Tag: Late War

D-Day: Waffen-SS Q&A

We asked people on our Facebook Group  to submit questions for a Q&A session with Phil (writer of the D-Day: SS book) and Chris (knows lots of things about what is going on round the company) with the intent of recording a fun video for you to watch. Unfortunately like any good plan, it didn’t plan on a devious and cunning adversary (COVID-19) staging a guerilla campaign and putting Auckland (the home of the Design Team) back under a lockdown. Instead we tied Phil to a chair and got him to answer these questions before he could return to his bunker (or fortress of mathematical calculations)…

General Questions

Phil preparing for enemy fire…

John Rick: How would you best describe the difference between the two different books for the Germans. What are the pros and cons of each? What are some general strategies for both?

Phil – That’s a big question! The D-Day: German book covers a wide variety of troops from the unenthusiastic Beach Defence Grenadiers to the elite Fallschirmjäger paratroopers, with the veteran panzer troops in the middle. And then, the command cards increase the variety even further. 

The D-Day: Waffen-SS book is more focussed, just covering the SS-Panzer divisions, although once again, the command cards create a lot of variety. By and large though, most of the SS-Panzer divisions were in the middle of either building up for the first time or rebuilding after destructive combat on the Eastern Front. This means that their level of training is more on the level of the Beach Grenadiers than the fully-trained army Panzer divisions, but at the same time, their high level of motivation is similar to the Fallschirmjäger paratroopers.

The pros of this are that you get some really excellent kit with great morale ratings for a good points break. The cons are that the less experienced and still partly-trained Waffen-SS are hit on 3+ like green American units. The best strategy to handle this, for both the Americans and the Waffen-SS, is an aggressive approach to battle. Make use of your initially higher strength to gain the upper hand early, and keep pounding the enemy so hard that they can’t exploit your weaknesses, while focussing on taking the objectives as quickly as possible – pretty much what you’d expect from the SS really!

James MacMillan: Did the playtesting focus on the SS alone, or was the interaction of the D-Day: German and D-Day: Waffen-SS book a large part of the process?

Phil – While you can mix and match between the two books, I think most players are going to focus on one play style or the other. So, yes, some playtesting was done using mixed forces, but mostly players were looking to exploit the differences from the D-Day: German book.

Mark Feris: When is this going to be on Forces and in the Android bookstore?

Chris: By the time you read this answer, it will be up on both.

Ryan Gale: Which formation is your personal favourite?

Phil – Well at the moment I’m exploring Panthers, both the army and Waffen-SS varieties. I’m still undecided as to which I like better. Having a few more tanks with the SS is great, but when things go wrong, they can go badly wrong, whereas the better-trained army Panthers have greater resilience and come back from setbacks more easily.

Chris – I would leave this to just Phil to answer, but I like my time in the spotlight too…. Tigers. Tigers. More Tigers. And maybe… Tigers. Plus I’d love to do a Sd Kfz 250 based force of armoured cars and infantry but that is definitely future Chris’ problem!

Units and Models in the Book

Oscar Mardones Schopflin and Petter Therén: Could we expect some new SS miniatures in Bagration: German or Bulge?

Chris – we have a new range of figures coming out as part of D-Day: Waffen-SS, designed by our talented sculptor Ales. These will be coming out in our new Thermoplastic. 

We are still nailing down a few of the finer points about what you can expect to see with the later books.

Nicholas Roche: Any careful formations? Or are they all aggressive (don’t-know-how-to-take-cover-stupid)?

Phil – The Waffen-SS are far from ‘don’t know how to take cover stupid’. In fact, they are middle of the road Is Hit On 3+, like many other troops. both Allied and Axis. But yes, there are command cards for the excellent 9th Hohenstaufen SS-Panzer Division that improve their rating to Careful (Is Hit On 4+).

Jean-Baptiste Piron: Will the 16. SS-Panzergrenadierdivision ‘Reichsführer SS’ , get their “Italian” StuGs back ?

Phil – Who stole them? Let me know the details and I’ll investigate.

Dean Marquis: Did the SS have a mixture of StuG IV and Stug III

Phil – The StuG IV was used almost exclusively by infantry divisions. As such, the 17th Goetz Von Berlichingen SS-Panzergrenadier Division had them. The other SS divisions in Normandy that had StuGs all had StuG III. 

