Painting German Camo

I get quite a number of compliments on my German forces camo scheme.

It really is rather simple to achieve so I thought I would share with you how I do it, in a step by step format. Hopefully I may inspire a few budding German commanders out there to give it a go...

I'll demonstrate it on a platoon of 3 Panzer II L 'Luchs', but it will work just as well on any German vehicles.

First up assemble your models! Obvious really or you will have nothing to paint!
But main things to remember, do break out those needle files and get rid of excess metal and resin flash, and mould lines. I assemble my vehicles using superglue and a superglue accelerator spray.

Assembled tanks

Once assembled and the glue is dry, undercoat them black. I use a DIY metal primer spray from Plastikote. Cheaply available from local DIY stores and cheaper than the hobby branded paints.
A quick point about spraying vehicles that are not on a cast resin base... do it in two stages... spray the top, let it dry then turn it over and spray the bottom. Likewise with the turret, do these separate to the chassis, assuming you have ones that come off!
Once the spray is dry, touch up any areas the spray has missed with a little slightly thinned black paint.

Black spray undercoated

Once we are all nicely undercoated, now add base colour 'dunkelgelb'. Again I use a spray for speed and ease of use. Battlefronts cans of armour spray paints are excellent. I use their German Late War Armour. Repeat procedure as above, two stages; top and bottom. And once dry touch up any missed areas with a little vallejo "middlestone" paint. Not as crucial here as any missed bits in crevices will be black and in shadow, thanks to the undercoat.

Base sprayed 'Dunkelgelb'

Next I paint the tracks, in dark red/brown ( I use GWs Dark Flesh)

Tracks base painted

Next up I start adding the camo pattern. No I don't use an airbrush! Just regular paint and brush...
Again I use the GW Dark Flesh for the brown and Vallejo 823 Luftwaffe Green for the green.
Now at this point you really can do what the heck you like - stripes; broad or narrow, spots; big or small, a mixture of both, anything goes...

Brown Camo pattern painted

You can do either colour first, and overlap them or not - you really can do anything - from what I have learned the tanks were rolled off the factory based painted yellow, and the crews were issued the camo paint to do themselves, so anything goes!

Green Camo pattern pained

Once dry I now shade wash the whole vehicle in my 'magic wash'. This is simply a 50/50 mix of Vallejo Sepia and Vallejo Black washes. Put it on thoroughly but try not to let it pool too much, spread it about a bit and blot off any excess with a dry brush tip. Again with unbased vehicles you may find this easier to do in two stages; top and bottom of model.

Shading wash with 'magic wash'.

Again once dry, now go over the whole model with a dry brush of Middlestone. I try and avoid hitting the tracks excessively but you will catch the edges no doubt, don't worry. Keep dry brushing until you have a nice blended look to the vehicle. The dunkelgelb will have brightened up, and the brown and green will have a sort of patchy. dirty almost translucent kinda look to it.
Tricks to dry brushing vehicles - use a big broad soft brush, and load a dry brush with the paint (don't wet the bristles first as you do during regular painting), before rubbing off excess on a tissue. Use quick light strokes back and forth with the brush, and as you use up paint on the brush you can slightly increase pressure and also can use a stippling effect with tip of brush (stabbing brush end downwards onto model), useful to get to areas where a swing of the brush can't reach...

Drybrushed with vallejo Middlestone

I now fix up those tracks where they have got caught by the yellow dry brushing, by heavily drybrushing them with mid brown for a nice dirty. dusty look.

Tracks drybrushed brown, details painted in dark brown

Now the detailing...I now paint any items of tools, stowage etc a dark base brown - I use GW scorched brown. Then paint these items as they require, tool handles I paint GW bestial brown, metallic items like shovel heads I paint GW boltgun or vallejo gunmetal. The exhaust I paint GW TinBitz.

Exhaust painted dark brown

Detail items

Once dry, give a light wash again of the 'magic wash', just to give them a little shade. Same goes for the commander, and any other passenger/crew figures your model may have. I then pick out the flesh tones again for a bit of highlight, and retouch up regular German uniform colour. With the black tank crew uniform this isn't really necessary.

Wash details with 'magic wash'

Dry brush a little black on gun barrel end, to make it look like its been firing.

And that's pretty much the painting done, just add decals to finish.

To add decals, I first add a thin layer of polyurethane gloss varnish to the site the decal is to go. This gives a smooth surface for decal to adhere to and minimizes air being trapped under decal which can lead to 'silvering' Once dry add your waterslide decal. Position, and blot off excess water with a tissue or dry brush. Try to squeeze the water out from under the decal using a rolling action of brush across top of decal. Leave to dry.
Once dry, give a light brushing with Decal softener.  This helps flatten the decal into place and can dissolve away the silvery grey film-like edge to decal. Go easy... too much softener and you can wreck the decal!
Again once dry, I go over with another layer of Polyurethane gloss varnish to seal it into place. Again do this with a very light coat as decal may be a little soft from the decal softener. At same time varnish rest of vehicle with the varnish. After all that effort you want to protect your paintwork.
Again, top and bottom at a time.

And finally, as I can't stand that shiny gloss look on model soldiers, now go over with a brush on matt varnish. I use Vallejo Matt AcrylicVarnish. It takes some nerve to use, as its like painting your model with thin PVA glue, but spread it thinly and evenly and allow to dry, and you'll have a perfect matt model.

Excellent work, your troops are ready for the table top! Give 'em hell!

Inaugural Game at Pauls new swanky gaming pad

As mentioned in his prior post, after much work toil and graft, Paul now has a very swanky new gaming pad, complete with height adjustable gaming table, storage cupboards, and space for 4 players to get together over an 8' x 4' doubles gaming space.

So we had to have an inaugural game to see the new pad in.

The scene was set; a doubles contest pitching the dastardly Kraut against an alliance of the Yanks and Canadians in a MW setting, though it has to be said, since forces were selected from both North Africa for the Allies and Eastern Front for the Axis .. an interesting milieu developed...

Paul had pre set up the field of battle, and made the call that forces would 2200 pts per side, so 1100 points per command with 200 available for swapsies... The Mission was pre-determined as Free for All.

The Allies; Paul and Brett selected their forces - Brett taking a Yank Paratroop company, and Paul going with a Canadian Tank company. 

The dastardly Krauts; Bob and Scott selected two infantry companies. Scott would go with the more defensive formation of Grenadiers, with priority Stukas, in support of the more attacking Pioneer formation of Bob, assisted by a Tiger IE, and a captured KV1...

I must apologise before hand as my picture taking was a little rushed, so many shots were a bit fuzzy, but hopefully you get the idea.

The battlefield was dominated by a central Luftwaffe Airfield, with wooded hills to one side, and a village on the other.

Brett just checking the first deployments of US chocolate, K-rations and prophylactics

All set, ready for the off.

In picture above, the Germans are on the right, the Allies to the left. Scott's grenadiers are spread along the base line defending both objectives, with PaK38s on the right flank hill over looking the village, and heavy mortars and light AAA in the centre. (The allies failed to bring planes so the AAA was a bit of a waste of time). Bob has loaded one flank with 2 hefty pioneer units assisted by the Tiger. The KV1 is behind the hill defended by the PaK38s.

The Allies have their 25 pdrs supporting main thrust of Yank Paratroops  through village backed by some Canadian Shermans. Their centre has some Yank medium mortars and the woods holds more Yank infantry assisted by yet more Shermans.

IIRC , Allies got first turn and started digging stuff in where necessary for Free for All, except on the tarmac road, its jolly tricky getting a spade into asphalt! Not much else happened. The Germans responded by cunningly digging their troops in also, but made dashing moves with the pioneers on the left flank

The Yanks started pushing up their paras through the village, to be met with heavy Mortar fire from the Germans,... not pleasant. The first round of stukas had seen a great block of infantry just waiting for a pounding, but had failed to identify the Yank AAA infantry platoon - that came as a shock, but the plucky pilot managed to get his parachute to work!

,

 The KV selects a shooting avenue to dissuade the approaching Allied Armour...

Its all go, Brett ponders what to do...

With the threat from the pioneers, Brett shifts the central Yank mortars over to assist the threatened objective in the woods, but not before landing a very nice mortar bombardment upon on the pioneer platoons heads killing several teams... However in subsequent turns the stukas now found this mortar platoon marching across the open a target too tempting to resist...

The Yanks continue their advance through the village but are paying a heavy toll from heavy mortar fire... the KV has also advanced to  make its presence known.

The Tiger starts to get to work, knocking out a Sherman on the left flank... we tried to make things fair for the allies painting our Tiger in a bright white camo pattern for the sultry summer clime to aid their targeting , just to give them a sporting chance. We considered adding 'go-faster' stripes too, but thought this a step too far towards Essex boy fandom... my Tiger's better than your Sierra Cosworth any day! ;-)

The Shermans are not sure what to do...  trying to avoid the gaze of the Tiger, trying to stay spread out and near woods because of the stuka... life is not a happy one for the commander of a 'Ronson'...

Meanwhile the Yanks keep pushing through the village waiting to see what happens between the Shermans and KV... the Yank Tank destroyer ambush jeeps are also steadily working inconspicuously into position...

KV ready to greet a Sherman... through the woods...

 Hello... boom!

 Tiger says hello to another a Sherman, the rest pull back behind the wood, covering the objective...

The sneaky Yanks spring the TD ambush, unleashing 2 M10s upon the much maligned KV, but only manage to bail it...

 Meanwhile the Tiger continues on its prowl...

Oh dear, a bailed tank is not problem at all to assaulting infantry... no tank terror test required, insert explosive charge here... boom! Still the KV has tied up several platoons of Allies over several turns, its earned its points...

The Allies are still trying to force the issue on their left flank, but now the PaK38s are an issue for the Shermans ...

PaK38s bail the M10s... heavy mortars land as well but only annoy the infantry...

Pioneers get busy with the fizzy, and launch their move and assault into the Yanks in the woods, assisting the Tiger who has already squished a few...

Brett's return fire, needing 5's to hit veterans in the woods... er that will be none then...

A Sherman tries to get sneaky behind the hill, forcing the PaK38s to turn to fire...

But its all too little too late for the allies, who are left verged on the point of an assault if only they could silence the PaK38s...one had been summarily dispatched but the others stubbornly refused to die, either passing saves or surviving repeated failed firepower tests from the Shermans and M10s... I lost track of how many times they got 'bailed' ;-)

Wallop, its all over Yanks, go back to driving Miss Daisy coz you aint driving nothing here... Pioneers and Tigers do the business and it ends messy for the Allies with little left at all in the wooded objective, Tiger and pioneers rampant!

A thoroughly fun game, with much banter an carry on.

And some beers to see the new room in, with some pizza from Paul's good lady Tina - many thanks from all...

Looking forward to many more in Pauls fine establishment...

I believe the game ended 5-2 to the Germans.

Stay tuned for KapitiFowGamers next exploits...

Continued Tales of Woe - Getting the rules right for Gepanzerte PanzerGrenadiers

Over the last year I have played this force quite extensively, and have often fallen foul of misinterpretations of the rules concerning them, basically what they can and cant do.

I put the following to the Flames of War main Forum, but thought it a good idea to keep here too as a reference.

STATUS - this platoon is essentially an infantry platoon, with its own armoured transport teams (open topped armoured; 1,0,0).

The German special rule "mounted assault" means these transports may remain on the table even when empty and fire on the enemy with their hull mounted MG.

When the transports have passenger teams, things 'get interesting':

From the German special rule "Mounted Assault" in V3:

"When carrying passengers. a Mounted Assault Transport is treated as a Tank team for everything except Platoon Morale checks. If it is carrying two or more Passenger teams, it also has Tank Escorts"

MOVEMENT:
Infantry teams mount and dismount as per rules on v3 p46-7. I believe this is self explanatory.

But it should be noted that it is possible to Storm trooper out of and into transports as well. This can be useful when the transport becomes bailed or bogged down, circumstances permitting. Though see later for issues regarding 'Bailed', as there is normally something else that may then occur, such as auto remount, or halftracks Sent to Rear.

Calling half tracks forward 'from the rear' to mount troops is covered adequately in v3 p 48, but it should be noted that on the turn they are brought forward in this way, they may not shoot nor assault, though can storm trooper move.

Another point - half tracks are quick on roads; 18", but very slow through any slow going; 4", including steep hills, cornfields woods and the like. They can cross linear obstacles and require a bog check to do so.

COMMAND:
As a tank team, for veteran troops, this gives the platoon a command range of 8" between vehicles. (This gives the platoon plenty of room to spread out to avoid template weapons). However if the platoon is also comprising dismounted infantry, or empty transport teams, then any link to an infantry or empty transport team will be at the regular 6" range for veteran troops.

Any command 'tank' team that becomes bogged down, or bailed out, may at the end of the step, take over any other 'tank' team in the platoon in command range. Any Higher command tank team may take over any 'tank' team from the company. (v3 p105)


SHOOTING:
The vehicle is fitted with a hull mounted MG ROF 3.
With one passenger team, they may also fire the 'passenger fired' AA MG, giving a further die to shooting in addition to hull MG.

With two or more passenger teams (they can carry up to 5), they then count as having 'Tank Escorts'. This means they get a further die to shooting. If one of the passengers teams has a Panzerschrek (actual Panzerschrek team or Tank Hunter team from Lehr) then this weapon can fire as the Tank Escort team, at ROF 1, with no penalty for the vehicles moving, although the Tank Hunter team which is Normally ROF1, would be at a -1 to hit, if Halftrack moves. Panzerfaust teams still cannot shoot from halftrack if halftrack moves. [v3 p 200] - the summary box on p201 stating the vehicle can move no more than 6" if the tank escort is to fire is INCORRECT.

BEING SHOT AT: [v3 p101]
If the platoon is fired upon, it will be Pinned if it suffers Five or more hits as per normal rules

In addition, if it suffers a destroyed halftrack, any passengers teams get a 5+ passenger save, any survivors "dismount under fire" [again v3 p104], and the platoon becomes Pinned.

At the end of the shooting step - If the platoon suffers any Bailed or Destroyed half tracks, the platoon must take a Motivation test.

If it fails, all half tracks are immediately sent to the rear, with teams dismounting under fire as before.
If it passes, all bailed out half tracks immediately remount, ceasing to be Bailed out.

(Tactical tip - try and deal with enemy AT weapons before advancing your half tracks as although armoured, they will suffer greatly from anything but small arms fire. Or make sure you move so as to be out of line of sight of such weapons).

FACING ARTILLERY: [v3 p135]

The whole idea of armoured transports was getting troops 'safely' through enemy fire, as such they wont stop for artillery fire if they can still move. This is dealt with here:

Armoured transports roll saves as for normal armoured tank teams. However if they only suffer a Bailed out result - they automatically remount.
If a Transport is destroyed by artillery fire then the passengers get their 5+ passenger save and 'dismount under fire' [v3 p101], and the platoon becomes Pinned down.

(Tactical tip - this makes the platoon quite hardy to getting through light artillery fire, eg, mortars that are only FP6, especially when well spread out to minimise teams under the template. I would still be wary of heavier artillery fire - watch out for those medium/heavy artillery observers and AOPs )

BEING PINNED:
This issue has caused much confusion in our past games.

From pinned [v3 p104].

Warriors (eg CiC or 2iC) cannot be pinned down in themselves and are only pinned down when they have joined a platoon that is pinned down. However, as they leave the platoon at the end of the step, they then cease to be pinned down.

Movement
When the platoon is pinned, it should be noted that dismounted infantry teams are affected as regular infantry. They may not move closer to enemy teams in LOS and may not move into LOS of other enemy teams.
(What you may be able to do with them is move them so that they can mount up into halftracks from the same platoon, that are behind them, thus moving away from the enemy)
The half tracks themselves being armoured teams, whether empty or occupied, may move freely.

So this means if your platoon is all mounted up, it can ignore being pinned for movement purposes. If it contains dismounted infantry, these may be able to remount a nearby transport and continue with the rest of the mounted platoon (see mounting up v3 p46). Or the infantry teams may be left behind as the rest of the vehicles move on (so long as platoon commander is still mounted and is moving with more than half the platoon - see command and movement v3 p66-7)

Shooting
Armoured vehicles still fire at full effect whether pinned or not. There is no reduction in ROF. It is my opinion that passenger fired AA MG or Tank Escort fire would not be adversely affected by the vehicle being pinned either, as they are considered part of it (the vehicle) and not separate to it, whilst mounted.

Dismounted infantry teams would suffer adversely to their shooting for being pinned, though for MG teams (typical of panzergrenadiers) this is a drop from 3 to 2 shots per team.

(Tactical tip - even if the platoon is pinned, with a formation of half tracks and dismounted infantry, they can give out a huge volume of fire, normally sufficient to stop any infantry assault.)

ASSAULTS:

The key to understanding this next section, with an eye to the German special rule "Mounted Assault" - is that once the infantry teams have mounted their transports - they effectively cease to be infantry teams in transports - the two merge to become a 'tank' team.

Consequently, as a tank team they may make an assault move as other armoured teams can do.

Now, this is the only contentious ' issue' I can find, and that is regarding whether the platoon can make an assault if it is pinned.

If a platoon contains infantry teams and it is pinned, it may not make an assault.

However as noted above, if the infantry in the GPg platoon are ALL mounted up, then the platoon does not contain Infantry teams - only Tank teams. So it should be able to ignore being pinned, and assault. (That is my opinion and understanding)

But consequently, if even one infantry team is dismounted, the platoon then also contains infantry teams and if pinned, then the whole platoon, may not assault.

It should be noted, as mentioned in the German Mounted Assault special rule, that since the vehicles are classed as open topped armoured, the platoon will be forced back by defensive fire if the platoon takes 5 hits or suffers 2 or more bailed/destroyed vehicles.

Other points to note:

As a 'Tank' team, they cause tank terror

During a counter attack the passengers may counter attack out of the halftrack, or stay in them, at the players discretion, but if they leave the half track at this point, it is Sent to the Rear.

Having Tank Escort, means they get up to two attacks per half track with two or more teams on board. Also with Tank Escorts - they can assault into difficult terrain, without having to take a bog/skill check if only the Tank escort team attacks.

Also if a half track is bogged or bailed out, the tank escort may still attack teams within 2" during the assault/counter attack.

If the platoon is all mounted up, it may break off through the enemy platoon, like a tank platoon can do.

As a final point at the end of the Assault step, any Half tracks that are Bailed out that have no passenger teams on board are immediately sent to the rear. Whereas if they are bailed out with passengers onboard they automatically remount.

AIRCRAFT.
Aircraft can pose a threat to your GPgs. Whilst you can hide from AT guns you can't always hide from aircraft.

Remember since they are a template weapon staying spread out can minimize their impact.

The half tracks are fitted with a passenger fired AA MG so if mounted up, each half track can fire on aircraft. The MG in the AA role has a 24" range, and a single shot per vehicle requiring a skill check (3+ for veterans), and then a firepower test to destroy a plane - requiring a 6. So with a platoon of four vehicles, even with attached elements from the GPg HQ, don't expect to shoot down too many ground attack aircraft!

Remember AOPs can be targeted by AA fire by any platoon in range of it, not just the one receiving the AOPs attention! You might just get lucky here and knock it out of the game as they don't come back once shot down.

The aircraft's air strike, if they hit the platoon, are resolved much like an artillery strike. The GPg platoon can be pinned if any half-tracks or dismounted infantry teams are hit, and the effects of pinning on the platoon have been discussed as above.

PLATOON MORALE:
Remember the loss of the halftrack transports does not adversely affect the platoon, only the loss of infantry teams need be considered.

I hope the above proves useful, and if I have anything wrong or have missed any relevant points please shout up.

Hollow Wombat's Tales of Woe... Colonel Klink and the PanzerGrenadiers

After I enjoyed reading through Paul's great intro article on the main Nations involved in WWII, here , Paul and I got into a little emailed banter about me and my Germans... considering my past performances...

The 'shell of a man' picture of the German uniform put me in mind of the movie "Hollow Man". This, combined with Paul's ending comment in the article on the Germans requiring a player to be a "Cunning Weasel", made me comment to the effect that I was more like a "Confused Wombat"...

Paul clearly gave this some sage-like thought as his retort was to the affect that my Indian name would from now on be "Hollow Wombat".

So I will present to you the continuing saga of 'Hollow Wombat's Tales of Woe'...

In my last game, against Brett the other week (Commando Kelly), where I bemoaned my inability to unpin my Nebelwerfers, I decided to re-play the scenario, afterwards as a solo game, and put my Commandos in place of the Yanks.

The smoke from the Nebs, had it arrived could have given my Gepanzerte Panzergrenadiers the cover of smoke through which to launch their assault against the dug in Yank infantry. I must admit I felt like Colonel Klink must have been in command of my forces that game!

Colonel Klink, pondering how best to attack dug in Americans

I wanted to test out what would have happened, if the Nebs had managed to unpin, giving me some smoke, and what would happen through the ensuing mounted assault.

Schultz the Nebelwerfer commander - " I know nothing"

The game was set up as before, with the GPgs poised within striking distance of the dug in commandos, just waiting for the smoke...

Sergeant Schultz final got his thumb out of his ass, spotted the commando green berets poking out the top of their foxholes, and sent over a salvo of smoke rockets... and in rolled the GPgs...

The GPgs can spit out a shit load of MG fire went mounted up, and this with additional fire from other nearby units ensured the commandos were pinned, and smoked too. All sounds good and peachy eh?

Well this was a frontal assault, against the widest point of the commandos deployment who were at full strength, and backed up by an HMG at the rear, which wasn't pinned. Plus the smoke was angled a bit so some teams could avoid firing through it... the result was predictable... despite needing 4's or 5's to hit, and with a relatively reduced number of shots from pinning, the commandos spat out enough fire to cause at least five hits, and/or with the PIATS joining in, some of the half-tracks brewed up nicely, invariable killing the occupants, who only get a 5+ passenger save.

Once the assault has been stopped, its then the commandos following turn, who typically unpin, and let loose, wrecking the remnants of the GPg platoon with Rifle/MG and PIAT fire.

I ran the dice a couple of times more but the result was much the same, and even when the PIAT missed, enough rifle fire hit, which hits half-track side armour 0, during defensive fire, and if you roll a 1 save against rifle AT2, that's a bailed half-track, unless the fire power comes up a 6, which it predictably did, and that's now a destroyed half track and my grenadiers dead...

It makes you think, a 1 followed by a 6 , is a 1 in 36 chance... long odds you'd think, but when things aren't working for you, it can all go to Hell in a handcart pretty quick. Plus I am sure the renowned author Terry Pratchett wrote in one of his Diskworld novels, "million to one chances, come up nine times out of ten!" - work that one out!

GPg Mounted assault against full strength dug in platoon, with a little 'back up'... this will not end well for the Germans!

OK so the frontal assault failed miserably...

So what are GPgs good at? Maneuver!

So I played through the scenario, again only this time mounting my GPgs up and heading off towards the end on the commando line, dodging 3" mortar fire as I went. Finally got into a better position, and wanting to get this action going before armoured reserves turned up for the commandos, pressed on again with the assault.

So same as before, pinned and smoked the commandos and hit from the end of the line. This time things went better initially, sure enough not enough effective hits to pin down the assault. So in went the assault.

The problem this time was that despite maneuvering, I could only get a couple of half-tracks into assault range this quickly, so they killed a couple of commando teams. The commandos then roll to counterattack, and being fearless pass easily needing a 3+. In they run, and being commandos, hit on 2+ in the assault, with PIATs and rifle/MG teams against half-track top armour 0, during the assault. Again it wasn't pretty, this time during the assault, a 1 rolled for armour save against rifle/MG AT2 is a destroyed half-track and all occupants auto killed. A save of a 2 means a bailed half-track, not so disastrous. Against the PIAT, yeah well...

I had expected in the second round to motivate, and counterattack out of the half-tracks to finish off the commandos. Well there wasn't much left of the GPgs, and a 50/50 chance to motivate being confident and it could either way. Even if I managed it, there was not going to be much of the GPg platoon left to actually hold onto the objective anyway...

So, a despairing realization dawned. My much vaunted, self-hyped GPg's were actually a bit of a damp squib! I had expected them to rock and roll over infantry, after all in a 'defensive mission', Mechanised attacks Infantry...

This idea in my mind I had fostered myself, from my early days of getting this force ready and seeing what they could do in combination with reading and understanding the rules... I would set myself up a simple test scenario... one platoon of commandos defending against one platoon of GPg's. Nothing else on the board. The GPgs would roll forward over a couple of turns, getting into optimal position firing as they went, while the commandos kept their heads down staying GTG. Sure enough I could roll in, and the majority of the time survive the defensive fire, and hit with the majority of attacking teams, and sweep the commandos in one go. It looked good and convinced me that this was the way to play them.

The last year of 'real games', has been a hard lesson to the fact that this rarely works out. Dodging enemy AT and Arty fire on the way, trying to co-ordinate smoke and getting enough hits to pin the defender IF I get near enough unmolested  to launch an assault, has been nigh on impossible.

I think I have only managed it a couple of times and then against either small (artillery) or weakened platoons, or platoons spread too thinly with buildings interspersed blocking the defenders lines of fire.

A much better proposition for a mounted assault - a weakened platoon.

Another good choice - a mortar platoon.

A week or so of reflection and pondering  has led me to the conclusion that the GPg's are not some 'Uber Force'. In reality, they are glorified foot sloggers, with a mobile bunch of MGs that half the time are a liability!

So what to do?

Well the answer is in part self evident; use them as infantry, not some 'pseudo-panzer' force... and if going in mounted up, then only do it against small, or weakened or poorly positioned forces.

So how do I handle the previously played scenario. Simply, I just sit tight with my infantry, hunkered down in their own foxholes, and pound the defenders with whatever I can throw at them; artillery with high FP, and any Tank fire or even high FP SPAA. It may take a few turns, but with enough high firepower weaponry deployed you will begin to knock off defending teams, and once the defending platoon has shrunk to manageable size, then and only then, mount up and roll in. At this point you will be facing less defensive fire, there will be fewer teams to have to kill in the assault and subsequently fewer still to counter attack against you.

So this is what I tried out, again, playing through the scenario solo. And I am pleased to say it worked. The reserves I was concerned about coming on, ended up mixing it up with my own reserves, and the main point of issue was left to get on with themselves.

It brought a wry little smile back to my face.

Now I am not saying I know it all and can win every game I play from now on, far from it, but I hope I wont be throwing away so many games, and will at least give my opponents a decent work out if nothing else!

Stay tuned for continued adventures of Colonel Klink and his Panzergrenadiers, brought to you by the Hollow Wombat!

Commando Kelly digs his heels in... a MidWar Mediterranean battle report

Brett and I enjoyed a MidWar battle the other day. We rolled up Cauldron, always a bugger of a battle to fight!

As is our club 'policy', the victor writes the Battlerep, and here it is, though presented in PDF format that you will have to download. Well worth it. 

Teaser pic:

Report: Commando Kelly