Preparing the Tankovy Batalon for Mid War hell



Ok, so I tested my Romanians (Romanian Cavalry) a few times so far in relation to the ETC setup. The tests were not so promising to be honest. There are some glaring weaknesses about this list that can only be avoided with a good pairing. With the ETC pairing mechanism however, you can not really guarantee that you are able to avoid your obvious counters. The lists need to be a bit more balanced and built so that they can handle all-comers with a slight tendence to either: anti-tank, anti-infantry or utility.

This is the reason why I took up another challenge: to build up and test a Soviet Tankovy Batalon. But why not go the obvious way and play Mixed Tankovy? Well, there are two main factors:

1. It is too obvious for me.
2. The list is vulnerable to bad pairings.

With the second factor, I figured that any pairings against anything that has 2+ panthers in the list plus maybe another anti-tank platoon (like the Pz IIIs or Marders) is pretty much the end of the line for Mixed Tankovy. Its biggest advantage is in how it handles infantry lists - and in this area it really shines. The issue is that with ETC pairings nobody will ever let their infantry be attacked by the Mixed Tankovy. This is why I decided to build a more balanced list. I did check the possibilities with Mixed Tankovy - don't get me wrong. But my personal feeling is that there is not enough decent anti-tank in that list to be able to build a nice all-rounder.

So how did I manage to switch the balance towards utility with Tankovy? The main mechanism was to give the anti-infantry role to big, cheap tank units while the heavies work as the primary source of anti-tank. The really good thing about Tankovy Batalon (Red Army support) is that you can get Medium Tankovy companies equipped with up to 3 T-34/57 tanks (AT 11, Rof 3, FP 4+) in your combat platoons, which is not possible with the Mixed Tankovy briefing. Also, the Guards Heavy Tank companies, although substantially more costly than the Heavy Tank companies of the Mixed Tankovy, give the possibility of using KV 85 tanks (AT 12, Rof 2, FP 3+) that are not subject to Hen & Chicks rule. This is a massive change in the role of the tank. What is normally percieved as an infantry mincing machine now becomes a mobile Pak 40 pillbox. And personally, I can't wait to see how the tests turn out.

Also, like mentioned before, the primary source of anti-infantry power comes from big units of light armour. This is why I used a full company of 10x T-60 tanks, which costs less than 200 points and 10x BA-10 which are probably the best recon element you can get in a Mid War list. So as far as assaulting goes, I still have the power of 10 cheap throw-away tanks, 10 armoured cars, 7 T-34s or as a last resort - 3 KVs.

In the end, the list I am going to test looks like this:
HQ: T-34
CP: 3x T-34, 3x T-34/57 (balanced unit)
CP: 10x T-60 (anti-infantry unit)
SP: 10x BA-10 (balanced unit)
SP: 3x KV 85 (anti-tank unit)

Peasant army vol 5 - Reworking the Romanian Cavalry for the ETC



Ok, now that I already have several games under my belt playing Romanian Cavalry (from the Cavalerie PDF) I think it is high time to bring in some improvements.

Looking back at the games I played so far I now have a good idea of what are the weakpoints and strengths of the list. Overall, Romanian Cavalry seems to me to be a very good infantry list counter. It has the numbers and the firepower needed to remove stubborn defenders from their positions. If your skill/morale rolls are slightly above awful, you should get at least one veteran infantry platoon of death (13 bases + a Vanator de Care). Also, with so many guns, anything that cannot be assaulted, can be shot to pieces by the 20+ barrels/tubes.

However, there are two major weakpoints of the Cavalerie:

1. Lack of strong ranged anti-tank. The only valuable anti-tank unit in the list is the Pak40 platoon. It can easily deal with any kind of medium tanks but will struggle against heavies, like the KVs. Zero access to heavy artillery does not help too much either. This means that each time I have to fight the heavy Soviet tanks (especially while defending), my list will have a hard time, unless I decide to add a desperate option like the Stuka or the German 105s instead of the 75mm cavalry guns.

2. Vulnerability to templates. The footprint of the company is massive. Each time I get bombarded, the enemy is almost guaranteed to score at least a few hits on my guys. During the games I played, this issue was also aggravated by the fact, that I used dismounted platoons of Romanians. It meant that I usually stayed under fire long enough for the losses to stop being sustainable.

