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 They were eventually withdrawn after a StuG got around the side and put a round through one of them.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.

A New Year; Same Old Points (23rd January)

A long break and returned again

 As you'll no doubt notice, the last post on this blog was away back in May of last year. This is mostly my fault. With University studies getting me distracted, and working a full time job over the summer, it didn't leave much in the way of time for writing up events. But that all changes now, I have returned with a vengeance and will get out a full report on time, every time.

The Flames of War Scotland team return to Common Ground Games

 All change, except not

 Battlefront announced at the end of last year, that the points for Late-War Tournaments would be changed to a rather intriguing and controversial 1420. (You can read the full article here). With this new points value expected to test the resolve of players who have a list set in stone, I was excited to try out new and interesting forces. But, alas, the Scottish players are a fickle bunch and didn't want to be dropped in the deep end straight away, so we put it to a vote, and the old fashioned 1750pts won out, but only just.

 So, with the points and date set, we were all ready for a new year of gaming.

Again, apologies for lack of pictures from the late game, but when I get playing the camera is set aside for a little while.

New Faces

 Originally, we had a prospective ten players lined up for this Late-War Tournament; but unfortunately, the weather, call-offs and no-shows dropped this to five. But, never one to be put off by low numbers, we ploughed on regardless.

David Forrest is the first of two players to make their debut into the tournament scene this year. David has been ever present on the Flames of War Scotland Facebook group, but work and life had kept him away in the past, so it was a pleasure to finally see him along this time round.

David is using a Schwere Panzerjagerkompanie from Bridge by Bridge.

 David's force consisted of a Panzerjagerkompanie from Bridge by Bridge, with StuGs being the mainstay, while the hitting power of Jagdpanthers, 88's and Artillery rounded out his force.

 Gavin Turner was brought along by David. Being a completely new player, he wasn't given the harshest baptisms of fire, but with a few experienced players around to assist, we ensured that Gavin would be taught this time, rather than ground into the dirt.

Gavin was using a 101st Parachute Division list from Market Garden

 Starting out with a Fearless Veteran list might be a wise choice, to give the army more survivability on the field, but we'll see if it holds out for him. Add in a platoon of British Shermans packing Fireflies, it should be a daunting force.

 Michael Byrne is slowly becoming accustomed to the tournament scene, and returns with his US 9th Armored from Bridge at Remagen. The mix of Easy Eights, Jumbos and a small platoon of 105 Shermans gave this list a look of balance as it seemed to have all it wants to take on a variety of targets. With a singular Super-Pershing kicking about to add some fear factor.

The mixture of Sherman types always makes for interesting results

 Greg Fyfe is now an old hand at tournaments, having attended them for a little longer than I have, and almost ever-present at the ones now being run at Stirling. A common gripe from Greg over the years was the lack of Veteran lists for the Soviets, despite the addition of 'Hero' lists from Desperate Measures, the Soviets still went the entire war without true Veterans (Ignoring Spetznaz Platoons), until Berlin Digital treated us to Veteran cavalry, Engineer Sappers and a Recce Company. So, with these new lists, he fielded a Hero Cavalry Regiment.

Veteran Cavalry charging in with T-34 support makes Greg's list

And finally, yours truly. I always love trying out new toys, and for this event I had in mind some really fun little toys to use in the form of Wasp PPP carriers and Land Mattress Rocket Launchers. Alas, I had ordered them a little too late, so they weren't available for the day. Instead, I went with another unit type that I've only fielded once in a friendly game, and only as a supporting platoon. Comets...

The firepower of a Panther, the speed of a Cromwell and the armour of an Easy Eight make this tank amazing.

Round One: Surrounded

Bye: Me

 With five players, naturally someone was going to have a bye. Usually, I would have stepped aside and allowed a round robin between the other players, but I wanted to get some games in with my Comets. I did however elect to take the first round bye to allow the others to get settled into gaming.

Greg vs Michael
Gavin vs David

 Greg took on Michael, while David and Gavin faced off against each other to allow the two a softer start to the tournament. I spent most of the time sitting between the two tables, glancing either side and manning a rulebook.

Michael's Shermans await to attack on Greg's dug in troops

 In the game between Michael and Greg, the US tank company were attacking dismounted, dug in cavalry. With the presence of a daunting hill in the middle of the table, Michael had a tough job of getting to Greg's lines. Early on, a vineyard made for tough going on the platoon of 105's to the north, bogging a couple down, while the others navigated towards the hill. To the south, the recce slipped into the forest, but alas a bogged down M8 made the platoon a target, while trying to sit and lift Gone to Ground on some of the softer targets.
 A brutal use of 120mm mortars blunted the armoured advance, in a horrible display of dice-rolling, two Easy Eights were knocked out by the light artillery, and with the SU-85M's rolling up to the edge of the forest to put some hurt on the rest of the platoon, the south flank attack from the Americans crumbled.
 On the other side of the table, the Stuarts came rolling in, ready to assault into the mortars to extract some vengeance, but some sly positioning from the T-34s meant the defensive fire drove them back and sent them fleeing.
 It was looking pretty grim for the Americans as each attack broke down and units broke off, while the dug in Soviets held on for dear life, denying an important platoon kill.

