List building 101 continued - briefing selection

Hello everyone, in another article by Sexy Sixes I thought I would jump back to the list building 101. I already shared some of my thoughts on how I understand the general process of building a tournament list but today, I would describe it in some more detail, how do I select a proper briefing.

So without further ado, I will just get on with it :)

I start off just like everybody else does: by looking at my collection and thinking "oh, I have not used these for quite a long time now" :) Once I get an overall idea what I want to play and figure out what my risk apetite is (i.e. do I want to play a "brick" or a "toolbox") I start searching for a suitable briefing.
Now the thing with Flames of War is that the resources for list building are scattered all over the place. There are paper books, unofficial/official army builders and Digital Briefings. With no single point of reference, it takes quite a while to compile a list of possible companies that I might use (this is somehow alleviated by the fact that on Forces and Easy Army you can search for briefings containing a given arsenal item - e.g. list those that include StuH42).
But assuming that I managed this somehow - what are the key features I would be looking for in a briefing to consider it somewhat suitable for tournament play? I would say that it depends on a mix of 2 factors: company type mixed with the "brick"/"toolbox" attribute.

For "bricks" it is a general rule that there needs to be a focus on a spam of dual-purpose (anti-tank & anti-infantry) units that are either very tough to kill or quite the opposite - glass cannon type - able to dish out tons of damage but easy to hurt. So what I normally look for is: artillery parks, Always Attack medium/light tanks, Always Defend heavy tanks from B@R or BbB (KG Swoboda), night attacking parachute infantry, etc.
An example of a "brick" list built to survive is a B@R heavy tank company whereas a Task Force A is a fast moving and hard hitting, but also very vulnerable list based around lightly armored Tank Destroyers.

"Toolboxes" are more demanding, at least for me. And here is what I normally look for:

Infantry (including any fortified)

Has to have good anti-tank support first of all. I want at least one big AT 10+ gun unit (4+ guns), one top armour 0 tank destroyer unit or tanks if there is no option for tank destroyers and a platoon of low end infantry/anti-tank guns (perfect example is a platoon of 9 Schneider 47mm guns for my Romanians). You probably ask - why the low end guns? For me, it is the perfect answer to harassment from any pesky recon that tries to target my vital assets or go around the flanks as well as a counter to enemy guns. When attacking, they help tremendously to dig out any entrenched infantry.

Moving on, I try to look for briefings that have the option of at least C/T infantry with some AT capability. In the perfect world, these would be units that can dish out 2+ anti-tank shots while being charged and can cause AT4+ hits in close combat.

The next thing I would want my list to have is a template for harassment. It does not have to be high AT but I like at least 4+ firepower to avoid frustration when I get plenty of penetrations but only bailed out results. Overall, heavy mortars are the perfect tool for this. They make the enemy think twice before bunching up but only cost so little.

The last option I am interested in is a recon unit for those times when I have to attack. My personal preference is in order of appearance: cavalry recce, armored cars, foot units. I also try to find cheap options as most of the time I would be defending and there would be no need for any recce rules.

Mechanized

First thing that needs to be mentioned is that Mechanized forces for me, are divided into 2 main types and several subtypes:
- Always Attack/Always Defend Mechanized which in most cases fall under the "brick" type of list - e.g. Peredovoye Otryad or Task Force A
- Regular Mechanized with subtypes: True Armored Cars (all wheeled/tracked), Mechanized Infantry, Semi-tank.

Now for Regular Mechanized, the thing is that True Armored Cars are not a selection I would make for a tournament list. The sole reason for this is: Mobile Reserves rule. With this rule affecting my force while also defending, I normally get to deploy only two platoons on the table which pretty much means I am dead. The way around it is to build one of the two remaining sub-types.
For Mechanized Infantry, I do exactly the same selections as I would do for an Infantry company but also keep in mind that I will be attacking more often and this is why recon and templates go up the priority ladder. The perfect example of such a list is US Armored Rifles.
For Semi-tank, since there are so many different lists to choose from, there is no single recipe. If I would have to use a 1420 example, say for a Soviet Light Assault Gun Battalion, I would mini-max the SU76 units (take 2x3), get some heavy Guards tanks as the backbone (4x IS85), Zis-2 platoon, 122mm and 152mm howitzers to deal with heavy tanks, 6x 37mm AA and 5x foot recon. This way, if I am defending in a mission with Mobile Reserves, I can put everything but the SU76s down on the table and be quite confident I can hold on. I think the general rule is: in each case I would be aiming for as many platoons on the table as possible while defending. Otherwise, it would be almost a standard tank list of its type.

Tank

I think it is the most difficult one to build. If I want a toolbox type with tanks then I am most probably aiming for some heavies or briefings with big tank platoons.

When it comes to heavies, here is how I do it: I look for lists in which the basic platoons can fulfill an anti-infantry role and are able to fend off a medium tank horde. After that, I add some heavy artillery preferably (to deal with other heavies) and finally buy a recon unit. Sometimes, if I only select one artillery battery, I have the option to go for anti-tank guns. This way, while defending, I would normally have 2 gun batteries and one heavy tank unit on the table + any HQ tanks. Such setup should give me enough time for the reinforcements to arrive and save the day.

