Flames of War

[Sunstreaker]

Now for the familiar face of the Reich! These guys are kitted up and painted as 78th Sturmdivision Grenadiers - Stationed in Orsha during Operation Bagration - The Soviet push back to retake Byelorussia. Note the White epulets or 'Waffenfarb' denoting their status as Infantry.



Here's two Platoons. If you look carefully you'll see that each base or Team has a bloke with a Panzerfaust - that's the yellow thing that looks like a massive stick-grenade. With the big Armoured offensive from the Russians, the 78th scrounged as many anti-tank weapons as they could to try and hold up the T-34's.



Here's a shot of the Sturmkompanie a bit more rounded out with Support Weapons, HQ and a few other extras. I reckon maybe 1000pts on the table.

[Sunstreaker]

Here's a close-up on some of those optional extras;



78th Artillery HQ with PuP Gun (You can tell it's an Artillery HQ because of the Red Waffenfarb). The PuP is an option for a 78th HQ but can be attached to other units.



PANZERKNACKERS! Anti-Tank infantry, can either operate as a squad, or again be split up and individual bases attached to different units.

[Sunstreaker]

More 78th extras;



Due to the vast amount of Russian Armour, the 78th deployed PaKFronts - smaller units of PaK guns in ambush.



Due to the swampy Byelorussian terrain, these bad boys were deployed - not with Opel Blitz's as with the SS PaK's, but rather with RSO Tractors.

[Sunstreaker]

More 78th extras;



The sIG33 Infantry Support Gun. All about the anti-infantry. Can be fired direct (for those irksome dug in Ruskies) or indirectly as a Bombardment.

[Sunstreaker]

To combat the Russian Katyushans or Truck mounted Rocket Batteries, the Germans mounted Rocket Batteries on Half-tracks...



These bad boys can cover a tremendous amount with their templaty bombardment of doom...



No line of sight needed! 12"x12" template of goodness!

[KingGrimlock]

You could do us a battle report!

[Sunstreaker]

Not a bad idea... except I always get beat by those damned Russians... I just can't kill em quick enough before they overrun me. Chris (my usual opponent) and I had a chinwag about it and have had a bit of an epiphany regarding use of scenary... we've been playing on a nice open 40K style battlefield... and without something blocking line of sight my highly manueverable Waffen and my very high point cost Armour can't actually move anywhere without getting shot to pieces by a million Soviet smallarms...


Have a fair bit more to post up (all of my Normandy stuff!) but will do that later...

[Sunstreaker]

Since we were talking Byelorussia and the Russians Operation Bagration, this is the bloke who was put incharge of slowing the advance, and finally stopping it at Warsaw. Panzergeneral Von Sauken!



This fellah is what's called a 'Higher Command' Figure - He's a Warrior (Special Character for you old school Workshoppers) who you can only field in addition to a at least one Army - So if I were to be playing a 5000 point game, where I was using 5 thousand point armies, this guy could be my overall Command Figure.



The General can be on foot or mounted in his personal half-track. In game terms, he's 65pts (quite pricey) but allows me to re-roll all Stormtrooper moves (the Germand get to roll to see if they can move again in the assault phase... schnell schnell!) and to re-roll any reserve rolls. Making him bloomin' awesome...

[Sunstreaker]

Half Tracks! I've not got enough yet to field a full Gepenzartepanzergrenadierkompanie, but there's enough if I want to upgrade a platoon of Waffen SS or Wehrmacht Panzergrenadiers.



Definately wanna build more of these bad boys... my Opal Blitz trucks just get shot to pieces, and these guys are a damn sight more durable. In addition, German troops have the ability to assault from their Halftracks... which makes them scary as hell!



These are SdK 251/1 D Half tracks. Workhorse of the Panzergrenadiers!

[Sunstreaker]

Enough Russia! These are my Festungskompanie Grenadiers - or 'Fortress Company'. These were the guys on Sword, Omaha, Utah and Gold beaches...



Nice mix of weapons here - Three Grenadierkompanies, each equiped with Goliath Remote Control Bombs (nice!), also, some mortars and snipers.



Closer shot of Platoons and Mortars.



Close up of platoon. Note the white 'waffenfarb' denoting Infantry.



The Festungskompanie on the move!

[Sunstreaker]

More elements of the Festungskompanie;



Command group with light Mortars, Panzerfaust squad and some snipers.



Close up on some snipers. These guys only get one shot (and are pretty pricey at 50pts a base) however if they hit, they instantly pin a platoon... which is awesome if you're just about to assault them and they're gonna to defensive fire with 4 Heavy Machine Guns...

[Sunstreaker]

More Normandy! These are Tobruks and HMG pits - just like the ones on the beaches.



Both the Tobrucks and HMG nests count as bunkers; the HMG nests are essentially untagetable machine guns (6 shots!), whilst the Tobruks are actually French Tanks, cemented into the cliff face...



The nasty thing about these is that all bunkers count as linked... meaning if you assault one they can all fire...

Also, you can only target them if you're within 16 inches, or if you have 'Bunker Busting' rounds... which nobody ever has...



You don't want to be charging up this beach!.

[Sunstreaker]

More beach defenses!;



One shot only Missile launcher batteries...



These were apparently also used during the Warsaw uprising in Poland at the end of Bagration.

[Starscreams_Ghost]

dare I ask how much this little lot has set you back so far?

[Sunstreaker]

Including Scenary, paint and books, I reckon I've done about £500 over the past 4 or 5 months. It's not workshop money... and I'm really geeking up and enjoying the painting and boning up on the historical stuff. I really started getting into painting the infantry, which, being a tread head, I found as a real surprise.

More to post up, which I'll do either today, or over the next couple of days.