The good news is that, since there is little difference between the two types, it doesn’t matter too much which model you use for them, the newer plastic StuG III or the old metal and resin StuG IV. However, if you really want to distinguish them, you could support your 17th SS infantry with a Jagdpanzer IV tank-destroyer unit rather than a StuG unit since both the Jagdpanzer IV and StuG IV were based on the same chassis and had similar performance.

Command Cards

Dan Neal: Of the new D-Day SS Title Cards, which do you think creates the most unusual or distinctive style of play? Maybe something that hasn’t really been available for German forces from D-Day and Fortress Europe?

Phil – Yes. Every SS Division that fought in Normandy (other than the baseline 12th Hitler Youth SS-Panzer Division) has their own command cards.

Gergő Tóth: Is there a chance to see the return of the Panzerwerfer-42? Maybe as a command card?

Phil – I’m sure that it is a distinct possibility in future books. Meanwhile, you can simply field them as Nebelwerfer rocket launcher batteries.

Luke Shagrid Hazley: Will there be any command cards to make an SS unit veteran/careful? And will we see leaders like Wittman/Barkmann return as direct only orders?

Phil – Yes. The command cards for the 9th Hohenstaufen SS-Panzer Division have them rated as essentially Fearless Veteran and Careful.

As for direct-only warrior models, all I can say is … Chris stop slacking!

In The Future

Bob Anderson: I’m really excited about the high level approach to reimagine the SS. Any chance you might revisit the SS units in Mid War with the same approach? Perhaps via a pamphlet?

Phil – I don’t believe that there’s any need to change the representation of the Waffen-SS in the Mid War books. The ratings in D-Day: Waffen-SS aren’t about the SS as a whole, but rather about the specific divisions that fought in Normandy, and the state they found themselves in when called upon to do so.

In 1942 and 1943, the handful of Waffen-SS Panzergrenadier divisions were some of the best divisions in the German armed forces. Determined, experienced, and well trained. However, those very qualities were what saw them thrown into battle almost continuously between early 1943 and D-Day and ground down to a nub. They were barely given time to start rebuilding when they were thrown back into combat in Normandy, with weeks of training rather than the months of training that the army divisions had benefited from.

Kevin Malvaez: Will we be seeing future books with SS from the other fronts/formations/options or do the command cards for this release have options for SS divisions outside of France/Normandy?

Phil – Given that Hitler relied increasingly on the Waffen-SS as the war progressed, even as their quality declined from insufficient time to train and integrate the replacements that this policy demanded, you can definitely expect to see new varieties of SS as the war continues.

Aleksandr Varyvoda: Will the book on the SS on the Eastern front be like the Gray Wolf in the last edition?

Phil – If you mean, will Bagration: German be an outstanding addition to every gamer’s library giving them new ways of fielding their Germans and new and exciting models, then it definitely will be like Gray Wolf, but even better. While it won’t focus on the Waffen-SS like this book (half of the Panzer divisions in Normandy were SS, while only two battered SS battlegroups were left on the Eastern Front), Wayne has a plan for it to definitely include some SS content between the book and the command cards.

Benjamin Thomas Alkærsig Christensen: Are there any plans for Hitlerjugend and Volkssturm in the future? Either as a list of their own (Bulge or Berlin books) or as command card upgrades/downgrades?

Phil – Most definitely. What would the Battle of Berlin be without the old men of the Volksturm and the young boys of the Hitler Youth?

Stuart Whigham: Will we be seeing SS Cavalry units, that can fight on horseback if need be?

Phil – Absolutely! They are Battlefront’s highest priority!

Chris – If this was a video like we initially planned you would see Phil’s “I may not be telling the truth” face right now…

Eric Deutsch: What are the current plans for 5th SS

Phil – You might have to wait and see there. Wayne’s been concocting some interesting ideas on how to build their battered veteran battlegroups.

Ben Fouche: No more kubel, motorcycle or schwimmwagen scouts?

Phil – All of the reconnaissance companies in Normandy were equipped with half-tracks, either the older Sd Kfz 251 or the neat little Sd Kfz 250 that has just been released. When we get the Eastern Front book, we’ll see reconnaissance units in these sorts of transports reappear.

Stuart Whigham: Will there be any SS Gebirgsjager units?

Phil – You’ll have to interrogate Wayne to learn the answer to that. I’m not sure you’ll get much out of him until he’s ready to talk though. He’s a tough nut to crack.

Nicholas Roche: Stuka zu fuss? 3.7mm AA halftracks?

Phil – You might have to join Stuart in his interrogation!

