Return to the End of the Beginning – Favorite Lists from Mid-War – Part Two

With the two mid-war books hitting Forces of War recently, the Breakthrough Assault crew have put the Pershing, Comets and King Tigers down and gone back to where Flames of War all started – the burning heat of the desert and the wide spaces of the Russian Steppes.  This series sees the authors discuss their favorite list from the period; its strengths; it weaknesses; and why anyone should play it.

Hello All

So it’s been a while since Mid war got some love on the blog and with the version 3 friendly Mid War lists released on Forces of War and the Flames of War app; plus the ETC being Mid War this year it seemed like a good time to do some posts on the subject. Much like the look at 1420pts Late War posts we did at the beginning of the year, I got a team of people together to chat about their favourite armies, whats good about them and why you should play them. Unlike the post at the beginning of the year this is a mix of tournament players, painters and collectors. So without further ado I’ll hand it over to the guys.

Bill Wilcox – My favorite MW list, and here’s a shocker, is a US tank list out of North Africa. I like both the Lee-heavy and Stuart-heavy versions of the list.

It has everything that you need to compete in MW. Good AT, smoke, 16 inch movers, great RoF,.50 cals, recon, a decent template, adult leadership, and even a few stands of infantry if you really need to get an assault off. I particularly like the multiple guns on the Lee. That many shots can dig through infantry if needed. The TDs in combination with the Lees and Stuarts mean you can handle pretty much any other tank army out there, but it will require maneuver if you come up against KVs or Panthers. Having stabilizers means that you will always get lots of shots, and Direct Fire Smoke means that you have a better chance of surviving the return shots. Harmon is also great for the potential extra movement, lots of chances to remount or rally, and the re-rolls that confident troops so often need. Having two recon platoons helps to mitigate against pesky ambushes, and also make it easier to dig out gun teams and infantry. And most importantly, it has the critical component that all lists should have – 16 inch movers. It isn’t fun if it doesn’t go vroom!

I don’t see that the list has many weaknesses. The hardest thing to handle would be digging out monster strelk platoons in a timed game. It can take time to kill that many stands particularly when you likely have to kill them to the man. Dealing with a well-run ARP can also be tricky in a defensive battle since they will start with 4 Lees and 4 TDs of their own on the board in ambush along with way too many bazookas.

All-in-all this is a really fun list for those who like taking the fight to your enemy. This is not a sit, fart, and range in list, but as we all should espouse, friends don’t let friends camp.

That’s it for today, come back this time next week for some more tales of Mid War.

Thanks Ben