M8 Greyhound

With the publication of Upgrade Vehicle the use of this armoured car became a must for the American army. Thanks to the 37mm Extra-long Light gun it can destroy halftracks and armoured cars relatively easily, and with a bit of luck it can become a problem for Medium tanks too. Its mobility and the possibility of adding a heavy machine gun to the pulpit guarantees versatility of use at a relatively low cost. If you want a mobile army you could buy the machanised infantry with a platoon of three M8s, a M8HMC Light tank and a jeep. Separating the bazookas from the basic squads you will easily get to the 10 units expected in the tournament rules. Considering the fact that the Germans will have problems fielding more than one Medium Tank it will be enough to avoid it with your higher mobility. For those players that prefer tank armies it becomes important to execute deep actions that are aimed at troubling the enemy units set-up in the front line. By placing itself behind them you will force the enemy to retreat that will give an opportunity for decisive counterattacks.

MISSIONS
The main tasks for a reconnaissance team were to discover the whereabouts and number of the enemy, and to scout the lay-out of the roads and terrain ahead. The success of any plan, be it in attack or in defence, depends largely on the quality and quantity of intelligence received. For an army like the American one, which had all sorts of weapons in industrial quantities, victory was a "detail" inextricably tied to the knowledge they had about the situation they were to face. A Recon unit mainly carries out three sorts of Reconnaissance Missions: pathfinder, zone, and area.
The first mission highlights the need to minimise the risk in moving large amounts of vehicles and men. The recon squad must identify and communicate the best route by moving ahead of the main body of the army. The case of a zone reconnaissance assumes the presence of enemy forces and so the main task is to individuate and identify enemy outposts. The last mission, area reconnaissance, implies an attack-plan; in this sort of mission, towns, crossroads and exposed areas are carefully examined to avoid ambushes.
Together with recon missions, Combat Missions are also carried out, which in turn are divided into: shield, sentry, and cover.
The first mission sees you trying to destroy enemy scouts, thus hiding your own forces. This sort of mission is common during periods of stagnation where identifying enemy weak-points becomes a fundamental key to the success of any attack.
The sentry mission expects a rapid identification of the attacking enemy forces. In this case the main task is to identify the direction of the attack and the strength of the forces used. Missions like this also imply a rapid counter-attack and are only undertaken if the main body of the allied forces is close-by (roughly 3000m).
The cover mission is very similar to the sentry but is carried out to absorb the attack and give the reinforcements time to get to the front and counter-attack, or to allow a full retreat, keeping the enemy scouts busy.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
At the start of the war the Americans weren't at all prepared for the new style of war based on the use of tanks. For this reason the production of tanks, or fast, armoured vehicles which could deeply penetrate the enemy lines in relative safety, was severely delayed. After a series of disasters the army decided that the M8 was the ideal vehicle for the task. The first model was produced in far-off March 1943 even if it was only used in a combat-role during the Salerno landings, on the 9th September. Unfortunately it's use was limited by both the nature of the Italian battlefield and the static nature of the conflict. The situation changed when in the Normandy Landings they were used in large numbers. To each recon unit, which comprised 3 sections of 2 jeeps each, was added tank section comprising three M8s. The firepower of this new section was to prove a trump card. Despite the fact that the 37mm cannon was not sufficient to penetrate German tank armour, it was very effective against infantry outposts and the half-tracks that the Germans used as troop-transporters. In a very short time the popularity of this vehicle grew to such a point that a variant without the cannon was built, which was ideal for recon missions: the M20. Unlike the Sherman, however, it wasn't adopted by the British who preferred to rely on models with thicker armour like the Staghound. Even the Germans showed that they liked this model in the last years of the war. Numerous photos from the Ardennes offensive show German Paratroopers driving an M8 with a swastika hastily painted on the side...