Home Forums WWII Matilda I on the gaming table

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  • #79071
    Avatar photoIvan Sorensen
    Participant

    The Matilda 2 is a pretty popular vehicle for Africa-gaming, but what about its precursor?

    The Matilda 1 often seem relegated to “garbage on the vehicle list” along with the Mk VI light tank and assorted other ineffectual vehicles both due to its limited armaments and the fact it only really served in France, but there’s a certain charm to it’s unique look.

    So do you have Matilda 1’s in your armies?
    Do they ever see the gaming table?
    Any cool stories to tell about them?

    #79072
    Avatar photoNot Connard Sage
    Participant

    A slow tank with a machine gun as its main weapon. All it had going for it was heavy armour. On the front.

    Nah. What were they thinking**?

     

    **yeah “infantry support”, but did no-one wonder..?

     

    Obvious contrarian and passive aggressive old prat, who is taken far too seriously by some and not seriously enough by others.

    #79073
    Avatar photoJohn D Salt
    Participant

    A slow tank with a machine gun as its main weapon. All it had going for it was heavy armour. On the front.
    Nah. What were they thinking**?
    **yeah “infantry support”, but did no-one wonder..?

    As with so many 1930s AFV designs, they were thinking “these won’t cost too much”.

    I don’t think I’ve ever seen Matilda Is on the table top, but then I’m not aware of any time they saw action other than the Arras counter-attack.

    All the best,

    John.

    #79074
    Avatar photoIvan Sorensen
    Participant

    The wiki article suggests that “cheap” was a major consideration.

    I suppose it could attract German gun fire, so the tanks that could actually DO something could survive the (plodding) charge 🙂

    #79077
    Avatar photoNot Connard Sage
    Participant

    The wiki article suggests that “cheap” was a major consideration. I suppose it could attract German gun fire, so the tanks that could actually DO something could survive the (plodding) charge 🙂

    That would be 15 Matilda II at Arras 🙂

    Obvious contrarian and passive aggressive old prat, who is taken far too seriously by some and not seriously enough by others.

    #79092
    Avatar photoRod Robertson
    Participant

    I have eleven of the blighters in 15mm and have played using them in a few early war scenarios in France. No one else in my gaming circle has ever wanted to play them and think that they as well as my A-9, A-10, and A-13 Cruiser tanks are all just crap and not worth putting on the table.

    That having been said, in one scenario vs SS infantry supported by three 37mm PaK 36 AT guns and two PZ Jg I SPAT guns the 11 Matilda-1’s and two Matilda-2’s unsupported by infantry still made a mess of the elite Germans and their ineffectual Panzerjaegers! They rolled over the Germans with two Matilda-1’s immobilized, one out-right destroyed and one bogged down near a creek. The Matilda-2’s did almost none of the fighting. The Germans lost a reinforced platoon of infantry, five trucks, one SdKfz 252 tow vehicle and trailer, both Pz Jg-1’s and had two PaK 36’s which were gloriously overrun and crushed. It was a magnificent victory for the Empire! But that was half a decade ago, since then they have laid fallow in the storage trays, despised by my gaming circle!

    Cheers.

    Rod Robertson.

     

    #79098
    Avatar photoMartinR
    Participant

    I have half a dozen 15mm Matilda 1s. I’ve mainly used them to refights Arras. My pals coo with delight when the come out to play. My BEF Vickers Lights have probably been in action more though.

    As for what they are for? Cheap, heavily Armoured mobile pillboxes. For a less glib answer, David Fletcher “Experimental Mechanised Force” covers interwar British tank development very neatly.

    Those nasty SS Totenkopf chaps didn’t seem to find Matilda 1s particularly amusing.

    "Mistakes in the initial deployment cannot be rectified" - Helmuth von Moltke

    #79106
    Avatar photoEtranger
    Participant

    A slow tank with a machine gun as its main weapon. All it had going for it was heavy armour. On the front. Nah. What were they thinking**? **yeah “infantry support”, but did no-one wonder..?

    That probably underplays the effectiveness of the 0.50 Vickers that some carried. That could chew up a Pz I or II quite successfully & was hell on anything that wasn’t armoured. http://www.quarryhs.co.uk/Vickers.html Anyone know how many had the larger gun? I  can’t find a number at the moment.

    The Barrett 0.50 ‘anti-material’ rifle is still used to do much the same thing.

    #79107
    Avatar photoRod Robertson
    Participant

    Etranger:

    Please pardon my intrusion but your text bled into your link above and corrupted it. For the benefit of discussion here is Etranger’s link:

    http://www.quarryhs.co.uk/Vickers.html

    Cheers.

