The British are Coming! British Armoured Lists from the Bulge
By Mike Rafferty
The British Bulge book is finally out, which covers the British from post-Normandy Market Garden up to the end of the war. The book adds a lot of new features and army lists for the British and has a special significance for me. Welsh Guards Cromwells were the first army I actually built and painted fully. I still have this force and the Cromwell is my favourite-looking tank of the war, despite the obvious superiority of the Sherman. The new book adds Challengers, so I can finally play my Welsh Guards as intended with Cromwells and Challengers.
Let’s look at the lists. The 11th Armoured Division makes a return to Flames of War with its new fanciness, the Comet. The Comet was the final development of the cruiser tanks that Britain developed during the war. Mounting a 77mm main gun, it matches the Panther and Tiger in firepower while maintaining the speed of the Cromwell. The Comet is still cheaper than the Panther, with reduced frontal armour, and is slightly more than the Cromwell.
The first list themed around the 11th Armoured Division is the Comet Squadron. Luckily there is only one Comet platoon required and the second required platoon can be a Chaffee or Stuart recce platoon to reduce overall points costs a bit. The Chaffee recce platoon is a new option, giving a higher firepower option to your recon. The support options are geared around armoured forces, so the grey box units are all vehicles of some sort.
We also have a 15th/19th Hussars, which is a mixed Cromwell and Comet list. This list is interesting as it includes a platoon of up to four Challengers. The 15th/19th Hussars combined their spare Challenges into a platoon to add increased firepower while using the Cromwell as infantry support. The interesting part of this list is that you can bring two Challenger platoons as black box units, giving a significant amount of high anti-tank firepower. This also gives other British lists more high anti-tank firepower when combined with the Achilles.
Finally, for the British, we have the Guards Armoured Division, which is obviously the best division. This covers the push during Market Garden. The Cromwells of the Welsh Guards and the Shermans of the Irish Guards are the focus of the armoured lists. The Cromwell list can work as either a 7th Armoured Division list with Cromwells and Fireflys or Welsh Guards with Cromwells and Challengers. Unlike the 15/19th Hussars list, the Cromwell Squadron can mix in Fireflys or Challengers, which is the main difference. The Sherman squadron can mix up in Fireflies up to two Shermans and two Fireflies. The Shermans can also be equipped with Tulip rockets giving them a one-use artillery barrage.
The Canadians get some love and venture into the realms of alternate history with the Ram. While the Ram was a real tank developed by the Canadians, it was never deployed into combat as a tank. Instead used primarily as a training vehicle, it was also modified into the Ram Kangaroo Armoured Personnel Carrier.
This is an interesting addition, as the Ram is broadly similar to the Sherman. The Ram has one more point of anti-tank on their 6pdr guns and one extra point on their side armour. The Canadian 2+ remount means that bail will not affect them very much and the force should be fairly aggressive. Finally, the Ram squadron can bring a unit of three Fireflies, giving them some high anti-tank power.
Finally, we have the Churchills of the 6th Guards Tank Brigade, a classic unit for Flames. This list is the standard Churchill squadron with five Churchill squadron boxes. The unique part of this list is the ability to take a Panther they named “Cuckoo” which was used for several months after being captured.
Market Garden is the most interesting land battle of the war to me. Something about the ambitious goal and the excellent-looking British tanks really speaks to me. Back in 2014, I ran a gigantic Market Garden game at my FLGS. To prep for this, I painted every list out of the old Hell’s Highway book. I probably watched A Bridge Too Far five or six times during this and I’m looking forward to watching it while updating and modernizing my British. Time to dig out the comets and get to work.