/company throughout all war periods, and can proxy them as mechanized (provided you have the transports), paratroopers, ect. with ease.

==Rules Basics==
If you've played any other tabletop wargame, you should be halfway to knowing the rules for FoW, its just a matter of the squirrelly parts. Some of the major points are:
*Unit ratings- Units are rated on two stats, their motivation and their training. Ratings are typically applied across and entire army list.
**Motivation- How happy and ready for fight your units are. Keeps troops in the battle and helps them keep moving and fighting. There are three ratings (barring special snowflake rules): Reluctant, Confident and Fearless. Note that Fearless is not as good as it is in 40k, although it's still pretty damn great as it stops your platoons and companies pissing out at a moment's notice.
**Training- How skilled at combat your troops are. Keeps them alive and helps with things like moving through rough terrain, digging in, hitting the enemy in Close Combat, and a whole range of other things. Gives protection against being shot at (because unlike other contemporary games, the likelihood of a unit being hit is due to '''their''' skill, not the unit shooting at them). There are three flavours of training: [[Imperial Guard|Conscript]], Trained and Veteran.
*Motivation tests- There are numerous situations when Motivation checks are required. Think of them like Leadership tests in 40k. The most common check is when a platoon is below half strength, it has to take a motivation test or be removed from the game. Following from this, when your entire army is below half strength, your Company Commander has to take a motivation test or (if he's copped it) you lose the game automatically <strike>as your troops run away like little girls </strike> bravely tactically retreat to fight for Freedom and hamburgers another day.
*Shooting- one rule that confuses a lot of new players is that when one unit shoots at another, the chance to hit is based on the target's skill rating, not the firer's. The reasoning being that any moron with one arm and two brain cells to rub together can spray machine-gun fire at people, and what really counts is how good the people being shot at are at taking cover and not bunching up like a flock of sheep.

==List Building==
Note that all lists are based off historically based equipment at a specific point of time, even if that equipment was unique or incredibly rare.

Army lists come in three different flavours: Infantry, Mechanized, and Armoured. Each "codex" will normally feature multiple nations, and each nation will usually have different organization charts that let them take any of the three flavours of list. The differences between organization charts is that they dictate the base requirements of a list, the motivation and skill level of your list, and the "weapon" and "support" options your list can take.

*The HQ: Your force will always have an HQ. For infantry lists, this will be a stand of a Company Commander (who allows units he joins to reroll motivation), a 2nd in Command (honestly not that good, although depending on your nation he gives bonuses to your troops. The main use for him is that he can "appoint" a platoon commander if their commander died previously.) Some HQs let you bring along extra goodies, like Bazookas and Mortars that can be attached to platoons. Mech HQs are the same as Infantry HQs but will come with transports (and unlike 40k, transports can be a real disadvantage, although more recent rules have removed a lot of their downsides.) Tank Commanders will be exactly that: Tanks. Usually one or two tanks make up the HQ, and the tanks can vary a lot. For some Russian lists, you don't actually take one, you just nominate a tank from one of your platoons (actually called companies but they function as platoons) to be your Company Commander. '''HQS usually DO NOT count as platoons for Company strength.''' They function like 40k independent characters do. If I have 3 infantry platoons and a company commander, I count as only having 3 infantry platoons for my force strength.

*The Combat Platoons, AKA Troops choice: Same with 40k, each organization chart will have a minimum requirement of a platoon or two with the option to have more. Infantry lists will have infantry platoons as their combat platoon requirement, mech will have mechanized platoons, etc. Here you choose the size of the platoon (for example, an American Rifle platoon from a Mid War Africa army will be able to have either 7 stands or 10 stands in their platoons) as well as any additional stuff like bazookas, machines guns, mortars, ect.

*The Weapons Support: Usually encompasses stuff like mortar platoons, engineer platoons, and other platoons that come from a battalion level. This would be historically the assets that the division gave to the battalion, such as a machine gun company, that the battalion spreads out through the other battle companies. For example, A Panzer Battalion would have a Company of Engineers attached to it. Therefore, a weapons support option for a Panzer Company would be one or two platoons of Engineers. In a 40k codex, this stuff would come right after the Troops entries in each organization chart, or comes from another organization chart's army list.

*The Divisional/Corp support: This is elements that exist at a Divisional level. Historically, it would be things like air support that is allocated to a division/corps. In game, these options usually give your army some much needed diversity/support. Unlike the troops, HQ and weapon options, these guys aren't restricted to a singular organization chart. This means that multiple lists have access to them. This stuff includes the aforementioned air support, artillery, self propelled guns, and specialist troops. Also the Motivation and Skill ratings of Divisional support can differ from your Troops and Weapon support options. Note that air support is generally "invisible" except that it can either launch a "bombardment" in a similar way to artillery or it can be used to drive off enemy air support. It does not count as a platoon.

However it should be noted FOW tends to allow and even promote ahistorical parings and combinations. This includes allowing indirect artillery to be present on board and act in an anti tank role as well as artillery function. Quantities tend to be over exaggerated. For example a company of infantry can have access to tank or artillery resources that would usually be assigned to a battalion or brigade in real life. There is also no limitations in terms of forces assigned so your company may end up being supported by units from multiple other formations regardless of historical practice.

===Sample Army===

Let's say you want to build a force from the Army book "North Afrika." This book comes from the Mid War period, which means you can only use it against other Mid War lists. You would then pick a nation, in this case we will pick Americans. You then go to the American section of the book to see which organization charts you can pick from. Here you can choose from an Armoured company which uses Sherman Tanks, a Mechanized Company in armored half-tracks, an Infantry company, or a paratrooper company. Here we choose the Infantry company. This means that you must now adhere to the organization chart that comes with this company. Choosing the Infantry company means that your force is Confident trained (it will say this in the book)

Next, you pick the platoons for your force, starting with the required ones. You must take a Company Commander with a 2iC, and two infantry platoons. An average game of Flames of War is about 1500 points, so this is what you will plan for. You look at the first entry, and the Company HQ has the option to take two bazooka teams with him for a few extra points. The extra firepower seems useful, so you take him and the two bazooka teams. You now look at the combat platoon requirements. You MUST take Two Infantry platoons, with the option to take a 3rd. Now you look at the Infantry platoon entry. There is option of taking the infantry platoon with either 6 rifle teams plus a platoon command rifle team, or 9 rifle teams plus the command rifle team. You also have the option for a bazooka. Since you will want a solid foundation for your army list (and so you can get your platoon count up), you take the two minimum infantry platoons PLUS the extra platoon, all at full strength. You also take the optional bazooka teams for added anti-tank capability.

Next you look at the optional weapon platoon options. The organization chart says that you can take one mortar squad, one mechanized platoon, one truck platoon, one machine gun platoon, one weapons platoon (this platoon comprises of light machine guns and light mortars), 2 anti tank platoons (armed with light anti tank guns, although one can be medium according to the entry) and 1 engineer platoon. Since you will want your list to have a barrage template for pinning down the enemy or launching smoke, you choose the mortar platoon. After looking at its entry you see that you can either take 4 mortar teams plus a command rifle team and an observer rifle team, or 6 mortar teams plus a command rifle team and an observer rifle team. It has the option to take two bazooka teams and a car for the observer. However, since the mortar platoon would sit further back, you pass on the bazooka teams, which are only effective at close range. You also pass on the car as the observer needs to be stealthy and hidden, which is harder to do with a jeep or car.

Lastly, you look at the Divisional Support options. You can choose Air support, Artillery support, another medium anti-tank gun platoon, a tank hunter platoon, a Sherman platoon, a paratrooper platoon, an anti-aircraft platoon, a mobile anti-aircraft platoon, an engineer platoon, and a scout platoon. You choose the artillery platoon since the Americans get nifty special rules that boost the effectiveness of their artillery. You then pick limited (which is actually the medium option) air support to drive off enemy air support. Noticing that your army is lacking anti-tank, you take a Sherman Tank platoon to add a punch to your force, and a unit of medium anti-tank guns, which you could have also taken in the Weapon platoons section.

Doing this, your force consists of:
*HQ with 2 bazooka teams
*3 x infantry platoon with 9 rifle teams, a platoon command rifle team, and a bazooka team
*A mortar squad with 6 mortar teams, a platoon command team and an observer
*A tank platoon of 5 Sherman tanks
*An anti tank platoon of 3 57mm anti tank guns with a platoon commander
*An artillery platoon with 4 105mm gun teams with a staff team, platoon command team and observer team
*Limited air support

You have 7 platoons, 3 of which are combat, 1 of which is a weapons platoon, and 3 of which are divisional support platoons.

==Organization==
Rather than try to balance, say, the German army that invaded Poland in 1939 against the Russian army that rolled into Berlin 6 years later, the game is divided into three periods:

In this respect, it is significantly more intelligently designed than its retarded cousin, which shall remain [[Bolt Action|nameless]]. It is still lacking in historical accuracy, and was slowly becoming subsumed by the same special rule bloat that affected most popular miniature wargames. Thankfully, 4th Edition took a flammenwerfer to those, though 3rd was still a better game.

==World War Two==

===Early War===
Covers everything from the beginning of the war until the end of 1941. Available forces are Germany, Great Britain, the USSR, Imperial Japan, Finland, Italy, France and Poland. Typically most forces are less experienced and so there are very few forces (outside of the Germans, Finns and Japanese) who have "veteran" units. It's actually one of the most "balanced" periods of the game, and so is actually fairly popular (except among Americans for some reason). While most of the overall game is balanced, and each period is balanced, in this period every tank has a reasonable chance against other tanks (unless you're those British, Soviet or French cunts who take Matildas, T-34's or B1s- but then you'll have 4 models on the table, TOPS, and they can be easily beaten in assault by engineers). When the Germans get the later Panzer IIIs they can easily take out the allied heavy/infantry tanks, if you're willing to pay a boatload of points for a glass cannon.

===Mid War===
Covers 1942-1943. Poland becomes a British force while America comes in. Probably the most balanced period, with the only real cheese being the [[RAGE|T-34 spam]] that the Russians can use, as amusingly enough they can almost take more tanks than you can get bases of each nation's commando/paratrooper equivalent. Lack a lot of flexibility due to the rules for Russian tanks.

===Late War===
Covers 1944 to the end of the war in May 1945. Includes most of the 'Iconic' battles of the war, like the invasion of Normandy, capture of Paris, Operation Market Garden and the Battle of the Bulge. The Soviets destroyed what was left of the Germans' ability to actually stop them in summer 1944, and finished the job in 1945, so there's plenty going on in the Eastern Front as well, from Operation Bagration in June 1944 to the Battle of Berlin in April-May 1945.

Lots of hilarious units like the Kingtiger and Panthers, both of which are too complicated and expensive for their own good, and virtually infinite opportunities to field last-ditch efforts to prevent the inevitable as the Allied powers advanced into Germany, like the Hitlerjugend child soldiers and the Volkssturm militia.

The large number of special rules makes this period somewhat more "gamey" than mid-war.

==Vietnam==
What started off as a few army lists published in wargames illustrated evolved into the newest period expansion, with the current book being 'Nam. NVA list is pretty standard guerrilla stuff but there is an option to run an ironclad battalion (tank battalion) with soviet make tanks and apcs, despite these kind of forces being extremely rare and only really utilized once the Americans withdrew combat forces. South Vietnam, on the other hand, had its supply of parts and new hardware cut off after the US withdrew, meaning the ROV armed forces rapidly lost all mechanized capability after 1973.

The American/ANZAC/South Vietnamese lists have access to helicopters as well as tank, mechanized cavalry, and infantry lists. Basic rules also change somewhat, and it seems like company-level combat doesn't really work that well for this conflict. Very few players, and the original boxes for units have become quite hard to come by.

==Arab-Israeli Wars==
Currently focused on tank battles during the Six Day War in 1967, which pits upgraded WW2 American tanks versus upgraded WW2 Soviet tanks as well as more modern vehicles such as M48 Pattons, centurions, and T-54/55s. No helicopters here, but it does have rules for jet aircraft and night-vision equipment. A lot of people like it because it just takes some tan paint to turn a Late War or Vietnam unit into one that fits this setting. The rule set was first released in 2013 as a wargames illustrated supplement called Fate of a Nation, with tank company lists for Israel, United Arab Republic (Egypt), and Jordan. In late 2014/early 2015 it was re-released as a theater book with revised points and additional lists for Israeli Sayaret (Recon) and paratroopers, and UAR and Jordanian infantry fortified infantry companies. It has been expanded to include the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Plays like a mix of Team Yankee and FoW; with the aircraft and range of Team Yankee but only a little more lethality than your granddaddy's Shermans.

==Great War==
Currently only one book, focused on the final offensives of 1918. Army lists exist for the British Empire, France+Belgium, the United States and Germany, with sides having access to the first tanks, better known as "landships" back then. August 2014 saw the release of German and British army boxes, supporting kits, and terrain, including craters and a trench-line system. August 2015 saw a full book with German, British, French, and American lists as well as new missions. The most recent edition, 'Great War', makes stat updates in the veins of V4 Flames of War and gives you even more ways to send young men to die aimlessly on the battlefields of Europe.

Unsurprisingly, this is the 'safest' game by Battlefront. You may have tanks that literally delete anything else from the table, but the strategy of hiding in trenches and depressing charges into machinegun fire defines the period, and the game as a whole. It is also worthy of note that machine guns have the ability to delete certain tanks, and artillery is far less important than in regular Flames.

==[[Team Yankee]]==
After the eponymous book by Harold Coyle, the newest addition to BF's expanding list of non-WWII theaters, focusing on a hypothetical WWIII with the Warsaw pact vs. NATO in the Fulda Gap and the North German Plains. On the NATO side are the Americans, British, West Germans, French, Canadians, Dutch and the ANZACs. On the Warsaw Pact are the Soviets, East Germans, Poles and Czechs.

The 2019 book Oil War saw an expansion of the war into the Middle East, featuring lists for Israel, Iraq, Iran, and Syria. This was also the first book to slowly but surely advance the timeline of Team Yankee to cover the late eighties and early nineties, allowing for more modern (and lethal) kit to be introduced.

Team Yankee uses a ruleset based upon standard Flames of War, but is different in many details and noted to be quicker and more violent than standard Flames of War. No word yet if that means that one side nukes the other if they lose, something that NATO actually was planning to do.

THE most popular offshoot of Flames of War, but still a smaller game than its daddy (just ignore the fact that it has the largest presence on 1d4chan). [[Team Yankee|Check it out here.]]

==Armies==
{{editwar}}
FoW supports most of the major military powers that fought in WWII. The following is an absolutely completely unbiased list of those that are currently available.

===United States of America===

They may have shown up two years late, but once in the war the Americans brought with them one of the largest war industries ever heard of, and by 1945 fielded one of the largest and most powerful armed forces ever seen in history. Built around vehicle spam, heavy artillery, and a seemingly endless supply of bazookas. Technology like stabilizers, AOPs, and semiautomatic rifles make your troops great at maneuver warfare and help make up for generally average or poor hard stats.

In Midwar, the US has some of the most powerful technology, with some of the heaviest armed and armored medium tanks of the era, massive amounts of bazookas (which are waaay scarier in this era), and capable artillery. What's the tradeoff? You have some rather poor crew stats that limit your flexibility and give you discounts on your troops, so they are still relatively spammable, and your special rules still make your troops decently flexible despite that. Even though your options aren't huge, you have a tool for every job and the US represents a capable force.

Late War depicts the Americans as a force to be reckoned with due to their probably the most powerful artillery in game, higher training, and insane list building flexibility. These capabilities help you overcome your glaring weaknesses: you don't have access to the level of armor and penetration that the Soviets, Germans, and British can bring in numbers. This doesn't mean that your units are much cheaper though: the top level M4 mediums are similar in price to Soviet heavies and SS panthers. This means that you have to play a bit smarter, using smoke, artillery, terrain, and your special rules and training to out maneuver and out think your freedom-hating adversaries. Played well, it's a beautiful sight to see, but you will be punished quite readily if you lose your luck or wits.

{{US Forces in Flames of War}}

===Great Britain===

The old saying goes that the British Army loses every battle in every war except the last one, and Britannia certainly got the last laugh in the 1940s. Jollie olde Anglaterre and her Commonwealth mainly field bland looking masses of brown and drab paint. They are good all-rounders, and are especially good in assaults. One of their biggest draws is that Great Britain isn't just England- you can also field Scots, Irish, Indians, Canadians, Nepalese, Australians, New Zealanders, and Maoris. The British are tough in defense and <s>favour drowning their enemies in dead colonials</s> tend to have a small, elite core supplemented by special forces. They are best in defense however, due to their special characters and special rules that favour a mainly static war (unless you play an armour company, in which case the British rules are made to let you [[Orks|charge in guns blazing]]).

{{British Forces in Flames of War}}

===Soviet Union===

The only army a true fa/tg/uy should ever play. Brutal fucks that get a pass because they helped the other Allies shove the Fascists back into schnitzelland, proving that communists have [[Meme|speech 100.]] The Red Army also taught the entire world that no technological advantage beats '''A LOT''' of men equipped with simple, sturdy and easily mass-producible tools of war... as long as you are willing to take and replace '''A LOT''' of losses in the process (which they were). The Red Army's units are a mess of contradictions, with decent hard stats but some significant weaknesses that allow you to field them in large numbers. The Soviets suffer from a near complete lack of artillery smoke, a -1 to hit if they move on nearly all their vehicles, a lack of careful units, and sparse infantry AT. What this means is you can field a massive number of units that, when used together right, can mitigate their weaknesses and do a lot of damage. When used wrong, however, they tend to die in droves. To give you an idea of how much you're going to be outnumbering your opponent, most other armies are a 'Company' made up of 'Platoons'. [[Tyranid|The average Soviet army fields 'Battalions' made up of 'Companies']]. Chances are you will fill up your side of the table with your forces, so I hope you enjoy assembling and painting those little basta- {{BLAM|'''*BLAM!*''' fearless defenders of the motherland}}. Despite this, the Late War Soviets also bring a good amount of highly skilled and capable units, helping mitigate the weaknesses of their regular brethren. That or you could just spam T-34 and T-70s like a mad lad and [[Just as planned|take so many throwaway tanks that the amount of burning wreckage they make is an acceptable replacement for the smoke you don't have.]] Either way is fun.

The Polish People's Army seen in Team Yankee originated in the Soviet Union in 1943, so there is the possibility to field them using selections from the Mid-to-Late-War Soviet lineup as well, like the T-34/85.

{{Soviet Forces in Flames of War}}

===Germany===

The Nazi state might have produced some of the most horrific evil ever seen or done by man, but they also forged a war machine with enough discipline, training, equipment and fighting spirit to seize and hold virtually all of Europe and take on most of the world, basically by themselves, for over five years. German forces feature the Heer (Army), Luftwaffe (Air Force), Kriegsmarine (Navy), the Waffen-SS (Armed-Protection Squadron), the Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth) and the Volkssturm (People's Assault). Their quality ranges from extremely good to extremely bad, with the latter becoming more common in Late War, when the German military was rapidly running out of guns, bullets, fuel, vehicles, time and ability to train new troops, etc. and were generally just throwing together whatever they could. The stern discipline and tenacity of the Heer is plenty visible, as is the skill and daring of the Luftwaffe's airborne troops and the extreme Villainous Valor of the Waffen-SS. The Volkssturm, a pitiful last-ditch effort to stave off defeat, is just a bullet-sponge militia, and the mobilized boys of the Hitler Youth have been soaked in Nazi propaganda for years and just don't know any better.

German forces were driven to extraordinary lengths by Hitler's decision to try taking on basically the entire world at once, but the upside is that snazzy German engineering; there are literally over a hundred different vehicles to choose from. Most German units will win one-on-one with their Allied counterparts, but will usually be outnumbered by a noticeable margin. Also, there's several lists that lets you field an army of [[Awesome|nothing but Tiger or Konigstiger tanks]], so that's cool too. Germans have great tactical flexibility and firepower but don't stand up to attrition very well. Their special rules are very newbie-friendly as they pretty much ignore the rules about platoon command teams, since if one dies, they can "appoint" a new platoon commander without having to have the Company commander or second in command there.

{{German Forces in Flames of War}}

===France===

If you enjoy sitting back and dragging out battles, France is the country for you. Usually they field a static army of soldiers with low morale, able to blow the shit out of the enemy with their special snowflake artillery. Enjoy laughing in the face of your opponent as you pore over complicated tables every time you shoot something. In addition, you can also take giant indestructible tanks, or get your Fearless Trained African soldiers to do your dirty work for you. Their special rules '''REALLY''' favour the defense, as both infantry and armour alike are unsuited to attacking. One special rule allows your servant to move your objectives closer to you, and another gives all colonial troops an advantage in assaults so you can sit back in your trench and enjoy your wine and cheese.

Those collaborating Vichy surrender monkeys don't really appear, and for that matter, neither do Free French, either. The former was relegated to a support role at best and the latter had no ability to produce updated French-designed and made uniforms or equipment and thus pretty much would be American units on the tabletop anyway.

{{French Forces in Flames of War}}

===Italy===

Ah, yes- the Italians. The ally Germany asked for but wound up wishing they'd never gotten. Italy shares the massive numbers of weak troops with the Soviets, but lacks the supporting equipment. Don't expect any decent tanks unless you take German allies (Semoventi are one of the few Mid-war SPG Artillery units the Axis can take as a core Formation, and just happen to not be subject to the whims of the Dice Gods when determining just how bad they could be, cuz Italian Arty are Veterans). The only tanks in the entire war that were definitely worse were those fielded by Japan (and theirs were basically made of paper). The Italians could fight extremely well when they wanted to, but the Italian people as a whole were not as fired up for an all-out war as Mussolini wanted them to be, and so the motivation and skill of Italian forces varied widely. Hence the special rules that give random motivation/skill ratings to their platoons, which can lead to hilarious lists where you either have elite hordes of Fearless Veterans or untrained masses of Reluctant Conscripts. Depending on the table you roll on, it's usually geared towards Confident Trained or Reluctant Trained. Still, absolutely hilarious for both sides when rolling.

{{Italian Forces in Flames of War}}

===Japan===

<s>Dishonorably only available in Early War for now.</s> New Pacific Book 'Banzai' has came out. Now you can field Japanese army for Pacific supplement rules, and also for good ol' Late-War rules. They have the best morale in the game, even refusing to listen to the player when they fail their company morale check. At points where the even the Waffen-SS and those crazy Nazi kids in the Hitler Youth would decide they'd had enough, the Imperial Japanese Army's soldiers fought on, often literally until every last man on their side was dead. They were trained and taught to fight ferociously and die gloriously for Empire and Emperor, and they were ''extremely'' good at both. Their vehicles are somewhat lacking- an understatement, given how machine gun fire proved capable of breaching Japanese tank armor- but they make up for this by taking the steel that would have otherwise been used on those tanks and turning it into the enormous balls that are standard issue for their soldiers. No surrender. NO SURRENDER. Their average infantryman has a rifle and a banner that gives him a hard-on for death, and their anti-tank weapon of choice is a [[Awesome|bomb-thrower who would put the Taliban to shame.]] If you were looking for a sane game of Flames of War, look elsewhere. You don't play Japan for their competitiveness or survivability, you do it because every single unit is foaming at the mouth to charge the enemy and start murdering. [[Emperor|For the Emperor!]]

Tactics for V4: [[japan flames of war]]

===Finland===

One of Germany's best allies until circumstances forced them to switch sides late in the war, Finland was driven into German arms by Stalin's shameless (and Pyrrhic) war of aggression that robbed them of a good chunk of territory in the Winter War. They joined in the invasion of the USSR in the hopes of getting revenge, and fielded a professional army that benefited considerably from the use of modern German equipment. They made use of captured Soviet hardware as well, and slapped swastikas on every vehicle to ensure that the Stukas didn't come after them.

Despite lacking the equipment and vehicles of the other powers, the Finns are still a force to be reckoned with. They get a huge advantage in Winter and Forest terrain (which the Soviets learned about the hard way in the Winter War), and are usually rated Veteran, even in the early war. They field a mix of Soviet, German, and WW1-era equipment. You need balls to play these guys, as you can't rely on numbers or special rules to win the day. Their armored company is considered one of the most challenging lists to play.

The Finns were on the Axis side until a ways into the Late War period, when they would appear fighting the Germans if you were to field them.

{{Finish Forces in Flames of War}}

===Hungary===

<s>The poor man's Germans</s> Very similar to Germany, but with unique organization and equipment. Have useful special rules that provide advantages in both attack and defense, and can take a lot of German equipment in the Late War. Their most famous vehicle is the kawaii-as-fuck Zrínyi assault gun.

{{Hungarian Forces in Flames of War}}

===Romania===

Mainly focused on infantry and cavalry, with hilariously underpowered vehicle options. They get random motivation like Italy, and can also take a lot of allied equipment. They are unique because they switch sides after being conquered by the Soviets in Late War, so Romanian players can choose between German or Soviet allies, while quietly wondering why they're using Early War equipment in 1944. Historically it is because, while there was an assistance agreement in place, [[That Guy|Germany handed them their cast-offs and captured Russian materiel while keeping the updated stuff for their own units]]. The Romanians, while having decent technology lacked the heavy industry to equip their entire army on their own, so they were actually relatively thankful for said cast-offs. Later on after they switched sides, the Reds didn't trust the lukewarm enthusiasm the Romanian king showed for [[Communism]], so they didn't want to heavily arm someone they already knew they would eventually have to deal with. Which happened two years later: the king was booted out, Romania became a full satellite of the USSR and (ironically) at that point received the same better materiel other USSR allies did.

{{Romanian Forces in Flames of War}}

===Poland===

The poor Poles have it even worse than the Finns. They have okay equipment, especially for Early War, but you will find yourself stretching to get your units to fit all the roles you need. You can try to impersonate the Soviets with masses of weak infantry, but their real advantage is in the great balance of their units. They can hold their own in assaults, and tend to excel in defense. In Late War, they have the legendary Armia Krajowa, which beats the Finnish armour company for the position of hardest list in the game. It's literally a bunch of armed civilians with whatever German stuff they could get their hands on, and it would come as no surprise if Sun Tzu himself couldn't win a game with them.

{{Polish Forces in Flames of War}}

NOTE: The game balance in this game is actually really good. There is no "best army," just strong lists. Lists are usually strong against one type of list and are countered by others. Eg: Commandos are an elite British list that are awesome against raping shit in melee, and are fearless veterans, but they are expensive and you can't take many of them, meaning you get absolutely raped by horde tank lists like the Russian lists.

==Homebrews==
[[Media:Abyssinia.pdf|"It Will Be You Tomorrow", covering the Second Italo-Abyssinian War in 1935-36.]]

[[Media:Them.pdf|"The Army of Man", a fun book that lets you pit your Flames of War army against some 1950s B-movie monsters.]]

Supposedly there is also a Falklands War homebrew in the works.

There is also a [[ Girl und Panzer ]] homebrew which is seriously in need of a new revision, which is designed to be it's own separate game. However, depending whether you are a truly pure-blood historical gamer or if you don't mind [[anime|animu]] this could be extra heretical.

There is a project to update V3 with some of the good rules changes from V4, and fix some of the jank (arty park). [https://jovianarchiver.com/v3-redone/ Link here.]

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Pacific.jpg|soviets actually have veterans now, which makes this one all the better. They also announced a release for the Pacific Campaign, which means this will all become true in 2016 March.
Image:Usarmoredrifles.jpg
Image:Germanartillery.jpg|what it's like using German tube artillery in-game.
Image:Zrinyi.jpg|damn those hungarians and their pancakes of death!
</gallery>

== External Links ==

* [http://www.flamesofwar.com/ Flames of War homepage]

[[Category: Wargames]]
[[Category:Battlefront Miniatures]]

Flames of War

2022-05-03T01:42:07Z

2A0A:8C43:0:0:0:0:0:6F: /* Soviet Union */ needs to be capped references a specific group called the Allies (Axis is also capped)

{{Game Infobox
|name = Flames of War
|picture = [[File:FOW-Logo-Color2.jpg]]
|type = [[Miniatures]]-based [[Wargame]]
|system =
|playno =
|time =
|publisher = Battlefront Miniatures
|authors =
|year = 2002
|books = Flames of War: Fourth Edition and Flames of War: Forces
}}

'''Flames of War''' is a tabletop [[wargame]], first released in 2002, by the New Zealand company Battlefront Miniatures. It recreates the fighting in the European and North African theaters of World War II using 15mm scale models. There are also expansions that cover Vietnam, World War 1, and the Arab-Israeli Wars. Play simulates combat between company-level forces, with each stand of infantry typically representing half a squad. In the mid-2010s its popularity outside its homeland has skyrocketed, and it is moving rapidly on its way to joining <s>[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]</s> (Lol dead), [[Warhammer 40,000]] and [[Warmachine]]/[[Hordes]] as one of THE big-name tabletop wargames. Also like those games, it is quickly developing a strong community of whiny, sophist 'YouTube War Expert' players. Still, most players are quite friendly and welcoming to newbs, newbies, noobs, and nubs. Even if they often make typos. Also developed by a team of mainly very nice gentlemen.

Battlefront Miniatures itself has become fairly popular in comparison to [[Games Workshop|other well-known companies]], as they have given their blessing for players to use other company's products in games, even allowing them in tournaments; and for making many of the army lists available on their website. Also the prices from the company aren't that high ($52.00 USD is pretty good for 2 Rifle platoons, a weapons platoon, a Company command squad and a few bazooka teams), and in addition to that, most of the stuff you own can be mix-and-match as those infantry platoons you own can be used with your armoured companies and vice versa. Also, as infantry don't really change much, and since at 15mm it's hard to tell what they are equipped with anyway, you can use your infantry platoon/company throughout all war periods, and can proxy them as mechanized (provided you have the transports), paratroopers, ect. with ease.

==Rules Basics==
If you've played any other tabletop wargame, you should be halfway to knowing the rules for FoW, its just a matter of the squirrelly parts. Some of the major points are:
*Unit ratings- Units are rated on two stats, their motivation and their training. Ratings are typically applied across and entire army list.
**Motivation- How happy and ready for fight your units are. Keeps troops in the battle and helps them keep moving and fighting. There are three ratings (barring special snowflake rules): Reluctant, Confident and Fearless. Note that Fearless is not as good as it is in 40k, although it's still pretty damn great as it stops your platoons and companies pissing out at a moment's notice.
**Training- How skilled at combat your troops are. Keeps them alive and helps with things like moving through rough terrain, digging in, hitting the enemy in Close Combat, and a whole range of other things. Gives protection against being shot at (because unlike other contemporary games, the likelihood of a unit being hit is due to '''their''' skill, not the unit shooting at them). There are three flavours of training: [[Imperial Guard|Conscript]], Trained and Veteran.
*Motivation tests- There are numerous situations when Motivation checks are required. Think of them like Leadership tests in 40k. The most common check is when a platoon is below half strength, it has to take a motivation test or be removed from the game. Following from this, when your entire army is below half strength, your Company Commander has to take a motivation test or (if he's copped it) you lose the game automatically <strike>as your troops run away like little girls </strike> bravely tactically retreat to fight for Freedom and hamburgers another day.
*Shooting- one rule that confuses a lot of new players is that when one unit shoots at another, the chance to hit is based on the target's skill rating, not the firer's. The reasoning being that any moron with one arm and two brain cells to rub together can spray machine-gun fire at people, and what really counts is how good the people being shot at are at taking cover and not bunching up like a flock of sheep.

==List Building==
Note that all lists are based off historically based equipment at a specific point of time, even if that equipment was unique or incredibly rare.

Army lists come in three different flavours: Infantry, Mechanized, and Armoured. Each "codex" will normally feature multiple nations, and each nation will usually have different organization charts that let them take any of the three flavours of list. The differences between organization charts is that they dictate the base requirements of a list, the motivation and skill level of your list, and the "weapon" and "support" options your list can take.

*The HQ: Your force will always have an HQ. For infantry lists, this will be a stand of a Company Commander (who allows units he joins to reroll motivation), a 2nd in Command (honestly not that good, although depending on your nation he gives bonuses to your troops. The main use for him is that he can "appoint" a platoon commander if their commander died previously.) Some HQs let you bring along extra goodies, like Bazookas and Mortars that can be attached to platoons. Mech HQs are the same as Infantry HQs but will come with transports (and unlike 40k, transports can be a real disadvantage, although more recent rules have removed a lot of their downsides.) Tank Commanders will be exactly that: Tanks. Usually one or two tanks make up the HQ, and the tanks can vary a lot. For some Russian lists, you don't actually take one, you just nominate a tank from one of your platoons (actually called companies but they function as platoons) to be your Company Commander. '''HQS usually DO NOT count as platoons for Company strength.''' They function like 40k independent characters do. If I have 3 infantry platoons and a company commander, I count as only having 3 infantry platoons for my force strength.

*The Combat Platoons, AKA Troops choice: Same with 40k, each organization chart will have a minimum requirement of a platoon or two with the option to have more. Infantry lists will have infantry platoons as their combat platoon requirement, mech will have mechanized platoons, etc. Here you choose the size of the platoon (for example, an American Rifle platoon from a Mid War Africa army will be able to have either 7 stands or 10 stands in their platoons) as well as any additional stuff like bazookas, machines guns, mortars, ect.

*The Weapons Support: Usually encompasses stuff like mortar platoons, engineer platoons, and other platoons that come from a battalion level. This would be historically the assets that the division gave to the battalion, such as a machine gun company, that the battalion spreads out through the other battle companies. For example, A Panzer Battalion would have a Company of Engineers attached to it. Therefore, a weapons support option for a Panzer Company would be one or two platoons of Engineers. In a 40k codex, this stuff would come right after the Troops entries in each organization chart, or comes from another organization chart's army list.

*The Divisional/Corp support: This is elements that exist at a Divisional level. Historically, it would be things like air support that is allocated to a division/corps. In game, these options usually give your army some much needed diversity/support. Unlike the troops, HQ and weapon options, these guys aren't restricted to a singular organization chart. This means that multiple lists have access to them. This stuff includes the aforementioned air support, artillery, self propelled guns, and specialist troops. Also the Motivation and Skill ratings of Divisional support can differ from your Troops and Weapon support options. Note that air support is generally "invisible" except that it can either launch a "bombardment" in a similar way to artillery or it can be used to drive off enemy air support. It does not count as a platoon.