Helge Macintyre: Will we see SS or in other ways aggressive Sturmpanzers (Brummbar) with a lower price… as the present Price makes Them unplayable

Phil – The few Sturmpanzer units ever built were all army units, and during the middle of 1944, all of them were veterans of the fighting at Kursk, so the answer is definitely ‘not yet’.

Lee Werling: A lot of what I see here are “wish lists” to be brought back from V3. I hope you do! Freiwilligen SS was my favorite from Grey Wolf Revised.

Phil – Many of the really niche and specific forces in the older books probably won’t make it into future books in such a direct way. However, the flexibility of Version 4 usually allows you to build these forces out of the available components. I suspect that you can build something very similar to your old favourite from the D-Day: Waffen SS book and command cards.

 

Thanks to everyone that took the time to submit questions, hopefully the answers were enough for now to give you a sense of where we are going…

The D-Day Global Campaign

with Andrew Haught (Battlefront NZ)

This week we take a closer look at the D-Day: Global Campaign Battlefront and the crew over at OnTableTop are running later this year. We have done several campaigns with OnTableTop in the past for Team Yankee and those who played in those will recognize this campaign- even though there are a few key differences. The campaign itself will have players fighting their way through the battles of Normandy taking over Routes and securing Areas that will earn their side a bonus when fighting in that route during the next week.

This Global Campaign kit is flexible and can be played during the online campaign, linking both your store’s campaign and the online campaigns together; or it can be played offline at any time using just the campaign kit. Each kit will have a ruleset, a campaign map, recruitment posters, and a set of stickers to mark your progress.

The online part of the campaign will link gaming communities from across the world together to fight over a global map. Along with recording your games and adding your side’s victories you can also write up your battle reports and share them with the online community, earning cool achievements and giving your side even more of an edge.

Did I say edge? Well, here is a non-obvious segue way into talking about Tactical Edge cards! Those who are participating in the Hobby League you will earn Tactical Edge cards to use during this campaign. These cards give you a one use boost for any game you play during the campaign, giving you an “edge” in your games. If you didn’t take part in the Hobby League then you don’t have to worry about these cards, unless your opponent has, then be afraid! Be very afraid!

Just kidding, the cards are cool and have cool effects, but none of them are game-breaking on their own, so if you don’t have them and your opponent does it’s not the end of the world.

Well that’s it for our first look at the Global Campaign, later on we will go even more in depth on what’s in the campaign kits and we will go over how the campaign will work. For now why not join in the global discussion over on our Facebook forums and let us know what side you will be representing in the global campaign.

Alex’s Luftwaffe Feld-Division

with Alexander Nebesky (Battlefront NZ)

My first Flames Of War army was German, my Fortress Europe army was German, and when Hobby League started up and everybody had gravitated to the other three forces it seemed like I was destined for Germans again. Luckily for me, with D-Day: German on the horizon I was able to take a deep dive into all the exciting German forces and pick a unique and colourful force to work on.

The key to embarking on any project, Flames Of War or otherwise, is to latch onto something you find interesting. For me, that meant the opportunity to either modify units in my force or paint a colour I haven’t painted before- because after two lots of grenadiers in Field Grey, I was frankly not that interested in doing it a third time around.

A tabletop approximation of 16. Feld-Division (L) in Normandy, 1944, offers me both of these chances— an opportunity to paint Luftwaffe blue, and an opportunity to modify a few grenadier uniforms to reflect the very swish LwFD camouflage smock.

Having spent an afternoon spitballing with Phil and Andrew, I came up with a list representing 16. Feld-Division (L) roughly as they were during Operation Goodwood, supported by bits of 21. Panzerdivision.

I’m working out of the very exciting D-Day: German, which isn’t out yet—but then again, what’s the point of hanging out at the Battlefront Studio if I can’t get a little early access. With this in mind, here are my first 50 points:As I’m sure you can see, my first 50 points give me a playable formation, but it is also all infantry, which is something of a mountain to climb in only a month—especially since I’m also hoping to pull off some figure modifications to make the miniatures

A Brief History of Luftwaffe Field Divisions
The Luftwaffe Field Divisions were raised from the ranks of regular old Luftwaffe ground crew. They weren’t the most exceptional troops on account of having never signed up for infantryman duties, and their inception as dedicated field divisions was more a response to suggestions that the German Army could do with a few hundred thousand more warm bodies than it was the establishment of a military unit full of guys who found their natural calling as foot-sloggers after making a brief detour into air force work (kind of like switching your major at university mid-degree because you found out anthropology was really more your thing than law). In any case, the LwFDs kept their organisation and remained under the leadership of Luftwaffe officers until late in 1943 when they were reorganised and transferred to the Heer.

