20mm WW2 German winter Fallschirmjager

 I've had these in the completed pile for some time, but needed to add magnetic bases to get them stored away.  Having done that, it was time for some photos.  These are from the recent Mars set and provide a selection of Fallschirmjager in padded winter clothing.  I've based them in the standard late war organisation with three rows of 5 man rifle groups (rear right) and three MG34 teams of three men rear left.  The front row is a command rifle section of 6 men including the CO, plus a 2 man panzershrek team (front left) with an old Airfix figure with arm in sling as a No 2 gunner.

Most are painted in variations of white or mid-grey to reflect their winter patterns, with the off figure in a Luftwaffe camo smock of beige, green and brown.

Close up of the CO and radio operator.  Odd pose with the pistol pointed into the air, perhaps he is signaling with a flare gun.

Each rifle and command section is also equipped with a panzerfaust for local AT defence.

Quite nicely animated figures from Mars, with some annoying, but manageable pieces of flash, mainly close to faces and ankles.  The figures hunched and leaning into their shots look nice and lively, as does the figure leaning into a trot with rifle across his hips.

Thanks for looking.

20mm Late War Falschirmjager supports

Working my way through the Rapid-Fire Arnhem book and the Seelowe Heights scenario book written for use with Rapid-Fire, I realised that my forces were missing a lot of infantry support weapons, especially mortars.  I placed an order with Andy at Grubby Tanks, which was shipped and delivered in less than a week, along with his usual free sample.

First up on the painting table, a pair of 81mm mortars with three man teams.

Next, a pair of beute ex-Soviet 76.2 mm AT guns with 3 crew.

Then, my free sample, a three man command element.

Finally, I remembered I also had a box of Orion Falschirmjaeger, which included these two Kettenkraftrads that I assembled some time ago.  Ideal for towing the door knocker or for transporting command or spotter elements.

Lots more to come as I had to go through the same process for other units including the SS and infantry in greatcoats, as well as more progress on the Christmas builds.  With no shows to go to at the moment and the weather not good enough for outdoor work quite yet, I guess it leaves me more time to work on those part finished projects.

As ever, thanks for looking.

20mm WW2 Late war Fallschirmjager (lockdown 14)

Another unit of 20mm WW2 Germans, these are Italeri (former Esci) fallschirmjagers.  I used the suggested colour pallet from the Crowood guide, which has turned out well, although they do appear a little dark from a distance.

The figures are really nicely sculpted and highly detailed, but they lack active poses and the majority are left handed, which makes the figures firing rifles look really odd.  Then there is the MG34 gunner leaning on his weapon, which is planted muzzle down in the dirt at his feet.  I suspect the elite fallschirmjager would not have done such a thing and I'm certain their NCOs would have had something to say on the matter, assuming the weapon didn't blow up in his face when he came to use it.

The whole zug, with a sniper in support.

Six man command team with panzerfaust.

Sniper - being a leftie, he looks most odd and I suspect unhistorical.

One of the rifle squads - all three are identical.

1st MG34 team with gunner grounding his weapon on the butt end, relatively correctly.

2nd MG34 team, with gunner nonchalantly grinding the weapon muzzle into the ground.  Earning himself a good chance of a charge, blinding or death in the process.

3rd MG34 team, this one using a German MG34 infantryman from the Italeri AT team set as there weren't enough supplied in the Fallschirmjager set.

Nicely detailed and easy to paint the raised detail, but I'm really not happy with them, mostly because of the high proportion of un-historical lefties.  Born in the 20's, you were likely to have had left-handedness slapped, smacked or whipped out of you very early on at school if not before and military weapons were almost exclusively supplied in the "normal" right handed version.

Still, they will do to use to try and stop the Allies breaking through the lines and in the last defence of Germany.

Thanks for looking.

WMMS 2020

Richard, Will and I put on a game at WMMS this weekend for the SOTCW, using Richard Crawley's fictional Black Sea country of Andeivia.  So far, we have covered Andreivia (roughly where Georgia might be in the real world) in WW1 and in the late 20th/early 21st Century.  This time, we placed the action in 1943 during WW2.  The game used Battlegroup rules with stats taken from Kursk and Tobruk, in 20mm scale.  The scenario involved the early stages of a German "raid" to secure a valuable stash of minerals essential to their war economy and known to be held at the quayside of Andreivia's main port near the capital, Tcherbevan.  It was also a handy way to test out the loyalty of the local population to the Soviet authorities and any non-Soviet factions that could represent possible Axis recruits.

