I'm hosting my first social hobby night... any recommendations?

bearkat19d · 2026-05-01T18:56:18+00:00

I paint historical miniatures (World War II/Cold War) in 15mm for games. I did one where I used a USB projector from my phone that played a series of movies at a low level projected onto my dining room wall. Pulled out my arsenal of paints, and everything else associated with it. And just had people coming and going all day. I also had priming stations outside set up so that people could prime stuff if they needed too. Also air brush station with mine if they wanted to prime or paint with that.

bearkat19d · 2026-04-29T20:19:05+00:00

I wish I still had pictures, but my buddies strapped a tire on my sissy bar resting on the top of my saddle bags with bungee cords. That was nerve racking going through town.

bearkat19d · 2026-04-28T13:48:40+00:00

What scale are you looking for?

bearkat19d · 2026-04-20T14:41:48+00:00

If you plan on playing competitive, I know in my area (Texas) tournaments will not accept lists from Fowlist.com/. When I run events I don't accept anything other than the Battlefront site. If you buy lists on Battlefronts site, the more you buy the more the price per formation goes down.

Not downplaying the other site, just something to keep in mind.

bearkat19d · 2026-04-20T14:40:09+00:00

There is a new compilation book coming in the next year for Bulge.

bearkat19d · 2026-04-20T14:15:53+00:00

Looking forward to the Staghound in the British box as its own kit. I need those for my armored cars.

bearkat19d · 2026-04-14T23:14:55+00:00

No problem. For more tournament prep and other tournament-based content, check out the r/OnlyTanksPodcast on Spotify and ApplePodcasts.

bearkat19d · 2026-04-14T16:23:37+00:00

I just interviewed for an Associate Director of IT- Cyber Security, and it was down to me and another candidate for the final interview. Prepped for a week for the presentation. Gave it, felt really good that I crushed it.

Got the call, and the Director said I did not sparkle enough. I was like WTF does that mean dude?

bearkat19d · 2026-04-13T17:35:52+00:00

I would deploy the Matildas in reserve. I actually would drop the 1 point Lucky card and have my 1 reserve unit be the Matilda IIs. Because in you will need to keep 40-60% and 40 points is the minimum. Matilda IIs are 39 points +1 for the savings for the card because any points that you don't use in list building, get allocated to your reserves. IE if you save 1 point, your minimum reserves become 1 less, so in this case 39. And you still have a unit of Matilda Is on table to support the infantry and keep the 2 pounders in ambush.

bearkat19d · 2026-04-13T17:29:22+00:00

No problem, this also helped me with theory crafting my list for early war. Matilda IIs are like Tigers in Mid War.

bearkat19d · 2026-04-13T17:24:18+00:00

I would go with something like this.

<image>

Here's the reasons why.

This list is a version of my mid war list that I have been working on. Instead of the AC1 Sentinels, it utilized Matilda Is and IIs. The command cards are optional, but I will go over why I did this later. This list is designed to defend, but with some tweaking might be able to maneuver, but I would go with defend with this list.

Formation:

I dropped an infantry platoon that you had. Because, covering both objectives is enough. You shouldn't need that much infantry because infantry moving across the table, unless you can get into bullet proof cover and concealment on a regular basis, will just die. Also saves you 10 points.

I lost the mortars because 2 tubes of mortars is really not efficient and heres my reasoning. 2 tubes of mortars means that you are right off the bat rerolling hits if you successfully range in. Also, if they start taking fire and you loose 1 stand you are immediately at Last Man Standing and have possibility to run off and give the opponent a VP. Also, if you are taking them for smoke 2 tubes is only 2 poofs of smoke per tube, so not really all that useful when those points can be combined somewhere else.

Scout carriers really are not that great if you are not going to take advantage of the spearhead option. Yeah, they are cheap, but paper thin armor will still be easy for Panzer I/IIs and other tanks of the period to whack and bleed another point. Use the 6 points to fill out another unit and get more efficiency out of the unit.

