I meant to make a post about the 2021 Bugeater tournament I attended last year but things happened and now here we are with me only able to half remember certain things. I did take pictures though and I remember some of the key points and things I learned about playing the French that I think I will discuss here. the Bolt Action tournament at Bugeater was 1250pts, 5 rounds over 2 days and I had 2 wins, 2 losses, and 1 draw, I was right in the middle of placings. Were I to be more of a win at all costs guy I might have done better but I know I made some mistakes in my list too so lets look at the late French from a more competitive standpoint.
Before I put my list down to virtual paper let me mention the restriction on list building. Players could have up to two platoons, generic or theater, from any source. Generic tank platoons were not allowed but theater tank lists were, which was weird, and their was an order dice cap of 15 if I remember right but free units didn't count so you could have 15+ dice lists for certain armies.
My list was consisted of 2 platoons that came in at 1250 with 13 order dice.
Platoon 1
Regular 1st Lt with extra man - 85pts
FFI squad, 10 men with rifles - 70pts
FFI squad, 10 men with rifles - 70pts
FFI squad, 3 men with SMGs, 7 men with rifles - 9pts
Regular M4 75mm - 195pts
Platoon 2
Inexperienced 2nd Lt - 35pts
D'Eclaireurs Skieurs, 4 men with SMGs, 1 man with BAR, 5 men with rifles, stubborn - 167pts
D'Eclaireurs Skieurs, 3 men with SMGs, 5 men with rifles, stubborn - 129pts
Regular light mortar, stubborn - 43pts
Regular sniper team, stubborn - 54pts
Regular M4 75mm - 195pts
Regular M5 half track - 99pts
Regular M5 half track - 99pts
total 1250
This was my first tournament after all the COVID lockdowns so I was trying to keep my strategy simple while I eased back into bolt action. The idea was simple, split my force in two elements hammer and anvil. The hammer element consisted of both tanks and both half tracks in which I mounted the D'Eclaireurs Skieurs and I could either us all 6 dice together for a concentrated thrust or break it into 2 smaller elements of 1 tank and 1 mounted squad each. The anvil element was my 3 FFI squads supported by the 1st Lt, which I've found to be a decent enough leadership bump to keep the inexperienced troops moving, and the light mortar and sniper. The random extra Lt was meant to maybe ride in a half track from time to time but this didn't wind up working out.
I'll start with the problem with this list that nagged me the most, and that is the 2nd Lt. At inexperienced he was useless for shooting and throwing out pins and died rather easily. Many will know of this is the Lt tax but in a 13 dice list at this points level I can't really afford one of my dice to be so useless. Most of the games half your order dice rounding down had to be left in reserve and since 2 tanks, 2 transports, and 2 squads was half my dice rounding down I could never put him in a halftrack and there was only one instance in all 5 games where I had a unit board a transport which did wind up working out well for me.
The major issue with this list was my anvil element, the 3 FFI squads can be a solid foundation for a platoon dedicated to holding ground but they have to be supported properly and a light mortar and sniper team don't do that well enough and without the tanks from the hammer element they suffer a crippling lack of AT so they should be stripped out and replaced. My game 4 opponent ran Greeks with two 7+ armored vehicles and cavalry, I kept my hammer elements together and overran his back field but my FFI squads couldn't hold against cavalry and armor. That game was either my draw or one of my losses but the draw and the losses really demonstrated that if your inex troops aren't properly supported it's tough.
I took half tracks because my force was based on a photo I saw of French 5th armored units in Operation Dragoon and, even though they weren't in the photo, the supporting infantry would have been mounted in half tracks. I took a 10 man unit and an 8 man unit and honestly the 10 man unit was probably overkill because the 8 man unit did well and survived most games so I could have gotten away with 2 squads of 8 and as another points saving measure swapped the half tracks with M3 scout cars. Lets start reworking my list with some of these changes and start seeing where this goes.
