Saumur Tank Museum, and Flames of War Grumbles

Musée des Blindés, Saumur, France

I had the good fortune recently to visit this well-known museum whilst on holiday in France. What a great thing it is to have an understanding wife! I thought I'd include a few photos and a couple of comments on this blog.

The museum occupies a more suburban setting than Bovington,
and feels a little cramped.

One of my favourites. The Panzer II looked ready to start up and drive away.

Interesting to get really close to that 20mm appliqué armour.

R-35. Four colour camo, including pink. Or is that purple?
No wonder the French lost in 1940.

Another fascinating vehicle - one of the 21st Panzer's SP conversions.
A 10.5cm howitzer on a Hotchkiss chassis.

Panzer III in lovely condition.

Marder III with Russian 76.2mm gun.

Another favourite AFV of mine - a Jagdpanzer 38.

The mighty Jagdpanther.

Nice to get close to some interesting anti-tank guns.
This is the Russian Zis-2 57mm L/73. Now that's a long barrel!

World's only running Tiger II. A magnificent vehicle,
let down by a feeble display. See my thoughts below.

Jagdpanzer IV with battle damage.
Look at the way those welds have failed and the armour has cracked.
And note the round that has half-penetrated the vertical front plate. 

Outside the museum, with no info display, I found this fabulous Panther restoration. 
Don't have any details. A shame the museum didn't flag it up in any way.

A bit of an overview, showing the rather bare and bleak interior.

As you can see, the museum has a great collection. There were, of course, many other outstanding AFVs on display, apart from those shown above. It was a fine experience to be up close and personal with so many classic vehicles. But at the same time, the museum was a bit of a disapointment. As you might be able to see from the photos, the museum is rather like Bovington 40 years ago - something of a tank warehouse. 

Bovington has made great strides over recent decades and is now a fine, modern museum with absorbing, informative and imaginative displays. Saumur is, I'm afraid, stuck in the past, consisting of rows of AFVs with small information plates by each one, and not much else. This may be due to underfunding or any number of other reasons, but I have to say the experience is definitely second rate. 

Just to take one example - the Tiger II at Saumur is the only one running in the world. And yet there it sits, with its little information board, with nothing to celebrate this or even mention it. There should be a whole display explaining the provenance of the tank, explaining it's restoration, what it takes to keep it running, etc etc. But there is just about nothing. A great shame and, to be honest, simply not good enough. And that lovely Panther which I found hiding round the back of the museum. I think it was in running order, and it had been beautifully restored, but who could tell? 

So, for the tank nut this an unmissable visit. But this is also a museum which needs major investment, along with some imagination and flair, and frankly a bit of love. I'd be interested in the views of anyone else who's been there recently.

Flames of War are making me cross again

If you take any notice of what's going on in the world of FoW, you'll have noticed that 'the Poles are back'. In other words, the 1939 Polish range is being revived. As someone who games this period in 15mm, I guess I should be pleased. But I'm not.

First of all, I'm still rather miffed at the way the original range disappeared without any warning many years ago. I assume the reason was that it had ceased to make enough money. But even when the original range was available, it was full of holes. How about a Vickers 6 ton tank, so that the famous 'Black Brigade' could be represented? No chance. Tows for those 37mm and 75mm guns? Not a hope. How about some of those funky half-track prime-movers the Poles used in their mechanised units? Not present. As for a model of a 'Taczanka', the distinctive 3-horse wagon mounting an MG that supported the cavalry, well, forget it.

But here we are - the range is back. Or parts of it. Prominently offered is the Armoured Train, which of course provides a really worthwhile profit margin at £120. To be fair, the fact that 7tp models are now available as plastic kits rather than resin is positive. But at the time of writing there is no sign of any of the ubiquitous TKS tankettes, for example. But guess what? What is available is a '14TP Tank Platoon'. 

