The Last German

Meet Hans

Hans is in theory the last German figure for my Volksgrenadiers for Chain of Command \ Bolt Action. I say last, because of course at some point I will "need" more, but this is the last of the planned additions. Hans is part of my Recce team - three guys with an MG42 and a Junior leader. They're an add on to an add on in that I can take a Sdkfz 250 /1 as a general transport or use it to carry a recce team. All is good.

Hans and his team

Unlike the bulk of the force these are from the Victrix Late War German Infantry set, rather than the Warlord Winter Germans. I thought as these guys were going to be attached from another unit a different style of model would be nice, and also it gave me a chance to try out the Victrix models in the flesh. I bought a single sprue from The Sprue Shop as I was only needing four guys.

On that note they're very nice models. Less "heroic" in proportion to the Warlord models, but still very nice and I'd certainly get more if I needed them, which I must keep reminding myself, I don't :-) . If I decide to do PanzerGrenadiers I'll use Victrix.

So another project "completed". Taking a break from WW2 painting before launching into the British who will be a matched army for the Volksgrenadiers, and there are still 28mm Napoleonic French and Austrians to finish, plus a Spanish Napoleonic army to start, so I'm not short of projects, but before I launch into those I have another little side project to finish involving football, or should I say Soccer? 

Hopefully next time Muchachos!   

 

Mortal Gods - That was quick!

Err I painted my Mortal Gods force. In less than a week!

OK it is slightly less impressive when you realise there are only 17 figures, but still, fast for me.

And they're all quite easy paint jobs - undercoat, contrast paint, metal, done. All Victrix plastics via The Sprue Shop  - which is a damned good way to get your models if you don't want to have to buy full sets. 

So here we go  

Lochagos - 65
Promachus 50
Hoplites x3 40
Peripoloi x6 70
Peltasts x3 38
Akontistai x 3 30
Total 293 pts

So enough for our planned campaign that starts at 225 points and escalates to 300.

Here is the boss

Chain of Command 2 Late War Germans - where to start?

Chain of Command 2 from Two Fat Lardies has arrived (Huzzah!) So after thirteen years of version 1 I'm looking at what I need to change. 

AND of course this being historical gaming where there are no such things as regular new editions that force you to buy stuff again, the answer is nothing! Gotta love historical Wargames.

OK Almost. HMGs are going to need some sandbags or similar, but other than that I'm not seeing anything "new" needed yet.  

So I was wondering about what I would need to expand my current German army into the late war period and it got me thinking, so here are my thoughts.

There are four German lists in the main CoC2 rules, Infantry, PanzerGrenadiers, Fallschirmjager and VolksGrenadier. The FJ are uniformed significantly differently to the others so I'm disregarding them. TFL have gone full historical on the VolksGrenadiers allowing you to field the fabled StG44 "assault rifle". I'm going to go all Grognard here. Other rules allow almost any German Infantry to have the StG44s but the actual issue was really just to the VG Divisions raised in 44/45 . Of course the chaotic situation as the Reich collapsed doesn't mean other units or individuals didn't pick them up, but fielding them outside the few test units or VGs is a bit of a stretch. 

The three organisations are quite different. The Infantry have three Mg42s, 4 MP40s and 24 riflemen,  PanzerGrenadiers have 6 MG42s , 3 MP40s and 15 riflemen, and the VGs have 2 MG42s, 1 MP40 , 3 rifle grenadiers, 16 StG44s and 5 rifles.

All have some Panzerfausts chucked around if you were wanting to represent them.

So if I wanted to do that, what's available?

Victrix have just released their new Late War German Infantry set. It looks damned nice and includes some support weapons, an Mg42 on sustained fire mount and a Panzershreck . I've had a look at the frame pics however and it looks like you only get eight StG44s in the set - not enough to do the VolksGrenadier. They do seem to have everything you need to do the Infantry and PanzerGrenadiers however.

Warlord typically have several box sets available. 

The Winter German Infantry set are all bundled up against the cold, but you get 30 models and enough StG44s to field the full 16 out of the box. In fact the only issue is you will be one man short of an Infantry platoon as there is only 30 models in the box and I calculate you need 31. I'm sure you can either but a frame from the Sprue Shop or get a spare donated. This is a good set, and with everyone in greatcoats is a pretty easy painting project. 

Next up the "Grenadiers" box set. One of the older sets so maybe less sharp, nevertheless you get 15 StG44s and enough of everything else - just about. you will be short one guy as with the "Winter" set but that's easy to fix and an extra sprue if needed will provide your spare StG44 if you are doing VG.

Last from Warlord is the "Waffen SS" box. This has enough StG44s but seems to be a bit short of MG42s.  My earlier comments on 30 man sets also applies here, plus my Grognard dislike of them having StG44s in the first place but there you go.

So what I think I'm saying is that unless you want to do VolksGrenadier Victrix is probably the best choice because you get enough of everything plus a few useful support options thrown in. If you want to do the VolksGrenadier then Warlord are a better option, though here you will have to step away from a "one box" solution and buy some support weapons.

I'm not sure which way I'll jump - let me know in the comments what you think?

  

Sharp Practice 2 - Some more progress

Deciding to mix metaphors and strike while the iron was hot I grabbed my trusty cutters, X-Acto and glue. I perused the instruction sheet and decided to start on Sergeant Grout with his half pike of office. At that point the wheels came off the plan. The box does not contain the arm holding the pike! I double checked both sprues and here simply isn't one. Bit of an own goal for Victrix. Slightly deterred I ploughed on, with the aim of completing one group of eight infantry. Now I was getting a close look and feel it is clear the plastic is slightly different to the stuff Perrys use - possibly a little brittler? There were also some areas of flash that had to be removed with a knife, and lastly some sink holes in the side of some shakos. On the plus side there are some really nice details - lots of mutton chop sideburns and some battered shakos, and the packs have some great touches such as a spare pair of boots. Actual assembly was not too bad - once you worked out which pair of arms produced which general pose. As I mentioned earlier you have to put the packs on, but that is't a hardship. There is some flexibility - you can manage a marching pose for instance, but you only get 4 walking rankers on the sprue so you cannot make the whole unit marching. In the end I decided on a rear rank marching and front rank advancing. Pic below. I don't think these look bad at all, and were not too painful to assemble. The details seem a little "soft" but most acceptable overall. Here's the first assembled group of 8