Project Research
Up until their transfer, Luftwaffe Feld-Division boys were outfitted with the traditional feldblau Luftwaffe Uniform, making them a distinctive blue on the battlefield, quite obviously different to the feldgrau of the Heer. After being subsumed into the army structure, the LwFD boys were outfitted with regular feldgrau Heer uniforms as their original blues ran out. This will give me the opportunity to paint a mixture of Luftwaffe and Heer uniforms and equipment for my force, as by 1944, there would have been a good mix of kit and uniform. A great source for uniforms is this here 18th Luftwaffe Field Division https://18thluftwaffefielddivision.weebly.com/our-kit.html> reenactment group (who don’t appear to have any info on their ‘About Us’ page, so I can’t thank them), and there is a full list of kit I could apply to my LwFD (you can follow the link and see the list yourself) and there is also this handy tidbit on the subject of mixed Heer/Luftwaffe uniforms:

“Very frequently we can see, especially as the war progressed into 1944-45, the use of Heer uniforms and insignia within the ranks of the LwFD. Not only was supply of uniforms and equipment transitioned to Heer supply, but also the replacements of men. It is for these reasons that we find such variance in equipment and uniforms through to the end of the war.”

Smock and Roll
One of the key features of the Luftwaffe field boys was their iconically formless and ubiquitous camouflage smock. The picture at the top of the article shows a man of the Luftwaffe Field Divisions in one of these splinter-camo smocks. The plastic grenadier kit doesn’t happen to be wearing these smocks. If I were playing my LwFD as kitted fully in Heer or fully in Luftwaffe standard service uniforms this would be no problem, I would just paint then feldgrau of feldblau or a mixture of the two and be on my merry way. But no, I’m going to model a selection of my figures in this iconic smock—and that means Green Stuff.

The simple recipe is to trim off the bottom of the uniform jacket, slice off any pockets, and then with a rubber clay brush (as tiny as you can get it) start spreading the green stuff around the waist of the figure and down to just above his knees. The Luftwaffe camo smock did not have any breast pocket, so you could either shave those off the figures or very thinly green stuff around them to hide them, but in most cases there is enough webbing and extra bits of equipment already covering them. The smock did have a pocket on either thigh which you could model with two tiny squares of green stuff.

After priming, I painted the smock according to the instructions in Colours Of War, a mixture of German Camo Beige and Green Ochre, then highlighted with German Camo Beige. To separate my Luftwaffe camo pattern from the Heer I picked a slightly different colour combination, using Vallejo Panzer Aces Splinter Blotches I & II, which give a brighter colour palette and are a good colour choice for FJs too.

The guys in blue also benefited from Colours of War, as I followed the Luftwaffe Jaeger instruction in the book to get that bright blue I was so looking forward to painting.

The Rest of the Stuff in the List
My 50 points of modified Luftwaffe infantry is certainly a bit ambitious, but it’s comforting to know that the following months will see me painting only a handful of tanks, so it’s not the end of the world. The 10.5cm guns in the support are being modelled as captured Russian guns from the Eastern Front just to add another point of visual interest to the list- they are close enough in use and effectiveness that it’s not beyond the pale to use the 10.5cm Unit Card for those models. 

The elements of 21. Panzer that backed up the Luftwaffe in Caen will be represented by a pair of Tiger tanks, a handful of three or four StuGs, and a captured Sherman Firefly. Instead of keeping the list strictly to 100 points, I’m actually painting up a few more points worth of things so I have the option to switch and swap the odd unit or two to give the force a lot more modularity.

Make sure you check back on the Hobby League page each week to see what the gang has been up to, and to see how you can get involved with the Hobby League in your local store or club.

Wayne’s Big Four Germans

with Wayne Turner (Battlefront NZ)

The Big Four Of Late War is a four-man journey through Late War starting with an army box each and working through every Late War release of V4.
With everyone in the Big Four selecting one of the four major Flames Of War Late War forces, it fell to Wayne to work on a German force which you can check out here on the Big Four Website…

Be sure to regularly check out the Big Four website during the course of the Late War journey- as you can see from the quality of Wayne’s painting here, the Big Four put a lot of effort into presenting exceptional armies.