 The game was called as the Americans were forced into a company command check, and the CiC was no longer on the field, with the 2iC also out of action. And that was that, a 6-1 to Greg and a strong start.

Dismounted cavalry assaulting Recce? Sure!

 On the other table, Gavin and David were still getting to grips with some of the ideas of the game. But with me sitting out, I was more than happy to offer advice to both sides. give them ideas of how to use certain units and get the game away from an old fashioned 40K shoot-em-up.
 The start of the game involved a heavy gun line of StuGs and Jadgpanthers pounding away at the dug in Paras, while the Wirbelwinds tore into anyone foolish enough to raise their head above the foxholes. With the instruction on how to fire smoke, the US troops started making the Wirbelwinds and Jagdpanthers less effective, but there was  still an imminent threat.
 On the other side of the table, the Paratroops broke out and went after the Artillery. The 105s almost caught short by the advancing troops, losing a few of their number to light mortar and machine-gun fire.
 As time was called, the Germans hadn't made enough ground to take an objective, so the game was called as a 5-2 win to Gavin.

++Lunchtime++

It's hungry work commanding and fighting

Round Two: Dust Up

Bye: Michael

The old favourite, Dust Up, was rolled for round two. The mission always gets a groan of dislike from veteran players, but it's not a bad little mission.

Me vs David
Greg vs Gavin

So, with me now in the gaming, I had less time to look over the game between Greg and Gavin barring the very end. So it'll be a little stunted, I'm afraid; but first, my own game with David.

 Dust Up is one of the few mission in the game that can be won in the first turn. It's not fun for either player when this happens, but I can guarantee that if it happens to you, you will probably never suffer the indignity of it again, knowing what you know.
 Unfortunately for David, he wasn't aware of this, and so began the lesson. I placed an objective as close as I could to my own deployment area, on top of a hill, within 4" of the flat land, so my Comets could immediately jump the 16" onto it first turn. David's closest until was about 15" away, leaving him high and dry to contest first turn, and the presence of the hill blocking line of sight to my attacking force.

 I did immediately extend the hand for a game well played, but I didn't just pack up and walk off. Despite teaching the lesson of watching your objectives, I still wanted a game, and it wouldn't have been much fun to David if I'd done that and then buggered off for a coffee.
 So we carried on, ignoring the taken objective and playing out the game as normal.

 My Sherman OP managed to bog itself down, as I was silly enough to try to roll it through a forest, despite it being gone to ground and concealed if it had just sat slightly behind the front of the woods. More the fool, I.
 The speed of the Comets showed as a platoon of them rushed down the side of the table a speedy 32" to take position behind a forest and out of line of sight of all nasty guns, while the commander led the other one forward from the objective. My two platoons of infantry and Daimler Recce were held off table for some immediate effect when they show up.
 The German artillery got off some shots onto my Comets, but they only managed to bail one out. I rolled a platoon of them through the woods to the south of the ruined monastery and fired off some rattling machine-gun fire across the walls to little effect.
 Finally, David brings in some reinforcements in the form of a pair of Jadgpanthers. The fear of these weapons made me wary. Despite the slight increase of armour on the Comets, the shots go through automatically at short range, and the one-in-six chance of a bailed result at long range was not worth the gamble.
 Ignoring them was the best option, as the Sextons threw a repeat bombardment into the monastery knocking out the observer and pinning down the infantry, as my CiC rolled himself into the artillery huddled in the corner. The failed counter-attack roll and with nowhere to escape to, the guns went down and at that point, we called it a game.
 The Jagdpanthers were mostly disappointing for David, only managing to knock out a pair of Comets, and being rather ineffective against the Sextons, bailing two and doing not much else. But, the list is promising and David has the makings of a good player; good humoured and a really good sportsman.

The Jagdpanthers make an appearance, tickling the Sextons for little effect

On the other table, Greg's cavalry were put into action against Gavin's Paras. In this case, the cavalry went on the attack, I only caught it from the last few turns, but what I did see was cavalry doing horrible things on the charge, bazookas reminding tanks not to get too close and an objective being hotly fought over.

 There was a ring-around-the-forest going on near the objective that would finally end the game.

The cavalry assault into the Paras who knock out a couple of T-34s

 The Paras nobly try to hold back the assaulting Cavalry, but to no avail as they over-run the objective and take the day without a lost platoon. A convincing 6-1 to Greg, but signs of good gamesmanship from Gavin.

