You Would Not Believe Your Eyes… New Firefly Platoon Incoming!

Last week we took a brief look at the Totenrotte – a terrifying new way for Axis players to run entire armies of Totenkorps – and we said at the very end that there was also something for United States players to look forward to in their army lists when Festung Europa arrives. Well, here it is! Let’s meet the upcoming…

FIREFLY PLATOON

This one really does what it says on the tin – it allows you to field a whole platoon of America’s finest jump troops. “But wait,” I hear you cry. “We can already do a platoon of Fireflies. We’ve even got a Platoon Commander!”. Well, yes, that’s true – but trust me, if you like Fireflies, you’ll want to read on.

So, what makes the Firefly Platoon different from a regular US Assault Platoon full of Fireflies? Well, this platoon is designed to represent the first wave of a Firefly drop assault (such as you might see in the Operation Touchdown section of Festung Europa!), and is kitted out as such. Just like the Totenrotte, the Firefly Platoon can replace the Assault Platoon as the mandatory core of your force, and comes with its own set of mandatory units – in this case one Firefly Platoon Commander (or Roberta Wells!), two squads of Fireflies, and a Linebacker! Right off the bat this gives you a compact, hard-hitting force which can happily also be built straight out of the US Starter Army box. 

For your optional extras, you’ll notice that the theme of ‘must be able to drop into combat, or at least be convincingly thrown out of an aeroplane’ prevails. Want another Linebacker? Why not take two more? If smaller walkers are more your speed, try on 0-3 M2A1 Mudskippers and/or 0-3 M5A5 Jackals! We can see a theme beginning to develop very quickly here – drop in, hit hard, move fast. The infantry backs this up – two more Firefly squads, if you please – and then there’s a fun selection of support teams. These are where it gets even more interesting.

Want a Medic? Sorry, we’re all out of stock. However, there is this nice Firefly Medic that’s just dropped in – might he be of interest? That’s right – beneath it’s oh-so-normal garb, this platoon conceals…

NEW FIREFLY UNITS

If you’re going to drop into combat alongside the Fireflies, it’s a good idea to go through the training yourself. All the special teams in this squad have got the memo, meaning you’ve got Firefly Forward Observers, Firefly Flamethrower Teams, and the aforementioned Medic waiting in the wings to join the force. All this makes the Firefly Platoon a compact, hard-hitting force that can easily be expanded to become your whole force, or taken at its minimum strength to add an ‘alpha strike’ element to a wider US collection. They’re also a great opportunity to use some of the extra bits on the plastic Firefly sprues. Backing the concept up are the…

NEW PLATOON RULES

Just as the Totenrotte Platoon has a couple of nasty tricks up its sleeves (including the ability to make Totenkorps scoring under the right circumstances), so too does the Firefly Platoon increase the qualities of the troops to which it restricts you. In this case, it gives you a once-per-turn re-roll of Regroup in Hell!, perfect for getting a squad out of a tight spot, but the real star turn comes before the game. One unit from the platoon can be nominated for special treatment – when arriving from Reserve using either Jump or Flight, enemy units within 12” are unable to react to its arrival by opening fire! It also receives another special bonus in certain circumstances, but we don’t want to spoil all the fun of cracking open the army list on Update Day… The possibilities here really are great, allowing you to deliver a devastating first strike, dive on a crucial objective, or seize a vital piece of cover, without having to weather a storm of incoming fire.

So, yes – you could just take an Assault Platoon full of Fireflies. However, we’re pretty confident that if you’ve got a good head for heights, an M1X1/2, and bad intentions towards the enemy, you’ll want to take a look at running a new Firefly Platoon when Festung Europa arrives!