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Twitch Plays World War III: Team Yankee West German
Twitch Plays
WWIII: West German Previews

Articles
WWIII: West German Spotlight
New Start Force, New Army 
Second Line Formations
Building Better Tables
New Support Options for WWIII West German Force
Gebirgsjägers in WW3 – Where others stop, we get going!
Panzeraufklärungs in World World III: West German
Ryan’s WWIII West German Army!
Rob’s West Germans
Whats the “Marder 2” With You?
Artillery Options for a WWIII West German Force
Modern Day Blitzkrieg (Battle Missions Combined Arms)
Fallschirmjäger in WWIII – the Green Devils and their Wiesels
The Heimatschützbrigades – A West German Reservist having fun on his weekend!!
Chris’s Americans
Starting a new Army for Team Yankee with Garath
West German NATO 3 Colour Painting Templates Updated
The Tend Thousand – WWIII Team Yankee Campaign

Videos
Leopard 2 Assembling and Painting
World War III: West German Starter Force Unboxing
Pete The Wargamer: Leopard 2a5 Painting Guide
Pete The Wargamer: Marder 2 Painting
Marder 2 Assembly Guide
Marder Assembly 
Leopard 2A5 Assembly Guide
West German Infantry Painting Guide
WWIII: West German Terrain
West German BO-105 Assembly and Painting

Thanks for tuning in everyone! We’ve had a great time and hope you’ve had a chance to check out all the content! But don’t worry, it’s not going anywhere and you can check all of it out at your own pace.

Hopefully, you’ve found something to inspire you and your West German armies, we look forward to seeing them on the table in the coming weeks!

A linked campaign of 5 battles, that as the result of each battle is known, further changes the upcoming battles in terms of points, forces available, and final outcome.

Starting Forces

USMC has 120 points to deploy from battle 1 and depending on the dice roll of repaired vehicles between battles, their points/units (?) reduce throughout. There are NO force restrictions, but if the force is chosen as per the Army Book, then there will be a small bonus randomly drawn.

Reinforcements come as two options for USMC: What Chris can paint in addition to the 120 points starting, and if successful on battle 3 ‘Replenishment’ then can bring in one unit extra to the 120 points for each of the next battles.

West Germans have 77 points from Battle 1 and can choose to activate units from Battle 2 up to 100 points and from Battle 3 have unlimited ‘respawns’ in terms of units up to 120points for further battles. If Gareth can bring more troops to the table in terms of painting tanks and troops, then he can use them in the upcoming battles with NO Force Restrictions.

Further units can be included by third or neutral players TBD: East Germans, Soviets (enemy) and Soviets (friendly), Scattered NATO troops/units, Eastern European Forces and special forces teams from multiple countries.

Background:

The forces of West Germany have done the unthinkable: they have thrown off the shackles of the NATO and post-WWII Western Governments and rearmed, refit and reorganised themselves, to strike at the western powers to free themselves of foreign rule and declare a Fourth Reich. Supported by Ultra Communist Soviet interlopers, advisors and spies, the West Germans attack multiple NATO bases in concert, pushing allied forces back to the border with France. A successful union between East and West Germany, allows the Germans to threaten the Soviet Union less than 40 years since Operation Barborossa in the Second World War. The Soviets scramble to remove Nuclear Weapons from their satellite states before war is declared.

A small force of United States Marines is left stranded and deep in enemy territory after they were rediverted from Desert Exercises in the Middle East to seize and protect an arsenal of Nuclear Weapons from Ukraine after they refuse to hand them over to the pro-western Soviets.

They must combat both the aggression of a Germany unified for the second time in a century, as well as marauding Eastern European Forces intent of their destruction. Now the USMC units must scramble for the Western border, whilst fighting off desperate attacks from West German forces to secure the Nuclear Weapons, delay the advance of the enemy so that NATO units can redeploy and stem the tide of war; and live to see another day.

 

~ Chris

Before the advent of the standard NATO 3 colour camouflage scheme, most of the member nations painted their equipment in different schemes. By the early 1980s the organisation came to a collective conclusion that during war this would make it quite easy for an enemy to identify which army they were up against, therefore conferring a possible advantage in combat. It was determined that a standard camouflage scheme should be developed. After some discussion and trials a paint scheme that consisted of a medium green, a red-tinted brown and a grey-black (which fades from close to black to close to grey) was formally accepted in 1984.

This change in scheme also conferred the benefit of taking advantage in advances in paint technology, allowing some infra-red spectrum diffusion and limited protection against chemical warfare agents. West Germany was the first NATO nation to start applying the scheme to their vehicles during scheduled refit operations.

