Follow Matt aka Papa Bear as he covers all things FOW for the beginner in his fun, light hearted survival guide. So if you are new to the game, or simply enjoy the idea of learning by someone else’s mistakes instead of your own, then this is the place for you!
1. What is the single most important addition I need to make to this army?
In my opinion there are two things this list will need to go to a tourney list which will be competitive. These are:-
a. Recce; This is so important for two reasons firstly all tanks are expensive assets which being only medium tanks can be destroyed easily by a well placed ambush. The next thing is there are alot of good veteran infantry armies around which if a tank army has no recce to lift ‘gone to ground’ status on these then they would be very difficult to get rid of. The same goes for AT guns being able to make these easier to destroy.
b. A battery of guns to be able to lay smoke. (I will cover this in the next point)
2. I keep reading that I need lots of units capable of smoke in a tank company. Why is this so important and what is the best choice for this role?
Smoke is so important to tanks for a few reasons. I am a big advocate of smoke. If the enemy cannot shoot at you with their big AT guns or tanks you have just made him waste points. Next if by laying smoke you force them to move then you have reduced their effectiveness by 50%… so what this means is that you could reduce the effectiveness of your enemy by 50% to 100% with clever use of smoke. There are some caveats to this though as US tanks do get some special rules such as smooth ride or stabilisers which may negate this a little. The next reason to have smoke is that in A LOT of games you will need to carry out an assault to finish off the enemy. Now usually one well timed and lined up assault will win the game. So if your assault can go in under smoke the odds of this working is vastly improved. Then after the assault you can consolidate under the smoke so if there are AT guns about it will be hard for them to take you out.
3. I am worried about the German Tiger tanks and Panthers. How can I deal with these effectively? Their stats are so much better than my Shermans?
So smoke is the first thing which will allow you to stay alive, however this has to be used well. So if you put a smoke bombardment down on the top of a tank platoon and leave one tank in the open what this will do is allow your fireflies to take out that tank, yes its only one dead at long rang but the odds of killing more are low from one firefly or two moving. Now lets say you lay down the smoke shoot with you FF and do nothing (yes this happens) well if you save the 1 & 2 IC shooting until all other shooting is done they can lay smoke on any surviving tanks which may hurt you which you have very little if ANY chance of destroying. So order of shooting is very important to analyse before you just go off shooting here and there. Another weapon the Brits have are the M10 Achilles 17pdr tank destroyer. These are AT15! Reasonably priced. The rule of thumb for tank destroyers is range keeps them alive if your vets at long range that’s 6s to hit your armour is irrelevant if they cant hit you.
4. The Open Fire Sherman platoons consist of only three tanks (each including a firefly). Am I better off with 3 tanks, or 4 in my tank platoons?
The important thing with most units is to have EVEN numbers. The reason for this is when a unit is forced to take a platoon moral test can be vital and also most economical points wise. For example a unit of three Shermans has two tanks destroyed this means a platoon moral test. Now a unit of 4 looses the same 2 tanks this means NO TEST. So on an economical basis even numbers are USUALLY better….sometimes you just cant do this though.
5. What should I be doing with the US paratroopers in an army like this? Is their role restricted to holding/ defending my objectives?
In my opinion only I believe the US paras were put there purely from a marketing point of view. Really in a British Armoured unit I would never have allied units, yes these are FVs but there are major disadvantages to this. It would be cheaper on the points to have a British Rifle platoon which are not allied. So the best thing to do with these are paint them up nicely and put them on EBay and buy a British Unit…..If you decided to keep them though (or in fact any infantry) is to support the tanks well and ensure any assault is successful. In games where you have an objective to defend support the artillery.
6. My tanks need to attack an objective, but there are dug-in anti tank guns guarding it. How can I tackle these effectively?
Smoke firstly…..get your recce and tanks into position at close range…next turn you smoke lifts remove GTG ….then open fire with EVERYTHING you’ve got! Remember keep your 1&2IC to shoot individually to decide whether you want them to shoot smoke or killing stuff.
7. Do I need A/A (anti aircraft) capability in this army? If so what are my best choices?
No. AA in British armour are often not that great so just space out. If you want to take AA though there are companies which can take two AA crusaders – these are a cheap unit.
8. How many platoons should I be looking at for a standard points game?
ALL medium tank armies should be looking at 6 platoons MINIMUM.