I think in the end, I can either try to mitigate these vulnerabilities during list design or accept them and avoid pairings with my obvious counters. Since I will most probably not be able to switch to a different army altogether, I need to do a bit of both :)

But before going into another round of list building, I also did a review of what worked and what did not work in the old version of my company. I worked under the assumption that I knew how to use my platoons and that they all had a chance to do something valuable during the games I played. Considering the above, I have built my list of best and worst performing platoons:

Best
V        Maxed out 75mms
V        Medium-sized infantry platoons
V        Maxed out 81mm mortars
V        Maxed out Pak40s
V        Maxed out 45mms
V        Maxed out Pz35s
V        Maxed out mounted scouts
Worst

It turned out that the worst idea that I had was to max out the mounted scouts and use them as an assault unit. It never worked. The unit was too small to make a difference and had too many tasks to perform on the battlefield to be effective. On the other hand, the 75mm guns are an amazingly flexible unit. Even if they cannot do any real damage to heavy tanks, they can at least shoot direct smoke after the Pak40s did their job. Awesome unit in my opinion.

Based on these facts, I have come up with a new version of my list to be tested:

HQ: 2x Cavalry Rifle/MG + 2x Vanator de Care
Platoon 1: 13x Cavalry Rifle/MG + VdC
Platoon 2: 13x Cavalry Rifle/MG + VdC
Platoon 3: 4x 81mm mortar
Platoon 4: 6x 45mm gun + transports
Platoon 5: 4x German Pak40
Platoon 6: 7x Pioneer Rifles (3x option to change to flamer)
Platoon 7: 4x Cavalry Rifle/MG scouts
Platoon 8: 12x 75mm guns + transports

These changes somewhat address the vulnerability of the infantry to templates (they do have bigger bases but also move a lot faster and can re-roll unpins while mounted) as well as give me some more anti-tank on the defense with the addition of the pioneers. I think these modifications are more a bandaid than a complete solution of the issue, but hey - what can you do - there are only so many options you can choose from! :)
Now I am off to search for some more cavalry models for my Romanians (although I already have around 8 bases painted and 12 waiting for their turn).

What are your experiences of polishing your lists?

Beyond the completely obvious part 3 - Mid War infantry lists analysis (ETC-wise)

Hello everyone, today I am coming back a bit to good old FoW :) I just checked my posts so far and it turns out that I am still missing a post in the 'Beyond the completely obvious' series that would cover Mid War infantry lists. So here it goes.

As with the previous posts from the series, I have selected 3 lists meeting the Mid War infantry criteria that I found interesting and that I would not refuse to play during the ETC. As a general remark, I have to say that both Mid War books have some interesting stuff in them in terms of infantry. I think that as far as tanks go, the choice is severly limited, Mech also has some constraints but with infantry lists you can really go crazy :)
My first selection is a British Rifle company from North Africa book. The pretty obvious reason for this is that the Brits can make a choice of whether to defend or attack in some of the missions (using their 'Night Attack' national special rule). This possibility gives all infantry lists of that nation huge flexibility. Mid War is the pinnacle period of Night Attacks as if I remember correctly, there is only one list that can counter it - Soviet Cossacks. Since they are an AA Mech list, they would be able to attack the British player's infantry company. Anyway, this is my proposal of a list:

British Rifle (Africa) - North Africa book
Confident/Veteran

HQ: 2x Rifle + bagpipes + sticky bombs
Platoon 1: 6x Rifle/MG + light mortar + sticky bombs
Platoon 2: 6x Rifle/MG + light mortar + sticky bombs
Platoon 3: 6x Rifle/MG + light mortar + sticky bombs
Platoon 4: 3x Universal Carrier
Platoon 5: 4x 3" mortar + sticky bombs + transport
Platoon 6: 4x 6 pdr
Platoon 7: 4x 6 pdr
Platoon 8: 2x Valentine II + 1x Valentine VII (C/T)
Platoon 9: 4x Deacon
Platoon 10: 2x ML 4,2" mortar + sticky bombs

This list, in my opinion can go against pretty much any other force. It has tons of direct anti-tank shots, 3 platoons of C/V infantry for assaults, medium mortars for smoke or getting rid of enemy guns with direct fire and also a small unit of heavy mortars to make the enemy think twice before bunching up his tanks. Also, Universal Carriers provide the necessary recon capability.
Since the company's tank support is either Slow or Slow Wheeled, the Night Attack rules that limit the movement of mechanized teams do not affect them so much anyway.
The big weakpoint of the list is that most of the anti-tank guns are No HE. This means, that against a dug in opponent with a lot of guns, the modus operandi will be to use the light and medium mortars in direct fire and assault when a breach is made.
You might also be wondering what is the idea behind putting sticky bombs on mortars :) Well, if you do this, and you are defending against a tank list like the Mixed Tankovy, you can put them close to your infantry on the objective, to be able to pump out a few extra AT3 hits per assault phase! For 5 points per platoon, it can really add to your defensive capability.

