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I'm very new to the game. I picked up the small starter box with the 3 shermans and 2 Stuggs. My dad and I love ww2 stuff, especially the tanks so we thought we would split them, him the Germans and I'll use the Americans. We've also picked up a few extra odd tanks (box of shermans, king tiger, and a 38) and the "Devil's Charge" book.
Any tips or advice for being able to bring (preferably) pure tank forces? Which books should I get for each force and do certain tanks stand out above the rest in this format?

Thanks for your time.

The best book for US tanks is probably 'blood guts and glory' my personal favourite for German tanks if the free PDF 'panzer a to the meuse'

Grey Wolf has a lot of options for German armored companies as well.

I'll also second Blood Guts and Glory as a great book for US armored companies

Grey Wolf has the best SS list in the entire game. you may include support from other companies,example my SS PAnzers contain Support from the Grenadier list. One of my favorite things to do is take the SS Tank hunters with SChiwmwagens and include 2 HMG teamsin Kubles for extra fire support.Another good German book is Atantic Wall.The SS units in it are Fearless VEteran. Also i am a 12 th SS Hitler youth fanboy.The are rated as Fearless veteran.
But that is just me ,as i prefer to veteran lists and the SS for German Armor.But dont call facist i play my FAlllschimjagers probably the most here lately.

If you guys get Blood Guts and Glory you can start playing Tank Aces games as you build up your forces. 8 tanks is more then enough for most Tank Aces games.

Another box of M4A3 Shermans will give you 13 Shermans to work with. The ones from the starter set would count as M4A3(early) and to make them more visually accurate you can shave off the ridges on the transmission housing to make it look like a one piece housing on the M4A3 vice the three pierce housing on the M4A4.


Panzers to the Meuse PDF

If you get two boxes of PSC's PanzerIVs you have a good start on a PttM Panzer force with 10 PzIVs and 3 Stugs. (Just one box to start if playing Tank Aces)

King Tigers can't be used w the PttM pdf though.

So Blood and Guts for Americans and Grey Wolf for Germans (I'll take a look at the PDF). Awesome!
And then more Sherman's and Panzer IV's.

Where are the rules for Tank Aces?

Vladd37 wrote:
So Blood and Guts for Americans and Grey Wolf for Germans (I'll take a look at the PDF). Awesome!
And then more Sherman's and Panzer IV's.

Where are the rules for Tank Aces?

They're in the Blood Guts and Glory book, so you'll be all set.

Also, Grey Wolf is for Eastern Front German units, if you wanted to be more authentic while fighting US tanks, look at Bridge by Bridge (for Germans in Operation Market Garden) or Atlantik Wall (Normandy) (ETA for clarity)

Most of the German units in the three softbound Bulge books are Reluctant Trained and aren't a lot of fun to play.

If you go to EasyArmy.com they have free lists from the PDFs, and access to the books for only a couple $ each if you want to preview the lists before buying the books.

Bridge by bridge has no US tank lists

 Reaver83 wrote:
Bridge by bridge has no US tank lists

Correct, BrxBr has the German lists, if he wants a German list that is thematically appropriate to fight US lists, it's a better book then GreyWolf.

To clarify:
if he wanted to be more authentic while fighting US tanks, look at Bridge by Bridge (for Germans in Operation Market Garden) or Atlantik Wall (Normandy)