Red Devils, All American, Fallschirmjagers and Folgore: which one is the best Airborne unit in FOW Mid war?

With Red Devils book coming out end of May, we have almost all paratrooper lists for the MID period in – we just miss the Blue Berets from USSR. Time to see how the Airborne troops improve their original army, and which one adds the most to the original roster.

The Airborne units have a similar reputation in all four armies: they were a new “weapon” and they were supposed to fight behind enemy lines, surrounded by overwhelming forces and with no support. For this reason, they have a unique charm like few other units. This is a good reason enough to paint and use them in FOW, but let’s see how they improve their army in game terms, and which of the Airborne forces do better to upgrade your “base” infantry.

Red Devils – The British Paras

The British Airborne forces’ book adds two Companies: Parachute troops and the Commandos. Both of them can be taken as the main core of your force, adding supports from Armoured Fist and adding their own, in form of the Airlanding 6 PDR antitank Platoon and the Airlanding recce Platoon.

The only new rules they have is Mind and Heart: this allows any Commandos foot unit to cross impassable terrain (mountain) features on a skill test, similar to US Rangers.

The backbone of every MID period FOW army: the Rifle platoon, with their awesome 3+/3+ Counterattack and Assault skills. 

 

The British Airborne: an improvement to an already good infantry force. 

 

The best of the best: the Commandos, the only UK troops with Skill 3+; these boys can deliver a punch in any enemy line.

 

The Parachute Company has almost the same stats of the Armored Fist Rifle Company, but with a welcomed improvement on the Motivation skill: 3+ instead of 4+. This will hugely improve your chance to recover from a pin test, something we really like while we play our British army. The base cost is even lower: 9 points for a full team of Paras Vs 11 of Desert Rats, and all of them can be equipped with a PIAT (AT 10) AT weapon.

They don’t have the basic Boys rifle, but the 2-inch mortar is included in one of the medium size bases, so you can choose to use it as a mortar (with smoke and overhead shoot) or as a standard infantry base. They also have the support of full Mortar and Vickers platoons. The first keeps the useful smoke bombardment, the latter the usual British “gun bombardment” from Vickers nests, but they both cost 20-30% more due to the better Motivation value. The same for the 6PDR Anti Tank platoon, 14 points for four guns Vs 12 points for the Desert Rats’ one. If I want to deploy some Anti-tank gun, I’d go for the 17/25 PDR Troop from the Desert Rats book as support on this: 12 AT vs 9 AT, for just 2 points more (16 points for 4 guns).

The Commandos have a surprise for you. Almost the same composition as the airborne, just 1 point more, and a striking Skill 3+, with Deadly Assault 2+. These guys are the only option in the British army to have Motivation 3+ and Skill 3+ and are instant killers when they assault anything on sight.  10 points for a 7 bases team, adding a PIAT for 2 points. You can do a  Company with four units and the HQ, and have enough points for strong support to assault or defend.

On the downside, their internal support for the company is pretty limited: a mortar platoon of three bases and a Vickers one also with three bases, a bit too weak to survive any repeated bombardment. In the supports, a good addition is the 75mm Battery: not effective as a 25 PDR, but cheaper and with better motivation. It is a good addition to the Commandos Company since their mortars are too small and weak, but don’t count on the 75mm to kill armored targets.

From the Command Cards for the Airborne forces, lots of cards to improve morale and a very good one to have a Commando unit in an Airborne core force.

All American – The US Paras

US troops in MID period have a lot of problems. They are still green and inexperienced troops, so they have Skill 5+ and are hit on 3+ (although they have Rally 3+ and a decent Motivation 4+). This means your US foot soldiers will be dead meat if you try to move them out of their dig-in; and if they are targeted by repeated bombardment, they really risk being wiped out in a turn or two. All American book is a very good improvement, but with a cost.

The Parachute Company has much better values: Motivation 3+, Skill 3+ and Hit on 4+ take these guys to the same level of the elite Germans and British, if not even better. The problem is the cost: a platoon of 7 rifles and a mortar costs literally the double of the same size platoon under Fighting Fist book (12 vs 6 points!). You can still add two Bazookas, and these boys will cut to pieces in close assaults every MID tank around, hitting it on the flank at 4+. They can go to war together with a Mortar platoon (4 bases for 8 points) and a 75mm battery (4 bases for 12 points), but totally lacks machine gun supports.

 

The “basic” US Rifle platoon. While in the Late period you can have Veteran Companies, in MID the US is still considered an inexperienced, yet enthusiastic, force. 

 

The US airborne are a key improvement for the US MID period armies. They have much better stats, and also are hit on 4+, tremendously increasing the survivability on the field. 

 

US Rangers are somewhat an “average” between ordinary Rifles and Airborne troops. Very good Motivation and Skill stats, even better Rally and Assault skills, but hit on 3+ makes them very vulnerable. 