Round Three: Hold the Line

Bye: Gavin

 The final round put Greg up against myself and Michael's armored were put up against David's Heavy Tank Hunters. Unfortunately, there are no pictures from this round, as I was heavily involved in my own game, and didn't get much chance to see Michael and David's game.

 With my own force being tank heavy, Greg's cavalry were smart to leave their horses behind and dig into defensive positions for this one. At the start of the game, Greg was a little down on the set up, claiming that it would be over very quickly, with my Comets ready to poise and run straight over his defensive lines. Luckily for him, he was fielding a pioneer platoon and slapped down a minefield across the main approach, bordered by the table-edge and a large hedge.
 First turn, my recce moved up to the hedge to spy on the dug in dismounted cavalry, lifting their gone to ground and allowing the Sextons to put some pinning on them, a platoon of infantry charging down the middle to prepare for a second turn assault.

 That decision to charge infantry at the double almost proved to be a costly one, as a small platoon of 45mm guns popped up from behind a wall and let loose into them. With their AT 8 not going to trouble the Comets much, the infantry bore the brunt of the fire, pinning them down with a torrent of hits. Luck must have been on my side, however, as only two bases failed their saves and the infantry breathed a sigh of relief... for now.
 My assault went in, but a few lucky round reduced the effectiveness of the attack, with only a single hit on the defenders, who rose up and wiped out the platoon in return. Not quite what I had in mind, maybe I'll take Commandos next time, because there were an awful lot of '2's' rolled in that assault.
 Regardless, the 45mm guns were crushed beneath Comets as they rolled over the walls and into position, the other platoon coming round atop a nearby hill to offer supporting fire. 

Greg's SU-85M's and dismounted cavalry from his first game against Michael

 The game was still there to be won, but with the appearance of the 85M's, it looked a little bleak as they opened fire into the Comets... for no hits, and the subsequent return fire knocking them out and sending them packing for the hills, I had once again been spared a horrible fate.
 By now, things were getting desperate on both sides as assaults went in, were beaten back and units were whittled down. A brave attempt to assault through a building (avoiding Faustnika defensive fire) resulted in an impressive three bogged Comets. Sensing the capture of these, I positioned my other infantry platoon to within counter-attack distance and awaited the assault.
 And it did come. A platoon of sappers throwing themselves in, but the top armour of the bogged down Comets proving too much for them, as they held on and the infantry poured into the fight, beating back the sappers and chasing them off. Then came some dismounted cavalry, causing havoc amongst my men, but again I held on, with British Bulldog keeping my forces in the fight, as they too were chased off. Subsequently passing the platoon morale checks to keep them on the table added insult to injury for Greg.
 A final, last ditch attempt from some cavalry to get my Comets off the initial objective failed as the assaulting platoon fell completely to defensive fire.
 A very hard fought 5-2.

 On the other table, alas, I didn't see much, but it sounded like a fun game as Michael ended up eventual 5-2 winner there too.

Michael's Stuarts from game one left burning from their assault on the heavy mortars

Final Scores and closing points

The StuGs roll off, with their job done for now.

 And that was that for the first Scottish Tournament of 2016. With a very big thanks to Gavin and David coming down for the first, and hopefully not the last, time. The final scores for all were:

1= Me - 14

1= Greg - 14
2= Michael - 9
2= Gavin - 9
3- David - 5

*- Players with a Bye are awarded the best losing score possible (3 points)

 We come to the end, and with plenty on the schedule for this year, including Team Yankee, Great War and the Nationals again, I'll have plenty to talk about. So thanks for reading, and see you next time.

Scottish Nationals (16th - 17th May 2015)

Our first two day event

 Back we go to Common Ground Games, quickly becoming the home of Flames of War in Scotland. This time we're here for the first two-day event we've run in a long time. We've had a nationals before, away back in 2013. That day was a resounding success, and I was hopeful we'd be able to emulate it just a little.

 We were supposed to be running an Early War tournament with 1550pts, but were worried that the era and points would have meant a poor turn out (Early War is still a little less played up here. See my previous report). So, after quite a lot of negotiating and compromising, we were granted leave to run a Late War 1750pts tournament, with openings for Early War should any player be interested enough to play.

The Players and their forces

 On the day we had twelve players enter, myself included. This doesn't sound much in the grand scheme of things, but we were proud of the turn out for our first attempt. In no particular order, here are the players and the forces they were using.