However it should be noted FOW tends to allow and even promote ahistorical parings and combinations. This includes allowing indirect artillery to be present on board and act in an anti tank role as well as artillery function. Quantities tend to be over exaggerated. For example a company of infantry can have access to tank or artillery resources that would usually be assigned to a battalion or brigade in real life. There is also no limitations in terms of forces assigned so your company may end up being supported by units from multiple other formations regardless of historical practice.

===Sample Army===

Let's say you want to build a force from the Army book "North Afrika." This book comes from the Mid War period, which means you can only use it against other Mid War lists. You would then pick a nation, in this case we will pick Americans. You then go to the American section of the book to see which organization charts you can pick from. Here you can choose from an Armoured company which uses Sherman Tanks, a Mechanized Company in armored half-tracks, an Infantry company, or a paratrooper company. Here we choose the Infantry company. This means that you must now adhere to the organization chart that comes with this company. Choosing the Infantry company means that your force is Confident trained (it will say this in the book)

Next, you pick the platoons for your force, starting with the required ones. You must take a Company Commander with a 2iC, and two infantry platoons. An average game of Flames of War is about 1500 points, so this is what you will plan for. You look at the first entry, and the Company HQ has the option to take two bazooka teams with him for a few extra points. The extra firepower seems useful, so you take him and the two bazooka teams. You now look at the combat platoon requirements. You MUST take Two Infantry platoons, with the option to take a 3rd. Now you look at the Infantry platoon entry. There is option of taking the infantry platoon with either 6 rifle teams plus a platoon command rifle team, or 9 rifle teams plus the command rifle team. You also have the option for a bazooka. Since you will want a solid foundation for your army list (and so you can get your platoon count up), you take the two minimum infantry platoons PLUS the extra platoon, all at full strength. You also take the optional bazooka teams for added anti-tank capability.

Next you look at the optional weapon platoon options. The organization chart says that you can take one mortar squad, one mechanized platoon, one truck platoon, one machine gun platoon, one weapons platoon (this platoon comprises of light machine guns and light mortars), 2 anti tank platoons (armed with light anti tank guns, although one can be medium according to the entry) and 1 engineer platoon. Since you will want your list to have a barrage template for pinning down the enemy or launching smoke, you choose the mortar platoon. After looking at its entry you see that you can either take 4 mortar teams plus a command rifle team and an observer rifle team, or 6 mortar teams plus a command rifle team and an observer rifle team. It has the option to take two bazooka teams and a car for the observer. However, since the mortar platoon would sit further back, you pass on the bazooka teams, which are only effective at close range. You also pass on the car as the observer needs to be stealthy and hidden, which is harder to do with a jeep or car.

Lastly, you look at the Divisional Support options. You can choose Air support, Artillery support, another medium anti-tank gun platoon, a tank hunter platoon, a Sherman platoon, a paratrooper platoon, an anti-aircraft platoon, a mobile anti-aircraft platoon, an engineer platoon, and a scout platoon. You choose the artillery platoon since the Americans get nifty special rules that boost the effectiveness of their artillery. You then pick limited (which is actually the medium option) air support to drive off enemy air support. Noticing that your army is lacking anti-tank, you take a Sherman Tank platoon to add a punch to your force, and a unit of medium anti-tank guns, which you could have also taken in the Weapon platoons section.

Doing this, your force consists of:
*HQ with 2 bazooka teams
*3 x infantry platoon with 9 rifle teams, a platoon command rifle team, and a bazooka team
*A mortar squad with 6 mortar teams, a platoon command team and an observer
*A tank platoon of 5 Sherman tanks
*An anti tank platoon of 3 57mm anti tank guns with a platoon commander
*An artillery platoon with 4 105mm gun teams with a staff team, platoon command team and observer team
*Limited air support

You have 7 platoons, 3 of which are combat, 1 of which is a weapons platoon, and 3 of which are divisional support platoons.

==Organization==
Rather than try to balance, say, the German army that invaded Poland in 1939 against the Russian army that rolled into Berlin 6 years later, the game is divided into three periods:

In this respect, it is significantly more intelligently designed than its retarded cousin, which shall remain [[Bolt Action|nameless]]. It is still lacking in historical accuracy, and was slowly becoming subsumed by the same special rule bloat that affected most popular miniature wargames. Thankfully, 4th Edition took a flammenwerfer to those, though 3rd was still a better game.

==World War Two==

===Early War===
Covers everything from the beginning of the war until the end of 1941. Available forces are Germany, Great Britain, the USSR, Imperial Japan, Finland, Italy, France and Poland. Typically most forces are less experienced and so there are very few forces (outside of the Germans, Finns and Japanese) who have "veteran" units. It's actually one of the most "balanced" periods of the game, and so is actually fairly popular (except among Americans for some reason). While most of the overall game is balanced, and each period is balanced, in this period every tank has a reasonable chance against other tanks (unless you're those British, Soviet or French cunts who take Matildas, T-34's or B1s- but then you'll have 4 models on the table, TOPS, and they can be easily beaten in assault by engineers). When the Germans get the later Panzer IIIs they can easily take out the allied heavy/infantry tanks, if you're willing to pay a boatload of points for a glass cannon.

===Mid War===
Covers 1942-1943. Poland becomes a British force while America comes in. Probably the most balanced period, with the only real cheese being the [[RAGE|T-34 spam]] that the Russians can use, as amusingly enough they can almost take more tanks than you can get bases of each nation's commando/paratrooper equivalent. Lack a lot of flexibility due to the rules for Russian tanks.

===Late War===
Covers 1944 to the end of the war in May 1945. Includes most of the 'Iconic' battles of the war, like the invasion of Normandy, capture of Paris, Operation Market Garden and the Battle of the Bulge. The Soviets destroyed what was left of the Germans' ability to actually stop them in summer 1944, and finished the job in 1945, so there's plenty going on in the Eastern Front as well, from Operation Bagration in June 1944 to the Battle of Berlin in April-May 1945.

Lots of hilarious units like the Kingtiger and Panthers, both of which are too complicated and expensive for their own good, and virtually infinite opportunities to field last-ditch efforts to prevent the inevitable as the Allied powers advanced into Germany, like the Hitlerjugend child soldiers and the Volkssturm militia.

The large number of special rules makes this period somewhat more "gamey" than mid-war.

==Vietnam==
What started off as a few army lists published in wargames illustrated evolved into the newest period expansion, with the current book being 'Nam. NVA list is pretty standard guerrilla stuff but there is an option to run an ironclad battalion (tank battalion) with soviet make tanks and apcs, despite these kind of forces being extremely rare and only really utilized once the Americans withdrew combat forces. South Vietnam, on the other hand, had its supply of parts and new hardware cut off after the US withdrew, meaning the ROV armed forces rapidly lost all mechanized capability after 1973.

The American/ANZAC/South Vietnamese lists have access to helicopters as well as tank, mechanized cavalry, and infantry lists. Basic rules also change somewhat, and it seems like company-level combat doesn't really work that well for this conflict. Very few players, and the original boxes for units have become quite hard to come by.

==Arab-Israeli Wars==
Currently focused on tank battles during the Six Day War in 1967, which pits upgraded WW2 American tanks versus upgraded WW2 Soviet tanks as well as more modern vehicles such as M48 pattons, centurions, and T-54/55s. No helicopters here, but it does have rules for jet aircraft and night-vision equipment. A lot of people like it because it just takes some tan paint to turn a Late War or Vietnam unit into one that fits this setting. The rule set was first released in 2013 as a wargames illustrated supplement called Fate of a Nation, with tank company lists for Israel, United Arab Republic (Egypt), and Jordan. In late 2014/early 2015 it was re-released as a theater book with revised points and additional lists for Israeli Sayaret (Recon) and paratroopers, and UAR and Jordanian infantry fortified infantry companies. It has been expanded to include the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Plays like a mix of Team Yankee and FoW; with the aircraft and range of Team Yankee but only a little more lethality than your granddaddy's Shermans.

==Great War==
Currently only one book, focused on the final offensives of 1918. Army lists exist for the British Empire, France+Belgium, the United States and Germany, with sides having access to the first tanks, better known as "landships" back then. August 2014 saw the release of German and British army boxes, supporting kits, and terrain, including craters and a trench-line system. August 2015 saw a full book with German, British, French, and American lists as well as new missions. The most recent edition, 'Great War', makes stat updates in the veins of V4 Flames of War and gives you even more ways to send young men to die aimlessly on the battlefields of Europe.

Unsurprisingly, this is the 'safest' game by Battlefront. You may have tanks that literally delete anything else from the table, but the strategy of hiding in trenches and depressing charges into machinegun fire defines the period, and the game as a whole. It is also worthy of note that machine guns have the ability to delete certain tanks, and artillery is far less important than in regular Flames.

==[[Team Yankee]]==
After the eponymous book by Harold Coyle, the newest addition to BF's expanding list of non-WWII theaters, focusing on a hypothetical WWIII with the Warsaw pact vs. NATO in the Fulda Gap and the North German Plains. On the NATO side are the Americans, British, West Germans, French, Canadians, Dutch and the ANZACs. On the Warsaw Pact are the Soviets, East Germans, Poles and Czechs.

The 2019 book Oil War saw an expansion of the war into the Middle East, featuring lists for Irael, Iraq, Iran, and Syria. This was also the first book to slowly but surely advance the timeline of Team Yankee to cover the late eighties and early nineties, allowing for more modern (and lethal) kit to be introduced.

Team Yankee uses a ruleset based upon standard Flames of War, but is different in many details and noted to be quicker and more violent than standard Flames of War. No word yet if that means that one side nukes the other if they lose, something that NATO actually was planning to do.

THE most popular offshoot of Flames of War, but still a smaller game than its daddy (just ignore the fact that it has the largest presence on 1d4chan). [[Team Yankee|Check it out here.]]

==Armies==
{{editwar}}
FoW supports most of the major military powers that fought in WWII. The following is an absolutely completely unbiased list of those that are currently available.

===United States of America===

They may have shown up two years late, but once in the war the Americans brought with them one of the largest war industries ever heard of, and by 1945 fielded one of the largest and most powerful armed forces ever seen in history. Built around vehicle spam, heavy artillery, and a seemingly endless supply of bazookas. Technology like stabilizers, AOPs, and semiautomatic rifles make your troops great at maneuver warfare and help make up for generally average or poor hard stats.

In Midwar, the US has some of the most powerful technology, with some of the heaviest armed and armored medium tanks of the era, massive amounts of bazookas (which are waaay scarier in this era), and capable artillery. What's the tradeoff? You have some rather poor crew stats that limit your flexibility and give you discounts on your troops, so they are still relatively spammable, and your special rules still make your troops decently flexible despite that. Even though your options aren't huge, you have a tool for every job and the US represents a capable force.

Late War depicts the Americans as a force to be reckoned with due to their probably the most powerful artillery in game, higher training, and insane list building flexibility. These capabilities help you overcome your glaring weaknesses: you don't have access to the level of armor and penetration that the Soviets, Germans, and British can bring in numbers. This doesn't mean that your units are much cheaper though: the top level M4 mediums are similar in price to Soviet heavies and SS panthers. This means that you have to play a bit smarter, using smoke, artillery, terrain, and your special rules and training to out maneuver and out think your freedom-hating adversaries. Played well, it's a beautiful sight to see, but you will be punished quite readily if you lose your luck or wits.

{{US Forces in Flames of War}}

===Great Britain===

The old saying goes that the British Army loses every battle in every war except the last one, and Britannia certainly got the last laugh in the 1940s. Jollie olde Anglaterre and her Commonwealth mainly field bland looking masses of brown and drab paint. They are good all-rounders, and are especially good in assaults. One of their biggest draws is that Great Britain isn't just England- you can also field Scots, Irish, Indians, Canadians, Nepalese, Australians, New Zealanders, and Maoris. The British are tough in defense and <s>favour drowning their enemies in dead colonials</s> tend to have a small, elite core supplemented by special forces. They are best in defense however, due to their special characters and special rules that favour a mainly static war (unless you play an armour company, in which case the British rules are made to let you [[Orks|charge in guns blazing]]).

{{British Forces in Flames of War}}

===Soviet Union===

The only army a true fa/tg/uy should ever play. Brutal fucks that get a pass because they helped the other Allies shove the Fascists back into schnitzelland, proving that communists have [[Meme|speech 100.]] The Red Army also taught the entire world that no technological advantage beats '''A LOT''' of men equipped with simple, sturdy and easily mass-producible tools of war... as long as you are willing to take and replace '''A LOT''' of losses in the process (which they were). The Red Army's units are a mess of contradictions, with decent hard stats but some significant weaknesses that allow you to field them in large numbers. The Soviets suffer from a near complete lack of artillery smoke, a -1 to hit if they move on nearly all their vehicles, a lack of careful units, and sparse infantry AT. What this means is you can field a massive number of units that, when used together right, can mitigate their weaknesses and do a lot of damage. When used wrong, however, they tend to die in droves. To give you an idea of how much you're going to be outnumbering your opponent, most other armies are a 'Company' made up of 'Platoons'. [[Tyranid|The average Soviet army fields 'Battalions' made up of 'Companies']]. Chances are you will fill up your side of the table with your forces, so I hope you enjoy assembling and painting those little basta- {{BLAM|'''*BLAM!*''' fearless defenders of the motherland}}. Despite this, the Late War Soviets also bring a good amount of highly skilled and capable units, helping mitigate the weaknesses of their regular brethren. That or you could just spam T-34 and T-70s like a mad lad and [[Just as planned|take so many throwaway tanks that the amount of burning wreckage they make is an acceptable replacement for the smoke you don't have.]] Either way is fun.

The Polish People's Army seen in Team Yankee originated in the Soviet Union in 1943, so there is the possibility to field them using selections from the Mid-to-Late-War Soviet lineup as well, like the T-34/85.

{{Soviet Forces in Flames of War}}

===Germany===

The Nazi state might have produced some of the most horrific evil ever seen or done by man, but they also forged a war machine with enough discipline, training, equipment and fighting spirit to seize and hold virtually all of Europe and take on most of the world, basically by themselves, for over five years. German forces feature the Heer (Army), Luftwaffe (Air Force), Kriegsmarine (Navy), the Waffen-SS (Armed-Protection Squadron), the Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth) and the Volkssturm (People's Assault). Their quality ranges from extremely good to extremely bad, with the latter becoming more common in Late War, when the German military was rapidly running out of guns, bullets, fuel, vehicles, time and ability to train new troops, etc. and were generally just throwing together whatever they could. The stern discipline and tenacity of the Heer is plenty visible, as is the skill and daring of the Luftwaffe's airborne troops and the extreme Villainous Valor of the Waffen-SS. The Volkssturm, a pitiful last-ditch effort to stave off defeat, is just a bullet-sponge militia, and the mobilized boys of the Hitler Youth have been soaked in Nazi propaganda for years and just don't know any better.

German forces were driven to extraordinary lengths by Hitler's decision to try taking on basically the entire world at once, but the upside is that snazzy German engineering; there are literally over a hundred different vehicles to choose from. Most German units will win one-on-one with their Allied counterparts, but will usually be outnumbered by a noticeable margin. Also, there's several lists that lets you field an army of [[Awesome|nothing but Tiger or Konigstiger tanks]], so that's cool too. Germans have great tactical flexibility and firepower but don't stand up to attrition very well. Their special rules are very newbie-friendly as they pretty much ignore the rules about platoon command teams, since if one dies, they can "appoint" a new platoon commander without having to have the Company commander or second in command there.

{{German Forces in Flames of War}}

===France===

If you enjoy sitting back and dragging out battles, France is the country for you. Usually they field a static army of soldiers with low morale, able to blow the shit out of the enemy with their special snowflake artillery. Enjoy laughing in the face of your opponent as you pore over complicated tables every time you shoot something. In addition, you can also take giant indestructible tanks, or get your Fearless Trained African soldiers to do your dirty work for you. Their special rules '''REALLY''' favour the defense, as both infantry and armour alike are unsuited to attacking. One special rule allows your servant to move your objectives closer to you, and another gives all colonial troops an advantage in assaults so you can sit back in your trench and enjoy your wine and cheese.

Those collaborating Vichy surrender monkeys don't really appear, and for that matter, neither do Free French, either. The former was relegated to a support role at best and the latter had no ability to produce updated French-designed and made uniforms or equipment and thus pretty much would be American units on the tabletop anyway.

{{French Forces in Flames of War}}

===Italy===

Ah, yes- the Italians. The ally Germany asked for but wound up wishing they'd never gotten. Italy shares the massive numbers of weak troops with the Soviets, but lacks the supporting equipment. Don't expect any decent tanks unless you take German allies (Semoventi are one of the few Mid-war SPG Artillery units the Axis can take as a core Formation, and just happen to not be subject to the whims of the Dice Gods when determining just how bad they could be, cuz Italian Arty are Veterans). The only tanks in the entire war that were definitely worse were those fielded by Japan (and theirs were basically made of paper). The Italians could fight extremely well when they wanted to, but the Italian people as a whole were not as fired up for an all-out war as Mussolini wanted them to be, and so the motivation and skill of Italian forces varied widely. Hence the special rules that give random motivation/skill ratings to their platoons, which can lead to hilarious lists where you either have elite hordes of Fearless Veterans or untrained masses of Reluctant Conscripts. Depending on the table you roll on, it's usually geared towards Confident Trained or Reluctant Trained. Still, absolutely hilarious for both sides when rolling.

{{Italian Forces in Flames of War}}

===Japan===

<s>Dishonorably only available in Early War for now.</s> New Pacific Book 'Banzai' has came out. Now you can field Japanese army for Pacific supplement rules, and also for good ol' Late-War rules. They have the best morale in the game, even refusing to listen to the player when they fail their company morale check. At points where the even the Waffen-SS and those crazy Nazi kids in the Hitler Youth would decide they'd had enough, the Imperial Japanese Army's soldiers fought on, often literally until every last man on their side was dead. They were trained and taught to fight ferociously and die gloriously for Empire and Emperor, and they were ''extremely'' good at both. Their vehicles are somewhat lacking- an understatement, given how machine gun fire proved capable of breaching Japanese tank armor- but they make up for this by taking the steel that would have otherwise been used on those tanks and turning it into the enormous balls that are standard issue for their soldiers. No surrender. NO SURRENDER. Their average infantryman has a rifle and a banner that gives him a hard-on for death, and their anti-tank weapon of choice is a [[Awesome|bomb-thrower who would put the Taliban to shame.]] If you were looking for a sane game of Flames of War, look elsewhere. You don't play Japan for their competitiveness or survivability, you do it because every single unit is foaming at the mouth to charge the enemy and start murdering. [[Emperor|For the Emperor!]]

Tactics for V4: [[japan flames of war]]

===Finland===

One of Germany's best allies until circumstances forced them to switch sides late in the war, Finland was driven into German arms by Stalin's shameless (and Pyrrhic) war of aggression that robbed them of a good chunk of territory in the Winter War. They joined in the invasion of the USSR in the hopes of getting revenge, and fielded a professional army that benefited considerably from the use of modern German equipment. They made use of captured Soviet hardware as well, and slapped swastikas on every vehicle to ensure that the Stukas didn't come after them.

Despite lacking the equipment and vehicles of the other powers, the Finns are still a force to be reckoned with. They get a huge advantage in Winter and Forest terrain (which the Soviets learned about the hard way in the Winter War), and are usually rated Veteran, even in the early war. They field a mix of Soviet, German, and WW1-era equipment. You need balls to play these guys, as you can't rely on numbers or special rules to win the day. Their armored company is considered one of the most challenging lists to play.

The Finns were on the Axis side until a ways into the Late War period, when they would appear fighting the Germans if you were to field them.

{{Finish Forces in Flames of War}}

===Hungary===

<s>The poor man's Germans</s> Very similar to Germany, but with unique organization and equipment. Have useful special rules that provide advantages in both attack and defense, and can take a lot of German equipment in the Late War. Their most famous vehicle is the kawaii-as-fuck Zrínyi assault gun.

{{Hungarian Forces in Flames of War}}

===Romania===

Mainly focused on infantry and cavalry, with hilariously underpowered vehicle options. They get random motivation like Italy, and can also take a lot of allied equipment. They are unique because they switch sides after being conquered by the Soviets in Late War, so Romanian players can choose between German or Soviet allies, while quietly wondering why they're using Early War equipment in 1944. Historically it is because, while there was an assistance agreement in place, [[That Guy|Germany handed them their cast-offs and captured Russian materiel while keeping the updated stuff for their own units]]. The Romanians, while having decent technology lacked the heavy industry to equip their entire army on their own, so they were actually relatively thankful for said cast-offs. Later on after they switched sides, the Reds didn't trust the lukewarm enthusiasm the Romanian king showed for [[Communism]], so they didn't want to heavily arm someone they already knew they would eventually have to deal with. Which happened two years later: the king was booted out, Romania became a full satellite of the USSR and (ironically) at that point received the same better materiel other USSR allies did.

{{Romanian Forces in Flames of War}}

===Poland===

The poor Poles have it even worse than the Finns. They have okay equipment, especially for Early War, but you will find yourself stretching to get your units to fit all the roles you need. You can try to impersonate the Soviets with masses of weak infantry, but their real advantage is in the great balance of their units. They can hold their own in assaults, and tend to excel in defense. In Late War, they have the legendary Armia Krajowa, which beats the Finnish armour company for the position of hardest list in the game. It's literally a bunch of armed civilians with whatever German stuff they could get their hands on, and it would come as no surprise if Sun Tzu himself couldn't win a game with them.

{{Polish Forces in Flames of War}}

NOTE: The game balance in this game is actually really good. There is no "best army," just strong lists. Lists are usually strong against one type of list and are countered by others. Eg: Commandos are an elite British list that are awesome against raping shit in melee, and are fearless veterans, but they are expensive and you can't take many of them, meaning you get absolutely raped by horde tank lists like the Russian lists.

==Homebrews==
[[Media:Abyssinia.pdf|"It Will Be You Tomorrow", covering the Second Italo-Abyssinian War in 1935-36.]]

[[Media:Them.pdf|"The Army of Man", a fun book that lets you pit your Flames of War army against some 1950s B-movie monsters.]]

Supposedly there is also a Falklands War homebrew in the works.

There is also a [[ Girl und Panzer ]] homebrew which is seriously in need of a new revision, which is designed to be it's own separate game. However, depending whether you are a truly pure-blood historical gamer or if you don't mind [[anime|animu]] this could be extra heretical.

There is a project to update V3 with some of the good rules changes from V4, and fix some of the jank (arty park). [https://jovianarchiver.com/v3-redone/ Link here.]

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Pacific.jpg|soviets actually have veterans now, which makes this one all the better. They also announced a release for the Pacific Campaign, which means this will all become true in 2016 March.
Image:Usarmoredrifles.jpg
Image:Germanartillery.jpg|what it's like using German tube artillery in-game.
Image:Zrinyi.jpg|damn those hungarians and their pancakes of death!
</gallery>

== External Links ==

* [http://www.flamesofwar.com/ Flames of War homepage]

[[Category: Wargames]]
[[Category:Battlefront Miniatures]]

Flames of War

2022-05-03T01:41:14Z

2A0A:8C43:0:0:0:0:0:6F: /* Soviet Union */

{{Game Infobox
|name = Flames of War
|picture = [[File:FOW-Logo-Color2.jpg]]
|type = [[Miniatures]]-based [[Wargame]]
|system =
|playno =
|time =
|publisher = Battlefront Miniatures
|authors =
|year = 2002
|books = Flames of War: Fourth Edition and Flames of War: Forces
}}

'''Flames of War''' is a tabletop [[wargame]], first released in 2002, by the New Zealand company Battlefront Miniatures. It recreates the fighting in the European and North African theaters of World War II using 15mm scale models. There are also expansions that cover Vietnam, World War 1, and the Arab-Israeli Wars. Play simulates combat between company-level forces, with each stand of infantry typically representing half a squad. In the mid-2010s its popularity outside its homeland has skyrocketed, and it is moving rapidly on its way to joining <s>[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]</s> (Lol dead), [[Warhammer 40,000]] and [[Warmachine]]/[[Hordes]] as one of THE big-name tabletop wargames. Also like those games, it is quickly developing a strong community of whiny, sophist 'YouTube War Expert' players. Still, most players are quite friendly and welcoming to newbs, newbies, noobs, and nubs. Even if they often make typos. Also developed by a team of mainly very nice gentlemen.

Battlefront Miniatures itself has become fairly popular in comparison to [[Games Workshop|other well-known companies]], as they have given their blessing for players to use other company's products in games, even allowing them in tournaments; and for making many of the army lists available on their website. Also the prices from the company aren't that high ($52.00 USD is pretty good for 2 Rifle platoons, a weapons platoon, a Company command squad and a few bazooka teams), and in addition to that, most of the stuff you own can be mix-and-match as those infantry platoons you own can be used with your armoured companies and vice versa. Also, as infantry don't really change much, and since at 15mm it's hard to tell what they are equipped with anyway, you can use your infantry platoon/company throughout all war periods, and can proxy them as mechanized (provided you have the transports), paratroopers, ect. with ease.

==Rules Basics==
If you've played any other tabletop wargame, you should be halfway to knowing the rules for FoW, its just a matter of the squirrelly parts. Some of the major points are:
*Unit ratings- Units are rated on two stats, their motivation and their training. Ratings are typically applied across and entire army list.
**Motivation- How happy and ready for fight your units are. Keeps troops in the battle and helps them keep moving and fighting. There are three ratings (barring special snowflake rules): Reluctant, Confident and Fearless. Note that Fearless is not as good as it is in 40k, although it's still pretty damn great as it stops your platoons and companies pissing out at a moment's notice.
**Training- How skilled at combat your troops are. Keeps them alive and helps with things like moving through rough terrain, digging in, hitting the enemy in Close Combat, and a whole range of other things. Gives protection against being shot at (because unlike other contemporary games, the likelihood of a unit being hit is due to '''their''' skill, not the unit shooting at them). There are three flavours of training: [[Imperial Guard|Conscript]], Trained and Veteran.
*Motivation tests- There are numerous situations when Motivation checks are required. Think of them like Leadership tests in 40k. The most common check is when a platoon is below half strength, it has to take a motivation test or be removed from the game. Following from this, when your entire army is below half strength, your Company Commander has to take a motivation test or (if he's copped it) you lose the game automatically <strike>as your troops run away like little girls </strike> bravely tactically retreat to fight for Freedom and hamburgers another day.
*Shooting- one rule that confuses a lot of new players is that when one unit shoots at another, the chance to hit is based on the target's skill rating, not the firer's. The reasoning being that any moron with one arm and two brain cells to rub together can spray machine-gun fire at people, and what really counts is how good the people being shot at are at taking cover and not bunching up like a flock of sheep.

==List Building==
Note that all lists are based off historically based equipment at a specific point of time, even if that equipment was unique or incredibly rare.

Army lists come in three different flavours: Infantry, Mechanized, and Armoured. Each "codex" will normally feature multiple nations, and each nation will usually have different organization charts that let them take any of the three flavours of list. The differences between organization charts is that they dictate the base requirements of a list, the motivation and skill level of your list, and the "weapon" and "support" options your list can take.

*The HQ: Your force will always have an HQ. For infantry lists, this will be a stand of a Company Commander (who allows units he joins to reroll motivation), a 2nd in Command (honestly not that good, although depending on your nation he gives bonuses to your troops. The main use for him is that he can "appoint" a platoon commander if their commander died previously.) Some HQs let you bring along extra goodies, like Bazookas and Mortars that can be attached to platoons. Mech HQs are the same as Infantry HQs but will come with transports (and unlike 40k, transports can be a real disadvantage, although more recent rules have removed a lot of their downsides.) Tank Commanders will be exactly that: Tanks. Usually one or two tanks make up the HQ, and the tanks can vary a lot. For some Russian lists, you don't actually take one, you just nominate a tank from one of your platoons (actually called companies but they function as platoons) to be your Company Commander. '''HQS usually DO NOT count as platoons for Company strength.''' They function like 40k independent characters do. If I have 3 infantry platoons and a company commander, I count as only having 3 infantry platoons for my force strength.

*The Combat Platoons, AKA Troops choice: Same with 40k, each organization chart will have a minimum requirement of a platoon or two with the option to have more. Infantry lists will have infantry platoons as their combat platoon requirement, mech will have mechanized platoons, etc. Here you choose the size of the platoon (for example, an American Rifle platoon from a Mid War Africa army will be able to have either 7 stands or 10 stands in their platoons) as well as any additional stuff like bazookas, machines guns, mortars, ect.

*The Weapons Support: Usually encompasses stuff like mortar platoons, engineer platoons, and other platoons that come from a battalion level. This would be historically the assets that the division gave to the battalion, such as a machine gun company, that the battalion spreads out through the other battle companies. For example, A Panzer Battalion would have a Company of Engineers attached to it. Therefore, a weapons support option for a Panzer Company would be one or two platoons of Engineers. In a 40k codex, this stuff would come right after the Troops entries in each organization chart, or comes from another organization chart's army list.

*The Divisional/Corp support: This is elements that exist at a Divisional level. Historically, it would be things like air support that is allocated to a division/corps. In game, these options usually give your army some much needed diversity/support. Unlike the troops, HQ and weapon options, these guys aren't restricted to a singular organization chart. This means that multiple lists have access to them. This stuff includes the aforementioned air support, artillery, self propelled guns, and specialist troops. Also the Motivation and Skill ratings of Divisional support can differ from your Troops and Weapon support options. Note that air support is generally "invisible" except that it can either launch a "bombardment" in a similar way to artillery or it can be used to drive off enemy air support. It does not count as a platoon.

However it should be noted FOW tends to allow and even promote ahistorical parings and combinations. This includes allowing indirect artillery to be present on board and act in an anti tank role as well as artillery function. Quantities tend to be over exaggerated. For example a company of infantry can have access to tank or artillery resources that would usually be assigned to a battalion or brigade in real life. There is also no limitations in terms of forces assigned so your company may end up being supported by units from multiple other formations regardless of historical practice.

===Sample Army===

Let's say you want to build a force from the Army book "North Afrika." This book comes from the Mid War period, which means you can only use it against other Mid War lists. You would then pick a nation, in this case we will pick Americans. You then go to the American section of the book to see which organization charts you can pick from. Here you can choose from an Armoured company which uses Sherman Tanks, a Mechanized Company in armored half-tracks, an Infantry company, or a paratrooper company. Here we choose the Infantry company. This means that you must now adhere to the organization chart that comes with this company. Choosing the Infantry company means that your force is Confident trained (it will say this in the book)

Next, you pick the platoons for your force, starting with the required ones. You must take a Company Commander with a 2iC, and two infantry platoons. An average game of Flames of War is about 1500 points, so this is what you will plan for. You look at the first entry, and the Company HQ has the option to take two bazooka teams with him for a few extra points. The extra firepower seems useful, so you take him and the two bazooka teams. You now look at the combat platoon requirements. You MUST take Two Infantry platoons, with the option to take a 3rd. Now you look at the Infantry platoon entry. There is option of taking the infantry platoon with either 6 rifle teams plus a platoon command rifle team, or 9 rifle teams plus the command rifle team. You also have the option for a bazooka. Since you will want a solid foundation for your army list (and so you can get your platoon count up), you take the two minimum infantry platoons PLUS the extra platoon, all at full strength. You also take the optional bazooka teams for added anti-tank capability.

Next you look at the optional weapon platoon options. The organization chart says that you can take one mortar squad, one mechanized platoon, one truck platoon, one machine gun platoon, one weapons platoon (this platoon comprises of light machine guns and light mortars), 2 anti tank platoons (armed with light anti tank guns, although one can be medium according to the entry) and 1 engineer platoon. Since you will want your list to have a barrage template for pinning down the enemy or launching smoke, you choose the mortar platoon. After looking at its entry you see that you can either take 4 mortar teams plus a command rifle team and an observer rifle team, or 6 mortar teams plus a command rifle team and an observer rifle team. It has the option to take two bazooka teams and a car for the observer. However, since the mortar platoon would sit further back, you pass on the bazooka teams, which are only effective at close range. You also pass on the car as the observer needs to be stealthy and hidden, which is harder to do with a jeep or car.

Lastly, you look at the Divisional Support options. You can choose Air support, Artillery support, another medium anti-tank gun platoon, a tank hunter platoon, a Sherman platoon, a paratrooper platoon, an anti-aircraft platoon, a mobile anti-aircraft platoon, an engineer platoon, and a scout platoon. You choose the artillery platoon since the Americans get nifty special rules that boost the effectiveness of their artillery. You then pick limited (which is actually the medium option) air support to drive off enemy air support. Noticing that your army is lacking anti-tank, you take a Sherman Tank platoon to add a punch to your force, and a unit of medium anti-tank guns, which you could have also taken in the Weapon platoons section.

Doing this, your force consists of:
*HQ with 2 bazooka teams
*3 x infantry platoon with 9 rifle teams, a platoon command rifle team, and a bazooka team
*A mortar squad with 6 mortar teams, a platoon command team and an observer
*A tank platoon of 5 Sherman tanks
*An anti tank platoon of 3 57mm anti tank guns with a platoon commander
*An artillery platoon with 4 105mm gun teams with a staff team, platoon command team and observer team
*Limited air support

You have 7 platoons, 3 of which are combat, 1 of which is a weapons platoon, and 3 of which are divisional support platoons.

==Organization==
Rather than try to balance, say, the German army that invaded Poland in 1939 against the Russian army that rolled into Berlin 6 years later, the game is divided into three periods:

In this respect, it is significantly more intelligently designed than its retarded cousin, which shall remain [[Bolt Action|nameless]]. It is still lacking in historical accuracy, and was slowly becoming subsumed by the same special rule bloat that affected most popular miniature wargames. Thankfully, 4th Edition took a flammenwerfer to those, though 3rd was still a better game.

==World War Two==

===Early War===
Covers everything from the beginning of the war until the end of 1941. Available forces are Germany, Great Britain, the USSR, Imperial Japan, Finland, Italy, France and Poland. Typically most forces are less experienced and so there are very few forces (outside of the Germans, Finns and Japanese) who have "veteran" units. It's actually one of the most "balanced" periods of the game, and so is actually fairly popular (except among Americans for some reason). While most of the overall game is balanced, and each period is balanced, in this period every tank has a reasonable chance against other tanks (unless you're those British, Soviet or French cunts who take Matildas, T-34's or B1s- but then you'll have 4 models on the table, TOPS, and they can be easily beaten in assault by engineers). When the Germans get the later Panzer IIIs they can easily take out the allied heavy/infantry tanks, if you're willing to pay a boatload of points for a glass cannon.

