Giving Up Infantry For Lent!

Welcome to the first ever ramble by Jersey, normally the sort of post Adam brings to the blog, looking at branching out away from the infantry lists and platoons that dominated my tactics and games over my first year in the hobby. This was written before Battlefront explained their schedule for 2015... the project I propose in this blog will be started after Brown Water Navy, which I'm very excited about but hopefully the sentiment is of use for those of you stuck in a "rut" with an army which you want to escape!

After playing Flames of War for a year, I’ve collected and finished painting two armies; a huge Italian infantry army with tanks and guns for three periods and a PAVN Local Forces Company for Vietnam games. At the start of the year I set myself a challenge in the form of New Year’s resolutions to finish companies from four different time periods and four different company types and if possible, use them at events. The last few units of PAVN were finished after this promise so count as Infantry and Vietnam time periods… now I just need something new!

Some Mid War Italians... where it all started.

PAVN

Jordanian Tanks, Early War Soviet Tanks, Mid and Late War Indian Recce Companies and SS that can be used from several books including fortified companies from Grey Wolf are on or around my paint station but the problem is… after a while… with all these lists, Infantry and gun teams are prevalent from the big Indian Assault Platoon to 19 stands of unarmed pioneers for the Soviets. So now I’m trying to think of projects I could do which involve very few stands of infantry, limited to things like staff teams or observers.

SS Westfallen HQ

First Soviets with more SS in the background.

Why are infantry a problem for me though?

The vast majority of play I have is at tournaments as the UK has a big tournament scene. My Italians have been a staple for me and at the time of writing this paragraph I’d struggled up to 24th in the UK using variable moral infantry and limited anti-tank support. This then hasn’t been a problem except that the armies I have fielded are huge!

12 platoons is a lot... So big the troops at the back seem to be a smaller scale! (yes I know the difference between small and far away!)

Two problems arise from that… the first is that nearly every game I play drags to or around time for the round. This is bad enough for my opponent for one game grinding down my Italians but after fifteen hours of concentration on a game where one mistake can cost me precious points but after five games I feel exhausted by the end of the event.

The second problem is my back… Getting 10+ platoons in and out of cases or off trays low down and leaning over tables to move the same troops seems to take a toll on my body, and at 32 I don’t feel like aggravating any back conditions I may get in later life… so a small army with less stands in and less time over the table is going to help!

Compare Adam's army for the same event as the 12 platoon horror above!

Tactics change dramatically when using mechanized or tank forces which can only make me a better player in the future. With an infantry army you’re defending more and on occasions the smartest thing to do is literally nothing but dig in and wait. Whilst this may work, it gives the initiative to my opponent and I need to get used to more mobile battles where I attack. I’ve only ever attacked four times in what could be considered defensive battles due to the armies I’ve picked. Let’s change that and learn the other side of the game!

It'll lead to more exciting games too. I caught myself looking and planning what I think could be the most boring list to play and play against ever... I deleted it from forces of war and started playing around with tank companies strait away!

So what to pick? TANKS! I need a new project with very few infantry and gun teams in. All of the above projects I’ve started have quite a few stands on foot sloggers in so whilst I’ll keep working on them in the background they’ll be replaced by this project.

American  Armoured Division?

German Panzers or Heavy Panzers?

Tankovy or Heavy Tankovy?

British Comets?

All of these are options? Given the same situation… what would you pick next? You never know I might spend £200 because of your comments!