M4A3E2 Jumbo Tanks (UBX25) includes four M4A3E2 Jumbo tanks, one Tank Commander sprue, two Tank Stowage sprues, one Decal sheet & eight Rare-earth magnets. Fears of having to breakthrough the German Siegfried Line led to the development of the M4A3E2 assault tank. The late M4A3 chassis was used with extra armour added all around. Its sheer bulk led to the nickname: Jumbo. This product is no longer currently available for sale...

The Battle of the Bulge In December 1944 the German forces were supposed to be on the back foot, so their desperate push in the Ardennes took the Allies by surprise. Desperate defence by the American and British Commonwealth forces gradually turned to counterattack as they fought to erase the 'Bulge'. Learn more about The Battle of the Bulge here...

The obvious points to look for on the Jumbo are the thick frontal and side armour plates, making it substantially larger than a normal M4A3 Sherman. The second is the Jumbo’s massive turret, built especially for the tank. The massive 7”/18cm thick mantlet is particularly characteristic of the Jumbo. One last thing to spot is the tank’s duckbill wide tracks, which had to be permanently installed to deal with the tank’s 42-ton weight!

The M4A3E2 Jumbo entered combat in late October 1944 after the battles in the Lorraine. The Jumbo’s first major actions were in the Ardennes. Right: The decal sheet shown at 150%. Designed by Evan Allen Painted by Blake Coster

The M4A3E2 Jumbo in Flames Of War

Armour     Name Mobility Front Side Top Equipment and Notes Weapon Range ROF Anti-tank Firepower M4A3E2 Jumbo Slow Tank 12 8 1 Co-ax MG, Hull MG, .50 cal AA MG, Jumbo Lead the Way, Tank telephone. M3 75mm gun 32"/80cm 2 10 3+ Smoke, Stabiliser.

Jumbos Lead the Way Initially the M4A3E2 “Jumbo” assault tank was allocated to tank battalions supporting the infantry. Once the armoured divisions caught on though, they started using Jumbos as the lead tank in their advances, deliberately encouraging the Germans to shoot at it rather than the lighter M4 Sherman tanks operating with it. You may allocate hits to an M4A3E2 Jumbo tank as if it had the lowest armour rating, assigning it a hit before the lesser armoured tanks. This rule does not apply to hits from Artillery Bombardments or hits from Aircraft.

Tank Telephones By the end of 1944, most Sherman tanks working with infantry had been fitted with field telephones on the rear to allow the infantry to point out targets to the tanks. If a Tank team with Tank Telephone and an adjacent Infantry team did not move in the Movement Step, and the Infantry team is not Pinned Down, the Infantry team can use the Eyes and Ears rule (see page 195 of the rulebook) to Reveal one Gone to Ground enemy team to that Tank team as if the Infantry team was a Recce team. If other tanks in the platoon fire, they must either have their own Infantry team pointing out the target or continue to treat the target as Gone to Ground.

Stabilisers A stabiliser is a device fitted to the tank’s gun that keeps it level when the tank is moving. US tanks are the first in the world to be equipped with gyrostabilisers as standard. With the assistance of the gyrostabiliser, the gunner can stay on target while the tank is moving. A moving tank fitted with a Stabiliser can fire its main gun at its full ROF, but adds a penalty of +1 to the score needed to hit. Before shooting, a tank can choose not to use its Stabiliser and fire at the normal rate if that would give it a better chance.

Firing Smoke Ammunition Smoke ammunition is used much like any other, except that when it hits it doesn’t explode but gives off a dense cloud of white smoke instead. Use the normal shooting rules to determine the number of hits scored. Unlike normal shooting, the shooting player may choose which teams out of the valid targets were hit when firing smoke ammunition. For each hit scored, place two Smoke markers 2”/5cm in diameter and 2”/5cm tall (balls of cotton wool work well), one on either side of a line running between the centre of the shooting model and the centre of the target model, to form a 4”/10cm wide screen directly in front of the selected target team. The hit has no other effect.

The Jumbos Lead The Way

The Contents of the M4A3E2 Jumbo Box Set

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Description of Components

a. 4x .50 cal AA MGs. b. 1x Hull MG sprue. c. 4x Hatch sprues. d. 4x 75mm gun barrels.

e. 4x Right tracks. f. 4x Left tracks. g. 4x Resin hulls & turrets.

Description of Components

a. 1x Sherman stowage sprue #1 b. 1x Sherman stowage sprue #2

c. 1x Tank commander sprue. d. 8x Rare-earth magnets.

Description of Components 1x US tank decal sheet with Stars and tank serial numbers.

Assembling The M4A3E2 Follow the diagram to the right to correctly assemble the M4A3E2 Jumbo tank. For modelling variation, use the components for the stowage sprue to help individualise each tank and really make them stand-out on the battlefield. Learn how to use the Sherman stowage here... Use the figure of your choice from the tank commander sprue to identify the platoon command tank. Finally, make use of the rare-earth magnets to secure the turrets to the hulls. Read Chris’ guide to using rare-earth magnets with you Flames Of War miniatures here… Right: The assembly diagram for the M4A3E2.