===Mid War===
Covers 1942-1943. Poland becomes a British force while America comes in. Probably the most balanced period, with the only real cheese being the [[RAGE|T-34 spam]] that the Russians can use, as amusingly enough they can almost take more tanks than you can get bases of each nation's commando/paratrooper equivalent. Lack a lot of flexibility due to the rules for Russian tanks.

===Late War===
Covers 1944 to the end of the war in May 1945. Includes most of the 'Iconic' battles of the war, like the invasion of Normandy, capture of Paris, Operation Market Garden and the Battle of the Bulge. The Soviets destroyed what was left of the Germans' ability to actually stop them in summer 1944, and finished the job in 1945, so there's plenty going on in the Eastern Front as well, from Operation Bagration in June 1944 to the Battle of Berlin in April-May 1945.

Lots of hilarious units like the Kingtiger and Panthers, both of which are too complicated and expensive for their own good, and virtually infinite opportunities to field last-ditch efforts to prevent the inevitable as the Allied powers advanced into Germany, like the Hitlerjugend child soldiers and the Volkssturm militia.

The large number of special rules makes this period somewhat more "gamey" than mid-war.

==Vietnam==
What started off as a few army lists published in wargames illustrated evolved into the newest period expansion, with the current book being 'Nam. NVA list is pretty standard guerrilla stuff but there is an option to run an ironclad battalion (tank battalion) with soviet make tanks and apcs, despite these kind of forces being extremely rare and only really utilized once the Americans withdrew combat forces. South Vietnam, on the other hand, had its supply of parts and new hardware cut off after the US withdrew, meaning the ROV armed forces rapidly lost all mechanized capability after 1973.

The American/ANZAC/South Vietnamese lists have access to helicopters as well as tank, mechanized cavalry, and infantry lists. Basic rules also change somewhat, and it seems like company-level combat doesn't really work that well for this conflict. Very few players, and the original boxes for units have become quite hard to come by.

==Arab-Israeli Wars==
Currently focused on tank battles during the Six Day War in 1967, which pits upgraded WW2 American tanks versus upgraded WW2 Soviet tanks as well as more modern vehicles such as M48 pattons, centurions, and T-54/55s. No helicopters here, but it does have rules for jet aircraft and night-vision equipment. A lot of people like it because it just takes some tan paint to turn a Late War or Vietnam unit into one that fits this setting. The rule set was first released in 2013 as a wargames illustrated supplement called Fate of a Nation, with tank company lists for Israel, United Arab Republic (Egypt), and Jordan. In late 2014/early 2015 it was re-released as a theater book with revised points and additional lists for Israeli Sayaret (Recon) and paratroopers, and UAR and Jordanian infantry fortified infantry companies. It has been expanded to include the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Plays like a mix of Team Yankee and FoW; with the aircraft and range of Team Yankee but only a little more lethality than your granddaddy's Shermans.

==Great War==
Currently only one book, focused on the final offensives of 1918. Army lists exist for the British Empire, France+Belgium, the United States and Germany, with sides having access to the first tanks, better known as "landships" back then. August 2014 saw the release of German and British army boxes, supporting kits, and terrain, including craters and a trench-line system. August 2015 saw a full book with German, British, French, and American lists as well as new missions. The most recent edition, 'Great War', makes stat updates in the veins of V4 Flames of War and gives you even more ways to send young men to die aimlessly on the battlefields of Europe.

Unsurprisingly, this is the 'safest' game by Battlefront. You may have tanks that literally delete anything else from the table, but the strategy of hiding in trenches and depressing charges into machinegun fire defines the period, and the game as a whole. It is also worthy of note that machine guns have the ability to delete certain tanks, and artillery is far less important than in regular Flames.

==[[Team Yankee]]==
After the eponymous book by Harold Coyle, the newest addition to BF's expanding list of non-WWII theaters, focusing on a hypothetical WWIII with the Warsaw pact vs. NATO in the Fulda Gap and the North German Plains. On the NATO side are the Americans, British, West Germans, French, Canadians, Dutch and the ANZACs. On the Warsaw Pact are the Soviets, East Germans, Poles and Czechs.

The 2019 book Oil War saw an expansion of the war into the Middle East, featuring lists for Irael, Iraq, Iran, and Syria. This was also the first book to slowly but surely advance the timeline of Team Yankee to cover the late eighties and early nineties, allowing for more modern (and lethal) kit to be introduced.

Team Yankee uses a ruleset based upon standard Flames of War, but is different in many details and noted to be quicker and more violent than standard Flames of War. No word yet if that means that one side nukes the other if they lose, something that NATO actually was planning to do.

THE most popular offshoot of Flames of War, but still a smaller game than its daddy (just ignore the fact that it has the largest presence on 1d4chan). [[Team Yankee|Check it out here.]]

==Armies==
{{editwar}}
FoW supports most of the major military powers that fought in WWII. The following is an absolutely completely unbiased list of those that are currently available.

===United States of America===

They may have shown up two years late, but once in the war the Americans brought with them one of the largest war industries ever heard of, and by 1945 fielded one of the largest and most powerful armed forces ever seen in history. Built around vehicle spam, heavy artillery, and a seemingly endless supply of bazookas. Technology like stabilizers, AOPs, and semiautomatic rifles make your troops great at maneuver warfare and help make up for generally average or poor hard stats.

In Midwar, the US has some of the most powerful technology, with some of the heaviest armed and armored medium tanks of the era, massive amounts of bazookas (which are waaay scarier in this era), and capable artillery. What's the tradeoff? You have some rather poor crew stats that limit your flexibility and give you discounts on your troops, so they are still relatively spammable, and your special rules still make your troops decently flexible despite that. Even though your options aren't huge, you have a tool for every job and the US represents a capable force.

Late War depicts the Americans as a force to be reckoned with due to their probably the most powerful artillery in game, higher training, and insane list building flexibility. These capabilities help you overcome your glaring weaknesses: you don't have access to the level of armor and penetration that the Soviets, Germans, and British can bring in numbers. This doesn't mean that your units are much cheaper though: the top level M4 mediums are similar in price to Soviet heavies and SS panthers. This means that you have to play a bit smarter, using smoke, artillery, terrain, and your special rules and training to out maneuver and out think your freedom-hating adversaries. Played well, it's a beautiful sight to see, but you will be punished quite readily if you lose your luck or wits.

{{US Forces in Flames of War}}

===Great Britain===

The old saying goes that the British Army loses every battle in every war except the last one, and Britannia certainly got the last laugh in the 1940s. Jollie olde Anglaterre and her Commonwealth mainly field bland looking masses of brown and drab paint. They are good all-rounders, and are especially good in assaults. One of their biggest draws is that Great Britain isn't just England- you can also field Scots, Irish, Indians, Canadians, Nepalese, Australians, New Zealanders, and Maoris. The British are tough in defense and <s>favour drowning their enemies in dead colonials</s> tend to have a small, elite core supplemented by special forces. They are best in defense however, due to their special characters and special rules that favour a mainly static war (unless you play an armour company, in which case the British rules are made to let you [[Orks|charge in guns blazing]]).

{{British Forces in Flames of War}}

===Soviet Union===

The only army a true fa/tg/uy should ever play. Brutal fucks that get a pass because they helped the other allies shove the Fascists back into schnitzelland, proving that communists have [[Meme|speech 100.]] The Red Army also taught the entire world that no technological advantage beats '''A LOT''' of men equipped with simple, sturdy and easily mass-producible tools of war... as long as you are willing to take and replace '''A LOT''' of losses in the process (which they were). The Red Army's units are a mess of contradictions, with decent hard stats but some significant weaknesses that allow you to field them in large numbers. The Soviets suffer from a near complete lack of artillery smoke, a -1 to hit if they move on nearly all their vehicles, a lack of careful units, and sparse infantry AT. What this means is you can field a massive number of units that, when used together right, can mitigate their weaknesses and do a lot of damage. When used wrong, however, they tend to die in droves. To give you an idea of how much you're going to be outnumbering your opponent, most other armies are a 'Company' made up of 'Platoons'. [[Tyranid|The average Soviet army fields 'Battalions' made up of 'Companies']]. Chances are you will fill up your side of the table with your forces, so I hope you enjoy assembling and painting those little basta- {{BLAM|'''*BLAM!*''' fearless defenders of the motherland}}. Despite this, the Late War Soviets also bring a good amount of highly skilled and capable units, helping mitigate the weaknesses of their regular brethren. That or you could just spam T-34 and T-70s like a mad lad and [[Just as planned|take so many throwaway tanks that the amount of burning wreckage they make is an acceptable replacement for the smoke you don't have.]] Either way is fun.

The Polish People's Army seen in Team Yankee originated in the Soviet Union in 1943, so there is the possibility to field them using selections from the Mid-to-Late-War Soviet lineup as well, like the T-34/85.

{{Soviet Forces in Flames of War}}

===Germany===

The Nazi state might have produced some of the most horrific evil ever seen or done by man, but they also forged a war machine with enough discipline, training, equipment and fighting spirit to seize and hold virtually all of Europe and take on most of the world, basically by themselves, for over five years. German forces feature the Heer (Army), Luftwaffe (Air Force), Kriegsmarine (Navy), the Waffen-SS (Armed-Protection Squadron), the Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth) and the Volkssturm (People's Assault). Their quality ranges from extremely good to extremely bad, with the latter becoming more common in Late War, when the German military was rapidly running out of guns, bullets, fuel, vehicles, time and ability to train new troops, etc. and were generally just throwing together whatever they could. The stern discipline and tenacity of the Heer is plenty visible, as is the skill and daring of the Luftwaffe's airborne troops and the extreme Villainous Valor of the Waffen-SS. The Volkssturm, a pitiful last-ditch effort to stave off defeat, is just a bullet-sponge militia, and the mobilized boys of the Hitler Youth have been soaked in Nazi propaganda for years and just don't know any better.

German forces were driven to extraordinary lengths by Hitler's decision to try taking on basically the entire world at once, but the upside is that snazzy German engineering; there are literally over a hundred different vehicles to choose from. Most German units will win one-on-one with their Allied counterparts, but will usually be outnumbered by a noticeable margin. Also, there's several lists that lets you field an army of [[Awesome|nothing but Tiger or Konigstiger tanks]], so that's cool too. Germans have great tactical flexibility and firepower but don't stand up to attrition very well. Their special rules are very newbie-friendly as they pretty much ignore the rules about platoon command teams, since if one dies, they can "appoint" a new platoon commander without having to have the Company commander or second in command there.

{{German Forces in Flames of War}}

===France===

If you enjoy sitting back and dragging out battles, France is the country for you. Usually they field a static army of soldiers with low morale, able to blow the shit out of the enemy with their special snowflake artillery. Enjoy laughing in the face of your opponent as you pore over complicated tables every time you shoot something. In addition, you can also take giant indestructible tanks, or get your Fearless Trained African soldiers to do your dirty work for you. Their special rules '''REALLY''' favour the defense, as both infantry and armour alike are unsuited to attacking. One special rule allows your servant to move your objectives closer to you, and another gives all colonial troops an advantage in assaults so you can sit back in your trench and enjoy your wine and cheese.

Those collaborating Vichy surrender monkeys don't really appear, and for that matter, neither do Free French, either. The former was relegated to a support role at best and the latter had no ability to produce updated French-designed and made uniforms or equipment and thus pretty much would be American units on the tabletop anyway.

{{French Forces in Flames of War}}

===Italy===

Ah, yes- the Italians. The ally Germany asked for but wound up wishing they'd never gotten. Italy shares the massive numbers of weak troops with the Soviets, but lacks the supporting equipment. Don't expect any decent tanks unless you take German allies (Semoventi are one of the few Mid-war SPG Artillery units the Axis can take as a core Formation, and just happen to not be subject to the whims of the Dice Gods when determining just how bad they could be, cuz Italian Arty are Veterans). The only tanks in the entire war that were definitely worse were those fielded by Japan (and theirs were basically made of paper). The Italians could fight extremely well when they wanted to, but the Italian people as a whole were not as fired up for an all-out war as Mussolini wanted them to be, and so the motivation and skill of Italian forces varied widely. Hence the special rules that give random motivation/skill ratings to their platoons, which can lead to hilarious lists where you either have elite hordes of Fearless Veterans or untrained masses of Reluctant Conscripts. Depending on the table you roll on, it's usually geared towards Confident Trained or Reluctant Trained. Still, absolutely hilarious for both sides when rolling.

{{Italian Forces in Flames of War}}

===Japan===

<s>Dishonorably only available in Early War for now.</s> New Pacific Book 'Banzai' has came out. Now you can field Japanese army for Pacific supplement rules, and also for good ol' Late-War rules. They have the best morale in the game, even refusing to listen to the player when they fail their company morale check. At points where the even the Waffen-SS and those crazy Nazi kids in the Hitler Youth would decide they'd had enough, the Imperial Japanese Army's soldiers fought on, often literally until every last man on their side was dead. They were trained and taught to fight ferociously and die gloriously for Empire and Emperor, and they were ''extremely'' good at both. Their vehicles are somewhat lacking- an understatement, given how machine gun fire proved capable of breaching Japanese tank armor- but they make up for this by taking the steel that would have otherwise been used on those tanks and turning it into the enormous balls that are standard issue for their soldiers. No surrender. NO SURRENDER. Their average infantryman has a rifle and a banner that gives him a hard-on for death, and their anti-tank weapon of choice is a [[Awesome|bomb-thrower who would put the Taliban to shame.]] If you were looking for a sane game of Flames of War, look elsewhere. You don't play Japan for their competitiveness or survivability, you do it because every single unit is foaming at the mouth to charge the enemy and start murdering. [[Emperor|For the Emperor!]]

Tactics for V4: [[japan flames of war]]

===Finland===

One of Germany's best allies until circumstances forced them to switch sides late in the war, Finland was driven into German arms by Stalin's shameless (and Pyrrhic) war of aggression that robbed them of a good chunk of territory in the Winter War. They joined in the invasion of the USSR in the hopes of getting revenge, and fielded a professional army that benefited considerably from the use of modern German equipment. They made use of captured Soviet hardware as well, and slapped swastikas on every vehicle to ensure that the Stukas didn't come after them.

Despite lacking the equipment and vehicles of the other powers, the Finns are still a force to be reckoned with. They get a huge advantage in Winter and Forest terrain (which the Soviets learned about the hard way in the Winter War), and are usually rated Veteran, even in the early war. They field a mix of Soviet, German, and WW1-era equipment. You need balls to play these guys, as you can't rely on numbers or special rules to win the day. Their armored company is considered one of the most challenging lists to play.

The Finns were on the Axis side until a ways into the Late War period, when they would appear fighting the Germans if you were to field them.

{{Finish Forces in Flames of War}}

===Hungary===

<s>The poor man's Germans</s> Very similar to Germany, but with unique organization and equipment. Have useful special rules that provide advantages in both attack and defense, and can take a lot of German equipment in the Late War. Their most famous vehicle is the kawaii-as-fuck Zrínyi assault gun.

{{Hungarian Forces in Flames of War}}

===Romania===

Mainly focused on infantry and cavalry, with hilariously underpowered vehicle options. They get random motivation like Italy, and can also take a lot of allied equipment. They are unique because they switch sides after being conquered by the Soviets in Late War, so Romanian players can choose between German or Soviet allies, while quietly wondering why they're using Early War equipment in 1944. Historically it is because, while there was an assistance agreement in place, [[That Guy|Germany handed them their cast-offs and captured Russian materiel while keeping the updated stuff for their own units]]. The Romanians, while having decent technology lacked the heavy industry to equip their entire army on their own, so they were actually relatively thankful for said cast-offs. Later on after they switched sides, the Reds didn't trust the lukewarm enthusiasm the Romanian king showed for [[Communism]], so they didn't want to heavily arm someone they already knew they would eventually have to deal with. Which happened two years later: the king was booted out, Romania became a full satellite of the USSR and (ironically) at that point received the same better materiel other USSR allies did.

{{Romanian Forces in Flames of War}}

===Poland===

The poor Poles have it even worse than the Finns. They have okay equipment, especially for Early War, but you will find yourself stretching to get your units to fit all the roles you need. You can try to impersonate the Soviets with masses of weak infantry, but their real advantage is in the great balance of their units. They can hold their own in assaults, and tend to excel in defense. In Late War, they have the legendary Armia Krajowa, which beats the Finnish armour company for the position of hardest list in the game. It's literally a bunch of armed civilians with whatever German stuff they could get their hands on, and it would come as no surprise if Sun Tzu himself couldn't win a game with them.

{{Polish Forces in Flames of War}}

NOTE: The game balance in this game is actually really good. There is no "best army," just strong lists. Lists are usually strong against one type of list and are countered by others. Eg: Commandos are an elite British list that are awesome against raping shit in melee, and are fearless veterans, but they are expensive and you can't take many of them, meaning you get absolutely raped by horde tank lists like the Russian lists.

==Homebrews==
[[Media:Abyssinia.pdf|"It Will Be You Tomorrow", covering the Second Italo-Abyssinian War in 1935-36.]]

[[Media:Them.pdf|"The Army of Man", a fun book that lets you pit your Flames of War army against some 1950s B-movie monsters.]]

Supposedly there is also a Falklands War homebrew in the works.

There is also a [[ Girl und Panzer ]] homebrew which is seriously in need of a new revision, which is designed to be it's own separate game. However, depending whether you are a truly pure-blood historical gamer or if you don't mind [[anime|animu]] this could be extra heretical.

There is a project to update V3 with some of the good rules changes from V4, and fix some of the jank (arty park). [https://jovianarchiver.com/v3-redone/ Link here.]

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Pacific.jpg|soviets actually have veterans now, which makes this one all the better. They also announced a release for the Pacific Campaign, which means this will all become true in 2016 March.
Image:Usarmoredrifles.jpg
Image:Germanartillery.jpg|what it's like using German tube artillery in-game.
Image:Zrinyi.jpg|damn those hungarians and their pancakes of death!
</gallery>

== External Links ==

* [http://www.flamesofwar.com/ Flames of War homepage]

[[Category: Wargames]]
[[Category:Battlefront Miniatures]]

Flames of War

2022-05-03T01:37:20Z

2A0A:8C43:0:0:0:0:0:6F: /* Soviet Union */ trying for a compromise to end the edit war on the assumption the specific terminology is the cause of irritation, feel free to revert if this doesn't work for you

{{Game Infobox
|name = Flames of War
|picture = [[File:FOW-Logo-Color2.jpg]]
|type = [[Miniatures]]-based [[Wargame]]
|system =
|playno =
|time =
|publisher = Battlefront Miniatures
|authors =
|year = 2002
|books = Flames of War: Fourth Edition and Flames of War: Forces
}}

'''Flames of War''' is a tabletop [[wargame]], first released in 2002, by the New Zealand company Battlefront Miniatures. It recreates the fighting in the European and North African theaters of World War II using 15mm scale models. There are also expansions that cover Vietnam, World War 1, and the Arab-Israeli Wars. Play simulates combat between company-level forces, with each stand of infantry typically representing half a squad. In the mid-2010s its popularity outside its homeland has skyrocketed, and it is moving rapidly on its way to joining <s>[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]</s> (Lol dead), [[Warhammer 40,000]] and [[Warmachine]]/[[Hordes]] as one of THE big-name tabletop wargames. Also like those games, it is quickly developing a strong community of whiny, sophist 'YouTube War Expert' players. Still, most players are quite friendly and welcoming to newbs, newbies, noobs, and nubs. Even if they often make typos. Also developed by a team of mainly very nice gentlemen.

Battlefront Miniatures itself has become fairly popular in comparison to [[Games Workshop|other well-known companies]], as they have given their blessing for players to use other company's products in games, even allowing them in tournaments; and for making many of the army lists available on their website. Also the prices from the company aren't that high ($52.00 USD is pretty good for 2 Rifle platoons, a weapons platoon, a Company command squad and a few bazooka teams), and in addition to that, most of the stuff you own can be mix-and-match as those infantry platoons you own can be used with your armoured companies and vice versa. Also, as infantry don't really change much, and since at 15mm it's hard to tell what they are equipped with anyway, you can use your infantry platoon/company throughout all war periods, and can proxy them as mechanized (provided you have the transports), paratroopers, ect. with ease.

==Rules Basics==
If you've played any other tabletop wargame, you should be halfway to knowing the rules for FoW, its just a matter of the squirrelly parts. Some of the major points are:
*Unit ratings- Units are rated on two stats, their motivation and their training. Ratings are typically applied across and entire army list.
**Motivation- How happy and ready for fight your units are. Keeps troops in the battle and helps them keep moving and fighting. There are three ratings (barring special snowflake rules): Reluctant, Confident and Fearless. Note that Fearless is not as good as it is in 40k, although it's still pretty damn great as it stops your platoons and companies pissing out at a moment's notice.
**Training- How skilled at combat your troops are. Keeps them alive and helps with things like moving through rough terrain, digging in, hitting the enemy in Close Combat, and a whole range of other things. Gives protection against being shot at (because unlike other contemporary games, the likelihood of a unit being hit is due to '''their''' skill, not the unit shooting at them). There are three flavours of training: [[Imperial Guard|Conscript]], Trained and Veteran.
*Motivation tests- There are numerous situations when Motivation checks are required. Think of them like Leadership tests in 40k. The most common check is when a platoon is below half strength, it has to take a motivation test or be removed from the game. Following from this, when your entire army is below half strength, your Company Commander has to take a motivation test or (if he's copped it) you lose the game automatically <strike>as your troops run away like little girls </strike> bravely tactically retreat to fight for Freedom and hamburgers another day.
*Shooting- one rule that confuses a lot of new players is that when one unit shoots at another, the chance to hit is based on the target's skill rating, not the firer's. The reasoning being that any moron with one arm and two brain cells to rub together can spray machine-gun fire at people, and what really counts is how good the people being shot at are at taking cover and not bunching up like a flock of sheep.

==List Building==
Note that all lists are based off historically based equipment at a specific point of time, even if that equipment was unique or incredibly rare.

Army lists come in three different flavours: Infantry, Mechanized, and Armoured. Each "codex" will normally feature multiple nations, and each nation will usually have different organization charts that let them take any of the three flavours of list. The differences between organization charts is that they dictate the base requirements of a list, the motivation and skill level of your list, and the "weapon" and "support" options your list can take.

*The HQ: Your force will always have an HQ. For infantry lists, this will be a stand of a Company Commander (who allows units he joins to reroll motivation), a 2nd in Command (honestly not that good, although depending on your nation he gives bonuses to your troops. The main use for him is that he can "appoint" a platoon commander if their commander died previously.) Some HQs let you bring along extra goodies, like Bazookas and Mortars that can be attached to platoons. Mech HQs are the same as Infantry HQs but will come with transports (and unlike 40k, transports can be a real disadvantage, although more recent rules have removed a lot of their downsides.) Tank Commanders will be exactly that: Tanks. Usually one or two tanks make up the HQ, and the tanks can vary a lot. For some Russian lists, you don't actually take one, you just nominate a tank from one of your platoons (actually called companies but they function as platoons) to be your Company Commander. '''HQS usually DO NOT count as platoons for Company strength.''' They function like 40k independent characters do. If I have 3 infantry platoons and a company commander, I count as only having 3 infantry platoons for my force strength.

*The Combat Platoons, AKA Troops choice: Same with 40k, each organization chart will have a minimum requirement of a platoon or two with the option to have more. Infantry lists will have infantry platoons as their combat platoon requirement, mech will have mechanized platoons, etc. Here you choose the size of the platoon (for example, an American Rifle platoon from a Mid War Africa army will be able to have either 7 stands or 10 stands in their platoons) as well as any additional stuff like bazookas, machines guns, mortars, ect.

*The Weapons Support: Usually encompasses stuff like mortar platoons, engineer platoons, and other platoons that come from a battalion level. This would be historically the assets that the division gave to the battalion, such as a machine gun company, that the battalion spreads out through the other battle companies. For example, A Panzer Battalion would have a Company of Engineers attached to it. Therefore, a weapons support option for a Panzer Company would be one or two platoons of Engineers. In a 40k codex, this stuff would come right after the Troops entries in each organization chart, or comes from another organization chart's army list.

*The Divisional/Corp support: This is elements that exist at a Divisional level. Historically, it would be things like air support that is allocated to a division/corps. In game, these options usually give your army some much needed diversity/support. Unlike the troops, HQ and weapon options, these guys aren't restricted to a singular organization chart. This means that multiple lists have access to them. This stuff includes the aforementioned air support, artillery, self propelled guns, and specialist troops. Also the Motivation and Skill ratings of Divisional support can differ from your Troops and Weapon support options. Note that air support is generally "invisible" except that it can either launch a "bombardment" in a similar way to artillery or it can be used to drive off enemy air support. It does not count as a platoon.

However it should be noted FOW tends to allow and even promote ahistorical parings and combinations. This includes allowing indirect artillery to be present on board and act in an anti tank role as well as artillery function. Quantities tend to be over exaggerated. For example a company of infantry can have access to tank or artillery resources that would usually be assigned to a battalion or brigade in real life. There is also no limitations in terms of forces assigned so your company may end up being supported by units from multiple other formations regardless of historical practice.

===Sample Army===

Let's say you want to build a force from the Army book "North Afrika." This book comes from the Mid War period, which means you can only use it against other Mid War lists. You would then pick a nation, in this case we will pick Americans. You then go to the American section of the book to see which organization charts you can pick from. Here you can choose from an Armoured company which uses Sherman Tanks, a Mechanized Company in armored half-tracks, an Infantry company, or a paratrooper company. Here we choose the Infantry company. This means that you must now adhere to the organization chart that comes with this company. Choosing the Infantry company means that your force is Confident trained (it will say this in the book)

Next, you pick the platoons for your force, starting with the required ones. You must take a Company Commander with a 2iC, and two infantry platoons. An average game of Flames of War is about 1500 points, so this is what you will plan for. You look at the first entry, and the Company HQ has the option to take two bazooka teams with him for a few extra points. The extra firepower seems useful, so you take him and the two bazooka teams. You now look at the combat platoon requirements. You MUST take Two Infantry platoons, with the option to take a 3rd. Now you look at the Infantry platoon entry. There is option of taking the infantry platoon with either 6 rifle teams plus a platoon command rifle team, or 9 rifle teams plus the command rifle team. You also have the option for a bazooka. Since you will want a solid foundation for your army list (and so you can get your platoon count up), you take the two minimum infantry platoons PLUS the extra platoon, all at full strength. You also take the optional bazooka teams for added anti-tank capability.

Next you look at the optional weapon platoon options. The organization chart says that you can take one mortar squad, one mechanized platoon, one truck platoon, one machine gun platoon, one weapons platoon (this platoon comprises of light machine guns and light mortars), 2 anti tank platoons (armed with light anti tank guns, although one can be medium according to the entry) and 1 engineer platoon. Since you will want your list to have a barrage template for pinning down the enemy or launching smoke, you choose the mortar platoon. After looking at its entry you see that you can either take 4 mortar teams plus a command rifle team and an observer rifle team, or 6 mortar teams plus a command rifle team and an observer rifle team. It has the option to take two bazooka teams and a car for the observer. However, since the mortar platoon would sit further back, you pass on the bazooka teams, which are only effective at close range. You also pass on the car as the observer needs to be stealthy and hidden, which is harder to do with a jeep or car.

Lastly, you look at the Divisional Support options. You can choose Air support, Artillery support, another medium anti-tank gun platoon, a tank hunter platoon, a Sherman platoon, a paratrooper platoon, an anti-aircraft platoon, a mobile anti-aircraft platoon, an engineer platoon, and a scout platoon. You choose the artillery platoon since the Americans get nifty special rules that boost the effectiveness of their artillery. You then pick limited (which is actually the medium option) air support to drive off enemy air support. Noticing that your army is lacking anti-tank, you take a Sherman Tank platoon to add a punch to your force, and a unit of medium anti-tank guns, which you could have also taken in the Weapon platoons section.

Doing this, your force consists of:
*HQ with 2 bazooka teams
*3 x infantry platoon with 9 rifle teams, a platoon command rifle team, and a bazooka team
*A mortar squad with 6 mortar teams, a platoon command team and an observer
*A tank platoon of 5 Sherman tanks
*An anti tank platoon of 3 57mm anti tank guns with a platoon commander
*An artillery platoon with 4 105mm gun teams with a staff team, platoon command team and observer team
*Limited air support

You have 7 platoons, 3 of which are combat, 1 of which is a weapons platoon, and 3 of which are divisional support platoons.

==Organization==
Rather than try to balance, say, the German army that invaded Poland in 1939 against the Russian army that rolled into Berlin 6 years later, the game is divided into three periods:

In this respect, it is significantly more intelligently designed than its retarded cousin, which shall remain [[Bolt Action|nameless]]. It is still lacking in historical accuracy, and was slowly becoming subsumed by the same special rule bloat that affected most popular miniature wargames. Thankfully, 4th Edition took a flammenwerfer to those, though 3rd was still a better game.

==World War Two==

===Early War===
Covers everything from the beginning of the war until the end of 1941. Available forces are Germany, Great Britain, the USSR, Imperial Japan, Finland, Italy, France and Poland. Typically most forces are less experienced and so there are very few forces (outside of the Germans, Finns and Japanese) who have "veteran" units. It's actually one of the most "balanced" periods of the game, and so is actually fairly popular (except among Americans for some reason). While most of the overall game is balanced, and each period is balanced, in this period every tank has a reasonable chance against other tanks (unless you're those British, Soviet or French cunts who take Matildas, T-34's or B1s- but then you'll have 4 models on the table, TOPS, and they can be easily beaten in assault by engineers). When the Germans get the later Panzer IIIs they can easily take out the allied heavy/infantry tanks, if you're willing to pay a boatload of points for a glass cannon.

===Mid War===
Covers 1942-1943. Poland becomes a British force while America comes in. Probably the most balanced period, with the only real cheese being the [[RAGE|T-34 spam]] that the Russians can use, as amusingly enough they can almost take more tanks than you can get bases of each nation's commando/paratrooper equivalent. Lack a lot of flexibility due to the rules for Russian tanks.

===Late War===
Covers 1944 to the end of the war in May 1945. Includes most of the 'Iconic' battles of the war, like the invasion of Normandy, capture of Paris, Operation Market Garden and the Battle of the Bulge. The Soviets destroyed what was left of the Germans' ability to actually stop them in summer 1944, and finished the job in 1945, so there's plenty going on in the Eastern Front as well, from Operation Bagration in June 1944 to the Battle of Berlin in April-May 1945.

Lots of hilarious units like the Kingtiger and Panthers, both of which are too complicated and expensive for their own good, and virtually infinite opportunities to field last-ditch efforts to prevent the inevitable as the Allied powers advanced into Germany, like the Hitlerjugend child soldiers and the Volkssturm militia.

The large number of special rules makes this period somewhat more "gamey" than mid-war.

==Vietnam==
What started off as a few army lists published in wargames illustrated evolved into the newest period expansion, with the current book being 'Nam. NVA list is pretty standard guerrilla stuff but there is an option to run an ironclad battalion (tank battalion) with soviet make tanks and apcs, despite these kind of forces being extremely rare and only really utilized once the Americans withdrew combat forces. South Vietnam, on the other hand, had its supply of parts and new hardware cut off after the US withdrew, meaning the ROV armed forces rapidly lost all mechanized capability after 1973.

The American/ANZAC/South Vietnamese lists have access to helicopters as well as tank, mechanized cavalry, and infantry lists. Basic rules also change somewhat, and it seems like company-level combat doesn't really work that well for this conflict. Very few players, and the original boxes for units have become quite hard to come by.

==Arab-Israeli Wars==
Currently focused on tank battles during the Six Day War in 1967, which pits upgraded WW2 American tanks versus upgraded WW2 Soviet tanks as well as more modern vehicles such as M48 pattons, centurions, and T-54/55s. No helicopters here, but it does have rules for jet aircraft and night-vision equipment. A lot of people like it because it just takes some tan paint to turn a Late War or Vietnam unit into one that fits this setting. The rule set was first released in 2013 as a wargames illustrated supplement called Fate of a Nation, with tank company lists for Israel, United Arab Republic (Egypt), and Jordan. In late 2014/early 2015 it was re-released as a theater book with revised points and additional lists for Israeli Sayaret (Recon) and paratroopers, and UAR and Jordanian infantry fortified infantry companies. It has been expanded to include the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Plays like a mix of Team Yankee and FoW; with the aircraft and range of Team Yankee but only a little more lethality than your granddaddy's Shermans.

==Great War==
Currently only one book, focused on the final offensives of 1918. Army lists exist for the British Empire, France+Belgium, the United States and Germany, with sides having access to the first tanks, better known as "landships" back then. August 2014 saw the release of German and British army boxes, supporting kits, and terrain, including craters and a trench-line system. August 2015 saw a full book with German, British, French, and American lists as well as new missions. The most recent edition, 'Great War', makes stat updates in the veins of V4 Flames of War and gives you even more ways to send young men to die aimlessly on the battlefields of Europe.

Unsurprisingly, this is the 'safest' game by Battlefront. You may have tanks that literally delete anything else from the table, but the strategy of hiding in trenches and depressing charges into machinegun fire defines the period, and the game as a whole. It is also worthy of note that machine guns have the ability to delete certain tanks, and artillery is far less important than in regular Flames.

==[[Team Yankee]]==
After the eponymous book by Harold Coyle, the newest addition to BF's expanding list of non-WWII theaters, focusing on a hypothetical WWIII with the Warsaw pact vs. NATO in the Fulda Gap and the North German Plains. On the NATO side are the Americans, British, West Germans, French, Canadians, Dutch and the ANZACs. On the Warsaw Pact are the Soviets, East Germans, Poles and Czechs.

The 2019 book Oil War saw an expansion of the war into the Middle East, featuring lists for Irael, Iraq, Iran, and Syria. This was also the first book to slowly but surely advance the timeline of Team Yankee to cover the late eighties and early nineties, allowing for more modern (and lethal) kit to be introduced.

