Commandos vs. Engineers: Part One Building Forces for Shifting Sands with Mark Francis & Mike Haught Mark Says... Shifting Sands is the annual two-day event of the Arizona Desert Rats gaming group. For the past four years the event has been themed around a certain battle or series of battles rather than a generic tournament. Shifting Sands 2013 will be no different as we cover the Battle of the Bulge. The event is going to be a 1600-point Firestorm tournament/campaign. So what side will I choose to represent and what force would I take?  My knowledge on the Battle of the Bulge sadly lies within the realms of Hollywood so I knew that I would have to pick up some books for research. For now, I needed to find that spark that leads me to my desired force.

Read Commandos vs. Engineers: Part Two here...

Learn more about Shifting Sands 13 here...

When typically building a force for Flames Of War, there is usually one aspect that grabs my attention, it could be a historical bias or just a fantastic shiny new model. Either way, something needs to pique my interest to make the force appealing to collect and paint. When the first Battlefront books started to come out that would cover this period I had no clue what force would fit my play style while fulfilling the above requirements. However, while reading through Devil’s Charge for the first time I stumbled upon a word that stopped me dead in my tracks: Commandos.

Anybody who knows me knows I’ve always had a soft spot for Commandos. It was one of my first armies for Flames Of War from the old King and Country book. I also wrote the list for the Orne Commandos in Turning Tide as well as built a table to represent the port of St. Nazaire (and one day I will design a scenario to actually fight on it!). At our last Shifting Sands event, I even ran raiding missions and forces from Burning Empires alongside the main games. The whole concept of small units, daggers between their teeth, striking silently at their foe always appeals to my historic interests.

For the Battle of the Bulge, I would be on the other side of the fence looking at the commandos of the notorious Otto Skorzeny. He had led many daring raids during World War Two and was tasked with leading Panzer Brigade 150 for the Ardennes offensive. A deeper look into the force in question revealed other aspects that seemed to fit my commando play style…enemy disguises, Ersatz tanks, all of which added to that special forces feel.

This force isn’t going to be a blunt tool to drive hard into the enemy lines, but rather would require deception, subterfuge and finesse to defeat the new, powerful US lists. There are no heavy breakthrough guns, 2+ Firepower bombardments, rocket saturation etc. Instead I would be sowing confusion in the enemy rear while using my disguised vehicles to penetrate the enemy front line and wreak havoc from within. I mean, that’s how it worked historically, right? Well maybe not, but I will do my best to try and change that result! With that being said, I had found my Shifting Sands army! ~ Mark.

Mike Says... I’m quite excited about going home for the holidays this year. Of course it will be nice to see family, but I’ll be honest and say I’m over the moon about having my trip line up with next year’s Shifting Sands put on by the Arizona Desert Rats. I went to one of their events back in 2008 and it was a blast. If you ever get a chance, I highly recommend the trip to the Phoenix/Mesa area to attend. Plus, if you’re a northerner, it’s the middle of winter and you can run around like its July! Win! This year’s Shifting Sands theme is the Battle of the Bulge (it just keeps getting better!). I was struggling to decide on a list to bring (I want to run them all!) so I shot an e-mail to Mark Francis (Bullyboy) and we began to hatch a plan. Mark’s pretty interested in Skorzeny’s Commandos, so we thought that I could do the opposition: Those Damned Engineers, the 291st Engineer Combat Battalion. It took little convincing as I really enjoyed reading Colonel David Pergrin’s memoirs on his battalion (entitled First Across the Rhine: The 291st Engineer Combat Battalion in France, Belgium and Germany).

Mark and I are going to try and meet up for a few pre-event games, perhaps more along the lines of scenarios than stand-up fights, but we’ll have more on that idea later. So, with the company selected, it was time for list-building. I’ve decided on two configurations: Malmédy and Stavelot. I’m not sure which I’ll take to the event. Perhaps if I post them both below, I can get some discussion and feedback on the forums.

Malmédy Engineers The Malmédy engineers are based loosely on what they had in that town when Skorzeny attacked on 21 December. It’ll have engineers with the 99th Infantry Battalion (Separate) in support. Company HQ: 15 points. Engineer Combat Platoon (with 3x Bazookas, 1x Pioneer Supply Truck): 285 points. Engineer Combat Platoon (with 3x Bazookas, 1x Pioneer Supply Truck): 285 points. Rifle Platoon (99th Infantry Battalion, with 3x Bazookas + trucks): 220 points. Towed Tank Destroyer Platoon (Trained, with 4x 3in guns, 4x M3 half-tracks, and 4x Bazooka teams): 275 points. Roadblock Strongpoint (1x Operating Section, 1x Weapons Section, 1x 57mm in Gun Pit): 215 points. Heavy Anti-aircraft Artillery Platoon (Veteran, 2x 90mm guns with extra crew): 180 points. Improvised Reconnaissance Platoon (3x Jeep Patrols): 120 points.

Stavelot Engineers The Stavelot engineers are based loosely on the ones that opposed Peiper on 17/18 December. It’ll have engineers with the 526th Armored Infantry Battalion in support. Company HQ: 15 points. Engineer Combat Platoon (with 3x Bazookas, 1x Pioneer Supply Truck): 285 points. Engineer Combat Platoon (with 3x Bazookas, 1x Pioneer Supply Truck): 285 points. Armoured Rifle Platoon (full strength): 225 points. Armoured Rifle Platoon (full strength): 225 points. Towed Tank Destroyer Platoon (Trained, with 4x 3in guns, 4x M3 half-tracks, and 4x Bazooka teams): 275 points. Roadblock Strongpoint (1x Operating Section, 1x Weapons Section): 170 points. Improvised Reconnaissance Platoon (3x Jeep Patrols): 120 points. So those are my lists, but this inquiring mind wants to know: what would you take? Discuss this Article on our forums here ... ~ Mike.