The other way to get similar stats is to use the “Always Prepared” card from Fighting First Command Cards on your Rifle platoons. 4 points to upgrade a 6 point platoon to Motivation, Skill, and Hit on all to 4+. However, why do that when you can have Paras with better stats for 2 mere points?

The other Company added by All Americans is the Ranger one: the same 7 bases platoon will cost 9 points. They have really good stats: Motivation and Skills 3+, further better Rally 2+ and Deadly Assault 2+. They can also swap two rifle teams for two Bazookas, something you should definitively do. However, they are hit on 3+, so again it’s a risk to move them out of from their dig in holes.

Death from Above – German Paras

The German army in the MID period is the one with more books and more detail. The Fallschirmjagers are a welcomed addition for their Motivation 3+, so good to pass pinned down tests. The closer troop in the German roster is the Grenadier Company from Iron Cross book: the Eastern front warriors have very similar stats and costs, but they have Motivation 4+ (although with Last Stand 3+).

The price is almost the same: 9 rifle bases cost  12 points, while 10 Fallschirmjagers cost 13. The comparison between 7 bases platoon is even more straightforward: exactly 9 points each, despite the Fallschirmjagers have better Motivation. However, you can’t buy a small platoon of 5 bases for the German Paras, so you are somewhat limited to Companies of two big platoons instead of the more flexible three small platoons option.

The German “base” Grenadier are elite troops if compared to their opponent. The Skill 3+ is fundamental, as they can do easily with the Stormtroopers trait, a double special movement each bound. 

The elite Fallschirmjagers are even better and don’t cost much more compared to the Grenadier. However, they have their own supports, so you need to choose if you want to use them as a part of your “base” books or on their own. 

A good addition to a Fallschirmjager Company is those two 7.5 Recoilless guns you can get from the HQ selection and attach to two of your platoons. These guns have AT 9 and Firepower 3+, so they can really knock out armoured enemies charging at them, helping a lot the single 2.8cm AT gun you can normally buy for your platoon. Alas for the German player, the Company has not too much to offer to help the three Fallschirmjager platoons you can take: a double option for the 8 cm mortar platoon, and SMG 42 machine gun platoon.

Something better comes from the Support section: you can add a Fallschirm Pioneer Platoon, with 7 rifles and up to 3 flamethrowers. The latter are really useful to pin down enemy infantry and to kill dig in teams – the price is high, 15 points. Also available a wide array of anti-tank guns, from the 3,7 cm to the 7,5 cm: you definitively need some punching power. They also have Stuka with bombs.

German lists work in a different way compared to the other nations. You can choose the Fallschirmjager Company with its own support (quite limited) and Command Cards, or you can use its Company in addition to another from a different book, choosing their support. For example, you can have a Panzer III Company and a Fallschirmjager Company in the same list, using the Africa Korps supports and Command Cards or an Armoured Car Company from Iron Cross Command Cards and the same Fallschirmjagers Company. This will undoubtedly boost your infantry punch, with the elite Fallschirmjagers fighting with the best support available to the German player.

Death from Above – Italian Folgore

Italians in Africa under FOW MID book Avanti! can only deploy the almost elite Bersaglieri infantry, with already good stats: Motivation 4+ (but Follow me and Rally at 3+), Skill 4+ and To Hit on 4+ make them much better, for example, of the green US teams. Also, with the special Italian rule 8 Million Bayonets, you have 2 chances out of 6 that your troops will be really motivated, with Skill 3+.

 

The Italian army can rely on a very good “base” foot troop, the Bersaglieri. They have good stats and are relatively cheap to buy, and they can occasionally behave like elite troops thanks to the random “8 million bayonets” ability. 

 

Italian Paratroopers have better stats than the “ordinary” Bersaglieri, but can’t improve randomly with the “8 Million Bayonets”, so one game any three they could be worse!

The Folgore Paratroopers are already the best of the elite the Italians can deploy, so they don’t have at all the 8 Million Bayonets rule. Their stats include a much better Motivation (3+) but Skill stays at 4+ (although they have Deadly Assault at 3+). This means the Bersaglieri will be better troops 1 battle every 3, with Skill 3+, at a lower price.

A Bersaglieri rifle platoon of 9 Rifles costs 9 points, the same you will spend for a 7-teams Airborne Folgore Unit. However, the Folgore can swap a rifle team for a flamethrower that, like the German counterpart, can be really useful when fighting other infantries. Italian armies can deploy the Parachutist Company together or alternatively to the Avanti! book ones, so if you want to invest some more points in your infantry Company, the Folgore is a worthwhile option, even if it doesn’t “upgrade” your base infantry that much.

Which one is the best?

In-game terms, the biggest improvement, in my opinion, between Red Devils, All American, Fallschirmjagers and Folgore, comes from the US paratroopers. The US airborne can really change the face of your US MID army, creating a core force of Veteran troops who can assault, kill in hand to hand, resist to defend an objective. All Airborne units are elite, but the All American can really revitalize your green US army in the desert warfare like no other.