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4th Edition Sample 4th Edition Mid-War Army Lists

With a new edition of the rules and army books, there will always be many questions people want to ask. With the first glimpses of the new army books over the last few weeks, there have been questions about how they work and what kind of armies you will be able to field, so we asked our teams around the world to pull together some of the lists they are planning to make.

One important change for army building is the addition of formations, an intermediate level of organisation which consists of several core combat units, sometimes with some of their own attached support. Formations are generally a company-sized command structure, but can be an armoured squadron or a battalion, depending on the organisational doctrine of the nation in question.

Below: An example of a formation diagram, from Desert Rats.
Motor Company formation diagram

By selecting which of the compulsory (black) units and optional (grey) units you want, you have a lot of room to customise each individual formation. And by combining several formations, each with its own different options, the possible combinations are practically endless.

While Version 3 allowed multiple companies, in practice they were not especially common. In 4th Edition, formations are more like building blocks of a force. Many forces will still only include one formation with support, but just as many forces will have two or even more formations. The new structure, which allows for more diversity and variety in your army lists, makes it easier to design a balanced combined-arms force, as well as giving plenty of scope for players who like to do their own historical research and tailor their army to a specific real-world time and place.

Before you have a look through the lists, let’s cover two other important parts of the plan for 4th Edition.

Allies
In all of our books over the years we have allowed for the ability to use allied units within armies. With fluid front lines, it was common for forces to work closely together, and we wanted to retain this colour and history in the army books. For the new edition we have made the choices easier to understand and will be increasing the variety of allied models you will be able to field. Each army can now field one compulsory unit from an allied nation’s formation and one allied formation. This means that Italians and Germans, British and Americans, will be able to utilise some of the other’s core units in building their armies. It is a little early to be giving out the complete lists of what will come in the third and fourth books, but I imagine there will be more than a few British and German armies leaving some space for allied units to complete their armies.

'Command' Cards
With the new edition of the rules and how to build your army comes a new way to add the color and history to your force. Command Cards will add some extra nuance to the process of designing armies. They will cover a variety of factors including organization, doctrine and equipment which will give historical forces a specific flavor. They will allow a variety of specialty army options which add to the standard formations, as well as just giving you the ability to make some units and leaders a little more veteran than others. They will expand the options available to those players who like the extra detail, without forcing added complexity on those who prefer a more streamlined system in which it is faster to get an army on to the table.

The first command card packs are scheduled to come out after the initial wave of Mid War releases. These packs will be specific to a nation and contain 50+ cards with everything from famous warriors to new objectives to fight over. As you will see below, some of the guys have refered to upcoming command cards in their forces. Although we can’t show you all of the detail now, it is important to understand these cards are coming and will add a new level to the armies within the books.


Now let's look at some sample lists.
Desert Rats Combined-arms Force (3 formations) Desert Rats
Honey Armoured Squadron  
Honey Armoured Squadron HQ — 4 x Honey 7 points
Honey Armoured Troop — 3 x Honey 5 points
Honey Armoured Troop — 3 x Honey 5 points
Motor Company  
Motor Company HQ — 2 x SMLE rifle teams 2 points
Motor Platoon — 4 x Bren Gun, 1 x Boys AT rifle, 1 x 2-inch mortar 8 points
6 pdr Anti-tank Platoon — 4 x 6 pdr gun 12 points
Universal Carrier Patrol — 3 x Universal Carriers, with Boys AT rifles 3 points
3-inch Mortar Section — 2 x 3-inch mortar 3 points
Grant Armoured Squadron  
Grant Armoured Squadron HQ — 2 x Grant 12 points
Grant Armoured Troop — 3 x Grant 18 points
Grant Armoured Troop — 3 x Grant 18 points
Support Units  
25 Pdr Field Troop — 2 x 25 pdr gun 7 points
Total 100 points

Casey Davies, who did the graphic design on all the new Mid War books, is planning a force based on taking elements of Panzer Regiment 8 and Schützen Regiment 115 in an multiple formation force:

