German Camo - WW2

So far, I have not been terribly ambitious with regards to camouflage with my 15mm figures.  For moderns, with ACU I went with a ‘generic’ look as the digital pattern is all but impossible to do at that scale.  The attempt at multicam worked out fairly well I think.  Still, not a fan of camo at this scale.  For WW2, maybe I should of gone US (who only briefly used camoflague) or Soviets (who did not use it, as far as I am aware). 

The Germans made use of camo on every level it seems, and my early attempts at painting them totally ignored this.  This time around, however, I decided to give it a try.  First, I had to figure out what models should be painted appropriately.  Took me some time to recognize which models had helmet covers and camouflage jackets.  Once I did, I then had to figure out what pattern they used.

Most of the info I have on it came from “The Art of War” from Battlefront.  The Heer had their own version of the “splinter” pattern that was the most common.  So, I painted a few models up with that, and they looked… ok.  I have seen better and worse.  My rank and file will all have that pattern on their garments, as well as the rolled poncho attached to some figures. 

When I got started on my 2iC and Scouts, I went looking to see if the Heer ever used other patterns, such as what the SS had.  From everything I read, it was not really common, but acceptable to have the odd figure in a pattern from another branch.  I decided if anyone was likely to have “better” camo (going on the assumption that the SS generally had the best in the way of gear) it would be the command teams and scouts.  I actually tried to find as many models as I could wearing camo for my scouts for that reason. 

Oak Leaf was the pattern I went with, based on THIS article.  I decided for Autumn colors since I did not do a winter theme.  I did the odd helmet cover in the pattern for the scouts, with the 2iC having a jacket in the pattern. 

The pattern was so much easier to make look right (to me anyway) than Splinter.  I immediately saw it, where I had to really play around with the splinter to get it to look passable.  Makes me want to try the Plane Tree or Pea Dot patterns for future models.  My hesitation to do a SS force was in part due to the number of other players playing SS at my last store, but also the supposed complexity of the camo patterns.  Should I ever get a foolish notion to do another German army, I could see it being SS now. 

Photos (to be posted later). 

12. Volksgrenadier (list)

12. Volksgrenadier Division (LW German – NUTS!)

HQ – AR/PF, AR/PF + PzShreck
Sturm Platoon – Full
Schutzen Platoon – Full
Mortars (8cm) – 2 Sections
MG – 2 Sections
Scouts – 2 Rifle Squads, Command AR/PF
3 StuG G (late)
Light Artillery – 3 10.5cm
Me 262 A2a Sturmvogel – Sporadic Support

1550pts – 7 Platoons

The biggest issue that this list will have is the lack of anti-tank guns.  I really wish I could get some PaK40’s in there, but as I only have 2 guns and no crews I decided to leave them out for the time being. 

Should I run into a tank heavy list I imagine I will try to move to a good position and dig my infantry in, then let the tanks come to me.  Somehow, I do not imagine they will, considering the number of Panzerfaust’s that are present.  My artillery and mortars can keep a smoke screen up for movement, while I can try to use my Air Support to hit high value targets.  The StuG’s will be there to defend against enemy light armor.  Still, parts of it look fragile. 

The scouts will give me the Always Attack rule against other infantry lists, as well as a Spearhead move for my Sturm and Shutzen  platoons.  That should work for getting them fairly close to their targets early on. 

This is a departure from any sort of force I have fielded before.  It has both offensive and defensive attributes.  I play armor, not infantry.  Having to play defensively will be a new experience, so I imagine there will be a bit of a learning curve for me.  Still, I am excited to try it.  I played a generic Grenadier list for the Infantry Aces campaign and did fairly well.  It should teach me things about infantry that I might be able to use when playing armor, which is good considering the trouble I usually have against them. 

For 1750 the only real change would be to add the 3 PaK40’s and a battery of 3 NW41’s, while dropping the Panzershreck team.  Not totally sold on that idea either.  If I can scrape the models together for enough PzShreck teams, I could just as easily drop the NW41’s in favor of 3 more PzShreck teams (I would have to change the StuG’s back to regular rather than late models).

An alternate for 1750 that would work much better has me replacing the StuG’s for 3 Panthers from the 12.SS-Panzerdivision (making them Fearless Trained instead), and dropping the MG Platoon for a battery of 6 NW41’s.  Guess I need to get the rest of my Nebelwerfers done up.

