German

It is indeed Tiger time. The D-Day book for the Germans is out and we look at the armoured formations you can run out of this new release for Late War. No other commander during WW2 made such an impact in a tank as Michael Wittmann.

As a true Panzer Ace, his Tiger took its fight to the allies and he fought until he was finally KIA in August of 1944. Stopping by his final resting place in 2007 in a small cemetery in France was a small highlight of a trip that took me from Arras to Vimy and everything in between.

Before we look at the Heavy Tank formation from the D-Day book, why don’t we start a little ‘lighter’. Let’s have a good look at the Panzer IV Tank Coy, this list will likely be very popular to German tank purists.

By Benny Christiansen

With the new German D-Day book available, I made an effort to hurry and try to make a game with the two D-Day books. That means there will be some proxy units in the US list. Sorry for that and the poor quality of the photos. Blitz wasn’t working that day for the US or for the American player (me).

My friend is a veteran German player, so we decided to have a go at it. 80 points, as there will be a tournament later this year with 80 points D-Day books. My list was as follows:

By Tom Burgess

The Panzer Lehr Panzer Division has been brought into the realm of Version 4 Flames of War with the new D-Day German Forces in Normandy, 1944 army book. The elite Lehr has always been a FoW favorite with its Panzergrenadier platoons beefed up with extra Panzerschreck teams. Now there is, even more, to look forward to for veteran and beginning Panzer Lehr players. As the Panzer Lehr’s Panzer Regiment was a fairly standard German  Panzer formation, this article will focus on the infantry of the Lehr Division where it was far more unique.

By Troy A. Hill

“Suddenly a low flying aircraft buzzes them and a flare is fired beyond the trees. As they walk the men look up, first at the plane and then at the flare as it hung in the air slowly moving toward the ground. As their eyes lower to the horizon, they widen. Across the road behind another stone wall are figures with the distinctive silhouette of German soldiers. Alarmed the five American stragglers realise they are facing the enemy, feeling a rush of adrenaline they raise their weapons.” – excerpt from Campaign D-Day: Overlord by Warlord Games and Osprey Publishing

That snippet is from the opening text for mission #5 in the new D-Day: Overlord book for Bolt Action. Our gaming group at Brookhurst Hobbies in Garden Grove California is gaming in the Normandy theatre, and we decided to give this scenario a try this past weekend.

Embarking on a Great Crusade D-Day Mega-Game

The Huntsville Historical Gamers gathered on 8 June to recreate the Allied Invasion of Europe. Operation Overlord was the codename for the Allied invasion of northwest Europe. The assault phase of Operation Overlord, was known as Operation Neptune. Operation Neptune began on D-Day (6 June 1944) and ended on 30 June 1944. By this time, the Allies had established a firm foothold in Normandy. Operation Overlord also began on D-Day, and continued until Allied forces crossed the River Seine on 19 August 1944.

After two years of mid-war battles and tournaments, we’re all pretty excited for the release of Fortress Europe: new lists, more powerful vehicles and new stats to give a new flavour to FOW V4. Now that the book is only a couple of weeks from hitting the shelves, it’s time to have battle with the new forces – and we can’t wait to see how the “new” games taste.

With my friend Stefano Grombi, a veteran both for FOW and wargaming in general, we had our first battle with Fortress Europe lists. Reading the book it’s one thing, playing a game with the new lists is another.

By Benny Christiansen

After reading through the new LW book, Fortress Europe, I decided to challenge a friend of mine for a quick match. We decided on 71 points, and I would play the role of the Germans, while he would play the Soviets.

I decided on a list that would let me try some of the well-known things from MW and see how it would pan out in the LW era.

By Jacob Shober

The first twenty-four hours of the invasion will be decisive. . . . [T]he fate of Germany depends on the outcome. For the Allies as well as Germany, it will be the longest day.

—Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, 22 April 1944.

D-Day has finally come to , and I can definitely say that the campaign book does it justice. At least from the German perspective, one can definitely feel the gravity of the situation, the desperate hold on the beachhead bunkers and fortifications as wave upon wave of Allied troops storm the beach, drop from the skies, and rain high-caliber naval shells on top of them.

It also shows much of how the Germans appropriated French armor and guns for their own purpose after the successful invasion in 1940. From both a historical and gameplay viewpoint, this campaign book has a lot of content to offer, from the units, to the fortifications, and lastly, the theater selectors.

 4^th Battle of Kharkov – August 1943

Mega-Game

by NDNG_Dane

The Huntsville Historical Gamers gathered in April to recreate the Soviet offensive that aimed to recapture Kharkov and destroy the German 4th Panzer Army.   The 4^th Battle of Kharkov was a series of battles between 3 and 23 August 1943, following the Battle of Kursk. After their defeat at Kursk, the Wehrmacht was clearly on the defensive, with the Soviets launching a massive offensive. The 4th Panzer Army conducted a fighting withdrawal to fighting positions around the city of Kharkov.

The Kharkov Mega-Game was the culminating engagement of our spring Ghost Panzer – Red Banner, Eastern Front Campaign.

By Ed Sales

If it’s one thing I love about painting and making these models, it’s that I have a range of creativity at my disposal. You can really add a lot of character to your tanks. I like to make each of my tanks different from the others, even if they are the same model.

When Desperate Measures came out, this added a whole new dimension of how I looked at modeling tanks. When I modeled my tanks, prior to that release, I might have the stowage a little different on each tank.

Now I can take a StuG Platoon, and paint each tank with a different camo scheme and say that the platoon was thrown together last minute. Maybe one of the Stugs left the factory in primer red because they were running low on dunkelgelb. I could do up a Tiger, and paint the running gear a different color, saying a T34 hit it to track it. You could really go all out and really have fun with it.