Wargames @ farfaraway.org » Panzer Lehr

Flames of War – East of Bastogne (Scenario 2)

Owen — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 18:51:57 +0000

I’m looking forward to game two of this mini campaign. The last game was somewhat of a stalemate with the Germans slowly pushing the American paratroopers back towards Bizory. That game was set on the evening of the 20th December 1944. This game is set at daybreak early on the following day.

TERRAIN
This scenario uses the Fighting Winter Battles rules (P.244 of Hardback Rulebook). It should have several forested areas (at least in the defenders deployment area) and some snow drifts/muddy areas with roads running through. Some buildings on the edge of Bizory (along the Bizory-Foy road) should also be included.

SCENARIO
This scenario is based on Hasty Assault (P.18 of Das Book) with one additional Mission Special Rule: Dawn Attack (P.7 of Das Book). The American player is automatically the defender.

I’ll play this on Monday and do a Battle Report at some stage during the week.

Owen

Flames of War – A Battle of the Bulge Scenario General Bradley welcomed the idea of a German counterattack as...
Flames of War – East of Bastogne Some games revolve around a single dice role. This was...
Hordes: Domination Release Scenario (VASSAL Battle Report) Myself and Phil got a 50pts 4 hour(!) game in...

Flames of War – East of Bastogne

Owen — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 21:07:23 +0000

Some games revolve around a single dice role. This was one of those games. After writing this scenario I stumbled upon an excellent blog post about the fighting of the Second Battalion 501st PIR at Bizory, Belgium in December 1944 and January 1945. I decided to base the game on the events of the 20th December 1944 when a mechanised German force, supported by heavy armour, smashed into the defenders of Fox company. The map below is from that blogpost and it shows an area to the east of Bastogne.

As you can see Fox Company was positioned just north of Bizory and suffered the brunt of the German assault. In ou 1250pt game I commanded the US Paratrooper force that was made up of three plattons of Paratroopers and a single platoon of PIR Engineers. Pádraic’s had a Gepanzerte Panzergrenadier force with two mechanised platoons supported by three Panzer IV Hs and three StUGs. As we were playing the No Retreat mission I had to keep two platoons in reserve and one in ambush, meaning I started the game with just one platoon on the board. The German’s had the benefit of a Preliminary Bombardment (which effects platoons on the board and those in ambush), but was mostly ineffective.

Once the artillery died down the sound of German engines could be heard approaching from the east. Above is the sight my sole platoon had as the remained in a copse of wood protecting an objective. The German vehicles were hampered slightly by the snowy conditions and the poor light, but they trundled forward at a steady pace. I sprung my ambush of PIR Engineers on the right flank, inflicting significant damage to one of the Grenadier platoons, but ultimately the ambushers fled back to the edge of Bizory (depicted by a few buildings and a small intersection in the road).

Quite quickly my Paratroopers in the wood (augmented with the Company Commander, 2iC and two additional bazookas) were facing the bulk of the German force. The all attacked and initially pushed the Paratroopers back out of the wood. On the right the under strength Grenadiers kept pushing towards the Engineers, ultimately wiping them out and taking up position on the edge of the town.

The counter attack around the objective was quite successful, destroying three Panzers and killing one or two Grenadier teams. Their success was short lived and the platoon fled as the Germans pressed their assault. The sole survivor did manage to evade the pursuing enemy.

With both forces down a platoon one of my reserve PIR platoons moved to assault the Grenadiers (and Company Commander) who had occupied the edge of town. The German’s hit them with a withering hail of fire, but failed to halt the assault. The PIR proved too strong for their enemy and destroyed them.

As Pádraic would start this turn in possession of an objective all he had to do was pass that Company Morale check. This tight game was going to come down to whether he could roll 4+ on a D6. He rolled six and the Germans won the encounter. At this point in the game we had forgotten an important rule – forces that have their Company Commander destroyed can’t pass a Company Morale check. Doesn’t really matter as it was an excellent game. I seem to enjoy Flames of War whether I win or lose!

