PaK 38 Platoon - Wehrmacht - FoW

So far I have played most of my FoW gaming set in the Late War period; January '44 onwards, but recently my gaming group have been looking at exploring the Mid War theatre too; which is roughly '42-'43, set on both the Eastern Front and Mediterranean Front, from the Desert and on through Sicily and Italy...

Not wanting to have to buy and paint a whole load of new tanks and vehicles to fit the period, I have looked at using what I already have where possible... For example, when I looked at switching my Gepanzerte Panzergrenadiers to this setting, I found the army lists features the half track as the SdKfz 251/1 Ausf C, rather than the Ausf D that I have already assembled for LW.

However a little web research (thanks to wikipedia) showed the Ausf D variant was introduced during '43. Also, the painting guides in the back of BF's Eastern Front book show a good range of vehicle paint schemes, including the three colour style of later war German forces, again probably being used from '43 onwards, most likely in time for the Kursk offensive.

Kursk has always been the big WWII battle on my mind for sheer scale of the action, so having my forces suitable for this event already, is a bonus.

Consequently I assume the same will apply to the Mediterranean theatre, so my forces should be suitable for '43 onwards through Italy, though would look out of place in a purely desert setting no doubt.

 The other thing about MidWar, is that a lot of the weapons of the period are a bit 'smaller' than the Late War era; lighter tanks more common than the super heavies, and same goes for the AT guns to knock them out.

Consequently I picked up this set of 5cm PaK 38 guns to add to my MidWar forces. Smaller than the renowned PaK40, with a lower penetration and range, yet with a higher rate of fire, they should be useful at taking out light tanks and half-tracks etc., and a useful point defense for defending objectives.

They may also get used in late war as a defense upgrade option for the Nebelwerfers.