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I like to be the guy that stands out and has a very unique force. At the same time however, I want a force that isn't a pushover, which leads me to my question. In EARLY WAR, what army would you recommend as a unique, balanced, semi competitive list?

I've looked at and can't make a choice between:

Japanese
Romanian Cavalry
Hungarian Cavalry
Polish Infantry with armoured train
Polish Cavalry
Russian Wave Attack
French Infantry
Finnish Fortified


To give you a few more details on myself. I love AT guns. Not so much artillery blocks but AT guns. I'd prefer to run a list that brings as few tanks as possible as in EW I'm just not in love with any of them.


Thanks in advance for all of your help!

Firstly Japanese are not rare... They are so pretty solid!

Cavalry is tough to use well, but the winner of the U.S. Biggest EW tournament (art of war) used polish cav.

French infantry has lots of AT but not much decent AT IMHO, and the Finns don't have much AT at all.

If you want something random with lots of AT guns have you considered the dutch

Do you happen to have a link to the AOW results? I'd be interested to see what he brought for Polish Cav as I cant find a list I'm comfortable with.

The nice thing about AoW is you get a copy of everyone's list, I'll dig it out tonight for you

I'd try Romanian cavalry, that sounds pretty rare to me lol

It kind of depends on your feelings towards the terror of the T-34.

I play Finnish infantry (CV) and our arty is actually a fairly decent AT gun for everything but the KV/T-34/Matilda crowd. AT8 3+ 2 shots...in EW that is pretty solid. Plus they can have two units of them. The real star though is the 13 stand Pioneer platoon. Dig them in on objective and everything will think twice on assaulting them.

Also, French Fusiliers...most of them can get a unit of 5 Laffy mounted 47mm AT guns. They lack HE, but AT 9 FP 4 is pretty effective, coupled with up to three units of the 75mm arty.

for polish cav
hq
2 companies with command, 5 rifle, anti-tank (cav)
dismounted cav 9 rifles, 2 at rifles
4 37mm
5 tks
3 armoured cars
4 75mmarty
light guns 4 75mm

I'm building a Slovak list for early war. Two lists and no official models. That's pretty obscure.

Reaver - That's a very interesting list, to say the least. 8 platoons is impressive. I wonder how he used the small Cav platoons. 8 stands doesn't feel durable to me. Very fast list though, with good defensive elements.

I think Hungarian cavalry would be cool, and definitely uncommon. My buddy had a MW Hungarian infantry company, and it was historical, interesting, and cool, and performed surprisingly well on the tabletop. Hungarian cavalry could probably be viable as well, and would certainly be interesting and fun.

What do you guys use for these lists in lieu of offical models?

 carlos13th wrote:
What do you guys use for these lists in lieu of offical models?

There isn't really any such thing as "official models" in the world of historicals. If BF doesn't make a miniature for a unit you want, it's almost certain that somebody else does. So use whichever ones you like best.

 Hordini wrote:

 carlos13th wrote:
What do you guys use for these lists in lieu of offical models?

There isn't really any such thing as "official models" in the world of historicals. If BF doesn't make a miniature for a unit you want, it's almost certain that somebody else does. So use whichever ones you like best.

I am aware that there are not really offical models most of my army is PSC for example. Just curious where people go for the rarer nations.

The French army is actually really competent, but also common for early war. Their main problem in history was the leadership and planning, so when you get them on the tabletop in these rules, they are actually really good.

I play Polish, and I have the full train. I have to say the train is mostly useless, but every now and then you'll have a game where you roll well and it wins you the game.

The train list is fun, and uncommon, but it's horrifically overpriced. You have to deal with the track setup every game, and the rules for the train treat them like 4 very big tanks on a line, instead of a battle platform that historically could weather some damage.

 carlos13th wrote:
What do you guys use for these lists in lieu of offical models?

BF actually has most of the models. You might be forced to by a gun for a different nation, and replace the gun crew with one that you special ordered, but the bits should all be listed in BF's store for everything mentioned here except maybe the Slovaks.

Eumerin wrote:

 carlos13th wrote:
What do you guys use for these lists in lieu of offical models?

BF actually has most of the models. You might be forced to by a gun for a different nation, and replace the gun crew with one that you special ordered, but the bits should all be listed in BF's store for everything mentioned here except maybe the Slovaks.

Don't know if someone would really want to go through the effort for "close enough" Slovaks but from Battlefront:

http://www.flamesofwar.com/hobby.aspx?art_id=4741

I'm using BF Italians for Slovaks and PSC 38(t)s along with Old Glory artillery pieces. I'm not sure what to do about the motorbikes yet.