With the advent of the excellent Chain of Command 2 it introduced some new vehicle aspects to the game - turret speed and smoke generation. As the core rulebook is very much focussed on the late war with its Army Lists it now leaves the Blitzkrieg 1940 players with questions about these new aspects and if they are applicable to vehicles in the relevant Master Arsenal lists.
These questions have come up in my playing of this period and this article covers our House Rules to bridge the gap.
Here are my thoughts on the Blitzkrieg 1940 supplement and how those new vehicle aspects could be applied - I do not claim to be an expert but I have carried out internet research as much as i can to try and back up my suggestions.
Note: I am marking the general assumption that all turret speeds are "Average" unless otherwise noted - while the rotation speed can often be found through research, the cut off of when that becomes slow is a mystery wrapped up in an enigma to me.
Belgium
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Captured Carden Loyd in 1940 with open top Image: www.armedconflicts.com |
Smoke
Belgian vehicles did not deploy smoke on their T13/T15 and the AGC-1 is a French pattern tank that also didn't use smoke. Sadly no smoky fun for the Belgians.
Turrets and Notes
The wonderfully bizarre Carden Loyd MK VI with FRC 47mm was only able to have a 10 degree traverse so its turret would be "Fixed". I would also add the attribute "Open Body" to this vehicle as can be seen here where destroyed or captured Carden Loyd's can be seen with no top armour.
The rear facing gun on a T-13 B1/B2 had a limited 120 degree rotation with it's armoured plates up, 360 degrees if these were dropped (and I would suggest a corresponding drop in vehicle armour to 1 whilst deployed like that).
Gun Shields
The 47mm FRC M1931 was equipped with a gun shield.
The Netherlands
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| 7- veld 75mm Field Gun Peeters Ben, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons |
Smoke
The vast armada of impressive, powerful and numerous Dutch armour did not avail itself of any smoke (to be fair it didn't avail itself of any armour either...).
Turrets and Notes
I would suggest adding the attribute "Open Body" to Carden Loyd MG Carrier.
Gun Shields
The 7-veld 75mm Field Gun, although ancient, did have a gun shield.
Britain
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Vickers Light Tank Mk.VIB |
At last we get to some smoke capabilities that were present in the Early War period. As per the inter-war period and British tank development it is mostly the "infantry" tanks that have smoke capability and the faster "cruiser" tanks didn't. These "infantry" tanks could use their smoke to assist the accompanying foot troops in their movement on the battlefield.
The Vickers Mk VIB, Vickers Mk VIC, A11 Matilda I and A12 Matilda II all had forward facing smoke mortars.
The Morris CS9 Armoured Car was also equipped with a smoke bomb thrower (that little tube centred on the turret).
Turrets and Notes
I would suggest adding the attribute "Open Body" to Bren/Scout Carrier.
Gun Shields
Both the "1 Pounder" and "2 Pounder" both have gun shields.
Germany
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| Panzer III User:Fat yankey, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons |
Smoke
The German approach to the use of smoke evolved during the war. In the later war there was an assessment of German use of smoke by American Military Intelligence Service:
"Smoke shells are fired from the 75-mm guns of the Pz. Kpfw. IV's [1], and also, it is reported, from 88-mm guns on other armored vehicles. Smoke shells are not fired by the Pz. Kpfw. II [2] or the Pz. Kpfw. III [3], both of which are equipped to discharge "smoke pots" with a range of approximately 50 yards. These pots are released electrically, and are employed chiefly to permit the tank to escape when caught by antitank fire."
Smoke-Shell Tactics Used by German Tanks" from Intelligence Bulletin, Aug. 1944
The German use of smoke was markedly different, it was not to assist or support infantry, rather a defensive cover to use for tactical withdrawal.
In the early war, tanks did not have forward facing smoke grenade launchers, instead they had Nebelkerzenabwurfvorrichtung (N.K.A.V.), a rear mounted grenade dispenser used to disperse up to five Schnellnebelkerze 39 smoke grenades when the commander activated them from the turret. It was succeeded from about 1942 onwards by the turret mounted Nebelwurfgerät launcher.
In game terms I would suggest this means the tank (as per 15.3 Vehicles Deploying Smoke), when deploying smoke the player places a 6” wide by 3” deep area of smoke directly behind the vehicle (and not 6” in front).
Nebelkerzenabwurfvorrichtung were equipped on:
- Panzer I A-B
- Panzer II A-C
- Panzer III A-C
- Panzer IV B-C.
Turrets and Notes
Other amendments to vehicle characteristics would be:
- Adding "Low Profile" to Stug IIIA
- Adding "Open Body" to Kfz 13, SdKfz 221, SdKfz 222
- Adding "Low Profile, Open Body" to SdKfz 250/1B
Gun Shields
The Pak 35 3.7cm, IeIG 18 7.5mm Infantry Gun and sIG 33 15cm Infantry Gun all had gun shields.
France
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| French Armoured Fighting Vehicles Image: IWM (MH 8513) |
Smoke
France and the use of smoke don't mix - I could not find evidence of smoke use in any French AFV.
Turrets and Notes
To reflect the rather adhoc nature of the Laffly W15 TCC and Laffly SA-34 TCC I would suggest adding the following attributes:
- Laffly W15 TCC: Slow turret with a a limited 60° rear facing gun traverse and "Open Body"
- Laffly SA-34 TCC: Slow turret with a a limited 60° forward facing gun traverse and "Open Body"
Gun Shields
The Canon de 25mm L/72, Canon de 47mm L53 and Canon de 75mm M1897 all have gun shields.
And so ends my exploration of sprinkling some version 2 over Blitzkrieg 1940 support options. Thoughts and feedback appreciated.
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