WW2 – Band of Brothers – squad Optimisation

Ok having developed my squad IMPACTFULNESS calculator, and having the 4 sprues of American Paratroopers from the Band of Brothers starter set to build I thought I’d use it to compare the recommended lists from the pack with other options.

So in the box you get 4 sprues of US Paratroopers – lets see what parts we have available and what it lets us build

So from analysis of the sprues we have.

Now the starter set recommends you build

• 2nd Lieutenant with SMG and 2 attendants one with SMG and 1 with a rifle
• 1 MMG team of 3
• Squad 1
  • 3 with SMG
  • 1 with BAR
  • 5 with Rifle

That provides a total of 24 figures.

So using the IMPACTFULNESS calculator assuming they are Veteran – we get a score of 11.07

Using the US Paratrooper Squad (Late war) as outlined in the Band of Brothers box – the unit can consist of

• At least 6 men a max of 12 men
• upto 5 SMG’s
• Upto 1 Bar
• Upto 2 LMGs + Loader
• All will count as Stubborn – but this will not be taken into account in the comparisons

So lets start with a 7 man team of 6 rifles and 1 BAR – the calculator gives this an IMPACTFULNESS score of 14.34 – and the box would allow 3 such units to be built and a Lieutenant + friends – so would remove the MMG. I will need to find away to work out the impact of this.

Now lets try a 9 man team of 8 rifles and 1 BAR – this gives an IMPACTFULNESS of 11.00 and would only allow 2 teams to be built but would allow the MMG.

How about we try a 9 man team of 7 rifles and 1 LMG team – this gives an IMPACTFULNESS score of 10.21 – it appears the BAR is better value than the LMG

Now we are allowed to take a squad with 2 LMGS and a BAR and it would be rude not to see what this scores – Wow thats a low IMPACTFULNESS score at 8.80 – this is a very powerful combination – and the box would allow us to build 2 squads like this with the sacrifice of the MMG.

I am now going to try a 6 man team of 5 rifles and 1 BAR – previous analysis has said that this should not be as good as the 7 man team but lets check. – Nope it is actually better at 14,11 we are seeing here the issue with the expense of Veterans.

Now I am going to try some analysis to see what the effect is if we include an impact for moving whilst firing – hey these are Paratroopers they will not be sitting still waiting to be shot.

So lets go back to the original recommended squad – that was 5 rifles, 3 SMG and a BAR – but this time we are going to change the Moved marker to Y.. The IMPACTFULNESS score for this was 11.07 with out the impact of moving – its now 14.52.

Ok lets swap some of those rifles for more SMGs and see how this changes things for a moving squad… now IMPACTFULNESS is 13.32, thats quite an improvement

Now lets take that 8.80 scoring mix and see what moving does to it – IMPACTFULNESS goes up to 13.90

Lets swap the Rifles for SMG’s – the score drops to 12.26 – this makes me confident that the modifier for movement work ..

We haven’t scored this for not moving – lets see what we get – an EFFECTIVENESS of 9

Lets put all of these in an easy to compare table

Squad make up	moving	not moving	Avg
4 SMG, 1 BAR, 2 LMG	12.26	9.00	10.63
4 Rifles, 1 BAR, 2 LMG	13.90	8.80	11.35
5 Rifles, 3 SMG, 1 BAR	14.52	11.07	12.27
8 Rifles, 1 LMG	16.20	11.00	13.10
7 Rifles, 1 LMG	16.00	10.21	13.10
6 rifles , 1 BAR	22.49	14.34	13.41
3 rifles, 5 SMG, 1 BAR	13.32	11.12	12.22

Looking at this makes me think .. what would 5 SMG and a BAR look like

Not Moving

Moving

Lets extend that easy to compare table and include a few more combinations

Squad make up	moving	not moving	Avg
4 SMG, 1 BAR, 2 LMG	12.26	9.00	10.63
4 Rifles, 1 BAR, 2 LMG	13.90	8.80	11.35
3 Rifles, 4 SMG, 1 LMG	13.39	10.36	11.87
3 rifles, 5 SMG, 1 BAR	13.32	11.12	12.22
4 Rifles, 4 SMG, 1 BAR	13.88	11.10	12.49
5 Rifles, 3 SMG, 1 BAR	14.52	11.07	12.78
8 Rifles, 1 LMG	16.20	11.00	13.10
7 Rifles, 1 LMG	16.00	10.21	13.10
6 rifles , 1 BAR	22.49	14.34	13.41
5 SMG, 1 BAR	16.00	14.42	15.21
1 Rifle, 5 SMG, 1 BAR	16.68	14.59	15.63
5 Rifles, 1 SMG, 1 BAR	20.82	14.39	17.61
5 Rifles, 1 BAR	22.16	14.11	18.13

So after a load of number crunching and making the model work for movement, and assuming an equal weighting for moving and static – it looks like the 4 SMG, 1 BAR and 2 LMG is the best followed by 4 Rifles, 1 BAR and 2 LMG, then 3 Rifles, 4 SMG and 1 LMG. What I currently can’t take into account is the benefit of an MMG.

Total points wise .. lets see..

• The optimum squad costs 192 per squad and uses 9 figures – so 2 squads cost 384 and leaves 6 figures for a leader + friends and 3 others.
• The next optimum costs 176 per squad and uses 9 figures – so 2 squads cost 352 and leaves 6 figures for a leader + friends and 3 others.
• The 3rd choice cost costs 164 per squad and uses 9 figures – so 2 squads for 328 and leaving 6 figures for a leader + friends.

As always this is just an attempt to quantify effectiveness and is not perfect. So how will I build my squads.

I think I will go 4 SMG, 4 Rifles and 1 BAR + Leader + MMG this should give me a total force value of –

• 2 Squads for 296
• 1st Veteran Lieutenant + 2 extras (90 + 26 = 116)
• MMG veteran (65)
• = 296+ 116+65 = 477 pts

or I may rebuild the 2 extras with the lieutenant into a sniper team which will give me

• 2 Squads for 296
• Veteran 1st Lieutenant 90
• Veteran MMG 65
• Veteran Sniper Team 67
• =296 + 90 + 65 + 67 = 518 pts

so to bring it under 500 pts – change the officer to 2nd lieutenant and we get

• 2 Squads for 296
• Veteran 2st Lieutenant 65
• Veteran MMG 65
• Veteran Sniper Team 67
• =296 + 65 + 65 + 67 = 493 pts

Now that looks like a good starter force.

So after all this I will build –

• 2 squads of 4 SMG, 4 Rifles and 1 Bar
• A 2nd Lieutenant
• 1 MMG of 3 men
• 1 Sniper team of 2

Hope you have found my ramblings useful