The Germans paradropped a platoon of Fallschirmjagers adjacent to the quays, while landing an infantry platoon with support from Pz IIs and Pz IIIs (2 of each) along the coast adjacent to the harbour.  The call also went out to various local falangist militias, who seized village centres around the port in an attempt to isolate the area from Soviet reserves.

The Soviets had a platoon's worth of locally recruited units of the Red Army garrisoning the port, including an AT gun covering the beach and a mortar section inland, together with various local militias based on the Soviet partisan organisations recruited from dock workers.  Crucially, the docks also held an NKVD unit with integral armoured car support, helping to ensure the loyalty of the locally recruited troops.  Area reserves included 4 ageing T-26 tanks from the nearby tank driving school, plus a lorried infantry platoon.

The table layout as the game started.

Andreivian falangists in control of a nearby village.

A T-26 from the reserve moves hesitantly along the railway line - watch out for paratroopers in the woods.

The paratroopers dropzone - sadly, the open terrain was covered by Soviet defenders, so between landing casualties and incoming fire, the paratroopers were badly mauled.

Panzers push inland.  A single paratrooper section managed to silence the AT gun covering the beach, which allowed the armour to deploy, although infantry in the quayside buildings and fields seriously delayed infantry deployment from the landing boats.  The same paratrooper section then ambushed a T-26 on the railway, destroying it and delaying the Soviet response until the Panzers were in a better position.

Sadly, the game took up most of the time there, together with some shopping.  By the show's close, the Germans had a single Pz II runner, but an immobilised Pz III covered the direct approach of what was left of the Soviet reserves.  The fallschirmjager were just about wiped out, but had effectively dealt with the garrison troops and workers partisan groups around the docks.  The falangists had been spectacularly ineffective all game, so were in good shape to assist any incoming Axis second wave or disperse quietly if the Soviets reinforced first - as might be expected.  All in all, a fun game, some interesting events and tactical situations and a great try-out ahead of our weekend game at Crisis Point later this month.

There were lots of great games at the show, but I only managed to remember to take a photo of this one, a French-Indian wars table with a great wooden stockade/fort at the far end of the table, but loads of little actions going on all round.

As I've been working on a variety of jeep transports recently for US and British forces, as well as British paratroopers, it was nice to get a couple of shots of the US re-enactors jeep display.  It was quite bizarre at the end of the show as Will and I were heading off to Chester, the jeep, towing a 37mm gun, pulled out in front of us and made it's way through the traffic - I wondered how many passers by would have had to look twice.

As ever, thanks for looking.

Clearing up some 20mm WW2 mini-projects

This is a resin Panther that I bought from Paul at the club, probably a Britannia Miniatures casting.  I need to get a suitable commander figure for it.

Then, these are from the Zvezda German High Command set, in winter clothing.  These clip-together figures went together quite nicely, with little need for glue.

These figures are from the Zvezda 1939-43 British medical team.  These guys are painted for the western desert or Crete.  First up is a stretcher party retrieving a wounded infantryman.

And a British medical orderly with first aid kit.

Then, to finish off my early war Fallschirmjager, here is a Kelly's Heroes (Grubby Tanks) stretcher party with wounded man.

Also from Kelly's Heroes, a Fallschirmjager medic with wounded man.

Some additional pioneers for the Fallschirmjager, all four are rifle armed and carrying satchel charges.

And finally, a pair of Fallschirmjager armed with man-pack flamethrowers.

Hopefully, I have a few more things to post before the Christmas break.  Thanks for looking.

20mm Fallschirmjaeger heavy infantry weapons

With Battlegroup Tobruk including rules and organisations for the Fallschirmjaeger on Crete, it gave me the incentive I needed to get all the packs of infantry heavy weapons completed that I bought from SHQ a few years ago at the Derby show.

First up, three tripod mounted sustained fire MG32 teams.

Three 81mm mortar teams.

Not sure of the manufacturer, I bought these from Paul at the Defenders club, but a 120mm mortar team - not developed until 1942, so too late for Crete.

A command team pack, again bought from Paul.  Front right is a mortar/artillery spotter team, front left and wire laying communications team and rear right another spotter team, possibly an air liaison team.

Two three-man packs of SHQ engineers carrying mines, demo charges and flamethrowers.

Another purchase from Paul, an MG32 team on the move.

This gives me enough figures to equip a Rapid-Fire regiment or a Battlegroup company.  I need to add a couple of 75mm recoilless rifles to round out the unit and maybe a pair of PAK 36s.

Thanks for looking.