Casey's 15. Panzer Division force Afrika Korps
Panzer III Tank Company  
Panzer III HQ — 2x Panzer III (short 5cm) 10 points
Panzer III tank platoon — 4x Panzer III (short 5cm) 20 points
Panzer III tank platoon — 4x Panzer III (short 5cm) 20 points
Panzer II Platoon — 4x Panzer II 8 points
Africa Rifle Company  
Afrika Rifle Company HQ — 2 x MP40 SMG teams 2 points
Afrika Rifle Platoon — 4 x MG34 teams, 2.8cm anti-tank rifle, sMG34 HMG 8 points
Afrika Rifle Platoon — 4 x MG34 teams, 2.8cm anti-tank rifle, sMG34 HMG 8 points
5cm Tank hunter platoon — 3 x Pak38 5cm guns 12 points
Support Units  
Marder (7.62cm) Tank-hunter Platoon — 3 x Marder (7.62cm) 12 points
Total 100 points

Here I’ve decided to go for lots of lightly armed Panzer III tanks as my mobile force and rely on clever use of movement orders to make best use of their smaller guns. The Panzer IIs are there to boost the size of the formation and to use their spearhead ability to get the Panzer IIIs a little closer to the enemy. The infantry are there to defend my objectives and press the attack where needed.

The panzer III’s anti-tank of 8 will be good enough to mix it up with light armour, while the 5cm anti-tank guns and the Marders will deal with anything a bit heavier.

~ Casey


Wayne Turner is revisiting an old army:

With Flames Of War heading back to North Africa, I've been thinking about re-starting a couple of old projects. I want to use some of the stuff I already have painted as well as paint up something new. The Desert Rats book focuses on the armoured and motorised forces of the British Eighth Army in North Africa in 1942-43. I already have a bunch of infantry painted up, so I thought I’d start off by looking at a Motor Company.

Wayne's Updated Eighth Army force Desert Rats
Motor Company  
Motor Company HQ — 2x SMLE rifle teams 2 points
Motor Platoon — 4x Bren Gun, Boys AT rifle, 2-inch mortar 8 points
Motor Platoon — 4x Bren Gun, Boys AT rifle, 2-inch mortar 8 points
Universal Carrier Patrol — 3 x Universal Carrier, with Boys AT rifles 3 points
Vickers MMG Platoon — 4 x Vickers MMG teams 4 points
3-inch Mortar Section — 2 x 3-inch mortars 3 points
6 pdr Anti-tank Platoon — 4 x 6 pdr guns 12 points
Universal Carrier Patrol — 3 x Universal Carriers, with Boys AT rifles 3 points
Universal Carrier Patrol — 3 x Universal Carriers, with Boys AT rifles 3 points
Formation total 46 points
Those are the formation troops for my Motor Company, but I don’t have to stop with one formation. So I’m going to support my infantry (or is it the other way around) with a formation of tanks. In Desert Rats I can choose from three different types of British armoured squadron. I want some Crusader cruiser tanks, so I’ve selected a Crusader Armoured Squadron (on page 23 of Desert Rats).
Crusader Armoured Squadron  
Crusader Armoured Squadron HQ — 2 x Crusader II (2 pdr), 2 x Crusader CS (3 inch) 7 points
Crusader Armoured Troop — 3 x Crusader II (2 pdr) 5 points
Crusader Armoured Troop — 1 x Crusader II (2 pdr), 2 x Crusader III (6 pdr) 7 points
Crusader Armoured Troop — 3 x Crusader II (2 pdr) 5 points
Support Units  

Now it's time to grab some support. I have 30 points left to spend from the grey (optional) boxes on page 17. More anti-tank is always useful, as is some artillery and anti-aircraft guns.

