Thinking About a New Flames of War Army, Part 2

In part 1 of this article I laid out my ideas and thought processes around creating a new army for Flames of War.  I decided to do an Early War French army of some type (if you want to review this interesting mental exercise see Part 1).  Now I need to dig into which French army to build and decide on the point level target.  Finally, I will have my planned list.

Army Type

The Blitzkrieg book has several options for the would-be French player.  You can choose from the Compagnie de Combat (Tank Company); the Escadron de Combat (Tank Company Cavalry); the Compagnie de Chasseurs Portes (Mechanized Company); the Escadron de Fusiliers Portes (Infantry Company Motorized); the Escadron de Reconnaissance (Mechanized Company Recce); the Escadron de Fussiliers Motorcyclistes (Mechanized Company Motorcycles); and finally three different Compagnie de Fusiliers-Voltigeurs (Infantry Company).   That is a total of 10 different companies to choose from.

Where to start?  I have always loved the French S-35 Somua tank would really like to do an Escadron de Combat force with all S-35 tanks.  Since my friend Mike already has a French Tank Company I think I will put this idea on the back burner for a while.  I tend to be drawn to infantry forces more than tank forces.  There is something about the gritty infantry holding out against all adds that I find appealing.  The problem is I have two armies already that are foot infantry armies so this really wouldn't have the 'new' factor that I want.

This basically leaves me with four options - Compagnie de Chasseurs Portes, Escadron de Fusiliers Portes, Escadron de Reconnaissance, Escadron de Fusiliers Motorcylistes.  I really have trouble with the nuance of the recce rule so I am not ready to run an entire recce army.  That eliminates the motorcycles and the recce company.  So the choice is between the Campagnie de Chasseurs Portes and the Escadron de Fusiliers Portes.  The main difference between the two is the Chasseurs are in armored transports and the Fusiliers are in trucks.  That is not much of a difference.  The nice thing is if you build one all you have to do is change he transports to have a different army.

Since I like the look of the trucks, and the platoons are slightly cheaper, I am going with the Fusiliers.

Point Level

This one is easy.  Since the EW nationals events are 1625 point this year this is the natural level to shoot for.  I will be building this army in phases so there is room for me to adjust the final level.  I will try to collect and paint so that I can build a valid army at various point levels along the way.

The Army List

Here is the list I have come up with.  I wanted an army with a solid core of troops, good anti-tank, recce, artilliery, and some anti-aircraft.  I think this list does all these things.  Thanks to FOW Lists for the help putting this list together.

Escadron de Fusiliers Portes

Compulsory Fusiliers Portes HQ - 1x CinC Rifle, 1x 2inC Rifle, 2x Motorcycle and sideCar (25 pts)
- Mortars - 1x 60mm mie 35 Mortar, 1x Lorraine 38L (20 pts)
- Anti-tank - 2x 25mm SA-34 portee (40 pts)

Compulsory Fusiliers Portes Platoon - 1x Command MG, 1x VB, 1x Laffly S20TL Truck, 6x MG, 2x Laffly S20TL Truck with two MG (165 pts)

Compulsory Fusiliers Portes Platoon - 1x Command MG, 1x VB, 1x Laffly S20TL Truck, 6x MG, 2x Laffly S20TL Truck with two MG (165 pts)

Fusiliers Machine-gun Platoon - 1x Command Rifle, 1x Laffly S20TL Truck, 4x 8mm mle 1914 HMG, 2x Laffly S20TL Truck with two MG (105 pts)

Fusiliers Machine-gun Platoon - 1x Command Rifle, 1x Laffly S20TL Truck, 4x 8mm mle 1914 HMG, 2x Laffly S20TL Truck with two MG (105 pts)

Fusiliers Mortar Platoon - 1x Command Rifle, 1x Observer Rifle, 1x Laffly S20TL Truck, 4x 81mm mle 27/31 Mortar (95 pts)
- Transport - 4x Laffy S20TL Truck (5 pts)

Reconnaisance Platoon - 1x Command Renault AMR-35 (7.5mm), 1x Renault AMR-35 (7.5mm), 1x Renault AMR-35 (13.2mm) (85 pts)

Cavalry 25mm Anti-tank Gun Platoon - 1x Command Rifle, 4x 25mm SA-34 (70 pts)
- Transport - 4x Laffy W15T Truck (5 pts)

Divisional 47mm Anti-tank Platoon - 1x Command Rifle, 2x 47mm SA-37 (120 pts)
- Transport - 1x Motorcycle and sideCar, 2x Laffy W15T Tractor (5 pts)

All-terrain Towed 75mm Artillery Battery - 1x Command Rifle, 1x Staff, 1x Observer Rifle, 1x Motorcycle and sideCar, 4x 75mm mle 1897 (290 pts)
- Transport - 1x Laffy S20TL Truck, 1x Laffy S20TL Truck per gun (5 pts)

All-terrain Towed 75mm Artillery Battery - 1x Command Rifle, 1x Staff, 1x Observer Rifle, 1x Motorcycle and sideCar, 4x 75mm mle 1897 (290 pts)
- Transport - 1x Laffy S20TL Truck, 1x Laffy S20TL Truck per gun (5 pts)

Air Support - Sporadic Moraine Saulnier MS 406 (25 pts)


1625 Points, 10 Platoons

In the next installment I will look at the daunting task of collecting this army.