Strategic Planning

It's looking increasingly good that I'll have my Tau painted and ready for Adepticon.  That means it time to start thinking about my next project.   I'm 90% positive that I'm going to build a Flames of War British army.  I'm still trying to decide exactly what lists to build.

For late war I've decided not to do Grenadier Guards.  They are little costly point wise, and you end up paying Panzer IV prices for Sherman Tanks.  Sherman Tanks with really motivated skilled crews, but Shermans none the less.  I really Like Cromwell tanks, and there are two pretty cool lists based on those.  The first is 7th Armored out of the Villers-Bocage book.  The other is an Armored Recce squadron out of the 11th Armored online briefing.  They get to field Challenger tanks; a version of the Cromwell that mounts the same OQF 17 pdr main gun as the Sherman Fireflies.

I think I'm going to hold off on building either of the late war list.  Plastic Solider Company's website indicates that lots of the Allied equipment I'd need for these lists is in the pipe, so I'll wait until I can get my dozen Cromwells for $50 instead  $120.

I'm going to build a Mid-War list first.  I'll be stuck having to buy mostly metals depending on the list, but cheaper alternatives are not waiting on the horizon.  I bought the North Africa book from G2D4 on Saturday, and have been trying to decide on a list I like the best.

My initial though was to build an 8th Army Light Armored Squadron.  I pointed out a 1500 point list that runs a dozed Challengers of various marks, three Lees, a Motor Platoon, a section of Royal Horse Artillery, and a small anti-aircraft battery.  I think the list would look really cool on the table top, but it does have some downsides.   Game play wise the Challengers are armed with pop-guns, and I'm going to have to get really good at maneuvering for close range side shots.  It's also going to be a fairly expensive army to build.  It's going to cost me around 300 dollars to put the list together as I can't get any of the tanks I need for less than 8 dollars a piece.

I'm considering other lists for the time being.  The Tunisia and Italy Armored Squadrons use Shermans that I can get from Plastic Solider Company, and if I fudge the paint coloring a little I can use the same tanks and equipment for Late War Europe.  I used to play a German Grenadier list, so I'm also considering building an infantry company.  A Commando list would be interesting too.

While the other list make more economic sense or may play better, that Light Armored Squadron has the coolness factor.  It may fail utterly on the tabletop, but it would look awesome doing it!