Greg Fyfe - Engineer Sapper Battalion (w/ Red Army Support) - Red Bear (Revised)

HQ - Inzhererno-Saperniy Batalon HQ - w/ Komissar Team - 60

 Combat - Inzhererno-Saperniy Company - w/ Warrior Recce Pioneer Lt. Ivan Zablotny - 450

                 Inzhererno-Saperniy Company - w/ Pioneer Supply Truck - 405

Support - Tankovy Company - 8 T-34 obr. 1942 w/ coupla - 310

               Tank Killer Company - 4 SU-100 - 310

               Artillery Battalion - 4 122mm obr. 1938 howitzer - 155

              Anti-Aircraft Machine-gun Platoon - 3 DShK AA on trucks - 55

1745

Greg's Inzhererno-Saperniy Batalon with added barbed wire and minefields

 Richard Hardy - Light Self-propelled Artillery Regiment (Guards) - Red bear (Revised)

 HQ - Samokhodno-Artillyeriyskiy HQ - T-70 - 25

Combat - Assault Gun Company - 4 SU-122 - 170

Assault Gun Company - 4 SU-122 - 170

Assault Gun Company - 4 SU-122 - 170

Assault Gun Company - 4 SU-122 - 170

Weapons - Assault Gun Reconnaissance Platoon (Red Army) - 195

Assault Gun Sapper Company (Red Army) - w/ Pioneer Supply Truck - 125

Anti-Aircraft Platoon - 3 DShK AA on trucks - 55

Support - Flame Tank Company - 3 KV-8s - 180

Tank Destruction Company (Guards) - 4 57mm ZIS-2 w/ 1 PTRD anti-tank rifle - 175

Guards Rocket Mortar Battalion - 2 BM-1-12 Katyusha w/ 5+ crew w/ 2 37mm obr 1939 gun - 155

Air Support - Limited Il-2 Shturmovik - 200

1750

Richard's Legkiy Samokhodno-Artillyeriyskiy Polk (Guards)

Alistar Grant - Medium Self-propelled Artillery Regiment (Regular) - Desperate Measures

HQ - Sredniy Samokhodno-Artillyeriyskiy HQ - T-34/5 obr. 1944 - 70

Combat - Medium Assault Gun Company - 5 SU-85M - 365

Medium Assault Gun Company - 5 SU-100 - 390

Weapons - Anti-aircraft Platoon - 3 DShK AA on trucks - 55

Tankovy Company - 9 T-34/85 obr. 1944 - 535

Motostrelkovy Company - w/ 2 Maxim HMG - 180

Heavy Mortar Company - 6 120-PM-38 Mortars w/ Observer -155

1750

Alistair's Sredniy Samokhodno-Artillyeriyskiy Polk

 Phil Dalbeck - HG Panzerkompanie - Fortress Italy

HQ - Hermann Göring Panzerkompanie HQ - 2 Panzer III N - 130

Combat - HG Panzer Platoon - 2 Panzer III M, 2 Panzer III N - 280

HG Panzer Platoon - 2 Panzer III M, 2 Panzer III N - 280

HG Panzer Platoon - 2 Panzer III M, 2 Panzer III N - 280

HG Panzer Platoon - 1 Panzer III M, 3 Panzer IV H - 350

Support - Schwere Panzer Platoon - 2 Tiger I E - 430

1750

Phil's Hermann Göring Panzerkompanie

Keith Martin-Smith - Panzerkompanie - Blood, Guts & Glory

HQ - Panzerkompanie HQ - 2 Panther G - 260

Combat - Panzer Platoon - 3 Panther G - 385

Panzer Platoon - 3 Panther G - 385

Weapons - Assault Gun Platoon - 3 StuG G - 195

Assault Gun Platoon - 3 StuG G - 195

Support - Anti-aircraft Gun Platoon - 4 Wirbelwind - 150

Aufklarüngs Platoon - 180

1750

Keith's Panzerkompanie

William Burns - Kampfgruppe Hummel - Bridge by Bridge

HQ - Kampfgruppe Hummel HQ - 2 Tiger I E - 290

Combat - Hummel Schwere Panzer Platoon - 3 Tiger I E - 435

Hummel Schwere Panzer Platoon - 2 Tiger I E - 290

Support - Schwere Panzer Platoon - 1 Königstiger - 345

SS-Rocket Launcher Battery - 3 15cm NW 41 - 120

Pioner Platoon - 180

Luftwaffe Flak Platoon - 1 88cm FlaK 36, 2 2cm Flakvierling - 90

1750

William's Kampfgruppe Hummel

Michael Byrne - Tank Company (3rd Armored Division) - Bridge at Remagen

HQ - Tank Company HQ - 1 M4A3E8 Easy Eight, 1 M4A3E2 Jumbo - 265

Combat - Tank Platoon - 1 M4A3 Sherman (Late), 2 M4A3E8 Easy Eight, 1 M4A3E2 Jumbo - 495

Heavy Tank Platoon - 2 M26 Pershing - 400

Weapons - Sherman Assault Gun Platoon - 2 M4A3 (105mm) Sherman - 125

Light Tank Platoon - 4 M5A1 Stuart - 185

Support - Armored Recon Platoon - 2 M8 Armoured Car, 1 Recon Jeep, 1 Mortar Jeep - 115

