My goal is to have many American unit options painted, but I want an initial 100 point list to work towards so I can start getting some games in.
I promptly grabbed the American Starter Force and I’ll use all of the models from it in my first list, except the Armoured Rifle Platoon (I’ll save them to do a full Armoured Rifle company eventually).
I also split a ‘Hit The Beach’ set with Wayne which gave me more Shermans and a Parachute Rifle Platoon to make use of later.
Between the starter force and ‘Hit The Beach‘ I’ve ended up with 13 Shermans, which gives me enough for a company with two platoons of five tanks, plus one spare to be a Sherman Observation Post for the Priests.
The last acquisition will be to steal a spare M5 Stuart sprue from Chris’s desk to take the starter force platoon from 3 to 4 tanks.
Since the American Starter force is designed for D-Day: American, I’ll be building the list from that book instead of Fortress Europe.
Veteran M4 Sherman Tank Company
HQ: 2x M4 Sherman (75mm) Tanks – 9 points
5x M4 Sherman (76mm) Tanks – 28 points
Command Card – Lafayette Poole – 4 points
5x M4 Sherman (75mm) Tanks – 21 points
4x M5 Stuart (37mm) Tanks – 10 points
4x M10 (3-inch) Tank Destroyers – 16 points
3x M7 Priest (105mm) Self-Propelled Artillery – 8 points
1x M4 Sherman OP (75mm) Tank – 3 points
Command Card – Lucky – 1 point
100 points
The advantages of using D-Day: American over Fortress Europe are:
– 76mm Shermans
– Veteran option (4+ to hit instead of 3+)
– Command Cards
I’ve included Lafayette Poole as I often like to use Warriors, and he’ll be a good test model to figure out my painting scheme. If I end up learning from it and changing the painting plan for the rest of the force, it’ll be ok that my warrior looks slightly different.
I feel this is a balanced tank list that gives me a solid foundation to build upon, and is also an achievable amount of models to get painted quickly. I plan to tackle painting one platoon at a time, starting with the 75mm Shermans, and the aim is to have the list painted in time for the release of D-Day American (approximately one platoon per week!).
Wish me luck!
~ Victor