Follow the Big Four on Instagram here…

 

 

 

 

D-Day: German Reviews and Write Ups

You can read a collection of community content ranging from reviews to force overviews, battle reports to Command Card forces from the great Flames Of War community.

D-Day: German Reviews
– Awake the Fuhrer, the German D-Day Book is Spoiled
– D-Day: German Forces- Oberbefehlshaber West
– Flames Of War- D-Day: German Review w/ Command Cards
– Preview D-Day: German!

D-Day: German Command Cards
– D-Day Germans Command Cards
– German D-Day Command Cards- Going Off-Book

D-Day: German Forces and Units
– D-Day: German- The Thin Grey Line
– D-Day: German- Aufklarung and Panzerspah 
– Es ist Tigerzeit! Panzer Formations in D-Day: German
– Learning the Lehr: Panzergrenadiers in D-Day: German Forces
– D-Day: German Forces- Stug Life
– List-Building for Beach Defence and FJ Kompanies 

D-Day: German Spotlight

with Phil Yates (Battlefront NZ)

In early 1944, the situation in France was clearly the quiet before the storm. An Allied invasion would come, probably in the summer, but until then it was a quiet place to rebuild divisions shattered in the desperate autumn and winter battles on the Eastern Front behind the ‘Atlantic Wall’ fortifications lining the coast.

The challenge faced by the German commanders, Rommel and von Rundstedt, was how to combine these disparate forces into a battle-winning force. Should the panzers support the beach defences closely? Or should they operate with complete freedom, seeking to strike a battle-winning blow to cut off and destroy the Allied armies once ashore? What would be the best way to handle the massive Allied superiority in numbers, artillery, especially heavy naval gunfire, and aircraft? They made their choices and failed. Can you do better, defeating the Allied invasion and saving Germany?

What’s In The Book?

Beach Defence Grenadier Company

  • Plenty of cost-effective firepower, with lots of ways of getting even more.
  • Grenadier platoons can increase their firepower with more machine-guns, added heavy machine-guns, and Panzerfaust and Panzerschreck anti-tank weapons.
  • Poorly-trained family men, limited skill, weak in assaults, and easier to hit than most German troops.
  • Lots of anti-tank and artillery options with 5cm or 7.5cm anti-tank guns, 8cm and 12 cm mortars, and 7.5cm and 15cm guns.
  • Good for holding ground, but don’t expect too much from them.
  • Easy to convert from Grenadier Company in Fortress Europe.

Fallschirmjäger Company

  • Large platoons of fearless, high-quality infantry.
  • Platoons can get extra firepower with heavy machine-guns, and Panzerfaust, and Panzerschreck anti-tank weapons.
  • Well defended against tanks with both Panzerfaust and Panzerschreck anti-tank weapons and 7.5cm anti-tank guns.
  • Lots of mortars 8cm and 12cm guns.
  • Good for holding ground, even better for taking it.
  • Exciting new addition to Late War.

Fallschirmjäger StuG Assault Gun Company

  • StuG assault gun has better front armour and the same gun as a Panzer IV medium tank, but has no turret so can’t shoot targets to the flanks, and is less effective when assaulting infantry.
  • StuH assault howitzer has a brutal gun with 2+ firepower for knocking out enemy guns and infantry.
  • StuH assault howitzers operate in a separate platoon and can fire as artillery to support StuG platoons or grenadiers.
  • Company can include an integrated Fallschirmjäger or Beach Defence Grenadier Platoon to protect the assault guns.
  • Work well with infantry. Assault guns provide fire support. Infantry cover vulnerable flanks.
  • Easy to convert from StuG Assault Gun Company in Fortress Europe.

Panther Tank Company

  • Medium tanks with enough armour to stop any Allied anti-tank gun and a gun that can easily penetrate any Allied tank, and fast to boot!
  • Thinner side and top armour make more vulnerable than heavy tanks like the Tiger.
  • Integrated self-propelled anti-aircraft (including Möbelwagen quad 20mm on Panzer IV chassis) help keep Allied aircraft at bay.
  • Flexibility. Can swap out platoons of Panther tanks for a platoon of Tiger heavy tanks and a platoon of Panzer IV medium tanks.
  • Easily outclasses all opposition, just watch out for your flanks.
  • Easy to convert from Panther Tank Company in Fortress Europe.

