Big Shiny Box – British Bulge

Today I’m here to talk about something big shiny and bulging. I am of course referring to the new starter set that Battlefront has released to coincide with the new Late War British Bulge book. I really miss all the catchy names books used to have.

There is a recommended way to build the contents of the box set, and BF have even done a recommendation of how to get the list to 100 points, however, that might not be the most sensible way to build the box, so get comfy whilst I ram my own opinions down your throat until you gag.

What’s in the box

The box contains the following:

4x Comet sprues
2x Cromwell sprues
3x Chaffee sprues
3x Challenger sprues
A Rifle Platoon sprue
5x Kangaroo/Ram tank/Sexton sprues
2x Archer sprues

Now the Flames of War starter sets for specific nations can often be a bit eclectic, but this one has dialled that up to 11. I can only assume that rather than sitting down to sensibly plan out what to put in the box, they instead got a squirrel drunk and let in loose in the warehouse, then whatever the squirrel pooped on got put into the box. We are just lucky that there isn’t a Panther in there, (there is after all the option to field a single Panther in one of the formations).

The recommended build for this list is as follows:

Comet Armoured Squadron
CHQ – 1x Comet, 2x Cromwell CS – 19pts
3x Comets – 21 pts
3x Chaffees – 10pts

Support
3x Challengers – 21pts
2x Sextons – 6pts
2x Archers – 9pts
Kangaroo rifle platoon – 11pts

That’s a total of 97pts, and then BF recommends you add another support option of a Daimler armoured car troop of 2 Daimlers and 2 dingos to round it off to 100pts.

I have a few issues with this list; firstly the formation only has 3 units, which means it’s a bit on the brittle side, not helped by the fact that the units in the formation are also quite small. As soon as your enemy gives that Chaffee unit an angry look it will start taking losses, which can soon snowball down into formation last stand check if you’re not careful. Secondly, some of the support units are a bit rubbish; 2 sextons on their own are about as much use as a fart in a hurricane. They won’t be able to put out much damage due to having to reroll successful hits for only 2 guns, and as soon as you lose one, you’re onto unit morale checks. Same for the Archers-they have a decent gun but poor armour, and have the same issue as the sextons if they lose just 1 model. Also, most people I know play 105pts, so you’d still have to get another unit of something to get your points up.

A slight tweak

There is a nice and simple tweak you can do using just the stuff listed above that solves some of the issues I have, and that’s to simply ditch the Kangaroo transports for the infantry and build two of them as Sextons instead.

The list would therefore look like this:

Comet Armoured Squadron
CHQ – 1x Comet, 2x Cromwell CS – 19pts
3x Comets – 21 pts
3x Chaffees – 10pts

Support
3x Challengers – 21pts
4x Sextons – 12pts
2x Archers – 9pts
Kangarooless Rifle platoon – 9pts
Daimler armoured car troop – 3pts

That comes out at 104 pts and give you a spare Kangaroo/Sexton/Ram tank. Now unfortunately there is no option in the book, or even on the command cards for a Ram tank OP, even though they were used in that role, however, there is an option for a Sherman OP, and they are basically the same thing. I suspect most players would let you count a Ram tank OP as a Sherman OP, which costs 1 pt and gets your list up to 105pts. If the other player doesn’t allow you to do this, you have my permission to call them a stinky poo poo head.

This gets the list up to 105pts, and gives the Sextons a bit more punch and staying power, although the core formation is still a bit weak.

But if I was buying the box set and another unit to make it up, I would do one of two things:

Proposal A

More Comets

The comet is a lovely tank, and when I get round to writing a Tank Rank article for this book I will be suitably gushing, but for now just accept that I like it (spoiler alert).

A box of Comets gives you 5 comet tanks and allows you to make this list:

Comet Armoured Squadron
CHQ – 1x Comet, 2x Cromwell CS – 19pts
4x Comets – 28 pts
4x Comets – 28 pts
3x Chaffees – 10pts

Support
4x Sextons – 12pts
Kangarooless Rifle platoon (small size) – 7pts

That’s 104pts, and assuming you’re playing with a decent human being you can use the last point to add a “Sherman” OP in the form of your Ram tank.

This will leave you with the challengers, archers and a couple of infantry bases spare, but it does give you more staying power, and the extra comets make up for the loss of the hitting power of the Challengers and Archers.

Proposal B

More Cromwells

Alternatively, you could go for a box of the slightly cheaper Cromwells, which come 4 to a box along with a Sherman

Cromwell Armoured Squadron
CHQ –2x Cromwell – 10pts
2x Cromwell, 2x Challenger – 24 pts
2x Cromwell, 1x Challenger – 17 pts
3x Chaffees – 10pts

Support
4x Sextons – 12pts
Kangarooless Rifle platoon – 9pts
Sherman OP – 1pt
3x Comet – 21pts

That totals 104pts, and seeing as it already has an actual honest to God Sherman OP in the list, you can round it up by taking a Lucky command card for a re-roll. You will have the archers, 1 kangaroo and 1 Comet spare, but the list still ticks all the boxes, although the smaller in formation units do make me sweat slightly.

Conclusion

Ultimately whilst I think the box set is a bit of an eclectic mix, it’s still a lovely box full of shiny plastic crack. The alternative lists above are just my thoughts about what you might want to do, and you could always look at buying 2 more Archers and/or Sextons off eBay or similar.

Bonus proposal C

Of course, the Elephant in the room is the other obvious thing you could buy to complement the box set…… another box set. That means you have all the Sextons, Kangaroos , Comets, Archers, Infantry and Challengers to make lots of interesting list options. Plus it has the advantage that you can Scrooge McDuck in a big pile of sprues.

Because at the end of the day, isn’t the true moral of the story that the solution to any wargaming problem is to just buy more stuff?