An escalation league, for those of you unfamiliar with the concept, is in your tabletop wargames of choice, you start with a low point total, give your players time to gather, build and paint that total's worth of miniatures, and then you go up a set increment, rinse, repeat. All while playing as many games inside the league as you can stomach. In my league, we are starting at 50 points, and increasing that by 25 every 4 weeks or so. Fifty points in TY is a good starting point - you get a good mix of units but you just can not squeeze everything into an army list. As a league implies a competition, we are also tracking overall victory points, average victory points per game played, and participation points. Those last are points awarded for showing up, bringing painted armies, bringing all your gear (tokens, smoke markers, artillery templates, etc), and bringing finished terrain. As we are currently playing at my domicile until we can get a local game store to rent us a table again (thank you, Global Pandemic! /end sarcasm), I am not cheating and counting my own participation points. Well, not so much cheating as enjoying an unfair advantage over everyone else.
Onto my lists, and yes, I am building multiple forces because I already have a sizeable number of minis. At 50 points, I am running two lists in both the Americans and the East Germans. When I first got into 6mm TY, I had bought up a bunch of GHQ minis from the 1st edition TY army books, so I am trying to use those minis instead of going straight to the latest and greatest (ie: T80 and BMP-3 Soviets, and M1A1 and Bradley Americans). In all 4 of these lists I tried to include decent tank options (not high end and very point heavy, but also not low end and be too "horde-y"), at least some infantry in the tank heavy lists for flexibility and objective sitting, as well as some artillery and attendant observer, and some gun AA. I do not expect much in the way of fixed wing aircraft at this low of a point total, but there might be some helos, and gun AA is also pretty effective against APCs/IFVs and infantry.
For the Americans, I have built up an Army M60 Patton Armored Combat team, as even basic M1 Abrams are too point heavy and would restrict my numbers too much - a single tank HQ (4pts), 3 platoons with 2 M60s apiece (8pts per - I am experimenting with multiple minimum unit formations, see how this works for me), and a 3 M113 mech platoon (2 M47 Dragon teams, 3 M249 SAW teams) plus an extra M47 Dragon team (4pts for the platoon, 1pt for the extra team). The other formation is a M113 Mech Combat team - mandatory HQ (M113 and M16 rifle team, 1pt), a 4 M113 mech platoon (3 M47s and 4 M249s, 6pts), 2 M113 mech platoons w/extra M47s (5pts per), and a 4 tank M60 Patton tank platoon (16pts). Each of those also has 3 M106 Heavy Mortars (3pts) and 2 M901 ITVs TOW-1 (3pts) integral to the formation, and 3 M109 artillery (7pts), 2 M163 VADS (3pts), and a M113 FIST (1pt) from Divisional support.
I went with East Germans instead of USSR proper as I had a bunch of T72s and BMP-1s, and while I did not want to go straight T55 horde, I do appreciate the East Germans' lower point cost on both of those units. The first formation is the T72M Panzer Battaillon - mandatory HQ (3pts), 2 4 tank Panzer Kompanies (11pts per), a 3 tank Kompanie (7pts), and a 4 BMP-1 Mot-Schutzen Kompanie (3 RPG-7 teams and 4 MPi-KM teams, 6pts) plus an AGS-17 GL and extra BMP-1 (1pt). The other formation is the BMP-1 Mot-Schutzen Battaillon - mandatory HQ (BMP-1 and a MPi-KM rifle team, 1pt), 3 BMP-1 Kompanies w/4 BMP-1s apiece (3 RPG-7s, 4 MPi-KMs, 6pts per), plus one extra AGS-17 GL team and BMP-1 (1pt). Then, like the Americans, I have a 4 track ZSU-23-4 Shilka Flak Zug (4pts) and a 3 tube 2S1 Gvozdika (Carnation) Artillerie Batterie (6pts) integral to each formation, plus a BMP-1 OP (1pt) from Divisional support.
With the Americans, having your artillery and AA in Divisional support instead of integral to the formation means you can play them a lot further forward - if you lose them, they don't count towards formation morale. But then, with the East Germans, because they are integral to the units, they can be held back and help with formation morale. I'm not sure which play style I prefer, but it's going to be interesting to find out.
So what did all of this cost? I am not talking about the rulebooks, tokens, dice, measuring devices, etc, just the models themselves. From GHQ, which is the most expensive of the 6mm scale manufacturers, though we in the US do save on not having to pay import/export taxes and overseas shipping, the American forces were as follows:
2 packs of M60A3s
2 packs of M113A1s
1 pack of M160A1s
1 pack of M901s
1 pack of M109s
1 pack of M163 VADS
And for the infantry, 1 pack each of the Modern US Heavy Weapons, Modern US Individual Infantrymen, and to get some M72 LAW figures, 'Nam Era US Heavy Weapons.
At basically $12 per pack ($11.95 per), that's $108 for the Americans, but you are getting 3 extra M60s, 3 extra M106s, 3 extra M901s, 2 extra M109s (but the short barrel version that the Brits and West Germans use), 4 extra M163s, and a handful of extra infantry bits that I'm not going to list here. Considering just the M901s and M163s will run you $40 from Battlefront in 15mm, $108 for the whole double list force plus extras does not sound so bad.
For the East Germans, I picked up:
3 packs of T72s
3 packs of BMP-1s
1 pack of ZSU-23-4 Shilkas
1 pack of 2S1 Carnations
And for infantry, 2 packs of Modern Russian Infantry and 1 pack of Modern Russian Heavy Weapons - yeah, they're not specifically East Germans, but they're close enough to them and the Soviets of the mid-80s that at this scale it's not really noticeable, and you can use them between the Soviets, East Germans, Poles, and Czechs.