Panzer IV Tank Company

  • Baseline medium tanks. Good armour and better guns than Allied medium tanks.
  • Protected ammunition storage and bazooka skirts limit effectiveness of US Bazookas, British PIATs, and Soviet anti-tank rifles.
  • High-quality crews give tactical advantages.
  • Integrated self-propelled anti-aircraft (including Möbelwagen quad 20mm on Panzer IV chassis) help keep Allied aircraft at bay.
  • Flexibility. Can swap out a platoon of Panzer IV tanks for a platoon of Tiger heavy tanks or Panther tanks.
  • Gives you the numbers to match the Allies, while still exceeding them in quality.
  • Easy to convert from Panzer III & Panzer IV Tank Company in Fortress Europe.

Tiger Tank Company

  • Elite heavy tanks with thick armour and powerful guns, yet more mobile than most medium tanks. Ploughs through terrain without a problem.
  • Almost immune to medium tanks, artillery, and infantry.
  • Integrated self-propelled anti-aircraft to help keep Allied aircraft at bay.
  • Expensive quality, but still cheap enough to field a good-sized company.
  • Easy to convert from Tiger Tank Company in Fortress Europe.

Armoured Panzergrenadier Company

  • Armoured Sd Kfz 251 half-tracks for battlefield mobility, even under fire.
  • Infantry can assault while mounted in their half-tracks to overrun light opposition.
  • Half-tracked heavy weapons, including 8cm mortars, 2cm AA, 7.5cm guns, and flame-throwers. Grille gives integrated 15cm heavy artillery.
  • Flexibility to take dismounted troops. Save points by leaving the half-tracks at home.
  • Fast and mobile with plenty of firepower in the attack, solid with massive firepower in the defence.
  • Easy to convert from Panzergrenadier Company in Fortress Europe.

Panzergrenadier Company

  • High quality infantry.
  • MG teams give plenty of firepower.
  • Can add Panzerfaust and Panzerschreck anti-tank weapons and 7.5cm anti-tank guns to keep tanks at bay.
  • Plenty of integrated weapons, including heavy machine-guns, 8cm and 12cm mortars, 2cm AA, and 7.5cm and 15cm guns.
  • Option to include half-tracked heavy weapons for a mobile attacking force.
  • Flexibility to take a platoon in half-tracks as a mobile strike force.
  • Plenty of firepower to cover attacks or break up enemy attacks. Trained for clever, aggressive attacks and tenacious defence.
  • Easy to convert from Panzergrenadier Company in Fortress Europe.

Reconnaissance Company

  • Armoured panzergrenadiers mounted in smaller, sneakier, faster Sd Kfz 250 half-tracks.
  • Up to 7 half-tracks per platoon for maximum mounted firepower.
  • Sneaky scout versions of 8cm mortar and 7.5cm gun half-tracks.
  • All-new armoured including:
    • 2cm, Puma 5cm, and 7.5cm eight-wheelers.
    • Light 2cm half-tracked armoured cars.
  • Armoured cars are integrated into formation.
  • Flexibility to take armoured and dismounted panzergrenadier platoons.
  • Can be integrated into armoured and dismounted panzergrenadier companies.
  • Sneak into position, then hit hard and fast.
  • Easy to convert from Panzergrenadier Company in Fortress Europe.

Support

  • New Jagdpanzer IV tank-hunter. Cheap, effective, mobile.
  • Super-deadly long 8.8cm anti-tank guns on cruciform turntable have all-round field of fire.
  • Plenty of AA options to counter Allied aircraft. Self-propelled single and quad 2cm, or ground mounted 2cm light or 8.8cm heavy AA guns.  
  • Lots of artillery choice, with Hummel 15cm and Wespe 10.5cm self-propelled guns, 10.5cm howitzers, and 15cm Nebelwerfer rocket launchers.
  • Allied air superiority prevents any German air support in Normandy..

How Do the Germans Play?

The Germans in Normandy have three distinct styles, although they can be profitable mixed and matched for even greater customisation to match your approach.

The first style comes with the Beach Defence Grenadier Company. This formation has a hard crust and a soft gooey centre. It relies entirely on firepower to keep the enemy at bay. If the enemy ever gets through your wall of fire, you will suffer badly. On the other hand, since everything is so cheap, that wall of fire can be very imposing.
The second comes with the Fallschirmjäger Company. This formation is the exact opposite. These guys are hard right the way through! Although they can turn on the firepower, particularly with plenty of mortars, they really shine when they get up close and personal with the enemy. Their deadliness is lethal to infantry, and almost as scary to tanks, thanks to their bazooka-like Panzerschrecks and short-ranged Panzerfausts.

