In addition to posting up progress on my various units for my French I think I'll also do a few posts dedicated to breaking down the army list itself and some cool things you can do with it. I hear a lot of people say that since the French were rearmed and reequipped with American material that it's better to just play Americans with a bunch of French markings stuck on them and I hate that for a number of reason. The first is that the Americans get the special rule fire and maneuver army wide and the logic for this is because it was their doctrine and they backed it up by arming the entire military with the semi-automatic M1 rifles and while all armies practice fire and maneuver in the field its the ability to really throw lead out that gives the Americans the edge and most of the French forces were given substitute standard bolt action M1903 and M1917 rifles so we're already a step away from standard American troops in that regard. I also dislike the attitude of just play Americans instead because if you do that at a tournament nobody recognizes that you are a French player because everything is submitted as an American army and if I'm going to put the time in to make a force recognizably French I want that reflected elsewhere. Lastly the Late War French list could use some fleshing out to give it some more flavor but it is a deceptively good list so lets begin this breakdown.
We'll start with the army special rules, I'm not going to type them out verbatim just give the gist of what they do and how good or bad I consider them to be.
Sacred Ground: You can give any regular or veteran infantry stubborn for +1 point per man. This is amazing, stubborn is a very good rule, it's cheap and you always have it regardless of the number of men in the squad unlike fanatic which goes away if there is only 1 man left and since this is optional you don't have to put it on everyone but it allows you to make some hearty units that can hold objectives longer then other units.
La Resistance: Buy 2 FFI squads get a 3rd free. Awesome if you want to go for an inexperienced horde or fill out some points since the 2 squads you buy can be the base 5 men and the free squad is always 10 men you just buy their upgrades, which is fine.
Local Area Knowledge: French vehicles do not suffer a -1 for coming in from reserve. Situationally good since you have to bring vehicles and they have to be in reserve but it is a great way to save light armor from prep bombardment or keep a transport full of men in reserve to plug a hole in your lines.
That's the army rules, I think they're pretty good if you plan accordingly but the nuance required means not everyone can pick these forces up and do amazing but these rules combined with some of the special rules some of the units have can make potent combos. That being said I'm going to move on to the units, some of these I may just gloss over since they're more or less the same as other nations just with the bonus of being able to be stubborn.
HQ
Officers from 2nd LT up to major, we all know what they do.
Medics are medics.
Forward Artillery and Air observers nothing special here.
Intelligence officer: Here we have some interesting potential. He is armed as modeled and before the first dice is pulled in a round he can make a dice roll that, based on his veterancy, if passed lets you pick the first order dice that round. It's a nifty rule that's great for those games when you have a turn and you need your dice to come out first because now you have a chance to make it happen. Interestingly the rules don't say he replaces one of the men attached to the officer team so you could add the intel officer and 2 men with the officer and give them all SMGs giving yourself a small SMG squad that could fit comfortably in an M3 scout car with a bazooka team or flamethrower team.
Chaplain: An interesting unit that was added to the game with this book, he can allow a unit to shed 1 pin with his order dice if he remains within 6" but he can't fight unless it is in hand to hand like a medic. Also like a medic he's a cheap dice so there is use for him.
Infantry squads and teams
Regular infantry squad: Min 6 max 12 they can have 1 SMG and 1 LMG or BAR. Nothing too exciting, they can take AT grenades and stubborn which makes them a pretty solid squad.
Inexperienced Infantry: Same loadout as above except they can't be stubborn, no reason to take them over FFI squads unless you're dead set on style points.
FFI squad: Min 5 max 10 they can have 3 SMGs and an LMG and come with green. This squad is good with the national trait for the reasons I listed there.
Moroccan Goumiers: Min 6 max 12 they come with tough fighters and can take 3 SMGs and 1 LMG as well as the special rules mountain troops and stubborn as well as AT grenades. I need to stop here to talk about mountain troops, this rule is a hidden gem that a couple units in this list can take and it allows the unit to ignore rough ground for movement purposes. This means that a squad like this can, for a hefty points cost, be 12 men strong with tough fighters, charge at you out of cover and unless you are behind a wall or other defended obstacle swing after this squad has made it's attacks because they ignored the terrain that would allow you to fight simultaneously, and then be damn hard to shift because they are stubborn.
Tirailluers squad: Min 6 max 12 this is the only squad where you can take it at any experience level but trust me you won't take them lower then regular. They can have 1 SMG and 1 LMG and the regular/veteran troops can be tough fighter, mountain troops, and stubborn while being armed with AT grenades if you want. This squad can do the same charge through terrain tough fighting shenanigans the goumiers can and can do it cheaper if you take them at regular and that is absolutely wild that there are not one but two units in this book that can do that.
Brigade de Choc squad: Min 5 max 12 this is you catch all veteran unit with stubborn already built in. They can have 5 SMGs and 1 BAR/LMG as well as AT grenades. It's a decent squad that's good for getting veterans with a decent amount of firepower but it's not my favorite and is the part that needs the most work because so many units got lumped under one umbrella that were very unique in there own way but I'm not here to dissect that, I'm just going over the army.
D'Eclaireurs Skieurs squad: Min 6 max 12 this is my preferred veteran squad because they have mountain troops built in and skiis which is actually pretty meh but they have several benefits. They can have 4 SMGs, only 1 less then brigade de choc, 1 BAR/LMG and can take stubborn which allows you to have a veteran squad that can throw out a good amount of dice that moves through terrain with ease.