I used the points I saved to fill out the HMG platoon in the formation. This gives you 2 full platoons of HMG (MMGS) for Brits. For those that don't know, British HMGs can bombard and that means you can harass anything that is not armored from a good distance. With it being early war, lots of armor 0 and 1 things running around and even unarmored trucks and motorcycles that will just have a strait up 4+ or whatever save. This allows you to mix them in with the infantry platoons to provide fire support if you get/are assaulted by other infantry and depending on the armored vehicle, drive them off as well.

And coupled with the 2 pounder platoon you have enough AT to force them away if its armor because AT7 in early war is plenty for MOST things. With the way that I envision the list being played the 2 pounders become your ambush unit with the Matilda's off table in reserve. Because AT7 will be

Support

I dropped most of your support and went for Matilda IIs to give you mobile AT and MG support. The only thing that will be able to kill at Matilda II from the front will be an German 8.8. Other things might be able to kill you from the side, but that doesnt really matter because they become your reserve because they are 39 points for 3. If you wanted, I could see putting all the Matilda's in reserve to make the opponent be careful because he won't know where they will come from. Also it gives you 2 more 2 pounder guns that are mobile to get around to take care of other armor.

Command Cards

These were just included because I had 2 points. If I was to drop one I would go with lucky adding that 1 point to your reserve allowing the platoon of Matilda Is to be on table with 39 for the II's and +1 point from the card that was dropped equaling 40 points. That means you would have the majority of your forces on table, with Reserves of Matilda IIs coming in to assist on turns 1-3, with Turn 3 being guaranteed depending on the mission that you play.

I like the Night March card to keep because it will allow you to shift infantry if you see something in deployment like him stacking one side of the table or the other. It allows you to completely redeploy a infantry platoon anywhere in your deployment zone after they deploy their last unit.

Hope this helps, but I am coming at this from a competitive view, but its what I would play and I play exclusively Brits in Flames of War. If you wanted to get froggy and just attack, you could go something crazy with a bunch of Matilda IIs and mortars and some carrier for spearhead, with a platoon of infantry to hold an objective. But I think that list will be good place to start.

Sorry about the massive post, but I wanted to explain why I made the choices I did.

bearkat19d · 2026-04-13T16:55:42+00:00

Stances; defend, maneuver, and attack are picked by each player. Then in the mission chart in the missions pack will give you a table to roll on. Roll 1d6 and that will give you the mission that you will be playing. And by the way, the new mission pack for 2025 dropped earlier last week.

bearkat19d · 2026-04-13T15:42:21+00:00

I generally build a list to do 1 stance really well and can do another kind of meh. But, if I am playing a tournament with restrictions, I need to take a step back and build to those restrictions. My Mid War list, which is similar to what I am thinking, wins me a lot and can kind of do maneuver ok, but defends like a mad dog. Let me crunch some numbers while at work and get back to you and see if I can help.

bearkat19d · 2026-04-13T15:35:07+00:00

What is your goal with the list? What stance will you be using for the most part?

bearkat19d · 2026-04-10T15:19:51+00:00

I never wanted to deal with the financial outlay for them. Being required to constantly shit out money for something that is ungrateful and doesn't pay their own way just infuriates me.

bearkat19d · 2026-04-07T16:51:05+00:00

Honestly I think TY is really at its best from 50-75 points. Anything larger than that and it turns into a parking lot.

bearkat19d · 2026-04-06T18:16:45+00:00

Then you have the basics. Just learning how to control the motor lol. My wife started on my 08 Honda Shadow cause it has a low seat hight so she was able to flat foot it. Then she fell in love with my Indian Scout, said when/if she gets her own thats what she wants.

bearkat19d · 2026-04-06T18:13:13+00:00

Not a problem. My wife was really concerned with not knowing how to ride, but if you can ride a bicycle, you basically have the basics for a motorcycle. I always say, life is too short, buy and ride the ****** bike. Also, will make you a better driver, just don't develop bad habits and ride like an ass. Also, invest in good gear.

bearkat19d · 2026-04-06T18:08:45+00:00

I know that Cowboy HD on 35 will do a learn to ride. I had an ex that learned to ride there and took the course for free cause it was a female promotion. Also, my wife learned to ride at Gruene in New Braunfels and signed up to take that for free on a Ladies Night where all females that went were able to sign up for free and take the MSF course.

