Arrival of the Napkinwaffe: The Germans in Late War Leviathans
By Michael Rafferty
Late War Leviathans could be summarized as, “somehow, World War II continued.” Use one of provided scenarios or make up your own, like mine where Kaiser Wilhelm II comes back and overthrow the funny moustache man and then crusades against communism. Let your imagination run wild.
The vast majority of the vehicles in this book were in limited production, prototyping, or having their designs finalized. The reasons they didn’t see the field could be simplified to “the war ended.”
Don’t you want someone with a hat like that in charge?
The T-44 was in production and there were limited numbers of IS-3. The Germans had a couple Maus and were preparing to put the Panther 8.8 in production, but the pesky allies got in the way and forced them to surrender. These aren’t made-up fantasy tanks any more than the Sargeant York at ADATS in Team Yankee, it’s just stuff that never saw the field. If you don’t like it, then don’t play with them.
It’s doubtful most tournaments are going to allow them. In pick-up games, just communicate with your opponent while you’re discussing playing to let them know you hate fun. They should be happy to not use their super make-believe tanks while you swarm the field with AA halftracks. Good going you.
Swarm! Swarm!
This article is going to examine the Germans and see what new forces they can bring to the tabletop. The new things are mostly heavy tanks, some with ridiculous anti-tank values for Flames of War, though they have big drawbacks.
AT26 is insane in Flames of War
A Maus company is the first formation the Germans get. A single Maus is double the points of a Tiger, but at least the platoons are minimum one tank. Tiger II or Tigers are allowed to fill out the second required platoon. The Maus has a front armor of 20 and an AT18 main gun. I see the Maus as something to be kept at range, where it’s high front armor and 48” main gun can pick off enemy tanks. With it’s base 4+ to hit, it’s going to be devastating at range.
This is a brick of a tank and is awesome
The E-100 formation is next, which is a Germany 100-ton heavy tank designed as a simplified version of the Maus for more efficient mass production. The point of the E series was to standardize as much production as possible in order to increase output, something that America had been doing for years. The German war industry was neither efficient nor very reliable.
The E-100 is front armor 18 with the same gun as the Maus, though it gains the accurate trait. The crazy option is that you can bring a 15cm gun with 36” range, but one stationary shot at AT25 with FP Auto. This is also accurate and brutal. While I think that option is situational, it will be hilarious when it happens.
Brand-new tank, still elite crews apparently
Next is the Panther (8.8cm) tank company. This is a Panther with a redesigned turret housing the long 88 of the King Tiger and Jagdpanther. I have no idea how that gun and three crew members can fit in that turret, probably the same way that all these Germans are Veteran in their brand-new tanks (where the transmission would probably break if they had to move on their own power).
One of the neat things about this company is that it is a relatively cheap way to get a mobile long 8.8cm and that they all have the infra-red equipment that first came out in Nachtjaeger. This means they can also bring the Uhu half-track. The E-100 also has IR, but can’t bring the Uhu. This formation can also bring a regular Panther platoon as it’s second required platoon, making it one the cheaper formations to get on the table.
Bigger gun, smaller turret
Ok, the next formation is the fictional Jagdpanzer E-100. This tank is inferred from the design documents which reference an assault gun version of the E-100. Because the Germans needed something with an even bigger gun for some reason. Basically, this tank was made for World of Tanks and looks kind of cool, plus it should be a simple turret add for the future E-100 kit.
I get it, the tank does look cool, and it does give some extremely high AT to counter other players with the Maus and the other super tanks. A 32” AT25 gun that has to stay stationary to shoot, but at least has accurate. This beast also has front armor 18. It’s slightly less than the Maus and has a more power gun, though less armor and range. At least you can bring one in a platoon so it may see use as a black box unit if the event allows.
At some point you have to wonder if they’re compensating for something
The Skorpion tank-hunter company is a panther with an open-backed turret mounting the gigantic 12.8cm gun. This makes it an armor four Panther with the same gun as the mouse. It is slow-firing, but it can destroy almost any Allied tank. Jagdpanthers can also be brought in this formation, so this is very much a ranged sniping formation.
This one is growing on me as it’s so ridiculous
Finally, we have an interesting formation. The Katzchen Panzersturm company is a late-war Panzergrenadier/Panzersturm formation but mounted in the armor four and fully-tracked Katzchen APC. The Katzchen was designed as a replacement for the Sd Kfz 251, being fully-tracked, better armored, and could mount the X-7 ATGM. This is an early anti-tank guided missile, with a 16”-28” range and AT16.
The Katzchen infantry has StG44 and can take the new Panzerfaust 250, with an AT of 16 instead of 12. Also firepower 3+ which is a large improvement. A regular MG42 Panzergrenadier platoon can also be brought, with the ability to swap in a 2cm Sd Kfz 251. Support is all the normal options, 7.5cm Sd Kfz 251, 2cm platoon, triple 15cm, 8cm mortars, and a built in Panther 8.8cm or regular Panther platoon.
I think these are really interesting as with ATGM, they’re basically early IFV
Overall, I think this book is fine. Mid-War Monsters was one of Battlefront’s best-selling products in years, so it makes sense that we’d finally get the sequel. With them doing Clash of Steel, this means the tanks will be in plastic and Battlefront made the smart decision to release the rules for Flames.
I think most of the vehicles look cool and I’ll probably end up getting a bunch of them for Clash, Flames, and just to enjoy painting. The late-war German camo schemes get kinda crazy and these tanks would be rushed off the production lines, so there’s lots of customization options. I’m going to be interested to see what events allow Leviathans or if there are Leviathan events, since there are point scenarios for having Leviathan-focused games.