Until next time,

Owen

Flames of War – East of Bastogne (Scenario 2) I’m looking forward to game two of this mini campaign....
Flames of War – Gepanzerte Panzergrenadiers, Nebelwerfers and StuG Gs If you’re not familiar with the German army from WWII...
Flames of War: 2400pts Battle Report This is more of a battle overview than a full...

Flames of War – A Battle of the Bulge Scenario

Owen — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 20:23:31 +0000

General Bradley welcomed the idea of a German counterattack as an opportunity to deal a severe blow their ability to defend their homeland. In December 1944 Hitler launched his last offensive, but it was more than Bradley or anyone else expected. Four German armies converged on the densely wooded Ardennes, which at the time only had four American divisions stationed there. Control of the roads was going to crucial to effectively move through this area. As a significant crossroads, the previously unheard of town of Bastogne became the centre of military and media attention. Eisenhower rushed the under strength XVIII Corp, including the 101st and 82nd to the area.

This scenario is set on the evening of the 20th December 1944 when the Panzer Lehr infantry supported by Panthers clashed with the 501st east of Bastogne between Mont and Bizory. The Germans bombarded the entire length of the 501st line before the assault began at 19:00.

SCENARIO
This scenario is based on No Retreat (P.13 of Das Book) with two additional Mission Special Rules: Night Fighting Rules (P.7 of Das Book) and Preliminary Bombardment (P.218 of Hardback Rulebook). The American player is automatically the defender.

I’ll play this on Tuesday and do a Battle Report.

Owen

Flames of War – East of Bastogne (Scenario 2) I’m looking forward to game two of this mini campaign....
Flames of War – East of Bastogne Some games revolve around a single dice role. This was...
Flames of War – Battle of Bloody Gulch (Game 2) On the 12th June 1944 (D-Day +6) the 101st Airborne...

Second-hand Artillery

Owen — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 08:00:47 +0000

I love the painting element of this hobby and the idea of buying models that have already been painting generally doesn’t appeal to me. My FLGS (Gamers World) buys and sells second-hand models and recently there was some German WWII pieces. They were painted in DAK colours, but the paint job (certainly the uniforms) was pretty close to my own scheme, so I decided to pick them up. There were four 10.5cm guns and two 88s on scenic bases. I got them for €15 which was a very good deal.

When I got home I touched up the paint on the models, by changing the helmet colour, washing the sandbags and changing the base colours. They are now ready to add some much needed artillery support to my German forces. A quick blast of matt spray and they’ll be perfect.

10.5cm Guns

88s

Until next time,

Owen

No related posts.

Flames of War: 2400pts Battle Report

Owen — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 21:00:22 +0000

This is more of a battle overview than a full report. Peter and I played out a massive 2400pts game with my Panzer Lehr taking on his 3rd Infantry Division in the Hasty Assault scenario. I was the attacker as I had a mechanised company. Both of us had to keep at least half of our platoons in reserve. This was a key element of the game. My reserves took ages to arrive, but despite having Delayed Reserves this had a big impact on the game, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Peter dug his infantry in around the objectives (on the right flank) and placed his artillery (Priests and 105s) on the opposite side. I decided I was going to focus on that right flank and moved to bring a large Gepanzerte Panzergrenadier Lehr platoon, accompanied by my HQ, down it with five Panzer IV Hs in support. My plan was scuppered when Peter’s aircraft and artillery combined to decimate that platoon on turn two. He hit them with everything he had and the platoon promptly failed its morale check (twice!) and fled.

I decided to keep pushing my Panzers forward and succeeded in pushing two platoons back from the objectives, but Peter’s M10 tank hunters arrived from reserve and, coupled with some more effective artillery, pummeled my most valuable unit! Things were not looking good! Peter’s reserves began to arrive in force and mine eventually arrived, but I had lost momentum.
My Nebelwerfers were largely ineffective, but I did manage to destroy a Sherman platoon with some of my grenadiers. Their Panzerknackers proved very effective in an assault, destroying five of the American tanks. Unfortunately, that was the highlight of the German’s performance. A fierce exchange of fire on the right flank saw tank hunters from both sides left flaming. Eventually my force was reduced to half strength, forcing company morale checks. I passed my first check, but decided concede defeat. Peter held the objectives very securely and attempting to wrest them from his control would have resulted in my whole force being destroyed.