Battleworn Rifle Platoon - w/ 2 replaced bazooka - 165

1750

Michael's 3rd Armoured Division

Chris Walsh - Tank Company (7th Armored Division) - Blood, Guts & Glory

HQ - Tank Company HQ - 1 M4A3E8 Easy Eight, 1 M4A3E2 Jumbo - 235

Combat - Tank Platoon - 1 M4A1 Sherman, 2 M4A3E8 Easy Eight, 1 M4A3E2 Jumbo - 415

Tank Platoon - 1 M4A1 Sherman, 2 M4A3E8 Easy Eight, 1 M4A3E2 Jumbo - 415

Weapons - Sherman Assault Gun Platoon - 3 M4 (105mm) Sherman - 155

Support -Cavalry Recon Platoon - 1 M8 Armored Car, Mortar Jeep, Recon Jeep - 90

Armored Rifle Platoon - 225

Armored Field Artillery Battery - 3 M7 Priest HMC, 1 M4 Sherman OP - 175

Air Observation Post - L4 Grasshopper AOP - 40

1750

Chris' 7th Armoured Division

Laurence Kettle - Rifle Company (2nd Infantry Division) - Devils Charge

HQ - Rifle Company HQ - 15

Combat - Rifle Platoon - 210
Rifle Platoon - 210

Weapons - Machine-gun Platoon - 4 M1917 HMG - 130

Mortar Platoon - 4 M1 81mm Mortar - 110

Ammunition & Pioneer Platoon - 185

Support - Intelligence & Recon Platoon - 1 .50 cal Recon Jeep, 3 Recon Jeep - 85

Anti-tank Platoon - 3 M1 57mm Gun (Late) - 100

Towed Tank Destroyer Platoon - 4 M5 3" Gun (Late) - 195

Towed Tank Destroyer Platoon - 4 M5 3" Gun (Late) - 195

Field Artillery Battery (155mm) - 4 M1 155mm Howitzer - 275

Air Observation Post - L4 Grasshopper AOP - 40

1750

Laurence's 2nd Infantry Division

David Cuthbert - Airlanding Company - Market Garden

HQ - Airlanding Company HQ - w/ Bagpiper Team, w/ 2 PIAT - 110

Combat - Airlanding Platoon - 220

Airlanding Platoon - 220

Weapons - Airlanding Anti-tank Platoon - 4 OQF 6pdr Gun (Late) -  165

Airlanding Mortar Platoon - 2 ML 3" Mk II Mortar - 75

Support - Airlanding Anti-tank Platoon, Royal Artillery - 4 OQF 6pdr Gun (Late) -  165

Airlanding Anti-tank Platoon, Royal Artillery - 4 OQF 6pdr Gun (Late) -  165

Airlanding Field Platoon - w/ Pioneer Supply Jeep and Trailer - 450

Airlanding Light Artillery Battery, RA - 4 M1A1 75mm Pack Howitzer, Medium Battery -  180

1750

David's Airlanding Company

Bil Sheil - 6th Armoured Division - Road to Rome

HQ - Armoured Squadron HQ - 1 Sherman IB (105mm) - 130

Combat - Armoured Platoon - 2 Sherman III, 1 Sherman III, 1 Sherman IIA (76mm) - 370

76mm Armoured Platoon - 4 Sherman IIA (76mm) w/ .50 cal AA MG - 495

Weapons - Recce Patrol - 3 Stuart V w/ AA MG - 160

Support - Rifle Platoon (Indian) - 3 Sherman Kangaroo APC, Ghurkas - 275

Field Battery (SP), Royal Artillery - 4 M7 Priest HMC - 295

Air Observation Post - Auster AOP - 25

1750

Bill's 6th Armoured Division

Mark Nisbet (Me) - Rifle Company - Nachtjäger 

HQ - Rifle Company HQ - 30

Combat - Rifle Platoon - 180

Rifle Platoon - 180

Weapons - Anti-Tank Platoon - 4 OQF 6pdr Gun (Late) -140

Mortar Platoon - 4 ML 3" Mk II Mortar - 120

Pioneer Platoon - 85

Support - Machine-gun Platoon - 4 Vickers HMG - 140

Tank Platoon - 1 Churchill VI, 1 Churchill VII, 1 Churchill IV (Late) w/ Applique - 360

Tank Platoon - 1 Churchill VI with Applique, 1 Churchill VII, 1 Churchill IV (Late) w/ Applique - 360

Infantry Anti-tank Platoon (SP), Royal Artiller - 2 Archer - 140

1745

Mark's British Rifle Company

Round One - Dust Up (Saturday: 1000 - 1230) 

 A classic, a little like Marmite to some, to begin with. Dust Up always has it's critics and those that love it, due to the way the game begins a little unsteadily because of the Delayed Reserves, but once things start arriving, it begins to get tense as platoons rout, new ones arrive and positions are fought for over the various objectives.

