82nd Airborne Glider Engineers vs US 2ID in Dust Up

US planes swoop down on a strafing run machine guns catching a platoon in the open

My second game of Lords of War 1750 LW Bastogne themed tournament was against Christian and his US 2ID. I've only played against US 2ID once before and I've heard a bunch of the complaints and people calling them wood elves. I understand what the game designers were going for but have a really hard time thinking that these troops would move faster across country that Paratroopers, Rangers, Commandos, and FSSF. In this game we had ice, snow, and the threat of a blizzard. The mission was Dust Up and I was the attacker.

Big Willie's 82nd
OC and 2IC
Full Engineer platoon with cart and 'zooks
Full Engineer platoon with cart and 'zooks
Cav Recon platoon
4 x Sherman platoon with 8 Easy 8s and a Jumbo
3 x 105mm guns
3 x Priests
2 x 155 Long Toms
Limited Air support

Christians US 2ID
OC and 2IC
Full infantry platoon
Full infantry platoon
HMG platoon
Mortar platoon
4 x Towed tank destroyers
4 x 105mm guns
Engineer platoon
2 x Cav Recon platoons
AA platoon
Dismounted Recon
AOP

Set Up

Objectives are centre between the two snow drifts and behind the bottom left hill and the other objectives are in the village top right

US 2ID ready to advance

Heavy towed tank destroyers deploy covering an objective

Engineers spread out with interlocking fields of fire cover both objectives

Glider 105s cover the final objective

Turn 1

2ID troops are caught in the open and lose three stands to MG fire

82nd Arty knocks out a half-track

Turn 2-3

82nd Arty engages the Engineers and tank destroyers

Turn 4

An AOP arrives to call in 105 fire on the Glider guns

Shermans arrive from reserve and attempt to hit the 2ID infantry

The 82nd Airborne line holds with only the pioneer supply vehicles as casualties

Turn 5

A lone 'zook bails the Jumbo and then defensive fire bails the two Easy 8s!

2ID infantry platoon arrives along with all the Cav recon and dismounted recon

We ended up running out of time with neither of us killing a platoon or holding an objective. So the score was 1-1. The ability to double through rough terrain means that these guys don't need transport especially on a table that is snow covered. Christian did a great job of moving his troops into my tanks blind spots and limiting incoming defensive fire. The blizzard only lasted for one of my turns which along with not having arty on the table really limited my ability to soften up his forces. I think this is a weakness with only having 7 platoons.