The paint scheme is generally applied by organisations that are specially equipped to deal with the hazardous properties of the chemically resistant paint. As part of the application process each type of vehicle (or equipment) is painted to a template that has been developed specifically for that vehicle, with a spray gun giving the pattern a soft edged look when viewed from fairly short distances. This means that each every vehicle of a particular type (for example Leopard 2) has the same camo scheme applied in the same way.

The NATO 3 Colour Camo Templates

With the release of World War III: West German we decided to add on to the existing templates with a set  for our newest releases. Check both of them out in the links below

Leopard Vehicle Templates…
World War III: West German Vehicle Templates…

With the UK now starting to come out of Lockdown, something that’s been affecting most of us for the last 14 months, I have decided to celebrate upcoming face to face gaming again with my good buddy Chris from the office with a new army.

I already have a large Soviet force, so it would be good to have an opposing force to go against them. I have picked the West Germans as they have some great new releases coming out for them and I also fondly remember one of Harold Coyle’s other books ‘The Ten Thousand’ where the Germans rebelled against NATO and a stranded US army had to make their way out of Germany. This will allow my West Germans to be able to play the NATO role and that of the Opposing Force.

 

Having chosen my army, I will let you into my stages for starting and completing a new army.

Stage One: Read the book and draft out the first army list

I spent the weekend reading through the book and I really like the list options that are there for the West Germans. With 12 Kompanies to choose from, there is no lack of choice. With me not having any West German forces at all, this is a completely fresh new army for me. The quick and easy choice would be to take the Leopard 2A5 Kompanie.

85 points, so a solid core of my points taken up. This will give your starting force a massive firepower punch but will struggle to hold objectives and deal with any enemy infantry.

 

So rather than putting all my eggs in one basket, I picked up the West German Starter Force Box Set, so I had some models to play with. The box has allowed building the following force:

For now, I have dropped the Tornado Strike, and as for the remaining 4 points, I am going to add a Fuchs Panzeraufklarungs Zug so that I have some infantry that can hold the objectives, whilst my big cats go hunting down the enemy armour. The only real thing that I am concerned about when facing the opposition is if I come up against a large amount of Milan, TOW, or RPG teams as they could exploit my flanks and take out the Leopards leaving my force extremely weakened.

Looking through the book again I think my next Kompanie will be the Fallschirmjager with the rifle teams being able to make a quick dash in the Hueys to take vital ground whilst the Wiesel TOW and 20mm will be able to guard my flanks.

The next stage is to build my army and get on to the task of painting.

Stage Two: Purchase and assemble the models.

Stage Three: Paint the army. I am not a great detailed painter when it comes to painting my forces. I would class myself as fast get them on the table painter. I have been looking at some new techniques for painting quick camo over tanks using sponges

Stage Four: Play my first set of games and see how the army plays and what changes or additional units I would like to add to the army.

Stage Five: Taking from the lessons of the test games, refine the list and add or remove needed units.

~ Garath

I don’t need an excuse to start a new army, as the newest shiniest thing is enough to get me salivating at getting models stuck together. Sadly, finishing them off can sometimes be my downfall. My desk at work is a testament to this and on a regular basis is littered with projects, units half completed and what not. However, with the implementation of Rolling Lockdowns here in the UK in April 2020 I made it my mission to finish as many of my Flames of War and WWIII: Team Yankee projects as possible; and all the while juggling the joys of working from home, homeschooling the kids and staying safe.

The hobby lockdown competition over on the Flames of War website was a great help to my motivation seeing everyone’s projects, checking in with the Flames Facebook groups, and even keeping in touch with friends and acquaintances the world over on message groups and Skype chats! My biggest project was by far the Bagration: Soviet Tankovy list in early 2020. This kept me going until nearly February 2021 and by then I was done with green tanks. So I busted out the M1A1 company which I’d started for my USMC army, but never completed. So sandy hues and Desert MERDC became my new obsession to anyone who would listen. And that is where the West German book found me when it dropped into my lap a few weeks ago. I was tempted by the Leopard 2A5 calling my name, and the Glory and Uncle Sam for courage and resistance. It is far easier to find an excuse why my USMC would be fighting Gareth’s West German tanks in the 1980s!

Gareth introduced me to another novel by Harold Coyle (writer of Team Yankee novel) called The Ten Thousand, which in a nutshell is about the Americans teaming up with some disenfranchised Soviets, to steal Ukrainian nukes and get them toward France, fighting through a revived Greater German Reich. I was hooked.