My attack was indeed hasty!

Owen

Ps Peter won!

Flames of War: Novice Mistakes! Peter and I played out a fun game of Flames...
Flames of War: Infantry Aces Campaign Peter and I are four games into our Infantry Aces...
Flames of War – ‘Hoch und Deutschmeister’ Reichsgrenadierkompanie The year of the campaign continues. Peter and I have...

Wargames Audit: Flames of War

Owen — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 11:00:56 +0000

This is the third post in my Audit series (the first on, on Warmachine and Hordes, is here and the second on Malifaux is here). This time around it’s a game that I don’t get to play much, but that represents another interest – Flames of War.

Flames of War

I’ve always been interested in war. It’s a peculiar thing to say as war is a terrible thing that humans inflict on each other, but war and specifically the engineering that underpins warfare really interests me. Flames of War allows me to explore World War II through wargaming. I think I’ve only played two games in the last year, painted one platoon and added some 28mm Paratroopers, but Flames of War is still an important game to me.

This game has inspired me to read deeper into certain campaigns and battles, specifically the fighting around Carentan after D-Day, the slaughter in the Hürtgen Forest, Market Garden and the allied offensive in Italy. Each reading is guided by the armies I own – US Paratroopers and Gepanzerte PanzerGrenadiers (Mechanized Infantry) – and the conflicts companies of these types fought in. In that sense the game really does influence my knowledge WWII.

I have little intention to expand my forces in the coming year or to buy any more books. I have the core rulebook and plenty of expansions. If I decided to only play Flames of War in the coming year (I’m not going to!) I think I’d have more than enough models and books to keep me going. That said, I may add a few discrete things, some Stuart tanks and some regular US infantry. I’ll probably use a different company for the models though, as the Battle Front models are pretty pricey.

I’ll probably play some campaign games over the coming year, but I suspect, like this year, I’ll only play a handful of games.

Owen

Wargames Audit: Warhammer This is the fourth post in my Audit series and...
Wargames Audit: Malifaux This is the second post in my Audit series (the...
Wargames Audit: Warmachine and Hordes Audit. A word that strikes fear into managers everywhere. If...

Miniature Monday – Panzergrenadier Mortars, US Paratroopers, Terrain and Malifaux

Owen — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 12:00:47 +0000

Last week @docbungle suggested a good idea – namely, that wargamers/painters do a status update on a Monday of the hobby related things they did over the weekend and use the #miniaturemonday tag on twitter. Here’s my update for this weekend -

I finished my Panzergrenadier Lehr Mortar platoon for Flames of War.
I cleaned, assembled and primed some 28mm Warlord Games US Paratroopers. I also started painting them (pictured right).
I attempted to build more 15mm Southern Italy style houses for a Flames of War campaign. One turned out okay, but I need to rethink how I’m assembling them. The last batch were made purely from DAS air drying modeling clay. For this lot I decided to use a foam structure and then try to ‘plaster’ it. It looks fine, but was a messy process! I need to rethink what I’m doing there.
I started to reread the Malifaux. I’m skipping the (excellent) background stories and going straight to the rules. I hope to run a campaign for it later in the year.

Pretty productive weekend!

Owen

Miniature Monday – Sonnia Criid, MacBain, Alexia and Wrath Over he past few days I’ve finished off Sonnia Criid,...
28mm US Paratroopers (Video) Paul and I are planning a mixed Flames of War...
Flames of War Terrain – Simple Italian Houses Here’s a quick video on making 15mm rural houses for...

Flames of War – Panzergrenadier Lehr Mortar Platoon

Owen — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 23:48:57 +0000

I’ve been painting these guys over the last week. I used watered down Devlan Mud instead of the Army Painter Dark Shade dip for the quick shading. The results are about the same, so I might use it in future! I picked up Michael Wittmann’s Tiger tank, so it’ll be next on my painting table, along with some 28mm WWII Paratroopers.

