What is a good basic army to oppose Late War German?

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**Ifurita**

My son wants to get into Flames of War, so I picked up a PZ IV platoon and a Panzergrenadier platoon to start off. Now I'm looking for something I can use to oppose him. First thoughts were Russians (T-34/85 platoon + infantry) or Americans (either a Sherman platoon + infantry) or even some airborne troops. Thoughts? Most likely, this will be for casual play. Nothing too hardcore.

**combat engineer**

Depends on the period of the War you are playing and what area. These are the general guidelines my friends and I follow. We try to fight Western Front armies vs. Western Front armies.

We also do not play in tournaments, so it's pretty easy for us to stick to that rule when list building.

Mat

**col. krazy kenny**

Me personally i would play usa Paratroopers from the D-Day -1 book. you have the option to para drop troopers.Also all the platoons are allowed a Bazooka team and a Mortar,plus the sniper team option.Good selection of warriors and good divisional support with all of the goodies.Also will not cost you a fortune to start.Especially if go with alternative companies.Also the Has a certain place for me considering two of my brothers and my brother in law are all ex-paratroopers.Also who does not love the 75mm Para howitzer as a support platoon.

**Skriker**

Ifurita wrote:My son wants to get into Flames of War, so I picked up a PZ IV platoon and a Panzergrenadier platoon to start off. Now I'm looking for something I can use to oppose him. First thoughts were Russians (T-34/85 platoon + infantry) or Americans (either a Sherman platoon + infantry) or even some airborne troops. Thoughts? Most likely, this will be for casual play. Nothing too hardcore.

Since you only have Germans now your choice is pretty open. You could play just about any allied list against LW germans. For less annoying play a good rule of thumb is to pick eastern front or western/Italian front and stick with lists for both sides from those. Some of the crazier heavy armor lists for germans on the eastern front would woefully overpower anything anyone but eastern front russians could bring to the table. Either way any of the options you have listed will work just fine. T-34s, PZ IVs and M4A1 shermans are all relatively on par with each other on the table top. Similar armor and weapon capabilities. If you go airborne that definitely works too, as airborne forces will usually have very decent Anti-tank capabilities available to them.

For casual play you might want to stick with more tanks and less infantry, since infantry are a pain to base up for the game to some degree. Have fun!

Skriker

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Skriker wrote:
Ifurita wrote:My son wants to get into Flames of War, so I picked up a PZ IV platoon and a Panzergrenadier platoon to start off. Now I'm looking for something I can use to oppose him. First thoughts were Russians (T-34/85 platoon + infantry) or Americans (either a Sherman platoon + infantry) or even some airborne troops. Thoughts? Most likely, this will be for casual play. Nothing too hardcore.

Since you only have Germans now your choice is pretty open. You could play just about any allied list against LW germans. For less annoying play a good rule of thumb is to pick eastern front or western/Italian front and stick with lists for both sides from those. Some of the crazier heavy armor lists for germans on the eastern front would woefully overpower anything anyone but eastern front russians could bring to the table. Either way any of the options you have listed will work just fine. T-34s, PZ IVs and M4A1 shermans are all relatively on par with each other on the table top. Similar armor and weapon capabilities. If you go airborne that definitely works too, as airborne forces will usually have very decent Anti-tank capabilities available to them.

One thing to think about is that if both forces are "Tank" forces it will mean who the attacker and defender are will varying more often in scenarios you play. In defensive battles that include a tank force on one side and an infantry force on the other, the infantry is always considered the defender. Of course this depends on how casual your casual play will be. If you are just going to drop the minis on the table and have shoot outs without a scenario or any scenario rules it doesn't really matter what you do.

For casual play you might want to stick with more tanks and less infantry, since infantry are a pain to base up for the game to some degree. Have fun!

Skriker