Platoon 1
Regular 1st Lt with extra man - 85pts
FFI squad, 10 men with rifles - 70pts
FFI squad, 10 men with rifles - 70pts
FFI squad, 3 men with SMGs, 7 men with rifles - 9pts
Regular M4 75mm - 195pts
Platoon 2
D'Eclaireurs Skieurs, 4 men with SMGs, 4 men with rifles, stubborn - 132pts
D'Eclaireurs Skieurs, 4 men with SMGs, 4 men with rifles, stubborn - 132pts
Regular M4 75mm - 195pts
Regular M3 scout car - 86pts
Regular M3 scout car - 86pts
total 1060
I've now stripped out what didn't work, and I know I'll need to put an Lt in there but bear with me a moment, and my list is now 1060 points. Given the size and roll of the ski troops this might be a time to take brigade de choc instead. I like the ski troops for their mountain troops rule but it was only situationally useful in my games because the transports got them close enough anyway. The only downside to my proposed changes currently is that M3 scout cars are wheeled and so will have to navigate around rough ground. I'm thinking of going on ahead and seeing what 2 squads of brigade de choc look like in this list with 5 SMGs each and the Lt who will go back in the list will be a 1st Lt with an extra guy for some redundancy.
Platoon 1
Regular 1st Lt with extra man - 85pts
FFI squad, 10 men with rifles - 70pts
FFI squad, 10 men with rifles - 70pts
FFI squad, 3 men with SMGs, 7 men with rifles - 9pts
Regular M4 75mm - 195pts
Platoon 2
Regular 1st Lt with extra man - 85pts
Brigade de Choc, 5 men with SMGs, 3 men with rifles, stubborn - 127pts
Brigade de Choc, 5 men with SMGs, 3 men with rifles, stubborn - 127pts
Regular M4 75mm - 195pts
Regular M3 scout car - 86pts
Regular M3 scout car - 86pts
total 1135
For a smidge less points we get a smidge more firepower on those vet squads and with the redundant Lt built in we are sitting at 1135 so we can spend 115 points on some stuff to support those FFI troops a little better. The first thing they need is integral AT in the form of a bazooka or medium AT gun, a stubborn regular bazooka is 62 points and it gives you a move and shoot option with 24" range while the medium AT gun is 75 points and is static but gives you a 60" threat range but since we are taking the mortar out of the platoon we need some HE and I think a light howitzer would do the job nicely.
Platoon 1
Regular 1st Lt with extra man - 85pts
FFI squad, 10 men with rifles - 70pts
FFI squad, 10 men with rifles - 70pts
FFI squad, 3 men with SMGs, 7 men with rifles - 9pts
Regular bazooka, stubborn - 62pts
Regular light howitzer - 45pts
Regular M4 75mm - 195pts
Platoon 2
Regular 1st Lt with extra man - 85pts
Brigade de Choc, 5 men with SMGs, 3 men with rifles, stubborn - 127pts
Brigade de Choc, 5 men with SMGs, 3 men with rifles, stubborn - 127pts
Regular M4 75mm - 195pts
Regular M3 scout car - 86pts
Regular M3 scout car - 86pts
total 1247
For the same dice count as the list I brought to brought to Bugeater we now have a similar list with some better options and you could even go further swapping out the M4s for M5 Stuarts or you could do something else entirely relying more on the mountain troops instead of mechanized infantry but I wanted a 5th armored themed list for this event. Now I'll go over the games as best I can remember.
Game 1 against Japanese
This games was a huge loss and this right here is why. Like I pointed out, the FFI did not have strong enough support against a Japanese horde and even when the cavalry arrived they too were overrun.
Game 2 Also against Japanese
Can't remember if this was a loss or draw but it was fun, my forces pushed hard and actually overran the Japanese a few times. This was the game where I remounted a unit and moved them into a better position later.
Game 3 against Americans
I won this one, I know that. I pushed everything forward and outflanked some of my vets to roll up one flank. My opponents one tank succumbed to my tank after a few rounds so I was able to start pounding enemy marines with 75mm HE shells.
Game 4 against Greeks
Can't remember if this was a loss or the draw because his offensive elements overran my deployment while mine overran his, this game was another prime example of the FFI needing heavy weapons support.
Game 5 against Americans
This one was a win, it was point defense and I deployed the anvil elements in one corner while all of hammer was put on outflank. my opponent deployed the bulk of his forces to oppose where he thought my troops were going but I had a half of hammer hit both flanks and brought anvil up to add weight.
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