The tanks are ready to roll
10 March 2020
The tanks we have are now ready to roll in the battle for Normandy 1944 having been painted by the Monday 
night painting team. They all deserve a massive thanks for their continued efforts!
They are as follows:
- David “Blobber” Pead
- Tam “Dabber” Belworthy
- Simeon “Details” Belworthy
- Jane “The Crafty Artist” Riley
- Andreas “The Hun” Moench
- Beccy “The Swot” Edge
- And of course, Peter “The Geek” Riley
The Scenario
For play testing we are going to play my version of 
the events that happened in the Death Ride of Michael Wittmann. This version will allow us to play a scenario based on the actual tank figures we have. The real tank numbers will be in the scenario, so anyone can feel free to use those numbers instead.
I have wanted to play this since I started building the Fire and Move rules. We will use the tanks of Northants Yeomanry, the 27th Sherbrooke Fusiliers and 101st Heavy Tank Battalion and the optional German support provided by elements of the 12th SS Panzer Regiment.
Together the Allies killed the German panzer ace Michael Wittmann. They blew the turret off his Tiger (numbered 007) and knocked out his whole Platoon of Tiger tanks in very short order - about 12 minutes.
The German counter attack was also beaten off and the Falaise Gap continued to close.
Loft mining
As we move on to creating the Map for the Scenario in the Fire & Move Rules, we are planning a Monday night 
terrain and marker building session. Before we begin I thought I would quickly check out the loft.
Low and behold, I found some roads that needed tidying up. So, I re-flocked the road edges and waited for them to dry. As you can see, they still need a lick of paint to make them look good, but for a homemade attempt from the distant past, using old Honda number plates cut to size, they are not looking too bad.
When we placed a few tanks on them they looked to be the right size too. We just need to make a few more straight sections and crossroads and we will be away.
We are going to use the Charlestown buildings. However, we need to represent a rural French village, so we will get a few Normandy style building bought and paid for as well. We will also use the Kallistra Hexon boards and trees from The Little Big Horn battle, with of course a few hedges we have bought. The trees will serve to represent woods and orchards in the area that were as cover for the allies.
The Forces involved
Allied Forces
‘A’ Squadron Northants Yeomanry
1 Troop
1 x Sherman Firefly 17pdr & 3 (4) x M4 Sherman
2 Troop
1 x Sherman Firefly 17pdr & 2 (4) x M4 Sherman
‘A’ Squadron Sherbrook Fusiliers
1 Troop
1 x Sherman Firefly 17pdr 2 (3) x Sherman V 75mm
German Forces
3rd Company 101st Heavy Tank Battalion
4 (5) x Pzkpfw VI Tiger 1
Optional German Forces
Elements of the 12th SS Panzer Regiment
4 (6) x Pzkpfw IV H