List Discussion - 9th Armored, Armored Rifles

Hello All

It's been a while since I have done a list discussion and while I was turning my Mid War Armoured Rifle Company into a Late War version I thought it was a good chance to correct that. Now I will start by saying this is a List Discussion with a bit of a difference, I'm using the New Bridge at Remagen book and the 9th Armoured Rifles list.

So what is the difference from are normal list discussions? Well normally it's about use fine tuning our lists and making the best list we can, well I'm not trying to do that, I'm going to try and make a list that will use some new options I haven't tried before and not use some of the staple units I normally use for the US. I'm doing this as I personally think one of the best ways to improve at any game is to try and play the game without your normal staple as it forces you to think more about what you have to do. Now I will say at this point I don't try to make bad lists, I'm not all about trying to win the game but I like to have a list that has a chance.

I choose 9th Armoured over 3rd as I'm not sure I could deal with a Reluctant troops just yet, I like to know my troops are somewhat reliable and not reliably unreliable. As everyone was getting ready for the GT I was be making this list up to 1780pts. So list on to the list and we'll start with the core platoons.

HQ and 2 Full Armoured Rifle Platoons 615pts - 1165pts left

The core of the army and you really can't go wrong with these guys. The Armoured Rifle platoon is the Swiss army knife of  Flames of War, with 5 Bazookas, 2 LMG's and a light mortar these guys can if needed fight by themselves. Tanks can't charge them with the 5 bazookas and with the automatic rifles and the LMG's they can put down enough firepower to make infantry think twice before charging them. On top of that the platoons are large, 14 veteran infantry is a lot of guys to shift.

Tank Platoon with 3 Easy Eights and a Jumbo 590pts - 695pts left

IN case you didn't know the best tank platoon in the US army just got better! This was an option I wanted to try out with 3 Easy Eights moving 6 inches and shooting with 6 shoots with no plus one to hit! Add to that the Jumbo and well you know the rest! I might (and I mean might as I'm struggling to make a list that works within the points) have to try a full armoured version of this list, not sure it'll be better than the 7th Armoured list from Blood, Guts and Glory but I think it'll be a good think to try out as it'll be hard! So with 4 platoons and only 470pts left I knew I was going to struggle to get to 8 platoons my personally favourite amount of platoons. So I decided to go with 6 but to fit in a the 6th platoon I had only one cool option to go with....

Cav Recon with Stuart Upgrade 105pts - 590pts left

Next up is some recce. I never left home without some recce especially Cav Recon, I love these guys! A RoF 2 light mortar which can dig out infantry, a .50cal is never a bad thing with Jeep mobility and in the 9th Armoured list you can upgrade the M8 Geyhound to a Stuart with I think it worth it for the extra speed being able to keep up with the jeeps and the extra MG's for annoying enemy infantry in the open.

Heavy Tank Platoon with Super Pershing 275pts - 195pts left

Thats right a Super Pershing my new favourite hero! I have included this guy for a few reasons. Firstly and most importantly it's a nice looking model and a new shinny toy! Secondly and more importantly it's front armour 13 and Anti-Tank 16, unless your facing King Tigers or Jagdtigers you are quite save and have the AT value and range to take on any enemy tank you will face. This is part of the reason I did the list and something I wanted to try out.


Artillery Battery with 4 105mm Artillery 185pts - 10pts left

The last unit and it fills the last core role I wanted/needed smoke. Now the first thing you may have noticed is the lack of an AOP, this is one of the things I wanted to try and play without, this might not be the best use of the artillery but it's something I think with the US excellent communications rule I can learn to be without.

Extra Points

So I have 10 points left, with these I'll probably go back and give the ARP's an extra .50cal each.

US 9th Armor Armoured Rifles Company HQ + AA MG Full US Armored Rifle Platoon Full US Armored Rifle Platoon Cav Recon + Stuart 3 Easy Eights + 1 Jumbo Super Pershing 4 105mm Artillery

So there's the list. It covers all the bases I like in a list with smoke, recon, something that can hold objectives, something that can assault objectives and fast moving units, also the share amount of firepower the list has will help with pinning to set up the assault. When defending the Armoured Rifles will be a pain shift. While attacking my main force will depend on what I'm facing, with a bit of smoke I'm confident a Veteran Armoured Rifle platoon can assault most infantry and defiantly heavy tanks, the tank platoons can deal with any medium tanks I may face. The list isn't revolutionary but it's has some nice options. Personally if I was trying to make the "best" US late War Armoured Rifle list I think the Blood Guts an Glory list is better, more options and the ability to take Confident Trained support is a massive points saver.

While nothing to do this this post I found this and thought it was interesting
to see how far the 9th traveled!

I have 4 games lined up with it vs a host of Grand Tournament players, firstly Adam's Westfalen which I think we're going to do an AAR of it so look out for that soon. Otherwise I'll report back on how the list does on the next Beyond the Foxholes.

Thanks for reading

Ben