It Ain't Half Hot Mum! - British Infantry in the Far East

It Ain't Half Hot Mum! - British Infantry in the Far East The British Army in the Far East, is very different from the mobile veteran forces that we saw in the Mid War Desert Book Armoured Fist, who had already been bloodied fighting against the German and Italians in North Africa. They are less experienced and not as well equipped, but still have that dogged British Bulldog fighting spirit and together with their Commonwealth Allies they will eventually push the Japanese out of the British Empires Asiatic possessions, but that will be in the later stages of the war, and at great cost.

This period is the one of the worst for Britain in the Far East, in December 1941 Japan struck in multiple directions at once, through a compliant Thailand into Burma and then also simultaneously cut a swathe through Malaya to Singapore which eventually fell in February 1942. The British introduction to the Japanese in the East did not go as planned, with their very conservative “entrenched defence” style of warfare, inherited from the British Army and its officers’ experiences in WW1, which meant they were constantly outflanked and cut-off by a very aggressive and fast-moving Japanese Army which emphasised quick aggressive infantry tactics in combination with close combat, which often stunned their opponents. This combination led to many early lightning victories for Japan, in situations that if their shocked opponents realised how little men and supplies the Japanese often had, and that if the Allies held their nerve, they could have beaten the Japanese. Surrenders such as Singapore and the defeats in Malaya and Burma are great early instances of this.

For example, the withdrawal to Rangoon, Burma in February 1942, where panicked British forces were attempting a fighting withdrawal, while being outpaced by the Japanese. The Battle of Sittang Bridge, where British officers destroyed a key bridge before all their forces had crossed, stranding most of the 17th Indian Division on the other side, forcing many men to swim across the river, abandoning their equipment, did nothing to help British morale or their Chinese allies. The Allies eventually retreated out of Burma over the next few months, and this is partially what this book represents for the British and Commonwealth, their retreat out of Burma, and then their attempted counter-attacks into Burma in the 1942/43 Arakan Campaign, as well as the Chindit attacks behind enemy lines. While it is arguable how successful these counter-attacks were, it certainly taught them what not to do, and allowed Lt. General Bill Slim to form ideas on how to fight the Japanese successfully, which he later proved in the 1944/45 Arakan Campaign.

Chindits crossing a river during their long-range penetration missions

So let's have a look at the poor bloody infantry in the Pacific, the humble British Rifle Company, it is very similar to the Desert Rifle Company, but you have one less Vickers MMG, and you now have the option of taking a 2pdr Anti-tank platoon, as well as a 6pdr Anti-tank platoon.

Looking at the Rifle Platoon itself I can tell you the main difference…the points cost..and the soft stats. Your To Hit is now 3+ Aggressive, and your Skill is 5+ Green, although you still have the 4+ Deadly rule in Assault. You will note the Boys Anti-tank rifle and 2” mortar are now optional, which makes the platoon cheaper at the base cost. All this makes the Rifle Platoon significantly cheaper, but comes at a cost, you are easier to-hit, and can’t use movement orders as reliably, and digging-in will be harder, your Deadly rule still means you are OK in assault, and your British Bulldog rule still gives you a good chance of counter-attacking.

Your HQ is the same in stats, but you have lost the Night Attack special rule, the British forces in the East are not as proficient as their desert counterparts, but your price has also decreased to match this.

An interesting addition is the 2pdr Anti-tank gun, while it was more of an early war weapon, the newer 6pdr anti-tank gun has not made it to the eastern theatre in great numbers, so they had to rely on the older 2pdr gun. These are pretty cheap, and will penetrate most Japanese tanks, but do have the No HE drawback (+1 to hit infantry and gun teams).

The 6pdr Anti-tank platoon has lost the No HE rule from the desert, they had realised when it made it to the East in 1943 that it needed to come with enough HE shells, and you can also take them in platoons of 6 now. Potentially you can have a maximum of 12 6pdr guns in your Rifle Company…that’s a lot of AT for an enemy tank platoon to wade through! The other support weapons in the company like the Vickers MMG, 3” Mortars and Universal Carrier Patrol are the same as in the desert, just cheaper and with similar soft stats as the rifle platoon. Overall the Pacific Rifle Company is very similar to the desert one, with the addition of the 2pdr, but you will find it much cheaper than before. A maxed out Pacific Rifle Company is 52 points with 12 6pdrs, while costs a desert rifle company with the works can be as much as 88 points. You could also use the Pacific Rifle Company to represent a fresh company in the desert if you wanted to use a bit of imagination, and it will also give you the option of using any 2pdrs you have painted up for the desert.