"A what?", I hear you say. Yes, the reason you've never heard of the 14TP is that it never existed as an operational tank. The 14TP was a Polish experimental tank, and the single prototype was never completed. It would have made a very competitive medium tank in 1940-41, but Poland's defeat ended it's development. However, here we have a complete platoon ready for combat. A bit of fun? Certainly. No issues with that - once all the historical models are available. But the basic vehicles that the Poles used in 1939 are being ignored in favour of a fantasy. This really is bollocks, IMHO. Sometimes I think the word 'historical' should be banned from any FoW communications. 

We all know the reason for this nonsense, of course. All together now - "Tanks Make Money".

I have little hope that all those missing models I listed above will make any appearance in the new FoW Polish range. But there we are - solace can be found by fielding a dumbass 14TP platoon. I dare say they will sell well. But dare I conclude that sometimes history deserves a bit of respect? In a hobby commonly called 'historical wargaming with miniatures'?

And on that sour note I will say farewell. 'Til next time!

World War Two Without Tanks

WW2 was my first wargaming period, and I have been gaming it for the best part of 5 decades now. Over that time I have often reflected that many, perhaps most, WW2 engagements didn't involve tanks at all. This would be particualrly true of the period I mostly game at the moment, the 1939 Polish campaign. But of course, tanks are a lot of fun to game with. Rather like their effect on real warfare, they provide the mobilty and firepower which can enliven wargames, bringing manoeuvre and the hope of that decisive breakthrough.

Nevertheless, I have thought many times over the years that some infantry-only, or at least some non-tank, games would be worth trying. But I must admit I can't actually remember ever having done so. Well, a couple of weeks ago I actually bit the bullet and got round to it.

The rules, of course, were Startline, and the period September 1939 - the Polish campaign. I decided to use the 'Bypass' scenario which I had used before for a Startline game, as it would test the idea of a tankless battle quite well. I don't think there's any need to give full details of the forces. Suffice to say the defending Poles had a company of infantry with supporting artillery plus some anti-tank guns, a cavalry platoon and a platoon of tankettes. Oh yes, and an armoured train! The Germans also had an infantry company with off-table fire support, plus an assault engineer platoon, a platoon of armoured cars and a recce section on motorcycles. They also had a little ace up their sleeve in the form of a section of 2 88mm-armed 'Bunkerflaks'. About 40% of the Polish force would start off-table as reserves.

The game, though tankless, did therefore have some armour in the form of tankettes and armoured cars, and the attackers had trucks and motorcycles to help them with their attack. To put it another way, I decided not to go cold-turkey in my pursuit of infantry-only WW2 gaming. Best to ease myself gently into things, I thought. 

The Game

So, let's see how things went using photos of the action. There were two game objectives - the road bridge and the railway station.

Overview at game start.
The Poles are deployed around the village and railway station in the centre,
the Germans are deployed on the left hand baseline.

Polish infantry in position.

On the far side from the approaching Germans,
Polish AA guns defend the station.

No tanks, but plenty of other vehicles. The Germans wait on their startline.

With the recce motorcyclists and the armoured cars rated 'skilful'
they got off to a cracking start, outflanking the Polish defenders
and heading for the road bridge objective.

Meanwhile the German Pioneers and an infantry platoon
put in a diversionary attack against the village.

The Polish tankettes arrive from reserve. Armed only with machine guns,
their chances of stopping the German advance seemed slim.

The armoured train arrived and was directed towards the bridges.
It would be the Poles main hope of making a decisive difference.

Helped by a shielding smoke screen, the German outflanking force make
good progress. The armoured cars have reached the road bridge,
but have been cut off by the Polish tankettes..

Here come the cavalry! They arrived on table at the rail bridge.

Here we see the results of a very eventful move 5.
A Stuka strike has damaged the train, but fire from the train
 and a rare Polish air strike have claimed 3 out of 4
of the German armoured cars on the road bridge.

Motorised Polish infantry reserves arrive in the village,
but the German diversion has already been easily seen off.

Both attacking German platoons have taken heavy casualties
and have retreated (left of photo).
At the top of this picture it can be seen that the 2 Bunkerflaks
are suffering from the attentions of Polish anti-tank guns.