GERMAN PIONEERS

Another interesting list that I found in the North Africa book is the German Pioneer company (15. Panzer Division). What i like about North Africa German infantry overall is the possibility to field decent anti-tank guns integrated into your compulsory foot platoons. This makes them very good on the defense, as it increases the number of guns on the table even if you are limited to only 6 platoons in your list. In any case, this is the sample list that I have built:

German Pioneer (Africa) (15. Panzer) - North Africa book
Confident/Veteran

HQ: 2x SMG
Platoon 1: 7x Rifle/MG + 2x Pak38 + 1x 2.8 cm a-t rifle
Platoon 2: 7x Rifle/MG + 2x Pak38 + 1x 2.8 cm a-t rifle
Platoon 3: 4x Marder III (7.62 cm)
Platoon 4: 4x Pak40
Platoon 5: 2x 8-Rad
Platoon 6: 2x 8-Rad
Platoon 7: 3x 15cm NW41
Platoon 8: 3x Sd Kfz 10/5 (2cm)

The idea for this list is pretty simple: to be acting mostly in a defensive role but in case it has to attack, it will still be pretty good. Again, direct a-t is fairly decent with eight AT11&12 guns plus four Pak38s on the infantry platoons. Also, this list is built to have 4 platoons on the table while defending - 2 infantry, tank destroyers + pak40s which will give it a big edge compared to a 6 platoon list.
If you want even more defensive power, you can drop the anti-air unit and the Nebelwerfers down to 2 guns/tanks and upgrade the pioneers with supply trucks to put down up to 2 minefields or 6 barbed wire sections while deploying.
On the offensive, you still have all the assets you will ever need: pioneers to lead the charge, anti-tank for support, smoke for cover and Sd Kfz 10/5s to provide anti-air screen.

ITALIAN ALPINI

For the last one, I will copy a list by one of the Polish players - hope he does not mind. I already said a few words about it before our Mid War tournament in Poznań, so this is a bit of a copy-paste exercise. But at that time, I did not know that this company is actually Always Defend. I think in general, the only Always Defend lists are the Italian ones. In this case, these lists are a bit of a no-brainer for the ETC as in this competition being able to control whether your player is attacking or defending is crucial for the pairings. But without much more discussion, let me introduce the list:
Clarification: only Fusilieri and Bersaglieri have the Always Defend capability. Still, this does not make Alpini a bad list :)

Italian Alpini
Elite (66% to be vet)/ Artillery (83% to be vet)

HQ 2x Rifle
Platoon 1: 10x Rifle with improvised AT3 + anti-tank rifle
Platoon 2: 10x Rifle with improvised AT3
Platoon 3: 10x Rifle with improvised AT3
Platoon 4: 4x 65/17 gun (16", AT8, Rof2, no gun shield, crap bombardment)
Platoon 5: 4x 65/17 gun (16", AT8, Rof2, no gun shield, crap bombardment)
Platoon 6: 4x 75/27 gun (24", AT9, Rof2, crap bombardment)
Platoon 7: 4x Semovente 47/32 (3/1/0, AT7)
Platoon 8: 6x 75/39 gun (24", AT10, Rof2)
Platoon 9: 7x Pioneer Rifle + 2x Brixia mortar
Platoon 10: 2x 75/27 gun (24", AT9, Rof2, crap bombardment)

This is a list similar to what I have in my Romanian Cavalry (Mech) with slightly different accents. This one has shorter ranges on the guns but has a better ambush platoon in the form of the captured soviet equipment (6x 75/39). It also has a decent mobile semovente unit to go around the enemy flanks or harass light armor. Overall, I like the way this company is built. It has good chances to be veteran (up to fearless vet) and has a lot of hard-hitting units. Its main weakness is: little response capability vs the omnipresent Mixed Tankovy. In fact, it can turn out that the improvised weapons will cause more casaulties to the Italians than the assaulting KVs themselves :)
Also, on the offensive, the footprint of the company is huge, making it vulnerable to templates.

