Xylophones and Long Tom - The Tactical Use Thereof:

Tactical [tak-ti-kuh l]

adjective

1.

of or relating to tactics,especially military or naval tactics.

2.

characterized by skillful tactics oradroit maneuvering orprocedure:

So, if you listen to beyond the foxholes then you will know that I was given the New Years resolution to write a tactical article on how to use Long Tom's and Xylophone rocket launchers, the two things Adam got me for our Christmas secret Santa.

Now Adam has a long history of giving me wargaming presents which I don't want or need and which are ideally of no use to me whatsoever. This gives him some meaning in his otherwise empty life. In the past he has given me space marine lords on giant wolves and in 2013 gave me a Cromwell recovery vehicle. (He looked upset when I was quite excited by that as I had wanted one for a while). The long Tom's and xylophone's were specifically selected to be of a little use to me as possible.

So let's look at the individual options available to these units. First up, the Long Tom's. These are a lovely model, with two big guns. They are basically anti-tank 13 155mm guns.

The xylophone rocket launcher is the US answer to the neb. These were found to be pretty rubbish by the troops in real life and are only available in one US rifle list in flames of war.

Now, I have recently put together a US tank army, and the synergy here with these units is pretty minimal, particularly the xylophones which are only usable in an army list I cannot field. This makes using these units a challenge. I have however come up with the following excellent way to get the maximum use out of these two boxes.

Adam's birthday weekend was also the weekend of breakthrough assault. Because I am a nice friend, at Corrivalry I asked him what he wanted as a present. Adam said he quite fancied some panzer IV/70's. I therefore went, while Adam was present and bought a box of panzer IV/70's. I made sure Adam knew this.

When I got home I took advantage of the fact that the inner tray of the panzer IV/70's is the same size as the inner trays of the xylophones and long Tom's together.

 I therefore removed the Panzer IV/70's and put the long Tom's and xylophones in the box.

I then kept the panzer IV/70's for myself and have Adam the box with his unwanted gifts in. Oh how I chuckled when he opened them. 

Happy birthday Adam