It's better with the King...

... or, the Tiger, is dead, long live the King Tiger !

With the Wellington Warlords Call to Arms tournament just around the corner, I was in a bit of a quandary as to what force to take. I knew I was probably going to go with my favoured armoured half track German list, but which support elements to take?

Last year, Panthers were a good choice, as a supporting panzer... but with the release of the Market Garden publication, with its improved Allied arsenal including the upgunned 6pdr and 17pdr AT guns and the upgunned Firefly VC, that thick front armour of the panther is looking decidedly vulnerable... so what to do?

Stick with the game plan and use the panthers, and try not to get hit?,... or drop the panthers and take a whole punch of Panzer IVs for more return fire?,... or continue the arms race, and up the ante with the King Tiger?

Having recently enjoyed a demo game at the KWC, where 2 Tiger IEs in a Midwar setting proved nigh on unstoppable... I pondered trying the same idea in Late War with the King Tiger...

So in a bit of a dilemma, I decided there could be a strong chance I may favour a list featuring the King Tiger, aka; the Tiger II Ausf B.

So I put an order through to Caliver in the UK, who had the boxed set of three at a discounted price...and crossed fingers it might arrive in time... it did, last Friday to be precise... and thus its been a week of frenzied work to get these done in time. I have managed it with a fortnight to go, so might get a chance for a practice game or two in before I must submit my list to tournament organisers.

Tiger II Ausf B

In the game, they are a hell of an investment in points! If I were going with a Schwere Panzer Kompanie, I could field all three tanks for just over 1000 pts, leaving ~700pts for the rest of my force.  But for my mechanised company, I will most likely just go with 2 Tiger IIs as a support platoon, though they still cost about 700 pts...

Still, with an in game range of 40", AT 16 FP 3+, they can kill any tank they hit, and with a Front Armour of 15, will be nigh on invulnerable to the front. Side armour 8 and top armour 2, like a regular Tiger I, is their weakness, so I must keep their flanks secure... and I may have to dodge about to avoid ranged in artillery, stay near woods and buildings if planes are about, and move about if I get smoke bombarded... but hey, if they are soaking up all this attention, the rest of my force will be free to operate unmolested... and if they try to ignore them, and go with the kill everything else approach, they will undoubted keep knocking stuff out turn after turn...

With division markings of the 503rd Heavy Tank Battalion

 The 503rd saw action on both the Eastern and Western fronts, so this seemed a good choice to go with for my platoon.

The 503rd emblem being a Tigers head motif, see above left front mudguard...

After a while, having spent the week assembling and painting them, they begin to seem 'normal', nothing outstanding... its not until you put them next to other similarly scaled tanks that the difference becomes apparent once more... see pics below these are all 15mm scale Battlefront models...

L to R: Firefly VC, Tiger IIB, Sherman V

L to R: Firefly VC, Tiger IIB, Sherman V

The Tiger IIB, truly monstrous...