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FoW - British Rifle Company

6.45pm Monday - Downley community centre, School close, Downley HP13 5TR

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FoW - British Rifle Company

Postby whitewizard » Wed Apr 13, 2011 10:45 am

To all who currently play FOW. I'm thinking of starting to play the system with a British Rifle Company.

This is what I've come up with to start me off. Comments welcome...

Headquarters
Company HQ
Jeep
Sniper Team

Combat
Rifle Platoon x3 - 3 squads each

Weapons
Mortar Platoon - 3 sections w/PIAT
Carrier Platoon - 2 wasp patrols

Support
Commando Platoon - 2 squads w/SMG teams
Machine-Gun Platoon - 2 sections
MMG Carriers
Armoured Platoon - 3 Shermans, 1 Firefly
Royal Artillery - 2 sections 17pdr
Air Observation Post - had the points left over

Total 1745 pts

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Re: FoW - British Rifle Company

Postby cgra1 » Wed Apr 13, 2011 1:13 pm

Hello Chris

Looks like a good list.
Have you played before?

Couple of things Ive found out by playing British Rifles
Firstly British Infantry are not as good as German Infantry at killing tanks.
MMG Carriers are excellent when used aggressively to make up for the shortfall of the Infantry and the Commandos will kill most things
Air Observers are a must have.
Careful with the 17pdrs as they do not have gun shields and will waste a turn of firing so they can dig in.
Wasps are great but very vulnerable to fire as you get to re-roll firepower tests to kill them so keep them hidden.
The short range and one use also cause a problem if you let them go to early.

What’s the overall battle plan?
Why does your HQ have a jeep?
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Re: FoW - British Rifle Company

Postby whitewizard » Wed Apr 13, 2011 2:07 pm

Thanks for the useful feedback. I just picked the units I liked the sound of.

The artillery would be my main anti-tank unit. As the core rifle men would be for claiming objectives mainly?

The wasps were just to include some flame throwers.

The jeep was an option and only 5 points. No idea what its use would be?

As I've not played I don't really have a battle plan, just going for balance really.
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Re: FoW - British Rifle Company

Postby cgra1 » Wed Apr 13, 2011 2:20 pm

Ok

Its fairly balanced although in my opinion Id drop the Commandos. As although they are very good, they are also very expensive for the British lists.
Id try and get some 25pdrs or some Sextons in there aswell.(You cant have too much artillery in my opinion)
Dig those Infantry in as soon as you can and dont expect to move more than 1 unit. The fun thing about the British is that they always need to be supported and always need to outnumber the enemy.
Your artillery has no gun shields (not the 17pdrs sorry) so will be a target for every rifle and machine gun team in the game so keep it well back.
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Re: FoW - British Rifle Company

Postby whitewizard » Wed Apr 13, 2011 2:38 pm

I want to use the Commandos as they were my main reason for choosing British. I agree they seem a little expensive but I'll try 'em out. If they don't work I'll swap them for some more artillery.

The 17pdr's are an anti-tank platoon, 2 sections = 4 guns, which seems reasonable. The Fortress Europe book appears to say they do have Gun Shields, but no HE.

What is HE?
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Re: FoW - British Rifle Company

Postby WolflordHavoc » Wed Apr 13, 2011 9:39 pm

HE is High explosive - the 17pdr initially did not have a useful HE round till later in the war - the weapon was rushed into production as the 57mm/6pdr At gun and US 75mm gun were hopeless vs the Panther and Heavy German Tanks and outclassed by the German 7.5 cm KwK 40 - The 17 Pdr as an AT gun on the other hand was very good.

The original 17pdr was mounted on a 25pdr gun chassis which may explain why it has no gun shield - but the 'proper' 17pdr does have a gun shield.

I would drop the Wasps and Commando's and make sure you have plenty of 25 pdr gun battery's instead!

However 'rule of cool' dictates that they should stay LOL
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Re: FoW - British Rifle Company

Postby cgra1 » Thu Apr 14, 2011 9:17 am

Sorry Mate I was thinking the 17pdrs were Royal Artillery (SP). :oops:
Your 17pdrs are great in ambush, but unfourtunatley easy to ignore or bypass.
They will prevent Tanks coming to close but can do nothing against an infantry attack.

The best thing to do is to play the list and see what happens.

Good luck and keep that upper lip stiff. :lol:
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Re: FoW - British Rifle Company

Postby DaBoss » Thu Apr 14, 2011 11:43 am

Initially I was going to go with a German Force and a British Force, but then got side tracked with Americans that I bought off ebay and then my massed armour of Russians.

When I got back to the British - I went with an Armoured Squadron instead of facing painting a whole Infantry Company; as it is my latest force is an "Armoured Car Squadron" from Fortress Europe.

Mark at my Beaconsfield Club runs an Airlanding force from "A Bridge too Far", his force normally consists of 3 Platoons of Airlanding Infantry and an Assault Platoon, a 6pdr Platoon, a 17pdr Platoon and Light Battery of 4 Pack Howitzers - no Tanks.
He spends most games on the defensive as most other plays use Tank Companies.
British Infantry is hard to budge once dug-in but can suffer badly advancing in the open (then again any Infantry does but with British being Trained vs the Germans being Veterans that 1 point of skill makes a big difference), the 17pdrs are great at AT but depending on the table/Scenery/Scenerio can be by-passed or denied targets.

