Big Four Of Late War

With two companies of tanks already planned, as well as a pile of support options, I thought it might be fun to add an extra company to the mix, if for no other reason than I like the new plastic Daimler and Dingo models, but also because all the cool kids are running Armoured Car Formations I thought I might give one a go too!

There is no dedicated Armoured Car Formation in the book, but thanks to Command Cards we have the option for one and to my eye it looks pretty interesting. Haven’t played it myself but why let that get in the way of a little enthusiasm.

The Formation has an HQ Daimler, 2-3 platoons of Armoured Cars, more Universal Carriers than you can shake a stick at, and a small portion of ground pounders – a Motor Platoon, 6pdr anti-tank guns and a Mortar Platoon. The way I see it, there are Armoured Cars for some flash and dash, Carriers for sneaky-sneaky, whilst the units with legs can do a pretty decent job of holding an objective. It also gives a me a good reason to actually get my infantry painted (bonus points!). For around 30-35 points, depending on options and upgrades, I can get a Formation that has all the minimums, along with the guns, infantry and mortars. This still leaves me with plenty of points to run a second Formation, or a few “Black Box” support platoons (Shermans, Cromwells, Churchills etc) and some Divisional level assets too.

A quick bit of Google-foo led me to another reason why I need to build and paint this Formation… the 11^th Armoured Division was supported by the Inns of Court Regiment, also known as the Devils Own. Where did they get the nickname, I hear you saying? Well, and this is where I turn to Wikipedia and just pull a “copy-and-paste”.

The Bloomsbury and Inns of Court Volunteers was reformed in 1797 during the Napoleonic Wars. It was shortly afterwards that the regiment gained its enduring nickname. During a review by King George III in Hyde Park in 1803, the King used his dislike for lawyers – particularly ones carrying arms – to name the massed ranks of the Law Association as “The Devil’s Own”. “It is understood that the King was in high health and excellent spirits at the time. When the ‘Temple companies’ had defiled before him, his Majesty enquired of Lord David Erskine, who commanded them, as lieutenant colonel, what was the composition of that corps? ‘They are all lawyers, Sire,’ said Erskine. ‘What! What! ‘exclaimed the King, ‘all lawyers? all lawyers? Call them the Devil’s Own, call them the Devil’s Own!” “And the Devil’s Own they were called accordingly.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inns_of_Court_Regiment

There is something appealing about unleashing an army of lawyers on an unsuspecting opponent!

So that makes three Formations from the new book that I am very keen to paint – each one gets to look different from the others, and each one will give me a very different gaming experience, even if I keep the supporting elements largely the same.

At this point I should probably stop digging through the book and Command Cards in case I find anything else interesting, and just starting painting some models…. Hmmm, some M5 half-tracks are awfully tempting to add as a Command Card to my Motor Platoon or 6pdrs!

~Chris

When I think about the British in Late War, I group their tanks in to (generally speaking) three different types; Shermans, Churchills, and Cruisers (Cromwells/Comets). With a Sherman force completed, and the Churchills underway and on the painting table, I am already starting to think about how I would build a force based around Cromwells.

I initially thought about painting up a Desert Rats force. Phil has had some success in the past running Cromwells with little red Jerboas on them, so they must be good. However, with the strong 11^th Armoured Division feel to my army, and their distinctive yellow and black divisional markings looking so good on the tanks I didn’t want to break the colour/markings scheme. Luckily for me, the 11^th were supported by the 2^nd Northhampton-Shire Yeomanry and then the 15th/19th The King’s Royal Hussars, working as their Divisional Reconnaissance Regiments, so I could keep the theme running through all the models I paint!

Looking at the Cromwell Armoured Recce Squadron list, it will be easy to start painting up the basics and building upon the models I already have! Starting with the HQ, much like the Churchill force, I can have a pair of Cromwell CS (95mm) tanks, along with a single Cromwell (75mm). This will give me some nice light artillery, and a small amount of painting variety.

I can then fill out the Squadron with four (or five) more platoons of three Cromwells, alongside a platoon of Stuarts and the always useful, Crusader AA platoon. All of this comes to 96 points, so doesn’t leave much left for Divisional Support, assuming I want to run LOTS of Cromwells!

Keeping my options open and looking back to the Desert Rats Cromwell Armoured Squadron you can build and HQ with two 75mm tanks and two CS tanks, and then up to four platoons of Cromwells, each with a Firefly included! A full-strength HQ, and four platoons, plus the Stuarts and Crusader AA do come in at an unfortunate 101 points, but by dropping a platoon you pick up enough points for a variety of support options. Sounds interesting!

So, where does that leave me now? Well, I am definitely going to paint up enough models for a full HQ and four platoons of three Cromwells, each with a Firefly. Here however (please don’t judge me) is where I am going to diverge from history, for the sake of having a nice looking and thematic force. I’ll paint the whole force in my usual way, but when it comes to the markings I am going to go a little rogue – the Cromwells will have 11^th Armoured Division and 15th/19th The King’s Royal Hussars markings, with white triangles for the Armoured Recce Squadron. My Firefly tanks will get the usual 11^th Armoured Bull markings (along with bridge weights and serial numbers), but that may be where I leave it, with no Regimental Flash or Squadron markings…

It is all a little hinky and the purists may not like it, but with this plan I get the best of all worlds. I can field them as the his historically accurate 15th/19th The King’s Royal Hussars, but I will also have the extra models so I can field them as a different Formation from the book – and when I have a painting plan for the D-Day: British book that is around 60+ models, what’s the problem with adding another four!

