Stalin's Europe had the misfortune of being released one month before the D-Day compilation books. I judge the popularity of a book by the number of army lists posted on the FOW Forum. By the end of December, Turning Tide and Earth & Steel lists were definitely the most common, especially the Allied lists. Revised point totals gave new life to German lists that were stagnant in Monty's Meatgrinder (21.PD) and Villers Bocage (Pz Lehr).
In my own informal survey, I think Hungarian lists are the most popular choice in SE. The assault gun lists, affordable artillery and confident veteran infantry, 14+ Hetzers, and Hungarian Panthers and Tigers in the same force structure made any Hungarian fan very happy.
I believe I saw only 3 Lend Lease lists posted. Shturmovye seem to be getting the most love from Russian players - - and why not, it's a very flexible and cool list.
There are enough players at my LGS who can field 21+ T-34 and all the variants in between. As I explained about the 3rd Gv Mech Corps, I wanted something different and nobody was playing Soviet Shermans.
When SE came out, I was excited that I'd be able to field 76mm versions of the Emcha. I envisioned running 75mm and 76mm equipped Shermans in the same list, giving the option to field MW and two LW lists without buying numerous Shermans. Ooops! That's not the case in SE. Only 76mm armed Shermans allowed! Le Sigh.
Screw it. I decided to go ahead and field a SE Emcha force. How can I not?! Look at this tank. It's beautiful.
10 Emchas run 670 pts. 10 T-34/85 obr 1944 cost 635. Basically you're paying another 35pts for Protected Ammo. Otherwise the 75mm Emcha and T-34/85 obr 1944 have the same stat lines. It seems nobody is going to want to run them because of the squeeze it'll put on support options (thinking tournament play here).
Well now. Hello there Mr. Dmitriy Loza! At 80pts, he's one of the more expensive Warriors. Yet, he gets ROF 3 (2 on the move), can replace the Batallion Commander if (when he buys the farm), and he can infiltrate an armored or infantry company. Very nice and a good tactical gimmik that may be handy.
He also has a very nice looking tank.
The support boxes available to a Inomarochnikiy Tankovy Batalon appear to be standard. You do get the option of fielding IS-2's and ISU's or SU's together with your Emchas. This wasn't possible with the Hammer & Sickle list because it forced you to choose either IS-2's or ISU's (occupied the same support box).
A new model is available too. The SU-100. AT 16, ROF 1, FP 2+ and 40" range. Basically an area denial weapon. You'll never hit anything, but it'll die when you do. They'd do the same thing the SU-152 does in MW - give the opponent something to worry about and target.
What really sealed the deal was the Web Offer of the 46th Guards Tank Brigade from WI277. It's 18 Emchas, Loza, 3 SU-100's and 14 stands of Tank Riders. A pretty good deal and I promptly grabbed it. The items are now sitting on the workbench of Carlos T.
In the meantime, I'll proxy my 75mm Emchas and playtest the various options.
19 Tanks and Little Friends
HQ
9x M4 76mm, plus Loza
9x M4 76mm
3x Razvedki Platoons (plus a few 50-cals)
3x BA-64's
1750pts
SU's and Cars
HQ
9x M4 76mm
8x M4 76mm
3x SU-100's
5x BA-64's
1750pts
Squeezing in Combined Arms
HQ
7x M4 76mm, plus Loza
6x M4 76mm
3x Razvedki Platoons (plus 50-cals)
3x SU-100's
1750pts
What Infantry?
HQ
9x M4 76mm, plus Loza
9x M4 76mm
3x SU-100's
1750pts
As you can see, there's several ways to run an SE Lend Lease list. I'd like to get the Combined Arms list to work because the Razvedki intrigue me, I get Loza and the SU-100's. Also, I've found it hard to hide or get all the guns of a large company pointed at the same time. Usually it's 5 or 6 tanks, with the others behind due to terrain and Hen & Chicks. Smaller companies of 6 or 7 (maybe 8) can maneuver more freely I think (and also echoed by others on the FOW Board).
19 Tanks and Little Friends is also an interesting choice. 19 AT 12 shots is very powerful. The AT 16 with its low percentage To Hit may not be needed at all. Plus the Razvedki can be disruptive behind the lines and so can the BA-64's working to lift GtG prior to a Razvedki assault.
I'd like to hear your thoughts on the lists and SE in general.
Did it disappoint you?
What did you like about it?
What SE lists are you going to run in 2011?
What do you think about my Lend Lease lists?
As always, thanks for your support and visiting.
Personally I liked Stalin's Europe: I had some Hungarian infantry for MW, and the LW infantry list is pretty good: maybe not competition-style, but I like it. The Assault gun and Tank lists are interesting and, once I've done the infantry, many support options will carry over which makes building them much easier. The Hungarian lists are definitely the best from the Axis: Feldherrnhalle (sp?) is pretty standard, not really lacking anything to be honest. Maybe I just don't like Panzer IV/L 70s that much.
ReplyDeleteThe Soviet are particularly good: I love the Emcha units, as similarly there are many T-34s locally. The Shturmovye are just awesome, but again local Soviet players will be changing almost wholesale to them. Romanians were pretty good as well with some very interesting options.
However, I think the lack of excitement had to do with the D-Day releases so soon afterwards, and the fact that the points values were still in the 'old' mode, hence the Panzergrenadier list in particular seemed obsolete. Also, apart from the Soviet and Hungarian lists, the other perhaps are not seen as especially 'competitive' which is what most stuff on the forum seems to be about, at least in the army list section.
I'll definitely be doing Hungarian infatry and Assualt Gun (with Zrinyi IIs). I might do an Emcha unit, but finances may not allow, so i'll wait and see.
My 2c anyway.
CdlT