So not only did I start putting together a 120-point vehicle-based list designed around speed and aggression, but I painted enough extra army choices to increase my overall points or easily swap out for actual games, rather than skirmish-style scenarios as we were hoping to play in our lunch hours. In addition to this, I went a bit chop heavy on my Humvees and removed the hardcover at the back, and created some open-backed versions to carry extra equipment. I also managed to scrounge the office for some pieces to ‘beef up’ the HMMWV including bull rams on the front, hazard warning lights, and a Nuke in the back of one of the Humvees for our scenarios!

All of this meant that I had the inspiration for my project, motivation from Gareth to complete it, and a cool themed force to take into the brave new world we are entering, for when tournaments restart and games are replayed. Plus, for the first time ever, I had a finished WW3 Army to join the plethora of Flames of War Armies I got done in 2020 (but that is a WHOLE other article) The only thing next is to get some Apaches and paint them up as the Longbow variant from an Allied British Army Air Corps unit so that they can join the long march from Eastern Europe, through Germany toward France. And then turn on their heel and play some scenarios against Matt’s Soviets in a traditional game…

~ Chris Potter

 

One of the great things in the new West German book I feel is the addition of a lot of excellent infantry formations. In the previous Leopard book, the West German infantry lists were very small but elite, when compared to their Soviet counterparts. Which tended to see a Panzergrenadier Zug of 5 stands getting easily overwhelmed by a motor rifle company with upwards of 20+ stands each one when trying to defend. I remember quite a few games where no matter how many advancing Soviet infantry I killed, they would just keep coming and would easily walk over and through my poor Panzergrenadier Zugs. Artillery would not stop them and was often shot up by Hinds or tanks before they got more than a few barrages off. I really felt that, in an infantry formation duel, that the West Germans would find it very hard to compete against the other forces.

The inclusion of the Panzertruppen supplement to the West German forces, added an extra Milan team, which helped against a cheap Soviet BMP or T-55 rush, but still did not really have any effect against the large infantry swarm attack of the motor rifle company formations. But all in all, these formations were not for defending, they were too small, but more sized for counter-attacking after blunting an assault. The issue was that sometimes you could not stop the rush, as you lacked the numbers to absorb any loss of troops.

With the addition of three extra infantry formations, Fallschirmjäger, Gebirgsjäger, and the HSB (Heimatschutzbrigade) Jäger Kompanies, you now have extra options with larger platoons, to play a more defensive infantry list. I guess if you look at how the start of WWIII in 1985 would have started, that is what would have happened initially, as the NATO allies counter-attacked. At first, there was going to be a massive red wave of troops and armour from the Soviets, which would be blunted by counter-attacking forces, the mobile Panzertruppen as in the first Leopard book, which would buy time for more forces to be brought up, to have a chance of holding them at cities, bridges, autobahn choke-points, and other such places. This brings us to the new book, World War III West Germans, which is a full representation of the total forces available to the Bundeswehr in WWIII, not only the Field Army but the Territorial Army as well.

The Heimatschützbrigades ( Home Security Brigades) were part of the Territorial Brigades in the Bundeswehr, which was reorganised under Heeresstruktur IV (Army Structure IV ) in 1981. Ideally, their role is to defend the rear areas of the Army, in particular, to secure infrastructure, roads, ports, communication hubs, and to allow freedom of action in the rear combat zone for NATO units as they transited to the front lines. Additionally, they were to be used as a reaction force in the case of any airborne or amphibious troops managing to successfully complete a landing behind the front lines or to attempt to hold the line in the case of a breakthrough.

There were 12 HSB Brigades in total, with each of the Defence Area Commands (WBK) having two HSB Brigades allocated to them, with the 5 series Brigades (eg. 51 to 56) being partially active, and the 6 series Brigades (eg. 61 to 66) being inactive and consisting of only a few active soldiers. Of the partially active 5 series Brigades, they would typically have around 2500 active soldiers, which would be boosted up to full strength of 4500 with reservists in times of conflict, whereas the inactive 6 series Brigades would only be brought up to 2800 soldiers, with much lower capabilities and equipment. So in the case of Heimatschützbrigade 51, its sister ‘inactive’ Brigade was Heimatschützbrigade 61.

 

Typically each partially active Heimatschützbrigade was made up of two Jäger Battalions (with organic tank and mortar units in their heavy companies), two Panzer Battalions, and an artillery battalion. Most of these Heimatschützbrigades were only equipped with trucks and older M48A2GA2 tanks or KanonenJagdpanzers, and were typically in reserve and only called upon for training and exercises or in the case of actual war being declared. Most of their equipment would be stored in depots nearby and only mobilized if needed. But some of the Brigades, HSB 51 and HSB 56 were assigned to the Field Army almost immediately after the Heeresstruktur IV (Army Structure IV ) changes, to permanently strengthen the Divisions on the Northern and Southern Flanks, where they expected the most opposition to NATO forces.

