Wehrmacht Command half tracks and Flamethrowers

Well after a lengthy period, I finally managed to get my first submission in to Curt, for his 3rd Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge...

And no they weren't the Hobbit set of Goblins you may have been expecting...

I had got part way through the Goblins, and then, after a little reminder from a mate about our proposed big Total War FoW game planned for the Easter Weekend, I realised I still had a bunch of FoW stuff I wanted to get completed in time for this...

So, I set to putting together the plastic sets I got from PSC of the 251 Half tracks & their conversion kit, and the set of Tiger I E's ... These were done enjoying the sun sitting out on the deck at the weekend, whilst the evenings it was back to painting goblins...

Once they were assembled though, they got the evening painting time too...

I think it was in part this issue of having several things at once on the go on the painting table, that got me a bit down, as it can seem you are working endlessly with nothing appearing to get finished, and the painting area also starts to get cluttered with unfinished products, which I find rather demotivating...

But thankfully these got finished in reasonable time. I quite like doing vehicles like this as they seem fairly quick to do, though the crews and stowage can be a little fiddly, plus the decal work too.

Well enough rambling, here they are (as always click pictures for a bigger view).

SdKfz 251D/10 Gepanzerte Panzergrenadier Platoon Command Half track.

I have long ran my 'half track horde' bristling with machine guns across the board, but whilst deadly against exposed infantry, once the infantry digs in , or the half tracks come across the slightest piece of enemy armour, they are instantly made impotent...

This can in part be helped by the addition of the PaK36 3.7cm Anti-Tank gun to the platoons command vehicle.

In game ; ROF 2, AT 6, FP 4+. Range 16".

Great in theory, but in game terms I am not entirely sure how much use they will be, as this is principally a mobile force, which drops the rate of fire of this main gun when firing on the move, probably making it hardly worth firing. And if I stop to fire it at a better ROF, then I have lost my mobility...

But they look great, and it makes the platoons command vehicle stand out. Yes, I am all for visuals and not so focused and 'game tactics', but hey that's the way I play!

Painted up in my usual three colour camo scheme, making them most suitable for mid 1943 onwards...

The only difficulty I had was the decals as I had already used the platoon command numbers on the original half tracks... I didn't want to but a whole new set of decals to get these few that I needed... So I ended up chopping up others I was not likely to use and then try and line up the bits OK on the vehicles. I think they turned out OK. (Decals from DOM).

So three command half tracks for three combat platoons...

That left two more vehicles to convert from the box... with a choice of 'stummels', 8cm mortar carriers or Flamethrowers. As I already had the stummels and mortars carriers, I went with the Flamethrowers. Again more for the look and variety, rather than the in game tactics, of having a greater number of stummels or mortars... And besides, flamethrowers can be deadly in the right scenario!

SdKfz 251d/16 Flamm

Fitted with two 1.4cm Flammenwerfer.

In game: One shot only! ROF 3(each), FP 6. Range 4"

The flamethrower was a weapon first devised in WWI as part of a way of attacking and reducing enemy strong points during trench warfare. It has remained in that role ever since.

The value in the game is it can hit enemy teams relatively easily (just requiring a skill check, with no modifying to hit), and any infantry, gun teams or 'open topped' armoured or unarmoured vehicles hit are instantly 'killed', with no saving throw, even if 'dug in'. And the enemy platoon is automatically pinned as a result.

So this is their inherent value, in supporting, or opening the way for an assault, automatically killing the front line of defenders, hopefully including HMGs too, pinning the platoon and then allowing you to roll in with the main assault infantry.

Again that's the theory, but any canny player will know what these are capable of, and they are going to end up catching a ton of fire, to try and stop them.

So one intrinsic value in them perhaps becomes as a 'sacrificial' unit, they will take the hits, allowing other units to act unmolested...

... and of course if I can get them in place through guile, cunning, terrain and smoke, so much the better!

Wish me luck!

FoW - Operation Sealion - AAR - The Pincer that never was...

Last night Brett, Paul and I played our third game in our Operation Sealion campaign. To set the scene for the report I thought I would briefly recount the prior two games...

Our campaign kicked off a few weeks ago. I'd hoped to launch it as a beach assault scenario, but my beach terrain was not finished in time, so instead we came up with an idea to play a game where the setting for the game was a German panzer force has landed at the beaches with minimal resistance and has pushed inland and is heading to capture a village.

