Update.

Real life has got in the way of things once more, and the development of the Hetzenberg army will be put on hold for a while. I have been constructing a rathaus using Hirst Arts components and foamcore as part of the urban area for the wargames' table. The main body is complete, just the roof and windows to do. Cutting out two sets of crow-step gables is not easy!

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At the New Buckenham club, we've been putting the Flames of War WW 2 rules set through its paces, with the first two actions of the Villers Bocage scenario in the D-Day supplement. The scale is 15mm 1-to-1, British vs. German, principally the 7th Armoured Div. against 101st SS Heavy Panzer.

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In the first action, "Wittman's Wild Ride" became a short hop! Ubersturmfuhrer Michael Wittman was a German tank ace, with a crack crew and many kills on the Russian front to their credit. He became a legend in the German army as part of the 101st SS Heavy Panzer.

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The encounter opened in the early morning with the vehicles of the British force lined up alongside the road to Villers Bocage. The officers were away at an orders group and the troops were out of their vehicles brewing tea. Then the redoubtable panzer commander's Tiger came on the scene, rumbling up a side road out of the morning twilight.

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The first shot of the encounter destroyed a Sherman V Firefly, a 17-pounder armed version of the ubiquitous tank and one of the few weapons capable of stopping a Tiger. This vehicle did have a hand in destroying Wittman but not in a way the designers could've envisaged.

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Most of the British force was caught unawares by the sudden onslaught but the commander of the infantry section nearest the scene got his men into action promptly. The platoon's 2-inch mortar laid a barrage of smoke across the opening to the side road, obscuring the chaotic scene from the German gunner and giving valuable time to the British force to get its act together.

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This had an unexpected benefit. Frustrated at being unable to get a clear shot at the enemy troops on the road by the smoke from the mortar bombs and the burning Sherman, Wittman ordered his driver to advance. The driver was rated Ace but today he was playing far from the top of his game. Catching only the briefest glimpse of conditions ahead before they were obscured, he gunned the engine and the Tiger rumbled into the smoke - and ran slap onto the dead Firefly.

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Even the mighty Tiger couldn't shake off a collision of this kind so easily, and the delay allowed yet more time for the British to react. The infantry section's PIAT team got into action, creeping along behind the bocage hedgerow to a position where they could fire upon the Tiger's thinner rear plating. The PIAT gunner took aim - fired - a hit! The rear armor of the Tiger was thick enough to shrug off the PIAT bomb, but the shock of the impact was such even the normally fearless ace crew wavered on the verge of bailing out.

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They stayed put, though. The Tiger's driver finally freed the massive tank and it turned left to head up the road, either not spotting or ignoring two Cromwell IV tanks parked further up the road to the right. Although tempted by the presence of so many M5 half-tracked personnel carriers lined up along the road, there were slightly more dangerous targets to hand. Opening up with the 88mm gun Wittman knocked out two Stuart Mk 5 light tanks that were rushing back along the column to see what the trouble was. The third tank of the troop stopped and the crew bailed out, preferring discretion to valor.

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The plucky PIAT team, undeterred, rushed to take another shot. It hit - once again the Tiger withstood the impact and the crew wavered. Once again they rallied and drove on, tearing up an infantry section with machine gun fire. Other PIAT teams rushed into action, and the bailed-out crew of the Stuart took heart and re-mounted their vehicle.

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Now the action grew furious! Two 6-pounder anti-tank guns came into battery and their armor-piercing shot bounced off the Tiger like grains of rice. The PIAT teams swarmed the hedgerows and added their bombs to the melee, with yet another hitting the Tiger's rear plating to no effect. The Last Stuart roared up in a death-or-glory ride, attempting to buy yet more time for friendly forces to react.

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Gritting their teeth, Wittman and his crew ground onwards, shooting up an infantry section and destroying one of the 6-pounders by the simple expedient of running over it. The gun crew scattered to safety, but once more the Ace Tiger driver failed in his skill and the tank became stuck on the wreckage of the gun.

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By now the two Cromwell crews had mounted their vehicles and set off in pursuit of the rampaging - and by now very battle-scarred - Tiger. They came upon the scene just as the Tiger stuck fast on the gun. Taking rapid aim, the tanks blasted off two 75mm rounds straight into the rear of their wallowing enemy. Its battered armor plating finally gave way and gouts of flame and thick black smoke billowed out of the engine compartment. Wittman and his crew bailed out - right under the guns of the furious Desert Rats. Exit one legend...

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This was a game that took only two hours to play out to a conclusion. The results of this scenario carry forward to the next, when the rest of Wittman's company ambushed a British tank force further up the road. Once again, things didn't exactly go according to the historical script - but that's a story for another time...