With medium tanks it is different. I look for briefings including big tank platoons and preferably a double HQ unit. German Panzers are a perfect example where you can get 2 HQ guys and 2 platoons of 5 panzers/StuGs in case you need to defend with just two platoons on the table. I aim to spend as many points as I can fit into these units to upgrade them to full strength and only go for another 2 as support. Now I have two options - go double recon or recon + artillery (preferably mobile). Such composition is a counter to what seems to be a valid tactic while in combat against a 6 platoon "toolbox" tank list: ignore the main body and wipe out reserves. What I end up with is a list like my Digital Briefing HG Stug Battery that can attack easily and also defend with two strong units on the table.



Phew, that was a long one. Hope you enjoyed it anyway. I would like to read your comments on your recipies regarding briefing selections and how do you identify the ones that are worth using. Over the few upcoming weeks I will share with you some AARs of a tournament I am attending on Sat-Sun where I will play the HG Stug Battery I built using one of the recipies listed above. Hopefully, It will not be just a big bunch of lost games in the end :)

1420 points tournament preps - opponent lists review

Hey,
A quick one today. I will be attending a LW 1420 tournament in Poznan next weekend playing my HG Assault Gun Battery and figured out that it would be good to see what the opponents are fielding. So here is a summary and also some of my thoughts on the meta and how does it relate to the list I built.

　
With this table I can clearly say that in Poland, German tank companies are certainly experiencing a new Golden Age :) Also, a thing to note is that LLW books are the most often used ones - especially Bridge at Remagen and Devil's Charge. I think why Berlin (another LLW publication) is missing is that it features Soviets, who are not so popular in the area (I hope to tip the balance in the forseeable future) and Germans but without access to any outstanding tank lists.
I really do not fully understand the dominance of tank lists in this tournament. One might think that for this pretty slim, 1420 points format the majority of the forces would be infantry/fortified companies as only these guys can have all the toys they want anyway. When I compare my Stug list with the other alternative I was thinking about:


Romanian Puscasi (1/6 RT, 1/6 RV, 3/6 CT, 1/6 CV)
HQ: 2x Rifle + 2x Panzershreck
CP: 9x Rifle/MG
CP: 9x Rifle/MG
WP: 9x Schneider 47mm
WP: 2x 120mm mortars
SP: 6x Pak40
SP: 4x PzIV
SP: 4x KF 75mm
SP: 4x Cav Scouts


It turns out that my Assault Guns have so many elements missing (of which I am completely aware but still excited to test the StuGs) :) The infantry are the "toolbox" while the StuGs are the "brick". Fortunately, I have some sort of an answer to pretty much any list in the tournament. The ones that worry me the most are KG Benningsen Panther lists (2-3) and B@R heavy tanks (also 2-3). I can see myself struggling against these, unless I can get some stealth maneuvering (thanks to Major Sandrock and the PakPumas) done to get sideshots on the big cats.


On the other hand, I am quite happy that I should be pretty confident winning over infantry lists. But in any case, we will see how it goes.


And now, some of the more interesting lists built for this tournament:

List building 101 for singles tournament games ;)

Hello Everybody,

Today I thought I would do a writeup in response to somebody else's blog post. It was actually Chris Fret's article on list building, published on WWPD. I read the article and I really liked it, but for me, it did not fit under the title "list building 101". What Chris wrote, was for me: "how I built my French infantry company".

With my twist on competitive gaming, when I considered the title: "list building 101" I understood it more like "list building 101 for singles tournaments". And it occured to me, that it is indeed a good mental challenge and fantastic material for sharing my thoughts on this subject:)

In any case, for an article called "list building 101 for singles tournament games" I decided to create a generic description that can be used for the majority of cases. Exceptions are there, but it is not my intention to cover them in this article.

So here it goes my take on "list building 101 for singles tournament games":

Hi, and welcome to another article on Sexy Sixes. Today, I wanted to share my thoughts on what are the basic topics I cover when I build lists for tournament play.

Considering new options on how to build a force normally starts with one of the following triggers: a new book comes out, a tournament that I intend to go to is announced or I was asked to write an article about a given briefing/group of briefings. But no matter which trigger is used, they all lead to one common mental process where I sit down, build a list and refine it to the point where I would use in tournament play. This process itself is the 101.
What is more, although today I focus on singles tournaments, I am sure that for team competitions, the process is roughly the same but considers some additional outside factors, like for instance: the pairings. It also leads to other processes like what models do I need to order to put my company down on the table :P But these are not the focus of this article!

As a note, all the lists I published on this blog follow these steps :)

Ok, so after these lenghty words of introdction, let me present you my receipe to build a decent competitive list :)

1. List selection vs managing pairing risks.

Before I do list building itself, I ask myself whether I want to go crazy with my guys or want to take it easy and be more reliable. When I have the answer, it always leads me to two main types of forces in Flames of War and maybe miniature wargames in general:

- "The brick", which normally means a specialized list, focused around one powerful aspect of the briefing that also has ample support to make it work and cover the weaknesses. It's highlight feature is that it is virtually unstoppable for specific types of opponents - no matter how many mistakes you make. One example could be a LW Soviet heavy tank list based on IS 85 tanks. It can deal with most infantry and medium tank opponents quite easily but is very vulnerable to enemy heavy tanks, since it cannot penetrate anything with FA 8-9+ reliably. IS 85s in the list are "The brick" and all other units, like heavy artillery, sappers, etc. work to cover the main weakness of it. Another one, would be the one I presented in the article about German Tanks.