 

Heimatschützbrigade 51 was closely associated with Panzergrenadierbrigade 6 (6^th Panzergrenadier Brigade) in the North around the Jutland Peninsula, and was equipped with Leopard 1s in its Panzer Battalions (rather than the older M48 tanks) and even had some M113 Transports for one of its two Jäger Battalions. They would be working closely with the Dutch to hold this area, which was highlighted by a visit in 1983 from Officers of the Royal Danish Defence College, and the shared exercises with the LANDJUT Forces and the Dutch Jutland Division.

Heimatschützbrigade 56 was also particularly favoured and was assigned to the 1^st Mountain Division in the south of Germany in Tilly, Oberhausen. This was to protect them from an advance of the WARSAW Pact forces through the Danube Valley, or through Austria if the Soviet forces ignored its neutrality. They also had two full Jäger Battalions, as well as two Leopard 1 Panzer Battalions and a field artillery battalion with M109Gs, as well as Jagdpanzer Jaguar 2s.

Both these units have competency levels almost on par with the Field Army forces and are represented in the book as the Heimatschützbrigade Kompanies. If you wanted to represent one of the less competent Heimatschützbrigade Kompanies, you could not include the M113 transports and Leopard I tanks that HSB 51 and HSB 56 would have been equipped with.

 

So what are the new additions in World War III – West Germans, that allow you to field a Heimatschützbrigade Kompanie?? Well, you now have a brand new unit of Jägers found in both the Gebirgsjäger and HSB Jäger Kompanies. The Jäger Zug blister, which contains 10 stands in total, a G3 rifle command team, 7 MG3 and G3 rifle teams with Panzerfaust 44’s, and 2 Milan teams as support AT weapons. In the Heimatschützbrigade Jäger Kompanie, you can only make use of 1 Milan team per Zug, with an HSB Jäger Zug typically containing between 5 or 7 stands, plus a Milan team. However, this is significantly more stands of infantry, than the previous Panzergrenadier Zugs, of max 5 or 6 stands. They are also cheaper but are hit on 3+ plus, instead of 4+, and with other soft stats being lower, with skill and rally of 4+, instead of 3+, as you would expect with troops who train less often than field army troops. You also have the option of giving all your Jäger Zugs, M113 transports, to give you more movement and firepower.

I for one would take the M113 upgrade for all of my Jäger Zugs, as the extra MGs can be used to drive off infantry assaults, or quickly allow you to mount up and either redeploy or even move up to take an objective!! A full Kompanie of an HQ and 3 Jäger Zugs with M113s will only set you back 19 points, that is 26 infantry stands (including 3 Milan teams), and 10 M113s, which is 9 stands more than the Marder 1 Panzergrenadier Kompanie from the previous Leopard book. However, as you are easier to hit, these Jägers should be used primarily for defence, to let the enemy come to you, and to stay concealed and gone to ground, until the enemy is in range.

 

You also have your organic artillery in your formation as part of your Schwere or Heavy Zug, which comes in the form of a 6 strong Jäger M113 Panzermörser Zug, armed with the M120 Mörser, 60 rounds per M113, and an AA MG3. It is cheaper than the normal Panzergrenadier Zug mortar carriers, and if taken in a smaller 3 strong M113 Zug, can be incredibly cheap!! These are excellent for pinning and killing enemy infantry, screening your forces with a smokescreen, and can also be used to take out enemy AA and artillery with a few unlucky rolls by your opponent.

But your skill, which is important for ranging in, is only 4+, so you will need a few extra prayers to the Dice gods to range in with these, but will do good work once you do, especially with a 6 strong Zug, to allow you the re-rolls To Hit for any misses of enemy teams under the artillery template. So add another 6 M113s to bring fiery shrapnel-filled gifts to express delivered onto your opponent’s head, if all else fails they can also fire their AA MGs into something, say a Hind or Frogfoot!! There is nothing more satisfying than shooting down an attacking enemy aircraft with a ROF 1, Firepower 6 pellet gun, it’s worth it just for the look of crestfallen disgust on your opponent’s face!!

