So here I am to try this all over again, this time with a slightly different force. Actually I'll be trying to get the most out of my modeling time and building two lists with a fair amount in common so that I can simultaneously build up a German Late War and Mid War list. Looking at my calendar it was easy to see that my hobby time allocation would be dictated by one thing in particular, GenCon. This will be my second year attending and I'm really looking forward to getting in a variety of gaming. Looking over the events schedule I realized that there were a variety of Flames of War tournaments, though sadly I was too late registering to get in on some of the more exotic events. I chose to build a force for the 1485 Mid War 3 round tournament since that seemed like it would make a good starting point for my Mid War army.
I've been missing out on a bunch of the NorCal Flames of War tournaments because they were Mid War (or Early War) events and I don't have an army for that period. This seemed like a good opportunity to correct that. I knew that I wanted to run something Veteran and German and that I should consider likely match-ups when looking for a list. One thing that I knew I wanted was a platoon of StuH 42 tanks. I think that they are one of the best tanks in mid-war between their high armor, breakthrough gun, direct fire smoke, and schurzen. I wanted to have some ability to dig infantry out of their holes when I was inevitably confronted with the task of taking an objective. The other thing I would need is recon to lift GtG from dug in opponents.
Rather than dig through piles of Mid-War lists I simply did a search to find which Mid-War lists had the option of the StuH 42. I quickly zeroed in on the Schnellsquadron as my list of choice. The recon in this list is taken care of by the fact that the headquarters and the combat platoons are recon. This should be great as the cautious movement will mean my combat platoons can stay GtG while moving up under cover and can lift GtG from my opponents so my StuH 42s can swing away. For this I go with two full combat platoons with Panzerknacker upgrades for them and the HQ. The HQ has the option of getting a machine-gun section of two HMG teams, I'll pay the 60 points to upgrade my combat platoons to 8 teams each and get additional shots in defensive fire since they are Rifle/MG. After that I think the inclusion of some Nebelwerfers for smoke and pinning are a must have. Some kind of armored artillery would be nice but I can't afford it at this point level.
Next on the list is some sort of good ambush platoon, something that will keep roving tanks honest and unlikely to try a full speed flank run. For this I went with a platoon of 3 Marder Is. While I don't really like the fact that they are Slow and Unreliable and can get destroyed by even rifle fire they are a really good deal for a mobile AT 12 platform and are affordable. Lastly I need to spend the last of my points and I really want to beef up the defensive abilities of my list so I pick out a platoon of PaK 38 5cm AT guns. I can base a defensive position around these guns protected by a combat platoon which means they should be a very difficult nut to crack. Throw in some transports for gun teams I might want to move and I'm at my points limit. Some sort of anti-aircraft would be nice but I lack the points. One possibility I thought of was switching out the Pak 38 platoon with a Reluctant Trained Luftwaffe 3.7cm x3 platoon. This would give me and AA option and their defensive fire would be enough to stop most light tanks but I felt it would be too easy for tanks like Churchills and KV-1s to roll right over them so I skipped that option for now.
Now, all I need to do is assemble, paint, and finish this army and I'll be set...oh, yeah I guess that could take some time. Better get started!
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