 Due to the imbalance of Axis to Allied players, the idea of Red on Blue was scrapped for the weekend and any opponent was fair game. So with twelve players and no seeding available anyone could play anyone first round. And the draw was as follows:

• Greg Fyfe - Laurence Kettle
• William Burns - Chris Walsh
• Keith Martin-Smith - Phil Dalbeck
• David Cuthbert - Bill Sheil
• Richard Hardy - Michael Byrne
• Alistair Grant - Mark Nisbet

 These battle reports will be incredibly spotty as, naturally, I was playing in my own game and had only cursory glances at the other tables, and pauses to take pictures on passing. So instead, enjoy some pictures of some of the first round match ups.

In the dim light of morning (and poor lighting) the players begin their games

I will comment that Phil is a newcomer to the game, and that his first round pairing was probably the most difficult he could have faced, the baptism of fire against Keith, reputed to be a rather skilled player. And that was reflected in the result and time taken to complete the game.

Phil's Panzers fall one by one as the Red on Red battle swings heavily one way

 My own game was a little more balanced, both Alistair and myself are on about equal footing in terms of the game.It came down to a few lucky dice rolls and some poor planning on my part for the game to result in a draw. In a turn, Churchills assaulted into his heavy mortars, pushed them off the objective with what seemed like no possible way to be ejected. Unfortunately for me, Alistair had luck on his side, as he rolled his SU-100s round, requiring 6's to hit on the Churchills and managing to knock two out. The platoon commander in his Churchill VII deemed the situation too dangerous and fled the field, denying me a win.

After seeing what happened to the other platoon, these Churchills decide the cover of the buildings to be safe

Results from Round One:

• Greg Fyfe 1-1 Laurence Kettle
• William Burns 4-3 Chris Walsh
• Keith Martin-Smith 6-1 Phil Dalbeck
• David Cuthbert 3-2 Bill Sheil
• Richard Hardy 5-2 Michael Byrne
• Alistair Grant 2-3 Mark Nisbet

 The most surprising result from Round One would have to be the 1-1 draw between Greg and Laurence. With Greg playing such an offensive attacking force against a defensive gun line, the casual bystander would have assumed heavy casualties on one side or the other.

Lunch Break (Saturday 1230 - 1330)

Lunch time on the Front Lines

Round Two - Hold the Line (Saturday 1330 - 1600)

  After the results of Round One, the field was split a little more with a few players racking up good points while others languished on one. Using the Battlefront Nationals Rules, it was an impossibility to roll another Fair Fight mission, so with Dust Up, Encounter and Free-For-All removed from the missions list this round, it came up as Hold the Line as the next mission to be played.
 From experience, Hold the Line can be over very quickly, or it can slog on for a long time. It's a mission with very little middle ground. The attacker can either take advantage of the defender's diminished force, or they can dither, allowing the defender to reinforce and hold them back. So with that in mind, this was the draw for Round Two:

• Phil - Greg
• Laurence - Michael
• Bill - Alistair
• David - William
• Richard - Keith
• Chris - Mark

Phil's Panzers assault the hill in an attempt to dig out the Sappers

 So, it came to be that I had a tough task of defending against a heavily armoured tank company with some big guns hidden in the mix to put a little fear into my usually impervious Churchills. The sneaky, but quite smart tactic of sitting a 2iC in a Jumbo to soak hits on platoons would come into play here, especially with each platoon also containing a bullet-magnet Jumbo.
 After set-up, Chris went for a refused flank attack on one of the objectives near a wood and some tree lines. He placed his Grasshopper AOP and rushed his recce forward to try to push back any potential ambushes. Unfortunately, a bad placement for the AOP allowed my Archers to spring an ambush from the woods and some 6pdrs to reveal themselves in a tree line.

The Archers open fire from the Forest, while the 6pdrs get off some shots from the tree line, picking Shermans off

  This was my first outing using Archers, and in the last game, the Command tank was picked off, leaving the other high and dry, but in this game, the appearance from Ambush combined with being Concealed Veterans allowed them to dominate the melee, racking up all three Jumbos and some Shermans to their name. They even managed to fend off an assault from some determined American GI's through the woods, With one surviving and combining fire with a nearby Rifle/MG team, it seemed like an impossible task to pin down the assaulting infantry, but with all dice coming up 4+ they somehow managed it. The game soon ended, as his CiC had hopped to a Jumbo, and was bailed out as he was forced to take a Company Morale Test. With me only losing my platoon of 6pdrs, and having the 9 platoon rule in effect, it came out as an emphatic win in a game that in the second turn I almost gave up on.

 Elsewhere there were less draws and more resounding wins one way or the other.

