New to Game and Wondering "Where Do I Go Next?"

Hi, all. A friend and I are just getting into Flame of War and bought the "Open Fire!" starter box. My friend is keeping the lion's share of it; I'm just getting one force's models. What do you recommend as the next purchase to make? Should I get the rulebook set? How important is the Forces book it contains?

Any advice is appreciated. Thank you!

Sincerely,
Hal

Some things you have to decide before anything else:

What period are you planning on playing? I presume by virtue of having Open Fire your friend want to play Late War, but you could easily use the figs for mid-war as well. The available options are Early War: 1939-1941, Mid-War: 1942-1943 and Late War: 1944-1945.

What force are you planning on playing? Open Fire has three potentials: US paras, British armour and German infantry. Not sure which one you ended up with.

As for basic rules, you will need either the big book set or the small paperback version which has all the actual rules in it. I know players who only have that and it's fine. The big rulebook set does include generic late war army lists for all the main forces as well so if you wanted to start with that and not get a specific theater book(s) then that's fine too.

Army lists are also available for the various theaters of operation so you could choose Eastern Front, Western Front, Italy or Africa depending on period (Early/Mid/Late). Technically Open Fire is sort of based on a Bridge too Far time frame so it's likely you would want Western Front. In that case either the Normandy books or Market Garden would be appropriate (German or Allies, depending on what you chose).

As for models, IIRC the forces are about 600pts each (for both axis and allies) in the starter. What you get for each will depend on what army you want to build and what type (Armoured, Reconnaissance, Mech Infantry, Infantry, Paratrooper, etc.). Can't really give you any suggestions since you didn't say what you wanted to work on.

Anyway, hope this helps.

Thank you. It helps a lot!

I think I'm getting the Allies out of the box, so I could go with American or British, I suppose.

We also saw miniatures for other conflicts like WWI and Vietnam. Do these use the same basic rules found in the big rule book? Where would we find the rules (or supplemental rules) for these conflicts? Theater books, as you mentioned above?

Thanks again!