Conquest: A change of plan

There has been a change of plan. Tim can't make it down and we have decided to shelve the demo game of Lasalle idea- will probably get Poochie down for a 2vs 2 game at some point. However, the start of my French force arrived today.

Instead of Lasalle Nick, Chris and I will play Flames of War.  So its time to start thinking about possible forces. I am going to take something German for a change and have a few ideas I am mulling over.

Force 1: Sperrverband.
This one is simply to field the very cool, but uderused (due to cost) armoured panzerpioneers. The main decision being hummels of wespes as the final support slot, I'd happily run the rest. Wespes are "fairly" rare (i.e non existent) in most comps due to cheapness of the AT 13, bunker buster & 1+/2+ firepower of the  Hummel. Von Schaken someone mitigates the weakness of being reluctant when making company morale tests (assuming he is still alive) and also has a 250/1 so potentially I could mount up and run an 8 half track armoured assault! A pretty solid defensive force but the half tracks also give it a bit of go forward vs infantry based forces.

The idea would be something like this:

	Sperrverband (RV)- Wespes + 129s
	HQ	35
	Von Schaken (FV)	65
7x	R/MG Pioneers  + P/F (RV)	185
5x	R/MG Sperr Platoon  (RV)	95
4x	Pak 40s (RV)	175
3x	Stugs (RV)	220
4x	RSOs (CV)	245
7x	Panzer Pioneers (R/MG) (CV)	195
	7x half tracks	125
	1x Stuka Ze Fuss	35
3x	Wespes + Panzer III (CV)	260
	Sporadic HS 129Bs	115
		1750

For hummels its simply a matter of dropping the air support and adding another stuak ze fuss.

Option 2: FE II FJ
Yes, I know Cassino has morale tests on a 2+ but what the hell. My 4x marders, 4x stugs + 3x pak 40s did well a couple of years ago so I don't want to run exactly the same thing- FEII  allows for a couple of jagdpanthers! Another version of this one takes pak 36 or pak 38s and a 4th stug.

	FE II FJ
	HQ (2x P/K) + Shrek	95
10x	FJ + P/K	255
10x	FJ + P/K	255
3x	Pak 40s	195
2x	Jagdpanthers	470
3x	Stugs	285
3x	Panzwerwerfers	195
		1750

3. Panzer Pioneers
Something I've been meaning to try for a while. The list has a goliath because there will be fortifications so yes it can blow a hole in a minefield- crazy concept I know. The large FJ platoon is to add a bit of ommph on attack. I would happily run this one too.

	Panzer Pioneers
	HQ	45
7x	Pioneers  (R/MG) + goliath, P/K	230
7x	Pioneers (R/MG)	195
10x	FJ  (R/MG) + P/K  (FV allies)	255
3x	Panthers	560
4x	Marder II	270
3x	Panzerwerfers	195
		1750

4. Panzer Lehr
A rather brittle force but could be challenging to run- I tried to squeeze in all the stuff I like (and almost succeeded!) A definite outsider this one- 2x reduced strength platoons, everything is a bit brittle for my liking but it does have... PUMAS (which I've loved ever since building the 1/76th Matchbox model many, many years ago!)

	Panzer Lehr PG
	HQ	65
7x	Armoured PGs + faust	185
7x	Armoured PGs + faust	185
3x	Panthers	560
3x	Jagdpanzer IVs	285
3x	Hummels	315
3x	Pumas	150
		1745

Will have to do a few solo play tests to get a feel for them vs different forces before making a decision.

Craig