6 pdr Anti-tank Platoon — 4 x 6 pdr guns 12 points
25 pdr Field Troop — 4 x 25 pdr guns 14 points
Bofors Light AA Troop — 3 x Bofors 40mm AA guns 4 points
Total 100 points

A lot of people will be wondering what will happen with their existing armies, so let’s look at an example. I have a New Zealand Divisional Cavalry army which I took to NiCon in Napier a few years ago. (It performed fairly averagely, but that’s to be expected — I am a decidedly average player!) If I wanted to run the exact same list again, it would now look like this:
James's NZ Divisional Cavalry Force Desert Rats
Honey Armoured Squadron HQ — 3 x Honey 5 points
Divisional Cavalry Platoon — 3 x Honey 5 points
Divisional Cavalry Platoon — 3 x Honey 5 points
Carrier Platoon — 2 x Carrier Patrols (6 Universal Carriers) 4 points
Support Units  
Motor Platoon — 3 Rifle Squads with Anti-tank Rifle team 8 points
* The British don’t have a Rifle Platoon option (yet) so I’ll change the infantry to a Motor Platoon.
Anti-tank Platoon, Royal Artillery — 2 x 6 pdr Portee 6 points
Field Battery, Royal Artillery — 8 x 25 pdr 28 points
Bofors Light AA Troop — 3 x Bofors 40mm 4 points
Total 65 points

With the now cheaper points cost of the Honey, I'll have a lot of space to add more.

My old list had two carrier patrols. I can take the same number in a standard Desert Rats force, but they would be support units unless I chose to add a whole Motor Company as a second formation. The proposed Divisional Cavalry ‘command’ card will allow up to four carrier patrols, just like the old North Africa organisation, and as part of the formation they will count for formation morale.

I always meant to model dismounted versions of the 6 pdr guns for my portees. But (like many people, I imagine) I have so far just used the truck models and said when they were dismounting. For now, I’ll be carrying on with that, using the portee models as a regular 6 pdr Anti-tank Platoon - the weapon stats for a 6pdr are obviously the same whether or not it is mounted on a truck, and the difference in mobility is one more thing that I believe will be accounted for with an upcoming command card.

~ James


Another example of a non-standard force that will be possible using command cards is this German armoured scout company (Panzerspähkompanie), which includes card options that will allow a new Formation, as well as transport options for the infantry and anti-tank guns.

Armoured Scout Company  
Armoured Scout Company HQ — 1 x SdKfz 221 (MG) 1 points
SdKfz 221 & 222 Light Scout Troop — 1 x SdKfz 221 (MG), 2 x SdKfz 222 (2cm) 2 points
SdKfz 221 & 222 Light Scout Troop — 1 x SdKfz 221 (MG), 2 x SdKfz 222 (2cm) 2 points
SdKfz 221 & 222 Light Scout Troop — 1 x SdKfz 221 (MG), 2 x SdKfz 222 (2cm) 2 points
SdKfz 221 & 222 Light Scout Troop — 1 x SdKfz 221 (MG), 2 x SdKfz 222 (2cm) 2 points
SdKfz 221 & 222 Light Scout Troop — 1 x SdKfz 221 (MG), 2 x SdKfz 222 (2cm) 2 points
SdKfz 231 Heavy Scout Troop — 2 x SdKfz 231 (2cm) 2 points
SdKfz 231 Heavy Scout Troop — 2 x SdKfz 231 (2cm) 2 points
Africa Rifle Platoon — 4 x MG34 teams (with Softskin Transport option*) 10 points
5cm PaK38 Tank-hunter Platoon — 3 x 5cm PaK (with Softskin Transport option*) 15 points
Formation total 25 points
* These points won't be confirmed until the command cards are released.

More Sample Army Lists

When we asked our staff whether they were considering any particular armies, some of the guys in the US office went to town, suggesting a couple of dozen varied 100-point Afrika Korps lists, and debating amongst themselves the relative merits of each.