So, here are my proposals. Is there anything valuable that I maybe missed? :)

Beyond the completely obvious part 2 - Mid War mechanized lists analysis (ETC-wise)

Ok, now that we have tanks covered, I will jump into the not-so-obvious mech company choices.
The way I see the overall picture of this type of forces in the ETC is that they will most likely be used to build flexible and balanced lists able to take on all comers. This would naturally make them champions (lists that will be assigned 2 opponents to choose from). There is however, at least one exception from this rule that will be mentioned later on in the article.

Digression: What I also find funny about mechanized companies is that in singles tournaments players do not use them very often. I think that they do not feel so comfortable with having to switch between attacking and defending, depending on the opposing company type. My personal feeling is that playing mech is good practice and it is worth to give it a try for more than just one or two games.
Also, numbers collected over many polish tournaments prove that mechanized forces have the best win ratio of all company types ;) (if I remember correctly, it was also true for at least one ETC tournament)

But back to the main topic:
　
Italian Esplorante

I really love the list. If it was not for my Romanians, I would definately go for this one. Its main strength are combat platoons of tiny tanks that can harass the hell out of everybody and some very good support options. Their platoons are also fairly cheap compared to what Elite rating brings to the table (50% chance to be confident veteran, 16% fearless veteran).
When I think about this list, I mainly see it in an anti-infantry role. L6/40 is a perfect tool for dealing with any supporting troops that an infantry company fields and then launching a few concentrated assaults (unless the enemy breaks first). A platoon of these little bastards can easily hide behind a medium-sized barn and then jump out to pump out several 0.5" and MG shots at the nearest gun team and then assault and gang-rape it in the flank if the shooting fails. What you have to remember though is that they are NOT a recon platoon and not a real tank platoon :)
Also other support options, like the cheap AT 7 semoventes or carri help to deal with infantry. The Esplorante however, is not helpless against tanks. It can still field your favourite 4x Pak40 or a Panzer IV platoon and back it up with a big pioneer (demolisher) unit.
All in all, it is a balanced force that can be used to effect both on offense and on defense.
My sample list would contain:
　
Italian Esplorante Mechanised Company, from North Africa, page 98
HQ: 2x L6/40
Platoon 1: 4x L6/40
Platoon 2: 4x L6/40
Platoon 3: 4x AB41
Platoon 4: 1x Command Semovente 47/32 + 3x Semovente 47/32
Platoon 5: 1x Command Carro + 4x Semovente 75/18
Platoon 6: 7x Pioneer Rifle + 2x 45mm Brixia mortar
Platoon 7: 4x Captured 25pdr
Platoon 8: 4x German Pak40

US Armored Rifles
 

This list does not have to be advertised in any way I think. It is a very solid choice in Late War and my personal opinion is that it remains a decent option in Mid. The only thing you have to consider when selecting it is that you will always have to go Confident Trained :)

Even though I mentioned in the preamble of the article that mech lists are designed to take on all comers, my perception of the Armored Rifles is that it is leaning more towards the anti-tank role than its Italian cousin. The main reasons for this are:

- Tank Destroyers, which will be a real pain in the bottom for Mixed Tankovy lists. This is not really because they have enough AT to punch through the armor of a KV. I understand their role as one of the best options to shoot Mixed Tankovy support platoons. Combine them with a tank unit and some arty and you will kill off any medium/ligh tanks that the Soviets field and either condemn the KVs to unsupported assaults or force a morale check on their company.

- Bazookas in the Armored Rifle platoons. They are enough to stop any tank assault and sometimes can even wonder off on their own a bit and shoot some lone wolf vehicles.

- Time on target arty. I think in Mid War artillery will be a bit more valuable, since there are more non-veteran armies around. This will make ranging in easier and for US troops ToT more frequent.

What is great about the list is that anti-tank units also shine in an assault support role. Tanks have direct smoke and have so many mgs that you should be able to pin the enemy easily. Tank destroyers will go around harassing unarmored teams until they unload their deadly cargo. Finally, artillery will either smoke whatever you need shrouded or kill of a couple of infantry stands before the attack goes in.

All the above considered, I would expect to see at least several Armored Rifle companies at the ETC.

