They have been a joy to build. The pieces go together well. They come on a base which makes it difficult to use my MicroMark magnetic assembly tool to keep stuff straight but it is built so well, it is not needed. I just need to take the time to paint these up.
I am planning on taking on one of the larger buildings next. All told, this has been a great buy. I hope Things From the Basement will do more 15mm offerings in the future.
Update: Here is what I have completed so far.
I also ordered some of his blowout packs. These are models that were not quite up to standard when they came out of the mold. I picked up a pack of each, T-34, BT-7, T-26, Panzer II, Panzer III and Panzer IV. I plan on using these for battlefield wrecks. The only disadvantage to these are that you can't specify which version of the tank you get. So my order arrived with much of it being late war kit (with the exception of the BT-7s and T-26s which are only Early War).
Honestly, the wrecks are in good enough shape that it would not take much modification to make them into regular tanks for your tabletop. The most noticable issue with them is that the post under the turret is missing. One could easily be fashioned for them. I am very pleased with this order and will be making another shortly for some more T-26s (need some twin turret types) and for an SDKFZ 232 8 Rad (he said this is under development now).
The price is definitely right on these models. They lack some variety that other manufacturers may have but you can always add your own stowage.
I have yet to assemble any of it, yet. I may take some time tomorrow to get to work on a few of these just to see how they look. I now have enough terrain projects to tie me up for a while now. All of these will be useful for the Second Kharkov campaign. I really hope that he makes more 15mm items. He sells some 28mm kits that look really nice.
"there is heard a loud and cheerful conduct, with lots of liquor distribution."
This was from a report from the 79th Infantry Division. The officers apparently were getting the men drunk before the offensive to improve morale. I am thinking about a support option. It will be a level two support option that will raise Soviet force morale by 2 points for a given battle. It can only be used for one of the initial battles and then discarded. I need to test this out a bit before actually including it.
I have also been preparing my armor for it. The first campaign features no armor for the Germans and plenty for the Soviets. It is possible to play the game with a Soviet tank force that is supported by infantry. The 36th Tank Brigade was largely equipped with lend-lease equipment. It began the battle with 17 of the new T-60 tanks, 10 Matilda IIs and 20 Valentine IIIs.
There are several instances in the battle where the tanks outpaced the infantry and assaulted German positions without them. This proved to be very costly as the Germans used field artillery aimed over open sights to engage Soviet armor to great effect. But ammo shortages caused the gunners in most cases to spike their guns and leave.
The Germans will be equipped with mainly infantry forces. Each ladder rung will result in the Germans having a mix of troops made up of soldiers that had fallen back from the forward outposts and thrown together to blunt the Soviet attacks.
The second campaign will be the German counterattack launched on May 13th by the 3rd Panzer Division. The 3rd Panzer Division was undergoing refit at the time of attack. It was a veteran unit that had been fighting since the invasion of France in 1940. The division had only a single battalion of armor that was combat effective and a single battalion of panzer grenadiers. These infantry were largely truck mounted rather than in half tracks. They were supported by a reconnaissance battalion of mostly motorcyclists. They possessed towed anti-tank guns and some artillery.
The tanks of the 3rd Panzer were 5 working Panzer IIs, 34 operational Panzer IIIs (both 37mm guns and 50mm guns combines) and 6 operational Panzer IVs (all short barreled versions f1 or older).
The paths of the two campaigns cover much of the same ground. The 3rd Panzer swept up from Kharkov and sped straight towards the 36th Tank Brigade in Nepokrytaya. This was also the town where the 294th Infantry Division had the last stand of Kampfgruppe Winkler.
I think I will have the first campaign largely complete before the end of the week. The 3rd Panzer's campaign will take a bit longer as I am trying to get more details on their actions. I have a good history of the division but it doesn't give many details that are useful for scenarios.
I put together a map of the areas that the campaigns will cover. There is a great Russian language site that has excellent WWII maps of the Eastern Front, especially the Ukraine. http://freemap.com.ua/karty-ukrainy/nemeczkie-karty-vtoroj-mirovoj-vojny-3-x-kilommetrovki The maps are taken from maps Y50, Z50, Z51 and Y51 on their site. These were German operational maps.
One idea I had for this campaign book was to provide enough of a map for each portion of the battle for folks to be able to move the battle to a place that they have terrain for. For instance, there are two scenarios that take place in Federovka. The first is on the outskirts with the Germans having defensive positions in a balka (dry ditch). The second is the fall back positions in the town itself. I found a great period 1/50,000 scale map of the town and its environs. I am providing enough of that map for the player to say, I don't have a church but I do have homes with gardens and trees. They can then use the map to move the location of the battle to match it with the terrain that they have and still be in the historical context of where the battle took place.
That is the update for now. Will probably post more later. Been trying to get stuff off the paint table that has languished for too long.
On page 8 - There was a sentence that was truncated. It should read, "The town contains major roadways needed by the Germans to push further east."
On page 10 in Scenario 1, the black lines between houses represent short, waist high wooden fences.
I added information about what type of cover the buildings provide in the scenarios.
Scenario 1: Most of the houses are wooden and will provide light cover. You may pick one building in the center to be of stone construction and provide heavy cover.
Scenario 2: The church is a stone building and is heavy cover. The other larger buildings are of brick or stone construction and are heavy cover. The remainder are wood and are light cover.
Scenario 3: The buildings provide light cover.
Scenario 6: The buildings provide light cover.
Please let me know if you have any other questions on the scenarios. I will be happy to update the supplement if it needs it.
Also, if you have played any games from the supplement, I would love to see some pictures of the game and read some AARs. Please share them if you can.
This is mostly a placeholder as I need to do some painting.
We will start with the 1941 list published from the TFL Website.
| Unit | Makeup | Pictures |
| Headquarters | Leytenant, SR, Pistol Starshina, ISL, Rifle |  |
| Mortar Team | 50mm Mortar Team w/ 4 Crew |  |
| Squads 1-4 | Serzhant, JL, Rifle LMG Team w/2 Crew Nine Rifle Men One Grenadier |  Note: Missing Rifle Grenadiers |
| Support Options | |
|---|---|
| 2x PPD-40 SMG | |
| 2x SVT-40 Rifles | |
| Satchel Charge | |
| Medical Orderly | |
| Mine Clearance Team, 3 men |  |
| Wire Cutting Team, 3 men |  |
| Demolition Team, 3 men |  |
| Minefield |  |
| Barbed Wire |  |
| Entrenchments for one Team |  |
| 50mm Mortar, 3 Crew |  Missing extra crewman |
| PTRD ATR w/ 2 Crew |  |
| Commissar |  |
| Pre‐Game Barrage | |
| Flamethrower Team, 3 men |  |
| T-20 Komomylets | |
| T-37 | |
| T-27 | |
| BA-20 | |
| Sniper Team |  |
| Maxim MMG Team w/5 crew |  Missing Extra Crew Members |
| 10 man Rifle Squad | |
| T-26 with 37mm |  |
| T-26 Twin MG | |
| T-38 | |
| 45mm ATG w/ 5 crew | |
| 76.2mm IG w/ 5 Crew | |
| Engineer Section |  |
| Regular Infantry Squad | |
| BA-6 | |
| Ba-10 | |
| T-26 45mm |  |
| BT-2 | |
| BT-5 | |
| BT-7 | |
| BT-7a | |
| T-40 | |
| KhT-26 |  |
| KhT-130 | |
| T-28 | |
| T-35 | |
| T-28E | |
| T-34 M1940 |  |
| T-34 M1941 |  |
| KV-1 |  |
| KV-2 | |
| Unit | Makeup | |
|---|---|---|
| Headquarters | Leytenant, SR, Pistol | |
| Squads 1-4 | Serzhant, JL, SMG LMG Team w/2 Crew Eight Riflemen |
| Support Options | ||
|---|---|---|
| Satchel Charge | ||
| Mine Clearance Team, 3 men |  | |
| Wire Cutting Team, 3 men |  | |
| Demolition Team, 3 men |  | |
| Minefield | ||
| Barbed Wire | ||
| Jeep or Car | ||
| Entrenchments for one Team | ||
| 2x PPD-40 SMG | ||
| 2x SVT-40 Rifles | ||
| LMG for one squad | ||
| 50mm Mortar, 3 Crew | ||
| Roadblock | ||
| Flamethrower Team, 3 men |  | |
| PTRD ATR w/ 2 Crew |  | |
| BA-20 | ||
| Pre‐Game Barrage | Off Table | |
| Commissar | ||
| Sniper Team | ||
| Maxim MMG Team w/5 crew | ||
| 37mm ATG w/ 5 Crew | ||
| Regular Cavalry Squad | ||
| Engineer Squad | ||
| Regular Infantry Squad | ||
| DSHK 12.7 HMG w/5 Crew |  Missing additional crew | |
| 76.2mm IG w/ 5 Crew | ||
| 45mm ATG w/ 5 crew | ||
| 76.2mm IG w/ 5 Crew | ||
| M2 or M5 Halftrack | ||
| BA-64 | ||
| BA-6 | ||
| Ba-10(t) | ||
| T-70 | ||
| T-26 w/ 45mm | ||
| Tetrarch | ||
| Valentine III | ||
| BT-5 | ||
| BT-7 | ||
| BT-7A | ||
| Scout Squad | ||
| SU-76 | ||
| Zis 2 57mm ATG w/ 5 Crew | ||
| T-60 | ||
| M3 Stuart | ||
| Churchill Mk I-III | ||
| Matilda II | ||
| KV1E or S | ||
| Churchill Mk IV | ||
| T-34 M1940-41 76mm | ||
| M3 Grant | ||
| OT-34/76 (Autumn 42) | ||
| SU-122 | ||
| KV-8 | ||
| SU-152 | ||
| KV-2 | ||
| Unit | Makeup | |
|---|---|---|
| Headquarters | Leytenant, SR, Pistol | |
| Squads 1-4 | Serzhant, JL, SMG LMG Team w/2 Crew Six Riflemen |
| Support Options | ||
|---|---|---|
| Satchel Charge | ||
| Mine Clearance Team, 3 men | ||
| Wire Cutting Team, 3 men | ||
| Demolition Team, 3 men | ||
| Minefield | ||
| Barbed Wire | ||
| Jeep or Car | ||
| Entrenchments for one Team | ||
| 2x PPD-40 SMG | ||
| 2x SVT-40 Rifles | ||
| LMG for one squad |  | |
| 50mm Mortar, 3 Crew | ||
| Roadblock | ||
| Flamethrower Team, 3 men | ||
| PTRD ATR w/ 2 Crew | ||
| BA-20 | ||
| Pre‐Game Barrage | Off Table | |
| Commissar | ||
| Sniper Team | ||
| Maxim MMG Team w/5 crew | ||
| 37mm ATG w/ 5 Crew | ||
| Regular Cavalry Squad | ||
| Engineer Squad | ||
| Regular Infantry Squad | ||
| DSHK 12.7 HMG w/5 Crew | Missing additional crew | |
| 76.2mm IG w/ 5 Crew | ||
| 45mm ATG w/ 5 crew | ||
| 76.2mm IG w/ 5 Crew | ||
| M2 or M5 Halftrack | ||
| BA-64 | ||
| BA-6 | ||
| Ba-10(t) | ||
| T-70 | ||
| T-26 w/ 45mm | ||
| Tetrarch | ||
| Valentine III | ||
| BT-5 | ||
| BT-7 | ||
| BT-7A | ||
| Scout Squad | ||
| SU-76 | ||
| Zis 2 57mm ATG w/ 5 Crew | ||
| T-60 | ||
| M3 Stuart | ||
| Churchill Mk I-III | ||
| Matilda II | ||
| KV1E or S | ||
| Churchill Mk IV | ||
| T-34 M1940-41 76mm | ||
| M3 Grant | ||
| OT-34/76 (Autumn 42) | ||
| SU-122 | ||
| KV-8 | ||
| SU-152 | ||
| KV-2 | ||
We will start with the 1941 list published from the TFL Website.
| Base Platoon | ||
|---|---|---|
| Unit | Makeup | Pictures |
| Headquarters | LT, SR, Pistol Feldwebel, SL, SMG |  |
| Mortar Team | 5cm Mortar Team w/ 3 Crew |  |
| Squads 1-4 | Obergefreiter, JL, SMG LMG Team w/3 Crew Rifle Team w/ 6 men |  |
| Support Options | |
|---|---|
| Satchel Charge | |
| Medical Orderly | |
| Mine Clearance Team, 3 men |  |
| Wire Cutting Team, 3 men | |
| Demolition Team, 3 men |  |
| Adjutant | |
| Minefield |  |
| Barbed Wire | |
| Roadblock | |
| Kubelwagen |  |
| Two solo motorcycles |  |
| Motorcycle and side‐car |  |
| Entrenchments for one Team | |
| Panzerbüchse 38/39 Team, 2 men |  |
| 5cm mortar Team, 3 men |  |
| Pre‐Game Barrage | |
| Sniper Team |  |
| Flamethrower Team, 3 men |  |
| 2.8cm heavy ATR w/ three crew |  |
| Panzer IB |  |
| SdKfz 221 |  |
| SdKfz 223 |  |
| SdKfz 251/1A‐C |  |
| PaK36 3.7cm ATG w/ 5 crew |  |
| leIG18 w/ five crew |  |
| Engineer Section | |
| Forward Observer |  |
| MG34 w/ 5 crew |  |
| Panzer 35(t) |  |
| Panzer 38(t) |  |
| Pz.III E‐G |  |
| Panzerjäger I |  |
| Befehlspanzer I |  |
| SdKfz 10/5 AA |  |
| Sdkfz 222 |  |
| StuG III A‐E |  |
| Regular Infantry Squad |  |
| Flak 30 or Flak 38 2cm AA gun w/ five crew | |
| PaK36(t) 4.7cm ATG w/ 5 crew | |
| PaK38 5cm ATG w/ 5 crew | |
| Motorcycle Aufklarungs Squad |  |
| Sdkfz 231 (8 Rad) |  |
| Sdkfz 232 (8 Rad) | |
| Pz.II A‐C |  |
| Panzer II H or J | |
| Pz.IV D‐F |  |
| Panzer II D Flamm |  |
| Panzer IVF1 |  |
| sIG33 15cm w/ five crew |  |
| Base Platoon | ||
|---|---|---|
| Unit | Makeup | Pictures |
| Headquarters | Feldwebel, SL, SMG | |
| Squads 1-4 | Obergefreiter, JL, SMG LMG Team w/3 Crew Rifle Team w/ 6 men | |
| Support Options | |
|---|---|
| Add 2 SMGs to 1 Squad | |
| Compound Charge | |
| Medical Orderly | |
| Mine Clearance Team, 3 men | |
| Wire Cutting Team, 3 men | |
| Demolition Team, 3 men | |
| Adjutant | |
| Minefield | |
| Barbed Wire | |
| Kubelwagen | |
| Two solo motorcycles | |
| Entrenchments for one Team | |
| Roadblock | |
| PanzerKnacker Team, 4 men | |
| Senior Leader | |
| Pre-Game Barrage | |
| 5cm mortar Team, 3 men | |
| Sniper Team | |
| Flamethrower Team, 3 men | |
| Green Infantry Squad w/ JL | |
| Regular Dismounted Cavalry Squad | |
| Mount a Cavalry Squad on Horses | |
| PaK36 3.7cm ATG w/ 5 crew | |
| Flak 30 or Flak 38 2cm AA gun w/ five crew | |
| leIG18 w/ five crew | |
| Forward Observer | |
| MG34 w/ 5 crew | |
| 37mm AA Gun w/ 5 Crew | |
| Panzerjäger I | |
| SdKfz 10/5 AA | |
| PaK36(t) 4.7cm ATG w/ 5 crew | |
| PaK38 5cm ATG w/ 5 crew | |
| Regular Infantry Squad | |
| Motorcycle Aufklarungs Squad | |
| Pak40 7.5cm w/ 5 Crew | |
| Marder II | |
| Marder III | |
| Panzer II D Flamm | |
| Regular Engineer Section | |
| Panzer III Flamm | |
| Stug III F | |
| Elite Engineer Section | |
| sIG33 15cm w/ five crew | |
| Stug III G | |
| Panzer IV f2 |  |
| StuH 42 | |
| Tiger I | |