Here is a small sample of some of their proposed lists:

Panzer IV Company, Gazala Afrika Korps
Panzer IV Tank Company  
Panzer IV Tank Company HQ — 2 x Panzer IV (short 7.5cm) 12 points
Panzer IV Tank Platoon — 4 x Panzer IV (short 7.5cm) 24 points
Panzer IV Tank Platoon — 4 x Panzer IV (short 7.5cm) 24 points
Panzer IV Tank Platoon — 4 x Panzer IV (short 7.5cm) 24 points
Panzer II Light Tank Platoon — 5 x Panzer II (2cm) 10 points
Support Units  
SdKfz 10/4 Light AA Platoon — 3 x SdKfz 10/4 (2cm) 6 points
Total 100 points

Panzer IV Company, Battle of Alam el Halfa Afrika Korps
Panzer IV Tank Company  
Panzer IV Tank Company HQ — 2 x Panzer IV (long 7.5cm) 20 points
Panzer IV Tank Platoon — 3 x Panzer IV (long 7.5cm) 30 points
Panzer IV Tank Platoon — 3 x Panzer IV (long 7.5cm) 30 points
Panzer II Light Tank Platoon — 5 x Panzer II (2cm) 10 points
Support Units  
SdKfz 221 & 222 Light Scout Troop — 2 x SdKfz 222 (2cm), 2 x Sdkfz 221 (MG) 3 points
SdKfz 221 & 222 Light Scout Troop — 2 x SdKfz 222 (2cm), 2 x Sdkfz 221 (MG) 3 points
SdKfz 10/4 Light AA Platoon — 2 x SdKfz 10/4 (2cm) 4 points
Total 100 points

Mixed Panzer Company, Tunisia Afrika Korps
Panzer IV Tank Company  
Panzer IV Tank Company HQ — 2 x Panzer IV (short 7.5cm) 12 points
Panzer IV Tank Platoon — 3 x Panzer IV (short 7.5cm) 18 points
Panzer IV Tank Platoon — 3 x Panzer IV (short 7.5cm) 18 points
Support Units  
Tiger Heavy Tank Platoon — 1 x Tiger (8.8cm) 29 points
SdKfz 221 & 222 Light Scout Troop — 2 x SdKfz 222 (2cm), 2 x Sdkfz 221 (MG) 3 points
10.5cm Artillery Battery — 4 x 10.5cm howitzers 14 points
Panzer II OP Observation Post — 1 x Panzer II OP 2 points
SdKfz 10/4 Light AA Platoon — 2 x SdKfz 10/4 (2cm) 4 points
Total 100 points

Schützenkompanie with artillery and panzer support Afrika Korps
Africa Rifle Company  
Africa Rifle Company HQ — 2 x MP40 SMG 2 points
Africa Rifle Platoon — 4 x MG34, 2.8cm AT rifle, sMG34 HMG, 8cm mortar 10 points
Africa Rifle Platoon — 4 x MG34, 2.8cm AT rifle, sMG34 HMG, 8cm mortar 10 points
Africa Rifle Platoon — 4 x MG34, 2.8cm AT rifle, sMG34 HMG, 8cm mortar 10 points
5cm Tank-hunter Platoon — 3 x PaK38 5cm guns 12 points
Support Units  
Marder (7.63cm) Tank-hunter Platoon — 4 x Marder 16 points
Lorraine Schlepper Artillery Battery — 4 x Lorraine Schlepper 12 points
Panzer II OP Observation Post — 1 x Panzer II OP 2 points
Panzer III Tank Platoon — 4 x Panzer III (short 5cm) 20 points
SdKfz 10/4 Light AA Platoon — 3 x SdKfz 10/4 (2cm) 6 points
Total 100 points

PaK Line Afrika Korps
Africa Rifle Company  
Africa Rifle Company HQ — 2 x MP40 SMG 2 points
Africa Rifle Platoon — 4 x MG34, 2.8cm AT rifle, sMG34 HMG, 8cm mortar 10 points
Africa Rifle Platoon — 4 x MG34, 2.8cm AT rifle, sMG34 HMG, 8cm mortar 10 points
5cm Tank-hunter Platoon — 3 x PaK38 5cm guns 12 points
5cm Tank-hunter Platoon — 3 x PaK38 5cm guns 12 points
5cm Tank-hunter Platoon — 3 x PaK38 5cm guns 12 points
Support Units  
8.8cm Heavy AA Platoon — 4 x 8.8cm AA gun 24 points
10.5cm Artillery Battery — 4 x 10.5cm howitzer 14 points
Panzer II OP Observation Post — 1 x Panzer II OP 2 points
SdKfz 231 Heavy Scout Troop — 2 x SdKfz 231 (2cm) 2 points
Total 100 points

