Flames of War Review - French Early War Laffly W15 TCC Tank Hunters

Flames of War Review - French Early War Laffly W15 TCC Tank Hunters

Battlefront releases the latest in their trickle of Early War releases. French players can rejoice as the W15 TCC tank hunters join the battle... These little trucks, with a massive 47mm anti-tank cannon grafted on the back, are a welcome addition to the growing French EW line.

The models themselves are the usual Battlefront quality... which is very good. For such a small vehicle there are a lot of pieces to assemble. The casting is crisp with good detail with little flash or cleanup needed.
The crew are also nice but I would have preferred a little more variety in the poses.  There is a lot of internet complaining  about the French Adrian Helmets despite this I like them. Yes there are over-sized but at tabletop distance you can still get the impression of the shape of the helmet. To each their own!

Lots of pieces!

Assembly:    assembly is pretty straight forward, though watch out when gluing the struts for the roof, these are tiny and easy to mis-align.  Also the little wheels at the front are also a pain to glue but the fit is just fine.

Normally I would paint the crew separate but due to the small size and position of the crew I decided to glue them on first and then paint the whole thing.  This meant I had to leave the armored roof off until I was done, it would be the only way to get to the drivers.

First truck coming along

Gun added, about to glue the tiny wheels

All the trucks assembled.

Crew added... I would not glue the roofs on until after they were painted.

One last assembly note, I found, after I had painted everything, that the helmets of the drivers were too tall to allow the roof to sit flush on the truck. I had to take a file to 4 of the 5 drivers heads and sand about half of the helmet off to get the roof to fit! This may or may not be a model issue... it could just be I didn't fit the driver down as far as possible before I glued them in.

First four W15's off the assembly line

The command Truck...

Gaming with the Laffly W15 TCC

These little guys are monsters. The are fully armored (granted it's all armor 0 but it's better then a transport save!). Movement is the only downside as they are treated as Wheeled for movement. The star of the show is the excellent 47mm Anti-tank gun. While it doesn't have H.E. it has ROF 3,  AT 9 that will intimidate almost any Early War tank! Since it is hull mounted it can even fire on the move, which French tanks can't do! The AA machine gun can protect you from Infantry and air attacks!

I've been looking forward to these models since the release of Blizkrieg last year. I've pointed out both a Recon and Infantry list that feature these as the main Anti-tank component of those lists.

I would recommend these models to any French player as they are not only a great model in and of itself but also a powerful part of the French arsenal.

Viva la France!