US InR Platoon OB

[Charles]

I’m putting together a US InR platoon using the Battle of the Bulge campaign book and have a few questions.

Would 1 InR Platoon HQ and 2 InR Squads count as the required minimum units for a platoon or are they only in addition to another officer and squads?

The InR Platoon HQ unit says 1 regular officer and 2 riflemen for 50 points. A normal regular officer is 50 points plus 10 points per additional man. Is this unit cheaper or is this a misprint?

[Master Chief]

Printed in the latest FAQ:

Page 27: I&R Platoon HQ. Insert new Special Rule:
Note – Whilst this entry is listed as a ‘Platoon HQ’ it is acting in the intelligence and reconnaissance role and so is still subject to the note on page 26; i.e. this is an intelligence officer, not an infantry officer and therefore does not confer morale bonuses or give the ‘You Men, Snap to Action!’ rule.

Page 27: I&R Selectors. Add the following text at the end of the existing narrative:
Note that both the I&R Platoon HQ and the I&R Squad count as standard infantry squads for the purposes of Theatre Selector restrictions; for example, if a Theatre Selector allows 0-4 Infantry Squads, both the I&R Platoon HQ and I&R Squad come out of this allowance, they are not an additional allowance.

[Charles]

Thanks. I didn’t see the FAQs on that before. I’m trying to build an ob for an upcoming game and want it to be “legal” I want to add a small infantry platoon to a tank platoon following a Battle of the Bulge theme. For the infantry platoon I was considering the following.

1 InR HQ of 3 men

2 InR Squads of 9 men

1 Twin Bazooka InR only jeep

1 Bazooka team of 2 men

2 M3 Halftracks to transport everybody

Is this a legal infantry platoon as long as the officer does not give moral bonuses or snap to orders? It will be accompanying a tank platoon of Shermans to create a 1500 point ob with 11 order dice.

[Stuart Harrison]

By my reading of the FAQ, the  InR HQ is not an officer unit, it is an infantry squad, and as such does not meet the compulsory requirement for a lieutenant/second lieutenant HQ unit.  I see it no differently than an observer team – it may have an officer in it, but it’s not an officer unit for bolt action purposes and can’t fill you compulsory platoon command slot.

[Charles]

It’s sounding like I have to have a regular platoon before I can then have an InR platoon or just pick one random InR unit to be able to get the bazooka jeep. Seems like I should be able to build an InR platoon as the campaign book discusses that, but the way the selectors are set up, I can’t unless it’s attached to another platoon. Does that sound about right?

I don’t see an option to build a Battle of the Bulge tank platoon, but could I attached these InR units to a tank platoon rather than make them a separate infantry platoon?

[Charles]

If I build a regular US platoon following the Battle of the Bulge selector and just attach an InR officer to the officer unit, does that count as an InR unit for the purpose of allowing the bazooka jeep selection?

[Master Chief]

Battle of the Bulge page 25:

Aside from the exceptions detailed below, the Intelligence Officer is not a separate unit choice but an optional upgrade for an officer unit. Whereas the standard officer unit is allowed to be accompanied by up to 2 further men, the Intelligence Officer counts as a separate upgrade; in effect, a fourth man.

Based on the above I would say the Intel Officer does not constitute an I&R unit. For your build purposes, perhaps you can just replace one of the 2 required squads in a standard reinforced platoon with an I&R HQ or I&R squad. Or in the list you have shared, add a normal officer unit and drop the I&R HQ or one of the I&R squads.

In either case you will be able to select the twin bazooka jeep and blast away 😊

[Charles]

I can see what everyone is talking about with the limitations of the InR officer. It still seems odd that the Battle of the Bulge campaign book introduces the US InR Platoon with a paragraph discussing InR only platoons and how they actually fought on occasion and how the InR Platoon HQ would act as intelligence officer while also leading the platoon’s two squads in the field,  but then there is apparently no way to create such a platoon that complies with the rules. In other words. an InR platoon HQ unit is not allowed to be a platoon HQ after they just discussed how he would historically be a platoon HQ of 2 InR squads. Part of it is me. When I create an ob using a platoon based rule set, I prefer to make the entire platoon try to match, for example all airborne units only with support weapons historically available to them.

[Author]

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