Star Wars Legion Tournament at Huzzah Hobbies May 11, 2019

This Saturday, I played in a 10 person Star Wars Legion Tournament held at Huzzah Hobbies in VA.  I didn't have high expectations of winning as the three tournament games would be 3rd through 5th games played but the best way to learn to swim is to, well you know.

I forgot to take pictures, which is a good sign I was having fun and only have two on my phone.  The first pictures is from my second game where two very similar Imperial forces take on one another.  It was my funnest game and went down to the wire but the win went to John B.

A shot of Steve and Eric's last game.  I played on the Endor table you can get a peak of in the lower right and got crushed by Gordon's rebel force.  Crushed may be charitable to me.

Overall, I went 1-2 and placed 8th out of 10 - nothing to write home about (or blog) but I did achieve my goal of not coming in last.  The experience did cement for me two viewpoints:

(1) Legion is a great game and

(2) the local community is made up of a lot of Bolt Action players that I know and they are a great group of people.

While it uses miniatures and table top terrain, the game plays more like a board game than a historical tabletop game.  The key to being good is understanding how to kit out your troops and build command decks that allow you to maximize your forces potential so a good deal of planning goes into list tweaking.  The game does a much better job of capturing a Star Wars "feel" for me than FFG's 2 other tabletop miniature games in the genre (X-Wing, Imperial Assault and Armada).

I suspect you'll see a lot more Legion stuff on the blog.

The specific list I ran

General Veers 
Improvised Orders, Esteemed Leader, 

Boba Fett 
Hunter, Emergency Stims, 

Stormtroopers 
+DLT-19 Stormtrooper, 

Stormtroopers 
+DLT-19 Stormtrooper, 

Stormtroopers 
+DLT-19 Stormtrooper, 

Scout Troopers (Strike Team) 
+DLT-19x Sniper, 

Snowtroopers 
+Flametrooper, 

AT-ST 195
Imperial Hammers Elite Armor Pilot, 88 Twin Light Blaster Cannon, AT-ST Mortar Launcher, 

Commands:Ambush, Maximum Firepower, Evasive Maneuvers, Pinned Down, Assault, Coordinated Fire, Standing Orders, 



I used a great free web app called TableTop Admiral to generate the list - check it out it's hugely helpful.

The AT/ST was a beast - it evaporated 3-4 units every game (including the AT/ST opponent in game 2) but it's cost so many points that the rest of my force was just too weak and I didn't have enough activations.  The game is similar to Bolt Action in there is a tradeoff between unit firepower and force flexibility via activations.  Too much firepower in a single unit really makes the force a glass cannon.  Next time I play, I'll probably swap out the AT/ST for 2-3 different units.

Thanks to Steve and Eric for getting to get off my butt and attend the event.  It was a lot of fun.

FOW Cold Wars Doubles Tournament 2016

 Last Friday (March 18th), I drove up to Lancaster to play in the Flames of War Doubles tournament.  My partner was Luke from WWPD.

We played a US Infantry / Mech Infantry list that had two artillery batteries ,2 leg and 2 armored infantry platoon.  For AT assets we had a platoon of 3 57mm AT gun and 4 Lee's - Lees are a hoot to play.
We were on the defensive for all three games and to cut to the chase we won the tournament! going 6-1, 4-3 and 5-2

 Our first opponent was a Tiger  heavy list with mech infantry and a pair of Stug 105's - Once we had dispatched the Stugs and a tiger the game was over.  Great game and opponetns

 The second game was against Jesse and his Tiger, Italian light tank list - this was one of the funnest games of FOW I've played in a long time.

 Check out the Tiger ace skills!

 and all the light tanks

 Our strategy was to ignore the tigers and force a company morale test by taking out the light tanks

 Luke's son Alex was with us and brought his awesome dice rolling skills to bear.

 The game game down to a desperate assault by the remaining light tanks and a tiger....

 Which the armored infantry was able to beat back - gotta love all those bazookas!

The last game was against a father son team that had 10 Lees in the force.  We also managed a win here

While at Cold wars I did pop into the vendor hall and picked up some Battlefront Japanese infantry and tanks and finally succumbed to the Frostgrave virus and picked up a bunch of stuff for that game

All-in-all not a bad day and a nice break before the final crazy painting days of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge

Tournament Transport Boxes, Part IV: The Interior

 A little bit of work on the 18x18 square box.  I added a compartment for to hold dice, measuring tapes and templates.   It measure 8x7inches so is more than big enough to hold a 6 inch square FOW artillery template.