The panzer divisions provide the third style. Whether tanks or panzergrenadiers, these troops have the best equipment in the world, and are highly skilled and won’t quit. Fighting cleverly, these elite troops can tackle greater numbers with ease.

Combining these different styles can also be profitable. You could back your beach defence troops with a hard-hitting armoured battlegroup, or use beach defence troops to hold an objective while your panzers pivot onto the enemy flanks. Your Fallschirmjäger can benefit from the compact firepower of the panzer divisions supporting their attacks, or provide the panzers with a core of shock troops to assault the objective.

In summary, a successful German force will use their superiority in equipment, training, skill, and cleverness, combined with a good dose of aggression, to keep the initiative, hit the enemy in their weak spots, while minimising the enemy’s opportunities to hit them back.

Normandy Campaign Missions

D-Day: Greman includes three new missions and a linked campaign. The first mission is Armoured Fury, a mobile battle where the attackers must push past an enemy spearhead to seize objectives deep in enemy territory, while at the same time preventing the spearhead from pushing on further. It recreates both the German armoured counterattack late on D-Day that pushed between the British spearheads to reach the sea, cutting the British sector in half, and the desperate German counterattack at Mortain, trying to reach the coast and cut off the American breakout.

The second mission is Outflanked. Here the defenders must extend their line to avoid being outflanked by the attackers, reflecting the battles in the week after D-Day before the lines solidified as both sides sought to find an open flank.
The third mission is Breakout, which allows you to refight the desperate German attempts to escape encirclements at Roncey, Falaise, and then Mons. The attacker is trapped between the encircling defenders and the troops closing in behind them. They must breakout or die.

These three missions are linked together with two standard missions from the rulebook in a simple campaign where the outcome of one battle has an effect on the next. If the German player can breakout from encirclement in the fifth mission, they win the campaign.

Who are the Warriors

The D-Day: German command card pack includes six warriors: Friedrich Adario, Heinz Auert, Wilhelm Bäder, Heinz Deutsch, Hermann Droppman, and Kurt Knispel. These tough fighters were all awarded the Knight’s Cross, one of Germany’s highest awards.

Kurt Knispel, veteran of years of combat on the Eastern Front, led a platoon of Tiger heavy tanks in Normandy. As the highest scoring tank ace, Knispel rarely missed his target, and refused to leave the battlefield until the task was completed.

Wilhelm Bäder and Hermann Dropmann led grenadiers into battle. Bäder, an ex-artilleryman, made good use of his formation’s mortars and infantry guns, while Dropmann, despite being a colonel in charge of a whole regiment, knocked out five tanks in close combat in a single day, for a career total of at least fifteen tanks.

Friedrich Adario and Heinz Deutsch were both deadly efficient anti-tank commanders. Adario’s long 8.8cm guns were deadly when striking from ambush, destroying well over one hundred British tanks from long range in the Normandy campaign. Deutsch led a StuG assault gun platoon, and ended the war with a claim to 46 Allied tanks destroyed.
Heinz Auert was a real fire eater who commanded a reconnaissance company. Rarely waiting to give the enemy time to prepare, or time for his supporting troops to arrive, Auert attacked, catching the enemy by surprise as they were preparing their own attack.

Command Cards

The command cards introduce a new concept, title cards. These cards have the title of a division and a special rule giving the division’s flavour. The key is that you can only have one title in your force. Beach defence troops gain five different varieties from fast bicycle troops to specialist assault battalions, from reluctant ‘volunteers’ from the prisoner of war camps to the higher-quality 352nd Infantry Division. Your beach defence troops can also enhance their firepower with cheaper, but not as well-trained, artillery, anti-aircraft, and anti-tank options.

The Fallschirmjäger paratroopers add three different titles from the barely-trained 5th Fallschirmjäger Division to von der Heydte’s elite 6th Fallschirmjäger Regiment. The panzers round out their options with three more divisions to join the basic Panzer Lehr. These range from the superb 2nd Panzer Division which adopted night attacks to avoid Allied firepower to the barely-trained 116th ‘Greyhound’ Panzer Division.

Other ways in which you can customise your force include crewing your Tiger tanks with aces, allowing your assault guns’ escort platoon to operate as true tank riders, upgrading your infantry to pioneers, armouring your self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, allowing your heavy anti-tank guns to fire as artillery, and creating fortified defences with MG and anti-tank nests, dug-in tanks, and misplaced and forgotten minefields. You can even cause the Allied heavy bombers to score an ‘own goal’, delaying their own reserves!