- "The toolbox" is an army that has multiple units of low/medium strength that work well together when combined. The outstanding feature of this list type is that it has answers to virtually any type of threat. The downside is that it has no preffered enemy and you normally do not score any auto-wins. You will have to play to the best of your abilities each and every time. An example of "The toolbox" is my Romanian Infantry list, which has answers to virtually every unit in the game and can take a lot of punishment and go on at the same time.

Each of these selections is connected to what is called "risk apetite". If my "risk apetite" is high, i.e. I want to have a lot of fun but more or less gamble or make somebody cry, I go for "The brick".
If I accept the fact that wins will not be easy but I will not have any unfavourable pairings, I go for "The toolbox".

2. Build the list itself - this is what Chris described in his excellent article about French colonial infantry, and although I am sure he did all the other steps of this 101 process, he did not talk about them. This point is a topic for a separate "list building 101 for singles tournament games - continued" article. What I need to mention however, is that there is a defined template that I normally use to create my first draft so I do not really start from scratch. Once the draft is ready, I go to step 3.

3. Considering the metagame.

When I think about my list, I always do it in a context. I take my list and evaluate how well would it fare against other lists. The rivals I consider are:

- lists consider top choices for tournament play (e.g. US LW lists)
- obvious counters and how popular are they
- other popular lists (e.g. Schwere Panzers)
- other lists that I created

In the comparison, I look for obvious weaknesses that I have not covered so far and can still be addressed by shuffling some selections around. For example, I might have forgotten to equip my troops enough against dug in veteran infantry. In these cases, I go back to point 2, upgrade my force and try again. Unfortunately, sometimes I have to go as far as point 1 and start over.

Also, I take a mental note of my least favourite opponents to use it in point 4.

4. Considering scenarios.

Now, once my draft is complete and most glaring weaknesses are covered, I do the last step: take the list of possible hard counters created in point 3 and extend the context by throwing in unfavourable scenarios into the cauldron. An example could be my LW German HG Assault Gun Battery list playing an AA US Mechanized or Tank list in Counterattack or Surrounded.

With this step complete I now have three options:

- I figure out my plan on how to deal with the toughest opponents and mark the list ready for the upcoming tournament. Yay!
- I am not satisfied with the findings and go back to step 2
- I deem the risk connected with playing the list too big and have to start over in step 1


So what I really do each time is I go top to bottom - start with a generic concept and a feel to the list and start applying more and more context once the draft is complete. When this process is over, I am sure that the end product fits my needs 100% and will save me a lot of disappointments :)

But maybe somebody else has a different method to do this. I would love to see a description in the comments below! :)

German tanks for the win!

Hey, long time no see :)

Today I thought it would be nice to share with you my idea of a LW 1420 list that I would like to play during an upcoming tournament in Poznań. Recently, there has been a lot of talk regarding how playing Germans is an uphill struggle and of course my spirit of perverseness kicked in whispering to me that I should demonstrate that not all is lost to the defenders of the Vaterland. And what is more, I should do it with tanks (no Always Defend Tigers)!

Following up on that idea, I started digging :)

There are 2 things that I discovered in the process:
1. An overall thing about German tournament tanks is that it is extremely difficult to build a true all-comers list. The reason for this is that every time I build a list I like, it turns out to be 6 platoons strong (normally, majority of platoons are tank teams). The problem is: what do I do if I get to defend in a battle with the Mobile Reserves rule? I can either put the nebs + maybe a Gepanzerte platoon with 1 platoon of tanks on the table or just 2 tank platoons. This means that my force is very vulnerable until my reserves arrive. No-go in my opinion. I can also try and mitigate that risk by using an always attacking list like tank companies from Devil's Charge, Panzers to the Meuse or Nachtjager. But then, I am faced with a force that is not so strong against infantry companies (not enough tanks in most cases).

2. Many other nationalities have it so much easier! :)

- US get quite a lot of briefings with Always Attack tank/mech companies with a very good selection of support options and helpful rules
- Hungarians get their assault gun battery, which is a good choice against pretty much everyone else, especially at low points
- Soviets cover up their weaknesses by either heavy tank choices or artillery support (think 120+160mm mortars in one list)
- British who are not attacking with their tank companies have it even better, because of their semi-indirect fire rules


All these things considered, I came to the conclusion that whatever I will build, the list will not fit to my high standards. But I had to decide anyway (still need some time to collect and paint the missing models).

While going through numerous briefings, one caught my special attention: HG Assault Gun Battery from FoW Digital. Normally, people tend to avoid playing HG tanks as they are almost exact copies of regular Panzer companies with the Guards tax added on top. At first, this seemed to be the case with HG Assault Guns. With further investigation though, it turned out that this list could have at least some potential.