~ Chris

*Merebimur (We shall be Worthy) – the moto of the 15th/19th The King’s Royal Hussars

The upcoming release of the D-Day: British book has me looking over some lists I’ve never really thought about running before and the Churchill force, in Late War, is definitely at the top of that list. Looking at it, I’ve no idea why it’s never appealed to me in the past – the tanks have great armour, a reasonable gun and have that tendency to strike fear into their opponents.

A Churchill Armoured Squadron can field plenty of Churchills, and at 18 points per platoon, or 20 if you upgrade one to a (late 75mm) version, you can easily fit 4 platoons in a Force whilst still having a few points left over for some supporting elements. I’m thinking that in this particular case that is a bit of overkill and I’ll just paint two platoons, I can always paint up a 3^rd one later after I’ve played a few games. This also means I have plenty of points available for a full-strength HQ platoon along with a couple of Churchill CS (95mm) tanks, and one Churchill (late 75mm).

With so many models of Churchills available in the list, it’s easy to get confused what each one is for…. The CS tanks give me some light artillery and can also still knock out Panzer IVs and guns with direct fire. The Churchill (late 75mm) tanks in the HQ and platoons have the advantage of 2 extra points of front armour taking the tanks up to FA11 – my whole plan for these is to try and move hits over to these tanks where possible, thereby minimising casualties, hopefully. There are also Churchill (75mm) tanks and Churchill (6 pdr) tanks – these are the same tank, they just change their guns – the 75mm gives AT 10, FP 3+ and Smoke, whilst the 6 pdr has an extra point of AT, but drops the Firepower by a point and looses smoke. I’m going to paint up one of each in my platoons mainly for looks, but how I choose to field them will be something I need to figure out after playing a few games.

Inside the Formation I’ll also take Stuarts and Crusader AA tanks. They are both useful, cheap and help fill out the Formation making it a little more durable. Rounding out the army will of course be M10s (don’t leave home without them!), Carriers (gives me another Scout and Spearhead unit, and I only just finished painting them!) and a Rifle Platoon (hold your laughter, I am going to get around to them!).

On paper I feel like this list has a bit of everything, it can defend (if forced too), should be strong on attack, can deal with infantry and tanks and has enough models to let it hang around even once it starts taking a few casualties.

If I feel like adding more Churchill based goodness to the force, I can always drop out the infantry, M10s and Carriers, and replace them with some Crocodiles and maybe even AVREs!

~Chris

*Fear Naught Qui s’y frotte, s’y brule (Touch me, and you burn) – the moto of the 9th Royal Tank Regiment

With the D-Day: British book due out shortly, I thought I’d take a quick look back at my original painting plan and then have a quick review of what the next few months might hold for me.

My original list was simple, lots of Shermans along with some supporting elements. You can find the list here… With the Universal Carriers finished recently I can happily say that I actually managed to get the whole 100-point force painted. I even managed to paint up the Churchills that came in the army box and whilst they have been pretending to be earlier models, with the release of D-Day: British they will be able to hook up their trailers and turn into Crocodiles. The Typhoons weren’t on my original plan either, but the idea of painting something different (i.e. not green) really appealed.

Where I did fail was the infantry – whilst these were not in my initial painting plan, I had good intentions to paint up a couple of Motor Platoons. Painting the artillery crew for the 25 pdrs I wasn’t entirely happy with how they came out, so I kept putting the infantry further down my to-do list. This is something I will have to rectify.

From a gaming perspective also realised that my 3 tank platoons were just too fragile. Part of me thinks I should grab another 4 Shermans so I can max out the platoons, but the other part of thinks that with Cromwells and Churchills coming in the D-Day book, I should just paint those instead.

So now that I have opened the door, what am I likely to be painting from the D-Day: British book, other than some infantry!

First up will be Churchills. A small company of these, along with some AVREs, will look really interesting, play quite differently from my Shermans, and be a nice self-contained project that works alongside everything else I already have.

Next will be the Cromwells. In my mind I think of them as fast Shermans, but I am sure that once I get them on the table the differences in stat lines will make me have to play them quite differently. I’ve also wanted to build a Cromwell force ever since James upgraded the old resin and metal models with individually sculpted versions. I’ll need to look into how to replicate his hessian strips!

After this I should probably work on the infantry… but it is highly likely I’ll be doing some more vehicles. A Daimler / Dingo Recce company (Command Card) is really appealing, perhaps a support Churchill Formation from Fortress Europe, or some 6 pdr AT guns, definitely some Crusader AA, maybe some Bofors too, and perhaps another platoon of Carriers… Of course, there are also Paras!

So many choices!

~Chris