Bill's AOP lets his artillery know exactly where Alistair's -34's are hiding

 Results from Round Two:

• Phil 1-6 Greg
• Laurence 6-1 Michael
• Bill 1-6 Alistair
• David 6-1 William
• Richard 4-3 Keith
• Chris 1-6 Mark

  With the two most renowned players facing off in this round, it was no surprise the game was so close between them. While the other results show massive victories for one side over the other.

Round Three - Hasty Attack: (Saturday 1600-1830)

 Hasty Attack is a mission I have only ever played once, and the result of my previous game of it was almost identical to my result here. As you'll see from the draw, I had little chance against my opponent, though if I could do it all over again, I would reconsider my set up and choices. The was the attacker can split the defender, and then make one side of the table utterly useless is frustrating for the defender. No doubt many people reading this will be able to recall a time they held firm against an attacker in this mission, but in my own experience, I have always been thoroughly over run due to the stretch the attacker can put on the defender.

 And so, the draw for Round Three:

• Michael - Bill
• Phil - Chris
• William - Greg
• Laurence - Alistair
• David - Richard
• Keith - Mark

 And so you can see, I had the pleasure of facing off against a horde of Panthers. With very little in the way of AT that I could effectively bring to bear on the mass, I set my lines and prepared. Naturally, Keith set his objectives either side of the table, meaning I had to commit a platoon to each, at least, giving me a Churchill platoon to cover the middle of the table and the Archers in Immediate Ambush. The game was set, the Archers appeared and the line of Panthers advanced.
 When they got close enough, they put shots into the Archers, bailing one through the luck of them being Concealed and Gone to Ground. The other shots trying to dig up the infantry covering the Objective. When the Archers returned fire, the result was disappointing. Three out of four hits, two penetrating hits, the other being stopped by armour and only one destroyed, amounting to a sum total of nothing.

 Long story short, StuGs arrived in reinforcements, the Infantry were over-run in assault despite doggedly resisting Panther assaults. The Archers were destroyed and I received no reinforcements of my own.

 A thoroughly disappointing game

The line of Panthers and StuGs prepare to advance on my positions and a mere three turns later are victorious

 Elsewhere, Phil's Panzers came up against Chris' Tank Company, David and Richard fought to a close game and Bill racked up a narrow loss against Michael.

 Sadly, I didn't take many pictures of the last game of the day, partly through disappointment and partly through getting the results collated and preparing everything else for the next day.

 The scores for Round Three and standings at the end of Day One are as follows:

• Michael 4-3 Bill
• Phil 2-5 Chris
• William 1-6 Greg
• Laurence 6-1 Alistair
• David 3-4 Richard
• Keith 6-1 Mark

Standings

1. Keith Martin-Smith - 15
2. Greg Fyfe - 13
3. Richard Hardy - 13
4. Laurence Kettle - 13
5. David Cuthbert - 12
6. Mark Nisbet - 10
7. Alistair Grant - 9
8. Chris Walsh - 9
9. Michael Byrne - 7
10. William Burns - 6
11. Bill Sheil - 6
12. Phil Dalbeck - 4

*Tied scores are put into alphabetical order and are not reflective of relative standings

And so, the players parted. Most were lucky enough to go home to their own bed, while this intrepid writer booked in to a local hostel and collapsed to rise again the next day, refreshed and ready to battle.

Sun rises over Stirling to being a new day

  We lose a man

 Sadly, Phil had to drop out of the tournament with some matters, and thus on the Sunday, we were bit eleven, meaning that the Bye system was to be implemented. I have found that a fair way to score a bye is to award the player the best loss they could achieve. For some, they might grumble that they were guaranteed to win the next game, while others give a sigh of relief to have been awarded such.

 For the next round, the Bye came up for... Me. So, that gave me time to sit and take a few pictures.

Round Four - Fighting Withdrawal (Sunday 1000 - 1230)

 Fighting Withdrawal. My own personal thoughts on this mission is how hard it is on the attacker. With proper objective placement from the defender and cunning withdrawal tactics, it is a very difficult one for the attacker to win. So, naturally, I put up an offer: Anyone who was attacking and managed to win would get a drink on me. And so the draw was as follows:

• Keith - Laurence
• Greg - Richard
• David - Chris
• Alistair - Michael
• Bill - William

 I spent a bit of time at the Soviet on Soviet game; Greg against Richard, and I was glad I did. The game was highly entertaining right from the start and continued to be until the end. In Richard's first turn, he called down a three-flight of IL-2's, outside the range of the DShK's and right on top of a cluster of Greg's T-34's as pictured below.

The most tempting target you will ever be likely to see

 Of course, the dice Gods are fickle beings, and despite Richard getting a good amount of hits, the other Soviets must have welded titanium to the top of their tanks, as only one went up and two were bailed out. However, that was not the tone of the game, as eventually the SU-122's came rolling over and around the hills, decimating all in their path. A last ditch assault by the Sappers could have turned the tide of the game, but it was just not to be as Richard stormed to the win, and meant I owed him a drink!

