Newbreed has previously given a preview of Battle Front's Open Fire! (€60) starter set here. At the most basic level the box has 1005 points of U.S./U.K. forces. The purpose of this article is to outline the 1750 point force I'll be making from the starter set. The premise is that you will be trading the Germans in the box to a friend in exchange for the allied forces from his or her box (thanks Nosediver!). What's that you say? Job done you've got 2010 points now so feck off? Now now, bear with me. You've actually got some choices to make to run a 1750 tournament list that can be considered competitive. Do you want to run a U.S. infantry list with U.K. support, or do you want to run a U.K armor list with U.S. support? I'm choosing the former. Using the book Hell's Highway I've generated the following list for the 101st Airborne (click it):
The above uses Open Fire! as the core but tops up with blisters from Battle Front. For the purists out there all these blisters are U.S. parachute blisters. So we're not buying regular U.S. army mortars or bazookas. You'll have to purchase a Company HQ consisting of two teams, the CiC and the 2iC. I'm using the Battle Front blister USO117 Brigadier General James Gavin for my CiC. He costs €2 and comes with a beret-wearing British guy which fits the allied composition of the list nicely. For the 2iC I'm using the Battle Front blister USO118 Major General Maxwell Taylor. Similarly, he runs €2. I've paid the points to upgrade them to SMG teams. I've added three bazooka teams (Battle Front blister US729 Parachute Bazooka Teams €9 for 10 teams). You attach these to your parachute rifle teams. O.k. so that's your Rifle Company HQ.
The two Parachute Rifle Platoons are straight out of the starter set. No additonal purchases needed here. Likewise, the two Guards Armored Platoons are starter set miniatures.
I've added a small mortar platoon (Battle Front blister US725 Parachute Mortar Platoon
for €14. You actually get four mortars and a bazooka upgrade in the
blister but I'm only using two). This is not going to do much. What it
will do is fire smoke bombardments against tanks that like to remain
stationary. They'll be forced to move and lose 1/2 of their rate of
fire.
Moving through the list we arrive at the recon element: three British armored car. This is an inexpensive platoon points wise and feel free to swap it out for a small anti-tank gun platoon or something else. Personally, I want recon in a list. For this you'll need the Battle Front blister BR310 Daimler Dingo (x3) for €11 and the Battle Front blister BR311 Daimler I for €9.
I've added limited air support from a Typhoon. This is to keep German and Soviet heavy tanks honest. Battle Front makes the plane for €14 AC005 Typhoon (1:144).
That does it. We've got a fairly solid list. It has set you back €121:
€60 Open Fire!
€4 for Gavin and Taylor
€9 for the bazookas
€14 for the mortars
€14 for the Typhoon
€20 for the recon
Do not under-estimate the clout that those two armored platoons give the list. Likewise, you can be confident that those fearless veteran paratroopers will stick around. Some folks might eschew the use of air power, preferring to drop it and the small mortar squad for some heavy-hitting artillery. Fair enough. That will add to the price tag of the list, however. This is a 100% WYSIWYG paratrooper list and let's not forget that you're getting a rulebook and a V1 rocket.
Labels: Army Lists, BristolScale7, Flames of War
