20mm (1/72) ish British Battle of Arras!

A few months back, my youngest son was learning about the early parts of World War Two at school.  They glossed over a lot of cool stuff in my opinion relating to the Battle of France, so I wanted to explain a little bit about what happened during the early part of the war, concentrating on the Battle of Arras where British tank regiments burst through the German lines.

My son had got some of those Valiant 20mm miniatures, (although they come in at more like old school 25mm), so I suggested that we could paint some of them up and have a little battle.  It was also an excuse for me to get hold of one of my favourite tanks of WWII, the Matilda Mk II.

3 x Matilda I tanks (metal, from Early War Miniatures), 3 X Matilda II tanks (Resin, from Millicast), a 2lb ATG (Zvezda), a platoon of rifles made up of two 10 man squads with a bren gun, a Vickers MMG, a medium mortar, an artillery spotter and a Bren carrier (PSC).  There is also a 25 pounder airfix model with Quad Tractor rocking about somewhere that I should paint up as well.

Next up is the Germans, (pics to follow), again using Valiant miniatures.  Their list looked a little like 3 x Pz IIcs, 3 x Pz 38s, 2 squads of rifles with SMG and LMG, 2 x 251 Half Tracks, an 88mm ATG with Prime Mover, and two MMGs.  I'm not sure how balanced this is, the Pz 38s only have a light ATG and the Matilda IIs are Heavy tanks.  Of course, that was a realistic outcome of the battle of Arras, where they ended up using their 88mm guns to halt the advance of the Matilda I and II tanks as they were the only weapon that seemed to have an effect.

We played a little meeting engagement to get my lad used to the rules, a HQ, a couple of squads, I had an MMG and he took a Medium Mortar  (I was the Germans) I got the 88mm and he chose the Matilda I.

 An out of focus 88mm targets the Matilda I hiding in the ruins of the old farmhouse.  In the distance the 3" mortar team try and work out if they can see the 88...

Although I tried in vain to smash the Matilda with the 88, the worst I could do was give it a turret jam.  It cleared out my MMG team and held it's ground, pinning one of my squads.  The mortar rained down on the 88 but even getting a direct hit at one point, with 8 crew serving it, it kept firing throughout the battle, even turning the tables on the 88 and taking it out with a single shot.

The british squads used the ruins and cover to move up, and eventually casualties told on the German side.  One german squad rallied and attempted to confort the british in a hand to hand attack but were repulsed.  Only the Lt and the 88 survived the battle, the british sweeping the table with the damaged Matilda and most of their infantry intact.

 The victorious general salutes the final remnants of the battlefield...

Added some decals to the Matildas, courtesy of Dan Taylor Modelworks.  This is 'Gretna', a 7RTR Matilda II from the battle.

 

And this one is Galahad.