Nothing about this list screams tournament winner to me.  But, I am interested in playing it and it looks fun, so does that really matter?  It is a constant struggle with my inner power-gamer.  I want to win (who doesn’t?), and have been known to choose my armies based on that.  Going with an actual unit rather than a generic list is part of my attempt to get away from that, so I guess I will see what I can do with this.  It was cheap to put together with models I (mostly) already had and is from a battle I have a lot of interest in (the Ardennes Offensive / Battle of the Bulge).  PLUS, as a ‘reward’ to myself for getting this done, I can always expand into a US Airborne army in the form of the 101^st (specifically, E Co, of “Band of Brothers” fame) if I want to have an opposed force from the same battle.

Next up, I am going to go over my armored lists. 

(note - Since writing this, LW points have gone up to 1780.  I have work to do)

LW Germans - Volksgrenadier

At last, they released a sourcebook for a period of WW2 I have a strong interest in.  Specifically, the non-SS German units involved in the Ardennes Offensive.  I settled on the 12. Volksgrenadier list, a Confident/Veteran infantry list.

It features a heavy dose of Assault Rifle armed infantry, and it seems that everyone has a Panzerfaust.  There is a healthy mix of support weapons, not to mention armor and the Sturmvogel (the first jet aircraft used in the war).  All in all, I thought it was an interesting mix that would not require me to buy much of anything in the way of new models.  All I have to do is change a few things around and paint what I have.

I have not abandoned my armored lists.  I actually got the airbrush out and painted a few up for a friend at the LGS last week.  With that, I am setting myself up to be able to run either a generic King
 Tiger list, the Begleit StuG list, or possibly the Bake list (all from Grey Wolf).  In playing over the past few months I discovered that when playing armored lists, it needs to be all vehicles (or nearly so).  Infantry can work,  but taking non-mobile artillery was not a good idea.  That works out, because the Volksgrenadier list has no mobile artillery, so there can be a clear split there.

Back to the project at hand.  I scaled down my projects, working on 1-2 units at a time, at most.  Large units (like full 6 base + HQ platoons) get done one at a time.  This way I can go through the steps and (mostly) finish in a day or two of work, rather than spreading out the work and getting discouraged when game day comes around and they are all still on their painting sticks.  Since starting this method I have gotten the painting done on a Mortar Platoon, all the crews for the Panzerwerfers, and almost done with my Scout Platoon.  Moving on to the Assault Platoon next.  The 'finished' units need a wash of the Army Painter dip, then onto the bases.  From there, I can base them whenever.. they are ready to play.

Internet is extremely limited, which makes posting here difficult.  I want to do a walk-through with one of my platoons so I can document how I paint them, what paints I use, etc.  The camo especially.  I REALLY want to get back to writing here.  I said it a few months back, but taking the time to write this stuff down (and people responding) gives me motivation to post more, which gets me working.  Also, should something happen to my notes again, I will have a resource that tells me how I did what, so I dont have to guess.

I will post the list I plan to run at different point levels, as well as the 'to-do' list for the available forces.  Pictures will come as I take them.  Work will progress as long as I keep the shift I am on, having all night long to paint is a big bonus.  Getting caught up on Babylon 5 as well.. re-watching the whole series.  I get about a season every 3 days or so (while at work), so should be done by months end.  To that end, I should also have the core of my Volksgrenadiers done by then as well.

Back to Work

Wow, cant believe it has been over seven months since I have posted. 

For those that are interested, I took a break from the hobby for several months to get ready for Basic Training (as well as basic itself), and then to settle into learning my new job.  Now fairly settled into things, I am finding myself with a pull to start up projects I left off, and the first would be my German Armor.

As luck would have it, there is both a tournament coming up locally, as well as the possibility of a Tank Aces league starting up.  With that, I will have some work to do.

Right now, I am thinking that I will run a King Tiger list, probably out of Grey Wolf, in the tournament.  I would prefer to try a Begleit StuG list, but I do not even have the tank riders yet, let alone the time to get them ready.  Plus, it will give me a chance to see how the rules have changed with the last update.  Most of the figures I will be using are primed/painted, and I might be able to get a little more work done on them before the game.  If not, thats fine too, I will have time for that later.

If I can drum up interest in Force on Force locally, I will probably start up my Russian force (so as to have a proper MW2/BF3 'demo' collection).  Otherwise, I can finish up my insurgents to check that off the list.

Tomorrows War has been done with AT-43 figures mostly, so I will keep to that.  It is easier, especially in stores where there is existing 40k terrain that I can use.  I still have my plans for a UAE/Ayrun themed unit made up of infantry and suits, but that can certainly wait.

Really excited to get my minis out of storage and the airbrush fired up.  Just getting a platoon checked off would be great.  Hardly any time at all any more, but I will see what I can get done with a limited amount.  Plus I have other odd projects I want to post here for those that might be interested.

Hopefully it is not another 7 months before the next post.  :)