 I also made some wooden troop carrier trays that are all two inches high which will accommodate most 28's and 15's with the exception of some long lances on some 15MM By Fire and Sword mini's but I'll figure out how to accommodate those later.

Some of you might be wondering why make custom wooden trays when you've got some plastic ones already.  It's because I was off an 1/8 of inch and the interior was too narrow to use then without forcing the fit.  Argh!!!!!!

What was that saying "measure once, go to Home Depot twice and curse three times"?

A shot of the trays all nestled in the box.  Theres still one inch of clearance on the top and the gap will fit a FOW hardcover book.

Still waiting on the handles to arrive and then it's time to finish this project.  Which is good because the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is less than a month away!!!!

Torunament Transport Box Part 1: The Jig

 Not the dancing kind of of Jig but the workshop kind.  Yes I know a lot of you are very disappointed not to see video of me tripping the light fantastic but such images have been known to crash the internet.

As I mentioned in the last post I want to use finger joints on the tournament box edges.  It can be tedious chisel out individual notches so a quick way is to build a simple jig for 1/2 wide finger joints.  I started with some scrap plywood  and 1/2 square wood.

 The first step is to make the right side rail guid which will hold the jig along the right side of the router table.

A little glue, some clamps and it's attached.

 The other parts - all cut and ready to go.  The two narrow strips of plywood are 3/8 square and will be glued together to be used as the left side channel guide.  With the two guides in place the jig can only move forwards and backward - no side to side movement.

 The wood is cut for the two boxes I am making.  I decided to make one box 24 x18 inches and the other 18 x 18 inches just to see which size works best.

 The front and back plates are attached.  The wood in-between is just used for spacing.

The initial grove is cut using a 1/2 inch straight bit in the router.  I'm using some scrap wood and a metal spacer to help me place to positioning guide tooth.  It's a simple design - place the stock you want to cut next to the tooth and slide the jig into the router.  The next step is to lift out the piece and set the newly cut notch on the tooth and then cut the next one and so on.

 The top corners of the tooth are chamfered to make positioning easier.

 The first notch is cut!

My first test box.  It took 10 minutes to cut all the notches and they fit well.

I'll probably end us using the box as a nice shelf for mini's once I clean up the tear outs and finish the wood.

 I need a new bit as you can see some tear out

 A little bit of labeling so I know the size notch that the jig will help cut

It took me about 2 hours to make the jig (there were some mistakes that I've omitted).  It will be a very handy item to have in the workshop.

Who's this?  Some friends in Annapolis just got a new puppy, Otis.  I'm not sure what type of dog he is but he's not a poodle (which is good).

I'm trying to convince the wife to get a dog and may borrow this little guy for the marketing efforts.

Tournament Transport Box

I really like playing in tournaments - it's a great way to really learn a game system and have a lot of fun doing so.  One thing I don't like is my current mode of troop transport which consist of lots of 14 5/8" x 10 1/4" x 3 3/8" plastic boxes from "Really Useful Boxes".  These are great from a storage and use around the house viewpoint but not all that handy in moving about to a tournament.  I also don't have a display tray which some people use to move the troops from table to table during a tournament.

So since I have this new cabinet making workbench and some shiny new power tools (the old ones just didn't fit with the new workbench - at least that's what I told the Mrs), I think this is a good project for this weekend.  I have devised a radical new way of thinking for a project like this - rather than start cutting wood, I should come up with a detailed plan and some capabilities for the box.  By the way, this is were you come in via the comment box.  I'm not all that bright and will rely on "crowd-sourcing" for concept ideas.  Oh yeah, it feels good to be trendy!

Size:
I'm thinking a box that has the following dimensions 18 inches x 18 inches x 5.5 inches high will provide more than enough room to hold troops and rule books.  An 18" square may be a bit awkward to carry around so we'll need a good set of handles.  If I use standard 1x6 stock lumber for the frame, which is 5.5 inches high and .75 inches wide, the case will have an interior open space dimension of 16.5 inches square which is enough to fit up to 6 battle foam and/or Dave's Baggage train trays.

Removable Top:
I'd like the top to be removable to be used as a transport tray from table to table.  I'm also planning on making multiple tops so that they can be scenic in different ways.  It would just be gauche to show up to a desert themed tournament with a Northern European themed scenic top.  If we're going to do this, lets do it right.

