I took the separate fausts and keep them loose. When a troop is equipped with one, I place one on his base. Once it's fired, I take it off. There's enough foliage on my bases to keep them in place for the most part.
This probably isn't actually worth the time investment but one could place magnets in the loose panzerfausts and magnets in some of the models rucksacks/on their webbing, and have removable panzerfausts, both for keeping track of which model has them and if they have been fired.
100% true and why I play Germans, and I hate using metal as you can get away with not varnishing plastic. If you use metal your pretty much have to varnish them
This was a great video. I built out a bunch of Grenadiers I got as a birthday present from my friend who got me into BA a couple years ago, and since then I’ve had an extra box I purchased laying around. The Command List is definitely the way to go for me to flesh out my army and had some teeth to my forces. I built a lot of rifles but didn’t add many LMGs. Building this list will certainly help in that regard.
Your breakdown matched pretty closely to what I built with mine. I know the focus was on build and not fielding, as you clarified, I have found a good sweet spot of 7 to 8 men per squad. With my waffen ss box, I did five men with smg as a base for a solid assault heavy, potentially fanatics squad. I prefer to have my squads specialized, so ar with ar, smg with smg, lmg with rifles. Obviously rifles to add to squads as "cheap" wounds and flexible fausts are nice. The 7 member teams get you four infantry and a command group from one box.
Always an interesting watch. Definitely appreciate these building guides. Very much interested in hearing your take on actual list building strategies and examples. Great work as always!
Thanks for this informative look at late war Germans. I just picked up Konflikt '47 a couple weeks ago and want to make sure I design a force that can also work for Bolt Action v2. I like loading up on all the toys, especially in K47 where it helps more (and it's hard to make a full size force with only 24 Grenadiers. So I'll be picking up another box soonish or maybe the Grenadier starter army. It's helpful to have good advice on what to build and why.
Going into my third game with smaller squads and less riflemen to get more dice. I would love to see videos from you on each weapon, squad and equipment giving tips on how to use them well.
I like to run my Panzer Granadriers in 5x 6 man squads stated below 3x squads NCO with SMG, 2x LMG + loader, 1x rifleman laying down long-range fire. 2x squads NCO with SMG, 2x AR + Faust, 3x rifleman on foot or in half-tracts depending on points available. I use the figures from the Heer support group as my Lieutenant + assistant, medic & spotter for the mortar crew. I have had good results with this composition.
Just bought my first Bolt Action piece a PUMA SD. KFZ 234/2 and was really thinking of making a Luftwaffe ground force, since the Germans did do this mid war to the end.
Luftwaffe Ground Forces are a fun theme for a German Army. I actually almost made some myself. Great excuse for the Puma, 88’s, and a mixed vet-inexp force.
I had great success on my last game, also first with the puma. It just so happened it was a recon based mission where the enemy units were hidden until a unit with recon marked them. That alone turned up the heat and let my lmgs start to rip at maximum effect early.
One thing I do for officers is color coden bases. They have a green painted rim on the base when the rest of the squad has brown edged bases. Also, for snipers, I cut down a toothpick to the point where it kinda looks right and glue it on the rifle. It actually works pretty well.
2 Soldiers. Double the wounds and double the firepower. 4x SMG shots can be pretty nasty up close. I only run solo officers if they’re Second Lieutenant and and I’m on a points crunch. At that point they’re just a platoon tax. Anything higher I run as 2 man squads. I like taking 2 men instead of 3 because it gives you the small team bonus, which deters enemies from wanting to shoot at you
I can, its gonna be a tough one though, and ill probably have to do a lot of research before doing it, especially considering the difference between how SNLF and IJA operate on the battlefield. I can’t say ill have it done anytime soon unfortunately
Grenades are a bit dull in Bolt Action unfortunately. They usually are an upgrade that simply gives the squad the Tank Hunters special trait. From what I hear Chain of Command does grenades a bit more interesting
Just getting into the game now and played a game against my son, roughly 750 points. I fielded two 10 man Brit sections, 7 rifles, lmg and two smg. The Grenadiers fielded on rifle squad and one squad with STG 44's, It meant he had to come onto me because my rifle groups just pumped in long range shots and only his rifle squad could shoot back. So I pumped 75mm HE into his rifle squad and both my infantry units into his STG squad. I used the terrain to stop his rifle squad from shooting mine. He was desperately unlucky with his shooting and I got the results reflective of statistical outcomes. When you pump 14 rifle shots and 6 lmg shots into one unit you are going to hit and kill something. I think the tactic is make assault rifles come to you and then assault them.
I would like to think that everyone who is involved with this hobby are invested enough to actually research the history of the conflict and the soldiers their models represent while maintaining an intellectual separation between the player and the models on the table. It would be fairly low IQ to ostracize an SS army player purely for their choice of faction in a table top game. No one exited WW2 with completely unblemished record. As JFK famously said "war is a dirty business".
I like to equip my MG-loaders with MPs. First they bolster the melee of the squad. Second they spring in action when the LMG is picked of the squad and so bolster the rest of the troops...
At this point in the war, Ostfront SS weren't fanatic nazis, they were anticommunists from Norway, Sweden and France and ppl fighting for their lifes. Fanatics died out of cold lol
Yes and no, there were many “elite” SS divisions stationed in the West and even some that didnt see as much action in the east. Das Reich, Leibstandarte, Hitler Jungend, Gross Deutschland to name a few. Anywho, you could still run SS as Charlemagne or Wiking or other non- Germans.
I prefer to wargame in real numbers, adapting the rules regarding points. A full company, a full platoon etc, as would have fought historically. Parachute company versus Waffen SS Panzer platoon and Waffen SS Panzer grenadier Platoon with AA support, fuel lorry, one squad of combat engineers, motorcycles, medics etc. Around the edges, a squad of French Resistance and French SAS squad...or the same Germans versus a platoon of 7th Armoured Div tanks, battery of 6pdr, platoon of infantry and French allies. It's not the winning it the participation. Unlike Little League we are not all winners!