Again, 9 packs at $12 per for a total of $108. But in 15mm scale you will still feel the wallet pinch of the horde army even as less-horde-ish as my East German lists are, as you will need 3 packs of Battlefront T-72s at $50 apiece just to start.
Onto my lists, and yes, I am building multiple forces because I already have a sizeable number of minis. At 50 points, I am running two lists in both the Americans and the East Germans. When I first got into 6mm TY, I had bought up a bunch of GHQ minis from the 1st edition TY army books, so I am trying to use those minis instead of going straight to the latest and greatest (ie: T80 and BMP-3 Soviets, and M1A1 and Bradley Americans). In all 4 of these lists I tried to include decent tank options (not high end and very point heavy, but also not low end and be too "horde-y"), at least some infantry in the tank heavy lists for flexibility and objective sitting, as well as some artillery and attendant observer, and some gun AA. I do not expect much in the way of fixed wing aircraft at this low of a point total, but there might be some helos, and gun AA is also pretty effective against APCs/IFVs and infantry.
For the Americans, I have built up an Army M60 Patton Armored Combat team, as even basic M1 Abrams are too point heavy and would restrict my numbers too much - a single tank HQ (4pts), 3 platoons with 2 M60s apiece (8pts per - I am experimenting with multiple minimum unit formations, see how this works for me), and a 3 M113 mech platoon (2 M47 Dragon teams, 3 M249 SAW teams) plus an extra M47 Dragon team (4pts for the platoon, 1pt for the extra team). The other formation is a M113 Mech Combat team - mandatory HQ (M113 and M16 rifle team, 1pt), a 4 M113 mech platoon (3 M47s and 4 M249s, 6pts), 2 M113 mech platoons w/extra M47s (5pts per), and a 4 tank M60 Patton tank platoon (16pts). Each of those also has 3 M106 Heavy Mortars (3pts) and 2 M901 ITVs TOW-1 (3pts) integral to the formation, and 3 M109 artillery (7pts), 2 M163 VADS (3pts), and a M113 FIST (1pt) from Divisional support.
I went with East Germans instead of USSR proper as I had a bunch of T72s and BMP-1s, and while I did not want to go straight T55 horde, I do appreciate the East Germans' lower point cost on both of those units. The first formation is the T72M Panzer Battaillon - mandatory HQ (3pts), 2 4 tank Panzer Kompanies (11pts per), a 3 tank Kompanie (7pts), and a 4 BMP-1 Mot-Schutzen Kompanie (3 RPG-7 teams and 4 MPi-KM teams, 6pts) plus an AGS-17 GL and extra BMP-1 (1pt). The other formation is the BMP-1 Mot-Schutzen Battaillon - mandatory HQ (BMP-1 and a MPi-KM rifle team, 1pt), 3 BMP-1 Kompanies w/4 BMP-1s apiece (3 RPG-7s, 4 MPi-KMs, 6pts per), plus one extra AGS-17 GL team and BMP-1 (1pt). Then, like the Americans, I have a 4 track ZSU-23-4 Shilka Flak Zug (4pts) and a 3 tube 2S1 Gvozdika (Carnation) Artillerie Batterie (6pts) integral to each formation, plus a BMP-1 OP (1pt) from Divisional support.
With the Americans, having your artillery and AA in Divisional support instead of integral to the formation means you can play them a lot further forward - if you lose them, they don't count towards formation morale. But then, with the East Germans, because they are integral to the units, they can be held back and help with formation morale. I'm not sure which play style I prefer, but it's going to be interesting to find out.
So what did all of this cost? I am not talking about the rulebooks, tokens, dice, measuring devices, etc, just the models themselves. From GHQ, which is the most expensive of the 6mm scale manufacturers, though we in the US do save on not having to pay import/export taxes and overseas shipping, the American forces were as follows:
2 packs of M60A3s
2 packs of M113A1s
1 pack of M160A1s
1 pack of M901s
1 pack of M109s
1 pack of M163 VADS
And for the infantry, 1 pack each of the Modern US Heavy Weapons, Modern US Individual Infantrymen, and to get some M72 LAW figures, 'Nam Era US Heavy Weapons.
At basically $12 per pack ($11.95 per), that's $108 for the Americans, but you are getting 3 extra M60s, 3 extra M106s, 3 extra M901s, 2 extra M109s (but the short barrel version that the Brits and West Germans use), 4 extra M163s, and a handful of extra infantry bits that I'm not going to list here. Considering just the M901s and M163s will run you $40 from Battlefront in 15mm, $108 for the whole double list force plus extras does not sound so bad.
For the East Germans, I picked up:
3 packs of T72s
3 packs of BMP-1s
1 pack of ZSU-23-4 Shilkas
1 pack of 2S1 Carnations
And for infantry, 2 packs of Modern Russian Infantry and 1 pack of Modern Russian Heavy Weapons - yeah, they're not specifically East Germans, but they're close enough to them and the Soviets of the mid-80s that at this scale it's not really noticeable, and you can use them between the Soviets, East Germans, Poles, and Czechs.
Again, 9 packs at $12 per for a total of $108. But in 15mm scale you will still feel the wallet pinch of the horde army even as less-horde-ish as my East German lists are, as you will need 3 packs of Battlefront T-72s at $50 apiece just to start.
For the future, at least for the first "escalation" of 25 points, my plans are pretty much to add more of the same, plus air units - A10s and Hueys with airborne troops for the Americans, SU-25s and Hinds for the East Germans. I will, at some point, sub in M1 Abrams for the M60 Pattons, as well as add some missile AA vehicles, but until I am ready to put in a new formation entirely, I will be staying with the vehicles and units I have now.
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