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Building my first FOW force - Commandos (Beaches)  [RSS] Share on facebook Share on Twitter Submit to Reddit
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Made in us
Sergeant





I am in the process of building a Commando (Beaches) army, and this will be my first experience with FOW. I have already purchased a few platoon blisters, and I bought a heavy weapons blister, so I have the better part of my infantry needs met. I am pre-ordering two of the Open Fire sets, so I will have a surplus of shermans. I am partially purchasing two because I would like to eventually expand my Brits to include an armoured company, and I would like to have a good start to a German force. Here is the first list that I have put together:

Co HQ: +2 PIAT teams, +1 Sniper team – 110
Commando Company: 1 section, 2x PIAT – 195
Commando Company: 1 Section, 4x SMG – 195
Commando Company: 1 Section, 2x Light Mortars – 195
Commando Company: 2 Sections, 2x Flamethrower, 2x SMG, 2x PIAT – 390
Commando Machine Gun Platoon: 3 Sections – 115
Commando 3” Mortar Platoon: 3 Sections - 105
Independent Armoured Company: 3 Sherman V, 1 Firefly VC (Confident Veteran) – 365
Assault Field Battery, Royal Artillery: 1 Troop, 4 QQF 25 pdr (Confident Veteran) – 185
Assault Light Anti-Aircraft Platoon: 3 Sections (Confident Veteran) - 130
TOTAL: 1985

I would need to add 15 pts to bring it up to 2k, or drop 235 to be at 1750. I was thinking about replacing the artillery observer team with an OPS Sherman, as I will have some extra Shermans, but I could not find the entry for the OPS Sherman. Is it a Sherman V?
I thought about getting trucks for the artillery or the AA, but I am not sure how oftern they are actually used in-game. Are they worth the points?
What do you more experienced players think of the loadout/structure of the Commando Companies? Are flame-throwers worth it? Are there enough PIATs and Light Mortars? I will have some extra Light Mortar team models that I could include, but I thought that with 3 sections of 3" mortars, I would have my mortar needs met.
Thank you for any input! As I said, I am just getting into this, and I am very excited to get some games in.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2012/11/26 15:51:28


 
Made in us
Sergeant





Cool, thanks for the feedback! I have corrected the Confident Veteran status. Wow, looks like I have less stuff to buy than I thought. I think that I may just invest in the M10's from the start, then come back and buy the Open Fire Set for Shermans later. The M7's are a cheaper buy than the artillery anyway, and I like the idea of a more mobile force.
Made in us
Sergeant





Yeah, the owner of my local FLGS cued me into the Commandos being kind of a difficult army to start off with. Unfortunately, I did not really get the memo until I had already invested about $80 in commando models. That being said, I have gotten the impression that the Commando (Orne) list has a couple of options that would make for a more balanced force. As was pointed out on the FoW forum, I was also off in how I set up the special weapons in the commando squads in my original list. I was thinking something like the following:

Co HQ: +2 PIAT teams – 60
Commando Company: 1 section, 1x PIAT, 1x Light Mortar – 195
Commando Company: 1 Section, 1x PIAT, 2x SMG, 1x Light Mortar – 195
Commando Company: 1 Section, 1x PIAT, 1x Light Mortar – 195
Commando Company: 2 Sections, 2x Flamethrower, 4x SMG, 2x PIAT – 390
Commando Machine Gun Platoon: 3 Sections – 115
Commando 3” Mortar Platoon: 3 Sections - 105
Parachute Platoon: 2 Rifle Squads - 170
Independent Armoured Company: 3 Sherman V, 1 Firefly VC (Confident Veteran) – 365
4x M10 17 pdr. - 260
TOTAL: 1990

This would give a total of 8 AFV's with 5 of them capable of handling heavy armor (Firefly and 4 M10's). The Shermans would act as a first wave. The parachute platoon would be a dedicated forward operating tank hunting unit. The commandos themselves would hold and capture objectives, and handle infantry. Between their light mortars and the 3" platoon, I imagine smoke should be pretty well covered. The HMG's would do their thing, probably more toward the back.
I think that this would also be a good way to also start a parachute company, as they can utilize the commandos and Shermans (DD Platoon) in their list.
What do you all think of the adjustments?
 
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