Team Yankee uses a ruleset based upon standard Flames of War, but is different in many details and noted to be quicker and more violent than standard Flames of War. No word yet if that means that one side nukes the other if they lose, something that NATO actually was planning to do.

THE most popular offshoot of Flames of War, but still a smaller game than its daddy (just ignore the fact that it has the largest presence on 1d4chan). [[Team Yankee|Check it out here.]]

==Armies==
{{editwar}}
FoW supports most of the major military powers that fought in WWII. The following is an absolutely completely unbiased list of those that are currently available.

===United States of America===

They may have shown up two years late, but once in the war the Americans brought with them one of the largest war industries ever heard of, and by 1945 fielded one of the largest and most powerful armed forces ever seen in history. Built around vehicle spam, heavy artillery, and a seemingly endless supply of bazookas. Technology like stabilizers, AOPs, and semiautomatic rifles make your troops great at maneuver warfare and help make up for generally average or poor hard stats.

In Midwar, the US has some of the most powerful technology, with some of the heaviest armed and armored medium tanks of the era, massive amounts of bazookas (which are waaay scarier in this era), and capable artillery. What's the tradeoff? You have some rather poor crew stats that limit your flexibility and give you discounts on your troops, so they are still relatively spammable, and your special rules still make your troops decently flexible despite that. Even though your options aren't huge, you have a tool for every job and the US represents a capable force.

Late War depicts the Americans as a force to be reckoned with due to their probably the most powerful artillery in game, higher training, and insane list building flexibility. These capabilities help you overcome your glaring weaknesses: you don't have access to the level of armor and penetration that the Soviets, Germans, and British can bring in numbers. This doesn't mean that your units are much cheaper though: the top level M4 mediums are similar in price to Soviet heavies and SS panthers. This means that you have to play a bit smarter, using smoke, artillery, terrain, and your special rules and training to out maneuver and out think your freedom-hating adversaries. Played well, it's a beautiful sight to see, but you will be punished quite readily if you lose your luck or wits.

{{US Forces in Flames of War}}

===Great Britain===

The old saying goes that the British Army loses every battle in every war except the last one, and Britannia certainly got the last laugh in the 1940s. Jollie olde Anglaterre and her Commonwealth mainly field bland looking masses of brown and drab paint. They are good all-rounders, and are especially good in assaults. One of their biggest draws is that Great Britain isn't just England- you can also field Scots, Irish, Indians, Canadians, Nepalese, Australians, New Zealanders, and Maoris. The British are tough in defense and <s>favour drowning their enemies in dead colonials</s> tend to have a small, elite core supplemented by special forces. They are best in defense however, due to their special characters and special rules that favour a mainly static war (unless you play an armour company, in which case the British rules are made to let you [[Orks|charge in guns blazing]]).

{{British Forces in Flames of War}}

===Soviet Union===

The only army a true fa/tg/uy should ever play. Brutal fucks that get a pass because they helped the allies shove the Fascists back into schnitzelland, proving that communists have [[Meme|speech 100.]] The Red Army also taught the entire world that no technological advantage beats '''A LOT''' of men equipped with simple, sturdy and easily mass-producible tools of war... as long as you are willing to take and replace '''A LOT''' of losses in the process (which they were). The Red Army's units are a mess of contradictions, with decent hard stats but some significant weaknesses that allow you to field them in large numbers. The Soviets suffer from a near complete lack of artillery smoke, a -1 to hit if they move on nearly all their vehicles, a lack of careful units, and sparse infantry AT. What this means is you can field a massive number of units that, when used together right, can mitigate their weaknesses and do a lot of damage. When used wrong, however, they tend to die in droves. To give you an idea of how much you're going to be outnumbering your opponent, most other armies are a 'Company' made up of 'Platoons'. [[Tyranid|The average Soviet army fields 'Battalions' made up of 'Companies']]. Chances are you will fill up your side of the table with your forces, so I hope you enjoy assembling and painting those little basta- {{BLAM|'''*BLAM!*''' fearless defenders of the motherland}}. Despite this, the Late War Soviets also bring a good amount of highly skilled and capable units, helping mitigate the weaknesses of their regular brethren. That or you could just spam T-34 and T-70s like a mad lad and [[Just as planned|take so many throwaway tanks that the amount of burning wreckage they make is an acceptable replacement for the smoke you don't have.]] Either way is fun.

The Polish People's Army seen in Team Yankee originated in the Soviet Union in 1943, so there is the possibility to field them using selections from the Mid-to-Late-War Soviet lineup as well, like the T-34/85.

{{Soviet Forces in Flames of War}}

===Germany===

The Nazi state might have produced some of the most horrific evil ever seen or done by man, but they also forged a war machine with enough discipline, training, equipment and fighting spirit to seize and hold virtually all of Europe and take on most of the world, basically by themselves, for over five years. German forces feature the Heer (Army), Luftwaffe (Air Force), Kriegsmarine (Navy), the Waffen-SS (Armed-Protection Squadron), the Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth) and the Volkssturm (People's Assault). Their quality ranges from extremely good to extremely bad, with the latter becoming more common in Late War, when the German military was rapidly running out of guns, bullets, fuel, vehicles, time and ability to train new troops, etc. and were generally just throwing together whatever they could. The stern discipline and tenacity of the Heer is plenty visible, as is the skill and daring of the Luftwaffe's airborne troops and the extreme Villainous Valor of the Waffen-SS. The Volkssturm, a pitiful last-ditch effort to stave off defeat, is just a bullet-sponge militia, and the mobilized boys of the Hitler Youth have been soaked in Nazi propaganda for years and just don't know any better.

German forces were driven to extraordinary lengths by Hitler's decision to try taking on basically the entire world at once, but the upside is that snazzy German engineering; there are literally over a hundred different vehicles to choose from. Most German units will win one-on-one with their Allied counterparts, but will usually be outnumbered by a noticeable margin. Also, there's several lists that lets you field an army of [[Awesome|nothing but Tiger or Konigstiger tanks]], so that's cool too. Germans have great tactical flexibility and firepower but don't stand up to attrition very well. Their special rules are very newbie-friendly as they pretty much ignore the rules about platoon command teams, since if one dies, they can "appoint" a new platoon commander without having to have the Company commander or second in command there.

{{German Forces in Flames of War}}

===France===

If you enjoy sitting back and dragging out battles, France is the country for you. Usually they field a static army of soldiers with low morale, able to blow the shit out of the enemy with their special snowflake artillery. Enjoy laughing in the face of your opponent as you pore over complicated tables every time you shoot something. In addition, you can also take giant indestructible tanks, or get your Fearless Trained African soldiers to do your dirty work for you. Their special rules '''REALLY''' favour the defense, as both infantry and armour alike are unsuited to attacking. One special rule allows your servant to move your objectives closer to you, and another gives all colonial troops an advantage in assaults so you can sit back in your trench and enjoy your wine and cheese.

Those collaborating Vichy surrender monkeys don't really appear, and for that matter, neither do Free French, either. The former was relegated to a support role at best and the latter had no ability to produce updated French-designed and made uniforms or equipment and thus pretty much would be American units on the tabletop anyway.

{{French Forces in Flames of War}}

===Italy===

Ah, yes- the Italians. The ally Germany asked for but wound up wishing they'd never gotten. Italy shares the massive numbers of weak troops with the Soviets, but lacks the supporting equipment. Don't expect any decent tanks unless you take German allies (Semoventi are one of the few Mid-war SPG Artillery units the Axis can take as a core Formation, and just happen to not be subject to the whims of the Dice Gods when determining just how bad they could be, cuz Italian Arty are Veterans). The only tanks in the entire war that were definitely worse were those fielded by Japan (and theirs were basically made of paper). The Italians could fight extremely well when they wanted to, but the Italian people as a whole were not as fired up for an all-out war as Mussolini wanted them to be, and so the motivation and skill of Italian forces varied widely. Hence the special rules that give random motivation/skill ratings to their platoons, which can lead to hilarious lists where you either have elite hordes of Fearless Veterans or untrained masses of Reluctant Conscripts. Depending on the table you roll on, it's usually geared towards Confident Trained or Reluctant Trained. Still, absolutely hilarious for both sides when rolling.

{{Italian Forces in Flames of War}}

===Japan===

<s>Dishonorably only available in Early War for now.</s> New Pacific Book 'Banzai' has came out. Now you can field Japanese army for Pacific supplement rules, and also for good ol' Late-War rules. They have the best morale in the game, even refusing to listen to the player when they fail their company morale check. At points where the even the Waffen-SS and those crazy Nazi kids in the Hitler Youth would decide they'd had enough, the Imperial Japanese Army's soldiers fought on, often literally until every last man on their side was dead. They were trained and taught to fight ferociously and die gloriously for Empire and Emperor, and they were ''extremely'' good at both. Their vehicles are somewhat lacking- an understatement, given how machine gun fire proved capable of breaching Japanese tank armor- but they make up for this by taking the steel that would have otherwise been used on those tanks and turning it into the enormous balls that are standard issue for their soldiers. No surrender. NO SURRENDER. Their average infantryman has a rifle and a banner that gives him a hard-on for death, and their anti-tank weapon of choice is a [[Awesome|bomb-thrower who would put the Taliban to shame.]] If you were looking for a sane game of Flames of War, look elsewhere. You don't play Japan for their competitiveness or survivability, you do it because every single unit is foaming at the mouth to charge the enemy and start murdering. [[Emperor|For the Emperor!]]

Tactics for V4: [[japan flames of war]]

===Finland===

One of Germany's best allies until circumstances forced them to switch sides late in the war, Finland was driven into German arms by Stalin's shameless (and Pyrrhic) war of aggression that robbed them of a good chunk of territory in the Winter War. They joined in the invasion of the USSR in the hopes of getting revenge, and fielded a professional army that benefited considerably from the use of modern German equipment. They made use of captured Soviet hardware as well, and slapped swastikas on every vehicle to ensure that the Stukas didn't come after them.

Despite lacking the equipment and vehicles of the other powers, the Finns are still a force to be reckoned with. They get a huge advantage in Winter and Forest terrain (which the Soviets learned about the hard way in the Winter War), and are usually rated Veteran, even in the early war. They field a mix of Soviet, German, and WW1-era equipment. You need balls to play these guys, as you can't rely on numbers or special rules to win the day. Their armored company is considered one of the most challenging lists to play.

The Finns were on the Axis side until a ways into the Late War period, when they would appear fighting the Germans if you were to field them.

{{Finish Forces in Flames of War}}

===Hungary===

<s>The poor man's Germans</s> Very similar to Germany, but with unique organization and equipment. Have useful special rules that provide advantages in both attack and defense, and can take a lot of German equipment in the Late War. Their most famous vehicle is the kawaii-as-fuck Zrínyi assault gun.

{{Hungarian Forces in Flames of War}}

===Romania===

Mainly focused on infantry and cavalry, with hilariously underpowered vehicle options. They get random motivation like Italy, and can also take a lot of allied equipment. They are unique because they switch sides after being conquered by the Soviets in Late War, so Romanian players can choose between German or Soviet allies, while quietly wondering why they're using Early War equipment in 1944. Historically it is because, while there was an assistance agreement in place, [[That Guy|Germany handed them their cast-offs and captured Russian materiel while keeping the updated stuff for their own units]]. The Romanians, while having decent technology lacked the heavy industry to equip their entire army on their own, so they were actually relatively thankful for said cast-offs. Later on after they switched sides, the Reds didn't trust the lukewarm enthusiasm the Romanian king showed for [[Communism]], so they didn't want to heavily arm someone they already knew they would eventually have to deal with. Which happened two years later: the king was booted out, Romania became a full satellite of the USSR and (ironically) at that point received the same better materiel other USSR allies did.

{{Romanian Forces in Flames of War}}

===Poland===

The poor Poles have it even worse than the Finns. They have okay equipment, especially for Early War, but you will find yourself stretching to get your units to fit all the roles you need. You can try to impersonate the Soviets with masses of weak infantry, but their real advantage is in the great balance of their units. They can hold their own in assaults, and tend to excel in defense. In Late War, they have the legendary Armia Krajowa, which beats the Finnish armour company for the position of hardest list in the game. It's literally a bunch of armed civilians with whatever German stuff they could get their hands on, and it would come as no surprise if Sun Tzu himself couldn't win a game with them.

{{Polish Forces in Flames of War}}

NOTE: The game balance in this game is actually really good. There is no "best army," just strong lists. Lists are usually strong against one type of list and are countered by others. Eg: Commandos are an elite British list that are awesome against raping shit in melee, and are fearless veterans, but they are expensive and you can't take many of them, meaning you get absolutely raped by horde tank lists like the Russian lists.

==Homebrews==
[[Media:Abyssinia.pdf|"It Will Be You Tomorrow", covering the Second Italo-Abyssinian War in 1935-36.]]

[[Media:Them.pdf|"The Army of Man", a fun book that lets you pit your Flames of War army against some 1950s B-movie monsters.]]

Supposedly there is also a Falklands War homebrew in the works.

There is also a [[ Girl und Panzer ]] homebrew which is seriously in need of a new revision, which is designed to be it's own separate game. However, depending whether you are a truly pure-blood historical gamer or if you don't mind [[anime|animu]] this could be extra heretical.

There is a project to update V3 with some of the good rules changes from V4, and fix some of the jank (arty park). [https://jovianarchiver.com/v3-redone/ Link here.]

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Pacific.jpg|soviets actually have veterans now, which makes this one all the better. They also announced a release for the Pacific Campaign, which means this will all become true in 2016 March.
Image:Usarmoredrifles.jpg
Image:Germanartillery.jpg|what it's like using German tube artillery in-game.
Image:Zrinyi.jpg|damn those hungarians and their pancakes of death!
</gallery>

== External Links ==

* [http://www.flamesofwar.com/ Flames of War homepage]

[[Category: Wargames]]
[[Category:Battlefront Miniatures]]

Flames of War

2022-05-03T01:35:57Z

2A0A:8C43:0:0:0:0:0:6F: /* Armies */ make this easier to edit by adding sections

{{Game Infobox
|name = Flames of War
|picture = [[File:FOW-Logo-Color2.jpg]]
|type = [[Miniatures]]-based [[Wargame]]
|system =
|playno =
|time =
|publisher = Battlefront Miniatures
|authors =
|year = 2002
|books = Flames of War: Fourth Edition and Flames of War: Forces
}}

'''Flames of War''' is a tabletop [[wargame]], first released in 2002, by the New Zealand company Battlefront Miniatures. It recreates the fighting in the European and North African theaters of World War II using 15mm scale models. There are also expansions that cover Vietnam, World War 1, and the Arab-Israeli Wars. Play simulates combat between company-level forces, with each stand of infantry typically representing half a squad. In the mid-2010s its popularity outside its homeland has skyrocketed, and it is moving rapidly on its way to joining <s>[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]</s> (Lol dead), [[Warhammer 40,000]] and [[Warmachine]]/[[Hordes]] as one of THE big-name tabletop wargames. Also like those games, it is quickly developing a strong community of whiny, sophist 'YouTube War Expert' players. Still, most players are quite friendly and welcoming to newbs, newbies, noobs, and nubs. Even if they often make typos. Also developed by a team of mainly very nice gentlemen.

Battlefront Miniatures itself has become fairly popular in comparison to [[Games Workshop|other well-known companies]], as they have given their blessing for players to use other company's products in games, even allowing them in tournaments; and for making many of the army lists available on their website. Also the prices from the company aren't that high ($52.00 USD is pretty good for 2 Rifle platoons, a weapons platoon, a Company command squad and a few bazooka teams), and in addition to that, most of the stuff you own can be mix-and-match as those infantry platoons you own can be used with your armoured companies and vice versa. Also, as infantry don't really change much, and since at 15mm it's hard to tell what they are equipped with anyway, you can use your infantry platoon/company throughout all war periods, and can proxy them as mechanized (provided you have the transports), paratroopers, ect. with ease.

==Rules Basics==
If you've played any other tabletop wargame, you should be halfway to knowing the rules for FoW, its just a matter of the squirrelly parts. Some of the major points are:
*Unit ratings- Units are rated on two stats, their motivation and their training. Ratings are typically applied across and entire army list.
**Motivation- How happy and ready for fight your units are. Keeps troops in the battle and helps them keep moving and fighting. There are three ratings (barring special snowflake rules): Reluctant, Confident and Fearless. Note that Fearless is not as good as it is in 40k, although it's still pretty damn great as it stops your platoons and companies pissing out at a moment's notice.
**Training- How skilled at combat your troops are. Keeps them alive and helps with things like moving through rough terrain, digging in, hitting the enemy in Close Combat, and a whole range of other things. Gives protection against being shot at (because unlike other contemporary games, the likelihood of a unit being hit is due to '''their''' skill, not the unit shooting at them). There are three flavours of training: [[Imperial Guard|Conscript]], Trained and Veteran.
*Motivation tests- There are numerous situations when Motivation checks are required. Think of them like Leadership tests in 40k. The most common check is when a platoon is below half strength, it has to take a motivation test or be removed from the game. Following from this, when your entire army is below half strength, your Company Commander has to take a motivation test or (if he's copped it) you lose the game automatically <strike>as your troops run away like little girls </strike> bravely tactically retreat to fight for Freedom and hamburgers another day.
*Shooting- one rule that confuses a lot of new players is that when one unit shoots at another, the chance to hit is based on the target's skill rating, not the firer's. The reasoning being that any moron with one arm and two brain cells to rub together can spray machine-gun fire at people, and what really counts is how good the people being shot at are at taking cover and not bunching up like a flock of sheep.

==List Building==
Note that all lists are based off historically based equipment at a specific point of time, even if that equipment was unique or incredibly rare.

Army lists come in three different flavours: Infantry, Mechanized, and Armoured. Each "codex" will normally feature multiple nations, and each nation will usually have different organization charts that let them take any of the three flavours of list. The differences between organization charts is that they dictate the base requirements of a list, the motivation and skill level of your list, and the "weapon" and "support" options your list can take.

*The HQ: Your force will always have an HQ. For infantry lists, this will be a stand of a Company Commander (who allows units he joins to reroll motivation), a 2nd in Command (honestly not that good, although depending on your nation he gives bonuses to your troops. The main use for him is that he can "appoint" a platoon commander if their commander died previously.) Some HQs let you bring along extra goodies, like Bazookas and Mortars that can be attached to platoons. Mech HQs are the same as Infantry HQs but will come with transports (and unlike 40k, transports can be a real disadvantage, although more recent rules have removed a lot of their downsides.) Tank Commanders will be exactly that: Tanks. Usually one or two tanks make up the HQ, and the tanks can vary a lot. For some Russian lists, you don't actually take one, you just nominate a tank from one of your platoons (actually called companies but they function as platoons) to be your Company Commander. '''HQS usually DO NOT count as platoons for Company strength.''' They function like 40k independent characters do. If I have 3 infantry platoons and a company commander, I count as only having 3 infantry platoons for my force strength.

*The Combat Platoons, AKA Troops choice: Same with 40k, each organization chart will have a minimum requirement of a platoon or two with the option to have more. Infantry lists will have infantry platoons as their combat platoon requirement, mech will have mechanized platoons, etc. Here you choose the size of the platoon (for example, an American Rifle platoon from a Mid War Africa army will be able to have either 7 stands or 10 stands in their platoons) as well as any additional stuff like bazookas, machines guns, mortars, ect.

*The Weapons Support: Usually encompasses stuff like mortar platoons, engineer platoons, and other platoons that come from a battalion level. This would be historically the assets that the division gave to the battalion, such as a machine gun company, that the battalion spreads out through the other battle companies. For example, A Panzer Battalion would have a Company of Engineers attached to it. Therefore, a weapons support option for a Panzer Company would be one or two platoons of Engineers. In a 40k codex, this stuff would come right after the Troops entries in each organization chart, or comes from another organization chart's army list.

*The Divisional/Corp support: This is elements that exist at a Divisional level. Historically, it would be things like air support that is allocated to a division/corps. In game, these options usually give your army some much needed diversity/support. Unlike the troops, HQ and weapon options, these guys aren't restricted to a singular organization chart. This means that multiple lists have access to them. This stuff includes the aforementioned air support, artillery, self propelled guns, and specialist troops. Also the Motivation and Skill ratings of Divisional support can differ from your Troops and Weapon support options. Note that air support is generally "invisible" except that it can either launch a "bombardment" in a similar way to artillery or it can be used to drive off enemy air support. It does not count as a platoon.

However it should be noted FOW tends to allow and even promote ahistorical parings and combinations. This includes allowing indirect artillery to be present on board and act in an anti tank role as well as artillery function. Quantities tend to be over exaggerated. For example a company of infantry can have access to tank or artillery resources that would usually be assigned to a battalion or brigade in real life. There is also no limitations in terms of forces assigned so your company may end up being supported by units from multiple other formations regardless of historical practice.

===Sample Army===

Let's say you want to build a force from the Army book "North Afrika." This book comes from the Mid War period, which means you can only use it against other Mid War lists. You would then pick a nation, in this case we will pick Americans. You then go to the American section of the book to see which organization charts you can pick from. Here you can choose from an Armoured company which uses Sherman Tanks, a Mechanized Company in armored half-tracks, an Infantry company, or a paratrooper company. Here we choose the Infantry company. This means that you must now adhere to the organization chart that comes with this company. Choosing the Infantry company means that your force is Confident trained (it will say this in the book)

Next, you pick the platoons for your force, starting with the required ones. You must take a Company Commander with a 2iC, and two infantry platoons. An average game of Flames of War is about 1500 points, so this is what you will plan for. You look at the first entry, and the Company HQ has the option to take two bazooka teams with him for a few extra points. The extra firepower seems useful, so you take him and the two bazooka teams. You now look at the combat platoon requirements. You MUST take Two Infantry platoons, with the option to take a 3rd. Now you look at the Infantry platoon entry. There is option of taking the infantry platoon with either 6 rifle teams plus a platoon command rifle team, or 9 rifle teams plus the command rifle team. You also have the option for a bazooka. Since you will want a solid foundation for your army list (and so you can get your platoon count up), you take the two minimum infantry platoons PLUS the extra platoon, all at full strength. You also take the optional bazooka teams for added anti-tank capability.

Next you look at the optional weapon platoon options. The organization chart says that you can take one mortar squad, one mechanized platoon, one truck platoon, one machine gun platoon, one weapons platoon (this platoon comprises of light machine guns and light mortars), 2 anti tank platoons (armed with light anti tank guns, although one can be medium according to the entry) and 1 engineer platoon. Since you will want your list to have a barrage template for pinning down the enemy or launching smoke, you choose the mortar platoon. After looking at its entry you see that you can either take 4 mortar teams plus a command rifle team and an observer rifle team, or 6 mortar teams plus a command rifle team and an observer rifle team. It has the option to take two bazooka teams and a car for the observer. However, since the mortar platoon would sit further back, you pass on the bazooka teams, which are only effective at close range. You also pass on the car as the observer needs to be stealthy and hidden, which is harder to do with a jeep or car.

Lastly, you look at the Divisional Support options. You can choose Air support, Artillery support, another medium anti-tank gun platoon, a tank hunter platoon, a Sherman platoon, a paratrooper platoon, an anti-aircraft platoon, a mobile anti-aircraft platoon, an engineer platoon, and a scout platoon. You choose the artillery platoon since the Americans get nifty special rules that boost the effectiveness of their artillery. You then pick limited (which is actually the medium option) air support to drive off enemy air support. Noticing that your army is lacking anti-tank, you take a Sherman Tank platoon to add a punch to your force, and a unit of medium anti-tank guns, which you could have also taken in the Weapon platoons section.

Doing this, your force consists of:
*HQ with 2 bazooka teams
*3 x infantry platoon with 9 rifle teams, a platoon command rifle team, and a bazooka team
*A mortar squad with 6 mortar teams, a platoon command team and an observer
*A tank platoon of 5 Sherman tanks
*An anti tank platoon of 3 57mm anti tank guns with a platoon commander
*An artillery platoon with 4 105mm gun teams with a staff team, platoon command team and observer team
*Limited air support

You have 7 platoons, 3 of which are combat, 1 of which is a weapons platoon, and 3 of which are divisional support platoons.

==Organization==
Rather than try to balance, say, the German army that invaded Poland in 1939 against the Russian army that rolled into Berlin 6 years later, the game is divided into three periods:

In this respect, it is significantly more intelligently designed than its retarded cousin, which shall remain [[Bolt Action|nameless]]. It is still lacking in historical accuracy, and was slowly becoming subsumed by the same special rule bloat that affected most popular miniature wargames. Thankfully, 4th Edition took a flammenwerfer to those, though 3rd was still a better game.

==World War Two==

===Early War===
Covers everything from the beginning of the war until the end of 1941. Available forces are Germany, Great Britain, the USSR, Imperial Japan, Finland, Italy, France and Poland. Typically most forces are less experienced and so there are very few forces (outside of the Germans, Finns and Japanese) who have "veteran" units. It's actually one of the most "balanced" periods of the game, and so is actually fairly popular (except among Americans for some reason). While most of the overall game is balanced, and each period is balanced, in this period every tank has a reasonable chance against other tanks (unless you're those British, Soviet or French cunts who take Matildas, T-34's or B1s- but then you'll have 4 models on the table, TOPS, and they can be easily beaten in assault by engineers). When the Germans get the later Panzer IIIs they can easily take out the allied heavy/infantry tanks, if you're willing to pay a boatload of points for a glass cannon.

===Mid War===
Covers 1942-1943. Poland becomes a British force while America comes in. Probably the most balanced period, with the only real cheese being the [[RAGE|T-34 spam]] that the Russians can use, as amusingly enough they can almost take more tanks than you can get bases of each nation's commando/paratrooper equivalent. Lack a lot of flexibility due to the rules for Russian tanks.

===Late War===
Covers 1944 to the end of the war in May 1945. Includes most of the 'Iconic' battles of the war, like the invasion of Normandy, capture of Paris, Operation Market Garden and the Battle of the Bulge. The Soviets destroyed what was left of the Germans' ability to actually stop them in summer 1944, and finished the job in 1945, so there's plenty going on in the Eastern Front as well, from Operation Bagration in June 1944 to the Battle of Berlin in April-May 1945.

Lots of hilarious units like the Kingtiger and Panthers, both of which are too complicated and expensive for their own good, and virtually infinite opportunities to field last-ditch efforts to prevent the inevitable as the Allied powers advanced into Germany, like the Hitlerjugend child soldiers and the Volkssturm militia.

The large number of special rules makes this period somewhat more "gamey" than mid-war.

==Vietnam==
What started off as a few army lists published in wargames illustrated evolved into the newest period expansion, with the current book being 'Nam. NVA list is pretty standard guerrilla stuff but there is an option to run an ironclad battalion (tank battalion) with soviet make tanks and apcs, despite these kind of forces being extremely rare and only really utilized once the Americans withdrew combat forces. South Vietnam, on the other hand, had its supply of parts and new hardware cut off after the US withdrew, meaning the ROV armed forces rapidly lost all mechanized capability after 1973.

The American/ANZAC/South Vietnamese lists have access to helicopters as well as tank, mechanized cavalry, and infantry lists. Basic rules also change somewhat, and it seems like company-level combat doesn't really work that well for this conflict. Very few players, and the original boxes for units have become quite hard to come by.

==Arab-Israeli Wars==
Currently focused on tank battles during the Six Day War in 1967, which pits upgraded WW2 American tanks versus upgraded WW2 Soviet tanks as well as more modern vehicles such as M48 pattons, centurions, and T-54/55s. No helicopters here, but it does have rules for jet aircraft and night-vision equipment. A lot of people like it because it just takes some tan paint to turn a Late War or Vietnam unit into one that fits this setting. The rule set was first released in 2013 as a wargames illustrated supplement called Fate of a Nation, with tank company lists for Israel, United Arab Republic (Egypt), and Jordan. In late 2014/early 2015 it was re-released as a theater book with revised points and additional lists for Israeli Sayaret (Recon) and paratroopers, and UAR and Jordanian infantry fortified infantry companies. It has been expanded to include the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Plays like a mix of Team Yankee and FoW; with the aircraft and range of Team Yankee but only a little more lethality than your granddaddy's Shermans.

==Great War==
Currently only one book, focused on the final offensives of 1918. Army lists exist for the British Empire, France+Belgium, the United States and Germany, with sides having access to the first tanks, better known as "landships" back then. August 2014 saw the release of German and British army boxes, supporting kits, and terrain, including craters and a trench-line system. August 2015 saw a full book with German, British, French, and American lists as well as new missions. The most recent edition, 'Great War', makes stat updates in the veins of V4 Flames of War and gives you even more ways to send young men to die aimlessly on the battlefields of Europe.

Unsurprisingly, this is the 'safest' game by Battlefront. You may have tanks that literally delete anything else from the table, but the strategy of hiding in trenches and depressing charges into machinegun fire defines the period, and the game as a whole. It is also worthy of note that machine guns have the ability to delete certain tanks, and artillery is far less important than in regular Flames.

==[[Team Yankee]]==
After the eponymous book by Harold Coyle, the newest addition to BF's expanding list of non-WWII theaters, focusing on a hypothetical WWIII with the Warsaw pact vs. NATO in the Fulda Gap and the North German Plains. On the NATO side are the Americans, British, West Germans, French, Canadians, Dutch and the ANZACs. On the Warsaw Pact are the Soviets, East Germans, Poles and Czechs.

The 2019 book Oil War saw an expansion of the war into the Middle East, featuring lists for Irael, Iraq, Iran, and Syria. This was also the first book to slowly but surely advance the timeline of Team Yankee to cover the late eighties and early nineties, allowing for more modern (and lethal) kit to be introduced.

Team Yankee uses a ruleset based upon standard Flames of War, but is different in many details and noted to be quicker and more violent than standard Flames of War. No word yet if that means that one side nukes the other if they lose, something that NATO actually was planning to do.

THE most popular offshoot of Flames of War, but still a smaller game than its daddy (just ignore the fact that it has the largest presence on 1d4chan). [[Team Yankee|Check it out here.]]

==Armies==
{{editwar}}
FoW supports most of the major military powers that fought in WWII. The following is an absolutely completely unbiased list of those that are currently available.

===United States of America===

They may have shown up two years late, but once in the war the Americans brought with them one of the largest war industries ever heard of, and by 1945 fielded one of the largest and most powerful armed forces ever seen in history. Built around vehicle spam, heavy artillery, and a seemingly endless supply of bazookas. Technology like stabilizers, AOPs, and semiautomatic rifles make your troops great at maneuver warfare and help make up for generally average or poor hard stats.

In Midwar, the US has some of the most powerful technology, with some of the heaviest armed and armored medium tanks of the era, massive amounts of bazookas (which are waaay scarier in this era), and capable artillery. What's the tradeoff? You have some rather poor crew stats that limit your flexibility and give you discounts on your troops, so they are still relatively spammable, and your special rules still make your troops decently flexible despite that. Even though your options aren't huge, you have a tool for every job and the US represents a capable force.

Late War depicts the Americans as a force to be reckoned with due to their probably the most powerful artillery in game, higher training, and insane list building flexibility. These capabilities help you overcome your glaring weaknesses: you don't have access to the level of armor and penetration that the Soviets, Germans, and British can bring in numbers. This doesn't mean that your units are much cheaper though: the top level M4 mediums are similar in price to Soviet heavies and SS panthers. This means that you have to play a bit smarter, using smoke, artillery, terrain, and your special rules and training to out maneuver and out think your freedom-hating adversaries. Played well, it's a beautiful sight to see, but you will be punished quite readily if you lose your luck or wits.

{{US Forces in Flames of War}}

===Great Britain===

The old saying goes that the British Army loses every battle in every war except the last one, and Britannia certainly got the last laugh in the 1940s. Jollie olde Anglaterre and her Commonwealth mainly field bland looking masses of brown and drab paint. They are good all-rounders, and are especially good in assaults. One of their biggest draws is that Great Britain isn't just England- you can also field Scots, Irish, Indians, Canadians, Nepalese, Australians, New Zealanders, and Maoris. The British are tough in defense and <s>favour drowning their enemies in dead colonials</s> tend to have a small, elite core supplemented by special forces. They are best in defense however, due to their special characters and special rules that favour a mainly static war (unless you play an armour company, in which case the British rules are made to let you [[Orks|charge in guns blazing]]).

{{British Forces in Flames of War}}

===Soviet Union===

The only army a true fa/tg/uy should ever play. Sadistic fucks that get a pass because they helped the allies shove the Fascists back into schnitzelland, proving that communists have [[Meme|speech 100.]] The Red Army also taught the entire world that no technological advantage beats '''A LOT''' of men equipped with simple, sturdy and easily mass-producible tools of war... as long as you are willing to take and replace '''A LOT''' of losses in the process (which they were). The Red Army's units are a mess of contradictions, with decent hard stats but some significant weaknesses that allow you to field them in large numbers. The Soviets suffer from a near complete lack of artillery smoke, a -1 to hit if they move on nearly all their vehicles, a lack of careful units, and sparse infantry AT. What this means is you can field a massive number of units that, when used together right, can mitigate their weaknesses and do a lot of damage. When used wrong, however, they tend to die in droves. To give you an idea of how much you're going to be outnumbering your opponent, most other armies are a 'Company' made up of 'Platoons'. [[Tyranid|The average Soviet army fields 'Battalions' made up of 'Companies']]. Chances are you will fill up your side of the table with your forces, so I hope you enjoy assembling and painting those little basta- {{BLAM|'''*BLAM!*''' fearless defenders of the motherland}}. Despite this, the Late War Soviets also bring a good amount of highly skilled and capable units, helping mitigate the weaknesses of their regular brethren. That or you could just spam T-34 and T-70s like a mad lad and [[Just as planned|take so many throwaway tanks that the amount of burning wreckage they make is an acceptable replacement for the smoke you don't have.]] Either way is fun.

The Polish People's Army seen in Team Yankee originated in the Soviet Union in 1943, so there is the possibility to field them using selections from the Mid-to-Late-War Soviet lineup as well, like the T-34/85.