I still need to figure out a way to securely fix the top to the box for transport but I don't want the latch to be visible.  I'm thinking velcro may be may best friend here

Joinery:
I'd like the box to really look nice and so want to do some fancy joinery work.  I'm leaning towards finger Joints (pictured below) as they look nice and are relatively easy to do on a router table.  Finger joints really "pop" if your using two types of wood

Another option is a keyed miter joint which despite having less "cutting" is harder to do and requires me to build a fairly complicated jig

Since this is a proof of concept, lets stick with the basics and go with a finger joint.  If I like how it works, we can always try something fancier.

Wood:
For the first attempt it's always best to go with stock pine.  I'll use furniture grade 1x6's for the sides and top grade 1/4 inch plywood for the top and bottoms.  I've got some 1/2 inch stock to use as a frame for the top but may bump that up to one inch to prevent warping.  If I don't botch this up, I can always use better quality wood like walnut or oak for future "Show-Off Boxes"

Features:
OK here's were I need your help - what else shelf the box do

- I'd like if to have an ability to hold open a rule book (like a cook book stand)
- have a compartment for small items (dice, markers etc)
- be stackable (I may store these in a slotted tray so that might not be a goal)
- what would you add?

WWPD Wounded Warriors Tournament Report or Confessions of a US Arty Party Partier

 I had a great time at the WWPD Flames of War tournament yesterday at the Games Vault in Fredericksburg, VA.  It was a Battle of the Bulge themed event and all of the proceeds went to support Wounded Warriors.  It was a bit of a "silly" tournament as a player could buy up to 25 "re-rolls" for $1.00 each.  I bought 25 but only used 10 as I forgot about them most of the time!

You can still donate by going to the link.

My first game was against Ken who was running a german infantry list that was backed by 2 king tigers and panther and three Panzer IV's.  The focal point of the game was the objective in the center of the picture and we fought back and forth for it.  I had Ken one platoon away from a break but my remaining infantry platoon failed its tank terror test to assault his remaining King Tiger that was sitting on the objective.  A well deserved 4-3 win to Ken.

 My second game was against KJ who also ran a german infantry list that was backed by 2 Jagd Panthers and 3 Stugs.  We rolled the fair fight scenario.  This was the only game I took the offensive by sending one infantry platoon, the recon and M-10's down the right side of the table.  KJ sent an infantry platoon to try and attack my artillery park down my left flank and it was touch and go and all game but I manage to seize the right side objective and win the game 4-3.  This was one of the best games I played of FOW in a tournament.  We also only used about 3-4 re-rolls each as KJ did;'t have a lot remaining and I only wanted to match his number to keep it "fair"

 My last game was against my friend Jon Baber, who I've played many board games with but never met across a FOW tabletop.  Jon ran a Confident/Trained German Panzer list with Jagd Panzer iv/70's and Hetzers.  He was a most gracious opponent and kept his disdain for my legal but rather gamey "arty party" list in check.  We rolled "Counter-Attack"and the game really focused on my right edge of the table and the objective in the center right of the picture.  Jon sent his Panzers on a sweep around to my ride side and then down to the objective,  The heroes of the game were my Priest artillery unit which entered as reinforcements in the upper right of the pictures and managed to survive the game and tie down Jon's Panzers until my artillery could chew through them.  I won the game 6-1 but more due to the dice gods frowning on Jon's dice rolling and the overly positive US artillery rules than anything else.

I went 2-1 for the day and placed solidly in the middle of the pack so I was very pleased with the results.  This is my fourth FOW tournament and the second one with a winning record.  Through four tournaments I'm 6-5-1 and having a lot of fun.

I do think this is the last event I'll run a US list that has more than one artillery unit.  While they're legal and completely within the rules, I don't think they're very fun to play against and they provide an incentive to the player (me!) to just turtle up and let your opponent come to you while the artillery pounds him to dust.  It's an effective strategy, but just doesn't seem fun for my opponents.  I can prevent that situation in the future.

