Re: Field Marshal Games Pieces Project Discussion thread

Razor and Bob thanks for the compliment by the way. If any country needs the 2 infantry it is Britain for the reason I suggested. Cheers

Hi

What will be used for US. MECH INF UNIT? Maybe a standard army jeep? A Ford GP or Willy MA / MB?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willys_MB

Mech Infantry should be the M3A1 halftrack

i like IL’s ideas for this one, the different battle would make people who are trying to add this to OOB pieces happy also

@reloader-1:

Let’s get a Euro centric fighter - another vote for the P-51

Agreed!

I’m a little surprised by the Hellcat, too!  I mean, it was a great fighter and all, but it IS what we have oob and wasn’t made in nearly the numbers of the P-47 or P-51… From a utility angle, though, I suppose it’s all good, since we could use the oob P-38’s as long-range fighters.

I’m OK with FMG doing the Iowa class, as long as it’s slightly bigger than oob; we could then use the oob ones as “North Carolina” or “South Dakota” class which were fairly similar but smaller.

I find it a little odd that FMG is referring to the “Enterprise class” and that IL counters with a preference for the “Hornet class,” as both carriers were from the same class and that it was called the “Yorktown class”!  I would go for the Essex class if you really want something to distinguish it from oob: the oob “Wasp class” was really just a slightly smaller one-off revision of the Yorktown class that looks identical except for being slightly shorter to get the tonnage limits under treaty restrictions.

@DrLarsen:

I’m a little surprised by the Hellcat, too!  I mean, it was a great fighter and all, but it IS what we have oob and wasn’t made in nearly the numbers of the P-47 or P-51… From a utility angle, though, I suppose it’s all good, since we could use the oob P-38’s as long-range fighters.

Wasn’t the Hellcat only available in the Anniversary Edition OOB?  I’m not positive but my copy of 1942 and my older copy of revised came with the P38 lightning, and I swear the copy of 1940 I saw was also the P38.

The Hellcat came in Guadalcanal and Anniversary.  1940 games come with the P38 and the Dauntless SBD.  I agree 100% on the carriers Dr. Larsen.

@dadler12:

The Hellcat came in Guadalcanal and Anniversary.

AAP came with P-38 and Hellcats also.

@Bob_A_Mickelson:

@dadler12:

The Hellcat came in Guadalcanal and Anniversary.

AAP came with P-38 and Hellcats also.

Admittedly, they were rarer than P-38’s, but yes, they came in several editions.  I’ve seen plenty on ebay over the years, if you want to pick some up to diversify your US fighter fleet.  Also, Coach sells them by the piece on his site, so that’s pretty much a guaranteed source if the ebay pickings are slim or if prices have gone up too much there.

@dadler12:

The Hellcat came in Guadalcanal and Anniversary.  1940 games come with the P38 and the Dauntless SBD.  I agree 100% on the carriers Dr. Larsen.

Just to be fair to IL, he does mention the Lexington class also, which was an excellent carrier… and a good-looking ship, too.  I still think the Essex is a better choice, though.  The 2 Lexingtons were converted battlecruisers, so they were really sort of “one-offs” (or I guess technically, more of a 2-off) that were never going to be repreated.  The Essexes were what the US built when they were finally freed from treaty limitations as the new “standard” full-function fleet carriers, and it was, indeed, they more than any other single class of ship that won the war.  Sure, the US made a great series of excellent ships in unprecedented numbers in nearly every category: BB’s (Iowa’s), CA’s (Baltimores), CL’s (Clevelands), DD’s (Fletchers), along with an even larger number of lesser-known ships in categories that get less attention (CVE’s, DE’s, subs, transports, oilers, etc.)  The whole functioned together symbiotically… but the tip of the spear was the air power provided by those Essex-class carriers and that’s what made the US drive through the Central Pacific in 1944 unstoppable.  Yep, if there’s one ship type that could be said to have won the Pacific War it was the 24 (yes, 24!!!) Essex-class carriers that the US built, an ever-growing armada that, from 1943 on, turned the tide and took the Pacific Ocean back.

While I’m thinking about naval pieces…

I think the obvious cruiser choices would be either the Cleveland (CL) or Baltimore (CA) class.  The Wichita is a bit of an odd choice to my way of thinking, FMG, since it was a one-off (though it is so similar to the Baltimore class that on this scale that’s probably not a big deal.)  The New Orleans was actually a CL, not a CA, IL, though some would argue that the large 6"-gun allied CL’s were the equal of any CA… (Some say the US ones were even better with their rapid-firing main guns…) But anyway, my thought is that the “reinforcements” we bring into the fray should reflect the sort of reinforcements in any given category that the various powers either did, or would have, brought into the fray as the war went on, not the obsolete older equipment that most had to begin the war with.  For me, that means Clevelands or Baltimores in the cruiser category.

Now, in the DD category, the oob piece already is the Fletcher, probably the most iconic DD class of the war, so I say go with the next one down the line, the Sumner class, which would also be a (slight) upgrade, since their twin turrets gave them a little more firepower against both air and sea targets.  Would that extra 5"/38 be enough to be worth another IPC and another notch up on a 12-sider…?  Arguable either way, I’d guess, but it would at least give us the option for house rules purposes plus a little more visual variety in the fleet if one’s own answer to this Q is “no.”

