MadMarkMagee wrote:Hello. Currently am running a 1250 Brit list containing
3 platoons of 3 Shermans and Firefly
HQ of two shermans
a platoon of nine paratrooper teams.
I was wondering how I could make this list more competitive?. At the moment it seems to have a lot of trouble dealing with panthers, particularly when they snipe out of forests then return in their storm troopers move.
I was thinking of going for a more infantry heavy/
AT gun list, some priority typhoons (though won't be much good if other player is camping forests), some arty or some M10s with 17 pounders? (I imagine they would do a good job rushing panthers hiding in forests?)
Also what advice do people have regarding dealing with panther ambushes?
Also what model planes are "acceptable" as
fow air support.
First the scenario you describe shouldn't be providing too much of a problem. Panthers are nasty but expensive and point for point standard Firefly troops are their nemesis. If your opponent is actually playing jack-in-the box then he's running a serious risk of failing the storm trooper and leaving himself exposed or bogging down each time he makes a move backwards or forwards (even with wide tracks) in the woods. If he's popping out from behind a wooded area into the open to avoid the bogging risk then the risk of failing a
ST roll and fining himself exposed in the open actually nullifies the benefit of sometimes being out of sight.
From your side the Fireflies with Semi Indirect Fire and AT14 or AT15 make devastating long range snipers for stranded panzers. If you're using the basic V3 list with AT13 on 17pdrs I would switch to one of the PDF lists that upgrade the
AT value. Park them at long range in the woods or concealing terrain on your side and wait for the opportunity. In the meantime the 75mm shermans can split (under the command rules) separately and begin to outflank, using smoke on anything that may threaten them. Bear in mind though that if they take hits the gun tank rule allows the Firefly to be targeted if it's in sight even if it's a long way away and gone to ground.
Having said that it's nice to have additional
AT in the form of Achilles if you know you going up against a Panzer list.
But for me the first priority would be to round out the list with artillery, either self propelled or towed. So long as your observers can see targets you can usually put down smoke screens which is a huge benefit for British forces looking for outflanking opportunities and isolating targets. 25pdrs don't have much of a kick but they have a good chance of bailing tanks on bombardments and forcing crews to abandon their vehicles with double bails on repeat bombardments (Panthers are especially vulnerable
IIRC as they don't have protected ammo). They also dual role as light direct fire antitank guns and can help hold objectives.