There several reasons for this:

- StuH assault guns are one of the compulsory platoons
- all StuG and StuH platoons can be fitted with up to 4 tanks
- Company HQ can include up to 2 tanks, instead of the normal 1
- StuGs are late version models, equipped with an extra co-axial MG, which helps agains infantry in the open
- the company can employ very good recon units
- obviously Nebelwerfers are also an option

One extra strenght of the company is the Warrior who can join it: Hans Sandrock. This guy is just awesome! For 160 points he is a Cofident Veteran Higher Command team in a StuG (late) assault gun. His skillset is pretty impressive:

- he ignores +1 penalty to hit at long ranges
- when he closes in to under 16", he can hit side armor of tanks even though he is shooting them from the front (on a 4+ or automatically if there is a choice between turret/hull)
- and most notably, he makes one platoon he joins use cautious movement

Overall, he is something between a heavy hitter and a force multiplier. A must have, if you ask me :)


WIth all these options on the table, I decided to build my HG Assault Gun company version 1:

Confident/Veteran
HQ: Sandrock + 2 HQ StuG (late) assault guns + recovery vehicle
CP: 4x StuG (late)
CP: 4x StuH
SP: 1x SdKfz 234/1 + 1x Pakpuma
SP: 1x SdKfz 234/1 + 1x Pakpuma

A very straightforward and quick to play list when I think about it. When designing it, I knew it could take on pretty much anyone. The only obstacle I could see was defending in Counterattack. This is why I decided to defend without recce support (although the recovery transport can be of some limited use here) but to have the main force in the form of 11 assault guns, including the Warrior on the table.

I hope to be able to use this list to effect next month. We will see how my concept works :)

1420 GT LoL lists!!

Hey, I am back with another article.

This one is maybe a bit late. I think that the most suitable date to publish it would have been the 1st of April but hey, no crying over spilt milk, right?
The article today is about some fun lists you can build for the upcoming UK GT. There have been a lot of 1420 point lists thrown around on various blogs and on Facebook. Hell, even I will post my favorites. But not today. Today I thought it would be fun to play around with ideas for lists that maybe are not so competitive (although might hold their own when some good luck shines on you) but would be exciting and fun to play. In all honesty, I have been thinking of using them so many times now but they always lost to some more tournament suited builds. Hopefully however, maybe somebody else can use my article as an inspiration and share his experiences some day :)

Ok, the first one coming up is Perimeter Outpost from Devil's Charge - a US fortified R/V infantry company. What I really love about this briefing is that it has so many cheap platoon options that even at 1420 points it lets you max out your fortifications. This is one of the few companies that can actually win a game without having a game at all :) This is mainly because of access to 6 sections of anti-tank obstacles (48" !). With such a congo line of dragon's teeth, czech hedgehogs or whatever can stop a tank, you can effectively block the ability of enemy armor to cross the table and reach your positions. For companies based on tank teams only, this means game over at deployment!
At 1420 getting all 6 sections is maybe not so feasible, so this is why in the list I prepared, I only go for 4 :) Plus 2 mandatory minefields! :) These obstacles should not be left unattended, however because enemy infantry will be able to dismantle it given some time. This is why we also need some good anti-infantry firepower and still some anti-tank to be able to handle armor in scenarios where the minefield/anti-tank obstacle screen will not work.
Did I also mention that regardless of mission choice, this company always starts the game in prepared positions? No? Well, it does :)
In the end, this is my preferred setup:

HQ 2x rifle + trenches
CP: full rifle platoon + a-t obstacle
CP: full rifle platoon + a-t obstacle
SP: I&R platoon (4 jeeps, one armed with a 0,5")
SP: Anti-tank platoon of 3x57mm (late) guns
SP: Towed Tank Destroyer platoon (4xM5 gun - C/T)
SP: Cavalry Recon platoon (C/V)
SP: Calliope Platoon (2x Calliope Shermans - C/T)
SP: 105 Battery (4x105mm - C/T)

My second choice is also a defending company. It is Kampfgruppe Swoboda, a R/T, always defend, infantry company from Bridge to Bridge. This company is so fun because it fields 8.8cm anti-aircraft guns as combat platoons! :) Boom, right off the bat, the briefing lets you build a decent anti-tank ability and avoid investing into R/T foot troops to bring 8.8 onto the table. What is more interesting is that it is supported by the trained Tigers of Kampfgruppe Hummel and either SS platoons or security (sicherheits) companies/platoons. Since you will be almost guaranteed to defend, you can build your list so that when you have to move some units into reserves, you will still have a very tough force on the table at the start of the game. Just do not forget to bring transports for your guns, because a lot of them are immobile :)

HQ: 2x SMG
CP: 4x 8.8 Flak 36 (static) + 4x extra crew + transport
CP: 4x 8.8 Flak 39 (r) + 4x extra crew + transport
CP: 4x 2cm Flak 38 + transport
SP: 4x Tiger I (C/T)
SP: full SS panzergrenadier platoon + faust (F/V)
SP: 3x SS 15cm Nebs + transport (F/V)

Ok, so I did a list presentation on a couple of defending companies. Now this one is an Always Attack Mechanized company! Kampfgruppe Graebner F/V (again from Bridge to Bridge book) can be a fun to play choice. To be honest, I even know a guy in our local tournament scene who plays it and had some limited success with it.
Anyway, let us talk some more detail about how this force can be constructed and played.
KG Graebner is built around 2 platoons of mechanized/motorized SS panzergrenadiers. The rest of supporting platoons are mostly armored cars with a lot of anti-infantry capability but virtually no anti-tank. There are 2 ways to mitigate these weaknesses: use Graebner himself and bring heavy artillery.
As for Graebner, for around 50 points he is a very good warrior team. He is riding in a decent armored vehicle but what is more important, he gives his guys tons of special rules:
- makes the company Always Attack
- gives spearhead moves to his combat platoons
- lets you do your recon moves before defender does his (and blocks your recce as a result)
- platoon he joins hits on a 2+ in assaults
- platoon he joins while making a stormtrooper move can go 6" instead of the normal 4
With this guy in your force, you will be able to dominate the no-man's land and possibly launch assaults with your infantry starting on turn 2. Such furious assaults can even catch tanks off-guard or at least make sure that you get stuck in early on, before enemy reserves start trickling in. If this quick pressure application fails, you can always rely on your 2 batteries of 3x15cm SS artillery :)
Anyway, here is the list:

HQ: 2x SMG + transport + Graebner in Humber IV (AT 7 gun)
CP: full gepanzerte SS platoon + faust
CP: full aufklarungs SS platoon + faust
WP: 2x 8-rad
WP: 3x SdKfz 251/9 (7.5cm)
SP: 3x 15cm sFH18
SP: 3x 15cm sFH18


Ok, so this is it - hope you liked the ideas and if you feel something is definately missing (has to be fun and at least a little, tiny bit competitive), let me know in the comments! :)

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)

The Fighting Girlfriend and her driver :)

Hello everyone, today I will say a few words about my recent favorite Flames of War warrior - Mariya Oktyabrskaya. What I found interesting about this hero and why I decided to write this article was:

1. The moving story of her participation in World War II
2. FoW rules that represent her on the miniature battlefield

The story of Mariya

So for anyone who does not know this, Mariya Oktyabrskaya was a tank driver in the Red Army between 1943 and 1944 (she died as a result of wounds sustained in battle). For her outstanding service, she was posthumously awarded the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union.
What was so interesting about her participation in war was that she volunteered for the tank corps as a way of exacting her revenge on the Germans for killing her husband. After she learned of his death, she sold all her possessions and donated a T-34 tank to the Red Army. There was only one condition related to this donation: she is allowed to drive the tank into battle. The Soviets, realizing the propaganda opportunity, granted her wish. She was sent to a 5 month training and she named her tank the "Fighting Girlfriend". After the training, Mariya was sent to the frontline where she served showing extraordinary heroism until her death following the battle of Vitebsk.

Mariya in FoW

In Flames of War, Mariya is represented as a warrior team (retaining the rating of the company/battalion she is a part of) that can be fielded as a part of a Medium Tankovy company or a Battalion Commander driving a T-34 tank. What is so cool about her when she is a part of a company is that the tank that she will drive can be of any type (T-34, T-34/57 or uparmoured T-34). The sad part is that if you select her as a Battalion Commander, you can only use a regular T-34 :(

Her rules changed a bit since they were published in Forces of War and with the current wording they mean:

- she passes skill tests on a 2+
- she passes all morale checks on a 2+. This extends to Company Morale checks if she is your HQ and Platoon Morale checks if she is the command team (in the previous version I believe it was only for her tank).
- she can move and shoot with full rof, obeying the H&C rules

So far, I can see at least 3 decent options of fielding her:

1. Battalion commander - assault monster:

This build incorporates Mariya in a T-34 with an upgrade of Tank Escorts. It means you will have a lone wolf tank that can skirt the enemy flanks and assault units with weak a-t capability using her two 2+ attacks per combat round. Also, her 2+ re-rollable motivation check to counterattack means that she will fight until every enemy team is destroyed or she dies a glorious death.

2. Company (platoon) commander - assault monster:

This is a build similar to the first one but has slightly different advantages. First of all, in Tankovy Batalon lists it releases your HQ slot to be filled in with a different type of tank when necessary. Secondly, it boosts the morale of the platoon from 3+ to 2+ for the purposes of platoon morale checks. And finally, she is still the assault monster herself! :) This can be coupled with a unit of uparmoured T-34s that can be a real pain to get rid of. Downside is that if you want to use Tank Escorts, you need to upgrade the entire unit :(

3. Company (platoon) commander - anti-tank role:

With this build you let Mariya drive a T-34/57 tank and utilize her ability to move and shoot with full rof. This option however, is not possible in a Mixed Tankovy list. Such a pity....not :P

Ok, so this is it regarding the female tank hero Mariya Oktyabrskaya - I will be testing a Tankovy list with Mariya soon enough and will let you know what the outcome was! :)

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?

Tournament Preparations - Wojna Światów part 2

Ok, so today is day 2 of the tournament. As you are reading this message, I am probably being beaten mercilessly by some kid who plays the game for the first time :) There will be reports of the tournament coming in pretty soon and if everything went according to plan, I should have already posted some pictures!

In the mean time, this is the second and last post of this tournament preparation series. For those that are not familiar with the first post, my aim is to shortly discuss the lists submitted by other players and that I found interesting gaming-wise.

We are playing the following missions:

Encounter
Breakthrough
Counterattack
Surrounded
Fighting Withdrawal
The list I am using: Romanian Cavalry



Hungarian Harckocsizo
Confident/Veteran

HQ: 2x Pz38
Platoon 1: 3x Pz38
Platoon 2: 3x Panzer IV F2
Platoon 3: 10x Pioneer Rifle
Platoon 4: 4x Marder II
Platoon 5: 4x Toldi I
Platoon 6: 4x Skoda 100mm guns (trained)

I like this list for the fact that it is all about concentration, agility and hitting hard where it hurts the most. It has a good amount of high-end anti-tank (probably prepared to take on the flood of Mixed Tankovy lists) as well as plenty of high mobility and assault capability (Pz38s or the assault pioneers). There are 2 main weaknesses in this list that seem obvious to me:

1. Not so much staying power. There are only 16 tanks in total and their armor for the most part is not so good. Defense in this list mostly comes from the veteran rating and the tough infantry platoon.

