US force Cobra: veteran or trained

If you look at the possibilities in Cobra, would you choose for:
a Veteran army: less units but more difficult to hit
or
a Trained army: more units but easier to hit.

The Trained companies are the same as in Festung Europe except for Armored Recce, what do you prefer here ?

There is no "universal answer". Let's consider 2 simple cases :
- you have to attack through a quite open ground area : choose vets
- you have to defend an area and you have a good defensive terrain (buildings, etc) : choose trained : you 'll have more units and the bullet proof covers will help your non vets units to stay alive !

So : consider your scenario and your position to make the best choice !

I normally build my list before I know any of these

On my (almost) regular Thursday evening games I take my mini's with me according to the list I've made, then we roll for the scenario, then we decide who's attacker (e.g. defensive battle rule) and then ... it is too late to make my list

Well, this is the fate of such a game if played in a tournament style.
In reality, a division have several companies, usually quite specialised in a specific function. When the commander need to attack, he will assign a company trained for that purpose, and if have to select a company to hold a rear fuel depot or an aerodrome, he is more likely to choose 2nd line troops.

So, in real time, a company knows if it is about to attack or not. The way your scenario and role is determined is completely stupid in the simulation point of view. This problem is one of the reasons I do not like tournaments in the "swiss" like style.

If you still want to play such games, I would prefer vets units on "small" tables
to avoid big packs of teams (you'll at least know the table and army sizes).

For the kind of "tournament" I will suggest, just have a look on my next topic (Cobra campaign - August 2008). If you have lot of tables and sceneries, you could even run it on a single day.