{{Soviet Forces in Flames of War}}

===Germany===

The Nazi state might have produced some of the most horrific evil ever seen or done by man, but they also forged a war machine with enough discipline, training, equipment and fighting spirit to seize and hold virtually all of Europe and take on most of the world, basically by themselves, for over five years. German forces feature the Heer (Army), Luftwaffe (Air Force), Kriegsmarine (Navy), the Waffen-SS (Armed-Protection Squadron), the Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth) and the Volkssturm (People's Assault). Their quality ranges from extremely good to extremely bad, with the latter becoming more common in Late War, when the German military was rapidly running out of guns, bullets, fuel, vehicles, time and ability to train new troops, etc. and were generally just throwing together whatever they could. The stern discipline and tenacity of the Heer is plenty visible, as is the skill and daring of the Luftwaffe's airborne troops and the extreme Villainous Valor of the Waffen-SS. The Volkssturm, a pitiful last-ditch effort to stave off defeat, is just a bullet-sponge militia, and the mobilized boys of the Hitler Youth have been soaked in Nazi propaganda for years and just don't know any better.

German forces were driven to extraordinary lengths by Hitler's decision to try taking on basically the entire world at once, but the upside is that snazzy German engineering; there are literally over a hundred different vehicles to choose from. Most German units will win one-on-one with their Allied counterparts, but will usually be outnumbered by a noticeable margin. Also, there's several lists that lets you field an army of [[Awesome|nothing but Tiger or Konigstiger tanks]], so that's cool too. Germans have great tactical flexibility and firepower but don't stand up to attrition very well. Their special rules are very newbie-friendly as they pretty much ignore the rules about platoon command teams, since if one dies, they can "appoint" a new platoon commander without having to have the Company commander or second in command there.

{{German Forces in Flames of War}}

===France===

If you enjoy sitting back and dragging out battles, France is the country for you. Usually they field a static army of soldiers with low morale, able to blow the shit out of the enemy with their special snowflake artillery. Enjoy laughing in the face of your opponent as you pore over complicated tables every time you shoot something. In addition, you can also take giant indestructible tanks, or get your Fearless Trained African soldiers to do your dirty work for you. Their special rules '''REALLY''' favour the defense, as both infantry and armour alike are unsuited to attacking. One special rule allows your servant to move your objectives closer to you, and another gives all colonial troops an advantage in assaults so you can sit back in your trench and enjoy your wine and cheese.

Those collaborating Vichy surrender monkeys don't really appear, and for that matter, neither do Free French, either. The former was relegated to a support role at best and the latter had no ability to produce updated French-designed and made uniforms or equipment and thus pretty much would be American units on the tabletop anyway.

{{French Forces in Flames of War}}

===Italy===

Ah, yes- the Italians. The ally Germany asked for but wound up wishing they'd never gotten. Italy shares the massive numbers of weak troops with the Soviets, but lacks the supporting equipment. Don't expect any decent tanks unless you take German allies (Semoventi are one of the few Mid-war SPG Artillery units the Axis can take as a core Formation, and just happen to not be subject to the whims of the Dice Gods when determining just how bad they could be, cuz Italian Arty are Veterans). The only tanks in the entire war that were definitely worse were those fielded by Japan (and theirs were basically made of paper). The Italians could fight extremely well when they wanted to, but the Italian people as a whole were not as fired up for an all-out war as Mussolini wanted them to be, and so the motivation and skill of Italian forces varied widely. Hence the special rules that give random motivation/skill ratings to their platoons, which can lead to hilarious lists where you either have elite hordes of Fearless Veterans or untrained masses of Reluctant Conscripts. Depending on the table you roll on, it's usually geared towards Confident Trained or Reluctant Trained. Still, absolutely hilarious for both sides when rolling.

{{Italian Forces in Flames of War}}

===Japan===

<s>Dishonorably only available in Early War for now.</s> New Pacific Book 'Banzai' has came out. Now you can field Japanese army for Pacific supplement rules, and also for good ol' Late-War rules. They have the best morale in the game, even refusing to listen to the player when they fail their company morale check. At points where the even the Waffen-SS and those crazy Nazi kids in the Hitler Youth would decide they'd had enough, the Imperial Japanese Army's soldiers fought on, often literally until every last man on their side was dead. They were trained and taught to fight ferociously and die gloriously for Empire and Emperor, and they were ''extremely'' good at both. Their vehicles are somewhat lacking- an understatement, given how machine gun fire proved capable of breaching Japanese tank armor- but they make up for this by taking the steel that would have otherwise been used on those tanks and turning it into the enormous balls that are standard issue for their soldiers. No surrender. NO SURRENDER. Their average infantryman has a rifle and a banner that gives him a hard-on for death, and their anti-tank weapon of choice is a [[Awesome|bomb-thrower who would put the Taliban to shame.]] If you were looking for a sane game of Flames of War, look elsewhere. You don't play Japan for their competitiveness or survivability, you do it because every single unit is foaming at the mouth to charge the enemy and start murdering. [[Emperor|For the Emperor!]]

Tactics for V4: [[japan flames of war]]

===Finland===

One of Germany's best allies until circumstances forced them to switch sides late in the war, Finland was driven into German arms by Stalin's shameless (and Pyrrhic) war of aggression that robbed them of a good chunk of territory in the Winter War. They joined in the invasion of the USSR in the hopes of getting revenge, and fielded a professional army that benefited considerably from the use of modern German equipment. They made use of captured Soviet hardware as well, and slapped swastikas on every vehicle to ensure that the Stukas didn't come after them.

Despite lacking the equipment and vehicles of the other powers, the Finns are still a force to be reckoned with. They get a huge advantage in Winter and Forest terrain (which the Soviets learned about the hard way in the Winter War), and are usually rated Veteran, even in the early war. They field a mix of Soviet, German, and WW1-era equipment. You need balls to play these guys, as you can't rely on numbers or special rules to win the day. Their armored company is considered one of the most challenging lists to play.

The Finns were on the Axis side until a ways into the Late War period, when they would appear fighting the Germans if you were to field them.

{{Finish Forces in Flames of War}}

===Hungary===

<s>The poor man's Germans</s> Very similar to Germany, but with unique organization and equipment. Have useful special rules that provide advantages in both attack and defense, and can take a lot of German equipment in the Late War. Their most famous vehicle is the kawaii-as-fuck Zrínyi assault gun.

{{Hungarian Forces in Flames of War}}

===Romania===

Mainly focused on infantry and cavalry, with hilariously underpowered vehicle options. They get random motivation like Italy, and can also take a lot of allied equipment. They are unique because they switch sides after being conquered by the Soviets in Late War, so Romanian players can choose between German or Soviet allies, while quietly wondering why they're using Early War equipment in 1944. Historically it is because, while there was an assistance agreement in place, [[That Guy|Germany handed them their cast-offs and captured Russian materiel while keeping the updated stuff for their own units]]. The Romanians, while having decent technology lacked the heavy industry to equip their entire army on their own, so they were actually relatively thankful for said cast-offs. Later on after they switched sides, the Reds didn't trust the lukewarm enthusiasm the Romanian king showed for [[Communism]], so they didn't want to heavily arm someone they already knew they would eventually have to deal with. Which happened two years later: the king was booted out, Romania became a full satellite of the USSR and (ironically) at that point received the same better materiel other USSR allies did.

{{Romanian Forces in Flames of War}}

===Poland===

The poor Poles have it even worse than the Finns. They have okay equipment, especially for Early War, but you will find yourself stretching to get your units to fit all the roles you need. You can try to impersonate the Soviets with masses of weak infantry, but their real advantage is in the great balance of their units. They can hold their own in assaults, and tend to excel in defense. In Late War, they have the legendary Armia Krajowa, which beats the Finnish armour company for the position of hardest list in the game. It's literally a bunch of armed civilians with whatever German stuff they could get their hands on, and it would come as no surprise if Sun Tzu himself couldn't win a game with them.

{{Polish Forces in Flames of War}}

NOTE: The game balance in this game is actually really good. There is no "best army," just strong lists. Lists are usually strong against one type of list and are countered by others. Eg: Commandos are an elite British list that are awesome against raping shit in melee, and are fearless veterans, but they are expensive and you can't take many of them, meaning you get absolutely raped by horde tank lists like the Russian lists.

==Homebrews==
[[Media:Abyssinia.pdf|"It Will Be You Tomorrow", covering the Second Italo-Abyssinian War in 1935-36.]]

[[Media:Them.pdf|"The Army of Man", a fun book that lets you pit your Flames of War army against some 1950s B-movie monsters.]]

Supposedly there is also a Falklands War homebrew in the works.

There is also a [[ Girl und Panzer ]] homebrew which is seriously in need of a new revision, which is designed to be it's own separate game. However, depending whether you are a truly pure-blood historical gamer or if you don't mind [[anime|animu]] this could be extra heretical.

There is a project to update V3 with some of the good rules changes from V4, and fix some of the jank (arty park). [https://jovianarchiver.com/v3-redone/ Link here.]

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Pacific.jpg|soviets actually have veterans now, which makes this one all the better. They also announced a release for the Pacific Campaign, which means this will all become true in 2016 March.
Image:Usarmoredrifles.jpg
Image:Germanartillery.jpg|what it's like using German tube artillery in-game.
Image:Zrinyi.jpg|damn those hungarians and their pancakes of death!
</gallery>

== External Links ==

* [http://www.flamesofwar.com/ Flames of War homepage]

[[Category: Wargames]]
[[Category:Battlefront Miniatures]]

Tank

2022-04-18T16:13:26Z

2A0A:8C43:0:0:0:0:0:6F: bold edit, per talk page to try and resolve the editwar by leaving this stuff for the dedicated military wikis (since this is tangential to /tg/ at best) we'll see if sticks or not

''Were you looking for the MMO role that gets applied to tabletop games? If so, we have that under [[Combat roles]]''

{{editwar}}

{{Topquote|'' Remember Comrades, we are tank!''
<br>''They take out treads, we are artillery!''
<br>''They take out main gun, we are pillbox!''
<br>''They take out machine gun, we are bunker!''
<br>''They take out armor, we are heroes!''
|A popular internet copypasta about a tank's various roles in a nutshell}}

{{Topquote|''It got in the way... and it died.''|Company of Heroes 2}}

[[image:Char_FT-17.jpg|thumb|300px|right|A French Renault FT-17 Tank, the first tank to have the rough layout that would be the norm for tanks (Crew in the front, top mounted 360 degree turret for main gun, engine in back)]]

A '''tank''' is a tracked, armored combat vehicle. The term is often limited to vehicles intended for direct combat, (e.g. as opposed to self-propelled artillery, which stay to the rear) or armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles, which are on the front line but are primarily tasked with carrying soldiers as opposed to fighting directly, and may not necessarily be tracked. Their invention revolutionized warfare in the 20th century, and any wargame set in or after that time period, or in alternate universes with similar or more advanced technology levels, will have plenty of attention devoted to them -- or to whatever made them obsolete (e.g. [[BattleTech]]).

The idea of an armored fighting vehicle dates back at least to [[wikipedia:Leonardo's fighting vehicle|Leonardo da Vinci]] and was explored by [[H. G. Wells]] and a few theorists, but the modern tank was proposed shortly before World War I, and was then spurred to production by the war itself. When the war on the Western Front got bogged down in trenches, the British Royal Navy, who had already had some success with mobile armoured car groups, had the idea to use tracked, armored vehicles with guns to break the stalemate. The name "tank" became attached to the vehicle as a codename to disguise the purpose of the large metal bodies being built. After the first tanks rolled onto the battlefield, other countries called them "battle wagons", "armors", "assault vehicles", and other more descriptive names, but the Anglosphere was stuck with calling them "tanks". (Interestingly, the original British Tank, which looked like a tractor with a metal box on top of it was called "Little Willy".)

==Common Features of the Tank==

Tanks were built with pretty much any set of features you could imagine, but over time, the militaries of the world settled on several common key features:

# One single main gun, carefully chosen so it is both powerful enough to knock out other tanks with armor-piercing shots and still able to use high-explosive shells to deal with 'soft' targets.
# A turret to house the main gun, to allow the tank to shoot at targets without having to pivot the entire vehicle.
# Good protection against most battlefield weapons, with a heavily-armoured front face to defeat anti-tank weapons.
# An engine with a lot of torque and horsepower to give it both decent acceleration and top speed. The ability to run on multiple types of fuel is a big plus.
# Tracks with independent long-travel suspension for each roadwheel, to improve mobility.
# '''A radio!'''

Basically, tanks boil down to three main features: firepower, defense, and mobility. Trying to specialize in one or two attributes tended to come at the expense of second or third attributes. The heavier your guns and/or armour, the slower the tank will be, for instance, while a vehicle made for mobility has to sacrifice either protection or the size of its guns. Nowadays, tanks designers try to maximize all three attributes by being cleverer about achieving their goals, with their main limitations being weight and profile. Additionally, a fourth factor to consider in design are support systems: while not necessarily integral to the design of a tank, they are nonetheless essential in allowing it to work as one, as evidenced by the radio.

===Offense===

As mentioned in the summary above, one of the if not ''the'' defining attribute of the modern tank is its main gun. A modern (i.e. third gen and up) main battle tank must be able to engage any threat it encounters on the battlefield (and occasionally flying above it), hence the gun itself is a carefully weighed compromise between raw firepower, versatility and overall mass. Nowadays most tanks sport a gun with a calibre between 100mm and 125mm. Said gun must be capable of firing a wide range of different projectile types: at the bare minimum, it should have ammunition specialized for dealing with hard targets such as opposing tanks, or soft targets such as infantry.

Historically though, this was not always the case. The very first tanks, like the british Mk.IV and the german A7V didn't really have a primary armament but were bristling with guns and machineguns. Initially, side-mounted sponsons were adopted for carrying armament because they could aim downwards into trenches. Obviously, as soon as trenches fell out of favour, so too did sponsons. Additionally, as an enemy tank will never be in said trench, [[Land Raider|mounting an anti-tank weapon in the sponson is utterly retarded.]]

The first one to figure out the 'definitive' solution as described above were the French with their Renault FT-17 (pictured above), the very first to adopt a turret for the main armament of the tank. While the FT-17 was plagued by a host of teething problems it's overall design was so efficient and cost-effective that ''absolutely everyone'' jumped upon the bandwagon at the end of WWI, and (almost all) the rest is history. Indeed, at one point all nations toyed with the idea of multi-turreted tanks or ''land battleship'' concept, [[Baneblade|whereby a tank would have multiple turrets each with their own weapon]]. The idea was that the tank could attack in all directions at once, but in practice this led to horribly oversized monstrosities that were less efficient than simply building more tanks with the same armament. The madness then died down and coalesced into two main lines of though right before WW2: The Americans, British and French limited the amount of guns to two on their heavier tanks, one bigger casemate-mounted howitzer to deal with infantry/pillboxes and one smaller turreted AT gun (see also Char B1, the early Churchills and the M3 Lee). The Germans on their side decided 'fuck it!' and just went for specialized tanks sporting either a small-bore long-barreled AT gun or a broad-bore short-barelled howitzer, and then just had both type collaborate on the battlefield (see early Pz.III and Pz.IV). And this went swimmingly for them, at least until the Russians finally entered the dance in 1941 and deployed the revolutionary T-34, whose 76mm gun demonstrated it was possible to have a tank gun both capable of tackling armour ''and'' blowing stuff up with explosive shells, setting the precedent that stands up to this day.

Once at that point, the overall design was definitively set and guns just got bigger and better from thereon. Starting with the Soviet T-62, they started to go from rifled to smoothbore guns. If you are in any way familiar with the development of gunpowder weapons, this may seem like a baffling decision, but there is a good reason. Anti-tank shot went from a simple lump of steel to sub-calibre munitions like APCR and APDS, as detailed on the [[cannon]] page. These essentially try to be better at penetrating by focusing more energy on a smaller area. A later development was APFSDS, the famous "Silver Bullet" or arrow-like penetrators which turned Saddam's tanks into ooey gooey explody Swiss cheesey. Likewise, they also started using HEAT shells, which are designed to use the power of a focused explosion to bore their way through armour; at one point, they were so effective that tanks were designed specifically around their use. Both of these munitions types actually ''suffered'' from the rotational forces imparted by a rifled barrel. For APCR, APDS, and APFSDS, rifling does not stabilize subcalibre rounds nearly as well; likewise, the shaped charge jet from HEAT shells doesn't hold together as well if it's spinning itself apart. Getting rid of the rifling solved a huge number of other problems: it made it easier to fire missiles out of the guns, and also meant that you could fire higher velocity projectiles without having to reline the bore more frequently. The main exception was HESH, which was essentially a shell full of plastic explosive that flattens itself against targets; upon detonation, it creates a shockwave that is transmitted through the material, causing it to break and shatter if concrete, or to spall off into deadly shrapnel if steel. The spin imparted by rifled barrels helps the explosive pat out more evenly, hence why it is still commonly used by the Brits in their tanks.

During the 1960s, there was an attempt to replace the gun with a missile or gun-missile system which... didn't quite pan out. The main problem is that to accommodate guidance systems, fuel, and all that jazz, missiles are a lot larger than an equivalent tank shell, which strictly limits the amount of ammunition that can be carried. Furthermore, limitations associated with the technology at the time (heavy and fragile hardware, minimum firing ranges) precluded their use on tanks. Future vehicles may carry railguns instead, pending the development of a sufficiently capable, lightweight power system and barrels that don't become slagged after like five shots or so.

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">
On a sidenote:
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
That said, while tanks began to coalesce around the turreted concept many remained turretless and as [[Wikipedia:Sturmgeschütz_III|the German StuG]] proves, were successful weapons in their own right. The lack of a turret does have some advantages thanks to how it lowers overall profile and allow for a larger gun to be mounted than could otherwise be the case. That said, a turret-less tank is only really useful if you don't have the money to make a turreted tank, don't have a bigger tank for your bigger gun, ''and'' will only be fighting on the defensive. The latter is the reason why the only guys ever serious about turretless tanks after WWII were the Swedes with their Stridsvagen 103, and the Germans, with their [[Jaguar Jagdpanzer|Kanonenjagdpanzer 90]]. Even today, many SPG's are still built turretless, however those 'support vehicles' aren't considered proper tanks as they lack both the armor and the tactical flexibilty to act as one.
</div>
</div>

In addition to the main gun, you also have the following secondary weapons:

*'''Machine guns:''' They've been around since the beginning, in some cases serving as primary weapons, and they're still around as secondary weapons on most armoured vehicles. They can be mounted pretty much anywhere: on the front of the hull, in its own turret on the hull, in the commander's cupola, on the side of the hull, on the back of the turret, beside the cannon (coaxial), or on top of the turret next to the hatch. The latter two are preferred for modern tanks: the coaxial can easily be used by the loader or gunner without having to change stations, and the top-mounted gun can be aimed pretty much anywhere around the tank, including at aircraft.

* '''Autocannons:''' The next step up from machine guns. Like machine guns, they've also served on primary weapons on more than a few tanks. After the Second World War however, they've tended to be relegated to the status of secondary armament, with potential use against light armoured vehicles and helicopters. Despite their obvious firepower advantages, most tanks don't have them, on account of being rather cumbersome and requiring a separate ammunition supply. The only places where you could feasibly mount them are coaxially alongside the main gun like the French [[AMX-30]]; otherwise, you'd have to create a separate compartment somewhere on the turret or hull, as was done with the experimental MBT-70, which had a retractable cupola for it.

* '''Grenade launchers:''' While tank cannons may fire high explosive shells of greater potency, an automatic grenade launcher has similar flexibility to a machine gun in urban environments, only with more firepower. Another form of grenade launcher is the smoke projector that many tanks incorporate as a defensive measure, but that's for later discussion.

* '''Mortar:''' Like the grenade launcher, a mortar on a tank can be handy for fire support. The Aussies took a page from the Germans' "mad genius" book and mounted a [[awesome|7-rounds 178mm spigot mortar]] on the back of a Matilda II tank, the idea being to give their infantry support tanks some serious close-range firepower for those cases something needed to be softened before an assault. That said, it didn't really take off: there were much more efficient ways of providing fire support separate from a tank, and the only reason it was worth bothering with was because many early-war British tanks of that period (like the Matilda) had extremely poor or even non-existent high-explosive shell capability. Nowadays, the only tank to feature a mortar is the [[Merkava]], which largely serves as a utility weapon for firing special munitions such as smoke or illumination rounds.

* '''Rockets:''' During the Second World War, a lot of countries experimented with mounting rockets on tanks, ranging from the various German ''Nebelwerfer'' attachments or the Calliope mounted on the American M4 Sherman. Like with the example of the Matilda II above, the point was to provide fire support in anticipation of an assault, or otherwise simply reuse obsolete tanks. They fell by the wayside for similar reasons, or were re-invented as dedicated artillery vehicles (like for instance the [[TOS-1 Buratino]]).

* '''Guided missiles:''' While attempts to use guided missiles as primary armament in tanks have largely failed to succeed ([[Pereh|with one exception]]), they are still being developed as a special munition designed to be launched out of the main gun. This provides tanks with an option to engage targets that are difficult to hit at distance with their main gun, which can include helicopters. Lighter tanks like the [[M551 Sheridan]] typically use guided missiles to give them an extra anti-armor punch when needed. Similarly, old Soviet tanks like the [[T55AM2]] are upgraded to fire advanced missiles as a way of extracting more usage from obsolete but otherwise functional equipment.

===Defense===

In general, tanks are designed to maximize their protection for a given weight. Initially, the only criteria during World War I was that tanks should be bulletproof... which they were, to some extent. While their armour might have been thick enough to deflect most bullets, poor quality steel and riveted construction meant that tank crew tended to get injured anyways by pieces of steel breaking off from repeated impacts. They also did jack squat against artillery, large bundles of grenades, poison gas, and flamethrowers; later in the war, the Germans developed special armour-piercing bullets and anti-tank rifles that could punch straight through.

Fast forward to the Second World War. Early on, you still had tanks that were so poorly armoured that they could be easily pierced in several places by heavy machine gun fire or special anti-tank rifles. As tanks got bigger and more capable however, they started to incorporate not only thicker, welded armour, but also a technique known as sloping. Basically, what this involved is the angling of armour plates to increase their line of sight thickness, so a 45mm plate angled at 45 degrees relative to an incoming shot would effectively have a thickness of 90mm. This technique was not unknown before the war, but the size limitations of earlier tanks made it difficult to implement, as sloped armour ate into usable interior space; it was also a little harder to build than just slapping everything together at right angles. Of course, then the T-34 came along and showed that sloping could make plates of even modest thickness repel any early or pre-war anti-tank weapon, and then on sloping became an integral feature for almost all tanks.

All seemed fine and dandy until some assholes started knocking together something called a shaped charge onto lightweight launchers that [[Tankbustas|a complete bunch of nutters could use to take out a tank]], creating weapons like the American M1 Bazooka or the German Panzerfaust. At some point during the Cold War, the increasing effectiveness of shaped charge weaponry made some designers throw up their hands and give up on providing maximum protection to their tanks. If the thickest armor you can put on a tank is going to get penetrated anyway then your best bet is not to armor it at all and focus on maximizing speed and minimizing profile to make sure you don't get hit to begin with. The German [[Leopard 1]] and French [[AMX-30]] were designed according to this principle, when it seemed like it would be impossible to defend against new HEAT shells. Others kept experimenting, and by the 1970s, people developed measures to deal with them, starting with the well-known principle of spaced armour, and then moving on to quartz and ceramic plates.

Nowadays, most modern tanks have good protection all around from most weapons, with a particularly heavily-armoured turret and front to resist dedicated anti-armor weapons. Most modern tanks have some form or another of composite armour, which consists of layers upon layers of spaced steel plates, ceramic tiles, kevlar liners, and so forth. The idea is that by putting these various materials together, you can achieve greater protection against most things for far less weight than an equivalent protection level of steel, though it does become quite bulky. How these materials exactly work together is not entirely known to even the most pretentious armchair generals. What can be said, however is that there are two big ways to defeat armour: punch through it with enough force (and, for an added treat, explode inside after that) or smash it with sufficient force it shatters and the debris ravage what is behind (somthing called 'spalling'). Thus, modern composites deflect brute-force projectiles away and have spall liners woven throughout to prevent spalling from killing the crew.

Below are a few devices and techniques utilized for defensive purposes:

*'''Smoke Dischargers:''' The little pipes or beehive-like clusters you see on the turrets and hull of the tank are smoke launchers, which fire a single salvo of smoke grenades upon activation. You may find the idea of trying to [[Creed|hide a tank]] ridiculous, but a good tank commander will know how to use smoke to mask their movements in case they need to make a hasty retreat, or to cover an advance into a more favourable position. However, they're also really, really good at fouling up enemy sensors (anywhere from optical to infrared) and guidance systems.

*'''Camouflage:''' Because the best defence is often not getting spotted until it is too late. Visual camouflage in the Second World War was extensively employed to either make them more difficult to spot or to obfuscate their silhouette. For the former, tanks would be painted in colours that helped blend in with their background; netting, foliage, and/or debris may be incorporated to complete the look. The latter works by deceiving the enemy into thinking that the tank they're seeing from aerial reconnaissance is actually a truck, or that the tank over there does not have a gun capable of turning your tank inside out. Dealing with non-visual spectrums such as infrared or radar detection require the use of special materials or paints that make tanks harder to pick out of the background.

*'''Reactive Armor:''' As per the name, they are designed to react to incoming projectiles. The most common form is what is known as Explosive Reactive Armor or ERA: essentially metal boxes with a small explosive charge sandwiched between two metal plates. When a sufficiently large projectile hits an ERA tile, it detonates, forcing the metal plates apart; this can disrupt a shaped charge jet before it has time to form. Later versions like the Russian Kontakt-5 and Relikt are capable of defending against APFSDS munitions by forcing the penetrator off course, dissipating its kinetic energy. In addition, there is also what is known as Non-Explosive Reactive Armour or NERA. Instead of an explosive charge, NERA incorporates an elastic material that is wedged between the two metal plates. Like ERA, it will react to attacks; however, instead of exploding, the sandwiched layer will expand, with similar effects on incoming projectiles to ERA. Compared to ERA, they have the distinct advantage of not exploding, which makes them safe to use around infantry, so they tend to be more like easily-replaceable armour tiles; modern-day composite armours may also incorporate them into their defence arrays to varying extent.

*'''Slat Armor:''' Due to how shaped-charge rounds work, they need to detonate at the right distance of the armor to punch through it. Something as simple as a metal cage surrounding you can prevent the shaped charge from doing much damage by just making it go off early or warping the detonator upon impact, rendering it useless.

*'''Improvised Armor:''' Just like its name says. During the Second World War, tank crew tried to bulk up armour with whatever they could find in the field. These can take the form of salvaged armor plates from other tanks and bedspring mattresses, or nothing more than basic materials like sandbags, wooden logs, or ooncrete. Ironically, many of these materials were probably ''worse'' than nothing: the added weight overstressed components and slowed down whatever tank they were mounted on. Moreover, due to defects in HEAT design at the time, they may have actually ''enhanced'' the effect of the warheads by causing them to detonate at the optimal distance, away from the tank's main hull.

*'''Active Protection System:''' An active protection system is a device that shoots down or deflects incoming anti-armor projectiles. It takes two forms. The first is an electronics countermeasure system that detects incoming guided missiles and attempts to trick them into ''not'' hitting the tank, usually by messing with their guidance systems. The other type involves an active radar scanner linked together with a launcher or projectile weapon of some sort; when it detects an incoming projectile larger than a bullet, it calculates its incoming trajectory and then fires a projectile which destroys it mid-flight.

*'''Spaced Armor:''' Spaced Armor is what it sounds like. Armor with a large gap. This gap helps dissipate the shaped charge. The most obvious examples are goofy-looking thin plates around a WWII German tank's turret and tracks (''Schürzen'' or skirts). Although they were initially designed to deflect light AT guns and rifles, they may have had some effect against HEAT warheads, at least according to some people. Whatever was the case, it has been well-established that trying to force a shaped charge to travel through three feet of air will protect a tank far better than a foot of armour. Usually incorporated as one aspect of modern composite armour.

===Mobility===
Another major aspect of the modern tank is mobility. While early WWI behemoths like the British Mark I and the German A7V were content to lumber slowly forward with all guns blazing at the enemy, the need for higher speed and better cross-country capacity soon became apparent. Mobility in general is dependent on four major components, namely: the tracks, the suspension, the transmission and steering mechanism and the engine itself.

*Track design is as integral to the identity of a tank, as it allows it to move around without sinking into the ground. Modern tracks are so good at their job that a tank imparts a lower ground pressure (or weight per square inch on the surface) than an automobile tyre or a human foot. That said, they are a also a significant weak spot: they can break or slip off, leading to a complete loss of traction, and a stopped tank is a dead tank. Nowadays, tracks often use the so called "slack-track" approach: a number of road wheels low to the ground transfer the weight of the tank to the track, two sprocket wheels (one in front and one at the rear) transfer the motive energy to the track and a couple of return wheels on top keep the whole track tense while in use. (Other arrangements have been used historically, but they fell by the wayside due to either fragility, or being too maintenance-intensive.) Efforts are made to keep the height of the whole track assembly as low as possible, as no matter how cool the [[Wikipedia:Mark I tank|British Mark I]] looked, running the tracks over the top of the body is begging for a mobility kill. (Though to be fair to the Mark I, it needed its high tracks to cross trenches, and since it came first, there weren't really any weapons that could specifically take advantage of its exposed tracks at the time.)

*Even more than the tracks themselves, suspension is what allows tanks to travel easily over all terrain, absorbing all of the bumps and lumps. The earliest tanks did not have any suspension. By the Second World War however, you had vehicles using varying arrangement of helical and leaf springs to smooth the ride out a little. Most tanks now employ what is called torsion bar suspension, which translates the up-and-down movement of the roadwheel into a metal bar designed to resist twisting. A few newer models employ hydropneumatic suspension, which can be adjusted to cope with softer or harder terrain, as well as adding a few more degrees of elevation or depression for aiming the main gun.

*Transmission and steering of a tracked vehicle is quite complex in execution, however it is conceptually quite simple: turning is accomplished by accelerating one of the tracks and slowing/stopping the other one. While there have been many different combinations of engines/driveshafts/clutches/brakes to obtain this since the first WWI vehicles, modern tank design boils down to two concepts: Russian/Chinese ones favor two separate transmissions, one for each track; while Western ones prefer the so-called 'double differential' approach that adds a second driveshaft and idler sprocket wheel to each track that can be used to speed/slow it. One big advance of the modern tank (and tracked vehicle in general) is the so-called 'neutral steering' that allows the tracks to turn in opposite directions and the vehicle to easily and quickly turn on the spot, something a wheeled one would be hard-pressed to accomplish as quickly and smoothly (if at all).

* As for the engines, most tanks designed prior to the Second World War but after the First World War utilized the same engines as trucks and buses (cheap but underpowered), while a few settled on downrated airplane engines (lots of power but unreliable). At the start of the war, only the Germans dedicated engine production for military vehicles (which led to problems that we won't get into here) but it was the Soviets who would later take the cake, with the relatively lightweight yet powerful diesel Model V-2 in the T-34 (seeing a pattern here?) that would go onto to power almost all of their tanks. Most tanks nowadays go for diesels but a few use turbines. A diesel has the advantage of being fuel-efficient but with a rather poor power-to-weight ratio, while turbines run on nearly anything flammable and have much better power-to-weight ratio and are quieter, but are ''very'' thirsty and their much hotter exhaust can present some trouble to camouflage the vehicle against IR sensors and hazard to accompanying infantry. In the interest of making warfare more environmentally friendly, we may eventually see tanks driven by electrical power and hydrogen-fuelled turbines.

By nature, tanks have some wading capability, capable of going through water that would stop your average automobile dead. To go through deeper waters usually requires extensive modifications. The first truly amphibious tanks for instance, required canvas screens to be attached for flotation, along with a propeller driven by the tank's own engine. Presently, a few tanks, most of them Russian, have the capability to be driven completely underwater, provided that they're provided with a snorkel.

===Support===

In addition to the essential three attributes of offence, defence, and mobility, tanks rely on a whole host of systems to be tanking. While none of them are strictly speaking indispensable, those extra systems are what turn a tank from a mobile pillbox fighting on its own into a force multiplier able to support their fellow soldiers and efficiently outmanoeuver and take out what has the misfortune of being in front of them. Any modern tank design will weigh the pro's and contra's of outfitting the vehicle with said systems. Where some are a given other's aren't, and it will often boil down to intended use, economics and local limitations.

*'''Communications:''' The most vital improvement on this list, it comes in two distinct parts both equally important.
**'''Internal Communication''' An intercom is extremely important inside a tank because, well, tanks are '''[[Noise Marines|LOUD]]''', and it's the only way for the crew to talk to each other without going hoarse yelling at each other. And it's not a joke: before the advent of intercom the commander often had to kick the driver on the left or right shoulder to indicate the direction he wanted him to turn because even yelling wasn't working with the ruckus of the moving tank. Modern intercoms often have double and sometimes even triple-redundant systems, because it is that important for the commander to tell his driver where to go and his gunner where to shoot.
**'''External Communication''' Another not be overstated improvement is keeping in touch with other tanks as well as whoever is in charge. Having a system to coordinate multiple units determines whether or not a tank is a rolling pillbox or a decisive, mobile weapon of war. Inter-war tanks often relied on flag signals with only the company leader having a radio for coordination , but in the early thirties some guy named Guderian ordered "Each vehicle must have its own radio; no exceptions!" and the rest is history. Indeed, in both the battle for France and the early Operation Barbarossa the German tanks were outnumbered, undergunned and underarmored compared to their opponents but thanks to their radios, they were able to outmaneuver the enemy and take them apart. Queue everyone doing the same (even if Soviet tank crews actually communicated mostly in kicks and flags until well into 1943 because early Soviet radios were shit tier and tended to break in the first minute of every goddamn engagement), and still doing it today. The major improvement modern communication systems have brought is the ability to transmit not only voices but also data, which makes keeping everyone informed of the whereabouts of one's allies and enemies much faster and easier.
***'''IFF''' Piggybacking on the improved communications and electronics of modern vehicles, the "Identification, Friend or Foe" system is basically a nifty little system that transmits a 'I'm a friend, don't shoot me.' signal to any other unit in the vicinity when queried and (if all goes well, for it is not always 100% reliable, especially amongst multi-nation task forces) will prevent friendly fire incidents.