Artillery is a must in a British Army, make sure to have at least 4 x 25pdrs along with that AOP. Mark has to take Pack Howitzers which are not so effective.
Mortars are good to have but I've found that the best use for them is to lay Smoke than the damage they can do.

So looking at your initial list

whitewizard wrote:Headquarters
Company HQ
Jeep
Sniper Team

No need to have the Jeep - at worst it gets shot and adds to the possibility of breaking a platoon

whitewizard wrote:Combat
Rifle Platoon x3 - 3 squads each

Weapons
Mortar Platoon - 3 sections w/PIAT

Solid selection makes the backbone of your force - not sure if you need the PIAT in the Mortars, as if the enemy get that close with Armour you've probably lost the game.

whitewizard wrote:Carrier Platoon - 2 wasp patrols

Never used them or seen someone use them even in a tournament - guess too easy to kill.

whitewizard wrote:Support
Commando Platoon - 2 squads w/SMG teams
Machine-Gun Platoon - 2 sections
MMG Carriers
Armoured Platoon - 3 Shermans, 1 Firefly
Royal Artillery - 2 sections 17pdr

Mixed bag here - Commando's good on the attack but need to be supported with combined arms.
Machine-guns - good for defence, pity they can't be combat attached like the Germans.
MMG Carriers - no cost to include but are you likely to move your Machine-Guns?
Armoured Platoon - solid choice Fireflies rock
17pdrs - do you need 2 sections? 6pdrs in ambush can be very useful against side armour.

whitewizard wrote:Air Observation Post - had the points left over

Without Artillery not as useful as American AOP

Assume that you've not bought any of the models yet?
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Re: FoW - British Rifle Company

Postby whitewizard » Thu Apr 14, 2011 2:50 pm

Not bought anything, just worked out the cost of starting up with this list.

Might give it a whirl...
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Re: FoW - British Rifle Company

Postby DaBoss » Thu Apr 14, 2011 3:17 pm

whitewizard wrote:Not bought anything, just worked out the cost of starting up with this list.

Might give it a whirl...


Well I would consider just starting out with 1000pts to get a feel of the game (still a lot of models with a British Infantry Army) or even less.

Pity Plastic Soldier have not got round to producing their plastic 15mm British yet - If you were going German or Russian then they have their boxed set of 130 models for £18.50 - going to pick up a box at Salute this weekend.

Instead of Battlefront 125 models for £41 Rifle Company (3 Platoons plus HQ)
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Re: FoW - British Rifle Company

Postby cgra1 » Thu Apr 14, 2011 3:20 pm

There in the Pipeline.. Plastic Late war infantry and plastic Shermans. If I were you I'd hold fire and just buy the Guns and Artillery
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Re: FoW - British Rifle Company

Postby whitewizard » Thu Apr 14, 2011 3:47 pm

Think I will wait then. May even save enough pennies to buy an Axis army too!

Thanks for all the advice chaps.
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Re: FoW - British Rifle Company

Postby Taumaul » Fri Apr 15, 2011 11:21 am

Panzer IV's are out this weekend from Plastic Soldier Company. :)
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Re: FoW - British Rifle Company

Postby Basilius » Sat Jun 11, 2011 3:47 pm

Hi,

I used to game with AI playing 40K a couple of years back, but since I am located in Aylesbury it was not that convenient and am now active with the Aylesbury Wargames Club and doing FoW.

Sorry if I am committing threadomancy here... being 6 weeks laters, you may have bought stuff already.

If you like MW and commandos, the Commando list from North Africa can be fun. I am just starting to build up an Infantry Tank Company which will have commandos as its infantry support, but also played around with this list conceptually ...

HQ - Brigadier Young, 2 x PIAT Teams (to be combat attached to commando companies) [160]
Combat - Commando Company - 2 Sections [390]
Combat - Commando Company - 1 Section [195]
Combat - Commando Company - 1 Section [195]
Combat - Commando Mortars - 3 Sections (purely for smoke) [105]
Support - Field Battery, Royal Artillery (Confident Trained) - 8 guns (to give access to Murder and Stonk British special rules) [285]
Support - Tank Platoon - 3 x Churchill IIIs [410]

1740 points, 6 platoons. In defensive missions, start with arty, tanks and the large commando on the table, which is a respectable 1245 points on turn 1. Nothing really screams out suitability for ambush though.

You wont kill many tanks with 25 pdrs in bombardment with a firepower of 5+, or at least not reliably even using a double template (you will be lucky to get 3 tanks under it if your Confident Veteran opponent is smart), but an AT of 9 and FP 3+ using direct fire is not too shabby in MW in the anti-tank role against anything except Tigers. Churchill IIIs are arguably the best tank, especially for the price, of the MW period and will attract lots of enemy fire (and be able to take it so CT is not much of an issue) that would otherwise be spent hammering your artillery, as well as being scary in the assault. Mortars purely for smoke so your arty can concentrate on pinning/killing/Anti-Tank as needed, 2 section commando company w/ both PIATS to act aggressively when it comes time for the counter punch (can take loads of casualties and still be viable - and deadly - in the assault), 7 stand commandos dig in and go to ground around your own objectives...

Just my tuppence, and I am no expert - Phil/DaBoss and others have a load more experience than I do.
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Re: FoW - British Rifle Company

Postby whitewizard » Sun Jun 12, 2011 12:20 pm

Hiya

No, haven't taken the plunge yet.

Thanks for the good advice, I will consider it when I do eventually get around to splashing out!

Cheers
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