Blitzkrieg - planning my Polish army

As expected (having counted the delivery time of the last to packages sent to me from Maelstrom Games) another one arrived today - I would lie if I said I wasn't a bit nervous to open the box and finding yet another sourcebook I had no use for. Actually my stomach clenched as I opened the protective envelope and only saw a first glimpse of two Stuka bombers flying over grey skies but pulling out the rest of the book it was indeed - thank God - the correct book this time.

What I could say about the rulebook quality was already covered in this entry http://anatolisgameroom.blogspot.com/2011/02/wrong-blitzkrieg-but-good-customer.html

So I flipped through the pages, the Polish army have 4 different types of forces to pick from.

Armored company - Poland had in reality too few tanks to form huge armored units like the Germans did. Beside the fact that the models for 7TP tanks from Battlefront have not yet been released and the Polish army not being an army which fielded large formations of tanks going toe to toe with German panzer divisions really made this a mildly attractive choice.

Cavalry company - I love cavalry, I actually ordered what seems to amount to 1 platoon of cavalry from Old Glory/True North even before I had this rulebook. But that is one limited and hard to play force. It is also a very themed army like the armored company. One that I think will be boring to play with after a few games.

Motorised Cavalry company - Actually the best force in the Polish army. Being Veterans and Fearless. This would probably be the cheaper option, since the platoons are small - and ride trucks. But it just gave me a frail impression, the low number of squads / platoon (having experienced the impact of morale when you drop below 50% in my demo game of FoW).

Infantry Company - This is the one I'm going to play. The only real drawback is the amount of models / platoon and platoons per company. It won't be the cheapest option, or the fastest to paint. It will be a horde army. But, on the bright side, this company have access to all the interesting support options such as all kinds of artillery, cavalry, tankettes and 7TP Light tanks. I won't be able to field tankettes and 7TP tanks at the same time, but I can still play with both units which add to the variation - which in the end is what I'm always looking for when I build a force regardless of game.

The only thing lacking in the Polish army - in all the 4 forces you can pick is the absence of mortar platoons as support. Infantry platoons can upgrade with light mortars, and your HQ can include 2 mortars - but that's it. Seeing as mortars were very effective to pin down infantry formations in my demo game makes me wish there was a mortar platoon option as I feel this kind of indirect fire fits the scale of the table better than howitzers and other such long range artillery.

So, here's my idea for the Batalion Piechoty (Infantry battalion) - based on the army Polish army "Prusy". Prusy included both infantry divisions, a tank battalion, cavalry regiments and should be a perfect option to base a FoW Batalion Piechoty upon.

Battalion HQ
Company command, 2IC and 2 Mortars = 75 points

Infantry Company A
2 Infantry platoons and 1 Machine gun platoon and Light mortars = 485 points

Infantry Company B
2 Infantry platoons and 1 Machine gun platoon and Light Mortars = 485 points

Anti Tank Gun platoon A = 90 points

Anti Tank Gun platoon B = 90 Points

1 Mounted cavalry company ( 1 platoon only ) = 180 points

Tank platoon 5x 7TP tanks = 245 points

Reconnaissance Tank platoon 5x TKS tankettes = 100 points
____________________________________________

1750 points in total.

Depending on how I build the army, mainly tweaking the support options I think this will make up a decent 1500pts force. Since the Prusy army wasn't fully mobilized as it was drawn into battle it would also explain the less than full companies in this force of mine quite nicely.


Not super sold on long range artillery as I said earlier, but should it be needed because of me getting my ass kicked on a regular basis I guess I would squeeze in 1 such unit if I had to later on. Both me and Widgren who got me into FoW pretty much have the same opinion about this so I don't think it will be a problem.



.........
As for more painted models on the blog, expect to see some new stuff over the next few days. Will take probably 2 more weeks before FoW models start to appear on the blog, so until then it will be a variety of projects that I'm already involved with. I've been quite busy the last couple of days hence the lack of painted stuff. But I also needed a new set of brushes - which I bought today while I was in town.

I have a few Uncle Mikes Strange Aeons range models left to paint. An Orc team for Blood Bowl, more odd models from West Wind for my Theater Macabre acting troupe - and a very small project I just put together for the "shits and giggles" as one would say. That last project will be me painting 4 of my classmates and friends as I see them and represented by a variaty of Hasslefree models. Actually looking forward to that last project since the models and how I intend to paint them will be a lot of fun.

Also expect a review and guide to the Malifaux rules in the near future, I ordered the "Rising Powers" expansion book yesterday and just want to check it out to compare the structure and layout along with the new additions in terms of rules and units before I pass judgment on both.