*'''Detection:''' Tanks have notoriously bad situational awareness, so people came up with solutions to improve it. The most basic instrument is of course, Eyeball Mk. I, initially relying on either vision slots, optical instruments such as periscopes, or the commander poking his head outside of the tank. In WWII, the Germans installed an armored cupola with vision slits atop the turret in order to improve the commander's sight while 'buttoned up'; near the end, they also came up with primitive infrared illuminators as well. Nowadays, you have an array of cameras, night-vision, and infrared/thermal imagers to give you a clearer picture of things.

*'''Fire Control:''' Another big chunk, fire control regroups any and every system meant to improve the main gun's accuracy and reduce the time between target acquisition and actually blasting it to smithereens. The first tanks did not have really anything in the way of such, seeing as they were meant to be used up close with the enemy. However, when it became clear tanks would be called upon to deal with other tanks, improvements were sought in roughly three different and complementary directions: improving accuracy at range, improving accuracy while on the move and improving accuracy when firing at a moving target. There are many historical attempts to achieve this, below you'll find a list of the most common historical ones, all culminating in the modern computerized fire control system.

**'''Sights:''' By the outbreak of WWII, tanks commonly used telescopic sights with stadiametric indicators for ranging; think a rifle scope, but adapted for the tank's gun. The indicators allowed for a precise compensation for the target's range and movement, however the scope by itself had no way to measure said values; and those were often left to the crew's experience, pre-battle reconnaissance and educated guesswork to determine.
**'''Ranging Shot:''' Laugh if you want, but an experienced gunner could use a quick burst from one of the tank's machineguns to make a decent estimate of the range to target and quickly compensate for the follow-up shot from the main gun. Sure, it was crude, but it worked pretty well for what it was. The British went a step further and attached ballistically-matched spotting rifles to their tank guns, where firing solution was confirmed by a tracer impact on target (the American M60 'Ontos' did it in 'nam as well).
**'''Rangefinder:''' As tank warfare rolled into the Cold War, people became more interested in ensuring first-shot accuracy, so tank designers once again took a page from the navy and started mounting dedicated optical rangefinders. Modern ones are laser-based and quicker to operate, but in essence the very same.
**'''Stabilizer:''' Essentially, this is a mechanism for keeping your main gun pointed in the right direction while moving. Initially, this wasn't seen as necessary, particularly since early designs didn't work that well: the one mounted on the American M4 Sherman tank for instance, only compensated for vertical movement. But as we've said earlier, a stopped tank is a dead tank, and moving makes it harder for you to be hit. Thus, even the earlier iteration became a critical time-saver, enabling the gunner to more quickly aim and fire after the tank comes to a stop. Later designs providing all-around stabilization have become essential for modern tanks, allowing for accurate firing while on the move.
**'''Ballistic Computer:''' A modern development allowing for the gunner to accurately compensate for the target's movement (and other factors if necessary), especially when his tank is moving as well.

Nowadays, tanks come with what are known as fire control systems, which comprise a suite of devices solely dedicated to ensuring main gun accuracy. They combine laser rangefinders to very accurately determine distance to target (assuming that the latter isn't obscured by obstacles, foliage, dust, smoke, or whatever), stabilizers and a ballistic computer into which information regarding the target's range, heading, and speed are inputted to come up with a firing solution far more quickly and accurately than a human ever could.

*'''Autoloader:''' A mechanism for automatically loading shells into the main gun, obviating the need for a loader. This is less of an obvious decision than it would seem. For decades, human loaders were actually regarded as better than mechanical loaders because they were generally faster and better: most early autoloaders had to depress the gun to a minimum elevation before loading and had difficulty switching between different types of shells. An autoloader that is put out of action by mechanical failure or damage will either make the cannon more difficult to load by hand or at worst, render it entirely inoperable, requiring extensive repairs in order to be restored to fighting condition. Plus, as mentioned in the previous section, having a human loader lends versatility and redundancy to a tank crew, as the loader could function as an additional pair of eyes and hands whenever needed. Initially, the main advantage to automating the loading process was that you could afford to have one less crew member, thus reducing overall weight. Newer developments however, can easily match or surpass human loaders in terms of loading speed, with the additional benefit of never tiring.

*'''Remote Weapon Systems''' The pintle-mounted gun is great for clearing out and suppressing infantry because it can rotate 360 degrees and is at the top of the tank, so it has a bird's-eye view of the area. Unfortunately, popping your head out to shoot at people makes you a prime target for snipers. A solution for this is having the pintle gun be virtually controlled from the inside by a remote weapon system, so the gunner can still shoot at targets without threat of catching a bullet in the face the moment they peek out of the hatch. Granted the gun itself can still be shot, but it's a lot easier to replace a machine gun than a trained crewman. The aforementioned blurb regarding replacing the MG with grenade launchers also apply here.

*'''Air Conditioning System/Climatization:''' Yes, I can already hear you laughing. First, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1rXLhow1Ro watch this 30 seconds video.] Then imagine having to ride/fight into a vehicle getting that hot for hours, you'll get the point. An airco is not strictly speaking mandatory, depending on where your tank is operating. But many modern designs include one by default, as it is an easy way to improve crew morale and efficiency.

*'''Automatic Fire Extinguisher''' Fire in the hull? No problem. Tap a button or just wait a few seconds, and in the Abrams' case, Halon gas at 7% puts it out.

*'''Damage Control:''' A big problem with tanks is them tanks going up from the ammunition being detonated when hit. The remains of the crew would be... messy, to say the least. Frequently they would be buried all together in a matchbox. So, once again, we came up with way to limit that happenstance.
**'''Common Sense, Better Training and Improved Logistics:''' Early in WWII, the doctrine called for full combat load and crews tended to cram in a generous extra helping of fuel, ammo and spare parts in their tanks, "just in case". This turned their tanks into mobile explosion hazards (just imagine a Sherman chock full of over 120 shells, 5000 MG rounds, extra fuel drums lashed to it... you get the idea). To remedy this, combat loads were lowered, logistics were improved to make sure tanks could be repaired and resupplied easily, and crews drilled to take on no more than needed for the mission; which led to a marked decrease in such big booms.
**'''Welded Armor:''' Toyed with by all belligerents, the idea was to weld extra armor plates on the outside of where the ammo racks were. Which was a double-edged sword: it added protection, but was also an unmistakable 'shoot here for full effect' sign. Quickly abandoned when it became clear guns would improve faster than armor.
**'''Ready-Rack and Secondary Ammo Stowage:''' The idea here is that the gunner/loader only keep around 'a handful of shells' (between 6 and 10 shells depending on the tank) inside the turret in easy reach, and the rest of the ammo stocked in armored compartments near the bottom of the tank, where the tracks/wheels/transmission/engine would work as that much added armor. The reasoning being that if a shot was powerful to reach the ammo stocked there in the least vulnerable part of the vehicle, the tank was fucked every way to Sunday anyway; and the decrease in rate of fire when the ready-rack needs restocking was an acceptable drawback for the improved protection. This concept is still in use on modern Russian/Chinese tanks, who have a rotating ammo carrousel at the bottom of the tank.
**'''Wet Storage:''' Ammo compartments surrounded by a reservoir full of a mix of glycerine and salt water that would flood the ammo compartment if breached and buy time for the crew to bail out by delaying the cook-off. Good idea that worked good enough (lowering the risk of a cook off by about 30% when first introduced with the M4A3E8 Easy Eight Sherman) but ultimately more hassle than it was worth, and dropped after WWII. But...
**'''Blowout Ammo Compartment:''' The idea of 'wet storage', adapted for modern tanks. They're basically compartments that blow outwards when the ammunition is hit and begin to burn; they vent the bang away from the main body of the machine, thus saving the million dollar tank (and the squishy but almost equally expansive meatbags inside). Sure, the tank must retreat to restock ammo, a new storage bin and some tuning up; but it can still fight with a small repair... if your ammo storage compartment wasn't open the moment it was hit.

*'''NBC protection:''' Because [[Nurgle|war never ceases to become dirtier]], modern vehicles are outfitted with a system that creates overpressure in the crew compartment and circulate air through a filtration device to protect against any nuclear, bacteriological or chemical agents outside.

==Crewmen==

Unlike a car or most combat airplanes, a tank isn't something that one person can fully operate alone (at least for today's standards). It is a large, complex machine that requires multiple people with specific tasks to keep it working. Never discount the importance of a well-trained crew, as they can be every bit as important as the selection of equipment. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HV2nIkqnGBI While technically feasible] to operate a tank with only two people (a driver and a gunner, as was the case with the Renault FT), it’s much more practical to have more people per tank to divide the workload, especially since a successful tank battle is heavily determined by the time it takes to get off a successful shot. Early tanks were envisioned as 'landships' and had a crew of around ten men, but most tanks today have a crew of three or four, with some crewman having multiple duties to keep things as streamlined as possible.

*'''Commander''' The commander is the one who issues orders to all crewmen. Their main responsibilities for the tank are navigating for the driver, spotting targets for the gunner, and coordinating everyone to work as one well-oiled deathmachine. They're also the one who typically mans the hatch-mounted machine gun when needed. In modern times, they are also responsible for the radio, which gives them the responsibility of coordinating with other tanks or infantry as well.
*'''Driver''' Maneuvers the tank, but with a twist. Because the driver is typically near the bottom of the tank he only can see in front of him unless he sticks his head out of a hatch; his peripheral vision borders on the non-existent. Because of that, they have to rely on the commander for precise maneuvers when the tank is traveling at full speed. That said, it is still possible for a driver to maneuver the tank on his own (yay for vision slits and/or cameras). In modern times, they also double up as the crew's mechanic.
*'''Gunner''' Operates the tank's main cannon(s) and coaxial machine gun, again with a small twist. He's responsible for aiming the guns where they need to shoot and firing when appropriate. They can also double as a loader if one's not available. But because the gunsight is quite narrow they can only make fine adjustments on their own and so need the Commander to spot the target and give them the rough direction in which to point the gun in the first place for them to acquire it and blow it up. A tank typically only needs 1 gunner, but older models that have more than 1 main cannon (like the WW1 British Mark tanks) required a gunner for each gun.
*'''Loader''' Assists the gunner by loading the appropriate ammunition into the main gun. Loaders are less common in modern tanks due to rise of autoloaders these days, but older tanks needed them to perform efficiently and the extra man has advantages his own. These include helping in field repairs and helping fuel the tank up and in the Abrams' case manning a second pintle gun.
*'''Mechanic''' Responsible for fixing up the tank when it breaks down (well, the whole crew pitches in but he's the guy with the knowledge). In later years to ease space concerns; the driver typically doubles as the crew's mechanic.
*'''Radio Operator''' Operates the radio and relays any orders and communications with friendly forces to the commander. Due to advancements in radio technology; radio operators are no longer needed in modern tanks as the commander can do that on their own these days.

==Types of Tanks==

Whether it's real or fantasy, tanks are classified from their weight and/or armament profile. A modern catch all term for all purpose built and improvised combat vehicles, not necessarily tanks, is Armored Fighting Vehicle (AFV). Here are the common ones:

===Not Actually Tanks===

Despite having treads and a gun, the following vehicles are not considered tanks. The difference is that tanks are designed for frontline combat, while other vehicles with treads are designed to carry and support infantry (APC/IFV), bombard enemy positions with heavy artillery (SPGs), or act as general support weapon systems. Many of these vehicles are light enough to be deployed by aircraft, giving them an edge over tanks in response time to emerging threats. If it isn't a purpose built chassis, they are frequently based on the previous or current tank being used to simplify logistics.

*'''Armored Personnel Carrier''' APCs are light vehicles designed to carry infantry and not much else. They're usually given a heavy machine gun to support the infantry they're carrying into battle and to defend itself, but they're highly unlikely to have more firepower than that. They're designed to protect against small arms fire, not tank shells. Unlike IFVs, APCs are not expected to fight on the front due to their lackluster protection and armaments. However, they're sometimes also amphibious, something that the vast majority of tanks are not, allowing for both seafront assaults and quick getaways down waterways. Don't expect anything bigger than a HMG (that being under 20mm, usually also under or equal to 15mm) and a grenade launcher. Very rarely a low caliber (20 to under 25mm) autocannon may be present. May have a couple ATGMs (Anti Tank Guided Missile) to suppress the enemy but it isn't designed to stay in a firefight, an APC is first and foremost a transport.
Examples: [[Rhino]], [[M113 Armored Personnel Carrier|M113]], Namer (notably, it is based on the Merkava, an MBT, and has unusually tough armor)

*'''Self-propelled gun (SPG)''' Vehicles armed with artillery weapons designed to bomb the enemy back into the stone age, ranging from howitzers, mortars, or missile systems. Typically built similarly to tanks, but sacrifice armor for their heavy guns since in normal circumstances they should be too far away to get shot at directly. Not to mention that some artillery pieces have a minimum range where they can drop their payload; thus, the SPG needs to put some distance between them and their target so that they can be in effective range. The advantage to having such artillery on an actual vehicle rather than being stationary, is that counter-battery fire can threaten static guns, while mobile guns can safely get out of the danger zone once they've delivered their payload. Self-propelled guns typically carry a 150+mm Howitzer, much larger than what any proper tank would carry. While mobile rocket platforms such as the [[BM-21 Hail]] or MLRS are more popular than Self-propelled guns and are capable of absolutely soaking an area in rocket spam, the SPG has the advantage of being able to sustain fire for longer periods of time. Besides that, most SPGs can also depress the barrel enough to engage something directly which can be useful in some situations (avoiding collateral damage, for instance). Do note that standard operating procedure for SPGs is to <s>leg it like a little bitch</s> tactically redeploy if the enemy close on their position: even if they carry a big gun, they are not front-line capable vehicles. Direct engagement is avoided even if a huge shell will ruin a punk's day just fine. May have a machine gun or two just in case (and theoretical anti-air in older models, mostly enough to scare them off with a burst of tracers), or an autocannon if the armed force is particularly passive aggressive and has money to blow on useless overkill.
Examples: [[Basilisk Artillery Gun]], [[M109 Howitzer]]

*'''Self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG)''' Tank-like vehicles armed with weaponry designed to shoot aircraft out of the sky to provide mobile anti-air cover. There are only three real ways to shoot a very fast moving aircraft out of the sky. [[Dakka|First you can use as many rapid fire guns as you can to fill the air with as many bullets as you can and hope for one hit]]. Second, you can fire one big shell up into the air and at a certain height have it explode spraying shrapnel around it self to score the one hit you need, this are known as Anti Air Artillery, and are known in the English world by the name the Germans used during World War 2, flak. Both have been superseded by AA missiles which can track a target and put that shrapnel warhead closer to the target than just guess work and a slide rule can. Others use both guns and SAMs. As a sidenote, flak tanks (and half-tracks) equipped with heavy machine guns and small autocannons have a nasty reputation as being infantry trouncers as multiple barrels spewing lead at high speed will turn soft ground targets into mulch very quickly. Indeed, both the M19 MGMC and the M42 Duster were primarily used in this role despite having been envisioned as point-defense SPAAGs. That role had something of a heyday between WW2 and Vietnam, with the quad mount 50 cal M45's being nicknamed Kraut Mover and the twin 40mm's of the M42 being used to lumberjack VC hiding in treelines. Modern variants mostly have guided missiles and the BRRRRT variants are usually not mounted on tanks.
Examples: [[Hydra Flak Tank]], [[ZSU 23-4 Shilka]]

*'''Infantry Fighting Vehicle''' Known as IFVs, these almost-tanks are capable of transporting infantry forces, while being armored and armed enough to be of support to the field, unlike light tanks. However, unlike true tanks, IFVs can't be expected to stand up to enemy armor. Modern IFV's can have anti tank missiles, but with their tin can armor, going toe to toe with a main battle tank is suicide and so it supports regular tanks or takes on enemy armor in emergencies. While APCs and IFV can share similar roles and armaments today, the main way to distinguish them is with their main gun: anything that has a main gun smaller than 25mm is classed as an APC, and anything higher is an IFV. IFVs are designed to stay and fight (though not toe to toe with enemy tanks) and act as direct fire support. Effectively, when comparing a squad with an IFV vs a squad with an APC, the later is an infantry squad with a transport, the former is a (light) tank that can dismount some of its crew.
Examples: [[Chimera Transport|Chimera]], [[Razorback]], most [[Land Raider]] patterns, [[BMP]], [[Bradley_Fighting_Vehicle|M2 Bradley]]

*'''Armored Reconnaissance Vehicle''' In some ways they can be confused for IFVs in that these vehicles are similarly equipped and focus on mobility, and may even have limited troop capacities. But where they mainly differ is in doctrinal use: Armored Recon is mainly used to provide independent support to a recon team rather than support front-line troops. As such, troop carrying capacity isn't as necessary if it has any at all. See below the Infantry vs Cavalry Tank distinction as it can apply here as well, since modern cavalry units use such vehicles. Some IFV's share a base chassis with ARVs , those ARVs are usually called Cavalry Fighting Vehicles (CFV).
Examples: [[Salamander Reconnaissance Tank]], [[LAV-25]], [[M113 MRV]], [[Bradley_Fighting_Vehicle|M3 Bradley]]

*'''Tank Destroyer''' Tank destroyers are specialist armor designed for one thing in mind: knocking out armor and not much else. Some are turreted, and some aren't. Most modern ones use guided missiles, all historical and some modern use cannons. What makes them not tanks is a matter of technicality. Tanks are designed for general military purpose (so useful for a range of tasks) while tank destroyers are for only one thing, destroying armor (especially on vehicles). After World War 2 we figured out that since tanks fought other tanks so often anyway tank destroyers don't really make sense so we upgraded the guns on regular tanks, while the role of “Light Anti-Armor Vehicle” was taken by ATGM carriers, which being mostly modified LAVs, have the ability to kill tanks while being very mobile and easy to transport. A handful of cannon-armed Tank Destroyers still exist, some tracked, others wheeled, but they're a rare breed. They tend to be considered for use with airborne troops in need of anti-armor capability (since a proper tank tends to be too heavy to airdrop) and for certain strategic mobility concerns.
Examples: [[Leman Russ Battle Tank#Destroyer Tank Hunter|Destroyer Tank Hunter]], [[Leman Russ Battle Tank#Leman Russ Vanquisher|Leman Russ Vanquisher]], [[M901 ITV]]

*'''Assault guns''' Similar to tank destroyers, assault guns differ in one important way: instead of an anti-tank gun, they're armed with a anti-building weapon, frequently a howitzer. These tended to be fairly big and fairly heavy compared to SPGs, because they're made to get in close to heavy fortifications. After World War 2 assault guns became light air-dropped weapons to support airborne troops if they encountered hard targets. They are comparatively very rare in modern orders of battle. Most that remain are in the Third World (usually WW2 Soviet vintage, they made a LOT of things).
Examples: [[Vindicator]], [[Leman Russ Battle Tank#Leman Russ Demolisher|Leman Russ Demolisher]]

===Proper tanks===
*'''Male/Female''' A very, Very, Very early design and designation of tank done only really during the first world war when the British were still trying to figure out how this whole tank thing worked. The difference is obvious, male tanks have cannons, and female tanks have only machine guns. In modern time however Gendering Tanks is completely obsolete since, almost by definition a tank has a cannon so making tanks without cannons is a rather silly. Nether the less you can point to a few very light tanks as being in the same vein as the British female tanks, but only if small caliber autocannons count as machine guns.

*'''Tankettes''' Less of a tank and more of an armored clown car with guns; these were in vogue for a while in the 1930s. They're essentially a one or two-person tank, armed with machine guns, flame throwers, or anti-tank rifles and not designed to move much faster than the infantry around them (except for the italians, whose [[Wikipedia:L3/35|cute lil' buggers]] could reach a respectable speed). They're generally made to act as mobile infantry support or anti-tank weapons. Needless to say, this idea didn't stick because when even a high-caliber machine gun (which WW2 was rife with) could penetrate the armor of the tank, making it useless in straight-up combat. Only the Japanese extensively used them during WW2, which made some sense as most of their combat theater is in jungles that would bog-down full-sized tanks (Plus their doctrine emphasized more on air and naval superiority, with them island-hopping during their conquests). Tankettes however, were still fielded in limited quantities after WW2 due to their light weight that allowed them to be safely air-dropped, mainly for non-front line use like tank destroyers, AA guns, and recon vehicles. The only tankette still in use is the German Sedan-sized Wiesel, an airdropped scout vehicle. In effect, the smallest of the tankettes with a crew of one were an attempt to make an individual soldier into a one man tank to allow them to support their comrades. [[Power Armour|Sounds]] [[Centurion Squad|familiar]], [[Terminator|doesn't]] [[Battlesuit|it]]?
Examples: [[Sentinel]] (effectively)

*'''Light Tank''' These are lightly armored tanks that sacrifice armor and firepower for maneuverability. They are not meant to be front-line combat tanks, as their armaments are usually too underpowered to go against heavier vehicles, rather they're usually relegated to reconnaissance duties and infantry support. Light tanks would carry guns that ranged from 37mm-45mm, though some early German Panzers were only equipped with machineguns. Some modern equivalents serve as Scout Tanks which are usually capable of paradrops.
Examples: [[Siegfried]], [[M551 Sheridan]]

*'''Heavy tank''' The big boys, armed with the biggest guns and the thickest armor. Heavy tanks are what you send to crack an enemy defensive line as they slowly (or not-so slowly, as German and American heavies could reach similar speeds as their mediums) rumbled forward, guns blazing, destroying anything in sight... Except eventually Medium tanks, which split the difference between light and heavy tanks having more firepower than the former and more mobility then the latter, are just more cost effective and Heavy tanks are not too much better than improved mediums, which evolved into the main battle tank. Some heavy tanks were actually variants of medium tanks with heavier armor and/or guns, most notably those of the M4 Sherman. Heavy tanks typically carried 88mm-122mm cannons, with the IS-7 carrying a 130mm beast. The IS-7 wasn't adapted in favor of the T-10 (renamed after Stalin kicked the bucket) which had an improved 122. Along with the American M103 and British Centurion, it was in the last gen of heavy tanks.
Examples: [[Sicaran Battle Tank]]

*'''Main Battle Tank/Medium tank''' Medium tanks, which were generally made to carry guns close to a heavy with mobility not far off a light, evolved into main battle tanks. These would become the primary tank for modern nations by combining high speed, adequate armor and most of all a powerful gun. MBT's are not as heavy as we could theoretically make a tank (although modern advances like reactive armor plates, have allowed them to still be as survivable as true heavies, while springing for a modern heavy could make it theoretically unkillable in a slugging match but vulnerable to guided munitions) but their speed makes up for it and they act as the spearhead of an assault force designed to create and exploit a gap in enemy defenses to allow massed mechanized forces to rush though the gap. Interwar and early WWII mediums usually had 37mm or 50mm cannons. WWII era medium tanks carried 75mm-90mm cannons, first generation (basically optimised mediums that still had a few optimised heavies accompanying them), second gen and the very first gen 3 MBTs typically had 105mm guns, and second gen retrofits and proper third gens (the modern generation of tanks, with the very newest named 3+ or 4) generally have a minimum cannon size of 120 mm or so, with the Russians coming in with 125's that can fire ATGMs and Rheinmetall building 130mm guns to counter them (there was also a test variant of the M1 Abrams with a 140mm gun). Even when Lasers, Railguns and green energy military vehicles become common. The MBT will be what most people think of as a tank for decades to come. So they'll be the mainstay until hover technology is affordable, on the dime taxpayers of course.
Examples: [[Leman Russ Battle Tank]], [[M1 Abrams]]

*'''Infantry/Cavalry tank''' A British and French design doctrine, the theory for the design goes like this. Infantry tanks support infantry, (hence the name) and therefore they don't need to go fast and can carry heavy armor while their guns did not have to be terribly strong to support the infantry. However they were too slow to use the line breaks they created (a problem in World War 1) hence the need for the Cavalry tank. Cavalry or cruiser tanks were much, much lighter and were designed to move fast and rush though a gap the Infantry tanks made but could not use and create havoc behind enemy lines cutting communication, destroying supplies, etc. The idea was sound, however technology advanced so that Cruiser tanks could have the armor of a infantry tank without the slowness, and infantry tanks could have the speed of the Cruiser's meaning the distinction became meaningless, though it did go through WW2 as the Universal Tank concept, while recognized as the future, needed a few years of design and industrial spooling. Before World War II, Russia had a similar idea for three different types of tanks, a breakthrough tank acting as an infantry tank, one tactical breakthrough tank, and a 'fast tank' to exploit gaps. This too was abandoned in WW2 when the improved mediums proved well enough to make the distinction obsolete. The Cavalry tank role has been pretty much taken over by airdropped armored vehicles such as IFVs or Tank Destroyers.

*'''Flame tank''' a tank (going from tankette to heavy, all types were used in WWII) with a [[meme|werfer zat werf flammen]] instead of a big gun as main weapon. Only used in the 1920s-1950s as they were quickly rendered obsolete (it was more cost-effective and just as efficient to have standard tanks have a flamethrower as a coaxial gun), though incendiary weapons of various sorts are still used today, mainly in artillery roles. Typically unpopular with both forces using and opposing them for many reasons: the implications of this weapon were very harsh as the typical man-portable flamethrower has a range of 60 meters max (video games lied to ME?!) and their heavy mechanized versions could reach most of a quarter mile with their concentrated hydraulic spray of diesel fuel. Flame tanks were supposed to start with a "Wet fire", basically spraying the fuel without igniting it into bunkers or fortifications to get enemy units to realize just how hard they were fucked, really weren't protected from the coming blaze at all and in turn they would surrender before being cooked to death. Which a vast majority actually did when '''''hosed with gasoline'''''. The problem was that, due to either open fighting, soldiers that just wouldn't surrender or sadistic crews/commanders, the weapons were often fired outright the first time around to horrific physical and psychological impact on both sides - burning, screaming soldiers, the fumes making crews sick, thick diesel smoke inhalation or oxygen depletion asphyxiating those in poorly ventilated areas (especially caves in the Pacific Front) and the smell of burnt human flesh permanently seared in their minds meant that instant life derailing post-traumatic stress disorder was a very common side effect of witnessing a flame tank in action. Another was that flame tank crews that were captured were usually subjected to torture and summary revenge executions. In the end, flame tanks are remembered as a job nobody wanted to do, an enemy nobody wanted to face, a weapon that accomplished little that soldiers using the man-portable variety (which already had a bad rep' but was begrudgingly tolerated by soldiers as tactically necessary to avoid chemical warfare, nobody in their right mind wanted to clear caves out directly) could not do and pushed the propaganda and soldier's beliefs forward that the enemy truly were barbarians and made of evil, all pushed ahead because a Commissa -- I mean General far removed from the field said they were necessary. Real life Grimdark indeed.
Examples: L3/35 "Lanciafiamme", M3 "Satan", M4 "Crocodile", Flammpanzer III, Churchill Crocodile, Kliment Voroshilov model 8, OT-34, technically any tank with incendiary or thermobaric ammo

*'''Super Heavy Tank''' Superheavies were conceived in World War I, essentially using the term "landship" literally. Armed with giant cannon (sometimes multiple ones, and usually reserved for artillery or battleships) and armor plating so heavy, you'd mistake it for a fortress; they were meant to be the ultimate line breakers. While some prototypes were fleshed out, none (except for the French [[Wikipedia:Char 2C|Char 2C]], although it arrived too late to be used in WW1 and was obsolete in WW2) were put into service because they were simply too impractical. They were often too heavy to be supported by most roads (and off-road would have been worse), and were a logistical nightmare since their engines guzzled gas like no tomorrow. There was also the combined problem of being so slow and so large that they were easy targets for artillery spotters and bombers and it was near impossible to hide in the field due to it's large profile, so it was easy to disable the tank even before it got into effective range (No matter how much armor you put on a tank, artillery designed to level structures will eventually turn it into an expensive hunk of scrap metal). Overall, commanders found out that it was much better to send out multiple medium/heavy tanks to do the job, than sending a single super heavy. Still, because the idea of a multi-turret warship on treads is universally hella cool, that didn't stop writers from including such weapons in the arsenal of their armies, just to show how powerful they are. Super-Heavy prototypes had cannons that could range between 120mm-280mm, with the Nazis having many of the more absolutely ludicrous designs *cough*''Ratte''*cough*''Maus''*cough*. At the end of the day, this whole concept ended up being a useless waste of money in real life, at least until technology improves sufficiently.
Examples: [[Baneblade]], Maus

==Tanks in Warhammer 40,000==

Since [[Games Workshop]] seems to think that tank development in the [[Warhammer 40,000]] universe stopped somewhere between the World Wars, most of the iconic fighting vehicles of the [[Imperium]] are a mish-mash of modern and historical designs. We can quibble that some of those vehicles are not really tanks but armored personnel carriers or other specialized classes of armored fighting vehicles, but GW's design team has a serious problem with looping their tracks all the way up and over the chassis for that 1918 flavor, and not even in the correct direction for what they were designed for. A variety of other vehicles in the 40k universe are referred to as tanks, but these are often hovering vehicles like those used by the [[Tau]] or [[Eldar]], and thus technically don't count.

==Real vs Fictional Tank Designs==

Its important to know that games like WH40K subscribes to the rule of cool, rather than logic. So while things like the [[Land Raider]] or [[Baneblade]] looks cool; in a real combat situation, these tanks would range from highly impractical to down-right detrimental for everyone involved. Here's a short list of why real-world tanks, aren't designed like most fantasy tanks.

===Profile===

One of the main concerns of a tank designer has always been reducing a tank's profile as low as possible. This is for this main reason: it makes the tank harder to spot, and shoot at, at range. The others are mainly for mobility, like making the center of gravity lower so it doesn't flip over on uneven terrain, or smaller so its able to operate in various locales. Plus smaller tanks mean less material used, so that can be used on another tank or given to another project.

Sure it seems odd that this would be taken into account, given a tank is as large as a city bus; but since WW2: it wasn't really ''that'' hard to disable a tank (rocket launchers, mines, anti-tank guns, AT grenades, aerial bombers, artillery, better concealed tanks, to name the most common), if your opponent had the weapon to do so, and if they didn't: making a tank unnecessarily large just made it easier for your opponent to spot you. Thus, making your tank's profile as low and small as possible, contributed in making it less of an easy target, while still being able to act like a priority target for your opponent.

As with so many other aspects of tank design, there is a trade-off involved. Making a tank ''too small'' can compromise its ability to function as intended on the battlefield. Interwar tankettes were the most extreme example of this, with some that were smaller than the average automobile but lacking armament more powerful than a machine gun and armour that could protect against the same. With larger tanks, you could still run into similar problems by simply not leaving enough space for sufficiently powerful armament or engines (a problem which plagued many British tanks during the Second World War) or by making it too cramped for the crew to efficiently work with (which is common to many Soviet tanks before and after the Second World War).

===Speed===

Like what we've described above: it wasn't that hard to stop a tank with the proper armaments (or at least avoid it once spotted) and once your opponent has the guns to stop it, your hulking behemoth will slowly turn into a liability soon enough. (And even if they didn't have the guns; that makes your tank too-slow of a threat, which begs the question as to why you have it there in the first place).

Tanks were also pretty vulnerable on their own, requiring infantry support to deal with targets at close range (the co-axial gun only had limited elevation and was slow to aim as the entire turret had to face the target, and the pintle-mounted gun was limited to the line of sight of the gunner) as a nutter with a powerful-enough explosive could easily run/sneak to an unsupported tank and blow it to smithereens, or disable it (which pretty much meant the tank is still toast).

Nazi Germany got around this problem by using mechanized infantry (troops transported in vehicles) to support their armored forces, so everyone picked up on that and started making tanks fast enough to keep up with infantry transports to create a combined-arms assault, allowing tanks to deal with hard targets while infantry dealt with other targets that were too small for the tanks to take care of.

So, people started distancing themselves from heavyweight tanks, and started using lighter, but more faster tanks in modern combat (plus advances in modern technology made it that even a medium tank could still be as survivable and powerful as a true heavy, while still retaining maneuvrability).

===Mobility===

An immobile tank, is a dead tank, so people have gone to great lengths to either reduce, or outright remove the many ways on how infantry could disable a tank from moving; but the most common of this is by taking out the tracks with mines or explosives. This was partly fixed by putting the tracks at ground level, covering the tracks with armor, and adding additional armor skirts to further guard it from attacks from the side, ensuring that little of the tracks were exposed to direct enemy fire. Sure it was still vulnerable up-close and mines can still do a number on it, but that's what your infantry support is for (you did bring them, right?).

While the British Mark 1's rhomboid-tracks looks cool; having that on a tank today made it ''incredibly'' easy for an opposing force to disable your vehicle, as the tracks could be easily targeted. Plus even if you were to cover it in armor; it made your tank unnecessarily bigger, and people wanted to make their tanks as low and small as humanly possible. It also made maintenance and repairs unnecessarily complicated (Have to repair the tracks? Too bad, now you gotta get on top of your tall tank to fix that. Hope snipers aren't watching.).

Also while the sponson-mounted guns look cool, they're useless in modern tank combat. Apart from the obvious issues of being unable to bring your full-firepower to bear if your opponent isn't situated right infront of you AND that they have to be larger than the width of your tank: having two of your sophisticated weapon systems near ground level meant a plethora of reliability issues (went through water or muddy terrain? Pray to the Machine God your gun doesn't malfunction if you didn't clean that right away. Went through a building? Hope all that rubble didn't tear off anything important.).

Also note that this setup was done to for trench and fortification clearing, not tank vs tank combat (since WW1 focused on trench warfare than mechanized assaults). Having your turret in be centered with the hull itself, either with a turret or having it built into the tank itself to save on parts, was infinitely more effective. It also made weight distribution more balanced, which made it easier for tanks to maneuver in rough terrain.

===Logistics===

This should be an obvious point, but the Imperium of Man has only been able to create and maintain ludicrous super-heavy tank designs, because they have the aid of the Mechanicus (even if they've been reduced to a shadow of their former glory) to assist with creation and maintenance, plus having access to thousands of planets full of resources to get materiel and fuel from. Plus the creative liberties of simply accepting that "It just works" and "THE FUTURE", because it'd be boring if we had to explain that a Forge World couldn't build a Baneblade because some mining world couldn't produce the output or the resources for it were earmarked to other projects, rather than something more exciting, like foul traitors constantly assailing their supply lines, or the techpriests need some MacGuffin stolen by the Orks. After all, 40k is a wargame, not a [[Administratum|convoluted bureaucracy simulator]].