My favourite list is this:
　
US Armored Rifle Mechanised Company, from North Africa, page 238

HQ: 2x Carbine + transports
Platoon 1: 6x Rifle + 1x M3 37mm gun + 2x M1919 LMG + M2 60mm mortar + 4x Bazooka + transports
Platoon 2: 4x Rifle + 1x M3 37mm gun + 2x M1919 LMG + M2 60mm mortar + 2x Bazooka + transports
Platoon 3: 1x Carbine + 2x Rifle + 1x Bazooka + transports
Platoon 4: 4x Tank Destroyers (M10)
Platoon 5: 5x M3 Lee (long guns)
Platoon 6: 4x 105mm howitzer

Soviet Kazachiy Polk

This company is the exception that I mentioned in the intro. My opinion is that this list is purely an infantry killer. The big reason for this is that it Always Attacks in defensive battles (although with the current BF FAQ I believe it should just say: Always Attack). Attacking tanks on horses (or on foot) in broad daylight while being trained and deprived of any smoke screen is pure suicide in my book. This is why I would use it only vs infantry or foot mechanized (like Armored Rifles for example).

The big hitter in this list is the compulsory cavalry platoon of death. It can be loaded with a mixture of regular rifle/mg infantry, light mortars and ptrd a-t rifles. Addidionally, you can top it off with some mounted pioneers and a komissar from the HQ. This unit, infiltrated by cossack scouts, can easily launch a massed assault on turn 1, still having the advantage of quality of quantity rule (extending your assault bubble to 12" and increasing the number of hits needed to stop you in defensive fire to 10).

Even if you are forced to delay your offensive, your support can help you a lot to achieve fire superiority and suppress the enemy until your cossacks reach their positions. All you need is some guns from regimental gun companies, an artillery battalion and/or tank destruction company and maybe a medium tank unit. If you still feel light on anti-infantry firepower, you can field a 12 tube medium mortar platoon for only 150 points. When in position, it can lob so many rounds per turn that you will not even have to worry about getting an assault in.

With proper pairing choices Kazachiy will hit infantry and will hit it hard.

This is how I would field the anti-infantry Kazachiy:

Soviet Kazachiy Polk (Regular Support) Mechanised Company, from Eastern Front, page 208

HQ: 2x Cavalry Rifle + Cavalry Komissar + 4x Cavalry Pioneer Rifle
Platoon 1: 13x Cavalry Rifle/MG + 2x Cavalry light mortar
Platoon 2: 5x Rifle/MG + 1x light mortar
Platoon 3: 3x SMG scouts (Fearless Veteran)
Platoon 4: 8x Zis-4 guns + transport
Platoon 5: 6x T-34 obr 1941 or 1942
Platoon 6: 4x Zis-2 + 1x ptrd + komissar + transport

So what are your guesses as to which mech briefings would be used during ETC most often and why?

Beyond the completely obvious part 1 - Mid War tank lists analysis (ETC-wise)



So what tank lists really do stand out in Mid War (and are usable for ETC), apart from the pretty obvious Mixed Tankovy battalion? With this question in mind I went through the available briefings and selected 3 that were of most interest to me. Below, the results of my analysis.

Czech Panzer

I really like the list and the flexibility it offers. It gives access to a decent mix of tanks of many sorts and sizes like Pz38s (which are your compulsory platoons), Panzer 2s, Panzer 3s and 4s of multiple versions. Heavy tank enthusiasts might find themselves unimpressed because of the absence of the option to field Tiger I tanks but personally, I would not cry over this fact :)

What is also important, the list can field a platoon of self-propelled tank hunters. Most of them are variations of Marders (either AT 11 or AT 12) but there is also the option to use Panzerjager Is - although from the competitive POV I feel it is completely unnecessary.
When designing my list, I picture Marders and upgraded Panzer 4s as the main source of anti-tank shots for the list.

Also, the list has access to cheap recon and smoke. The latter comes in the form of either smoke templates from Nebelwerfers or artillery or direct shots from Panzer 4s of the E/F1 version.
If you feel like spending tons of points to get access to a mobile breakthrough gun, you can also go for a platoon of StuG/StuH assault guns, but it will hurt in terms of cost...

All this is topped with the usual addition of panzergrenadiers, panzerpioniers and medium artillery.

I would say that overall this list makes a very good anti-infantry or anti-mech force, since it is based on compulsory platoons of light tanks which, in most cases, will be either hunting for recon/other light tank units or trying to get an assault in, using smoke for cover and their multiple machine guns to pin the enemy.

My favourite Czech Panzer list at this point in time would be:

C/V
HQ: 2x Pz38
Platoon 1: 4x Pz38
Platoon 2: 4x Pz38
Platoon 3: 3x Panzer F2 or G
Platoon 4: 4x Marder II (the one with an AA gun for more flexibility)
Platoon 5: 3x Panhard
Platoon 6: 3x 15cm Nebelwerfer + Pak36 with stielgranate ammo (AT 12, range 8", RoF 1)

　
Romanian Tancuri

Romanian lists are always a bit of a gamble due to their "Peasant Army" rule. This is not really helpful in designing competitive lists but I think their Mid War tank company has a decent potential nevertheless.