Owen

Miniature Monday – Panzergrenadier Mortars, US Paratroopers, Terrain and Malifaux Last week @docbungle suggested a good idea – namely, that...
Flames of War – Panzer Lehr Photographs My Flames of War Panzer Lehr force is growing in...
Ciarán Conlan In case I’m slow updating the site over the next...

Flames of War – Gepanzerte Panzergrenadiers, Nebelwerfers and StuG Gs

Owen — Thu, 27 May 2010 17:00:22 +0000

If you’re not familiar with the German army from WWII that title probably makes no sense (unless you speak German)! I’ll explain what’s what as I go.

With the addition of these platoons my German army is starting to get quite large. I can now field a full company of Gepanzerte Panzergrenadiers (armoured, mounted grenadiers)! These Panzergrenadiers are transported to battle by their (lightly) armoured and MG armed 250s. I’ve written a painting guide for these before, so I won’t bore you by repeating it here.

I’ve also added three more Nebelwerfers (rocket launchers) to the three I already have. These Nebelwerfers, literally translated as Fog Thrower for the amount of smoke they produced upon firing, are 15cm rocket launchers.

Last up, two StuG Gs (assault guns) from the Open Fire! boxed set. The Sturmgeschütz III was Germany’s most produced armoured fighting vehicle in WWII. The G variant was armed with an MG as well as a pretty impressive 7.5cm gun.

I’ve a platoon of heavy mortars to do next and then some artillery pieces. I think that’ll round out the army nicely.

Owen

Panzer Lehr Gepanzerte Panzergrenadiers: Painting Guide This is a step-by-step guide for painting Flames of War...
Flames of War – Mini Campaign – Photographs [Overview | Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3...
Flames of War – Battle of Bloody Gulch (Game 2) On the 12th June 1944 (D-Day +6) the 101st Airborne...

Flames of War – Panzer Lehr Photographs

Owen — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 21:01:11 +0000

My Flames of War Panzer Lehr force is growing in size, so I decided to take a few minutes to take some pictures. I have loads of things to paint, but an armoured heavy mortar platoon is probably next on my list.

Owen

Panzer Lehr Gepanzerte Panzergrenadiers: Painting Guide This is a step-by-step guide for painting Flames of War...
Flames of War – Mini Campaign – Photographs [Overview | Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3...
Flames of War – Battle of Bloody Gulch (Game 2) On the 12th June 1944 (D-Day +6) the 101st Airborne...

Panzer Lehr Gepanzerte Panzergrenadiers: Painting Guide

Owen — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 17:28:22 +0000

This is a step-by-step guide for painting Flames of War 15mm Gepanzerte Panzergrenadiers (armoured German infantry) from the Panzer Lehr Division (1944-1945). It is not intended to be a completely historically accurate guide, rather a quick and simple way to achieve good results in a short amount of time.

Each Panzergrenadier platoon constitutes 6 MG Teams, 3 Tank-hunter Teams, 1 Command MG team and 4 SD Kfz 251/1 half-track transports. That’s about 33 15mm miniatures and 4 vehicles. Here are the steps I followed to move from raw pewter to painted and varnished miniatures -

Infantry
1) Sort the miniatures out. Because these miniatures come from a large box set I need to check what miniatures should be in what platoons, so (by referring to the photos on the box and the web) I sorted the miniatures by platoon.

2) Clean and base. For the Panzer Lehr I have decided to stick the infantry to their bases before undercoating and painting. With the Paras I stuck them to strips of balsa and paint them before basing. So, after cleaning them off with the Dremel, I attached them to their bases, making sure there was a good mix of miniatures on each base, e.g. enough MG carriers and ammo porters spread across the MG Teams

3) Undercoat. With the US Paratroopers I undercoated them white and used watered down base coats to achieve a ‘highlighted’ look. With the Panzer Lehr I decided I’d spray them with Army Painter’s Army Green spray. The pro here is that the bulk of the base coating is done by the spray. The con is that I don’t have an exact colour match for the spray in an acrylic, so if I screw up something I’ll need to fudge the correcting colour. 2 – 3 light spray coats and they are ready to paint.

