French Compagnie de Combat Review

Someone told me not long time ago,  that French Compagnie de Combat is one of the strongest tank

companies in Early War Flames of War. I have chosen these guys also because my 4 years stay in Tunisia (1982-1986) and my close relation to French culture. Let's see how Compagnie de Combat can be played and how it is used in Flames of War game to beat your opponent.

There are several variants of Compagnie de Combat. Let's see the versions now:

Version A:  Hotchkiss Flood

HQ: 1 Char B1

3x Char B1

3x Hotchkiss H39 (long)

3x Hotchkiss H39 (long)

3x Hotchkiss H39 (1 long, 2 short)

Colonial Infantry Platoon

5x Panhards AMDs

Here you can see Steve's experience playing his variant on WWPD forums. I don't like in this variant lack of smoke bombardment and I am usually prefer smaller unit of reconnaissance as I prefer to hide them because of their weak armor. Concerning size, 3-4  Panhards  models seem to work better for me.

Version B: Butchers of Stonne

HQ: Char B1

Char B1 Platoon

Char B1 Platoon

Char B1 Platoon

4x Panhard AMDs

Wow! I love this as I love Char B1, but I am still missing more platoons... Also except Panhards all tanks in company are slow, which can cause reaching enemy objectives too late. More you can find in WWPD report here.

Version C: De Gaulle 

HQ: 1x Char B1 

1x De Gaulle 

3x Char B1

3x Renault R-35 

3x Renault R-35 

4x Panhard AMD-35 

4x 105mm C mle 1935B with observer, staff team & commander

2x 47mm SA-37, commander & tractors 

This version I have found as army list from Call to Arms 2014 tournament. More you can find here.

Personally I would like to play De Gaulle as I own him inluding R-35s. What I am missing are 105mm guns and 47mm SA-37 to paint. I believe it is worth of trying, although I hate R-35s. ;-)  I definitely love 105mm artillery stats and smoke. Is it worth to play just 2 of them? I will find out by testing laters maybe.

Version D: French Mixed Tanks

HQ: 1x Renault R-35 

3x Char B1

3x Renault R-35 

3x Hotchkiss H39 (long)

3x Hotchkiss H39 (1 long, 2 short)

3x Somua S-35

2x 75mm mle 1897 gun with observer, staff team, commander & trucks

When I saw all previous versions, I have started to work on this army, I have tried to play with Hotchkiss and 4 guns, but guns were too expensive and I had problems with just one slow heavy platoon, not able to hold objective and attack at once. I have made major change by adding Somua S-35, so I can hope to hold more on battlefield. Two artillery guns provides me with AT up to 60 cm AND smoke bombardment AND updated rule for Quick Fire ignoring they are still expensive:

Replace the Quick Fire rule with:

"Re-roll all failed To hit rolls from Artillery Bombardments fired

with at least as many 75mm mle 1897 guns as other weapons,

and at least four weapons in total. Batteries with one to three

weapons, half or more of which are 75mm mle 1897 guns do

not need to re-roll successful To Hit rolls."

I will keep you updated, how successful I am in playing Version D. First chance I have this weekend in Prague at our mini-tournament.

Happy playing!

• Tweet
• Share
• Share
• Share
• Share

Sign up here with your email