Wednesday, September 7, 2011

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

4 comments:

  1. Hi Craig,

    We know the FJ will be good.

    As to that Sperr, isn't one platoon non-pioneer? It looks like a pretty interesting list.

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  2. You are right- another reason that the small sperr platoon gets it hide a lot- have updated the list

    I quite like its potential

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  3. I was really looking forward to seeing your demo game.It all sounded so good. Good luck with FOW.

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  4. It does take the pressure off painting up a French force though.

    Hopefully we can pop up for a game one Sunday instead

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