The village was held by a mixed force commandos and paras and Yanks, with Allied forces rushing to help. To hinder this support arriving, German FJs had landed in the Allied rear areas. So we had two games going at once, the main battle and with a smaller side battle.

This was great fun and kept all three players busy, from the start. The mission was thus a variation on Hold the Line/No retreat. As it turned out my small German FJ force didn't have much hope of stopping the reserves arriving but did hinder them enough to delay their arrival, and knock off a few elements. I was very wary of assaulting my panzers into a village held by paras, with gammon bombs and yanks with bazookas, but with a bit goading, and instruction from the more experienced player, I was 'schooled' in how to make a successful assault capture the objective.

 It was very good because I finally got to fully understand the assault phase and the '8" bubble'. So a win for the Germans in Game one.

Game two, saw a German advance to the next village, in which British forces were dug in, this time using the Cauldron scenario. 500 points of Brits had to hold on for 3 turns against an assault by a mechanised armoured infantry company (Panzer Lehr), until Yank armoured reserves arrived to save the day...

I got so enthused by the idea of crushing this meagre force of Brits holding out against me, I ended up stacking nearly all my forces in one quadrant, I was determined to outnumber my enemy somewhere and overwhelm him.

This I did but my troops actually got in each others way, and whilst the assault was successful in capturing one half of the village, I lost the chance to capture both sides at once, which could have been quite possible (another lesson learned). In the end my assault bogged down... a couple of fluffed motivation rolls to unpin etc... It gave the Brits just enough breathing space to hang on, and the Yanks armour arrived to save the day in true cavalry charge style, though it has to be said they got a bit of a shock to start with when all the arriving platoons shots missed, and the return fire from 3 panzer IVs wrecked a platoon of Shermans. But the good luck of the 3 panzers couldn't last and eventually they were overwhelmed.

Another fun game and more stuff learned once more. So allies win Game two.

On to Game three... I had found the opening game (two games in one) very entertaining and decided to replicate this idea.

The scenario was that after their loss the Germans pull back to reorganise their forces. The Allied forces push on to keep the pressure on the Germans, and attack with what forces they have in the area, a Commando Company. The German 'second wave' seeing what happened to their premier Lehr forces in the last battle are a little de-motivated and not first line troops anyway. Brett wanted to try out a force from his new book Blood Guts and Glory, and also for a change of pace wanted to try playing the Germans, so his forces were Reluctant Trained.

I set the main game as Pincer of approx 1200 points each, with a side game of Free for All, of 600 points of armoured forces facing each other, the idea being Allied armoured elements trying an outflanking manoeuvre, running into German armoured elements rushing to aid their beleaguered comrades. The victor of the armoured game would be able to bring what was left of their forces onto the main battle from the turn after they win their side game. So here's some pictures from our game last night.

The side game; 4 Brit Shermans and 2 M10s, vs German armour including cannon halftracks, AA halftracks and Panthers (proxied by Stugs)

The main force deployments pictured from the Allied side. The Germans are actually a mechanised company dismounted and dug in. Technically the Brits should have been defending, but we were playing a scenario for the campaign so anything goes!

Commandos eager for the off...

The stalwart German defenders, this doesn't look much does it? The Allies should brush this aside no problem...

OK first dice roll of the game, things start going wrong for the allies... the wind direction was not in our favour... our smoke and pin idea lost a bit of its umph! But the allies advance as best as they can expecting artillery to start wrecking the German forces. Sadly our naval guns ranged in but missed the panther in the open, and the paras battery did minimal damage to the dug in Germans.

On the side show, M10s deploy...

As do the Brit Shermans, who move up to take some meagre cover from a hedge covering one objective. At this point I went to make some tea... (does that sound British?)...

...when I returned the Panthers had wrecked the platoon, but the last tank passed its motivation!

Now Brett is never one to hold back...even on the defensive... having seen our artillery whiff, and faced with a bunch of fearless veteran troops in the open... he called up his halftracks , remounted and advanced, and deployed his ambushing half track cannon platoon, and let rip... it wasn't pleasant... sadly my Allied para commanders saving rolls for my commando were not the best, and brave men started falling. After this the Allies dug in, hoping to weather the storm of machine gun fire and wait till our artillery changed the course of the battle. The commandos in the marsh failed to dig in repeatedly, obviously the ground was too soft, and they paid the price over subsequent turns...