2. There is no smoke to help to mitigate any possible return fire. This is maybe not crucial, but gun-heavy companies in scenarios that do not require them to move might be a tough nut to crack by the Hungarian Tanks.

Overall I feel good playing against this list in Surrounded, Breakthrough and Fighting Withdrawal whereas I am not so positive about Encounter and Counterattack (I can be easily outmaneuvered and shot to pieces unless I can take care about the light tanks early on).

Motor Company (8th Army)
Confident/Veteran

HQ: 2x Rifle w/ sticky bombs + White Scout transports + 2x 3" mortar
Platoon 1: 4x MG + 3x Anti-tank rifle + transports + sticky bombs
Platoon 2: 2x Vickers HMG + transports
Platoon 3: 3x Universal Carrier w/ 0.5"
Platoon 4: 3x Churchill III (trained)
Platoon 5: 3x Grant (trained)
Platoon 6: 4x Deacon
Platoon 7: 3x Marmon Herrington III w/ captured weapon and AA MG
Air: Limited Hurricane (cannon 3+/11/4+)

This is an infantry company, yes :) It is a funny way to put together a mobile force that would defend more often than not. The big advantage of this list is that it has a lot of mobile anti-tank and tons of mobile mgs. It will struggle a bit against the KVs because it mostly has AT10 but should do pretty well against medium tanks. I think its main weakness is the focus on firepower and almost zero capability to assault. The only unit I can see that is able to perform an assault are the Churchills. They will not do so good in the end I guess, since they are only trained. It means that they will get only 1.5 hits per turn, provided the platoon makes it to the enemy lines intact :L Also, it will have a hard time defending in missions with mobile reserves as the only deployment setup I can see working for it is Churchills + one other unit (plus maybe the hmgs if the other unit is the infantry). This means that the enemy can hunt down reserves and not even care about the heavy infantry tanks.

Against this force I should do pretty good in Counterattack and Encounter. Surprisingly, other scenarios might be a bit of a challenge.

Ok, so these were the interesting builds that I wanted to talk about. To summarize the topic, I will mention that in this tournament we are having ~30 players and the distribution of forces that have had their rosters submitted on time is:

Most popular company types:
10 tank
9 Mechanized
7 Infantry (surprise!)

Most popular nations:
12 Germany (everybody complains but still a very popular choice)
5 Soviet
3 US (haha, no confident/veteran option = not so popular)
2 British
2 Romanian (go Romanians, go!!)
1 Hungarian
1 Italian

　

Will post more details about the tournament soon. Stay tuned!

Tournament Preparations - Wojna Światów part 1

Hello Everyone,

As a part of preparations for the upcoming Wojna Światów tournament, I have performed a check of what lists are going to be used. I normally do this to look for some new composition ideas and prevent myself from being surprised with a completely new build. If I find any of these, the least I can do is to read any special rules, familiarize myself with the Arsenal entries and think about possible tactics that I could use to play against such a company.

I have to tell that if someone would ask me quantify the component parts of a success in a tournament environment (single), I would say that good prep is around 20%. What I am trying to say is that it is always worth to spend an extra hour to probe the meta if you decided to go competitive.

In any case, I have been able to read all the rosters that have been added to the tournament entry before it was switched to hidden mode and there are a few that I found interesting.

P.S. I will go in 2 separate iterations of this analysis, each time covering a few lists that I found interesting.

P.P.S. this is the list that I will be using: Romanian Cavalry

　

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 with slightly different accents. This one mostly 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. 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 weaknesses are: little response capability vs omnipresent Mixed Tankovy as well as massive footprint which will be a major hindrance on the offensive (~40 infantry bases is not that easy to move around the board). I think I can beat it in Counterattack/Breakthrough/Surrounded, Encounter will be a 50/50, while I will almost certainly loose in Fighting Withdrawal.

　

US Armored Recon
Confident/Trained

HQ: 2x Carbine + transports
Platoon 1: 2x M3A1 + mortar jeep + mg jeep
Platoon 2: 2x M3A1 + mortar jeep + mg jeep
Platoon 3: 4x M10
Platoon 4: 4x Sherman
Platoon 5: Full AR platoon + 3 bazookas
Platoon 6: 3x Priest

A pretty standard, solid Armored Car list. It is very well balanced with plenty of options for both anti-tank and anti-infantry. It will be very good on the offensive as well as in Fair Fights because of the amazing mix of firepower and mobility. It has its cons too though :) It is all Confident Trained which means that it will melt pretty quick to concentrated fire. Also, defending against tank forces in mobile reserves battles will be a pain in the butt with only 2 platoons on the table. I feel pretty confident to beat it in Counterattack/Breakthrough/Surrounded. Fighting Withdrawal depends on the attack/defense roll (It should be very easy if I am the defender and pretty difficult if I am the attacker). Encounter - again, 50/50.