Here's the list I ran yesterday:

Airborne Engineer Combat Company(Glider)

Infantry Company

Platoon	Qty	Unit	Points
Headquarters
Airborne Engineer Combat Company HQ (Glider) - p.21	2	Cmd Carbine team	15
Combat Platoons
Airborne Engineer Combat Platoon (Glider) - p.21	1 1 2 4 2	Cmd Pioneer Rifle team Pioneer Supply Jeep and Trailer Pioneer Bazooka team Pioneer Rifle team Pioneer M1919 LMG team	235
Airborne Engineer Combat Platoon (Glider) - p.21	1 1 2 4 2	Cmd Pioneer Rifle team Pioneer Supply Jeep and Trailer Pioneer Bazooka team Pioneer Rifle team Pioneer M1919 LMG team	235
Support Platoons
Tank Destroyer Platoon (Veteran) - p.27	1 2 4	.50 cal Recon Jeep M20 Scout Car M18 Hellcat GMC	410
Parachute Machine-gun Platoon - p.18 Fearless Veteran	1 4	Cmd Carbine team M1919 LMG team	100
Cavalry Recon Platoon (Trained) - p.28 Confident Trained	1 1 1	M8 armored car Mortar Jeep Recon Jeep	70
Armored Field Artillery Battery (Veteran) - p.30	1 1 1 1 1 3	Cmd Carbine team M2 half-track with AA MG Staff team M2 half-track with .50 cal AA MG M4 Sherman OP M7 Priest HMC	230
Glider Field Artillery Battery - p.25	1 1 1 3	Cmd Carbine team Staff team Observer Carbine team M3 105mm light howitzer	115
Field Artillery Battery (155mm) (Trained) - p.30 Confident Trained	1 1 2 1 1 4 4	Cmd Carbine team Staff team 3/4-ton truck Observer Carbine team Jeep M1 155mm howitzer M5 high-speed tractor with .50 cal AA MG	235
Company Points:			1645

www.EasyArmy.com

Source document: Nuts Book 

WWPD Wounded Warriors Tournamnet

There hasn't been a lot of hobby activity in the weeks after the end of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge.  I think we all go through a bit of "decompression" after that wonderful but grueling "marathon of mini's".  I've been crazy busy at work including trips to the UK, San Francisco and even New York to speak at a conference.

There's been a good bit of Planning going on for the upcoming British Intervention into the ACW games that will be put on at Historicon and I might even start building some terrain this week.

The only Hobby activity to report is that I'm heading out to a Flames of War tournament today at the Game Vault in Fredericksburg, VA.  It's part of the WWPD Wounded Warriors fund raising effort so it's for a good cause.

By the way, if you want to donate, here's a link to do so WWPD Donation

I'll be running a US Para Combat Engineer unit out of the Nuts book - it's a real defensive list but does fit within the overall theme.  Points for the event are 1,650

1 HQ
2 x Combat Engineer Platoons w 2 bazookas and a engineer supply jeep each
1 Para machine gun platoon
1 trained recon
1 M18 TD platoon (my only armor)
1 unit of 3 Priests
1 unit of 105 para arty
1 unit of 155mm trained arty

There will be snow effects and no aircraft - should be fun.

8 platoons and well structured to play defense.  I'm toast if I get any offensive missions, but it still I'm rolling dice and pushing toy soldiers so what's not to love 'eh?.

Cold Wars 2015: My Report

 Another Cold Wars has come and gone.  Overall, I had a great time but something shocking, troubling and just plain odd happened - I didn't buy anything from either the vendor hall or the flea market! (Insert sinister music hear).

Despite not adding to my lead pile, which has been severely depleted during the Painting Challenge, I did have a fantastic two days.  I participated in two Bolt Action tournaments (6 games total) one on Friday and the other on Saturday.  The evenings consisted of board games with the WWPD crew - essentially it was an all around geek fest.

I only took one picture (the first one in this post) and it was midway through the game I played with Judson on Friday - which we ended up as a tie.

I do want to thank the two people who organized the BA tournaments - Mike P on Friday and John B on Saturday.  Both events were a lot of fun and it's a lot of work hauling around 10-12 tables worth of terrain to put one of these things on.

For the BA tournaments I ran a DAK armored list which was centered around 3 Panzer III's.  You've seen a lot of post of the previous months of my painting up this force and the tournaments were the first time I got them on the table!

Fridays tournament was 1,250 points and I had a good showing for a first time with the force going 1-1-1 (Win, Loss, Tie).  The first game against Mike P  and his Brits was a narrow loss - Mike P is a great opponent and is a real challenge to beat - currently I have 2 losses and 1 tie to Mike in tournaments.  The next game against Eric.  Eric was a new player and was running a borrowed tank list ( 3 Shermans).  I managed to beat him to notch my only win for the day.  The last game was a classic against Judson and his Panzer I list.  Playing Judson is a real treat as he's a crafty player but one who puts fun before winning.  We played a tense game that ended in a tie.