Back to the side show and the M10s bring the hurt to the German halftracks

Whats left of the marsh dwelling commandos...it aint looking good...

The panthers, having witnessed naval shells landing all round them, push forward to assault the end of the allied line held by a para platoon.

Back to side show, the Panthers at the double forward to 'claim' the objective, but fall to the M10s who reposition for side shots...

The panthers win the fight, losing one tank...

It was at this point that Brett spotted a crucial problem to our plan; waiting for our artillery to wreck the Germans and allow us to advance... we needed to be beyond the half way point of the board by turn six or we would automatically lose! Paul and I had lost sight of this small detail, and paid the price...

Brett pulled all his forces into line to prevent the Brits advancing. The side show had developed into just that, and wasn't going to influence the main battle either way now.

Paul and I managed one last assault to try and break through on our right flank, and got smoke and artillery to work and managed to attack and wreck some of the German defenders but it was not enough and the counter attacking Germans managed to defuse this thrust.

A last what the hell charge followed up the centre, which was as expected thrown back by defensive fire...

And that was it, the Germans hold on and win.

It is often said in tactical discussion that dice luck should not come into it if you plan correctly. Would somebody tell the dice that. Our artillery was terrible... and the so called 'Reluctant' Germans were anything but, passing nearly all key motivation tests with aplomb and only a few bailed halftracks refused to remount...

Still it was a great fun game, that at times still felt could have gone either way.

I look forward to the next game, getting back to command Panzer Lehr, I need the practice for Call to Arms!

Gepanzerte Panzergrenadier Halftracks - 15mm Plastic Soldier Company

I finally managed to finish my plethora of Halftracks, SdKfz 251/1 Aus D, for my Gepanzerte Panzergrenadiers for my Flames of War German force.

Sd Kfz 251 D

These were painted up as part of my entries into AHWPC.

They are 15mm scale plastic kits from The Plastic Soldier Company. They scale up very well with the halftracks from Battlefront, with little noticeable difference between them. The only difference being the crews and mounted MGs, which are both 'heroic' scale from BF, compared to the slender PSC ones...

They get a total of 7 crew and passenger figures for each vehicle and enough stowage options to keep you amused!

I painted them up in my 'usual' fashion, in this case - first sprayed up BFs late German armour spray 'middlestone'. Once that was dry I hand painted on the camo patterns, with a varied array of stripes and spots, using Vallejo Luftwaffe green and GW dark skin.

I then gave the whole vehicle a shading wash of a 50/50 mix of vallejo black / dark brown washes. Once this was dry the whole vehicle was given a drybrush of Foundry 30b - a dark yellow-like colour.

The tracks were quite laborious and I wonder if the effort was worth it as all you can really see is the finally heavy 'mud' dry brush... but any way these were painted GW dark skin, then dry brushed a 50/50 mix of gunmetal and dark grey. Then washed as above, and drybrushed 'mud' with vallejo camo brown.

I painted the crews and passengers seperately and added them to the half tracks as they were done. The crews first as these had to be glued into place before the 'top section' of the halftrack was glued down into place.

Next all the stowage was painted and glued on in a varied pattern so hopefully no two half tracks are the same.

Last of all, decals were added from DOMs. Polyurethane gloss varnish was used as a base for the decal. Then decal added, and left to dry. Then a wash of decal-softener was added and again left to dry. Next another layer of gloss varnish was painted over to seal the decal in place. Finally a layer of vallejo acrylic matt varnish was painted over to dull down the gloss finish.

I have done three combat platoons of 4 vehicles each; 111 to 114, 121 to 124, and 131 to 134. Next was the heavy platoon which will carry the MG42 teams, 141 to 143. Next up was the PaK40 platoon, 211 to 214, and finally a single command vehicle 221 which will be in command of a infantry gun platoon or mortar platoon...

So thats them all done now. I can look forward to officially including them in some future FoW battle reports.

So now I can press on with more reinforcements for my Germans, I have just about finished the HMG platoon, and have made a start on the PaK40 platoon.