The British Paras give the Americans a daunting line to assault

  One other game resulted in an attacker win; Keith narrowly overcoming Laurence by throwing Panthers at the flank objective to push him off, but not before taking a few platoons of casualties in the process. The rest were all quite close, but inevitability came out, with the tank charges halted in their tracks (No pun intended).
 And so, the results of Round Four:

• Keith 4-3 Laurence
• Greg 1-6 Richard
• David 5-2 Chris
• Alistair 6-1 Michael
• Bill 2-5 William

A break for lunch before the final game of the weekend

Round Five - Breakthrough: (Sunday 1330 - 1600)

  And so, with only myself knowing the actual standings and everyone else putting together the positions with their mathematical skills, the last game to come up was Breakthrough. I do like Breakthrough and have been on both sides of the game on numerous occasions. With many players taking the same tactic when defending; that of getting some infantry close to cover the objectives turn one and holding on for dear life. Once again, I was playing so it's mainly my game I will report on.
 Bill Sheil gets the Bye to have a well deserved rest. Apologies in advance for no images of Round Five, I was distracted.

• Keith - David
• Richard - Laurence
• Alistair - Chris
• Michael - William
• Greg - Mark

  I have a tiny problem with the way Pioneer Supply vehicles use their minefields or barbed wire emplacements, and this came up during set up for my own game. As defender, I set my infantry to move onto the objectives in turn one to establish a good defensive position. However, during Greg's set up, he had barbed wire to place from his Pioneer Supply Vehicle, and the very careful start position my infantry had, suddenly got blocked by a mass of barbed wire. It seems they sent a blind man to survey the field before hand. Complaints aside, this actually meant the game was a lot closer that it could have been.

 The T-34 horde came rolling down into position, supported by the SU-100s covering from a nearby hill. The sappers infiltrated and prepared to storm onto the objectives. Luckily for me, I had supporting HMGs and Mortars, and with the sappers sitting out in the open, they were soon subject to a devastating bombardment and barrage that took a good toll on their numbers. The elation was short lived though, as the T-34s rolled into the dug in teams and rolled over them, wiping out the HMGs and sending the mortars falling back with only two of their number remaining.

 I comfortably covered one objective, while the other was  free from contention, by a matter of an inch. My reserves rolled into position and fluffed completely as the Churchills couldn't put a dent into the weaker side armour of the SU's. The Archers on a hill decided they were fed up being anti-tank guns and turned themselves into mobile pillboxes, advancing on another platoon of sappers and opening up with their AA MGs. They were far more effective in this role than they had been in two of my prior games.

 With the sappers taking heavy fire, Greg had to get them moving or dig them in. He elected for the latter, and even with a Pioneer Supply Vehicle reroll, the sappers couldn't break the earth. The T-34s, Artillery and other sappers combined to wittle my other platoon of rifles down and out, leaving the objective to be taken by Greg. I had one turn to dig him out, as they only go live on Turn Six.

 And so it happened that I took the game. Greg had left a Maxim HMG back to offer supporting fire. Unfortunately, he was close enough that my Churchills could assault him, and assault they did, wiping him out, ending the combat and forcing a platoon morale check on his sappers on the objective. Even with Ivan Zabolotny and his 2+ motivation, the sappers fled, thus leaving nothing in my half of  the table in Turn Six and ending the game in my favour. A close one and definitely the most memorable of the weekend for me.

 And so, the Round Came to an end, and the results tallied and collated. So, without further ado, the results and final standings:

• Keith 2-5 David
• Richard 4-3 Laurence
• Alistair 3-4 Chris
• Michael 6-1 William
• Greg 3-4 Mark

Final Standings for the Scottish Nationals 2015

1. Richard Hardy - 23
2. David Cuthbert - 22
3. Keith Martin-Smith - 21
4. Laurence Kettle - 19
5. Alistair Grant - 18
=6. Greg Fyfe - 17
=6. Mark Alexander Nisbet - 17
8. Chris Walsh - 15
9. Michael J. Byrne - 14
10. William Burns - 12
11. Bill Sheil - 11
12. Phil Dalbeck - 10*

*Awarded 6 bonus points for sportsmanship

 Congratulations to Richard for winning, and to everyone else on their placements. As you can see, there was very little between positions all the way up the table. The final standings were very much determined by the last game, with any of the top four able to clinch top spot with a resounding win.

 Thank you all very much for reading, and thanks to Steve Fettes of Common Ground Games for hosting, lunch and being there earlier than usual to let us in.
 Thanks to the Battlefront Staff for the support given to the Tournament in the run up and finally thanks to everyone who took part and hopefully you'll all be back next time.

 I leave you with a few pictures from the day.

SU-85M's cover the objective from the advancing Americans

British Riflemen take cover in a wood, the nearby objective safely contested

Tigers from Kampfgruppe Hummel stalk through a wheat field