　

Rota Razvedki
Fearless/Trained

HQ: 2x Motorcycle Rifle + Motorcycle Komissar (my favourite :P )
Platoon 1: 7x Rifle/MG + 4x Captured Sd Kfz 251
Platoon 2: 7x Rifle/MG + 4x Captured Sd Kfz 251
Platoon 3: 10x T34 (including Mariya Oktyabrskaya) (conscript)
Platoon 4: 6x BA64
Platoon 5: 4x SU122 (conscript)
Platoon 6: 6x120mm mortar (conscript)
Platoon 7: 2x Katyusha + extra crew

This list is maybe not perfect, but still quite interesting. Again, it is a mechanized force designed to be the attacker. It will be a very good force against infantry companies and possibly gun-heavy rosters like the one I am fielding (or the Alpini that I already mentioned). It has tons of decent anti-infantry or anti-gun assets: T34s, SU122s, Razvedki platoons, Heavy mortars. What makes is different from other mech forces is that it can put down at least some units in missions with mobile reserves and hope to survive the initial turns of the battle. The bad part of this setup is that I honestly do not know what is the plan against able tank companies. This Razvedki has next to zero of reliable anti-tank. Also, odd number of platoons needs to be mentioned :)

If I go against this company, I could have a hard time defending in most of the missions with the exception of Fighting Withdrawal. If I am the attacker, I should be doing fine in Counterattack (just kill off the reserves and force a morale check) and Surrounded. The rest is 50/50.

Ok, I still can't wait to test my Romanians against these fine opponents. There will be a full tournament report coming in soon (as the tournament is scheduled for this weekend). Also, it will be followed by..... another tournament next week - which makes me extra happy! :) So stay tuned, as there is a lot of gaming-related posts coming in soon! :)

Peasant Army vol 4 - the story of Vanatori Motorizata!

Hey, another episode of Peasant Army is here :)

This time, it was triggered by one of the readers and a fellow Romanian army general! The request was to give some army building advice concentrated on Vanatori Motorizata companies across all FoW periods. Of course, can do! :)

First of all, I need to mention, that in my opinion, Romanian army in general is a very good choice if you want variety in your lists. The great thing about it is that it has access to the main types of companies: infantry, mechanized and tank across all periods. What is more, in each period a different company type is strong. If I was to assign point values (between 1-3, where 3 is the strongest) for how strong a given Romanian briefing is in each period compared to other Romanian lists, it would go like this:

Early War

Regular Infantry (1), Elite Infantry (2), Cavalry (2), Tank (2), Motorized Infantry (3)

Mid War

Mountain Infantry (1), Regular Infantry (1), Motorized Infantry (2), Tank (3), Cavalry (3)

Late War

Cavalry (1), Mountain Infantry (1), Czech Tank (1), Motorized Infantry (2), Medium Tank Axis & Soviet (2), Allied Regular Infantry (2), Axis Regular Infantry (3)

What you can see in my list is that Motorized infantry gets a bit worse as time passes but is still quite strong compared to other lists. So overall, aiming for Motorizata sounds like a good plan.

But going back to the real focus of this article, here are my thoughts on Vanatori Motorizata:

EW

Vanatori Motorizata in Early War is the big thing. This list really shines among all other Romanian briefings and can easily go toe to toe with most competitve companies based on other nations. The skill/morale table is very good for EW (1-3 is C/T, 4-5 F/T, 6 C/V) - no rolls get you the crappy Reluctant Trained and you get a single chance of C/V. Basic infantry is cheap, since it is rifle, there are tons of options to get high AT (6-8) guns, you can have smoke, pioneers, very good recon. Basically, the list has it all. There is only one exception: there are no infantry anti-tank upgrades (no sticky bombs, Vanator de Care, panzerknackers, nothing). You can try and compensate for it with artillery, but I would simply ignore this and go for more direct a-t in the artillery slots. In the end, if you cannot kill the big tanks, just delay them and go for the supporting platoons.

Also, a thing to note is the armored transports option for the anti-tank. It really can be a game changer and only costs 5 points per platoon on top of the normal 5 points for the trucks. This is a must-have.

My core to build the list around is then:

2 platoons of infantry

2 platoons of 47mm schneider a-t guns + armored transports

recce platoon (my favourite is the BA10x3)

Everything else depends on the player.

MW

Mid War Motorizata is still strong in Mid War. It has a much better rating table than the EW version (66% to get veteran, but 16% to be Reluctant/Trained). But what is the most notable thing about this list is that it can have tons of anti-tank in the 11-12 range. This is mostly, because it can use German Pak40 guns along with a separate Romanian platoon equipped with the same gun, coming in a different support slot. This option can be coupled with a platoon of 3 Romanian Panzer IVs to form a really good barrier against tanks (even KVs need to think twice before they can charge this company head on).

Also, this is a list where I would go for 10 platoons, instead of 6 or 8. The reason for this are cheap compulsory platoons of 7 Rifle/MG teams (downside is that you need to take 3 of them as your mandatory units) and relatively inexpensive support options.

Talking about support, you can get whatever you need there: smoke, artillery, armored infantry, recon, light anti-tank, you name it. My personal favorite is a unit of cavalry, which can go around the flanks and harass artillery positions/small infantry units.

In the end, this list is VERY flexible. Maybe the infantry is not the strongest in the world, but it has so many support options that you can easily compensate for this. This makes a very balanced force in MW.