Panzer Kampfgrüppe Afrika Korps
Africa Rifle Company  
Africa Rifle Company HQ — 2 x MP40 SMG 2 points
Africa Rifle Platoon — 3 x MG34, 2.8cm AT rifle 6 points
Africa Rifle Platoon — 3 x MG34, 2.8cm AT rifle 6 points
5cm Tank-hunter Platoon — 2 x PaK38 5cm guns 8 points
Panzer III Tank Company  
Panzer III Tank Company HQ — 1 x Panzer III (short 5cm) 5 points
Panzer III Tank Platoon — 3 x Panzer III (uparmoured) 24 points
Panzer III Tank Platoon — 3 x Panzer III (short 5cm) 15 points
5cm Tank-hunter Platoon — 3 x PaK38 5cm guns  
SdKfz 10/4 Light AA Platoon — 4 x SdKfz 10/4 (2cm)  
Support Units  
Tiger Heavy Tank Platoon — 2 x Tiger (8.8cm)  
Total 66 points

Tunisa Schützenkompanie with Tiger Support Afrika Korps
Africa Rifle Company  
Africa Rifle Company HQ — 2 x MP40 SMG 2 points
Africa Rifle Platoon — 4 x MG34, 2.8cm AT rifle, sMG34 HMG, 8cm mortar 10 points
Africa Rifle Platoon — 4 x MG34, 2.8cm AT rifle, sMG34 HMG, 8cm mortar 10 points
5cm Tank-hunter Platoon — 3 x PaK38 5cm guns 12 points
SdKfz 10/4 Light AA Platoon — 4 x SdKfz 10/4 (2cm) 8 points
Support Units  
Tiger Heavy Tank Platoon — 2 x Tiger (8.8cm) 58 points
Total 100 points

John is very keen to run a US M3 Stuart Light Tank force in Tunisia — the first American tanks to encounter the Germans. He has decided not to wait until the US book is actually finished later this year to start assembling some new plastic M3 Stuarts and painting them in olive drab. For now, he’ll be using a representative list from Desert Rats with plenty of Honeys. It's not officially an American force, but he'll have a big head start when the book comes out.
John's M3 Stuart Force USA
Honey (M3 Stuart) Armoured Squadron  
Honey Armoured Squadron HQ — 3 x Honey 5 points
Honey Armoured Troop — 3 x Honey 5 points
Honey Armoured Troop — 3 x Honey 5 points
Honey Armoured Troop — 3 x Honey 5 points
Honey Armoured Troop — 3 x Honey 5 points
Honey Armoured Squadron  
Honey Armoured Squadron HQ — 3 x Honey 5 points
Honey Armoured Troop — 3 x Honey 5 points
Honey Armoured Troop — 3 x Honey 5 points
Honey Armoured Troop — 3 x Honey 5 points
Honey Armoured Troop — 3 x Honey 5 points
Honey Armoured Squadron  
Honey Armoured Squadron HQ — 3 x Honey 5 points
Honey Armoured Troop — 3 x Honey 5 points
Honey Armoured Troop — 3 x Honey 5 points
Honey Armoured Troop — 3 x Honey 5 points
Honey Armoured Troop — 3 x Honey 5 points
Support Units  
SP Anti-tank Platoon (US Allied Platoon) — 4 x M10 3-inch GMC 24 points*
* These points won't be confirmed until the US book is published.
Total 99 points

As you can see, the three German and four British formations from Afrika Korps and Desert Rats give almost limitless scope to tailor your army to your needs. The above lists are mostly at the 100-point level, you will be free to adjust the size of your game according to your and your opponent's taste — smaller games at 60 or 80 points will give a quicker game, but with less room to eaily fit multiple formations and all the support options you might like.

We look forward to seeing all the thematic and competitive armies that our clever and creative players will devise using the new books.

 


Last Updated On Tuesday, March 28, 2017 by Chris at Battlefront