Experimental Weaponry

A look at some of the lesser used units for the British

Weird and Wonderful Weaponry

 In my 10+ years of playing Flames of War, I've always been fascinated by the lesser seen, and lesser used units that appear in some of the books. I would be happy enough trotting out the same list week after week; British Rifle Company with the two platoons, 6pdrs, mortars, artillery and some form of armoured support. But I like mixing things up a bit, and getting some of the stranger units on the table. So, the purpose of this is to have a look at some of the lesser used* units for the Brits 

(*in terms of my own experience, these units are not used often, if at all here in Scotland).

Collecting them all in one place

 The first thing to do was to have a look at the British armoury and see which of the units I could get a hold of, and which ones I wanted to use. There were a few I really wanted to try out, and these were:

• Land mattress rocket launcher
• Wasp PPP flame carrier
• Churchill Crocodile
• Archer 17pdr SP
• Commando platoon

 To many of you, the choices above might be a common sight, or you even use them yourself, but in my own experience I've only had the pleasure of seeing the Churchill Crocodile being used by another player, and have used the Archers myself in a single game.

 So, which list would allow me to take all five in one place? There's two choices; Canadian Rifle Company or 52nd Scottish Rifle Company from Market Garden. I opted for the latter, as it allowed me to take more core units to support my experimental corps.

 I took all Canadian support for this list to give my experimental corps more survivability, except the Wasps, who had to remained trained.

 With the list written and the models painted up, it was time to get them onto the table and see how they performed

Churchill Crocodiles - No target, withdrew

 The unit that most commonly appears in other lists are the Crocodiles, with almost every late-war British infantry list having the option to take a unit.

The Crocs hold out for an infantry target, to no avail

 My opponent was fielding a Panzerkompanie, and sat a platoon of Panthers in their way. With neither unit able to deal with the other effectively, the Crocodiles sat back waiting sadly. They were eventually withdrawn after a StuG got around the side and put a round through one of them.

 With the flame-thrower rules as they are, the Churchill Crocodile has the potential to be one of the best flame units in the game. Not suffering from the Fuel Tanks rule, the extended range, higher rate of fire and once used is still a Churchill VII, I would definitely field them again, hopefully with greater success.

Wasp PPP Flame Carrier - stunted by targets and mobility

 Much like the Crocodiles, the Wasp PPP appears in almost every British infantry list in late war; with the option to take up to two patrols worth. They are let down slightly by their stunted mobility through rough terrain, short range and lack of armour, with regular MG shots being able to take them out.

The cute, but deadly little Wasp Carriers

 The Wasps were just as ineffective as the Crocdiles; but that was due to bad positioning during deployment, and then getting themselves stuck in a wheat field, limiting their ability. Their only action in the game was to attempt to bail out a lone StuG, but with the firepower tests letting me down, the Wasps left the table disappointingly.

 With the potential to wreak major havoc amongst infantry and gun teams, as well as being utterly devastating to Gepanzerte Panzergrenadiers, they could do a lot more. I'll give them another go sometime in the future.

Land Mattress Rocket Launcher - a decent heavy mortar equivalent

 The Land Mattress Rocket Launcher is one of the most unique items in the British armoury. With the option to take it only appearing in the Market Garden book, and only for the Canadian and 52nd Scottish lists. The weapon itself has a very similar design to the German Heavy Rocket Launchers.

Land Mattresses, fully loaded and ready to fire

  The Land Mattress has a stat line similar to the British 4.2'' heavy mortar, with a slightly extended range, but with every weapon firing with the power of four, it makes for a more compact weapon. They are an excellent pinning weapon, but with the potential to fire as sixteen weapons for a full battery, their effect can be utterly devastating. I only fielded two weapons, with the firepower of eight heavy mortars.
 The mattress rule requiring a skill check to fire, or forego a turn to reload can make them a little unreliable, but with the unit only coming as Veterans, it is common to have at least one firing every turn, if not both. My unit was firing fairly regularly with one weapon, and two every few turns. Early in the game, they bailed out a few unlucky panzers, but proved their worth later on as they dropped a salvo on some pioneers racing across the table in their trucks, dismounting them and knocking a few teams out.

 If I were to field these fearsome weapons again, I would most definitely invest in another two guns to round out the battery and drop the devastating bombardment template on some unsuspecting units.

Archer 17pdr Self Propelled Anti-Tank - Glass cannons!

 The Archer is the only one of these weapons I've fielded before, and in the game I used them, they performed admirably, even though they had to turn into mobile pillboxes later on as infantry started getting too close for comfort. Archers appear in the Market Garden book for the Canadian lists and in Nachtjåger as the self-propelled anti-tank support for the British Rifle Company.

Panzers and StuGs don't stand a chance against Archers, but return fire is deadly

 The Archers are most useful when sprung from ambush, as they did during my game. Being armed with the very effective 17pdr, they tend to destroy almost everything they hit aside from the heavier big cats. Their lack of armour means that any return fire they receive will most likely take them out, and their 'Awkward layout' means repositioning is a slow process should they survive.
 But, as you can see from the picture above, the StuGs which were on the receiving end of their wrath were left smoking wrecks. Their fate was sealed later on, as the remaining StuG and a Panzer friend rolled out and sniped them off.

 The Archer is turning into one of my most favourite Anti-Tank weapons. I used to only take the M10C, but coming in at around 50pts a piece cheaper, for a unit that will probably not move any way, the points drop is worth it.

Commandos - Swift, deadly, efficient

 I almost never take troops of any rating other than Confident Veteran, so this list was a massive swing from the norm for me, but Commandos were an upgrade. With so many special rules for this Fearless Veteran strike force, and the flexibility to switch out PIAT, light mortar and LMG teams, these were the ones I was looking forward to the most. Naturally, with so many tanks on the other side, I only opted to switch in the PIAT team, while keeping all other teams Rifle/MG.

Commandos take the train station, a good central position.

 The Commandos spent the first few turns of my game camped out in a train station, before springing on a chance for some action. One of my opponent's Panthers bogged down in a building, and the Commandos seized the chance, rushing from the building and straight into combat. They put a PIAT round through the top hatch, before one of the Panther's squad mates wheeled round to teach the pesky marines a lesson. But swinging and missing didn't do it any favours as the fearless troops once again popped the tank with a well-placed PIAT round.

The Commandos do in the pair of Panthers, one having gotten stuck in the shop.

 Would I take Commandos again? Heck yes I would, in fact, I would love to give them a try out as a full Company. The Fearless rating keeping them in the fight, with the hard hitting combat abilities and flexibility making them very effective against a variety of targets.

What else to use?

 I have been looking at other weaponry that I could try out in these lists and there are a few. One of which only appears in three lists across the entire war; the 3.7'' Heavy Anti-Aircraft gun. This weapon is the British equivalent to the German 88', but only comes as Confident Trained and lacks a gun-shield.

The British '88', picture from Battlefront Miniatures

 The final unit I fancy trying out is the PIAT Battery Launcher. This universal carrier packing a row of PIATs on the back fire as a standard medium mortar battery, with a rule similar to the 'Tip & Run' rule for Portee mounted weapons.

A PIAT battery carrier of the Canadian 3rd Division

 I'm always interested in trying out new units, and the stranger the better. So, if anyone has any ideas for weird and wacky units, let me know.
 That's it for now, see you next time.