Open Fire! the new Battle Front starter goes on sale at the end of the month. Last week I showed you the 1750 point U.S. infantry list I was going to make using Open Fire! models as a core. Now I want to go through the British Armoured Squadron I will be able to field (click it).
Once again I'm using the book Hell's Highway because it has good options for combining
U.S./U.K. forces. In addition, the British armoured lists are
Guards which has two advantages. First, they are veterans. Shermans are quite fragile in Late War. I'll want to keep the fireflies at long range to take advantage of the semi-indirect fire rule (re-roll to hit beyond 16"). Veteran tanks are hit on a 5+ base at long range, on 6s if they are hull-down. Being hard to hit at range, not armor, is the key to their survival. Secondly,
Guards reroll both platoon and company morale checks. They'll stay in the fight longer.
The good news is that all of the tanks are taken from the starter set. Once again, the key here is to find a person with whom you can trade box contents. My CiC and 2iC are standard Shermans with an additional .50 machine-gun mounted. Then I've got three armoured platoons. Two have two shermans and one firefly, the third has two shermans and two fireflies.
The Firefly has an excellent anti-tank rating, and it re-rolls to hit when stationary and shooting at long-range targets. It's a fine tank. The shermans will drive off trying to take advantage of terrain to get side-armor shots on targets. If you have low expectations for shermans then you'll do just great. So the core of the list consists of 3 armoured platoons--6 shermans and 4 fireflies, supplemented by the 2 shermans from the command group.
Next I've added the parachute rifle platoon. Again, this is straight from the starter box. Like my list from last week, I'm using British armoured cars as a recon element. Here you'll have to buy the Battle Front blister BR310 Daimler Dingo (x3) for €11 and two of the Battle Front blister BR311 Daimler I for €9 each. Pricey, yes but great little things with a gun almost as powerful as a sherman.
The final and 6th platoon for the list consists of heavy mortars. The British 4.2" ones pack a decent punch and shooting as veterans they should be able to range-in easily enough. The mortar unit will pin enemy units and provide you with the threat of counter-battery fire against enemy artillery. You get the unit in the Battle Front blister BR726 Heavy Mortar Platoon for €14.
The total cost for this list comes out to €103. Frankly, the list is going to struggle against veteran infantry. However, the combination of armor, an elite infantry unit, recon, and some artillery will give you a fun, mobile army. Labels: Army Lists, BristolScale7, Flames of War