Another design point for tanks is resource economy. It had (and still has) to be produced using, and maintained with, the least possible amount of resources whilst still being formidable in it's role. If an army would deploy superheavies today, just remotely near the scale of how Imperial forces do during wartime; they'd be bankrupt and end up with a lopsided army. If creation didn't eat up most of their supplies; the amount of resources they'd need to keep these war machines maintained would put the US Army to shame. Once they realize they can't keep it up, they'd start scrapping those and scramble to turn them into practical tanks (assuming they still had fuel left).

It should also be noted that Warhammer 40k (or most military fiction for that matter) tends to focus on the cutting edge of warfare. We have far more images of Leman Russ tanks and the thousand varieties of Guardsmen than the logistical trucks or field kitchens which keep the Imperium's war machine functioning on a day to day basis.

===Armaments===
Putting two cannons as your tank's main armament like C&C's Mammoth Tank looks neat like the, or [[Baneblade|UNLEASHING ELEVEN BARRELS OF HELL]] sounds awesome, but that had it's own set of problems. One is that putting a lot of main guns on your tank requires you to make the chassis bigger, as you need more room to accommodate the guns, ammunition, and larger engine (as you need more power to keep that sucker mobile), which makes it an even bigger target.

Another is that its a waste of resources; those other main guns, ammo, and materials, would be better put in making another tank, and two tanks are still more threatening than one. It is also either overkill, as the main guns of today's battle tanks can typically penetrate tank armor easily enough, or worthless since if you did meet a tank with armor too strong for your guns, having more of them is not gonna help. The probable rate-of-fire, firepower, or accuracy advantage you have over tanks with only one gun, would be easily off-set with autoloaders, specialized ammunition, better targeting systems, and/or a well-drilled gunner crew. That or an auxiliary missile launcher, which is loads more practical and cost-effective.

One more, is that in the event your tank is destroyed; that's a massive ammo-cookoff you're looking at, which can be dangerous to both the crew and surrounding friendlies.

==Character Role==

''See also [[Combat roles]] for other roles''

In many role-playing games, particularly the online ones, the term "tank" has also arisen to describe a character whose primary purpose is redirect all damage from enemies to himself. This was one of the primary purpose of actual tanks as well; tanks, being as armored and threatening, are supposed to get most of the enemy's attention while the squishier units like infantry and light vehicles move into advantageous positions to deal more damage, without the threat of serious retaliation.

See, many enemies in RPGs have ''way too much health'', deal way too much damage for most classes to withstand, and fights with them are unlikely to be decided in one round unless they're uncharacteristically vulnerable to save-or-die rays (which almost never happens).

Furthermore, many of the classes that are best at dealing damage (assassin and wizard types, for example) often have very little survivability when it comes to being punched in the face, in order to balance out classes. If a class can both tank damage and deal high damage at the same time, they either render other classes redundant or can do neither as well as a dedicated tank or damage dealer. (This is where the gaming term differs from the historical/military term - a "pure" tank (unit role) is strictly something that attracts and survives damage, without much or even necessarily any of the punch a tank (vehicle type) has.)

Thus, demand is created for a character whose job is to redirect enemies' aggression away from the squishy members of the party and towards them instead, usually using their mastery of mind-control, irritating sound effects, imposition of dangerous effects for attacking anyone else, or simply cutting insults and rude gestures which draw attention to themselves. They also tend to have abilities that help them in resisting, mitigating, avoiding, or regenerating from some of the damage they suffer (and on occasion act as a secondary damage dealer). In most cases, tanks are also often reliant on healer classes as well to keep them alive while they do their thing, as enemies that require tanks can usually deplete a good chunk of their health in a few attacks. Making sure that chunk is constantly restored is required to make sure they can keep at it.

''[[4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons| Fourth Edition]]'' refers to this role as the "defender," while ''[[Dawn of War 2]]'' vets will recognize it as the "[[Tarkus]]", and later the "[[Apollo Diomedes|Diomedes]]." While it is most obvious in online video games, the necessity of drawing fire away from squishier party members toward tougher ones who can take a beating exists in a variety of different games, from [[Sentinels of the Multiverse| cooperative card games]] to MOBAs. The wargame equivalent would be the [[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX]].

==See Also==
*[[Team Yankee]] - a tabletop game that revolves around late Cold War tank warfare, with plenty of info on real-world tanks.

{{Vehicle Warfare}}

[[Category:History]]
[[Category:Vehicles]]

Tank

2022-04-18T16:00:56Z

2A0A:8C43:0:0:0:0:0:6F: I think this now applies

''Were you looking for the MMO role that gets applied to tabletop games? If so, we have that under [[Combat roles]]''

{{editwar}}

{{Topquote|'' Remember Comrades, we are tank!''
<br>''They take out treads, we are artillery!''
<br>''They take out main gun, we are pillbox!''
<br>''They take out machine gun, we are bunker!''
<br>''They take out armor, we are heroes!''
|A popular internet copypasta about a tank's various roles in a nutshell}}

{{Topquote|''It got in the way... and it died.''|Company of Heroes 2}}

[[image:Char_FT-17.jpg|thumb|300px|right|A French Renault FT-17 Tank, the first tank to have the rough layout that would be the norm for tanks (Crew in the front, top mounted 360 degree turret for main gun, engine in back)]]

A '''tank''' is a tracked, armored combat vehicle. The term is often limited to vehicles intended for direct combat, (e.g. as opposed to self-propelled artillery, which stay to the rear) or armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles, which are on the front line but are primarily tasked with carrying soldiers as opposed to fighting directly, and may not necessarily be tracked. Their invention revolutionized warfare in the 20th century, and any wargame set in or after that time period, or in alternate universes with similar or more advanced technology levels, will have plenty of attention devoted to them -- or to whatever made them obsolete (e.g. [[BattleTech]]).

The idea of an armored fighting vehicle dates back at least to [[wikipedia:Leonardo's fighting vehicle|Leonardo da Vinci]] and was explored by [[H. G. Wells]] and a few theorists, but the modern tank was proposed shortly before World War I, and was then spurred to production by the war itself. When the war on the Western Front got bogged down in trenches, the British Royal Navy, who had already had some success with mobile armoured car groups, had the idea to use tracked, armored vehicles with guns to break the stalemate. The name "tank" became attached to the vehicle as a codename to disguise the purpose of the large metal bodies being built. After the first tanks rolled onto the battlefield, other countries called them "battle wagons", "armors", "assault vehicles", and other more descriptive names, but the Anglosphere was stuck with calling them "tanks". (Interestingly, the original British Tank, which looked like a tractor with a metal box on top of it was called "Little Willy".)

Some are incorrectly calling Tanks the new battleship & thus obsolete after Russia got their asses kicked by Ukraine. [[Fail| However Russia stills fights like they did during WW2]], despite their advanced gear. Some even had their own Explosive Reactive Armor removed and no sign of mounted Active Protective Systems. [[derp|The latter the Soviets invented back in the fucking 70s]].
So their incompetence is not evidence that Tanks are useless in the 21st century. Not to mention that a Ukrainian Tank Brigade was able to defend the city of Chernihiv from the Russians despite being outnumbered with older [[T-64]]'s. Showing that Tanks are still useful on the battlefield, they just need to be used correctly.

==Common Features of the Tank==

Tanks were built with pretty much any set of features you could imagine, but over time, the militaries of the world settled on several common key features:

# One single main gun, carefully chosen so it is both powerful enough to knock out other tanks with armor-piercing shots and still able to use high-explosive shells to deal with 'soft' targets.
# A turret to house the main gun, to allow the tank to shoot at targets without having to pivot the entire vehicle.
# Good protection against most battlefield weapons, with a heavily-armoured front face to defeat anti-tank weapons.
# An engine with a lot of torque and horsepower to give it both decent acceleration and top speed. The ability to run on multiple types of fuel is a big plus.
# Tracks with independent long-travel suspension for each roadwheel, to improve mobility.
# '''A radio!'''

Basically, tanks boil down to three main features: firepower, defense, and mobility. Trying to specialize in one or two attributes tended to come at the expense of second or third attributes. The heavier your guns and/or armour, the slower the tank will be, for instance, while a vehicle made for mobility has to sacrifice either protection or the size of its guns. Nowadays, tanks designers try to maximize all three attributes by being cleverer about achieving their goals, with their main limitations being weight and profile. Additionally, a fourth factor to consider in design are support systems: while not necessarily integral to the design of a tank, they are nonetheless essential in allowing it to work as one, as evidenced by the radio.

===Offense===

As mentioned in the summary above, one of the if not ''the'' defining attribute of the modern tank is its main gun. A modern (i.e. third gen and up) main battle tank must be able to engage any threat it encounters on the battlefield (and occasionally flying above it), hence the gun itself is a carefully weighed compromise between raw firepower, versatility and overall mass. Nowadays most tanks sport a gun with a calibre between 100mm and 125mm. Said gun must be capable of firing a wide range of different projectile types: at the bare minimum, it should have ammunition specialized for dealing with hard targets such as opposing tanks, or soft targets such as infantry.

Historically though, this was not always the case. The very first tanks, like the british Mk.IV and the german A7V didn't really have a primary armament but were bristling with guns and machineguns. Initially, side-mounted sponsons were adopted for carrying armament because they could aim downwards into trenches. Obviously, as soon as trenches fell out of favour, so too did sponsons. Additionally, as an enemy tank will never be in said trench, [[Land Raider|mounting an anti-tank weapon in the sponson is utterly retarded.]]

The first one to figure out the 'definitive' solution as described above were the French with their Renault FT-17 (pictured above), the very first to adopt a turret for the main armament of the tank. While the FT-17 was plagued by a host of teething problems it's overall design was so efficient and cost-effective that ''absolutely everyone'' jumped upon the bandwagon at the end of WWI, and (almost all) the rest is history. Indeed, at one point all nations toyed with the idea of multi-turreted tanks or ''land battleship'' concept, [[Baneblade|whereby a tank would have multiple turrets each with their own weapon]]. The idea was that the tank could attack in all directions at once, but in practice this led to horribly oversized monstrosities that were less efficient than simply building more tanks with the same armament. The madness then died down and coalesced into two main lines of though right before WW2: The Americans, British and French limited the amount of guns to two on their heavier tanks, one bigger casemate-mounted howitzer to deal with infantry/pillboxes and one smaller turreted AT gun (see also Char B1, the early Churchills and the M3 Lee). The Germans on their side decided 'fuck it!' and just went for specialized tanks sporting either a small-bore long-barreled AT gun or a broad-bore short-barelled howitzer, and then just had both type collaborate on the battlefield (see early Pz.III and Pz.IV). And this went swimmingly for them, at least until the Russians finally entered the dance in 1941 and deployed the revolutionary T-34, whose 76mm gun demonstrated it was possible to have a tank gun both capable of tackling armour ''and'' blowing stuff up with explosive shells, setting the precedent that stands up to this day.

Once at that point, the overall design was definitively set and guns just got bigger and better from thereon. Starting with the Soviet T-62, they started to go from rifled to smoothbore guns. If you are in any way familiar with the development of gunpowder weapons, this may seem like a baffling decision, but there is a good reason. Anti-tank shot went from a simple lump of steel to sub-calibre munitions like APCR and APDS, as detailed on the [[cannon]] page. These essentially try to be better at penetrating by focusing more energy on a smaller area. A later development was APFSDS, the famous "Silver Bullet" or arrow-like penetrators which turned Saddam's tanks into ooey gooey explody Swiss cheesey. Likewise, they also started using HEAT shells, which are designed to use the power of a focused explosion to bore their way through armour; at one point, they were so effective that tanks were designed specifically around their use. Both of these munitions types actually ''suffered'' from the rotational forces imparted by a rifled barrel. For APCR, APDS, and APFSDS, rifling does not stabilize subcalibre rounds nearly as well; likewise, the shaped charge jet from HEAT shells doesn't hold together as well if it's spinning itself apart. Getting rid of the rifling solved a huge number of other problems: it made it easier to fire missiles out of the guns, and also meant that you could fire higher velocity projectiles without having to reline the bore more frequently. The main exception was HESH, which was essentially a shell full of plastic explosive that flattens itself against targets; upon detonation, it creates a shockwave that is transmitted through the material, causing it to break and shatter if concrete, or to spall off into deadly shrapnel if steel. The spin imparted by rifled barrels helps the explosive pat out more evenly, hence why it is still commonly used by the Brits in their tanks.

During the 1960s, there was an attempt to replace the gun with a missile or gun-missile system which... didn't quite pan out. The main problem is that to accommodate guidance systems, fuel, and all that jazz, missiles are a lot larger than an equivalent tank shell, which strictly limits the amount of ammunition that can be carried. Furthermore, limitations associated with the technology at the time (heavy and fragile hardware, minimum firing ranges) precluded their use on tanks. Future vehicles may carry railguns instead, pending the development of a sufficiently capable, lightweight power system and barrels that don't become slagged after like five shots or so.

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On a sidenote:
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That said, while tanks began to coalesce around the turreted concept many remained turretless and as [[Wikipedia:Sturmgeschütz_III|the German StuG]] proves, were successful weapons in their own right. The lack of a turret does have some advantages thanks to how it lowers overall profile and allow for a larger gun to be mounted than could otherwise be the case. That said, a turret-less tank is only really useful if you don't have the money to make a turreted tank, don't have a bigger tank for your bigger gun, ''and'' will only be fighting on the defensive. The latter is the reason why the only guys ever serious about turretless tanks after WWII were the Swedes with their Stridsvagen 103, and the Germans, with their [[Jaguar Jagdpanzer|Kanonenjagdpanzer 90]]. Even today, many SPG's are still built turretless, however those 'support vehicles' aren't considered proper tanks as they lack both the armor and the tactical flexibilty to act as one.
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In addition to the main gun, you also have the following secondary weapons:

*'''Machine guns:''' They've been around since the beginning, in some cases serving as primary weapons, and they're still around as secondary weapons on most armoured vehicles. They can be mounted pretty much anywhere: on the front of the hull, in its own turret on the hull, in the commander's cupola, on the side of the hull, on the back of the turret, beside the cannon (coaxial), or on top of the turret next to the hatch. The latter two are preferred for modern tanks: the coaxial can easily be used by the loader or gunner without having to change stations, and the top-mounted gun can be aimed pretty much anywhere around the tank, including at aircraft.

* '''Autocannons:''' The next step up from machine guns. Like machine guns, they've also served on primary weapons on more than a few tanks. After the Second World War however, they've tended to be relegated to the status of secondary armament, with potential use against light armoured vehicles and helicopters. Despite their obvious firepower advantages, most tanks don't have them, on account of being rather cumbersome and requiring a separate ammunition supply. The only places where you could feasibly mount them are coaxially alongside the main gun like the French [[AMX-30]]; otherwise, you'd have to create a separate compartment somewhere on the turret or hull, as was done with the experimental MBT-70, which had a retractable cupola for it.

* '''Grenade launchers:''' While tank cannons may fire high explosive shells of greater potency, an automatic grenade launcher has similar flexibility to a machine gun in urban environments, only with more firepower. Another form of grenade launcher is the smoke projector that many tanks incorporate as a defensive measure, but that's for later discussion.

* '''Mortar:''' Like the grenade launcher, a mortar on a tank can be handy for fire support. The Aussies took a page from the Germans' "mad genius" book and mounted a [[awesome|7-rounds 178mm spigot mortar]] on the back of a Matilda II tank, the idea being to give their infantry support tanks some serious close-range firepower for those cases something needed to be softened before an assault. That said, it didn't really take off: there were much more efficient ways of providing fire support separate from a tank, and the only reason it was worth bothering with was because many early-war British tanks of that period (like the Matilda) had extremely poor or even non-existent high-explosive shell capability. Nowadays, the only tank to feature a mortar is the [[Merkava]], which largely serves as a utility weapon for firing special munitions such as smoke or illumination rounds.

* '''Rockets:''' During the Second World War, a lot of countries experimented with mounting rockets on tanks, ranging from the various German ''Nebelwerfer'' attachments or the Calliope mounted on the American M4 Sherman. Like with the example of the Matilda II above, the point was to provide fire support in anticipation of an assault, or otherwise simply reuse obsolete tanks. They fell by the wayside for similar reasons, or were re-invented as dedicated artillery vehicles (like for instance the [[TOS-1 Buratino]]).

* '''Guided missiles:''' While attempts to use guided missiles as primary armament in tanks have largely failed to succeed ([[Pereh|with one exception]]), they are still being developed as a special munition designed to be launched out of the main gun. This provides tanks with an option to engage targets that are difficult to hit at distance with their main gun, which can include helicopters. Lighter tanks like the [[M551 Sheridan]] typically use guided missiles to give them an extra anti-armor punch when needed. Similarly, old Soviet tanks like the [[T55AM2]] are upgraded to fire advanced missiles as a way of extracting more usage from obsolete but otherwise functional equipment.

===Defense===

In general, tanks are designed to maximize their protection for a given weight. Initially, the only criteria during World War I was that tanks should be bulletproof... which they were, to some extent. While their armour might have been thick enough to deflect most bullets, poor quality steel and riveted construction meant that tank crew tended to get injured anyways by pieces of steel breaking off from repeated impacts. They also did jack squat against artillery, large bundles of grenades, poison gas, and flamethrowers; later in the war, the Germans developed special armour-piercing bullets and anti-tank rifles that could punch straight through.

Fast forward to the Second World War. Early on, you still had tanks that were so poorly armoured that they could be easily pierced in several places by heavy machine gun fire or special anti-tank rifles. As tanks got bigger and more capable however, they started to incorporate not only thicker, welded armour, but also a technique known as sloping. Basically, what this involved is the angling of armour plates to increase their line of sight thickness, so a 45mm plate angled at 45 degrees relative to an incoming shot would effectively have a thickness of 90mm. This technique was not unknown before the war, but the size limitations of earlier tanks made it difficult to implement, as sloped armour ate into usable interior space; it was also a little harder to build than just slapping everything together at right angles. Of course, then the T-34 came along and showed that sloping could make plates of even modest thickness repel any early or pre-war anti-tank weapon, and then on sloping became an integral feature for almost all tanks.

All seemed fine and dandy until some assholes started knocking together something called a shaped charge onto lightweight launchers that [[Tankbustas|a complete bunch of nutters could use to take out a tank]], creating weapons like the American M1 Bazooka or the German Panzerfaust. At some point during the Cold War, the increasing effectiveness of shaped charge weaponry made some designers throw up their hands and give up on providing maximum protection to their tanks. If the thickest armor you can put on a tank is going to get penetrated anyway then your best bet is not to armor it at all and focus on maximizing speed and minimizing profile to make sure you don't get hit to begin with. The German [[Leopard 1]] and French [[AMX-30]] were designed according to this principle, when it seemed like it would be impossible to defend against new HEAT shells. Others kept experimenting, and by the 1970s, people developed measures to deal with them, starting with the well-known principle of spaced armour, and then moving on to quartz and ceramic plates.

Nowadays, most modern tanks have good protection all around from most weapons, with a particularly heavily-armoured turret and front to resist dedicated anti-armor weapons. Most modern tanks have some form or another of composite armour, which consists of layers upon layers of spaced steel plates, ceramic tiles, kevlar liners, and so forth. The idea is that by putting these various materials together, you can achieve greater protection against most things for far less weight than an equivalent protection level of steel, though it does become quite bulky. How these materials exactly work together is not entirely known to even the most pretentious armchair generals. What can be said, however is that there are two big ways to defeat armour: punch through it with enough force (and, for an added treat, explode inside after that) or smash it with sufficient force it shatters and the debris ravage what is behind (somthing called 'spalling'). Thus, modern composites deflect brute-force projectiles away and have spall liners woven throughout to prevent spalling from killing the crew.

Below are a few devices and techniques utilized for defensive purposes:

*'''Smoke Dischargers:''' The little pipes or beehive-like clusters you see on the turrets and hull of the tank are smoke launchers, which fire a single salvo of smoke grenades upon activation. You may find the idea of trying to [[Creed|hide a tank]] ridiculous, but a good tank commander will know how to use smoke to mask their movements in case they need to make a hasty retreat, or to cover an advance into a more favourable position. However, they're also really, really good at fouling up enemy sensors (anywhere from optical to infrared) and guidance systems.

*'''Camouflage:''' Because the best defence is often not getting spotted until it is too late. Visual camouflage in the Second World War was extensively employed to either make them more difficult to spot or to obfuscate their silhouette. For the former, tanks would be painted in colours that helped blend in with their background; netting, foliage, and/or debris may be incorporated to complete the look. The latter works by deceiving the enemy into thinking that the tank they're seeing from aerial reconnaissance is actually a truck, or that the tank over there does not have a gun capable of turning your tank inside out. Dealing with non-visual spectrums such as infrared or radar detection require the use of special materials or paints that make tanks harder to pick out of the background.

*'''Reactive Armor:''' As per the name, they are designed to react to incoming projectiles. The most common form is what is known as Explosive Reactive Armor or ERA: essentially metal boxes with a small explosive charge sandwiched between two metal plates. When a sufficiently large projectile hits an ERA tile, it detonates, forcing the metal plates apart; this can disrupt a shaped charge jet before it has time to form. Later versions like the Russian Kontakt-5 and Relikt are capable of defending against APFSDS munitions by forcing the penetrator off course, dissipating its kinetic energy. In addition, there is also what is known as Non-Explosive Reactive Armour or NERA. Instead of an explosive charge, NERA incorporates an elastic material that is wedged between the two metal plates. Like ERA, it will react to attacks; however, instead of exploding, the sandwiched layer will expand, with similar effects on incoming projectiles to ERA. Compared to ERA, they have the distinct advantage of not exploding, which makes them safe to use around infantry, so they tend to be more like easily-replaceable armour tiles; modern-day composite armours may also incorporate them into their defence arrays to varying extent.

*'''Slat Armor:''' Due to how shaped-charge rounds work, they need to detonate at the right distance of the armor to punch through it. Something as simple as a metal cage surrounding you can prevent the shaped charge from doing much damage by just making it go off early or warping the detonator upon impact, rendering it useless.

*'''Improvised Armor:''' Just like its name says. During the Second World War, tank crew tried to bulk up armour with whatever they could find in the field. These can take the form of salvaged armor plates from other tanks and bedspring mattresses, or nothing more than basic materials like sandbags, wooden logs, or ooncrete. Ironically, many of these materials were probably ''worse'' than nothing: the added weight overstressed components and slowed down whatever tank they were mounted on. Moreover, due to defects in HEAT design at the time, they may have actually ''enhanced'' the effect of the warheads by causing them to detonate at the optimal distance, away from the tank's main hull.

*'''Active Protection System:''' An active protection system is a device that shoots down or deflects incoming anti-armor projectiles. It takes two forms. The first is an electronics countermeasure system that detects incoming guided missiles and attempts to trick them into ''not'' hitting the tank, usually by messing with their guidance systems. The other type involves an active radar scanner linked together with a launcher or projectile weapon of some sort; when it detects an incoming projectile larger than a bullet, it calculates its incoming trajectory and then fires a projectile which destroys it mid-flight.

*'''Spaced Armor:''' Spaced Armor is what it sounds like. Armor with a large gap. This gap helps dissipate the shaped charge. The most obvious examples are goofy-looking thin plates around a WWII German tank's turret and tracks (''Schürzen'' or skirts). Although they were initially designed to deflect light AT guns and rifles, they may have had some effect against HEAT warheads, at least according to some people. Whatever was the case, it has been well-established that trying to force a shaped charge to travel through three feet of air will protect a tank far better than a foot of armour. Usually incorporated as one aspect of modern composite armour.

===Mobility===
Another major aspect of the modern tank is mobility. While early WWI behemoths like the British Mark I and the German A7V were content to lumber slowly forward with all guns blazing at the enemy, the need for higher speed and better cross-country capacity soon became apparent. Mobility in general is dependent on four major components, namely: the tracks, the suspension, the transmission and steering mechanism and the engine itself.

*Track design is as integral to the identity of a tank, as it allows it to move around without sinking into the ground. Modern tracks are so good at their job that a tank imparts a lower ground pressure (or weight per square inch on the surface) than an automobile tyre or a human foot. That said, they are a also a significant weak spot: they can break or slip off, leading to a complete loss of traction, and a stopped tank is a dead tank. Nowadays, tracks often use the so called "slack-track" approach: a number of road wheels low to the ground transfer the weight of the tank to the track, two sprocket wheels (one in front and one at the rear) transfer the motive energy to the track and a couple of return wheels on top keep the whole track tense while in use. (Other arrangements have been used historically, but they fell by the wayside due to either fragility, or being too maintenance-intensive.) Efforts are made to keep the height of the whole track assembly as low as possible, as no matter how cool the [[Wikipedia:Mark I tank|British Mark I]] looked, running the tracks over the top of the body is begging for a mobility kill. (Though to be fair to the Mark I, it needed its high tracks to cross trenches, and since it came first, there weren't really any weapons that could specifically take advantage of its exposed tracks at the time.)

*Even more than the tracks themselves, suspension is what allows tanks to travel easily over all terrain, absorbing all of the bumps and lumps. The earliest tanks did not have any suspension. By the Second World War however, you had vehicles using varying arrangement of helical and leaf springs to smooth the ride out a little. Most tanks now employ what is called torsion bar suspension, which translates the up-and-down movement of the roadwheel into a metal bar designed to resist twisting. A few newer models employ hydropneumatic suspension, which can be adjusted to cope with softer or harder terrain, as well as adding a few more degrees of elevation or depression for aiming the main gun.

*Transmission and steering of a tracked vehicle is quite complex in execution, however it is conceptually quite simple: turning is accomplished by accelerating one of the tracks and slowing/stopping the other one. While there have been many different combinations of engines/driveshafts/clutches/brakes to obtain this since the first WWI vehicles, modern tank design boils down to two concepts: Russian/Chinese ones favor two separate transmissions, one for each track; while Western ones prefer the so-called 'double differential' approach that adds a second driveshaft and idler sprocket wheel to each track that can be used to speed/slow it. One big advance of the modern tank (and tracked vehicle in general) is the so-called 'neutral steering' that allows the tracks to turn in opposite directions and the vehicle to easily and quickly turn on the spot, something a wheeled one would be hard-pressed to accomplish as quickly and smoothly (if at all).

* As for the engines, most tanks designed prior to the Second World War but after the First World War utilized the same engines as trucks and buses (cheap but underpowered), while a few settled on downrated airplane engines (lots of power but unreliable). At the start of the war, only the Germans dedicated engine production for military vehicles (which led to problems that we won't get into here) but it was the Soviets who would later take the cake, with the relatively lightweight yet powerful diesel Model V-2 in the T-34 (seeing a pattern here?) that would go onto to power almost all of their tanks. Most tanks nowadays go for diesels but a few use turbines. A diesel has the advantage of being fuel-efficient but with a rather poor power-to-weight ratio, while turbines run on nearly anything flammable and have much better power-to-weight ratio and are quieter, but are ''very'' thirsty and their much hotter exhaust can present some trouble to camouflage the vehicle against IR sensors and hazard to accompanying infantry. In the interest of making warfare more environmentally friendly, we may eventually see tanks driven by electrical power and hydrogen-fuelled turbines.

By nature, tanks have some wading capability, capable of going through water that would stop your average automobile dead. To go through deeper waters usually requires extensive modifications. The first truly amphibious tanks for instance, required canvas screens to be attached for flotation, along with a propeller driven by the tank's own engine. Presently, a few tanks, most of them Russian, have the capability to be driven completely underwater, provided that they're provided with a snorkel.

===Support===

In addition to the essential three attributes of offence, defence, and mobility, tanks rely on a whole host of systems to be tanking. While none of them are strictly speaking indispensable, those extra systems are what turn a tank from a mobile pillbox fighting on its own into a force multiplier able to support their fellow soldiers and efficiently outmanoeuver and take out what has the misfortune of being in front of them. Any modern tank design will weigh the pro's and contra's of outfitting the vehicle with said systems. Where some are a given other's aren't, and it will often boil down to intended use, economics and local limitations.

*'''Communications:''' The most vital improvement on this list, it comes in two distinct parts both equally important.
**'''Internal Communication''' An intercom is extremely important inside a tank because, well, tanks are '''[[Noise Marines|LOUD]]''', and it's the only way for the crew to talk to each other without going hoarse yelling at each other. And it's not a joke: before the advent of intercom the commander often had to kick the driver on the left or right shoulder to indicate the direction he wanted him to turn because even yelling wasn't working with the ruckus of the moving tank. Modern intercoms often have double and sometimes even triple-redundant systems, because it is that important for the commander to tell his driver where to go and his gunner where to shoot.
**'''External Communication''' Another not be overstated improvement is keeping in touch with other tanks as well as whoever is in charge. Having a system to coordinate multiple units determines whether or not a tank is a rolling pillbox or a decisive, mobile weapon of war. Inter-war tanks often relied on flag signals with only the company leader having a radio for coordination , but in the early thirties some guy named Guderian ordered "Each vehicle must have its own radio; no exceptions!" and the rest is history. Indeed, in both the battle for France and the early Operation Barbarossa the German tanks were outnumbered, undergunned and underarmored compared to their opponents but thanks to their radios, they were able to outmaneuver the enemy and take them apart. Queue everyone doing the same (even if Soviet tank crews actually communicated mostly in kicks and flags until well into 1943 because early Soviet radios were shit tier and tended to break in the first minute of every goddamn engagement), and still doing it today. The major improvement modern communication systems have brought is the ability to transmit not only voices but also data, which makes keeping everyone informed of the whereabouts of one's allies and enemies much faster and easier.
***'''IFF''' Piggybacking on the improved communications and electronics of modern vehicles, the "Identification, Friend or Foe" system is basically a nifty little system that transmits a 'I'm a friend, don't shoot me.' signal to any other unit in the vicinity when queried and (if all goes well, for it is not always 100% reliable, especially amongst multi-nation task forces) will prevent friendly fire incidents.

*'''Detection:''' Tanks have notoriously bad situational awareness, so people came up with solutions to improve it. The most basic instrument is of course, Eyeball Mk. I, initially relying on either vision slots, optical instruments such as periscopes, or the commander poking his head outside of the tank. In WWII, the Germans installed an armored cupola with vision slits atop the turret in order to improve the commander's sight while 'buttoned up'; near the end, they also came up with primitive infrared illuminators as well. Nowadays, you have an array of cameras, night-vision, and infrared/thermal imagers to give you a clearer picture of things.

*'''Fire Control:''' Another big chunk, fire control regroups any and every system meant to improve the main gun's accuracy and reduce the time between target acquisition and actually blasting it to smithereens. The first tanks did not have really anything in the way of such, seeing as they were meant to be used up close with the enemy. However, when it became clear tanks would be called upon to deal with other tanks, improvements were sought in roughly three different and complementary directions: improving accuracy at range, improving accuracy while on the move and improving accuracy when firing at a moving target. There are many historical attempts to achieve this, below you'll find a list of the most common historical ones, all culminating in the modern computerized fire control system.

**'''Sights:''' By the outbreak of WWII, tanks commonly used telescopic sights with stadiametric indicators for ranging; think a rifle scope, but adapted for the tank's gun. The indicators allowed for a precise compensation for the target's range and movement, however the scope by itself had no way to measure said values; and those were often left to the crew's experience, pre-battle reconnaissance and educated guesswork to determine.
**'''Ranging Shot:''' Laugh if you want, but an experienced gunner could use a quick burst from one of the tank's machineguns to make a decent estimate of the range to target and quickly compensate for the follow-up shot from the main gun. Sure, it was crude, but it worked pretty well for what it was. The British went a step further and attached ballistically-matched spotting rifles to their tank guns, where firing solution was confirmed by a tracer impact on target (the American M60 'Ontos' did it in 'nam as well).
**'''Rangefinder:''' As tank warfare rolled into the Cold War, people became more interested in ensuring first-shot accuracy, so tank designers once again took a page from the navy and started mounting dedicated optical rangefinders. Modern ones are laser-based and quicker to operate, but in essence the very same.
**'''Stabilizer:''' Essentially, this is a mechanism for keeping your main gun pointed in the right direction while moving. Initially, this wasn't seen as necessary, particularly since early designs didn't work that well: the one mounted on the American M4 Sherman tank for instance, only compensated for vertical movement. But as we've said earlier, a stopped tank is a dead tank, and moving makes it harder for you to be hit. Thus, even the earlier iteration became a critical time-saver, enabling the gunner to more quickly aim and fire after the tank comes to a stop. Later designs providing all-around stabilization have become essential for modern tanks, allowing for accurate firing while on the move.
**'''Ballistic Computer:''' A modern development allowing for the gunner to accurately compensate for the target's movement (and other factors if necessary), especially when his tank is moving as well.

Nowadays, tanks come with what are known as fire control systems, which comprise a suite of devices solely dedicated to ensuring main gun accuracy. They combine laser rangefinders to very accurately determine distance to target (assuming that the latter isn't obscured by obstacles, foliage, dust, smoke, or whatever), stabilizers and a ballistic computer into which information regarding the target's range, heading, and speed are inputted to come up with a firing solution far more quickly and accurately than a human ever could.

*'''Autoloader:''' A mechanism for automatically loading shells into the main gun, obviating the need for a loader. This is less of an obvious decision than it would seem. For decades, human loaders were actually regarded as better than mechanical loaders because they were generally faster and better: most early autoloaders had to depress the gun to a minimum elevation before loading and had difficulty switching between different types of shells. An autoloader that is put out of action by mechanical failure or damage will either make the cannon more difficult to load by hand or at worst, render it entirely inoperable, requiring extensive repairs in order to be restored to fighting condition. Plus, as mentioned in the previous section, having a human loader lends versatility and redundancy to a tank crew, as the loader could function as an additional pair of eyes and hands whenever needed. Initially, the main advantage to automating the loading process was that you could afford to have one less crew member, thus reducing overall weight. Newer developments however, can easily match or surpass human loaders in terms of loading speed, with the additional benefit of never tiring.

*'''Remote Weapon Systems''' The pintle-mounted gun is great for clearing out and suppressing infantry because it can rotate 360 degrees and is at the top of the tank, so it has a bird's-eye view of the area. Unfortunately, popping your head out to shoot at people makes you a prime target for snipers. A solution for this is having the pintle gun be virtually controlled from the inside by a remote weapon system, so the gunner can still shoot at targets without threat of catching a bullet in the face the moment they peek out of the hatch. Granted the gun itself can still be shot, but it's a lot easier to replace a machine gun than a trained crewman. The aforementioned blurb regarding replacing the MG with grenade launchers also apply here.