SAS squad: Min 4 max 8 this is your source of fanatic veterans with tough fighter built in because every man comes with a pistol in addition to his rifle. Any man can have an SMG and 2 men can take LMGs that can be upgraded to shoot 1 extra shot each. They also ignore the penalty for out flanking. It's a good squad that is limited by its size and hefty points cost so I tend to steer clear of them although the one tournament I used them in I gave them stubborn for a laugh and wound up keeping 2 units on objectives because of it so do with that as you will.
Prevot Militaire sqaud: 4 inexperienced men with pistols, any of them can be upgraded to a rifle or SMG. They let friendly units with in 6" reroll a rally order if it is failed which is almost useless in 2nd ed bolt action since rally orders are done on full morale value but this book was intended to be a 1st ed campaign book so I'll cut the author slack here.
French Intelligence squad: Min 4 max 7, the officer gets whatever you build him with and the rest of the squad has rifles. I mentioned above that the Tirailluers were the only squad that can be taken at any experience level but I was wrong, this squad can too, and much like the Tirailluers you probably won't take these guys as anything less then regulars but because they are lead by an intelligence officer you would want to find the points to go veteran if possible. Two guys can take SMGs so the squad can have a total of 3 if you build the intelligence officer that way. The squad can outflank easier if you so choose because they have behind enemy lines. It specifies that to take stubborn the unit has to be veteran and your force must include at least one brigade de choc section but as far as I know the army special trumps this rule and you can give them stubborn at regular or veteran regardless and there hasn't been an FAQ to contradict that yet.
MMG team: the only nifty thing is that a French platoon can have 2 of them.
Bazooka team: Most of us know what they can do, these can just also be stubborn.
Sniper team: the can be any level of veterancy, both guys have rifles, if you don't take inex then they can be stubborn. The sniper team does not have the sniper special rule so technically they don't always do exceptional damage but I have yet to find an opponent who hasn't looked at that and gone "no they just forgot, play it like a regular sniper" instead of being a dick and making me play with the snipers as they are written.
Flamethrower team: Everyone knows what these are capable of
Mortar team: France is limited to light and medium and since they use the Armies of the US entry the light mortar team is 3 men so no small team bonus there.
Artillery
The French can have light, medium or heavy howitzers, the US 37mm BOFORS, and the 57mm medium AT gun. Pretty solid selection.
Tanks, Tank Destroyers, Self Propelled Artillery, and Armored Cars
I will preface this by noting that with an FAQ addition all French lend lease tanks that have gyro-stabilizers listed now benefit from them if they are veteran.
M3 Stuart: light tank with gyro-stabilized light AT, hull MMG and coax MMG that can take recce
M5 Stuart: light tank with gyro-stabilized light AT, hull MMG and coax MMG that can take an additional pintle MMG and recce and also has 9+ front armor. This is my go to tank choice even before the FAQ gave it gyro-stabilizer or the option to buy recce.
M4 Sherman 75mm: Medium tank with gyro-stabilized medium AT, hull mounted MMG, coax MMG and the rule easily catches fire which can be taken off as well as having an additional pintle MMG added. My second choice for tank, it's a solid medium tank with the dual purpose 75mm main armament.
M4 Sherman 76mm: Medium tank with gyro-stabilized heavy AT, hull mounted MMG, coax MMG and can take an additional pintle MMG.
M10 Tank destroyer: Light tank with a heavy AT gun, give an HMG for 25 points. This one has been becoming a favorite lately as I painted on up for my French since it's a cheap way to get a heavy AT gun on the table, sucks that its open topped though.
M8 Scott: Light tank with a light howitzer and HMG in an open topped turret. I've been meaning to try this one out because it's a cheap and mobile light howitzer.
M7 Priest: Light tank with a front arc medium howitzer and pintle mounted HMG on an open topped hull. I have no experience with these, but I've seen them used to good effect.
M8 Greyhound: 7+ armor, light AT and coax MMG on an open topped turret. It gets recce and can buy an HMG. Ask 10 people what they think of it and 5 will say it's great while the other 5 say it blows. It has an AT gun tho so if you're lacking in AT then this is a possible solution.
French SAS jeep: a jeep that can have a bunch of MGs, it's the shootier of the armored car choices but it is a jeep. I personally have a problem with the inclusion of SAS units in this list because they didn't rejoin the French army til after the war's end.
Transports and Tows
Jeep: beep beep I'm a jeep, give me an MMG or HMG and move me to the armored car slot
Dodge 3/4 ton truck: A good soft skinned transport for 8 men, it can have a pintle mounted MMG or HMG.
1.5 ton truck: A soft skinned truck for carrying slightly more dudes, I don't ever really use them because it feels like I waste too much transport space with my squad sizes.
2.5 ton truck: A soft skinned truck for carrying a bunch of dudes, I have the same issue with this as I do with the 1.5 ton truck.
M3 scout car: I love this thing, it looks cool, its armored, and it comes with an HMG and can add 2 MMGs. It can either carry 8 guys or be a recce vehicle and get moved to the armored car slot and it is not a bad option for that slot.
M4/M5 artillery tractor: It's supposed to tow guns but we all buy it to use as a cheap MG platform.
M5 halftrack: 7+ with an HMG and carries 12 guys and I love 'em. The US halftrack looks so damn cool and I've been developing a lot of tactics around 2 of them full of mountain troops.
Here is the units available from the Battle of the Bulge campaign book. Not as many units as other nations but as I said there are several hidden gems and interesting unit options tucked away in this list. Some of my future posts I'll cover tactics and how I take these units in games of Bolt Action.
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