The Beasts are Back! The Monsters in North Africa Mid-War Forces

January 14, 2022 | administrator_NDNG | Flames of War, Gaming

By Tom Burgess

When we first saw the Flames of War Version 4 Formations charts, we all wondered what the “Wildcard” box was meant for. Many of us speculated that perhaps that might have some future tie-in with “Mid-War Monsters” or some future rare/special units. Battlefront has been mum on the purpose “Wildcard” for over four years. With the release of the North Africa Mid-War Forces compilation, we know that this was an avenue to bring Mid-War Monsters back into the game.

But that’s not the only way the new North Africa Compilation will let you add for Mid-War Monsters. Battlefront also added new formations to utilize these beasts in their full glory. I think many of us expected to see Mid-War monsters to come back into the game at some point with Version 4, but I don’t think any of us expected to see new formations explicitly for these special units.

I should also note that at nowhere in the North Africa Mid-War Forces book is the term Mid-War Monsters used. These are just new added units and Wildcard Units as far as the text goes. For the sake of familiarity, I will continue to refer to these new additions as Mid-War Monsters for this article.

So let’s take a look at the Mid-War Monsters what the North Africa Compilation is bringing to our games tables….

Germans

The Germans get only one Mind-War Monster in this new compilation, the Tiger (P). But what about the Dicker-Max, Stur-Emils, PzKw-IF’s and 8.8cm FLaK18 SLFs?  I expect those will be in the later East Front Mid-War Compilation Force book, but for now, it is just the Tiger P and only as a “Wildcard” unit.

At 29 points each and a lower tactical speed, I can’t see the Tiger (P) as being any more popular than normal the Tiger I. It’s an interesting enough model, but you are better served with the normal Tiger I.

If you think the Germans have been left out with just one Mid-War Monster, as a bit of a consolation North Africa Mid-War Forces also added the Bison to the DAK arsenal.  You can now add a unit of two Bison for 7 points as of your two artillery support box options. This was not part of the Version 3 Mid-War monster releases but it’s a nice add-in his new book.

Italians

Added to the Italian Mid-War bench are the P26/40, Semovente (Long), and the Semovente 90mm. The last of these can only be added as a “Wildcard” unit while the other two can be added with the new Heavy Tank Company formation or as “Black Box” formation support to other formations.

Like with the M14/41 and Semoventes in the Italian Tank Company, the Heavy Tank Company formation takes a tank, P26/40 or M14/40, as a command tank and then can take platoons of either P26/40 or Semovente (Long) SP Batteries.

The P26/40 Heavy Tanks come in at 8 points each in units of 2, 3, or 4 tanks.

The Semovente (Long) SP Batteries cost 7 points per tank and come in units of 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6.  Note the Long 75mm guns still retain the ability to bombard.

 

The Semvonete 90 Battery only comes as a Wildcard Unit so you will only ever be able to field one unit of them in your force. They are 7 points each and come in units of 2, 3, and 4 Semovente 90s.

British

The British get the Churchill 3” Assault Gun, the Boarhound Armored Car, the ever-popular TOG, and as a big surprise, they can also take US-provided T-14 Assault Tanks.

The British Armoured Assault Squadron is a very interesting formation option. It has an HQ with either US T-14s or Churchill IIIs/Churchill CS option just like the normal Churchill Squadrons. Then it can take units of T14 Armoured Assault Troops, Churchill Armoured Assault Troops, and normal Churchill III Armoured Troops. It can also take a Churchill GC 3″ Gun Troop as a unit choice.

The Churchill GC 3″ Gun Carriers can be taken either mixed in with Churchill IIIs as a Churchill Assault Troop or a Churchill GC 3″ Gun Troop of al Churchill 3″ Gun Carriers. The latter can be part of the Armored Assault Squadron and/or as Wildcard unit choices.  The Churchill GC 3″ Gun Carriers are 14 points each with their Churchill III wingman at 11 points each.

Interestingly the British can now field a whole formation of T14 Assault Tanks. They cost 13 points each but do benefit from the British Careful Hit on 4+ and better 4+ skill rating.  Otherwise, the T14 has just the same capabilities as those used in US forces. I am not sure that their 3.5 point increase over their American counterparts is going to cause us to see many British T14s in Version 4 Flames of War.

Ahhhh, the TOG! Where would we be without this delightful beast? At just 9 points each in units of 1, 2, or 3 I think these will be one of the more popular new choices. They are only available as a Wildcard Unit.