4) Base Coating. Since the spray did most of the work on the uniforms I just had to worry about the rest. Here are the colours I used -

Flesh (Faces and Hands) in P3 Khardic Flesh
Helmet in Vallejo 882 Middlestone
Canteen and Wood on Gun in GW Bestial Brown
Boots and Webbing (Belts and “Y” Straps) in GW Chaos Black
Gascape Folder and Breadbag in Vallejo 886 Green-Grey
Tentquarter and Ammo Boxes in Vallejo 873 US Field Drab
Bazookas and Rockets in 1:1 GW Kommando Khaki:Vallejo 873 US Field Drab
Metal on Guns, MGs and Ammo Belts in GW Boltgun Metal

5) Dipping. I used the soft tone dip on the US Paratroopers and that worked very well with their lighter uniforms. For the Lehr I used the Dark Tone Army Painter dip. I painted it on, rather than dipping, but used a generous amount. This instantly shades and varnishes the miniatures. It leaves a gloss finish (I’ll deal with that in the final step).

6) Basing. I painted the tab around the bases Skull White. Next I applied poly filler (ready mix) to the bases. This is white(ish) in colour and I lay it down to cover all of the base apart from the bevelled edges. I use my thumb to wipe off the excess and keep the edges clean. When dry I paint it with watered down Graveyard Earth and this leaves a muddy type finish. The edge is painted in the same colour, but with little water added. I finish off the base by adding some flock.

7) Matt Varnishing. The miniatures are well protected with the dip, but I apply a spray of matt varnish to bring down the gloss finish. Again I used an Army Painter product, their matt varnish, but I’m not that happy with it. It’s not as good as Tester’s Dull-Cote (now banned in the EU) and be sure to shake it a long time as I found it misted easily.

Vehicles
1) Sort the miniatures out. The half-tracks come in resin and metal pieces (the newer ones are resin and plastic). The main body is resin and the tracks, front wheels, driver and AA MG are metal. Make sure you have the left and right tracks for each vehicle, other than that there is little sorting to do.

2) Clean and assemble. Resin dust is a hazardous material, so be careful when cleaning it off. Thankfully they are well moulded and need little cleaning. Super-glue is all you need to fix the pieces together. I put the driver in place (operating an ‘Only paint what you can see’ policy!).

3) Undercoat. Again I undercoated these with 2-3 light coats of Army Green.

4) Base Coating. Since the spray did most of the work on the uniforms I just had to worry about the rest. Here are the colours I used -

Body in Vallejo 882 Middlestone
Wheel Hubs and Track Cogs in Vallejo 882 Middlestone Drybrush
Body Edge Highlights in 3:1 Vallejo 882 Middlestone:GW Skull White
Camouflage in Vallejo 924 Russian Uniform and Vallejo 873 US Field Drab (Brush, Vallejo no. 001)
MGs, Tracks and Tool Heads in GW Boltgun Metal
Tyres and Driver Uniform in 3:1 GW Chaos Black:Skull White
Webbing in GW Kommando Khaki, GW Snakebite Leather or 3:1 GW Chaos Black:GW Skull White

5) Dipping. Dark Tone Army Painter dip is generously painted it on.

6) Apply Decals. I applied the iron cross to each side of the vehicle along with the identification number. I also applied the Panzer Lehr ‘L’ to the rear (on the right rear door). I cut the decals from the original sheet using an hobby knife and then used lukewarm water, tweezers and a toothpick to apply them. A small piece of tissue is used to soak up the water once the decal is in place (by touching the edge to get the bulk of the water from under the decal and then gently dabbing it to remove the rest).

7) Matt Varnishing. Again I used the Army Painter matt varnish.

I think the results are pretty good for the amount of time spent on them. I’ve a lot of this army painted now – I’ll organise myself to post more pictures soon.

Owen

Flames of War – Gepanzerte Panzergrenadiers, Nebelwerfers and StuG Gs If you’re not familiar with the German army from WWII...
Flames of War – Panzer Lehr Photographs My Flames of War Panzer Lehr force is growing in...
Eiryss (Alternate Sculpt): Painting Guide (Larger Version on flickr) I’ve had this miniature since the...