Monday, May 9, 2011

North Africa - Light Armoured Squadron - HQ and Combat Platoon

This is the HQ and first combat platoon for my Light Armoured Squadron. The HQ is composed of two Crusader II CS tanks. The combat platoon has a commander mounted in a Crusader II tank and two Crusader III tanks.

I chose to start with a Light Armoured Squadron, although eventually I'll be able to also field a Heavy Armoured Squadron and the Death and Glory squadron using almost all of the same figures. This was one of the things that made the British armor list so appealing to me when I selected them. The other is I like the looks of the Crusader tanks a lot. They look so modern. I also plan to have heavy armor support in the form of US-made Grant and Sherman tanks.

For the crusader tanks I've chosen the two-color camouflage scheme similar to what Battlefront uses on their sample images in their books. I like this look a lot on these tanks and I was able to find additional references supporting Battlefront's scheme. The tanks are base coated with Iraqi sand over a sand colored primer. The second color is standard chocolate brown. A homemade sepia wash highlights the panel lines followed by a final dry-brush of slightly lightened Iraqi sand. I think they look suitably dirty - a quality that I'm not always good at reproducing. The chocolate brown panels and unit markings were 'chipped' using the same sponge technique I used on my scout patrol. Again I assumed that the chocolate brown, when chipped, would show the sand base coat through. The CinC gets an exposed commander while the 2iC gets an aerial recognition roundel on his turret. The latter might be a bit of creative license on my part, but I don't believe it's far off.

In terms of combat roles, the combat platoon gives me a good solid light/medium tank asset. Decent armor, decent gun. Nothing that's going to stop a tiger, but just about everything else is a suitable target for these. The command tanks are Crusader II CS tanks. They can use their gun as a direct-fire AT asset, but their real role will be to fire smoke and smoke bombardments. They'll be what I use to silence those pesky 88s, Italian 90mm AT guns, and to slow down the occasional tiger's fire so I can hopefully out flank it.

6 comments:

Broeders said...

I know the Russians went heavy on air recognition markers on the top of turrets so no reason the roundel couldnt be used for the same purpose.

Steve-the-Wargamer said...

The Tigers didn't appear until Montgomery got to Tunisia so they should be OK... nice models though - it was a good looking tank...

AJ (Allan) Wright said...

You're correct about the Tigers. Unfortunately in FOW you rarely get historical opponents....and you see a LOT of Tigers.

Steve-the-Wargamer said...

Hmm... one of the problems with FOW then in my view.... going to make it very difficult for any early war army to take on a late war one... even with points difference... :o)

AJ (Allan) Wright said...

They separate the war into three periods: early, middle, late. Unfortunately mid-war sees early Tigers. They're EXPENSIVE, but you still see them.

There's ways to beat them without killing them. If they only have a tiger and not much else, you beat the 'not much else' and take the objective. One or two Tigers can't be everywhere.

If you want to use FOW for historical battles you get to pick the forces, so you can make the battles historical if you like.

The real problem isn't FOW, it's competitive gaming. If you make it a competition, people will do whatever you allow them to in order to win.

Steve-the-Wargamer said...

Re. competition gaming - you're absolutely right...