Closing out the new British options we have the Boarhound Armored Cars. They are only available as a Wildcard unit. At only 4 points each, they are the cheapest new option from the North Africa Mid-War Forces book. You can take them in units of 2, 3, and 4.  They have the Spearhead rule and will be quite good at dominating enemy armored cars.

United States

Finally, we come to the new US additions in North Africa Mid-War Forces. The US attains the T14 Assault Tank, T55 Wheels SP Gun, T27 tank, and the M6 Heavy Tank and gets to employ them in two formations as well as some Wildcard unit choices.

 

 

The M27 is like adding a late M4A3-76mm to your mid-war US forces. They cost 11 points each and come in units of 2, 3, 4, and 5.  These are basically the US  T23 Premium Tank from the World of Tanks video game, That was always my favorite tank in that game and I look forward to playing with them in Flames of War Version 4 now.

 

The T14 Assault tank just might be the best bargain North Africa Mid-War Forces has to offer.  They are only 9.5pts each. For only 1.5 points over a standard Mid-War M4 Sherman, the T14 gains +1 Front Armor, +2 Side Armor, +1 Top Armor, and a 3+ Counterattack. They are available in platoons of 2, 3, 4, or 5. I could see a Formation support unit of T14’s often replacing a same-sized unit of M4 standard Shermans in many forces. One of the nicest options the US T14 will have is the ability to mix it with M4 Sherman tanks in the same platoon.

 

The US M6 Heavy Tank is only available as a Wildcard unit. It cost roughly 12.5 pts per tank and can be taken in units of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 tanks. It seems like a great heavy tank option for US Mid-War forces mostly because in addition to its good armor, it has that stabilized AT12 gun. And did I read that right….a stabilized ROF of three for both the main gun and the coaxial 37mm gun! [Edit: Found out tonight that Battlefront will reduce the ROF]. Note this tank does not have the Secondary Weapon rule.

So I’m not sure if the M6 has to choose between the 3″ gun or the 37mm gun. If so, the 37mm gun would never be used. Though the 37mm gun does have HE but I’m not sure that offsets the 3″ guns 3+ Firepower when the engaging enemy in bulletproof cover.

Our last entry for this article is the T55 Interceptor Tank Destroyer. It also is available only as a Wildcard unit. At 5 pts each they get some good AT on the field cheaply for the US. The Seek, Strike and Destroy rule may help keep them alive a bit longer but the swarms of L6s, Armored Cars, Crusaders, etc. are going to love chewing these up, They also have a bit of an issue in that they don’t allow you to add Armored Recon Patrols as the M10 TDs do.  I really think these should have been available as a single platoon box option in the M10 TD Company.

The Controversy 

I am sure, as in Version 3, there will be some degree of uproar with the reintroduction of Mid-War Monsters back into Version 4. Sure these most of these new vehicles border on fantasy, but I’m not too concerned about them. In my mind in a game system where I could end up playing with Finns against Romains on a Jungle or Desert board then an occasional prototype here and there will not ruin my day.

If it did, I could self-select to play at events that use them. It will be a bit harder for Tournament Organizers to prohibit these in Version 4 since the term Mid-War Monsters is not relevant in Version 4. Not all of these new tanks are covered by the term Wildcard Unit either.  I suppose in the end these are just new options that some people can use to expand their gaming pleasure. I am all for more options and certainly will paint up some of these that I have mothballed since Version 3 and see how they fare in Version 4.

12 thoughts on “The Beasts are Back! The Monsters in North Africa Mid-War Forces”

  2. I don’t mind that Battlefront are including some of the old MW Monsters again to let people play with a bit of alternative reality (land battleships are cool!), since BF previously did sell the miniatures.
    However I do think that the units should at least have had some kind of keyword like “Prototype” or “Ahistorical”, so that Tournament Organizers could easily distinguish between what was fielded historically and what was not.

    1. I mean some of them have the wild card tag, so a event organizer could just bam or allow wildcard u its

      1. That is true, but there’s three new formations here that are heavily focused on vehicles that never entered service.

  3. Good Summary! Is there any information in the book about how many of these were actually used in combat?

    The T-55s could be a nice Ambush unit for the Americans.

  6. Where do you get the unit cards? Are they in the new card packs or do you have to buy the models?

    I already have many of the original models. Just need the cards.

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