One of the Command Cards you can use on the 2pdr platoon is the Captured 47mm Gun CC, this loses the gun shield and a point of AT (not really a big deal vs Japanese tanks), but you gain more mobility and no longer suffer the No HE rule. I personally love little characterful Command Cards like this, so I can see myself using this, as it makes the unit a bit more of an all-rounder.
	Another great Command Card for your force is the Jungle Fighters card, which improves your Tactics value to 3+. This is great for improving your Rifle Platoons, allowing them to more easily perform movement orders, or dig-in, which can be very useful, it is also reasonably priced.

Now let’s look at your Support, you have the ever-present 25pdr, workhorse of the British Army, and now with an infantry observer team, you can also take Valentine Tanks from the 146th RAC, more 6pdrs, and 20mm Oerlikon AA guns. You have the Hurricane fighter-bomber now with 50 cal. machine guns and bombs instead of its tank busting cannons from the desert, and a new entry is the Marmon-Herrington armoured cars. These were mostly early war, but had been relegated to less vital theatres like India, so it is the best armoured car they have available. They come with an MG and boys AT rifle, so you don’t have to pay the additional cost like in a carrier platoon. Not a game breaking unit, but it’s cheap, and is one of those historic additions that also allows you to use older models, or add more variety to your force. I also think they look pretty neat! I think the 25pdrs are a core choice in almost any British infantry list, as they can double as an anti-tank gun as well as artillery, another great Command Card option is the 4.5” Field Troop, this is slightly cheaper than a standard 25 pdr unit, but you lose the ROF 2 and some AT, but gain a higher firepower. This unit is more for digging out enemy guns and infantry, but is cheap enough that I can see it worth taking, and once again I can dust off my older figures.

I’ve put together a force with a Pacific Rifle Company as a base, which with it now being a lot cheaper means I can bring a few extra support units to help with aggressive manoeuvre and assault. I have four templates in the list, the two artillery units, the mortars and the Vickers MMG, a lot of people forget that the Vickers can also do a bombardment out to 48” so can be handy to help pin units before an assault.

Click image to enlarge

I also have four units of infantry, and I have used the Jungle Fighters CC to upgrade the larger rifle platoons to make them more versatile, if I want them to move up via movement orders or dig-in and help put pressure on objectives.  I also have a dedicated assault unit, an Indian Rifle platoon that I upgraded to Gurkhas and given sticky bombs, they are expensive, but are Hit on 4+ which is rare in the Pacific, and Assault on 2+ which is amazing! They also have the Indian Warcry rule, that makes enemy units re-roll their first successful motivation roll to counter-attack when fighting against a unit with Warcry, as well as Mountaineers which can be useful. The Sticky Bombs also help them against tanks. This unit will be my ‘Stick it up them!’ unit, so you need to make sure they don’t lose too many stands before they get into assault.

As you can see, there is a lot of infantry here, as well as a lot of gun teams, you really do get a lot of bang for your buck in these Pacific lists, but you need to keep in mind they are mostly hit on 3’s, so try to use cover and concealment to preserve your troops.

7th Hussars Stuart

One type of unit in the British lists that seem to have still have kept their Careful 4+ To Hit are the tanks. The Stuarts, Grants and Valentines are all hit on 4+, but unlike the Marine and Aussie Stuarts the British Stuarts do not have cannister shot ammunition, but they have enough MGs to shred an infantry unit in the open. The Grant/Lees also have a gun that will blow through almost any Japanese tank in theatre and decent armour as well...but there have been rumours of some great bloody Bengal Cat sighted that their guns cannot penetrate, and in turn tear through their armour like claws through flesh…but surely not, just wild tales! The British had a mix of Grant and Lee tanks supplied to them often in mixed platoons, you can also upgrade all of the tanks in the unit to have the M3 Lee MG cupola, so an extra machine gun, which can be handy against hordes of Banzai crying maniacs…

The only other new unit I would possibly look at putting in, is the 20mm Oerlikon AA Troop, these are very cheap and with a 3+ save, rather than the 4+ on the Bofors. The Indians knew it would be too hard to move the Bofors through the tight roads and terrain, so opted for the lighter 20mm Oerlikon. Good for stopping light tanks and armoured cars.

Overall, I think the new British Rifle Company allows lots of opportunity for different styles of play, and you could easily take a striped down company as one that will hold down your objectives while your other better formation attacks the enemy objectives. Or you can use it as a challenge and have quite a numerous more easily hit force, but with the points saving allowing you to take more toys… It really comes down to your imagination, I really like that this allows a broadening of play styles, and more scope for historical lists, or re-enactments of battles. Not every player wants to play at a tournament, and some of the Command Cards have some great additions, so please look out for that article as well! For me, I just love the game bringing new life to forgotten theatres, and as a history buff this hopefully drives other peoples interest in history and wargaming, which I really love about this hobby! Happy Gaming! ~ Adam