Winging It – A Polish Cavalry Force for Early War

Early War has always been my favourite Flames of War period, I’m really happy to see it finally returning to the v4’verse.

The one army I always fancied in Early War but never got round to building was a Polish cavalry army. The v3 / v4 change caught up with me, added to a lack of confidence in my own ability to paint a large number of Cavalry bases and meant I never got round to it.

With the upcoming release of Polish forces for v4 I’ve finally taken the plunge, and decided to build a Polish force, I mean as the owner of Soviet and Romanian cavalry armies (and Danish cavalry for Bolt Action) already it seems rude not to, plus, and what a big plus it is, you can have an armoured train. Cavalry and Trains, two of my favourite subjects.

I think most people know I have a penchant for lists that are more historic than meta focussed, so reading through the new pdf, I decided to base a list around the Battle of Mokra.

I decided to limit myself to around 100 points, to lower both the initial outlay and the impact of painting up things for a number of upcoming Early War events.

The Battle of Mokra involved the Wołyńska Cavalry Brigade, three regiments of Lancers (or Uhlans as they were known), the Volhynian, Vistula and Podolian regiments, a regiment of Mounted Rifles (the 2nd) and a Battalion of TKS tankettes (the 21st). During the battle the Polish forces were reinforced by Armoured Train Number 53, known as “Śmiały“, “Bold”. This arrived in the middle of a German tank assault which was just crossing the a railway line and was able to destroy a number of German tanks. A Polish counterattack by tankettes and mounted lancers was supported at a distance by “Śmiały” and after a fierce struggle the Germans drew back to their start line.

So that seemed like a good place to start, and here is my first stab at a c100pt list

Cavalry Regiment – Podolian Lancers

HQ – 2 Rifle Teams

Cavalry Squadron – 10 Rifle Teams + 2 Anti Tank Rifles

Cavalry Squadron – 6 Rifle Teams + 1 Anti Tank Rifle

Cavalry Scout Section – 5 Rifle Teams + 1 Anti Tank Rifle

Cavalry Anti Tank Battery – 4 37mm Bofors Anti Tank Guns (possibly with hero leader)

Horse Artillery Battery – 4 76mm Field Guns

Armoured Car Section – 3 Armoured Cars (MGs)

TKS Battalion – 21st Armoured Battalion

HQ – 1 TKS Tankette (MG)

Squadron – 5 TKS Tankettes (2 with 20mm, 3 with MGs)

Squadron – 5 TKS Tankettes (2 with 20mm, 3 with MGs)

Train + Light Artillery Car (2 x 75mm guns) + Tank attachment (Renault FT (37mm) + 2 TKS Tankettes (MG))

That’s about 100 points, and obviously is a sizeable amount of painting as the 28 stands of cavalry will need to be duplicated. If I don’t take the hero gunner I can add some additional stands to my cavalry, or take another Tank platoon for the Train, or take the card which allows the train to re-roll misses with its guns

I went for a solid base of Cavalry, who can also dismount and hold ground, supported by a decent Anti Tank Battery and Horse Battery (which can both bombard or chip in with some high value AT fire).

The scout section and armoured cars provide recce and the ability to spearhead. The scout section, with the addition of an extra stand can also convert to a normal cavalry unit (though Polish cavalry scouts are less brittle than my Romanian equivalents so it may not be an option I use much).

Another “fascination” of mine is small early war vehicles, I have a formation of French AMR’s, A British Divisional Cavalry force, Renault R35s for my late war Romanians and have just acquired models of the two Carden-Loyd Patrol Cars purchased by Denmark to use for my Bolt Action army , so I suppose it was inevitable that I would end up with a large number of TKS Tankettes, plus I got some as gifts at the ETC in Krakow in 2024, which it will be nice to use. They provide additional support against attempts by infantry to assault any of my dismounted cavalry , but also a bit of additional anti tank , especially from the flank against enemy light tanks. They are going to need careful handling and are not much good at assaulting things, but they are cheap !!.

Last but not least is “Śmiały“, the bold armoured train, due to points restraints, I’ve gone with one Light Artillery car (which is a bit different to the two heavy cars which made up “Śmiały“), and a tank platoon attachment to provide some close support.

It’s expensive, but it’s important to see it not as an assault vehicle to duel with enemy tanks, but more as a multi role support unit, it’s actually not that much more in points terms than a battery of horse artillery but it’s more mobile and much better protected.

I am planning on using a mix of providers for the figures, and also to try and keep the cost down, as a result there are not too many photos of my work in progress (most of it is still in the post !!), but here are some tankettes and cavalry

Yes I know, not that sort of cavalry, and no I won’t be proxying !!

I promise I’ll let everybody know how they get on when they finally arrive on the table, Rich.