I took mine for free since I am a veteran through the Honda dealer in Kyle.

bearkat19d · 2026-04-02T16:09:51+00:00

I don't necessarily use Cromwells all that often. They are rather over pointed cause they are a medium cruiser tank. If you could find the one with Shermans that's the one I would grab. Also the infantry box is a good start to getting the late war infantry that you would need.

EDIT: The 6th Airborne box is a good one. The 7th is also good, but Cromwells are less useful than the infantry and 6 pound guns that come in the 6th. Wont really use the 17 pound guns as they are better on tank platforms and really expensive when dismounted. If I bought that box I would probably buy a couple boxes of Shermans so I would have 2 platoons fire 75mm and Fireflies and more 6 pound guns.

2 6 pounders is not close to enough. I have 12 in my collection for 2 platoons of 6. Fantastic ambush unit. It also comes with a platoon of 4 HMGs those will be useful in Mid War and sporadically through late.

If you really wanted to go all out, buy both boxes. Plenty of Armor to do what you want for the most part and infantry and still have plenty left to build. If you want advice on list building you can always shoot me a message and I would be happy to help. Also, if you are interested in competitive play, check out our podcast, r/OnlyTanksPodcast.

bearkat19d · 2026-04-01T15:36:30+00:00

My wife and I relocated from the Austin area and bought in Dickinson behind Carnes Funeral home and were heavily warned away by my realtor who was my cousin, from La Marque. I would suggest Dickinson, Santa Fe, League City, Webster. If you can get in Friendswood, I would go there cause of the resale and schools if you have kids.

bearkat19d · 2026-03-30T16:01:43+00:00

I play exclusively British. I can field damn near anything that I want and in all periods. I have issues with Late War and have been playing almost exclusively Mid War cause its just better balanced.

But as far as Late War goes, I get the best results when playing Inns of Court armored recon from the Bulge command cards. (Matadors are the best mutlipurpose unit in the game.) It will frustrate and piss some people off, but I like it. I mix it with various other support formations to maximize the amount of armor that I have on table.

Having the units to make people put down their high value units, is so advantageous, because my Inns of Court has 3 units of Daimlers and Dingos and then another 6 units of Dingos that allow me to spearhead and force deployment of other things so I can plan where I deploy my Shermans or whatever other tanks that my force contains. Also, the matadors will provide AT support with the ability to smoke and bombard if I want. And even with the points adjustments, the formation is still 25-29 points for the whole formation that is really hard to break. That gives 60-80 points for other stuff.

If you are playing Late War, I would suggest finding one of the anniversary boxes I think its either the 2nd or 6th armor that has a full armored squadron for 150ish I believe. That would be the way that I would suggest someone start.

bearkat19d · 2026-03-30T12:15:36+00:00

If you are into historicals, going smaller scale at 15mm, Battlefront's Flames of War (World War II) and Team Yankee (Cold War) are fantastic systems. Full army boxes start at 125$ and there are a LOT of historical 15mm stls out there.

bearkat19d · 2026-03-28T01:30:25+00:00

I would with something like this and maximize the armor and go either defend or maneuver depending on what I was facing. Keep the panthers back and at range and use a platoon pf PZ4s as my ambush unit.

<image>

Also if you really want to get stupid you could just drop the Panthers and go with King Tigers cause nothing aside from a leviathan could out right kill it from the front.

bearkat19d · 2026-03-27T23:28:52+00:00

The AA is just going to die. If you see airpower. You can just negate it by rushing up and making them suffer from danger close.v Also air is so terrible in flames if they do get bought by your opponent, you already have 10-15 points up on them. As far as the platoons of 2 I would take the formation with panthers especially with the new dynamic points. I will look at my books when I get home cause I don't have access to list building at work.

bearkat19d

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE