Back from the depths of history....

Many, many moons ago, I had a website with Earthlink. I attempted to do there what I am more or less accomplishing here on this blog. There were some pages on that blog that were worthy of saving. This is one of them. This dates back to almost 7 years ago when the TooFatlardies rules Troops, Weapons and Tactics was still in play testing. The scenario probably would still work played now but the rules changed from this point to final publication. This was a game I managed to put together with Terry Haney at his house using his lovely figures and terrain.

Burma 1943
Terry contacted me and we set up a game at his place to try out these new rules. I had played them solo once already as stated above. But this time around, I would have someone watching over my shoulder to make sure that I won't do that again. Terry asked me to come up with the orders of battle and he would provide the table, figures, terrain and chips.

I know nearly nothing about the Pacific Theater. My knowledge of the Chindits extended to they were lead by Orde Windgate who I happened to come across in preparing for my East Africa Campaign (Commander of Gideon Force) and some Israeli 1948 scenarios (founder of the Special Night Services pre-WWII). I knew he died in a plane crash in the far east and was quite the character.

Background
In 1943, the Chindits under Orde Windgate have been at it again. Last night they launched a daring raid in force against a Japanese forward base. Using hit and run tactics they faded into the night before dawn. The local Japanese commander dispatched men to track down and stop this nuisance. Here begins our scenario...

The Chindits have placed a delaying force of a reduced platoon supported by a single Vickers MMG to halt the advance of the pursuing Japanese troops. The Chindits start on the West end of the map covering some 3/4's of the total map. The Chindits occupied up to the farthest house on the right. The Japanese were advancing up the road rapidly and would enter the table two blinds at a time.

The Map

Well, I knew that Rob Avery had a collection of Japanese figures on his web site www.vislardica.com. I used the organization from his site to set up the following order of battle for the Japanese troops:

The Japanese:
1x Platoon Leader Class 3
1x Platoon Sgt Class 3
Squad 1: 1x Squad Leader Class 2, 1x LMG Team (4 men), 1x Rifle Team (5 Men)
Squad 2: 1x Squad Leader Class 2, 1x LMG Team (4 men), 1x Rifle Team (5 Men)
Squad 3: 1x Squad Leader Class 1, 1x LMG Team (4 men), 1x Rifle Team (5 Men)
Support Squad: 1x Squad Leader Class 2, 3x LT Mortar Teams, 1x Rifle Team (3 Men)

This would net the following Cards:
Jap Blinds Move
Jap Big Man 1 - 6
Squad 1 - 4
TIT Level 1 x 7
TIT Level 2 x 3
TIT Level 3 x 2

The Chindits:
1x Platoon Leader Level 4
1x Platoon SGT Level 3
Platoon HQ: 1x 2" Mortar Team
Section #1: 1x Squad Leader (SGT) Level 3, 1x LMG Team (2 men), 1x Rifle Team (1x Lance Corporal Level 2, 6x Men)
Section #2: 1x Squad Leader (SGT) Level 2, 1x LMG Team (2 men), 1x Rifle Team (1x Lance Corporal Level 1, 6x Men)
Column Support Section: 1x MMG Team (1x Corporal Level 2, 1x Loader, 1x Gunner)

This nets the following Cards:
Chindit Blinds
Chindit Big Man 1-7
Sections 1 - 3
TIT Level 1: 8
TIT Level 2: 3
TIT Level 3: 2
TIT Level 4: 1

I took the Chindit Org from here.

The Beginning moves:
Terry allowed me to enter on the first turn without following with the chips as he was going to leave his guys in place. My first two blinds entered from the road. The first containing my 1st Squad and my platoon leader shot straight up the road looking to plant themselves behind some jungle and use their remaining die to spot in the jungle directly ahead of them. That did not work out and they ended up the turn in the middle of the road. They did spot the Chindit MMG. Things do not look good for our heroes.

The next blind containing the light mortar section ran to the left behind a hill and promptly deployed in order to handle any trouble that came along - namely the MMG. The next turn saw the Japanese 1st squad stay in place! What were they thinking. Two additional blinds entered and moved to the left and right of the road respectively and managed to sneak out of the fire lane before being spotted.

At this point I must point out that the survival of the 1st Japanese squad was due more to bad die rolls for effects of hits than anything the big men did to save their men. These guys stayed in the fire lane some 3 or 4 turns before making it out of there and only lost 2 men.

The next turn had the arrival of two additional blinds splitting up as before and taking off on either side of the road. The objective of the two blinds to the left of the road was to take the house on the left side of the road. The objective of the two right side of the road blinds was to take the first house on the right hand of the road. Seems simple enough. Well, spotting attempts on the tall house and the close house on the right side of the road revealed a fake blind and a Chindit squad in the tall house. On the left side a fake blind ran into the jungle in front of the two Japanese blinds before being spotted as a fake. The squad in the house on the left hand side of the road deployed and attempted to fire on the Japanese 1st squad that had finally made it out of the fire lane.

Throughout this maneuvering, the MMG team became the light mortar squad's favorite target. After about 5 turns of constantly bombarding that position, the mmg team was destroyed. Bout that time, Terry spotted the two blinds on the right hand side of the road. They were both fakes! I had forgotten which troops belonged to what blinds when I deployed and accidentally outflanked Terry on the left. The Chindits in the tall house began to fall back.

The Chindits in the house on the left hand side of the road did not fare too well. They received the full attention of the light mortar squad and the two full strength squads of Japanese troops moving through the jungle towards them. This squad took a beating and lost its big men.

In a valiant effort to support this isolated squad, the platoon sergeant rushed forward from their fall back position to help extract them. By this time, the Japanese in the jungle across from the house began to complain about the poor marksmanship of the light mortar teams as the last volley from the light mortars came a little too close for comfort. Shifting the aiming point on to the crazy Brit that was running towards the Japanese lines the mortars fired again thinking that if they were off they doubled their chances of landing in the middle of a Chindit formation. The die roll was a direct hit. The results were three hits and two of the three were sixes. The platoon sergeant was mentioned in dispatches for his heroism. (I want to take a figure that is standing straight up and cut it off just at the top of the boots. Paint the boots and put small wisps of smoke coming from them just for such an occasion.)

At this point the game was decided that the Japanese had taken the field from the Chindits. We had fun and the rules were great. Played out in under three hours even with both of us flipping through the rules and muttering, "so how do you do that again?" I am left with a couple of questions and observations:

1) We played with the 'newer' grenade rules. I am thinking that the rule with the Boom card could have been more interesting game wise - probably not more realistic. Only 1 grenade was thrown the whole game.

2) The light mortar rules should be clarified a bit more. We treated them like the original grenade rules - a deviation die and 1d6 with a 2" blast radius. Is that how they should work?

3) Do light mortars only fire once per turn or once per activation with a big man? 4) I think these rules were viewing lt mortars as a 1 per platoon thing. The Japanese had 3 of these in this light mortar section. We rolled individually for each mortar, was that right?

Once it was all said and done, I was ready to give this another try. I still have to get troops close enough to assault and attempt the melee rules. I had a unit in position to do so but when the big man chip came up - no tactical initiatives. I guess the squad sergeant bent over to tie his shoes at the critical moment.

Recap
Thanks for suffering a trip down memory lane with me. It really was a fun game that I still remember well. I did correct a bunch of spelling errors that I found but other than that, left the post as it was. I need to remember to take not only pictures of the miniatures but the people playing as well.

What happened to my hobby time? Or how I started a PF campaign in '82 Lebanon

Over the past few days I have not had any time for the hobby. Miniatures remain unpainted. Supplements are still unwritten. No games are being played. There was nothing in site that would improve this. Then Brian English sent me an e-mail that got me motivated again. He wanted to run a modern TW&T game set in Afghanistan. This had me reading back through some previous supplements such as B'Maso! and Rock the Casbah. Brian's project should prove to be interesting.

That got me thinking that I really should break out my '82 Israelis again. And if I am going to do that, lets make it a campaign. So out came Platoon Forward again. Lets see what we would have....

Reserve Platoon

HQ Section
Segen Mishne Pinchas Niram - Lvl II Big Man (Platoon Commander)
PF background: Pessimistic, The Arts, Reckless in Combat, from a military family. Pinchas is a reserve officer and is genuinely pessimistic about the possibility of the war in Lebanon. He is a professional musician and as such is a disappointment to his military family. His father had obtained a Brigade command by the Yom Kippur War and retired shortly there after. He is out to prove that he is every bit as good a commander as his father was and as such is reckless in combat.

Samal Rishon Moshe Shoshan - Lvl III Big Man (Platoon Sergeant)
PF Background: Cheery, Family, Even Tempered in Combat, Average background. Moshe is a well trained and motivated leader. The army is his life. He was a regular who was placed within the reserve platoon to stiffen them. He is a family man with a wife and three small children. He is even tempered and the men serving under him respect him that he will not wantonly waste their lives. His cheery disposition makes him popular among the men and officers alike.

HQ Squad: Jr NCO, RTO, Platoon Sniper, Medic, 2x Riflemen.
Transport: 1x M113 Zelda with TOGA armor

1st Squad
Samal Dani Nitzan - Lvl II Big Man (Squad Leader)
PF Background: Foolish, Hedonism, Even, Up From the Ranks. Dani was born in Tel Aviv and is more interested in the next party than anything else in life. He works as a bartender on the beach but was rudely called back up for reserve service. He is competent enough to have worked his way to a squad command but has risen to the limits of his abilities.

Rabat Shlomo Barchov - Lvl I Big Man (Assistant Squad Leader)
PF Background: Idealistic, Revenge, Even, Privileged. Shlomo's parents were killed in a bus bombing in Hertzelia. He believes that Israel can only have peace with secure borders. As an only child he has inherited the family business. Even with the demands of the family business, he rapidly responded to his country's call and is looking for some payback for his parent's death.

Light Machinegunner, Rifleman with RPG7, Rifle Grenadier (M203), 4x Riflemen
Transport: 1x M113 Zelda (Standard Armor)

The Squad is divided into two fire teams. The first fire team includes the Rabat, the Light Machinegunner, the rifle grenadier and one rifleman. The second fire team includes the rifleman with the RPG7 and three riflemen.

2nd Squad
Samal Shamir Frum - Lvl I Big Man (Squad Leader)
PF Background: Coarse, Engineering, Reckless, Privileged. Shamir's father owns an engineering firm that supplies the army with the new TOGA Armor for the M113. He has a doctoral degree in engineering and speaks to his men in terse and technical terms. His is disliked by his men for his coarse nature and further disliked by his reckless style in battle.

Rabat Yaakov Eliad - Lvl I Big Man (Assistant Squad Leader)
PF Background: Generous, The Arts, Cautious, Average. Yaakov is almost the opposite of his squad leader Shamir. He was raised on a Kibbutz bordering the Negev. He is an affable man who loves to garden. He finds relaxation in landscaping. He has a cautious nature that balances out the squad leader's recklessness. The men love Yaakov and will do anything for him.

Light Machinegunner, Rifleman with RPG7, Rifle Grenadier (M203), 4x Riflemen
Transport: 1x M113 Zelda (Standard Armor)

The Squad is divided into two fire teams. The first fire team includes the Rabat, the Light Machinegunner, the rifle grenadier and one rifleman. The second fire team includes the rifleman with the RPG7 and three riflemen.

3rd Squad
Samal Gavriel Blechman - Lvl II Big Man (Squad Leader)
PF Background: Egotistical, Wealth, Reckless, Average. Gavriel works as a diamond cutter in Tel Aviv. He is rather good at his art. His approach to life is one of all or nothing. He takes that same approach to his leadership, his business and women. For some odd reason, he is still single.

Rabat Tamir Feist - Lvl I Big Man (Assistant Squad Leader)
PF Background: Careful, Religion, Even, Military Family. Tamir's father is still an acting staff officer. Tamir, however, did not take to military life during his mandatory service. After his term was up, he began to study Talmud. His reserve unit has been called up and he declined to take his exemption from service due to his theological studies. He is careful and methodical in how he does things. The men respect him as he is rather even in temperament and will not seek to waste lives foolishly. He is orthodox but still very Zionist in his views.

Light Machinegunner, Rifleman with RPG7, Rifle Grenadier (M203), 4x Riflemen
Transport: 1x M113 Zelda (Standard Armor)

The Squad is divided into two fire teams. The first fire team includes the Rabat, the Light Machinegunner, the rifle grenadier and one rifleman. The second fire team includes the rifleman with the RPG7 and three riflemen.

This is my scratch force. My first game will be a Point Reconnaissance mission. Since I am basing the campaign on the opening days of Operation Peace for Galilee, this makes sense. I rolled for terrain and based on the rolls it seems that this will be a reconnaissance of a village.

The terrain is laid out so that squares 1,2 and 3 are all light woods (possibly olive groves). Square 4 is open ground Square 5 and six have buildings with a road passing through square 6. Square 7 is more light woods. A key building is in square 8 and square 9 is also open.

More to come....

WWII: Early War Russian Army 15mm

The paper strength of a Russian Rifle Battalion was rather impressive. It was a well armed and balanced force that had rarely achieved full strength in the units deployed at the start of the war. Let alone in the regiments raised once the war started. Still, there are plenty of options available to present a historical yet strong force.

According to the old archived Bayonet Strength site, by July of 1941, the order of battle changed and greatly trimmed down the number of troops in the battalion. For some units that had been mobilized at the start of the war, it would be possible that they would be able to retain some of the support elements that they had at the start of the war in June. Newly called up battalions would reflect the much reduced order of battle.

As I get around to it, this page will be updated as I complete and get pictures together.

Russian Army 1941

Rifle Company

Rifle Company HQ

Well the basing is not done but the Company HQ has a Commissar, a Company Commander and two MMG teams. The MMG Teams really need some additional crew members but they will do for now. I also have a standard bearer, just for fun. Rifle Platoon 1
The platoon headquarters consisted of an officer and two runners. At the start of the war, it also had a 50mm mortar attached to it. This mortar team was eliminated by July of 1941.

The platoon was made up of four rifle squads, each of eleven men. In theory this was to be an NCO squad leader armed with a rifle, two SMG armed men for close support, a six man rifle team and a two man LMG team. In theory, this was a well armed unit. The reality is that shortages of SMGs and light machine guns limited this deployment. By July of 1941, the SMGs were eliminated and only two of the four squads were issued light machine guns.

Rifle Platoon 2
This platoon was based initially for FOW but works just fine for IABSM. Two of the squad members from each squad are individually based for casualty removal.

Rifle Platoon 3
MG Platoon
This had an officer and two maxim MMGs with five crew each. This platoon was eliminated in the July 1941 restructure.

Battalion Supports
Anti-Tank Platoon
This element contained an officer and two 45mm anti-tank guns. This platoon was eliminated in July of 1941. This removed the best tank defense that the common infantry man had.

Machine Gun Company
Company HQ (1 Officer, 1 Commissar, 6 men) Three Platoons, each comprised of; 1 Officer, 28 men

Mortar Company
Company HQ (1 Officer, 1 Commissar, 5 men) Three Platoons, each comprised of; 1 Officer, 14 men

Early War Russian Armor

Just as with the Germans, I am too lazy to figure out the proper order of battle for armor. Especially since my games tend to be infantry centric. The basic platoon size was three vehicles. A company would have one or two vehicles in the headquarters.

T34
Lets start with the big guy on the block. This was probably the best tank at the start of the war in the east (or any other theater). The early model had limited turret space and suffered from lack of a radio net. But it definitely put a fear in the enemy. German troops took great delight in scaring incoming Italian troops throughout August of 1941 with tales of the T34.

T26
This is one of those tanks that to me defines the Russian armor in 1941. The T26 had a number of variants. Some just plain odd - like the double turreted version.

WWII: Early War German Army

Introduction

I honestly have no idea how to organize this. What I will attempt to do is show the miniatures that I have for my German Army in 15mm. It is broken down by the order of battle based on the year of the war according to the Bayonet Strength Website (http://www.bayonetstrength.150m.com/), Dr. Leo Niehorster's web site (http://orbat.com/site/ww2/drleo) and the IABSM Supplements.

As more gets painted, this site will be updated. I will put a version number and update notes here at the top. This is version 1.02 (12/21/2011). fixed armored section changed PZ38ts to Pz35t. Thanks Mark. Version 1.01 (12/21/2011). Added Armored Elements and bicycle troops. Version 1.0 (12/20/2011). Its all new.

German Army Circa 1940

Motorized Infantry Company

Motorized Infantry Company Headquarters

The Rifle Company Headquarters is nearly complete. They are to have four MMG Teams, two rifle squads, four trucks and a pair of kubelwagons. I lack some of the motor transport for Company HQ. I will probably replace these with Gamdols trucks as they are the cheapest available for something that won't play much of a part on the table top. I am also lacking a complete squad. I have the NCO and one rifleman painted. The rest are on painting sticks and not yet base coated. The MMG teams need the most base work.

The infantry are all Old Glory/Skytrex figures. The MMG Teams might be Battlefront but I am not sure at this point. The two trucks are Old Glory as well. I have no idea about the kubelwagon as I received that in a lot I purchased off of Bartertown many, many moons ago.

Motorized Infantry Platoon 1

Now, the first platoon was also from that long ago Bartertown purchase. Luckily between 1940 and 1941, the Germans did not mess with the order of battle too terribly for their infantry platoons. As motorized troops they are supposed to have two LMGs per squad and I only have one. I have additional LMGs on painting sticks to add in but just have not been bothered to do so. The platoon is lead by and officer or NCO and have a Anti-Tank Rifle and light mortar team for support. The core of the platoon are the four rifle squads of eight men each. The platoon travels in the comfort of five trucks.

The platoon is complete but needs a little something more for the bases. Some flock should fix it right up. For some reason, the paint does not adhere well to copper/nickle pennies. When looking at them closely, you can see where my gravel/pumice/sand/glue mixture did not completely cover the penny. The flock should hide that.

The figures are all Old Glory I believe. They may be painted for a slightly later period of the war but I am not bothered by it as they are done. The trucks, well I have no idea of where the trucks are from. They too came in that Bartertown lot I spoke of. Purchased in the dim haze of memory before I had a child, when I had some money (I am married) and free time. Inspite of the poverty and the no time to play, I am a richer man by far now.

Motorized Infantry Platoon 2

This is my favorite platoon. I painted all of the figures in this one. The platoon leader is one of my favorite as it is some poor chump trying to figure out just where he is on the map. The walking rather than deployed figures of the ATR team and light mortar team are also nice. The platoons should be identical to the one above but I just need to get more motor transport. I have two of the five trucks they should have. I am loathe to purchase something that will either leave the table quickly or get blown up early on in the game. But in 2012, I will extend every effort to buy some more.

Now I did have one falsehood above. The open top truck, I did not paint. That was part of that Bartertown deal I made. The rest I did paint. They are all Old Glory with the exception of the light mortar team and ATR team. The ATR team might be Battlefront. The light mortar team might be Quick Reaction Force. I should have posted something up on this years ago when I painted them.

Motorized Infantry Platoon 3

This platoon is the fun one as it is mounted in the SDKFZ 251 half-tracks. The half-tracks are all Old Glory. The figures are dominantly Old Glory and the ATR might be Battlefront and the light mortar team might be QRF or Battlefront. Just can't remember.

Again, these are complete but for some basing work that needs to be done. All in all I am pleased with the miniatures. Once the basing and company HQ is sorted out, I should be good to go. I will update the pictures as things change.

Motorized Battalion Support
Well we can't just send our poor troops up by themselves now can we? Now the Battalion contains stuff that I am just not interested in modeling. So we will restrict this just to the stuff that should go out on a tabletop. An assault against the typing pool just is not my idea of an exciting game. The Battalion had a heavy company and a MG Company that provided the normal support that the infantry man in the line would be likely to see.

Battalion Heavy Company
The Motorized units had a much more unique organization. Here the heavy company had some unique elements compared to its line counterpart.

First the Heavy Company had a Anti-Tank Platoon. This unit consisted of three 3.7-cm Pak 35/36 guns. These underpowered weapons had a longevity far past their usefulness on the battlefield. Each weapon was towed by a truck. (Agghhhh!!!! More motor transport to buy.)

The careful observer will note that the anti-tank platoon is still on painting sticks and only has one crew for the three weapons. This is because (in my mind at least) a single company in the front will probably not have the entire platoon at their disposal. Thus I will only be bothered with painting one crew for these. These ended up lower on the priority list. The crew are likely to be QRF miniatures.

Next the heavy company had an infantry gun platoon. This battery had two 7.5-cm infantry guns. These too were towed by trucks but could be manhandled by the crew to where they needed to go. They also had a truck for ammunition that pulled a trailer. The platoon HQ had two cars that moved the platoon leader and a small signals section. Is anyone keeping track here? I have a boat load of trucks to buy, don't I? Please, feel pity on me and send a donation toward the buy Chris a truck fund. Just 25 cents would be most welcome. (just kidding. But seriously, there is a link to the right somewhere.)

These fearsome fellows look ready to wreck someone's day. Still lack motor transport. I only painted one of these as I really am not sure how they would be deployed forward. I suppose that one really could just have a forward observer team to call in their fire as opposed to letting the guns be on the table, but that does not seem as much fun.

Lastly, there was a pioneer platoon. This was a large unit equipped with trucks and motorcycles. It had three large 13 man (including the NCO) squads that were equipped with a single lmg each. The bayonet strength site did not list if they had flamethrowers or not. I just can't tell from Dr Leo's site either. The Blitzkreig supplement from TFL gives them 2 flamethrowers and a AT rifle team. I would assume that they did not, but where is the fun in that. Pioneers need flamethrowers. So......

As you can see, the pioneer platoon is nearly incomplete. I only have two flamethrower guys. Since folks tended to stay away from the targets...er...flamethrower men, this might not be unrealistic in how they were deployed forward. :) Both of these guys were probably from QRF and came with the Bartertown buy I had made. Their fellow platoon mates do exist, just on painting sticks without even primer. I will get to them one day.

Motorized Machine Gun Company I know that there was a type A and a type B battalion organization in 1940. I will not be bothered by such distinctions. The Machine gun Company had two Machine gun Platoons and a single Mortar Platoon.

The Machine Gun Platoons were equipped with four tripod mounted MG34s each. Each team/machine gun was equipped with a truck. (More Trucks! When will it end.) The headquarters had a car and a motorcycle with side car. I actually have the MMGs to populate a platoon of these guns but as it is, that could mean up to eight MMGs on the table at once. That seems more than would likely be the case for a company sized engagement. As such, my 1940 Wehrmacht will probably not have more than 4 MMGs on the table at any given time unless someone else's scenario calls for it.

The mortar platoon had three sections of two 81mm mortars each. Each section had three trucks to cart them around from place to place and their ammo. Mortars are an off table asset. And as such, a forward observer team mounted in a car and a motorcycle with side car will probably all that will see the table. At least that will cut out an additional 9 trucks to buy. Good grief that would get expensive quick. (Hmmmm... I am really starting to sound like a cheapskate here.)

Motorized Regimental Support
Here is sadly where the Bayonet Strength site is not as strong. Dr Leo's site picks up where this left off. My issue is I have trouble with the German organizational markings and spend all my time flipping between the units and the key.

Motorcycle Reconnaissance Platoon
This unit has three squads with a single lmg in each squad (if I am reading the diagram right). The platoon HQ probably had a car and a motorcycle attached but I just do not know. The squads would have both motorcycles and motorcycles with sidecars.

I have two squads worth of motorcyclists ready to go besides the obvious lack of basing. I only have two squads though. I think these are Peter Pig figures but I am not sure. I want to flesh out the platoon but that is lower on the priority list.

Infantry Gun Company
It appears that the Regiment had an infantry gun company attached. It appeared to have eight of the 75mm Infantry guns and some LMGs in support. I am not modeling the Regimental level since I have some from the Battalion.

Motorized Anti-Tank Company
Apparently there were more anti-tank guns at the Regimental level as well. Possibly twelve of these weapons in the company. Again, these are modeled at the battalion level.

Line Infantry Company

Line Infantry Company Headquarters

The line company lacks any motor transport. It closely maps to the Motorized company in that it has the two squads and four MMG teams. Since they are the same infantry figures, they are in the same shape. What is added is the Company supply wagon. This is obviously barely glued together at this point without even primer on it. While it is not something you would see at the front lines, I think it could be useful in some games. Especially with a company that is ambushed or an enemy penetration back to a more rear area. Line Infantry Platoons 1-3
Rather than subject you to the same pictures above, you can see that the platoons are complete but lack some base work. The infantry for a line/foot company are actually more complete as they have their single lmg ready.

Battalion Support
The Line infantry Battalion had a Heavy Weapons or Machine Gun Company for its support.

Machine Gun Company This formation had two elements: a Mortar Platoon and two or three MMG Platoons. The mortar platoon was made up of six 81mm mortars. These will not be deployed on the table. Instead we can add a forward Observer model to the table to call in the shots or have the Company Commander and his radio operator take care of this task.

But since I have a picture of my Forward Observers, by golly I am going to include them. :) The figures are Old Glory, I think.

The MMG Platoons had four MMG teams, giving the company between 8 to 12 of these weapons. This would provide significant punch to the infantry especially if the company level assets were truly present. I wonder if the company level assets are in some cases incorrectly allocated Battalion level assets.

Battalion Supports
The .... Regimental Support Elements
Bicycle Recon Troops
I am not sure these are actually Regimental supports. Dr Leo's site shows a motorcycle platoon at the Divisional level. Given the less than powered nature of most of the division, doubtless the Germans would have deployed bicycle troops at some point. I have no idea of who makes these or I would have bought some more. I got these in that bulk Bartertown deal. I just think they are very clever little models. The basing is incomplete. The paint job is just as I had bought them.

The basing needs to be finished. But these are fun troops that I am determined to get on the table in 2011. I just wish I had a whole platoon of them.

******************************

German Army Circa 1941

Motorized Infantry Company

Motorized Infantry Company Headquarters

The 1941 version of the Company Headquarters drops the machine-gun teams from the headquarters and is reduced to just one squad. It still needs a second LMG team to round it out but it is closer to ready than its earlier incarnation as it does not need the extra trucks! It also has a sniper as part of the headquarters and a radio operator. All of the figures are Old Glory. The radio operator might be a QRF figure. Motorized Infantry Platoons 1-3
Again, these are identical to the ones above. The force only changes in that it drops the light mortar team from its organization. Motorized Support Platoon

Ah, there the MMG teams are. The MMG teams are Battlefront and possibly an Old Glory one in there. The Support Platoon also has a Mortar Squad with two 81mm Mortars for a stronger punch than the platoon based 50mm mortars that the 1940 version had. What is missing is the Motor Transport for these guys. Ugh! Anyone have some Early War German trucks in 15mm they don't have a use for? It seems that I need them.

Battalion Support
Battalion MG Company
This formation had two elements: a Mortar Platoon and two MMG Platoons. The mortar platoon was made up of six 81mm mortars. These will not be deployed on the table. Instead we can add a forward Observer model to the table to call in the shots or have the Company Commander and his radio operator take care of this task.

But since I have a picture of my Forward Observers, by golly I am going to include them. :)

The MMG Platoons had four MMG teams, giving the company 8 of these weapons. This *********************************

At this point, the pictures taper off until we get to the Battalion/Regimental/Divisional Support Elements and the armor.

Line Infantry Company

Company Headquarters
The line companies maintained two squads in their order of battle. They also added a pair or ATR teams to the mix. Here is a question for the reader, how many wagons would the Germans have for an infantry company? Just one or would there be one per platoon? Just curious. Also gone are the MMG teams. The Company has no MMG support. These are now allocated at the Battalion level. This is a significantly leaner formation that advanced across the wide steppes of the Ukraine than had trod across France.

Infantry Platoon 1-3
The foot Infantry are nearly the same. Each platoon carries with it the 50mm mortar that its motorized fellows have discarded. The ATR teams have disappeared from the platoon and the four squads of 8 men each are maintained. Line Battalion Support
The battalion supports for the Line infantry were critical assets as the company lacked the fighting punch of the earlier incarnation.

Battalion MG Company
This formation had two elements: a Mortar Platoon and three MMG Platoons. The mortar platoon was made up of six 81mm mortars. These will not be deployed on the table. Instead we can add a forward Observer model to the table to call in the shots or have the Company Commander and his radio operator take care of this task. I won't include the same picture again.

The MMG Platoons had four MMG teams, giving the company 12 of these weapons. This would provide significant punch to the infantry. Obviously any one company in the field would only see a fraction of these troops. But even if divided evenly, that still provided a full platoon per company if allocated that way.

German Early War Armor: 1940-1941(2)

Rather than place the armor into an order of battle the way I have with the infantry, this is a much more adhoc approach just detailing what figures that I have available.

Panzer I bef
The early war command vehicle. I have several of these for some odd reason. I am not sure where they all came from. I think I have a three pack from Old Glory plus another odd one or so.

These are fun vehicles. By that I mean they can easily be brewed up by most things available on the table. From Anti-Tank Rifles to the light British 2-pounders. I don't think that you would really have more than one of these guys in an entire company. Yet, I have three....

Panzer I mk ???
My tank recognition skills have left me. I am not sure which mark of the Panzer I that I have. Help anyone? I am also not sure of the manufacturer. They are resin and might be Gamdols miniatures.

These are great fun. They pose a threat to infantry but it is an example of not learning the lesson of the previous war. They suffered against Russian T-26s in the Spanish Civil War but they were still fielded in numbers even in Russia.

Panzer II mk F
The Panzer IIs that I have are from a couple of sources. I got one in the bulk lot I bought on Bartertown. That is the one that is based. Three are Old Glory tanks and another is a Battlefront mini. At least I am pretty sure that is what they are.

I think these are the Mark F tanks that saw service in Russia and possibly France. My tank recognition skills are lacking today.

Panzer III mk E
Finally some decent early war armor. If I am right (and I may not be) this is the earlier E variant. Again there should be three Old Glory vehicles and one that came from a Bartertown purchase of unknown manufacturer. I don't like basing vehicles. Especially with such a thick base. But I just have not had the heart to attempt to remove it as I would doubtlessly wreck the thing.

There is something about the Panzer III that I really like. I am not sure what it is. But to me, it just seems to be the tank I think of when I think of German tanks. It lacks the cool factor of the late war heavy's but I don't think the average infantryman in the field saw many of those. Now a PzIII would probably have been a much more common sight to the poor guy with a rifle.

Panzer III Mk F or G?
My second set of panzer IIIs for the early war period. These would probably last into the mid war period (1942 & 1943) as well. Not sure which mark these are. I think both vehicles are Battlefront minis as the commanders look like their work.

I received these as part of a lot from a Lardy in California. I finished off the commanders. They came with the antennas on them. I like the look of the antennas. Normally, I would only have one vehicle with a commander with his head popped out but the vehicles came painted this way and I was not about to modify it. At some point, I would like to get a few more of these. The addition of the box thing in the back of the turret (I know ya'll love it when I talk all technical like this) added something to the look of the tank. I like it. I am sure its military purpose was much more significant than looking cool.

Panzer IV mk B
For some reason, I really hate the look of the early Panzer IVs. That short stubby barrel just looks like someone ran around and broke the thing off. It is the tank I feel sorry for when it is on the table.

Three of these I picked up in an online purchase (maybe that Bartertown one, I am not sure). The other two are Battlefront (actually I think they all are). I painted the front two. I did not add the balkenkreuz to them like I did with some of the other tanks I painted. Actually, I don't think I ever even finished painting the treads. This is just a tank I don't like and it suffers because of it. I need to get over that and finish these out.

Panzer 35(t)
These little tanks made up for the lack of tanks that the expanding German army had at the beginning of the war. Taking in some 200+ of these from Czechoslovakia in 1939, they served from 1939 through 1941 and beyond.

These are a neat looking little tanks. All of these were picked up from Bartertown. Not sure if it was in that bulk buy or not. No clue as to the manufacturer. Might be Quality Castings. These were bought painted. I like them.

SiG 33B
Nothing says good morning like self propelled artillery. These are both Quality Castings miniatures. The vehicle is great for urban scenarios when you just really need to knock down a building.

Again they only have a basic coat of paint. No markings or even tread details. I will get around to fixing that at some point. I just don't like to paint vehicles. Hopefully airing my dirty laundry like this will force me to go back and touch these up so I can replace the picture if nothing else.

PanzerJager I
Well, at least I think these guys are all Pzjager Is. There are definitely two different manufacturers. I have no idea which is what. The lighter colored one was purchased painted. The other two are mine. Again only the most basic paint on these and the treads need to be done.

' Surprisingly I have nothing against these. I think they were the best thing that could have been done to the old Panzer Is in their inventory.

Stug III
I think these are both Battlefront models. The unbased one is the one I painted up and the based one was bought that way. This is another one of those vehicles I think of when I think of German armor. Here the short stubby barrel does not bother me for some reason. It just looks the business to me.

Sdkfz 221 and 222
The Germans could make some nice looking armored cars. These probably should be up above in some Motorized units support elements but I am too lazy to figure out where at the moment. I will move it around at some point.

These are from an Old Glory Pack. They are some of my favorite vehicles and yet, I don't think they have seen a table top more than once or twice. I painted these up a while back.

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Well that is my early war Germans. Please tell me what you think. I would appreciate any tips. If you suggest any colors to use, please mention the actual paint color as I don't do colors to well being partially color blind. (That is also my excuse for crummy painting) If you have any suggestions, comments or observations, I welcome them.

WWII Campaign

I am thinking of doing a "Platoon Forward" style TW&T campaign. I am looking into the Actions of Easy Company, 38th Infantry Regiment US Army on July 11th, 1944. They were part of the attack on Hill 192.

Opposing "E" Company was elements of the III Battalion, Falschrimjager Regiment 9. A half company occupied a farmstead known as Kraut Corner. They were further supported by some armor elements in the town of Cloville. Depending on the sources, the armor was a Panzer IV and some form of self propelled gun. One marked this as an 88mm gun on a Panzer III chassis. In my thinking, this was likely a StuG III or similar vehicle. "E" Company was supported by tanks from B Company, 741st Tank Battalion. One was a dozer tank and the other had a cullins device.

I just picked up a FOW Sherman Dozer tank and a StuGIII & PZ IV just for this. I am still thinking how to make the campaign work.