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View Full Version : Help with infantry proxies and other utter newbie questions?



Mark Gottlieb
03-22-2013, 02:21 PM
Just a quick question... I've noticed many people mention The Plastic Soldier Company as inexpensive proxies for FoW stuff. As there appears to be the first signs of a budding local community I thought i'd toy with the possibility of a few basic purchases, on the cheap, down the road.

I don't have the rule books etc yet... so perhaps the is an easily answered question... but how do you know what to proxy and how do you do so? I know FoW is balanced around a very specific amount of infantry on very specific bases... How does one do that with sold seperately, essentially unbased boxes of tiny infantry?

Also, are real FoW minis magnetized on glued into their squad bases, customarily? I heard something about newer FoW being magnetized direct from the company?

Wolfshade
03-22-2013, 02:45 PM
I think the first stop is the rule book, or if you have a friendly local game store (FLGS) to give you an intro session and the what-not.

I don't think that there is any specific rule for proxies, however, there is a general rule of thumb, that the proxy should approximate what it is they are replacing.

There are two sorts of proxying.

A) Where you use a substitute model for aesthetic reasons, you either prefer the way another model looks, or you wish to use the rules to represent a faction that is not currently modelled.

B) To represent models that you do not have.

Regardless they should look very similiar to each other, e.g. you shouldn't use a rifle team to represent a tank.
More common things a weapon swaps are slightly better,

But with everything it all depends what your opponent thinks.

So if you consider an army list for your FoW game, then look at your collection and see what you can/can't field. If you pick a unit you don't have you could represent it with a proxy unit, so you use the proxy exactly as you would the real unit with all of its attributes as per what was picked in the list (not what it physically represents).

I'm not sure that that helps :/

IIRC the FoW minis aren't magnetised, but they are quite easily done.

Kirsten
03-23-2013, 06:00 AM
flames of war tank turrets come with magnets these days, might be what you have heard about.

I built a couple of german infantry platoons last week, the older flames of war metals, and it is quite tricky to work out what goes where. I have the flames of war rulebook, hobby book, and forces book, and am yet to actually find anything to categorically describe the infantry bases, and the pics on the website seem to vary in terms of numbers of models etc. I would say personally so long as it is relatively clear, if you have a machine gun in a machine gun team I wouldn't worry too much at the moment.

Mark Gottlieb
03-23-2013, 07:40 AM
flames of war tank turrets come with magnets these days, might be what you have heard about.

I built a couple of german infantry platoons last week, the older flames of war metals, and it is quite tricky to work out what goes where. I have the flames of war rulebook, hobby book, and forces book, and am yet to actually find anything to categorically describe the infantry bases, and the pics on the website seem to vary in terms of numbers of models etc. I would say personally so long as it is relatively clear, if you have a machine gun in a machine gun team I wouldn't worry too much at the moment.

Oh! See... I've been bringing my Dust Warfare/WH40k baggage with me and assuming "damage" is marked on units by removing guys. If this isn't the case than it matters far less if the bases perfectly depict the FoW official setups.

Am I correct, or does something in the rules require WYSIWYG?

Kirsten
03-23-2013, 09:41 AM
I believe you remove complete bases not individual figures

Buckminster
06-18-2013, 10:27 AM
You do remove whole bases - there is no 'wounded' for infantry.

From a rules perspective, the biggest thing with proxying infantry is the base size. Command teams and specialist teams (anti-tank gun, mortar squads) tend to be on small bases, where standard infantry are on medium bases. The easiest way to know which is which is to troll the FoW store website - you can check the pictures to know how they do it. But all measuring and such is done to the base - so as long as the minis are on the correct base, the exact miniatures aren't as important. You can order spare bases straight from Battlefront, or you can make your own.

From a non-rules perspective, most people I know don't care if you proxy as long as you don't try and be devious about it. I haven't played many tournaments though, so I don't know if they have an 'official minis only' policy.

OldCavGuy
01-28-2014, 12:14 AM
Read the first 20 pages of the rule book. It tells you that you need Intelligence Briefings (a lot of these are available on the FOW website) in order to determine what models you need. It also shows you what the briefings look like. Look at one on the website and you will see the platoon is laid out with each vehicle needed and with the figures you need grouped as they would go on stands. Stands are explained in the first 20 pages as well giving sizes needed. FOW infantry and heavy weapon sets include the stands you need. 2-3 figs small stand; 4-6 medium stand, large gun on a large stand plus some infantry units like an artillery battery STAFF team. Examples are pictured. I have further examples on: http://www.flickr.com/photos/69768863@N00/collections/72157603908618350/