I have long wondered why a feature film hasn’t been done on the St Nazaire Raid. There was “Attack on the Iron Coast” and “Gift Horse”, but both deviate significantly from the challenges and heroism of that day. A movie would be great! It would include all of the action and wait. Why not play the raid!

Initial thoughts:

Operation chariot

Scale: 15mm to reduce cost and increase play area
Rule Set: Modified Big Chain of Command or IABSM by TFL
Scope: The action taking place from 01:34 in the morning immediately after the ramming of the drydock by HMS Campbeltown to the destruction of the dock.

Special Considerations

Sentries: Roving sentries and security patrols. Rules by Pat over at Wargaming with Silver Whistle cover this nicely.

Civilians: Adapt Pat’s rules for sentries for the dockyard workers.

Naval Element: This would include the MLs and MGBs/MTBs so I’ll need to come up with rules for them. I think using them like tanks, each with a Junior Leader would be a good starting point. Getting a number of models, including one of HMS Campbeltown will be a challenge. This may be a good time to use 3D printing. I can come up with a rough outline of what Campbeltown looked like up on the dry-dock and go from there. The other boats will be a bit easier to source… I hope.

Terrain Set-Up: This is probably going to be the other hurdle and will take a lot of work. I’m thinking that terrain boards will be the way to go in order to model all the docks and caissons etc.

As you’ve already seen, I have many cunning plans. This one will be in the far distant future, but it does mean that I’ll keep my eyes out for useable naval elements and slowly start coming up with a proper plan. I’m sure you’ll see more on this in the coming years. If you come across and 1:100 vessels or drydock fittings that might be of use, please let me know!