*'''Air Conditioning System/Climatization:''' Yes, I can already hear you laughing. First, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1rXLhow1Ro watch this 30 seconds video.] Then imagine having to ride/fight into a vehicle getting that hot for hours, you'll get the point. An airco is not strictly speaking mandatory, depending on where your tank is operating. But many modern designs include one by default, as it is an easy way to improve crew morale and efficiency.

*'''Automatic Fire Extinguisher''' Fire in the hull? No problem. Tap a button or just wait a few seconds, and in the Abrams' case, Halon gas at 7% puts it out.

*'''Damage Control:''' A big problem with tanks is them tanks going up from the ammunition being detonated when hit. The remains of the crew would be... messy, to say the least. Frequently they would be buried all together in a matchbox. So, once again, we came up with way to limit that happenstance.
**'''Common Sense, Better Training and Improved Logistics:''' Early in WWII, the doctrine called for full combat load and crews tended to cram in a generous extra helping of fuel, ammo and spare parts in their tanks, "just in case". This turned their tanks into mobile explosion hazards (just imagine a Sherman chock full of over 120 shells, 5000 MG rounds, extra fuel drums lashed to it... you get the idea). To remedy this, combat loads were lowered, logistics were improved to make sure tanks could be repaired and resupplied easily, and crews drilled to take on no more than needed for the mission; which led to a marked decrease in such big booms.
**'''Welded Armor:''' Toyed with by all belligerents, the idea was to weld extra armor plates on the outside of where the ammo racks were. Which was a double-edged sword: it added protection, but was also an unmistakable 'shoot here for full effect' sign. Quickly abandoned when it became clear guns would improve faster than armor.
**'''Ready-Rack and Secondary Ammo Stowage:''' The idea here is that the gunner/loader only keep around 'a handful of shells' (between 6 and 10 shells depending on the tank) inside the turret in easy reach, and the rest of the ammo stocked in armored compartments near the bottom of the tank, where the tracks/wheels/transmission/engine would work as that much added armor. The reasoning being that if a shot was powerful to reach the ammo stocked there in the least vulnerable part of the vehicle, the tank was fucked every way to Sunday anyway; and the decrease in rate of fire when the ready-rack needs restocking was an acceptable drawback for the improved protection. This concept is still in use on modern Russian/Chinese tanks, who have a rotating ammo carrousel at the bottom of the tank.
**'''Wet Storage:''' Ammo compartments surrounded by a reservoir full of a mix of glycerine and salt water that would flood the ammo compartment if breached and buy time for the crew to bail out by delaying the cook-off. Good idea that worked good enough (lowering the risk of a cook off by about 30% when first introduced with the M4A3E8 Easy Eight Sherman) but ultimately more hassle than it was worth, and dropped after WWII. But...
**'''Blowout Ammo Compartment:''' The idea of 'wet storage', adapted for modern tanks. They're basically compartments that blow outwards when the ammunition is hit and begin to burn; they vent the bang away from the main body of the machine, thus saving the million dollar tank (and the squishy but almost equally expansive meatbags inside). Sure, the tank must retreat to restock ammo, a new storage bin and some tuning up; but it can still fight with a small repair... if your ammo storage compartment wasn't open the moment it was hit.

*'''NBC protection:''' Because [[Nurgle|war never ceases to become dirtier]], modern vehicles are outfitted with a system that creates overpressure in the crew compartment and circulate air through a filtration device to protect against any nuclear, bacteriological or chemical agents outside.

==Crewmen==

Unlike a car or most combat airplanes, a tank isn't something that one person can fully operate alone (at least for today's standards). It is a large, complex machine that requires multiple people with specific tasks to keep it working. Never discount the importance of a well-trained crew, as they can be every bit as important as the selection of equipment. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HV2nIkqnGBI While technically feasible] to operate a tank with only two people (a driver and a gunner, as was the case with the Renault FT), it’s much more practical to have more people per tank to divide the workload, especially since a successful tank battle is heavily determined by the time it takes to get off a successful shot. Early tanks were envisioned as 'landships' and had a crew of around ten men, but most tanks today have a crew of three or four, with some crewman having multiple duties to keep things as streamlined as possible.

*'''Commander''' The commander is the one who issues orders to all crewmen. Their main responsibilities for the tank are navigating for the driver, spotting targets for the gunner, and coordinating everyone to work as one well-oiled deathmachine. They're also the one who typically mans the hatch-mounted machine gun when needed. In modern times, they are also responsible for the radio, which gives them the responsibility of coordinating with other tanks or infantry as well.
*'''Driver''' Maneuvers the tank, but with a twist. Because the driver is typically near the bottom of the tank he only can see in front of him unless he sticks his head out of a hatch; his peripheral vision borders on the non-existent. Because of that, they have to rely on the commander for precise maneuvers when the tank is traveling at full speed. That said, it is still possible for a driver to maneuver the tank on his own (yay for vision slits and/or cameras). In modern times, they also double up as the crew's mechanic.
*'''Gunner''' Operates the tank's main cannon(s) and coaxial machine gun, again with a small twist. He's responsible for aiming the guns where they need to shoot and firing when appropriate. They can also double as a loader if one's not available. But because the gunsight is quite narrow they can only make fine adjustments on their own and so need the Commander to spot the target and give them the rough direction in which to point the gun in the first place for them to acquire it and blow it up. A tank typically only needs 1 gunner, but older models that have more than 1 main cannon (like the WW1 British Mark tanks) required a gunner for each gun.
*'''Loader''' Assists the gunner by loading the appropriate ammunition into the main gun. Loaders are less common in modern tanks due to rise of autoloaders these days, but older tanks needed them to perform efficiently and the extra man has advantages his own. These include helping in field repairs and helping fuel the tank up and in the Abrams' case manning a second pintle gun.
*'''Mechanic''' Responsible for fixing up the tank when it breaks down (well, the whole crew pitches in but he's the guy with the knowledge). In later years to ease space concerns; the driver typically doubles as the crew's mechanic.
*'''Radio Operator''' Operates the radio and relays any orders and communications with friendly forces to the commander. Due to advancements in radio technology; radio operators are no longer needed in modern tanks as the commander can do that on their own these days.

==Types of Tanks==

Whether it's real or fantasy, tanks are classified from their weight and/or armament profile. A modern catch all term for all purpose built and improvised combat vehicles, not necessarily tanks, is Armored Fighting Vehicle (AFV). Here are the common ones:

===Not Actually Tanks===

Despite having treads and a gun, the following vehicles are not considered tanks. The difference is that tanks are designed for frontline combat, while other vehicles with treads are designed to carry and support infantry (APC/IFV), bombard enemy positions with heavy artillery (SPGs), or act as general support weapon systems. Many of these vehicles are light enough to be deployed by aircraft, giving them an edge over tanks in response time to emerging threats. If it isn't a purpose built chassis, they are frequently based on the previous or current tank being used to simplify logistics.

*'''Armored Personnel Carrier''' APCs are light vehicles designed to carry infantry and not much else. They're usually given a heavy machine gun to support the infantry they're carrying into battle and to defend itself, but they're highly unlikely to have more firepower than that. They're designed to protect against small arms fire, not tank shells. Unlike IFVs, APCs are not expected to fight on the front due to their lackluster protection and armaments. However, they're sometimes also amphibious, something that the vast majority of tanks are not, allowing for both seafront assaults and quick getaways down waterways. Don't expect anything bigger than a HMG (that being under 20mm, usually also under or equal to 15mm) and a grenade launcher. Very rarely a low caliber (20 to under 25mm) autocannon may be present. May have a couple ATGMs (Anti Tank Guided Missile) to suppress the enemy but it isn't designed to stay in a firefight, an APC is first and foremost a transport.
Examples: [[Rhino]], [[M113 Armored Personnel Carrier|M113]], Namer (notably, it is based on the Merkava, an MBT, and has unusually tough armor)

*'''Self-propelled gun (SPG)''' Vehicles armed with artillery weapons designed to bomb the enemy back into the stone age, ranging from howitzers, mortars, or missile systems. Typically built similarly to tanks, but sacrifice armor for their heavy guns since in normal circumstances they should be too far away to get shot at directly. Not to mention that some artillery pieces have a minimum range where they can drop their payload; thus, the SPG needs to put some distance between them and their target so that they can be in effective range. The advantage to having such artillery on an actual vehicle rather than being stationary, is that counter-battery fire can threaten static guns, while mobile guns can safely get out of the danger zone once they've delivered their payload. Self-propelled guns typically carry a 150+mm Howitzer, much larger than what any proper tank would carry. While mobile rocket platforms such as the [[BM-21 Hail]] or MLRS are more popular than Self-propelled guns and are capable of absolutely soaking an area in rocket spam, the SPG has the advantage of being able to sustain fire for longer periods of time. Besides that, most SPGs can also depress the barrel enough to engage something directly which can be useful in some situations (avoiding collateral damage, for instance). Do note that standard operating procedure for SPGs is to <s>leg it like a little bitch</s> tactically redeploy if the enemy close on their position: even if they carry a big gun, they are not front-line capable vehicles. Direct engagement is avoided even if a huge shell will ruin a punk's day just fine. May have a machine gun or two just in case (and theoretical anti-air in older models, mostly enough to scare them off with a burst of tracers), or an autocannon if the armed force is particularly passive aggressive and has money to blow on useless overkill.
Examples: [[Basilisk Artillery Gun]], [[M109 Howitzer]]

*'''Self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG)''' Tank-like vehicles armed with weaponry designed to shoot aircraft out of the sky to provide mobile anti-air cover. There are only three real ways to shoot a very fast moving aircraft out of the sky. [[Dakka|First you can use as many rapid fire guns as you can to fill the air with as many bullets as you can and hope for one hit]]. Second, you can fire one big shell up into the air and at a certain height have it explode spraying shrapnel around it self to score the one hit you need, this are known as Anti Air Artillery, and are known in the English world by the name the Germans used during World War 2, flak. Both have been superseded by AA missiles which can track a target and put that shrapnel warhead closer to the target than just guess work and a slide rule can. Others use both guns and SAMs. As a sidenote, flak tanks (and half-tracks) equipped with heavy machine guns and small autocannons have a nasty reputation as being infantry trouncers as multiple barrels spewing lead at high speed will turn soft ground targets into mulch very quickly. Indeed, both the M19 MGMC and the M42 Duster were primarily used in this role despite having been envisioned as point-defense SPAAGs. That role had something of a heyday between WW2 and Vietnam, with the quad mount 50 cal M45's being nicknamed Kraut Mover and the twin 40mm's of the M42 being used to lumberjack VC hiding in treelines. Modern variants mostly have guided missiles and the BRRRRT variants are usually not mounted on tanks.
Examples: [[Hydra Flak Tank]], [[ZSU 23-4 Shilka]]

*'''Infantry Fighting Vehicle''' Known as IFVs, these almost-tanks are capable of transporting infantry forces, while being armored and armed enough to be of support to the field, unlike light tanks. However, unlike true tanks, IFVs can't be expected to stand up to enemy armor. Modern IFV's can have anti tank missiles, but with their tin can armor, going toe to toe with a main battle tank is suicide and so it supports regular tanks or takes on enemy armor in emergencies. While APCs and IFV can share similar roles and armaments today, the main way to distinguish them is with their main gun: anything that has a main gun smaller than 25mm is classed as an APC, and anything higher is an IFV. IFVs are designed to stay and fight (though not toe to toe with enemy tanks) and act as direct fire support. Effectively, when comparing a squad with an IFV vs a squad with an APC, the later is an infantry squad with a transport, the former is a (light) tank that can dismount some of its crew.
Examples: [[Chimera Transport|Chimera]], [[Razorback]], most [[Land Raider]] patterns, [[BMP]], [[Bradley_Fighting_Vehicle|M2 Bradley]]

*'''Armored Reconnaissance Vehicle''' In some ways they can be confused for IFVs in that these vehicles are similarly equipped and focus on mobility, and may even have limited troop capacities. But where they mainly differ is in doctrinal use: Armored Recon is mainly used to provide independent support to a recon team rather than support front-line troops. As such, troop carrying capacity isn't as necessary if it has any at all. See below the Infantry vs Cavalry Tank distinction as it can apply here as well, since modern cavalry units use such vehicles. Some IFV's share a base chassis with ARVs , those ARVs are usually called Cavalry Fighting Vehicles (CFV).
Examples: [[Salamander Reconnaissance Tank]], [[LAV-25]], [[M113 MRV]], [[Bradley_Fighting_Vehicle|M3 Bradley]]

*'''Tank Destroyer''' Tank destroyers are specialist armor designed for one thing in mind: knocking out armor and not much else. Some are turreted, and some aren't. Most modern ones use guided missiles, all historical and some modern use cannons. What makes them not tanks is a matter of technicality. Tanks are designed for general military purpose (so useful for a range of tasks) while tank destroyers are for only one thing, destroying armor (especially on vehicles). After World War 2 we figured out that since tanks fought other tanks so often anyway tank destroyers don't really make sense so we upgraded the guns on regular tanks, while the role of “Light Anti-Armor Vehicle” was taken by ATGM carriers, which being mostly modified LAVs, have the ability to kill tanks while being very mobile and easy to transport. A handful of cannon-armed Tank Destroyers still exist, some tracked, others wheeled, but they're a rare breed. They tend to be considered for use with airborne troops in need of anti-armor capability (since a proper tank tends to be too heavy to airdrop) and for certain strategic mobility concerns.
Examples: [[Leman Russ Battle Tank#Destroyer Tank Hunter|Destroyer Tank Hunter]], [[Leman Russ Battle Tank#Leman Russ Vanquisher|Leman Russ Vanquisher]], [[M901 ITV]]

*'''Assault guns''' Similar to tank destroyers, assault guns differ in one important way: instead of an anti-tank gun, they're armed with a anti-building weapon, frequently a howitzer. These tended to be fairly big and fairly heavy compared to SPGs, because they're made to get in close to heavy fortifications. After World War 2 assault guns became light air-dropped weapons to support airborne troops if they encountered hard targets. They are comparatively very rare in modern orders of battle. Most that remain are in the Third World (usually WW2 Soviet vintage, they made a LOT of things).
Examples: [[Vindicator]], [[Leman Russ Battle Tank#Leman Russ Demolisher|Leman Russ Demolisher]]

===Proper tanks===
*'''Male/Female''' A very, Very, Very early design and designation of tank done only really during the first world war when the British were still trying to figure out how this whole tank thing worked. The difference is obvious, male tanks have cannons, and female tanks have only machine guns. In modern time however Gendering Tanks is completely obsolete since, almost by definition a tank has a cannon so making tanks without cannons is a rather silly. Nether the less you can point to a few very light tanks as being in the same vein as the British female tanks, but only if small caliber autocannons count as machine guns.

*'''Tankettes''' Less of a tank and more of an armored clown car with guns; these were in vogue for a while in the 1930s. They're essentially a one or two-person tank, armed with machine guns, flame throwers, or anti-tank rifles and not designed to move much faster than the infantry around them (except for the italians, whose [[Wikipedia:L3/35|cute lil' buggers]] could reach a respectable speed). They're generally made to act as mobile infantry support or anti-tank weapons. Needless to say, this idea didn't stick because when even a high-caliber machine gun (which WW2 was rife with) could penetrate the armor of the tank, making it useless in straight-up combat. Only the Japanese extensively used them during WW2, which made some sense as most of their combat theater is in jungles that would bog-down full-sized tanks (Plus their doctrine emphasized more on air and naval superiority, with them island-hopping during their conquests). Tankettes however, were still fielded in limited quantities after WW2 due to their light weight that allowed them to be safely air-dropped, mainly for non-front line use like tank destroyers, AA guns, and recon vehicles. The only tankette still in use is the German Sedan-sized Wiesel, an airdropped scout vehicle. In effect, the smallest of the tankettes with a crew of one were an attempt to make an individual soldier into a one man tank to allow them to support their comrades. [[Power Armour|Sounds]] [[Centurion Squad|familiar]], [[Terminator|doesn't]] [[Battlesuit|it]]?
Examples: [[Sentinel]] (effectively)

*'''Light Tank''' These are lightly armored tanks that sacrifice armor and firepower for maneuverability. They are not meant to be front-line combat tanks, as their armaments are usually too underpowered to go against heavier vehicles, rather they're usually relegated to reconnaissance duties and infantry support. Light tanks would carry guns that ranged from 37mm-45mm, though some early German Panzers were only equipped with machineguns. Some modern equivalents serve as Scout Tanks which are usually capable of paradrops.
Examples: [[Siegfried]], [[M551 Sheridan]]

*'''Heavy tank''' The big boys, armed with the biggest guns and the thickest armor. Heavy tanks are what you send to crack an enemy defensive line as they slowly (or not-so slowly, as German and American heavies could reach similar speeds as their mediums) rumbled forward, guns blazing, destroying anything in sight... Except eventually Medium tanks, which split the difference between light and heavy tanks having more firepower than the former and more mobility then the latter, are just more cost effective and Heavy tanks are not too much better than improved mediums, which evolved into the main battle tank. Some heavy tanks were actually variants of medium tanks with heavier armor and/or guns, most notably those of the M4 Sherman. Heavy tanks typically carried 88mm-122mm cannons, with the IS-7 carrying a 130mm beast. The IS-7 wasn't adapted in favor of the T-10 (renamed after Stalin kicked the bucket) which had an improved 122. Along with the American M103 and British Centurion, it was in the last gen of heavy tanks.
Examples: [[Sicaran Battle Tank]]

*'''Main Battle Tank/Medium tank''' Medium tanks, which were generally made to carry guns close to a heavy with mobility not far off a light, evolved into main battle tanks. These would become the primary tank for modern nations by combining high speed, adequate armor and most of all a powerful gun. MBT's are not as heavy as we could theoretically make a tank (although modern advances like reactive armor plates, have allowed them to still be as survivable as true heavies, while springing for a modern heavy could make it theoretically unkillable in a slugging match but vulnerable to guided munitions) but their speed makes up for it and they act as the spearhead of an assault force designed to create and exploit a gap in enemy defenses to allow massed mechanized forces to rush though the gap. Interwar and early WWII mediums usually had 37mm or 50mm cannons. WWII era medium tanks carried 75mm-90mm cannons, first generation (basically optimised mediums that still had a few optimised heavies accompanying them), second gen and the very first gen 3 MBTs typically had 105mm guns, and second gen retrofits and proper third gens (the modern generation of tanks, with the very newest named 3+ or 4) generally have a minimum cannon size of 120 mm or so, with the Russians coming in with 125's that can fire ATGMs and Rheinmetall building 130mm guns to counter them (there was also a test variant of the M1 Abrams with a 140mm gun). Even when Lasers, Railguns and green energy military vehicles become common. The MBT will be what most people think of as a tank for decades to come. So they'll be the mainstay until hover technology is affordable, on the dime taxpayers of course.
Examples: [[Leman Russ Battle Tank]], [[M1 Abrams]]

*'''Infantry/Cavalry tank''' A British and French design doctrine, the theory for the design goes like this. Infantry tanks support infantry, (hence the name) and therefore they don't need to go fast and can carry heavy armor while their guns did not have to be terribly strong to support the infantry. However they were too slow to use the line breaks they created (a problem in World War 1) hence the need for the Cavalry tank. Cavalry or cruiser tanks were much, much lighter and were designed to move fast and rush though a gap the Infantry tanks made but could not use and create havoc behind enemy lines cutting communication, destroying supplies, etc. The idea was sound, however technology advanced so that Cruiser tanks could have the armor of a infantry tank without the slowness, and infantry tanks could have the speed of the Cruiser's meaning the distinction became meaningless, though it did go through WW2 as the Universal Tank concept, while recognized as the future, needed a few years of design and industrial spooling. Before World War II, Russia had a similar idea for three different types of tanks, a breakthrough tank acting as an infantry tank, one tactical breakthrough tank, and a 'fast tank' to exploit gaps. This too was abandoned in WW2 when the improved mediums proved well enough to make the distinction obsolete. The Cavalry tank role has been pretty much taken over by airdropped armored vehicles such as IFVs or Tank Destroyers.

*'''Flame tank''' a tank (going from tankette to heavy, all types were used in WWII) with a [[meme|werfer zat werf flammen]] instead of a big gun as main weapon. Only used in the 1920s-1950s as they were quickly rendered obsolete (it was more cost-effective and just as efficient to have standard tanks have a flamethrower as a coaxial gun), though incendiary weapons of various sorts are still used today, mainly in artillery roles. Typically unpopular with both forces using and opposing them for many reasons: the implications of this weapon were very harsh as the typical man-portable flamethrower has a range of 60 meters max (video games lied to ME?!) and their heavy mechanized versions could reach most of a quarter mile with their concentrated hydraulic spray of diesel fuel. Flame tanks were supposed to start with a "Wet fire", basically spraying the fuel without igniting it into bunkers or fortifications to get enemy units to realize just how hard they were fucked, really weren't protected from the coming blaze at all and in turn they would surrender before being cooked to death. Which a vast majority actually did when '''''hosed with gasoline'''''. The problem was that, due to either open fighting, soldiers that just wouldn't surrender or sadistic crews/commanders, the weapons were often fired outright the first time around to horrific physical and psychological impact on both sides - burning, screaming soldiers, the fumes making crews sick, thick diesel smoke inhalation or oxygen depletion asphyxiating those in poorly ventilated areas (especially caves in the Pacific Front) and the smell of burnt human flesh permanently seared in their minds meant that instant life derailing post-traumatic stress disorder was a very common side effect of witnessing a flame tank in action. Another was that flame tank crews that were captured were usually subjected to torture and summary revenge executions. In the end, flame tanks are remembered as a job nobody wanted to do, an enemy nobody wanted to face, a weapon that accomplished little that soldiers using the man-portable variety (which already had a bad rep' but was begrudgingly tolerated by soldiers as tactically necessary to avoid chemical warfare, nobody in their right mind wanted to clear caves out directly) could not do and pushed the propaganda and soldier's beliefs forward that the enemy truly were barbarians and made of evil, all pushed ahead because a Commissa -- I mean General far removed from the field said they were necessary. Real life Grimdark indeed.
Examples: L3/35 "Lanciafiamme", M3 "Satan", M4 "Crocodile", Flammpanzer III, Churchill Crocodile, Kliment Voroshilov model 8, OT-34, technically any tank with incendiary or thermobaric ammo

*'''Super Heavy Tank''' Superheavies were conceived in World War I, essentially using the term "landship" literally. Armed with giant cannon (sometimes multiple ones, and usually reserved for artillery or battleships) and armor plating so heavy, you'd mistake it for a fortress; they were meant to be the ultimate line breakers. While some prototypes were fleshed out, none (except for the French [[Wikipedia:Char 2C|Char 2C]], although it arrived too late to be used in WW1 and was obsolete in WW2) were put into service because they were simply too impractical. They were often too heavy to be supported by most roads (and off-road would have been worse), and were a logistical nightmare since their engines guzzled gas like no tomorrow. There was also the combined problem of being so slow and so large that they were easy targets for artillery spotters and bombers and it was near impossible to hide in the field due to it's large profile, so it was easy to disable the tank even before it got into effective range (No matter how much armor you put on a tank, artillery designed to level structures will eventually turn it into an expensive hunk of scrap metal). Overall, commanders found out that it was much better to send out multiple medium/heavy tanks to do the job, than sending a single super heavy. Still, because the idea of a multi-turret warship on treads is universally hella cool, that didn't stop writers from including such weapons in the arsenal of their armies, just to show how powerful they are. Super-Heavy prototypes had cannons that could range between 120mm-280mm, with the Nazis having many of the more absolutely ludicrous designs *cough*''Ratte''*cough*''Maus''*cough*. At the end of the day, this whole concept ended up being a useless waste of money in real life, at least until technology improves sufficiently.
Examples: [[Baneblade]], Maus

==Tanks in Warhammer 40,000==

Since [[Games Workshop]] seems to think that tank development in the [[Warhammer 40,000]] universe stopped somewhere between the World Wars, most of the iconic fighting vehicles of the [[Imperium]] are a mish-mash of modern and historical designs. We can quibble that some of those vehicles are not really tanks but armored personnel carriers or other specialized classes of armored fighting vehicles, but GW's design team has a serious problem with looping their tracks all the way up and over the chassis for that 1918 flavor, and not even in the correct direction for what they were designed for. A variety of other vehicles in the 40k universe are referred to as tanks, but these are often hovering vehicles like those used by the [[Tau]] or [[Eldar]], and thus technically don't count.

==Real vs Fictional Tank Designs==

Its important to know that games like WH40K subscribes to the rule of cool, rather than logic. So while things like the [[Land Raider]] or [[Baneblade]] looks cool; in a real combat situation, these tanks would range from highly impractical to down-right detrimental for everyone involved. Here's a short list of why real-world tanks, aren't designed like most fantasy tanks.

===Profile===

One of the main concerns of a tank designer has always been reducing a tank's profile as low as possible. This is for this main reason: it makes the tank harder to spot, and shoot at, at range. The others are mainly for mobility, like making the center of gravity lower so it doesn't flip over on uneven terrain, or smaller so its able to operate in various locales. Plus smaller tanks mean less material used, so that can be used on another tank or given to another project.

Sure it seems odd that this would be taken into account, given a tank is as large as a city bus; but since WW2: it wasn't really ''that'' hard to disable a tank (rocket launchers, mines, anti-tank guns, AT grenades, aerial bombers, artillery, better concealed tanks, to name the most common), if your opponent had the weapon to do so, and if they didn't: making a tank unnecessarily large just made it easier for your opponent to spot you. Thus, making your tank's profile as low and small as possible, contributed in making it less of an easy target, while still being able to act like a priority target for your opponent.

As with so many other aspects of tank design, there is a trade-off involved. Making a tank ''too small'' can compromise its ability to function as intended on the battlefield. Interwar tankettes were the most extreme example of this, with some that were smaller than the average automobile but lacking armament more powerful than a machine gun and armour that could protect against the same. With larger tanks, you could still run into similar problems by simply not leaving enough space for sufficiently powerful armament or engines (a problem which plagued many British tanks during the Second World War) or by making it too cramped for the crew to efficiently work with (which is common to many Soviet tanks before and after the Second World War).

===Speed===

Like what we've described above: it wasn't that hard to stop a tank with the proper armaments (or at least avoid it once spotted) and once your opponent has the guns to stop it, your hulking behemoth will slowly turn into a liability soon enough. (And even if they didn't have the guns; that makes your tank too-slow of a threat, which begs the question as to why you have it there in the first place).

Tanks were also pretty vulnerable on their own, requiring infantry support to deal with targets at close range (the co-axial gun only had limited elevation and was slow to aim as the entire turret had to face the target, and the pintle-mounted gun was limited to the line of sight of the gunner) as a nutter with a powerful-enough explosive could easily run/sneak to an unsupported tank and blow it to smithereens, or disable it (which pretty much meant the tank is still toast).

Nazi Germany got around this problem by using mechanized infantry (troops transported in vehicles) to support their armored forces, so everyone picked up on that and started making tanks fast enough to keep up with infantry transports to create a combined-arms assault, allowing tanks to deal with hard targets while infantry dealt with other targets that were too small for the tanks to take care of.

So, people started distancing themselves from heavyweight tanks, and started using lighter, but more faster tanks in modern combat (plus advances in modern technology made it that even a medium tank could still be as survivable and powerful as a true heavy, while still retaining maneuvrability).

===Mobility===

An immobile tank, is a dead tank, so people have gone to great lengths to either reduce, or outright remove the many ways on how infantry could disable a tank from moving; but the most common of this is by taking out the tracks with mines or explosives. This was partly fixed by putting the tracks at ground level, covering the tracks with armor, and adding additional armor skirts to further guard it from attacks from the side, ensuring that little of the tracks were exposed to direct enemy fire. Sure it was still vulnerable up-close and mines can still do a number on it, but that's what your infantry support is for (you did bring them, right?).

While the British Mark 1's rhomboid-tracks looks cool; having that on a tank today made it ''incredibly'' easy for an opposing force to disable your vehicle, as the tracks could be easily targeted. Plus even if you were to cover it in armor; it made your tank unnecessarily bigger, and people wanted to make their tanks as low and small as humanly possible. It also made maintenance and repairs unnecessarily complicated (Have to repair the tracks? Too bad, now you gotta get on top of your tall tank to fix that. Hope snipers aren't watching.).

Also while the sponson-mounted guns look cool, they're useless in modern tank combat. Apart from the obvious issues of being unable to bring your full-firepower to bear if your opponent isn't situated right infront of you AND that they have to be larger than the width of your tank: having two of your sophisticated weapon systems near ground level meant a plethora of reliability issues (went through water or muddy terrain? Pray to the Machine God your gun doesn't malfunction if you didn't clean that right away. Went through a building? Hope all that rubble didn't tear off anything important.).

Also note that this setup was done to for trench and fortification clearing, not tank vs tank combat (since WW1 focused on trench warfare than mechanized assaults). Having your turret in be centered with the hull itself, either with a turret or having it built into the tank itself to save on parts, was infinitely more effective. It also made weight distribution more balanced, which made it easier for tanks to maneuver in rough terrain.

===Logistics===

This should be an obvious point, but the Imperium of Man has only been able to create and maintain ludicrous super-heavy tank designs, because they have the aid of the Mechanicus (even if they've been reduced to a shadow of their former glory) to assist with creation and maintenance, plus having access to thousands of planets full of resources to get materiel and fuel from. Plus the creative liberties of simply accepting that "It just works" and "THE FUTURE", because it'd be boring if we had to explain that a Forge World couldn't build a Baneblade because some mining world couldn't produce the output or the resources for it were earmarked to other projects, rather than something more exciting, like foul traitors constantly assailing their supply lines, or the techpriests need some MacGuffin stolen by the Orks. After all, 40k is a wargame, not a [[Administratum|convoluted bureaucracy simulator]].

Another design point for tanks is resource economy. It had (and still has) to be produced using, and maintained with, the least possible amount of resources whilst still being formidable in it's role. If an army would deploy superheavies today, just remotely near the scale of how Imperial forces do during wartime; they'd be bankrupt and end up with a lopsided army. If creation didn't eat up most of their supplies; the amount of resources they'd need to keep these war machines maintained would put the US Army to shame. Once they realize they can't keep it up, they'd start scrapping those and scramble to turn them into practical tanks (assuming they still had fuel left).

It should also be noted that Warhammer 40k (or most military fiction for that matter) tends to focus on the cutting edge of warfare. We have far more images of Leman Russ tanks and the thousand varieties of Guardsmen than the logistical trucks or field kitchens which keep the Imperium's war machine functioning on a day to day basis.

===Armaments===
Putting two cannons as your tank's main armament like C&C's Mammoth Tank looks neat like the, or [[Baneblade|UNLEASHING ELEVEN BARRELS OF HELL]] sounds awesome, but that had it's own set of problems. One is that putting a lot of main guns on your tank requires you to make the chassis bigger, as you need more room to accommodate the guns, ammunition, and larger engine (as you need more power to keep that sucker mobile), which makes it an even bigger target.

Another is that its a waste of resources; those other main guns, ammo, and materials, would be better put in making another tank, and two tanks are still more threatening than one. It is also either overkill, as the main guns of today's battle tanks can typically penetrate tank armor easily enough, or worthless since if you did meet a tank with armor too strong for your guns, having more of them is not gonna help. The probable rate-of-fire, firepower, or accuracy advantage you have over tanks with only one gun, would be easily off-set with autoloaders, specialized ammunition, better targeting systems, and/or a well-drilled gunner crew. That or an auxiliary missile launcher, which is loads more practical and cost-effective.

One more, is that in the event your tank is destroyed; that's a massive ammo-cookoff you're looking at, which can be dangerous to both the crew and surrounding friendlies.

==Character Role==

''See also [[Combat roles]] for other roles''

In many role-playing games, particularly the online ones, the term "tank" has also arisen to describe a character whose primary purpose is redirect all damage from enemies to himself. This was one of the primary purpose of actual tanks as well; tanks, being as armored and threatening, are supposed to get most of the enemy's attention while the squishier units like infantry and light vehicles move into advantageous positions to deal more damage, without the threat of serious retaliation.

See, many enemies in RPGs have ''way too much health'', deal way too much damage for most classes to withstand, and fights with them are unlikely to be decided in one round unless they're uncharacteristically vulnerable to save-or-die rays (which almost never happens).

Furthermore, many of the classes that are best at dealing damage (assassin and wizard types, for example) often have very little survivability when it comes to being punched in the face, in order to balance out classes. If a class can both tank damage and deal high damage at the same time, they either render other classes redundant or can do neither as well as a dedicated tank or damage dealer. (This is where the gaming term differs from the historical/military term - a "pure" tank (unit role) is strictly something that attracts and survives damage, without much or even necessarily any of the punch a tank (vehicle type) has.)

Thus, demand is created for a character whose job is to redirect enemies' aggression away from the squishy members of the party and towards them instead, usually using their mastery of mind-control, irritating sound effects, imposition of dangerous effects for attacking anyone else, or simply cutting insults and rude gestures which draw attention to themselves. They also tend to have abilities that help them in resisting, mitigating, avoiding, or regenerating from some of the damage they suffer (and on occasion act as a secondary damage dealer). In most cases, tanks are also often reliant on healer classes as well to keep them alive while they do their thing, as enemies that require tanks can usually deplete a good chunk of their health in a few attacks. Making sure that chunk is constantly restored is required to make sure they can keep at it.

''[[4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons| Fourth Edition]]'' refers to this role as the "defender," while ''[[Dawn of War 2]]'' vets will recognize it as the "[[Tarkus]]", and later the "[[Apollo Diomedes|Diomedes]]." While it is most obvious in online video games, the necessity of drawing fire away from squishier party members toward tougher ones who can take a beating exists in a variety of different games, from [[Sentinels of the Multiverse| cooperative card games]] to MOBAs. The wargame equivalent would be the [[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX]].

==See Also==
*[[Team Yankee]] - a tabletop game that revolves around late Cold War tank warfare, with plenty of info on real-world tanks.

{{Vehicle Warfare}}

[[Category:History]]
[[Category:Vehicles]]