Operation Dauntless Unit Preview: British Reconnaissance This time, we'll take a look at the British player's scout units which participate in Operation Dauntless - the Humber armored cars and scout platoons of the 49th Reconnaissance Regiment, and the Universal Carriers and scout platoons of the 12th Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps (12KRRC). Below: Humber Mk IV armored car and infantry scout platoons of 49 Recce. These are homemade playtest counters - not final art! Below: A Humber armored car in Normandy. Below: A Humber armored car belonging to the 49th "Polar Bears" Reconnaissance Regiment. The polar bear emblem is clearly visible in this photo. Above: (Left) The 49th Polar Bears' emblem, as a comparison. (Right) Humber also produced a lighter scout car. Above: Humber armored car, Humber LRC, and several jeeps of the 49th "Polar Bears" Reconnaissance Regiment. Below: Another shot of a Humber of 49th Polar Bears. Below: The turret crew of a Humber Mk IV. Below: Reconnaissance was vital to the British in Normandy, where the close terrain made viewing distances short. The field just beyond the next hedgerow could be hiding an enemy Panther or Tiger ! Below: The Universal Carrier (aka "Bren gun carrier") provided the backbone the British Reconnaissance Corps in Normandy. Two sections of three each carriers were deployed by each reconnaissance troop. This photo is from an early training exercise. Beaverette IIs and motorcycles can also be seen in the background. Below: Homemade playtest counters for carriers and scout platoons of 12th Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps (12KRRC). Note that a carrier platoon counter here represents two troops each (about 11-12 vehicles total). For playtesting only - not final artwork! The scout infantry platoons are single-sided counters, and thus fragile. However, their Movement Allowance (MA) of 6 means they can take up to 4 losses as retreat hexes rather than step reductions, as opposed to a maximum of 3 retreat hexes for a normal infantry company (retreat limit, in hexes = MA-2). The scouts are also armed to the teeth! Consider that a standard rifle company has 90 men, 9 light machine guns, 3 PIAT (Projector Ifantry Anti-Tank), and 3 2" Mortars, while each scout platoon has only 36 men, but a whopping 12 LMGs and 3 PIAT! This makes the scout platoons some very powerful single-step units. How do the scout platoons differ from standard British rifle companies? Let's do a quick comparison of game statistics. The 90 man rifle company at left belongs to the 4th Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment ("the Lincolns") of the 146th Infantry Brigade, 49th West Riding Infantry Division (aka "the Polar Bears"). The 36 man scout infantry platoon at right belongs to 12th Battalion, KRRC (motorized), 8th Armoured Brigade. Counters are for playtesting only - not final artwork! Although the Lincolns are a two-step counter and can take more punishment, the 12KRRC scouts have a higher Combat Strength (5 vs. 4), higher Ranged Attack Score (6 vs. 5), a higher Movement Allowance (6 vs. 5), and, derived from their MA, a higher retreat limit (maximum of 4 retreat hexes vs. 3). The scout platoons are very useful in screening and scouting roles. Accompanied by their carriers, they are also useful for quickly taking ground and holding until the conventional rifle companies can arrive. Below: A British patrol in Normandy. Thanks for looking!.