Once again, I am putting together a list for the upcoming Williamsburg Muster. This is a 1750 point, East Front only tournament. Since I have no Soviets and I want good Germans, I will be building my lists out of the new Desperate Pleasures book -- because I like it.
My vision for this list is one that can take on all types of enemies I expect to see: Heavy Russian Tanks and Assault Guns, T-34 Horde and Infantry. Because of this, I want my Combat Platoons to be able to handle two of the above lists' main units. I think that this will give me a fairly balanced list that has a shot at winning. I am working with the Panzer Kampfgruppe on page 68. Confident Trained. Let's build!
Since the HQ has to be the same as one of the Combat Platoons, let's pick those first.
3 Jagdpanthers 545 points, 1205 remaining. 1 Platoon
I love my Panzer IV/70 (V)s and my Jagdpanthers. Both are good choices for facing medium and heavy Russian armor. I think that the Jagdpanthers are a better choice here because of their AT 16, being able to penetrate anything they see, even at range. While FA 10 vs. 9 might not seem to mean much, I really think that the high AT gun and the increased side armor make the upgrade worth it. Plus, they look cool, so yeah.
4 Hetzers 260 points, 945 remaining. 2 Platoons
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| Steve's Hetzers Hetzin'. |
4 StuG G (late) 305 points, 640 remaining. 3 Platoons
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| Might I have the points for Tank Escorts? |
HQ: 2 StuG G (late) 150 points, 490 remaining. 3 platoons
StuGs are just plain better than the Hetzers. I am really feeling like I need something in the HQ that lets me beef up some areas after deployment. Adding these StuGs to the Jagdpanthers, Hetzers or the StuGs can really help against Infantry swarms or the Tank Horde. I am still a bit short vs. MSPAR and Heavy Tanks, so the deployment of my Jagdpanthers will be key.
At this point, I am looking for supplemental platoons to get me to six platoons, and to also make up for some shortcomings in the list. The first shortcoming I see is the lack of punch for handling FA 9-11 Soviets. Sure, the Jagdpanthers are great, but I only have three of them.
Oberst Hans-Ulrich Rudel 175 points, 315 remaining. 3 platoons
If you do not know Rudel, you better learn. He doesn't have to range in and hits on a 2+ His AT 11 attack (vs. side armor) is only going to help some against IS-2s, but he is more than a match for the Soviet Assault Guns. I can also use him to single out commanders and basically scare the hell out of everyone. Now, he is mostly useless against infantry, but I don't need him for fighting infantry. In my opinion, this guy is pretty much a no-brainer.
3 Nebelwerfers 85 points, 230 points remaining. 4 platoons
I love the Nebelwerfer. Steve-O taught me of its value. It is great as a smoke machine and infantry pinner, nothing else. Not a single point wasted and does both of those jobs very, very well. Since this list is a little shy on fighting infantry, I think the Nebs can be a great asset. It is very hard for the Soviet player to move his infantry blobs around without being susceptible to artillery fire. Rockets are great Trained, as they do not increase in difficulty to hit for range-in attempts. I also think that being able to smoke heavy tanks to protect my thinner assets is a good thing. Again, I can smoke a few tanks to limit my available targets -- thus killing commanders -- or use the smoke to force enemy movement. This is a great us of 85 points.
3 Panzer II Luchs 90 points, 140 points remaining. 5 platoons
Other than this model just looking cool -- which is very important to me -- I think these little guys can really help out. For my play style, I need to buy Recce that is just Recce. When I get Pumas and such, I find it difficult to resist trying to kill things with them. In this list, the Recce is here for just a few things: to be a platoon, to remove Gone to Ground when attacking infantry, and to run around and threaten an objective if uncovered. With their Light Tank movement and FA 3, I find these guys perfect for those jobs.
2 Ostwind 100 points, 40 points remaining. 6 platoons
Well, this is my sixth platoon. Sure, I can shoot some infantry with it, but this is really just another platoon to place on the table. I can pair these up with the Jagdpanthers to provide some solid infantry assault protection, or to help with attacking dug-in infantry with a 4+ FP and ROF 4. Also, I have two of these painted.
Add Assault Rifle Tank Escorts to CiC and 2iC 30 points, 10 points remaining.
I figure that the Tank Escorts can't hurt. I am feeling pretty vulnerable to infantry in this list and I need to account for that. I think people will play what they have, so I expect to see the Horde.
Possible Variants:
1) HQ Swap: I could switch out the HQ for just one Jagdpanther. This would certainly help me against heavy armor, but would hurt against infantry lists. One would have to weigh the risks of dropping a 2iC as well.
2) Panzer IV J for Hetzers: This the the most likely change for me. The Hetzers could be dropped and Panzer IV Js put in their place. This costs an extra 10 points, which I have here. In doing this, I keep the same gun for T-34s and again up my chances vs. infantry. Also, I add Schurzen and Protected Ammo at the cost of one point of FA. The Hetzers are really the only combat platoon that does not meet my requirements -- compete against 2 of the 3 list types I expect to see. Is this worth it? Probably. At this point, I am taking the Hetzers just because they look cool....and they Hetz!
3) Panzer IV/70 (V) for Jagdpanthers: So, this option swaps out three Jagdpanthers for four PzIV/70 (V)s, saving 95 points. What you give up, is AT 16 vs. AT 14 and 1 FA. This is not a huge deal and you get to add another tank. I think this change makes the list a little worse against heavies, and a little better against the T-34 horde. You also get 95 points to play with, which can get you a LOT of stuff. Panzerwerfers? Ditch the AAA for some PAK40 Jeeps?
Conclusion:
I think this list is pretty competitive. I expect to do very well against a T-34 horde and ok against everything else. The list has some responses to heavy tanks and the MSPAR as well as infantry. I like that I was able to fit in artillery, smoke and Recce in to the list. I also like this list because I have all the models.
I don't want to hear about how this can't take on a US Tank list -- East Front! But, if you have any reasonable comments, please visit the Forums....
