"What armor at the skirmish level?" Topic

So I'm planning on doing some wwii skirmish gaming, somewhere between Combat, A Walk in the Sun and Saving Private Ryan. I'm not doing more than a squad or two of US with some heavier weapon support, versus roughly the same amount of Germans. I wanted to add some armor to add spice to scenarios. Not thinking more than maybe a Sherman and an M36 for the US. For the Germans, maybe a Tiger, a Panzer Jager, an armored car and maybe a couple half tracks. Sound about right?

A couple of squads gets their personal Tiger support? That's quite generous. Personally I would be looking at M5A1 Stuarts for the US side, & maybe a SdKfz/250 or 251 Stummel, or at most a StuG III or Hetzer for the Germans.

Damon.

Stuart's post D-Day? The others for the Germans so7nds good.

Yes there were Stuarts in Normandy.
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Skirmish level, do not forget about the recon and scout units. They do not get enough recognition on the table. Missions at the squad level galore. The M8, M20, half track , scout car and M5a1 on the US side will not tip the balance. The same on the German side with wheeled scout cars and Puma, sd222 and sd250. British Humber as well.

Basically I'm looking at vehicles to add for specific scenarios, not regular use in games.

I think using Tigers or Panthers as support at the squad level is perfectly fine if you're playing Hollywood-inspired games. After all we've seen them in movies like SPR, Fury and Kelly's Heroes.

Personally, I think something like a Puma or a SdKfz 222 would be appropriate. A PzIV or a Stug if you want heavy armor.

For the Americans I'd look at the M8 armored car, the Stuart, an M10 or a Sherman. I am generally not a big fan of halftracks on the table because SOP generally has troops dismounting hundreds of meters before contact.

I'm honestly being heavily influenced by old Combat episodes as well as movies and Band of Brothers.

Your thought of using vehicles as scenario enhancement is spot-on. For example, one way to use an isolated Big Cat is to give it a reason to be there. Perhaps it has broken down, and the covering German infantry's mission is to protect the mechanics long enough to get the tank running again – meanwhile it can shoot but can't move.

Or perhaps the tank is part of a platoon with other (notional) tanks in a good hull-down ridgeline position, dueling off-board American armor. The American combat command commander sends in some infantry through a draw to see if they can get behind the panzers and make them nervous enough to pull out.

A similar riff to the first is one Sherman which has been rendered immobile by an anti-tank mine. A second Sherman is ordered to drive up, attach towing cables, and recover it. But in order to accomplish this, a squad of GIs will have to hold off a German infantry counterattack for thirty minutes…

Eumelus,
I like those ideas, I am stealing them.

If you envisage that the rest of the battalion is battling on around your platoon (and you are using a small part of the battlefield), then you have an excuse to use what you like. This said, vehicles would be operating in units. If you are representing a platoon acting alone, then heavy stuff is much, much less likely (especially tiger support). I can recommend unit histories from Helion publishers. These give a good idea of what the Germans were like as their armies fell apart.

If you are gaming in 15s, you can buy a lot of armor options and not set yourself back too much; it's not like you are paying $30 USD+ a tank.

Stug and a Mk IV would be more accurate.

The various Skirmish Campaigns books are aimed at a squad or two (max. a platoon) and include the odd vehicle in many of the scenarios. Some of the Kursk ones ones have many vehicles of course….

The OPs suggestions sound fine, although for Normandy I'd go with an M10 not an M36.

For my long running ' The South Essex in Normandy' for the Brits I just got a troop of Shermans, a troop of Churchills, and a couple each of Daimler A/Cs, Dingos and M3 Stuarts plus some carries which covered most of the bases.

The Germans got a pair of Stugs, three Pz IVs, a couple of armoured cars, a couple of halftracks, one Panther and one Tiger (because you have to have a Tiger don't you).

That seemed to work fine.

Just do what I do.

"What will put a smile on the faces of the people who are playing my game?"

Simple rule and effective.

PzGeneral,
Given that I'm playing primarily solo, it only needs to make me smile. :)

It's a game, do what you want. Try to balance out the forces, if you give one side a good piece of armor give the other more troops with anti-tank weapons.

It would be interesting to see the Kelly's Heroes in the town of Clermont scenario done on the table top as a skirmish game. Three Tigers vs. Oddball, Big Joe and Kelly.

Roll a D6 each time Oddball's Sherman fires and a roll of a "1" indicates that a pink paint shell was fired. LOL.

The Combat! episodes all have good ideas for scenarios.

Thanks for all the input folks. I think I've got my armor needs sorted out. Now just have to wait for Brookhurst to get their restock from Peter Pig.

I assume due to the scale, either the tank on table is one of 3 – the others being off table advancing in parallel with their own infantry, or a detached vehicle like 'Le Char' supporting the French Commandos in the film 'The Longest Day'.