Ready for Warfare

Today Martin talks about his upcoming trip to the Reading Wargames Warfare 2025 event. Warfare is a multi faceted 2 day wargaming extravaganza held annually at Farnborough Airports Exhibition Cetre and combines, trade stands, all kinds of participation games and multiple tournaments.

I’m participating again this year in the Flames of War event, again being run by our very own Eddie “Fez” Turner. Warfare is again a late war period event and over the past couple of years Fez has gently steered it away from an out and out competative open event to a more thematically themed one, initially implementing the option of a list swap so players could avoid blue on blue gaming and last year theming the event and gaming tables on D-Day with only lists from the D-Day books being allowed (avid readers may recall I took my 716 Infantry Division Force and came 3rd). This year sees time move forward with the event covering operations on the western european front from the end of the Normandy campaign through Operation Market Garden and on to the Battle of the Bulge. So I’m hoping to see some impressive themed terrain tables again. A new addition for this year is the concept of a historical force, participants can earn a bonus point to their score by providing a historical background to their chosen list of just 85 pts.

Having collected up American Forces covering almost all phases of the war I saw there was one big gap – my collection lacked a proper Force for the Bulge period, essentially I had only painted up the Creighton Abrams Warrior model and I had an unopened US Combat Command Starter Army box from the Bulge release. So what have I done?

December 26^th, 1944. A brief bit of history

With the Battle of the Bulge reaching its height one of the most well-known events of the battle occurred, Patton’s 4^th Army achieved the relief of the trapped 101^st Airbourne Division at Bastogne. It is this one single action that I have based my force for this year’s Warfare on.

Lieutenant Colonel Creighton Abrams commander of the 37^th Tank Regiment, Combat Command Reserve (CCR) saw an opportunity to affect the relief of the beleaguered airbourne troops besieged in the Belgium town of Bastogne. Elements of the 37^th acompanied by Armoured Rifles from the 53rd Armoured Rifle Regiment were just a few miles away advancing on a minor road towards Bastogne and approaching the village of Assenois, just 2km SW of the nearest American positions.

Calling in artillery support from the rest of the command, the armoured doughs and Shermans poured into the village under the cover of the bombardment where stiff fighting broke out. The Germans however, weren’t expecting an attack from this direction and were slowly pushed back. Their positions were mainly focussed on the main roads and tightening the stranglehold on Bastogne, the speed of the advance and ferocity of the fire, over 2500 rounds fell infront of the advancing troops, coupled with the tenacity of the infantrymen, by early afternoon Assenois was in American hands and a final push to get to Bastogne was possible..

Led by what was to become the famous M4 Sherman Jumbo, Cobra King under the command of Lieutenant Charles Boggess C Company moved forward along the final stretch of the minor road. In the push to drive forward to Bastogne the tanks and halftracks had become mixed, along the line of advance gaps developed as they exited the village. The lead half-track in the line was knocked out by an anti-tank Teller mine and was lost and the infantry suffered a number of casualties, but the tanks kept rolling forward. The link up with the trapped airbourne troops was finally achieved in fading light just before 5pm effectively marking the end of the siege.

I have chosen to model C Company as my primary playing list in that final push into Bastogne, for reference my other force is 5th Fallschirmjager themed. I have based this list on the Bulge Veteran M4 Sherman (late) Formation. The 37^th organisation is a little different to the listed one as Abrams removed 1 tank from each platoon reducing them to 4 tanks rather than 5 and gave these to his executive officers. The 37th had been fighting hard for several days and reportedly had just 20 medium tanks left at the start of the push. These were a mix of M4A3 75mm and M4A3 76mm armed tanks as well as some M4A3 Jumbos, approximately a thrird of the tanks were the 76mm varients.

To refect the mixture of tanks types I have chosen an HQ platoon with one each of the M4A3 75mmm and 76mm tanks. These are supported by two M4A3 Veteran Sherman platoons. To represent the lead platoon containing Cobra King, a 75mm gunned Jumbo, I have upgraded my first M4A3 Veteran Sherman platoon with a jumbo, as well as a single 76mm tank. The other Sherman platoon comprise two 75mm and two 76mm tanks. HVAP ammunition wasn’t issued to the 37^th at this time being reserved for the Tank Destroyer Battalions so no AP upgrades for me, in keeping with the spirit of the event. Keeping to the historical spirit of the event is also why I didn’t downgrade any of my tanks to older M4’s to free up points, the 37th had been fully equipped with M4A3 tanks. The 37th like other Tank Battalions had its own integrated artillery with M3 Armoured Mortars plus a mix of other lighter vehicles.

The accompanying infantry from 53rd Armoured Rifle were an operationally aggressive unit, as evidenced by their lead vehicles getting mixed up with the advancing Shermans so I would ideally have used the Fortress Europe Armoured Rifle Platoon (ARP) option rather than the Bulge Battle Weary option but this isn’t a source book I could choose from, so I have stuck with the Bulge ARP option. To reflect the lost vehicle, I have selected the 4 vehicle Armoured Rifle platoon option. The 53rd also brought with them jeeps and other light armoured fighting vehicles . To represent all the other lighter vehicles in the advancing armoured column I proxied their presence using the M8 Greyhound Cavalry Recon Patrol from Force Support, as this offers a mix of jeeps and light AFVs. Finally, to represent the troops that delivered the supporting artillery bombardment I have included a battery of M7 Priests. To represent the forces fortune in finding this “less well defended” route I have included the Lucky Command Card.

Overall I think its a pretty rounded force that reflects the composition of CCR on the day but for gaming is rather fragile with only the 4 Formation platoons. I expect it will struggle against some German lists I could face. Being a small force it is very much a scalpel and will need careful management on the table top and to attack along a well screened narrow front where I can mass my fire, having two smoke barrages will definately help get me into position but my strength could be quickly spent and I don’t have the numbers or moral to fight a battle of attrition.

Well that’s it for now I’ll be back before toward the end of November with a round up of how I got on.