2016 Nationals Project- Führer Begleit Brigade

At the last few events I've atttended some friends of mine have given me some flak about never painting anything new.  (A busy military spouse, two little boys, and a part time job leave me with very few hobby hours...)  As I plan on making the trip back to Kublacon this May for the West Coast Nationals, I decided it was the time to finally get a new army on the table, a Panzerkompanie from the Führer Begleit Brigade PDF.  This list would finally let me get some of the new Late War toys on the table for the Germans, as I will center my list around Panzer IV/70 A, Panzer IV J, and a platoon of Panzerfaust/MG equipped Panzerfusiliers.  At 1420 points I can't quite get one of my favorite units into the list, a platoon of three StuH 42s.  The list:

HQ- Panzer IV/70 A, Otto Remer, Sd Kfz 251/1D
Panzer Platoon- Panzer IV/70 A (x3)
Panzer Platoon- Panzer IV J (x4)
Panzerfusilier Platoon- Sd Kfz 251/17 D, Sd Kfz 251/1 D (x3), Panzerfaust/MG (x7)
Panzerspäh Platoon- Sd Kfz 231 (x2)
Rocket Launcher Battery- SMG, Observer, 15cm NW41 (x3), Kubelwagen (x2), Sd Kfz 11 (x3)

Everything is CV except the recon, which is CT, everything except the rockets have the Guards rule, allowing re-rolls to platoon morale, and Remer gives any platoon he leads 2+ Stormtrooper, 2+ to hit in Assault, and 3+ motivation.  The Panzer IV/70s give me plenty of AT 14, the Panzer IVs act as a nice medium tank platoon, and the Panzerfusiliers, led by Remer is an assault machine.  It even has recon and smoke!  The big downsides are that it's only five platoons, and could use a third armored platoon.  (At higher points totals I can add those StuH 42s!)

So far, I've assembled the vehicles and they're almost ready for primer.  I still need to strip some of the 251/1s that I aquired in a trade and trim the mold lines from the infantry.

All five platoons, and I may do some objectives if I have time.

This will be an Ardennes army, I got the planen rain covers for the 251s from Heer46, though they're a little small.  I think they were designed to fit the earlier 251 C model.  I'll need to use some putty to fit them.  The tracks that came with the Panzer IV/70s were in pretty rough condition so I used some plastic tracks from the Panzer IVs.  Had to trim some stowage, but they fit perfectly otherwise.

I will be using some of the winter gun crew for the nebelwerfers, but I'll need to do some conversions on them to hold rockets.  I'm contemplating putting canvas roofs on the Kubelwagens, but it might be more trouble than it's worth.

I have about twelve weeks to get these all painted and based.

1700 Mid-War at A.I.

There was an event last weekend at Active Imagination up in Albuquerque so two friends from El Paso picked me up and we made the long drive north.  There were a total of eight players, and it was 1700 points, Mid-War.  I only learned about it a few days before and had to get someone to cover my work shift, but I threw together my list and was eager to get a few games in.  I ran Panzergrenadiers out of Eastern Front.

In the first of two rounds I was matched up against Hayden and his CT Luftwaffe Feldkompanie.  He is a pretty new player and hasn't painted any of his troops yet, he also had to proxy a platoon of Stuer Emils and a Dicker Max.  The mission was Free For All.

Hayden had much of his force, including the Super-heavies, on my left side.  I decided to hold on that side while pushing forward on the other.

On his weaker side he had a Feldplatoon, some HMGs, and an 8.8cm FlaK gun, but I was able to avoild the FlaK and hit the HMGs with Nebelwerfers and MG shots from my T-34 while it wasn't Dug In.  Once they were gone I had an open lane to advance on the objective.

Meanwhile, Hayden had pushed forward three platoons of infantry, supported by the Stuer Emils and Dicker Max, on the other side.  My Marder IIIs got a bit lucky and took out the heavies, leaving Hayden's infantry without any support vs. my StuGs and Panzergrenadiers.

I eventually assaulted the objective with the T-34 and Panzergrenadiers, taking the win.

I managed a quick 6-1 win vs. the Luftwaffe troops and was matched up against Hayden's brother Blake and his Panzergrenadiers in Counterattack  He had Panthers and Panzer IIIs in support.

We rolled to see who would attack and it would be Blake.  I decided to hold this corner, with a platoon of Panzergrenadiers ready to move to the open objective.  Marder IIIs would be in Ambush, while the StuGs and T-34 were in Reserve.  Blake would send all of his armor in a flanking maneuver towards the open objective, while all of his infantry would attack my troops Dug In near the pond.

My Stukas would claim an eary victory, knocking out a Panther and a Panzer III on my first turn.

Blake would push his armored halftracks forward to harrass my infantry, but my Marders were able to knock them out from Ambush before helping to push back and destroy one of Blake's infantry platoons.  The next five rounds would see the troops on either side of the pond unable to really do any damage to the other.

My other Panzergrenadier platoon Double Moved and hustled over to the open objective.  They were able to arrive before Blake's panzers arrived.

The Panzer IIIs would get to the objective on about turn four and would Assault into my troops, who would fail their check to counter.  I fall back, but still have time before the objective goes live.

My StuGs and T-34 would finally arrive, but one would be destroyed by the lone Panther.  They found themselves behind the Panzer IIIs.

My Marder IIIs would reposition to fire on the Panther's rear, knocking it out.

A battle around the objective ensues on turn six, but Blake's Panzer IIIs would find themselves surrounded and destroyed.

I would get a second 6-1 win, but this game was much closer.  If my tanks had arrived any earlier they would have been in front of all of Blake's armor, and even a single Panther will give StuGs and a single T-34 a bad time.  Having them not arrive until turn four-five worked out well.

I ended up in a tie for most victory points with Eric, Hayden and Blake's father.  After secondary points I would also get third over-all, good enough for about $23 in store credit, which I used towards some winter gun crew for my newest project.  Thanks to Keith for hosting, to both of my opponents for good games, and to Alex for driving four-plus hours each way!