cor·ri·val
(kə-rī′vəl, kō-)
n.
A rival or opponent.
Corrivalry is the annual ‘go-to’ tournament event in the UK. Hosted by Hammy and Nobby – our kind sponsors – at their store Battlefield Hobbies, in Daventry. Right in the middle of the UK their bespoke gaming space really is one of the finest gaming spaces available in the UK – from their amply stocked store, beautifully arranged tables with plenty of space (Plus a chair to per player to catch a break on!), unlimited tea and coffee refills as well as a fully laid on lunch and snack shop.
The Force
Nobby’s focus on (and provision of) beautiful tables full of scenery, is coupled with Hammy’s keen gaming mind to provide a distinctly unique gaming experience – every table has a mission allocated to it, best suited to its layout. In order to facilitate this, you are allowed to bring two lists – the main one, and then an alternative with a 500-point swap out. You are told your
With this event being the last hurrah of the V3 late War Lists, I was tempted to bring something weird and outlandish… until I remembered the pain of converting the stat lines in the heat of battle. So instead I thought I had better get my late-late war British Comets on the board before they waited for the V4 releases to unearth them again.
List one – the Anti-Tank choice
• HQ Comet
• Comet Platoon x 4
• Comet Platoon x 4
• Stuart Platoon x 3
• 25 Pdrs x 4
• Observer team
• Motor Platoon with transport
List two – Anti Infantry Choice
• HQ Comet
• Comet Platoon x 3
• Comet Platoon x 3
• Stuarts x 3
• 25 Pdrs x 4
• Observer
• Universal Carriers x 3
• Churchill Crocodiles x 2
The Comet itself is expensive
Well, that was the plan at least….
Game One – “Contact” vs Ben’s StuG Company
Game one was the mission ‘Contact’ against Ben Stuart and his StuG company, on a beautiful Bocage table.
Ben is new to V4 and made the mistake of taking too few core platoons. After trading a few shots and fortifying one objective with infantry, my 25 pounders suffered from country battery fire. In the end, the wonder-gunned Comets blew the HQ and a platoon of StuGs away, breaking the company for an 8-1 win.
Lesson of the game – Take as many formation platoons as you can!
Game Two – “Dogfight” vs Graham’s Motorstrelkovy Battalion
Game two saw me pitted as the attacker against Graham Wilmott’s Motorstrelkovy Gunline in a new mission ‘Dogfight’.
This was no mean feat, with enough gun teams to almost cover the entire board lengthwise. It was no surprise that (spoiler alert) he would go on to win the tournament. That said, my Crocodiles were doing a fantastic job of rolling up one flank and burn-a-nating gun platoons, although I lost the 25pdrs again! The game swung when a tactical moving AT 9 Zis hit with its single shot, and bailed a croc… which then failed to remount, and the remaining tank failed its last stand!
With the loss of the crocodiles, I had to pull of a miracle to get through the minefields and AT fire, but it wasn’t to be and my tanks dissolved against the gunline, for a 2-7 loss.
Lesson of the game – Two-tank platoons are fragile if they have low morale.
Game Three – “Bridgehead” vs Phillip’s Armoured Rifle Company
Game three saw me once again the attacker against Philip Powells US Armoured Rife platoon in a game of Bridgehead.
Here the ability to spearhead my tanks down the flank lead to me putting pressure on from turn one – However failed to cross checks lead to me getting stuck the wrong side of the wood for too long!
The ambushing M10’s took a heavy toll on a careless comet platoon, and it was then death by a thousand cuts as the infantry swarmed over to defend against my push. Phil’s methodical playstyle suited his army to the ground, and my lack of focus meant I didn’t kill two platoons, leaving me a 1-8 loss.
Lesson of the game – Don’t forget about their ambush!
Game Four – “Encounter” vs Mike’s Airlanding Company
Game four saw the comets ‘Encountering ‘ a British Airlanding company commanded by Mike Klaka.
As the last hurrah of the V3 lists, again the static staying power of fearless veteran infantry was proved beyond doubt – Having my 25 pdrs pinned by mortars in the first turn and then refusing to unpin really sucked too! With embedded 6 pdrs (at RoF 3) it fell once again to my Crocodiles to force a break.
The risk of being outflanked and losing the flamethrower for the defensive fire was a major concern, at this point I really lamenting not having a third Croc to sit at the back and always provide defensive fire against an assault. Instead, eventually an infantry flamethrower managed to score a bail on a Croc, and again it failed to remount and ended up leaving the board in bad spirits.
The Comets arriving from reserve on the wrong flank didn’t really matter, given their HUGE dash move, they were able to swing from side to side to look for possible gaps… although the infantry would inch their way to the objectives. Rather than time out, we both launched assaults, with my tanks exploding and the Para’s pushing the Comets off the objective for another 1-8 loss to me.
Lesson of the game – Infantry can really shift in V4, be aware of getting outflanked!
Game Five – “Cityfight-Boulevard” vs Dave’s Tankovy Battalion
The final game of the weekend was a real curveball – the Cityfight mission Boulevard verses Dave Green’s Tankovy T34 battalion….
Overcome with panic at the fact my best city fight list didn’t have any infantry in, I took a deep breath and decided to trust in the fact that brutal weapons add additional D6 hits per hit when shooting into a building… meaning my ROF 5 Churchills are technically ROF 5D6!
In the end, the Churchills were total stars – getting 17 hits on two teams, forming an AT13 roadblock on one half of the board allowed my Comets to slowly pick apart the T70’s and T34 platoons. It was important to note that Dave really got unlucky with his cross checks, with often the T34 at the front failing, meaning half of the platoon was suck behind it. Semi Indirect fire allowed the Comets to dominate the streets, and lucky Blitz moves (and cross checks) allowed me to keep outside that magic 16” for most of the shots, along with Dave’s infantry not unpinning meant I was able to slowly pick part platoon after platoon until I got the company break.
Lesson of the game – Large platoons can really get in their own way in V4…
In the end, I scored
Corrivalry is a fantastically run unique event that has a flavour all of its own, set in a great venue, and has been a solid fixture on my event calendar for the last 5(!) years! If you are in the UK, it’s worth heading up for at least one – the games really are something special.
Now to start planning next years list…
Fez
As a Cumbrian living in Scotland I take great offence to the suggestion Daventry is the middle of the UK! 😉 Great write up mind
That is a totally valid point – although do bear in mind that anything north of the Thames is considered ‘The North’ to us Southerners 😀
– Fez