For the TD, I think the M36 Jackson is a better choice than the M10, as the M10 was only a little better, firepower-wise, that the early-war Shermans and no advantage at all against the late-war Shermans.  Speaking of which, FMG, I’m hoping your Shermans will be late-war models with the longer guns, which will give us more house rules flexibility.  btw, both the M10 and the M36 TD were based on the Sherman chassis, and the M10 cannon was the same as the 76mm used on late-war Shermans, so with an M10 you basically get a late-war Sherman without a roof!  No point in that, I say!  If you insist on giving us a TD instead of a Pershing, at least give us an M36 with its excellent 90 mm!

I’m wondering about the battleships.  Why go with the Pennsylvania class?  That class includes the USS Pennsylvania and USS Arizona, both commissioned in 1916.  Seems like kind of an old model of BB to go with.  I would have went with the North Carolina or South Dakota class if not the Iowa class.  Then again, an older battleship like that will make for more variety.

I did a little reading up on the USS Wasp.  There were actually two carriers in WW2 with that name.  The second was one of the 24 Essex class carriers.  The first was actually in a class of it’s own and was basically a smaller version of the Yorktown and Enterprise.  It went out with very little in the way of armor protection and no protection from torpedos.  In fact, it was sunk by a Japanese submarine I-19.  It kind of surprises me that WOTC would base the US Carrier piece on such a flawed model.  Of course, they also made the British BB Royal Oak, which had a rather ignonimous fate as well.

@knp7765:

The first was actually in a class of it’s own and was basically a smaller version of the Yorktown and Enterprise.  It went out with very little in the way of armor protection and no protection from torpedos.  In fact, it was sunk by a Japanese submarine I-19.  It kind of surprises me that WOTC would base the US Carrier piece on such a flawed model.  Of course, they also made the British BB Royal Oak, which had a rather ignonimous fate as well.

cough Japanese carrier cough

@knp7765:

I’m wondering about the battleships.  Why go with the Pennsylvania class?  That class includes the USS Pennsylvania and USS Arizona, both commissioned in 1916.  Seems like kind of an old model of BB to go with.  I would have went with the North Carolina or South Dakota class if not the Iowa class.  Then again, an older battleship like that will make for more variety.

I did a little reading up on the USS Wasp.  There were actually two carriers in WW2 with that name.  The second was one of the 24 Essex class carriers.  The first was actually in a class of it’s own and was basically a smaller version of the Yorktown and Enterprise.  It went out with very little in the way of armor protection and no protection from torpedos.  In fact, it was sunk by a Japanese submarine I-19.  It kind of surprises me that WOTC would base the US Carrier piece on such a flawed model.  Of course, they also made the British BB Royal Oak, which had a rather ignonimous fate as well.

If you take a careful look at the oob mini of the carrier, it’s pretty clear that it’s intended to be the earlier Wasp.  And yes, it was an extremely odd choice for all of the reasons you mentioned.  Mainly though, I think it was an odd choice because it was an atypical ship; its lack of armor and torpedo protection were not really so far behind the standards of its day.  Keep in mind that because the US had the insane idea that they should be honest and honorable with regard to their treaty limitations that their ships in the first half of the war were working with all sorts of disadvantages that they did not have with the unlimited ships that the US built during the war.  It’s been said with much truth that the Pacific War was won not by one US fleet, but by 2 fleets: the first one which fought the Japanese fleet to nearly mutual annhiliation over the first year of the war and the second one which the US built of all-new ship types that then went on to conquer the Pacific.

This is why I’m so in favor of FMG doing the Essex: it was the carrier the US built when it wasn’t restricting itself anymore and the one with which it won the war.

@DrLarsen:

Mainly though, I think it was an odd choice because it was an atypical ship; its lack of armor and torpedo protection were not really so far behind the standards of its day.

There was certain amount of debate within naval circles at the time over the usefulness of armour for carriers.  One argument made by the anti-armour side was that the best way to defend a carrier from air attack was to shoot down the enemy’s planes before they got anywhere near the carrier…and that therefore armour should be sacrificed to enable the carrier to carry more fighter planes, which in turn would provide a better combat air patrol around the ship.

@CWO:

@DrLarsen:

Mainly though, I think it was an odd choice because it was an atypical ship; its lack of armor and torpedo protection were not really so far behind the standards of its day.

There was certain amount of debate within naval circles at the time over the usefulness of armour for carriers.  One argument made by the anti-armour side was that the best way to defend a carrier from air attack was to shoot down the enemy’s planes before they got anywhere near the carrier…and that therefore armour should be sacrificed to enable the carrier to carry more fighter planes, which in turn would provide a better combat air patrol around the ship.

True enough, though those debates were primarily about deck armor rather than side armor or torpedo defenses.  And at those times, for the Pacific context, the non-armored-deck camp (whose approach was followed by both US and Japanese designers) was probably right, as the British armored-deck carriers didn’t really come into their own until the last, most-intense, Japanese kamikaze waves… and then only by switching to mostly US carrier planes and packing more of them on than their carriers were designed for…

IL I don’t disagree with you on that they should be different but I think FMG’s pieces may end up being superior to Wizards of the Craps. I plan on replacing mine with theirs. I think the OOB pieces will look inferior to FMGS. We shall see.