9. How many of these platoons should be core tank platoons?
2 minimum
10. What is the biggest weakness to a list like this and how can I help nullify this weakness?
The biggest problem with British armour is their ‘special’ rules. So being a tank army you’ll be attacking more often than not and therefore needing to get close to your opponents forces. This is a pain as you have paid for semi indirect fire which needs you to be stationary and at long range this is a bit of a contradiction to the use of the army. The next weakness of the list can be NOT auto attacking. There are many tank lists which get auto attack this is not one of those unless you can get a breaching group in the list, which makes it auto attack. If it defends its not that strong a list and may have issues.
The other weakness like most tank lists is massed US artillery its difficult to get nulif its really just practice which will teach you how to beat these behemoths. Spread out try and shoot down any AOP. Manouver is then important.
There are other things which are a threat but I could then go on and on…
Thankyou Steve
In Summary…
I think its fair to conclude that this would be a tough force to take to a tournament given the points raised above by Steve. However that doesn’t mean to say you won’t have fun with it! Personally I would recommend purchasing some British infantry and artillery (25 pdrs) to create the beginnings of a British Infantry list. This is where the British Sherman comes into its own – Semi in-direct fire works so much better when the tanks are playing a supporting role.
Thanks for reading
Matt
Regarding point 10 on semi-indirect – would JOE vandeleur be the answer? Albeit at a hefty 50points. Seems to be quite suited for going on the offensive.
Hi Shane.
Vandeleur is definetely an option, however we wanted to keep this article as simple as possible for the beginner largely.
Having said that Joe V and his 'Guns Left' rule doesn't help enough IMO. You are still paying a fortune for front armour 6. I'd rather have no special rule at all and have more points for extra tanks.
I'm a new player and Im looking at building British Armour and I'm interested in Churchills. What do you think of the two lists?
21 Tank Brigade (after May 44). Either 12th RTR or 48th RTR.
Tank Squadron from road to Rome (p69)
HQ,
2 x churchill IV. 180pts.
Tank platoon,
3 x churchill IV. 270pts.
Tank platoon,
3 x churchill IV. 270pts.
Recon,
3 x stuart V + AA MG. 160pts.
A/T SP platoon,
4 x M10C 17 pdr SP (late) + top armour 390pts.
Rifle Platoon,
HQ + 2 x rifle squads. 140pts.
Rifle Platoon, RA,
HQ + 2 x rifle squads. 140pts.
Field artil, RA,
2 gun troops, 8 x 25lb + transport. 325pts.
Air OP,
Auster AO. 25pts
1900pts.
8 platoons.
OR:
British Tank Squadron
Tank Company, 78th Division support, from Road To Rome, page 68
Compulsory Tank Squadron HQ (p.69) – CinC Churchill III or IV, 2iC Churchill III or IV (180 pts)
Compulsory Tank Platoon (p.69) – Command Churchill III or IV, 2x Churchill III or IV (270 pts)
Compulsory Tank Platoon (p.69) – Command Churchill III or IV, 2x Churchill III or IV (270 pts)
Tank Platoon (p.69) – Command Churchill III or IV, 2x Churchill III or IV (270 pts)
Crocodile Tank Platoon (p.100) – Command Churchill Crocodile, Churchill Crocodile (340 pts)
8th Army Anti-tank Platoon (SP), Royal Artillery (p.93) – Command M10 3in GMC, M10 3in GMC (145 pts)
Rifle Platoon (p.41) – Command Rifle/MG, PIAT, Light Mortar, 4x Rifle/MG (140 pts)
8th Army Field Battery, Royal Artillery (p.94) – Independent Command Rifle, Independent Staff, Command Rifle, Observer Rifle, OP Carrier, 4x OQF 25 pdr gun (185 pts)
1800 Points, 7 Platoon
Hi Carl! I'm loving the Churchill too at the moment. It is the perfect tool for my style of play!
At first glance I can see that your RTR list is going to lack the high A/T to take on tank armies perhaps. The AT 12 on the 3" M10 may not be enough. Having said that, both look like good fun and otherwise solid.Taking infantry and artillery is a good idea too and gives real combined arms look to the army… Pin/smoke with the 25pdrs, assault with infantry, mop up with Churchills. Winning! 😉
Have you checked out the Nachtjager digital Churchill Guards list? I am looking to take that to a couple of events this year.
Matt
Very informative and thought provoking. Just a shame that the marketting side of BH didn't create starters for British or Russian playing options without having us paratroopers.