Saturday's tournament was 1,000 points and I just paired my list back by removing the Brandenburger squad and the Sig assault gun (neither of which did anything on Friday).  This tournament went well as I went 2-0-1 and won the event on "Hanoswag" points.  This was my second tournament win and was very hard fought.  My first game was a very nice gentlemen (whose name I forget - I'm horrible with names)  against a Russian list with those giant T-35 tanks.  The scenario was Point Defense and I was lucky to win the initial die roll and choose to attack.  I managed to get a win by eliminating the few Russian infantry squads in his list so my opponent couldn't re-take the objective once I seized it.

Game two was against "Mustache Matt", who rivals Mike P for nicest "guy in gaming" and another Russian list - this time more infantry focused and with air support.  We used the new air plane rules for BA (these replace the air observer with a model that can come on the board up to 3 times).  I found the new air rules much better than the observer and a lot more "cinematic"/fun.  I managed to eek out a win.

The final game was against Gordon and his Finns - Finns are tough, real tough.  Gordon was a pleasure to play against and we had a great game.  To be honest he should have won and would have if the game ended after turn six.  Yet again, I got lucky and rolled a six to force a seventh turn and was able to take back two objectives to force a tie.  This game went down to the last die roll!

Gordon was such a nice guy that I decided to give him the prizes for first place as he really deserved them.

I also won the best Axis General award for the two day performance so, all in all, it was a good outing.

The other big news in our household belongs to my son, who competed with some friends in a major Hackathon - HackIllinois during the weekend before Cold Wars.  This event had over 180 college teams and some major corporate sponsors - Google paid for the charter bus to drive Sean's team from Carnegie Mellon (Pittsburgh) to the Univ of Illinois.  He had a fantastic experience at the event and his team won the Goldman Sachs Innovation award for their project.  The project involved a hack of an X-Box Kinect to use it to teach Sign language by being able to see and correct a users hand gestures for each letter.  Pretty amazing stuff as the project needed to be started and completed in just 36 hours (no sleep!).  A link to the project's page provides a better description than I can: Kinect-ASL.  Sean kind of stands out from his team mates as he's the one who looks like a offensive lineman for a football team.  He's still a tech crazy kid.  We've got him home this week for spring break and for fun he's rebuilding an old PC to operate as a server and backup unit for our house.  He'll also use it to run multiplayer games and thinks it will generate some cash to help fund whatever summer internship he gets.

Fall In 2014: After Action Report

 I just returned from the HMGS convention Fall-In, which is held in Lancaster, PA at the crumbling Host Resort.  I think the best way to describe the 'con is it's a great event despite being held in what may be the worst hotel in the world.  I'll leave my whining about the Host to the end but I did have a grand time as usual.  The first picture shows a display at the Architects of War booth and some of Ernie's massive Napoleonic collection - I have many fond memories of trying to cross that bridge under fire in previous games.

 There was a very nice and active "All Quiet on the Martian Front" game - all the players seemed to be having a grand time and it's nice to see the game gaining real traction - there were 5 or 6 AQMF games being put on at the con.

 A stunning Pegasus Bridge WW2 themed game was also present at the 'con - the terrain was amazing and the ruleset used was Chain of Command.  The buildings are the new laser cut and pre-painted models from crescent root and look superb.

 Another shot of the game - top flight scenery can really push a good game to a great one and it looked like no expense was sparred.

 A Fire and Fury Regimental game put on by the rules author, Rich Hasenauer.  These are, by far, the best civil war rules out there.

 AQMF demo game near the Architects of War booth.  The river Monitor was scratch built by Ernie and may appear in future rules supplements.

As for my gaming, I managed to get in a great WW1 naval game based on the Battle of Coronel and was put on by Brian DeWitt.  I was on the British side and we managed a very narrow victory but no thanks to me - I managed to get all my ships sunk!

On Saturday, I played in the Bolt Action tournament and ran a Japanese Infantry with a capture Stuart and a Type 97 Tankette for armored support.  As usual the tournament was a lot of fun - more surprisingly - I won all 3 games and was declared the tournament winner.

My first game was against Duncan and his American regular infantry force.  Out lists were pretty evenly matched but Duncan had a lot of ground to cover while under fire and saw his forces reduced too much by the time they could make contact.  He was a great opponent and a very nice guy.

