List Building with the 101st Airborne Division Army Deal

List Building with the 101st Airborne Division Army Deal By John Lee With the launch of the Bulge 80th Anniversary Army Deals, I thought I would look at how a new player, or someone on a budget, can get an American Airborne force on the table that would be semi-competitive or at least hold its own.  For the new player, it opens the door to playing Flames Of War without needing to buy, assemble or paint too much and get into playing the game quicker.

Check out the 101st Airborne Division Army Deal in the online store...

Overview So, if we look at what we get in the excellent value army deal (101st Airborne Division), that will help decide what Formations to run (other than the obvious one on the box!). The army deal contains the following: 1 x Parachute Rifle Company HQ 2 x Parachute Rifle Platoons 1 x Parachute 81mm Mortar Platoon 1 x Parachute 75mm Artillery Battery 1 x Airborne 57mm Anti-Tank Platoon 4 x Jeeps 7 x Unit Cards 3 x Command Cards 5 x Easy Company Teams 5 x Toccoa Sergeants Teams 1 x Destroyed Panther Objective 1 x Destroyed M4A3E8 Easy Eight Objective 20 x 101st Airborne Division Dice 20 x 101st Airborne Division Tokens and 2 x Objectives

This is not your normal army deal you usually see comprising mainly plastic sprues. This army deal has exclusive metal extras including warrior teams and all infantry and gun crew are metal in winter uniforms. The only plastic sprues you will see in this box are the 75mm and 57mm guns themselves as well as the Jeeps.  It also comes with two themed custom objective markers (destroyed Panther and destroyed M4A3E8). To top that off, it comes with themed dice token and standard flat objective markers. The cost for the army deal is a bit more expensive but the extras are well worth it, and you save more money overall with all the goodies inside the box!

Now this box has been primarily designed for running the Bastogne Parachute Rifle Company in the Bulge American book. We will look at building a 100pt list around that first then touch on the D-Day Compilation version and the differences. Finally, we will look to create a dual Formation list to provide more mobility and firepower.

As mentioned in the content list, there are five metal warrior teams. They are Cap. Richard Winters, Cap. Lewis Nixon, Lt. Ronald Speirs, 1st Sgt. Carwood Lipton, Pvt. Eugene Roe, and Cpl. Darrell Power. We will look at options to try and include some of them in the lists. The three command cards included in the box features in the Bulge Command Card Pack.

First is Richard Winters, which cost 4pts, and has two key benefits. First is that units in this Formation pass Rally rolls on a 2+ and the second is that any Unit from this Formation whose Unit Leader is within 8" and Line of Sight of this Formation Commander may re-roll failed Counterattack, Rally, Remount, and Last Stand rolls. The next card is Ronald Speirs, costs 3pts, and he also brings two key benefits. The first is If this Formation Commander is not in Bulletproof Cover, he may re-roll failed Infantry Saves for each Hit he takes. The second benefit is that the Formation Commander may be held in Ambush at the start of the game. When you reveal Ambushes, place the Commander within 6" of any teams of a Bastogne Parachute Rifle Platoon, and not within 4" of enemy teams. The final card is Carwood Lipton, costs 2pts and has one benefit. Any Unit from this Formation whose Unit Leader is within 6" of the Formation Commander pass Rally rolls on 2+.

Bastogne Parachute Rifle Company Onto the Formations now and looking at the Bastogne Parachute Rifle Company from the Bulge Compilation book, let us look at what units comprise this Formation: 1 Bastogne Parachute Rifle Company HQ 2-3 Bastogne Parachute Rifle Platoon 0-1 Bastogne Parachute 81mm Mortar Platoon 0-1 Bastogne Parachute 75mm Artillery Battery or Bastogne Glider 105mm Artillery Battery 0-1 Bastogne Parachute 57mm Anti-Tank Platoon 0-1 Airborne Jeep Recon Patrol Based on the Formation and what we get in the army, we can use all the army deal and add an extra box and sprue to get to 100pts! This is how it could look based on what is pictured on the box and Bulge American force diagram:

Seven units for the Formation break. Nearly maxed out Formation and has two artillery templates with the mortars and 75mm howitzers. Integral recon to provide spearhead and armed with .50cals can provide fire support to the infantry. 57mm AT guns provide support for the infantry in defence with upgrade HE card. The Paras with their Fearless Careful Veteran characteristics make them great in attacks and assaults as well in defence if needed. Hellcats provide speed and AT13 (upgraded HVAP card) to get to the flanks of enemy tanks.  We also take the Richard Winters warrior card to provide some help for assaulting, counterattacking, rallying etc.

To buy this army you need only to purchase the following for $175: 1 x USAB15 101st Airborne Division Army Deal  125 1 x UBX93 M18 Hellcat Tank Destroyer Platoon  150 1 x USO196 Plastic M4A3 Sprue  40 TOTAL $175

An alternative support unit to take for this list is a M26 Pershing Tank Platoon. Three M26 Pershing for 29pts with FA9 AT14 is an effective unit to take in place of the Hellcats. As well as dropping the Hellcats, you would need to drop the 75mm guns to pay for them. You save $10.

Let’s quickly look at the differences between the Bulge and D-Day versions of the Parachute Rifle Formations. There is one unit that is present in the Bastogne Formation which is the addition of a Bastogne Glider 105mm Artillery Battery slot. The key Rating difference is that the Bastogne Parachute Rifle Formation HQ plus Bastogne Parachute Rifle Platoons have a better Last Stand rating (NUTS – making it 2+). Finally, we look at creating a dual Formation force to provide more mobility and more firepower. The best Formation to pair it with in terms of mobility, firepower and points is the M18 Tank Destroyer Company. To accommodate this, we will need to pare back the Bastogne Parachute Rifle Formation. This is how it could look:

Two Formations to break instead of one. Five units for the Formation break for the Paras. Four for the Tank Destroyers. We still have the core of the Paras being the infantry platoons and one artillery template with the 81mm Mortars. The Jeep Recon Patrol rounding out the Formation to provide spearhead for your Hellcats and can provide suppressive fire with their .50cals. Twelve M18 Hellcats to provide AT13 out to 36” and use their speed to get to the flanks or in better firing positions.

To buy this army you need only to purchase the following for $275: 1 x USAB15 101st Airborne Division Army Deal  125 3 x UBX93 M18 Hellcat Tank Destroyer Platoon  120 1 x UBX79 M8 Cavalry Recon Platoon  30 TOTAL $275

If you wanted more units in the infantry Formation, we could drop a platoon of M18 Hellcats (but add a security section or two to ensure its not a brittle Formation!). Dropping one platoon would 17pts (Unit is 16pts + HVAP card (x2) 2pts – Fresh card -1pt) and we could add two security sections at +3pts each to making the M18 Tank Destroyer Formation stronger and adding the 57mm Anti-tank Platoon to the Bastogne Parachute Rifle Formation also making use of your army deal and strengthening that Formation as well. This will result in a net +$20 spend making it $295. There you have it – a couple of options to ponder for getting started with this army deal. Enjoy!

~ John