At the end of the game, the road bridge was disputed,
with a lone German armoured car facing the Polish tankettes
and the arriving Polish cavalry.

Well, having no tanks didn't stop the game from being very mobile and exciting. The German armoured cars managed to race across the board to a vital objective, only to be isolated and largely destroyed by hastily reacting Polish forces. As the attackers had not taken either of the two objectives after 6 moves, the Poles had won. My main disappointment was that the anticipated firefight between the armoured train and the Bunkerflaks never took place! The soft-skinned Bunkerflaks strayed too close to the village and were sitting ducks for Polish 37mm anti-tank guns.

If I had left out the Polish and German AFVs, the game would certainly have needed to be expanded to 8 or more turns, but this would not really have been a problem as Startline moves along at a reasonable pace. Nevertheless, it would be fair to say that a true infantry-only battle would be more suited to a daytime game rather than a 2-3 hour evening battle. 

It was great fun to get the armoured train out of storage after a long lay-off, and also give the Polish cavalry a rare run-out. And having some air attacks always adds spice to a WW2 game. Although a solo game, this battle was a lot of fun.

Until next time!

The (Fictional) Engagement at Verba, June 1941

My friend and wargaming buddy Roy used to play a lot of Flames of War, and he has an extensive (and I mean extensive) 15mm collection for most WW2 periods. Being based for FoW means the figures and models are ideal for Startline as well, so he's just the guy to go to if you want to explore the many and various campaigns of WW2 with the best WW2 rules out there (did I just say that?).

Recently I have been dipping into books about Operation Barbarossa in 1941, so we decided to construct a game based on that campaign. When I heard that Roy had some T-28s and T-35s, as well as lots of the more ususal T-26s and BT-7s, I was sold. 

My research showed that the few T-35s that actually made it into combat belonged to 34th Tank Division, and that they were involved in the series of counter-attacks against the German invasion carried out from 23rd to 30th June usually known as The Battle of Brody. More specifically, they took part in actions along the Dubno-Brody road around 26-27th June. 

So I came up with the idea of combining this historical action with one of the scenarios from the current Flames of War 'Missions Pack' (see previous post). I chose 'Valley of Death', as it seemed to fit in with a hasty Soviet counter-attack putting its head into a potential German noose. Both the Wikipedia article on the T-35, and a colourised photo I found online mentioned the small town/village of Verba, so that became the name of the game. By a weird coincidence, our wargame was scheduled for 27th June.

The photo mentioned in the text. Obviously taken well after the battle
as the barrels of the tank guns have been removed for some reason.
Courtesy Royston Colour.

Details of the Valley of Death mission. 
© Battlefront Miniatures, reproduced by permission.

The two photos below show the terrain we set up based on the scenario. This was a quick twenty minute job, done after I arrived at Roy's. The group of houses around the two objectives were declared to be the village of Verba. The objectives were the two road T junctions.

Soviet deployment at the east end of the table.

German deployment north and south of Verba.

The forces involved were as below. Using the Startline points system, both came out at around 2500 points.

German (elements 11th Panzer Division)
Medium tank company: HQ 1 x Panzer I

3 platoons: 4 x panzer IIC, 4 x Panzer IIIH, 4 x Panzer IVE

Infantry company: HQ 1 x command base with light car

3 x platoons each 6 infantry bases, 1 x ATR base. 1 platoon in armoured half tracks.

Anti-tank section: 2 x Pak36 with tows

Recce section: 1 x Sdkfz 231 6-rad, 1 x Sdkfz 221

Off-table artillery: 4 x 10.5cm howitzers, AFO (radio)

Off-table mortars: 6 x 8cm mortars, MFO (radio)

Random air attacks on a 9+ (Hs-123 or Ju-87)

Note: all tank platoons and armoured cars are classed as skilful. All other units are regular/reliable. All AFVs have individual radios.

