Gearing Up For ValleyCon 2016 - Part 1

I'm making an attempt to resurrect this blog, and this time I may actually have something to write about. In January 2016, the Hutt Miniature Wargaming Club will be hosting their annual ValleyCon tournament, and I have entered to play Flames of War. The tournament is going to be 1000pts in the Early War era. The intention is to write a series of posts as I put together an army ready to play.

1000pts is quite a small game in Flames of War, and it has been challenging to come up with a viable list of that size. I spent a few weeks trawling the relevant books and talking with other players about different options, and the general feeling is that at this level of points, mobile light armoured lists are the way to go. The sweet spot is probably going to be the Panzer 35(t), Panzer 38(t) and M13/40: AT6, range 24" and front armour 2 or 3, for 60-90pts each. The other key point is that four platoons is the smallest workable company, given the number of scenarios that require at least half of your platoons deployed in reserve.

None of my existing Early War armies, which are a Crusader Squadron and an Afrika Korps Panzer Company, both from "Hellfire and Back", really feel up to scratch at 1000pts.

The bare minimum legal company using only Crusaders is nine tanks at 1170pts, so would require dropping a platoon of three back to A13s in order to fit under the cap. They're simply all too expensive, and results in a three-platoon list.

The Africa Korps Panzers need to be built either around Panzer III Gs or Panzer IV Es, both of which are excellent tanks for the time, but also horribly expensive. The compulsory choices for a Panzer III company are four tanks, totalling 615pts, leaving precious few points for support options, and probably tops out at a maximum of three platoons. The Panzer IVs are slightly better off, needing a core of only three tanks at 450pts, being bulked out with Panzer Is and IIs and having room to squeeze in two more platoons to get to the magic four, but neither feel viable as there simply aren't enough models on the table. At this size of game, the more numerous and lower-specced Panzers from "Blitzkrieg" seem like a better option.

Having ruled out my existing armies, I need to build something new. After exploring a few avenues, I have settled on an option that I feel would be fun to play, could cause opponents a few problems, look nice on the table, and has a good historical back story. This is the 11th Hussars, at the end of Operation Compass, the British defeat of the Italian army in North Africa in 1940/41.

As the British Western Desert Force pursued the retreating Italians across Libya, they sent a flying column of armoured cars, infantry and artillery cross-country to block and delay the Italians. This column was named "Combeforce" after its commander, Lieutenant-Colonel J. F. B. Combe. Combeforce arrived at Beda Fomm half an hour ahead of the Italians, repulsed multiple attacks over the next two days, and the action resulted in the entire Italian Tenth Army, a total of 25,000 men, being captured when the main body of the British 7th Armoured Division arrived.

Combeforce can be represented in Flames of War using an Armoured Car Squadron from "Hellfire and Back". The armoured cars in use by 11th Hussars at the time were the Rolls Royce, being a 1920s design, and the more modern Morris CS9 from the late 1930s. After the minimum compulsory choices of 11 armoured cars, a platoon each of motorised infantry, 25pdr Mk 1 field guns and 37mm portee anti-tank guns round out the list to 990pts.

British Armoured Car Squadron - Hellfire and Back 

Armoured Car Squadron HQ, 70 pts
   2 Morris CS9 

Armoured Car Platoon, 105 pts
   1 Morris CS9
   2 Rolls-Royce

Armoured Car Platoon, 105 pts
   1 Morris CS9
   2 Rolls-Royce

Armoured Car Platoon, 105 pts
   1 Morris CS9
   2 Rolls-Royce

1 Motor Platoon + 2 x Anti-tank Rifles, 170 pts

Anti-tank Platoon, Royal Horse Artillery, 90 pts
   2 Bofors 37mm Portee 

Royal Horse Artillery Battery + Transport, 345 pts
   4 OQF 18/25pdr gun 

Total Cost: 990 pts

In play, this list has a few quirks. It is rated as a Mechanised Company, so will be required to attack infantry and defend against tank companies. It has six platoons, which is crucial for games where half need to be held in reserve. Its trump card on the attack is a special rule that allows one objective to be moved by up to 12" after deployment. It relies on this to upset the opposition's plans, with the mobility and massed machine-guns of the armoured cars working to deliver the infantry onto the objective. With the armoured cars being open topped, wheeled and in platoons of three, they will be poor on the assault, and will be totally hamstrung if anyone deploys barbed wire. In defence, the list will rely on the infantry and guns to hold objectives, as the armoured cars simply won't be able to compete against anything that even vaguely resembles a proper tank.

That's the plan, at least. I've trialled the list in a few games, and it feels like it will be fun to play, and a squadron of armoured cars in caunter camouflage should look fantastic on the table. I have half of the models that I need sitting ready to go, and I'm now hoping that the order I've placed for the other half will arrive in time for the tournament.

The aim is to post updates here as things get done and games get played, and maybe a few other things that get done as I'm waiting for kits to turn up, so let's see how that works out.