    Rod Robertson

    #79109
    Avatar photoDM
    Participant

    I have a couple that serve with my 15mm “British Intervention Field Force” (“BIFF” for short) as part of my alt-1930s imagi-nation collection (this grew out of my 15mm SCW collection when I decided I liked the idea of VBCW-esque games). My models are the Zvezda quick-build types.

    #79145
    Avatar photoIvan Sorensen
    Participant

    A slow tank with a machine gun as its main weapon. All it had going for it was heavy armour. On the front. Nah. What were they thinking**? **yeah “infantry support”, but did no-one wonder..?

    That probably underplays the effectiveness of the 0.50 Vickers that some carried. That could chew up a Pz I or II quite successfully & was hell on anything that wasn’t armoured. http://www.quarryhs.co.uk/Vickers.html Anyone know how many had the larger gun? I can’t find a number at the moment.

    The Barrett 0.50 ‘anti-material’ rifle is still used to do much the same thing.

    Given some of the Mk VI lights had a 15mm machine gun, that may explain how they were able to “punch above their weight” on occasion. Some of the early-war Italian armour isn’t going to enjoy being lit up by 15mm rounds.

    #79146
    Avatar photoLes Hammond
    Participant

    No one else in my gaming circle has ever wanted to play them and think that they as well as my A-9, A-10, and A-13 Cruiser tanks are all just crap and not worth putting on the table.

     

    That’s a pity.

    Not gaming certain scenarios or periods because the hardware is a bit more of a challenge or isn’t cool compared to using later war stuff is a shame.

    Wargaming helps to keeps history alive, which is especially important for niche periods.

    6mm France 1940

    http://les1940.blogspot.co.uk/
    https://www.facebook.com/groups/386297688467965/

    #79152
    Avatar photoRod Robertson
    Participant

    Les Hammond:

    Strangely they’re quite keen on early war battles, but the Infantry Tank Mk I just gets no love. They are quite keen on the Vickers Mk VI’s and the Bren and Scout Carriers and I’ve even gotten them jazzed about playing with Morris CS-9’s and Norton motorcycle-borne infantry but that’s because two of the group are ex-armoured recce officers and love winkling about in suicidally dangerous light vehicles trying to out fox the enemy. The hate is reserved for just a few tanks like the A-11’s, the cruiser tanks which I mentioned above, my 10 glorious FT-17 tanks, French R-35’s (especially in later war scenarios), Soviet T-26’s, BT-7’s and the tiny amphibious T-37/T-38 tanks (whose designation escapes me right now), my beloved T-35’s of which I have five and German Pz IB’s. Everything else they liked. Of course it’s been a few years since the group could be brought together so tastes may have changed in the long hiatus.

    Cheers.

    Rod Robertson.

    #79162
    Avatar photokyoteblue
    Participant

    I always meant to buy some Matilda 1’s but never have.

    #79169
    Avatar photoEtranger
    Participant

    Thanks Rod!

    #79584
    Avatar photoStewart Johnson
    Participant

    I had a bunch in 6mm many years ago – but as they were only (IIRC) used in France they have limited usefulness.

    That said I suspect in a low level game like Chain of Command they would be very grim to face indeed. It is, as noted, a very heavily armoured mobile pillbox.

    If you’ve got a platoon of Landser trying to take a position with one of those about, it poses a problem your PaK36 is unlikely to solve.

    So you have to wait for a decent tank of air support to become available.

    #79589
    Avatar photoGuy Farrish
    Participant

    I have several, in Skytrex 1/200 – now there’s a niche force for you.

    Yes – Arras. And the odd imaginary what if Blitzkrieg France game.

    I have to confess to liking the look of them – and as Martin said, they chewed up Totenkopf so they have a place in my heart.

    #79592
    Avatar photoNorm S
    Participant

    Well they did exist! so I like seeing them turn up in some scenarios. I suppose this is just one of those vehicles that need a story driven scenario rather than a points driven scenario to get onto the table.

    #79624
    Avatar photoNorm S
    Participant

    Tim, they are most excellent, I admire scratch building.

    #79632
    Avatar photoRod Robertson
    Participant

    Tim:

    Beautiful work on the three scratch-built A-11’s! They look really sharp and consistently proportioned. Bravo, sir! You got skillz!

    Cheers.

    Rod Robertson.

    #80107
    Avatar photoSteve Johnson
    Participant

    I have 3 and they are great in Blitzkreig Commander II as they can take quite a bit of punishment, before being knocked out. They are slow and take time to get to grips with the enemy, which means they can succumb to enemy fire before they get in range. Still I love them and wouldn’t be without them. Of note in my AVBCW games I have limited their use as they can be too powerful, which is not something you expect to hear about a MkI!

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