Draco - Task Force Bravo

So, time for the first wave of models to be painted…good thing I’m on my Christmas break now!

The big question is, however, what do I paint? I’ve you can see my initial haul of stuff above, but it isn’t what I would call a full force – just a bunch of stuff. I have been playing around with experimental lists for a bit now, based on internet discussions I’ve seen; and it appears that the first 50 points will either be tanks with infantry, or infantry with tanks.

Note that I don’t consider myself sufficently experienced for a more…exotic list (one of the players in our league is planning on a US Airborne force with 6 attack helicopters at 50pt).

My ultimate experience from my test lists is that Challengers and Warriors aren’t really viable for this point level – minimum Challenger list is 55 pts (5 tanks total), and minimum Warrior list is 21pts, and that’s with a maximum AT of 17, and max armour facing of 3.

So, it would fall to the Chieftains and FV432s – not that that’s a bad thing, they’re decent enough vehicles as it is.

The final list I came up with was this:

British – 49/50 pts

Chieftain Armoured Squadron – 49 pts

Squadron HQ – 1 x Chieftain = 6 pts

3 x Chieftain = 18 pts
3 x Chieftain = 18 pts
FV432 Mechanised Platoon – 2 x Milan = 7 pts

As much as I wanted to give the Chieftains Stillbrew, I also felt that the Milans were probably a better option. The tactic would most likely be a hammer and anvil routine – the infantry dig in on an objective whilst the tanks try to flank the enemy. Unless they’re running T-70s, in which case they can probably play sniper from a decent position.

I really wanted to include some air support at this point, but it would require 5 pts for 2 Harriers, and that’s not exactly enough for a good airstrike (re-rolling hits…not nice).

Still, with my initial haul organised, I placed an order for a couple of boxes of FV432s, and started assembling what I had.

I’m actually surprised at how large the tanks are for this game, and it makes me wonder how I’m supposed to maneuver them over a 4′ x 4′ board. But I do like the detail that’s in the tanks themselves – in fact, it giving me bad feeling about how these will be to paint up.

But that’s the next thing I have to worry about…