Soviet (elements of 34th Tank Division)

Light tank company: HQ 1 x BT-7

3 platoons each 3 x BT-7

Light tank platoon: 3 x T-26

Heavy tank platoon: 2 x T-28C, 1 x T-35

Armoured car section: 2 x Ba-10

Infantry company: HQ 1 x command base

3 platoons, each 6 x infantry bases

1 platoon truck-mounted, other platoons may ride tanks.

Machine gun section: 2 x Maxim MG with horse tows

Anti-tank section: 2 x 45mm guns with tows

On-table mortar section: 2 x 8cm mortars, MFO (telephone)

Off-table artillery: 8 x Zis-3 field guns, AFO (telephone)

Random air attacks on a 11+ (I-153 or I-16 fighters, strafe only, 4 x VMG)

Note: BT-7 and T-26 are inept training class for firing. Training for movement is regular. All other units are regular/reliable. BT-7s and T-26s do not have radios below platoon command level. 

The Game in Photos (note that the green discs are suppressed markers)

Ready for move 1!

First blood to the Germans.
Truck-mounted troops make such good artillery targets.

The Soviet right flank grinds forward.

The heavy tanks were going straight for the first road junction...

... as was a German infantry platoon.

The BTs made rapid progress and thought they had the
Panzer IVs nicely surrounded.

The T-35 reaches the first objective,
but a platoon of Panzer IIIs is on the way.

The T-26 platoon with its infantry (minus trucks)
 is still advancing on the Soviet left flank.

The German Panzer IIs took up a nice hull-down position, hoping to stop them. 
But they were spotted by Soviet artillery and thoroughly shot up.
That's 2 knocked out and 2 suppressed. 

Heavy fighting in Verba. The T-35 attempts to hold off 3 Panzer IIIs.

The second T junction is well defended by tanks,
anti-tank guns and infantry.

The German Mark IVs have retreated out of the wood,
tempting the BT-7s onto their guns.

Oops! The T-35 is hit 3 times and brews up.
The Germans have both infantry and tanks disputing the T junction objective.

Meanwhile the Mark IVs pick off Soviet light tanks at will.

End of move 6. We called it there. Bottom left you can see that the
T-26 platoon ended up suffering badly, not least by fire
from the German Sdkfz 231 with its 20mm cannon.

Conclusions

According to the FoW scenario rules, neither side had won, as both sides had units within 4" of the same objective. In FoW terms, the attacker has not captured an objective, but the defender has not 'repelled' the attacker either.  However, in the last two moves BT-7s had been dropping like flies, and the Germans had both tanks and infantry (in the house) disputing the only objective the Soviets had any chance of gaining. A couple of extra moves might have been fun, but it was time to go home. A German win was declared.

The final score in AFVs was 9 Soviet vehicles lost against 2 German - and the German tanks had fallen to artillery fire. It was nice to see that the simple adjustment in skill levels between the 2 sides had worked effectively. The moves had gone past quickly - 6 moves in about 2.5 hours gaming. The rules seem to be functioning quite nicely. One thing I learnt was that the Soviets didn't have anti-tank rifles in mid-1941 - the well known PTRD-41 didn't get into serviice until later in the year.

The two objectives would have been better placed side by side, rather than one behind the other. This would have given the attackers a genuine choice, but as it was only the nearest road junction was really attainable. The shape of the 'objectives zone' is obviously made to encourage this - something I missed during the quick set up.

To round off this report, a couple of illustrations that seem to fit the game. First, a very nice artwork is shown below, from Seven Zaloga's German Tanks In Barbarossa 1941 (Osprey NVG 339). Very relevant to the game, I thought. The companion volume, Soviet Tanks in Barbarossa 1941 (NVG 342), is also invaluable to the wargamer interested in this period.

© Osprey Publishing 2025. Reproduced with permission.

And to finish, an evocative photo from June 1941 showing a burning BT-7. 

Bundesarchiv/Wikipedia Commons.

And that's about it. Comments very welcome as usual. 'Til next time!