The basic reason for this is the relatively low cost coupled with a relatively big chance to be veteran. If you take Panzer 4 Gs for an example, they cost approximately 20% less than their German brothers but still you can expect them to be veteran in most of the games. The caveat here is that sometimes you will be a Reluctant Veteran but I think that for tanks that play the anti-tank role it is not such a big disadvantage.

Romanian tanks also have access to some relatively cheap 4/4+ artillery in the form of Skoda 100mm guns but you have to remember that the low cost is associated with the lack of smoke bombardment option (also true for Late War companies).

The rest is pretty similar to a regular German tank list, with the exception of the fact that you will not be able to field self-propelled, lightly armored tank hunters. This is a pity, since the only substitute you can use is a platoon of 4 Pak40 guns. They are not so bad themselves but in a mobile list they will sometimes become deadweight.

In any case, I think this is a fairly strong anti-tank list that can dish out a lot of AT11/AT12 fire.
The way I would build it for this anti-tank duty is presented below:

Elite (66% chance to be veteran)
HQ: Panzer 4G
Platoon 1: 3x Panzer III N
Platoon 2: 3x Panzer IV G
Platoon 3: 3x Panzer IV G
Platoon 4: 4x Pak40 + transport
Platoon 5: 1x Sd Kfz 223 + 2x Sd Kfz 222
Platoon 6: 4x Skoda 100mm + transport (so that you can also use them in a direct role vs infantry)
　
US Tank
It is really hard to put my finger on what is so good about this list. But the best way to describe it I think would be to say that this list simply has it all. You can build any combination you want with it. You can go heavily anti-infantry, you can go for a fast flanking force or tank buster. This is why I will not even bother to put together my favorite US Tank list because there are so many possibilities.

But why do I think it has it all?

1. It has access to fast, lightly armored tanks and to their heavier, slower cousins. Both options can be used in the compulsory slots. This is like having light and regular tank company of Late War in one briefing. Also, you are only limited to one compulsory platoon matching your HQ so you can even have a mix of the two!
2. One word: stabilisers!
3. Like in Late War, your tanks have access to direct smoke.
4. You can field Tank Destroyers for extra anti-tank. These can be AT 7, 9 or 12 - up to you.
5. 105 and 155mm arty is available.
6. Jeep mobility recon is in. You can also get foot patrols with transports if you want.
7. You can go for cheap smoke templates with M2 mortar half-tracks.
8. Many others :)

Overall, I think this list will be used quite often as it can fill any gaps in ETC teams.
　
What are your thoughts after this lengthy article? :) What tank lists do YOU expect to see often at the ETC?

Lists that you have to be prepared for during the 2016 ETC

So we already know that the 2016 ETC is going to be a Mid War event. With this in mind, and being somewhat experienced in Mid War already I went through the available books and PDFs to pinpoint the lists that I think will be a must-have for any self-respecting team :)
Since there are so many choices that I like (despite the common view that this period does not offer enough viable alternatives), I decided to place my bet on one company per each type that I think is going to be used most often:

1. Tank
This is easy. I bet most of the teams will field Mixed Tankovy from Eastern Front. This company is a real infantry mincing machine. It has enormous firepower that is coupled with very good survivability of the huge platoons of medium tanks or 5-6 strong platoons of KV1 tanks. The only real weakness of this list is its inability to respond to panthers/tigers or heavy tank hunters. Enter Sturmovik/Chaika :P

2. Mechanized
This one is actually not so simple. In my opinion though, you will face many panzerspah companies. This list is very flexible, able to squeeze in a lot of valuable platoons like Sd Kfz 233 (7.5cm), Marders, Pak40s, Pioneers, Panhards. Panzerspahs make for perfect champion rosters that are balanced both for attack and defense.

3. Infantry
I would honestly be suprised not to see numerous Italian Fucilieri lists. There are 2 big reasons for this:
- they are always defend, which is not common in Mid War
- they have a very good selection of troops for an infantry list (german Pak40s, russian 7.62cm AT 10/RoF 2 artillery,  cheap tanks and huge infantry platoons bristling with integrated guns, mgs and armed with improvised tank assault 3 bombs).
The only thing that can stop teams fielding Fucilieri is the availability of the models :(

So, these are my predictions - and what are yours?