 The second game was on what we jokingly referred to as a "Indiana Jones" table.  I faced John B and his veteran German infantry force.  John had a halftrack, Puma and a wonderfully painted/based 88 AT gun.  This was a great game where my Japanese were able to gain an advantage in the second turn when both german vehicles were destroyed - the halftrack by a suicide AT unit and the Puma by the Stuart.  John's a great guy to play and his painting is some of the best I've ever seen.  In the end I had too much infantry and wore his force down to win.

The last game was against Judson (of Bolt Action Radio fame/infamy) and his German tank platoon - he fielded three Panzer III's, an 8 rad and a handful of infantry.  This was one of the toughest/funnest games of BA I've ever played and was so engrossing that I forgot to take pictures.  The game went down to the last turn where I was able to spring a counter attack which destroyed most of his armor and pushed the German remnants off the objectives.  Judson really should have won the game but I just got lucky!

Thanks to Stephan (aka Capt'n TO) and his son for putting on yet another great event - I've now played in 6 of his tournaments and always have a great time.

FOW "Throcktober" Tournament Update and New Project Musings

I had a great time yesterday at Sean's FOW tournament.  The German team ended up winning as the Allies drive to Berlin was less than effective.  Sadly it looks like the war in Europe would have gone on a few extra months given the allied teams performance.

That said, my personal performance was better than expected - I went 2-1 and was the second highest scoring US/Brit commander.  My games went 5-2, 1-6 and 6-1.  US 155's are very effective and accounted for the 2 Jagd Tigers and 4 King Tigers killed by my plucky paratroopers.  I'm also figuring out how to use TD's better.  Many thanks to all three of my opponents who were more than gracious with my newbie mistakes and offering advice.

With the mad dash for the tournament over, I now find myself without a major miniatures project and need to think about what the next big project is.  The decision will need to come soon as It's been very motivating to combine a big game for historicon along with the Analogue Hobbies Painting challenge which (hopefully) starts in December.

One can't have an empty workspace, so there's a new ship in the yard a 1/600 scale US civil war ship from Thouroghbred Miniatures - the USS Hartford.  The again this might be for the "big" Historicon 2015 game(s).

One never knows!

FOW Mid War, North Africa Themed Tournament

I'm about to head out the door for my second FOW tournament.   It's a 1485 point Mid War, North Africa themed event which will be run at Huzzah Hobbies in Ashburn, VA.  Google tells me its about a 2.5 hour drive from hear in St Michaels so I need to hit the road soon.

I'm taking a German Fallschirmjager list, which will have 2 of the three fellows pictured to the left.  The list consists of an

- HQ w/ Anti-tank rifle
- 2 full FJ platoons
- MG section
- Full mortar platoon
- Recoilless gun section
- a single Tiger
- Recon platoon (2 8 Rads)
- Nebs

The list gives me 8 platoons or 7 if I combine the MG's and recoilless guns into a point defense platoon.

I'm not sure about the wisdom of taking a single tiger over 3 make III's or 4 Marders.  The real reason is that Tigers just look cool on the table so this may be one of those situations where fashion wins over function!

15mm Mid-War German DAK Armor

With a 1485 point Mid-War North Africa themed tournament coming up at Huzzah Hobbies on June 14th, I "needed" to flesh out my germans so I've added some armor and a recon patrol.  I'll be running my now standard FJ list but will reinforce them with some Armor in the form of a 4 tank Panzer III platoon.  I'm thinking about upgrading one of the Panzer III's to a IV so that tank was painted up also.  All of the models are from Battlefront.

 The recon patrol comes in the form of a light Panzerspah Patrol of 2 Sdkfz 222's and 1 Sdkfz 223.  I'll likely use this as a mobile reserve to respond to the other players recon / light tank probes.  A second recon option of a heavy Panzerspah patrol (2 Sdkfz 231 8 Rads) is currently on the workbench and should be completed by tomorrow.

As for the armor, I'm still deciding whether to run a 3 or 4 tank Panzer III/IV platoon or just throw in a single Tiger I.  The multiple tank platoon is probably more effective game-wise, but it's not as "cool" as a Tiger!  Plus it's mid-war and a Tiger is a pretty fearsome tank for that stage of the war.

Ahhh, decisions, decisions

Once these guys are done it's back to painting up AQMF!