There are also a few new formations, such as scout companies equipped with various armoured cars.

Last, but not least, the Lucky card gives you a useful one-point filler, giving you that critical re-roll just when you need it.

Andrew’s Rangers Lead the Way

with Andrew Haught

Wayne and I sat down to play a game of Flames Of War and we wanted to do a beach landing. Since I was still working my 29th Infantry Div beach landing Assault Company I decided to do something a little different than what I normally play for this Beach Landing game. I wanted to play Rangers. Rangers in V4 are incredibly cool. They are assault monsters and if they can get in close they will kill everything with their +2 to hit in Assaults.

Now, when brewing up a list for a Beach Landing mission, as an ally force you want to focus on the units that will cycle back onto the table: the infantry units, so I want at least 3 units, but the way the Rangers work I only get two per formation so I need to bring two formation. This is one of the strong aspects of the Rangers since their formations are small you can get multiple company commanders to help motivate your troops and keep your forces moving. With the core troops I wanted to add some artillery in the form of Mortars and Naval Gun Support. And since we are going D-Day let’s get some Duplex Drive tanks via the DD Sherman Command card.

Here is the list I ran against Wayne in our game:|
 Ranger Company 1

Ranger HQ 1 Point
Ranger Platoon 10 Points
Ranger Platoon 10 Points
Ranger Mortar platoon with 6 guns

Ranger Company 2
Ranger HQ 1 Point
Ranger Platoon 10 Points
Ranger Platoon 10 Points

Support
M4 Sherman Tank Platoon with 4 tanks 14 Points

Command Cards
Lucky 1 Pont
Naval Gun Support 12 Points
Sherman DD 0 Points

If you add it up you can see we were playing below the normal 100 point level, at 75 points. This was due to the fact we were playing in a recorded battle report and we wanted to keep it short. But 100 points is where the game truly shines and if you wanted to add 25 more points to this list I would add the following,

Ranger Company 3
Ranger HQ 1 Point
Ranger Platoon 10 Points
Ranger Platoon 10 Points

Add a fifth tank to the M4 Sherman Platoon +4 Points

That gets you to 100 point easy and you will have even more troops on the table to harass your opponents.

Wayne and I were playing the FUBAR mission found in the D-Day: American book, we wanted to show off the basic mission and give players a look into how the mission is played. We could have played the Pointe Du Hoc Variant rules that would have let us play the beach landing the Rangers ran into on D-Day. Both missions work as FUBAR is a great representation of the Omaha beach landings.

I won’t tell you how the game went as you can watch our battle report video to find that out but I will go into the basic tactics of this list.

This list is all about attacking, you move your infantry in and you overwhelm your target with sheer numbers. During the FUBAR beach landing mission you have to take both objectives but your opponent’s resources are quite limited so try and mass up on both objectives. Your Shermans are limited resources so be careful with them and get them up the beach quickly and have them focus on taking out bunkers, start with the AT bunkers and once they are dealt with move on to the MG nests.
Something else to keep in mind when building non-Ranger Tank forces, Rangers formations are cheap point wise to add to your force. For 21 points you get two full units of Rangers and an HQ, so you get re-rolls and some of the best Assaulting units the Americans have to offer. Its easy to build a well forces list and slot the Ranger platoon in, for example,

M4 Sherman Company
M4 Sherman Company HQ with 2 Tanks 7 Points
M4 Sherman Tank Platoon with 5 tanks 18 points
M4 Sherman Tank Platoon with 5 tanks 18 points
M4 Sherman (76) Tank Platoon with 5 tanks 23 points
M4 81mm Armoured Mortar Platoon 2 Points

Ranger Company
Ranger HQ 1 Point
Ranger Platoon 10 Points
Ranger Platoon 10 Points

Support 
Priest Artillery Battery with 3 Priests 8 Points
Sherman OP 3 Points

There is a hundred points and the Rangers are the perfect include, if you have to defend well you get two full strength Ranger platoons to dig in on the objectives, with their 3+ moral rating they will rally and stay in the fight longer than most other American infantry units. Add in their 2+ to hit in assaults and you have a defending unit your opponent does not want to assault into.
Ranger weakness to keep in mind, they are easy to hit, so HMGs and other high rate of fire hostiles are a big threat, you want to use your tanks and artillery to deal with those threats before the Rangers move into the assault.

To see the video of our game click here…

Well that’s it for this Army Spotlight, hope to see you on the battlefield,