Saturday, September 28, 2013

Yet Another Project (82nd Airborne, Platoon Forward)

All,
    So, it has been decided.  I am moving ahead with a Platoon Forward campaign.  I will label it "All American," and it will center on an airborne rifle platoon from 1943 to 1945 in the Mediterranean and Northwest European theaters.  This will be done in 10mm with individually based figures (from Pendraken), using the modified KR-16 rules, and played solo in the context of Joe Legan's excellent "Platoon Forward" solo campaign system for troop and scenario development.
    Here's the boys:

Here is the whole platoon, 39 red-blooded American boys looking to throw the Nazis out and come home to Sweet Suzy Rottencrotch.  I am dealing with a dilemma though.  I have a Platoon Commander, a Platoon Sergeant, a radio man, a two-man MMG team, a two-man 60mm mortar team, and a two-man bazooka team, and three 10-man rifle squads.    My dilemma is whether to have the platoon as a PC, Plt Sgt, RTO, and 3 squads, with the MMG, mortar, and bazooka as company-level support that may or may not be attached (this would probably work better in Plt Fwd), or as I built them: a 39-man platoon (this gives me zero support options in Plt Fwd outside of vehicles).
    I want to do the latter, but should probably do the former.  My biggest concern is running into a tank and not having a bazooka, so maybe I'll do the former but with a bazooka as part of the HQ element.  I think that's probably the way to go.

 Assuming I go with what I just outlined, here is the HQ element with Wpns Plt support.  Starting at bottom left and working clockwise: 2-man MMG team, two-man 60mm mortar team, 2-man bazooka team, RTO, PC, and Plt Sgt.
 Same group from rear.  PC has vertical stripe, Plt Sgt has horizontal stripe.  Neither figure is carrying a weapon, but both will be handled as carrying an M-1 carbine.
 1st Squad, with Squad Leader with rifle team on left, and Assistant Squad Leader and BAR team on the right.  Both teams are a mix of Thompsons, M-1 Garands, and M-1 Carbines (plus the BAR in the BAR team).
 2nd Squad, same way.  I should mention that the majority of the figures are from Pendraken's US Airborne D-Day range, but I did use some guys from the US Airborne Ardennes range as well.  I painted them all the same, but if you look closely you'll see a few greatcoats.  Okay, I shouldn't have done it, but the D-Day range doesn't have any BARs or carbines, plus I wanted as many different poses as possible.  You'll also see two different 'Mohawks' from the D-Day Pathfinders pack.
 3rd Squad.  Gold bases are senior leaders (PC and Plt Sgt), silver bases are junior leaders (Squad Ldrs), yellow bases are SMGs, red bases are MGs (I did the BAR and the M-1919 w/A-gunner), blue bases are rifles, and dark gray bases are various specialty figures (RTO, mortar team, bazooka team).

Unit: 
1st Platoon, Dog Company, 1st Battalion, 499th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division

Campaigns:
Operation Husky, the Invasion of Sicily, 10 July 1943 to 17 August 1943.
Operation Avalanche, the Landing at Salerno, 13 September 1943 to 4 January 1944.
Operation Shingle, the Landing at Anzio, 22 January 1944 to 23 March 1944.
Operation Overlord, the Invasion of Normandy, 6 June 1944 to 13 July 1944.
Operation Market-Garden, the Invasion of Holland, 17 September 1944 to 25 September 1944.
Operation Wacht Am Rhein/Unternehmen Herbstnebe, the Battle of the Bulge, 16 December 1944 to February 10, 1945.
Operation Varsity, the Push into the Ruhr, 24 March 1945 to May 2, 1945.

Order of Battle:

10 July 1943 (Sicily)
HQ Element:                                                          Personality   Motivation  Combat Temp  Backgr
Platoon Commander - 2Lt Jack Shepherd                Conformist    Family           Even                 Average
Platoon Sergeant - SSgt Sawyer Ford                      Fanatic          Hedonism      Reckless
Radio/Telephone Operator - Cpl Daniel Farraday
Bazooka Gunner - Cpl Boone Carlyle
Bazooka Assistant - Pvt Able

1st Squad, Rifle Team:
Squad Leader - Sgt Desmond Hume                           Idealistic        Revenge        Reckless
Rifleman (kneel SMG) - PFC Baker
Rifleman (stand carbine) - Pvt Charleston
Rifleman (port Garand) - Pvt Delta
Rifleman (rush Garand) - Pvt Echo

1st Squad, BAR Team: 
Assistant Squad Leader - Cpl John Locke
Automatic Rifleman - PFC Fox
Rifleman (crouch carbine) - Pvt George
Rifleman (fire Garand) - Pvt Hotel
Rifleman (port Garand) - Pvt India

2nd Squad, Rifle Team:
Squad Leader - Sgt Hurley Reyes                              Fickle           Wealth          Even
Rifleman (kneel Mohawk) - PFC Juliet
Rifleman (stand carbine) - Pvt King
Rifleman (crouching carbine) - Pvt Lima
Rifleman (port Garand) - Pvt Mike

2nd Squad, BAR Team:
Assistant Squad Leader - Cpl Sam Jarrah
Automatic Rifleman - PFC Nancy
Rifleman (rush Garand) - Pvt Oscar
Rifleman (fire Garand) - Pvt Papa
Rifleman (port Garand) - Pvt Quebec

3rd Squad, Rifle Team:
Squad Leader - Sgt Michael Dawson                         Corrupt        Avarice         Bold                                 Rifleman (stand Mohawk) - PFC Romeo
Rifleman (stand SMG) - Pvt Sierra
Rifleman (stand carbine) - Pvt Tango
Rifleman (port Garand) - Pvt Uniform

3rd Squad, BAR Team:
Assistant Squad Leader - Cpl Charley Pace
Automatic Rifleman - PFC Victor
Rifleman (rush Garand) - Pvt Whiskey
Rifleman (crouch carbine) - Pvt Xavier
Rifleman (port Garand) - Pvt Zander

Weapons Platoon Support:
Medium Machine Gun Team:
Gunner - Cpl Frank Lapidus
A-Gunner - Pvt Apple

60mm Mortar Team:
Gunner - Cpl Richard Alpert
A-Gunner - Pvt Black

Regimental Support:
57mm Anti-Tank Gun (single, section, platoon)

Divisional Support
M4 Sherman (single, section, platoon)

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