My favorite basic setup is:

3 compulsory infantry platoons

2 pak40 platoons (German + Romanian or Romanian + Romanian if you want to go hardcore Transylvanian)

1 platoon of Romanian Panzer IV tanks

LW

In Late War, this briefing cannot compare to what the regular Puscasi Battalion can field. There are no options to put down units of 6, 9 or 12 guns. This does not mean however, that Vanatori Motorizata sucks. Still, the stat table for your guys is very good (again 66% chance to be veteran), the basic infantry is numerous and tough and support has almost everything you need to construct a good list.

This is a company for those that love MG teams, as your 9-base compulsory platoons are made up of MG infantry. Axis HQ also offers a nice way to bring them up to 10 stands per platoon with panzershreck options which make them even more deadly against tanks (as you will surely get panzerfausts on your platoon leaders anyway). I would always use this possibility. Always.

What I also consider a must-have in this list is a platoon of German Pak40s. You can have 4 of them, so I would take the maximum number for a lot of concentrated anti-tank firepower.

Then it is time for smoke in the form of 81mm mortars and some recon. Once you are done with the base of the army, you can play around with options. It depends what you like. My choice would be 2 units of Romanian StuGs but any other choices that bring you up to 8 platoons are ok. Even if you like artillery in your infantry :P (although I would no go for it)

I would form the base of the company using:

2 compulsory infantry platoons (panzerschrecks with axis!)

and now we face the issue of low numbers of anti-tank guns

1 platoon of pak40 if using allies, if not - a platoon of TAC Resita 75mm with their crappy Heavy rating

1 platoon of captured Soviet AT10 guns

1 platoon of Romanian StuG assault guns

So, this is my approach to Vanatori Motorizata. Hope it was helpful.

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?

Peasant army part 2 – Romanian Cavalry Battalion (Mid War)



Ok, so in the first post of the series I mentioned my love for Romanian army. This feeling actually extends to all periods so Mid War Romanian Cavalry is not an exception. What can be more charming than an angry mob of mounted peasants charging at the enemy, waving their sabers?!? J 

Anyway, enough with the bullshit. Let us talk analysis. I have already built my favorite list and signed up for a 1650 Mid War tournament  (you should be able to see the details here: Wojna Światów tournament) . Why did I choose this list in the first place? Why not one of the other Romanian briefings available in Eastern Front?

The answer is: cheap infantry, mounted scouts & tons upon tons of firepower. 

Since Romanian Cavalry has no strong mobile elements (not counting mounted infantry), I decided to go for an infantry-like approach to list building. First of all, I upgraded all my battalion commanders with Vanator de Care – I will definitely need that extra anti-tank capability if I go hand to hand with tanks. Then I picked 2 strong infantry units – 13 teams each (dismounted, since It was not realistic to paint all these cavalry stands before the tournament). Considering that Elite rating gives me 66% chance to be veteran, my assumption is that at least one of them will actually be vet in every game. Of course, the commanders were upgraded to carry the Romanian version of the Panzerknacker. 

My next step was to go for some ranged anti-tank. This is where things get interesting. The briefing allows the Romanian player to field tons of guns. So I decided to … take all of them! J I got myself a nice German platoon of 4x Pak40s accompanied by two Romanian companies: 6x captured 45mm obr 1937 + 12x KF 75mm cannons (which are really a dual purpose artillery). In total, the battalion includes 22 anti-tank gun teams! What is more, 18 of them (45mm and 75mm) are horse artillery, which in the right circumstances (and provided I manage to paint all my carts) can increase their mobility.

Moving on, I had to add some offensive capacity to my force. My first choice to do this was to include a recon element. Since I still had quite a few points left, I managed to get a full cavalry scout platoon of 7 bases, including a Vanator de Care upgrade.

Two other platoons that would boost my ability to attack were: a Pz35 unit of three tanks and a 4 tube mortar  platoon for smoke.

In the end, my final list was:

Romanian Cavalry PDF

Elite (except for C/V Pak40s)

HQ 2x Cavalry Rifle/MG + 2x VdC

Platoon 1: 13x Rifle/MG + VdC

Platoon 2: 13x Rifle/MG + VdC
Platoon 3: 4x 81mm mortar
Platoon 4: 6x 45mm obr 1937 + cavalry limbers
Platoon 5: 3x T-35 (Pz35)
Platoon 6: 7x Cavalry Rifle/MG scouts + VdC
Platoon 7: 4x German Pak40
Platoon 8: 12x KF 75mm + cavalry limbers 

Up until now, I only had the chance to test it twice in Fighting Withdrawal against an American Rifle company and British Paras. I intentionally wanted to try this mission as it is a pain in the bottom for such a slow moving force that also has a huge footprint. The result of this practice was more or less satisfactory. This was mostly based on the fact that I am able to attack 2 objectives at the same time – so the enemy does not know exactly where the main effort will be. I won both games but there were cases where I would really get frustrated with my platoons getting pinned and just sitting there for 2 turns in a row (even though they were confident veterans with a commander re-roll). Also, guns did not have the time to do their job properly. I am not really looking forward to be the attacker in this mission but now I am also a bit more positive about it if I am forced to be one.

One overall problem with the list is that it lacks mobility. This is in fact an infantry battalion that is Always Attack vs other infantry and gets a roll-off against other mech forces. I will still stick with the original intention, but my fear is that I will have to upgrade at least one infantry company to the mounted version (and paint some more Romanians - YAY!).

Anyways, since this is a list that I intend to visit 2016 ETC with, you will soon have more chances to read about my ups and downs with Romanian Cavalry. Hope you will enjoy it! J