Additionally, you have the option of taking the excellent Leopard 1 tank, yes it does not have the best gun or best armour, but it is cheap and has a moving ROF of 2, and AT 19, which allows you to move aggressively and flank and destroy enemy armour. This allows you to reliably destroy flanked enemy tanks, and your 2+ firepower almost always seals the deal. The laser rangefinder and stabilizers allow you to do this at long range without penalty, and move up to 14” at tactical speed with a +1 penalty To Hit, if needed. This mobility and weight of fire are what often gives the West German tanks the edge on the more clumsy Soviet armour.

They are also cheaper (but not by much) than the standard Leopard 1 tank Zug, but have the same penalties that you will see typical of these 2^nd Line Troops, so 3+ To Hit, and a Skill of 4+, among other worse soft skills. You can take a single Zug of 4 Leopard 1’s, and to me, this is a no-brainer, use them to take out attacking enemy BMPs, or if there are no other targets, you can also go on one of my favourite missions in-game, the Arty and AA Hunt!!!

West German M48A2GA2

So the better equipped HSB 51 and HSB 56 would have the Leopard 1 tank, but the less well-equipped HSB Kompanies would have the mostly obsolete M48A2GA2 tank. The M48A2GA2 was an upgraded US M48 tank, improved by the West Germans and given to the Territorial forces once the Leopard 1 tank was brought into service, given the same gun as the Leopard 1, and a laser rangefinder, it would be similar to a Leopard 1, but slower, lacking a stabilizer and not have the moving RoF of 2. If you wanted to convert these up (like I have) this is a fun little conversion project, and if you are interested in finding the unofficial M48A2GA2 stats I made up, please join the official Team Yankee Facebook Group, you should be able to find these there. But I understand completely why they were not put in this book, they are simply too old, and it really is just a slower, worse Leopard 1… You could also just convert them up if you are really keen and figure substitute them as the HSB Leopard 1 Zug if you do want your M48A2GA2 fix.

The next gotta-have HSB unit is the Kanonenjagdpanzer Zug, which is really a successor to the Jagdpanther and other tank hunters from WWII. By 1985 it was obsolete, but it still has a decent 90mm gun, which was originally on the M47 Patton. Built in 1960, it was fielded by the Bundeswehr and the Belgian Army. It had a very low profile and was nimble and maneuverable for the period, but only had 50mm of sloped armour. It was relying on ambushing and quickly relocating after firing to take out opponents, something that the Germans did very well with their tank hunters in WWII. Its gun could take out older Soviet tanks like the T-55 and T-62, but by 1985 the increasingly heavy armour on Soviet main battle tanks, like the T-72 and T-80, meant they could be no longer used in front line units. 163 of the 770 Kanonenjagdpanzers produced by the West Germans were turned into the Jaguar 1 and Jaguar 2 anti-tank missile Jagdpanzers, with most of the rest being given to the Territorial Forces.

This still can be an effective ambush unit, as the gun is AT16 with a 2+ firepower, with a stationary RoF of 2 and a range of 32”, four of these can make a fair dint in a Soviet tank company if you catch them in the flank. But be aware it has the HEAT rule, so some tanks may get a higher side armour value due to the Bazooka skirts rule, etc. I think the new models for this look fantastic!! And I can see myself easily taking 4 of these, just for the rule of cool! In the Jager Kompanie, the choice is between 4 Leopard 1 tanks or 4 Kanonenjagdpanzers, but they can also be taken as a support choice, so you can take up to 8 if you want. I do think given their long-range, 2+ firepower gun, they will be very useful to use on dug-in infantry when trying to take a position. Additionally, they benefit from the Forward Defence special rule, so in missions with Deep Reserves, which you often find when defending, these can be taken in addition to the 1 FA 4 unit you are usually able to take. So as this formation is supposed to be used in defence, another good tool for you to take, and hopefully use in ambush, which will give you another advantage.

So a full Heimatschützbrigade Kompanie Formation, with a HQ,  3 full Jäger zugs, a 6 strong M113 Panzermörser zug, a 4 strong Jäger Leopard 1 zug, and 4 Kanonenjagpanzers in support, will set you back around 42 points including the M113 transports for your Kompanie. This gives you almost 60 points to flesh out a force, or spend on more support, or even take another full formation. It gives you so many options, which I think is fantastic!! I hope you can see how flexible this now makes the West Germans in Team Yankee, and how this may give the West German players a choice in how to play their force.

Previously I found you were always struggling to bring enough troops to hold an objective, but now with this option, you can take quite a large force to hold down your chosen objective, and really have your pick of what you want to take as your offensive component. I think this is great for the West Germans in Team Yankee and really have me looking at including this Formation or components of this formation in my West German forces.

I hope you found this as interesting as I did, and just wait until you see about the other West German infantry options!!

~ Adam.