This weekend I also took stock of the small force of Fallschirmjägers that I have - to see how close they might be to fielding a playable force for Bolt Action (Third Edition)... Or, at least, a force that is 1000-1250 points in Bolt Action (Third Edition) - as I really have no idea what makes a "good" or "playable" force in the game...
Of all the World War Two figures I have, this is one collection that has barely any of them painted!? MOST of the World War Two forces, with the exception of the Italians and DAK and my Desert Raider (SAS/LRDG) trucks, most, if not all are painted!
These I only ever painted a handful testing out schemes for camouflage jump smocks... and I could never decide if I wanted to paint them for early war - Blitzkrieg or Operations Sea Lion - or for use in Crete or North Africa or Italy... or for the Eastern Front...?
When I started considering finally getting them painted a few weeks ago, a part of me thought I should paint them for use in the Mediterranean.. but then returned to the idea of Operation Sea Lion (thanks in no small part to the fun little games Alan has been playing over at The Duchy of Tradgardland). Ultimately I've decided to go with a Mediterranean them for them - as much of the other stuff I'm working on is for the campaigns in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy - and I'll just have to enjoy Fallshirmjägers landing on Jolly Old England vicariously through Alan's blog.
As with the Japanese I took stock of earlier this weekend, Fallschirmjägers seem to have a preponderance of light machine-guns... and my initial plan was to try and incorporate ALL of them into a force of two platoons!?
This would look like:
1st Fallshirmjäger Platoon
Platoon Commander - 1st Lieutenant - 39pts (Veteran) + 1 men @13pts per man (Veteran) = 52pts
Fallshirmjäger Squad - 1 NCO and 4 men with Rifles 70pts (Veteran), light machine gun for +15pts, SMG for + 4 pts = 89
Fallshirmjäger Squad - 1 NCO and 4 men with Rifles 70pts (Veteran), light machine gun for +15pts, SMG for + 4 pts = 89
Fallshirmjäger Squad - 1 NCO and 4 men with Rifles 70pts (Veteran), light machine gun for +15pts, SMG for + 4 pts = 89
Forward Observer (air force or artillery) 90pts (Veteran), +2 men @14pts = 118
Medic 30pts (Veteran)
Light Mortar Team 39pts (Veteran)
2nd Fallshirmjäger Platoon
Platoon Commander - 1st Lieutenant - 39pts (Veteran) + 1 men @13pts per man (Veteran) = 52pts
Fallshirmjäger Squad - 1 NCO and 4 men with Rifles 70pts (Veteran), light machine gun for +15pts, SMG for + 4 pts = 89
Fallshirmjäger Squad - 1 NCO and 4 men with Rifles 70pts (Veteran), light machine gun for +15pts, SMG for + 4 pts = 89
Fallshirmjäger Squad - 1 NCO and 4 men with Rifles 70pts (Veteran), light machine gun for +15pts, SMG for + 4 pts = 89
Heavy Weapons Platoon
Platoon Commander (2nd Lieutenant) 39pts (Veteran) - don’t actually HAVE a model for this… unless I grab one of those spares in the background!?
Machine Gun Team - 65pts (Veteran)
Mortar Team - 45pts (Regular)
Total: 974pts
Soooo... pretty close to 1000 - which is a good place to start!
To this I could add…
+1 man in each squad (6) @ 14pts each = +84pts
+1 man to Heavy Weapons Platoon command = +13pts
Artillery Platoon
Platoon Commander - 1st Lieutenant - 39pts (Veteran) + 1 men @13pts per man (Veteran) = 52pts
2.8 cm schwere Panzerbüchse 41 - 65 (Veteran)
7.5 cm Leichtgeschütz 40 - 59pts (Veteran)
That would bring the total to 1247 points!
Or maybe add a company commander (instead of the extra men in the squads)...?
Or make the second platoon into pioneers? but maybe with just two squads?
I don't know... I guess there are a lot of ways to play around with this. The important thing is, I HAVE enough stuff that I can kind of pull off a 1000 point force if I got all this painted up. If I add an artillery platoon with two guns and a platoon commander and a handful of extra guys (which could be accomplished by ordering four pack sof minis from Perry Miniatures)... I can make it 1250...
Because I have NO IDEA if a larger number of understrength squads is better or worse than a smaller number of larger squads (and can kind of see advantages and drawbacks to both!) I wondered if I dropped two of the LMG teams and organized them all into a single platoon of slightly larger squads what that would look like:
(not going to lie, I'm not fond of prone LMG teams, which is also a reason I'm considering a single platoon of four squads - so I can ditch that MG team!)
Fallshirmjäger Platoon
Platoon Commander - 1st Lieutenant - 39pts (Veteran) + 2 men @13pts each (Veteran) = 65pts
Fallshirmjäger Squad - 1 NCO and 4 men with Rifles 70pts (Veteran), +1 Man @ 14pts , light machine gun for +15pts, SMG for + 4 pts = 103
Fallshirmjäger Squad - 1 NCO and 4 men with Rifles 70pts (Veteran), +1 Man @ 14pts , light machine gun for +15pts, SMG for + 4 pts = 103
Fallshirmjäger Squad - 1 NCO and 4 men with Rifles 70pts (Veteran), +1 Man @ 14pts , light machine gun for +15pts, SMG for + 4 pts = 103
Fallshirmjäger Squad - 1 NCO and 4 men with Rifles 70pts (Veteran), +1 Man @ 14pts , light machine gun for +15pts, SMG for + 4 pts = 103
Forward Observer (air force or artillery) 90pts (Veteran), +2 men @14pts = 118
Medic 30pts (Veteran)
Light Mortar Team 39pts (Veteran)
Heavy Weapons Platoon
Platoon Commander (2nd Lieutenant) 39pts (Veteran) + 1 men @13pts (Veteran) = 52pts
Machine Gun Team - 65pts (Veteran)
Mortar Team - 45pts (Regular)
TOTAL: 826pts
Again, to this I could add…
Artillery Platoon
Platoon Commander - 1st Lieutenant - 39pts (Veteran) + 1 men @13pts per man (Veteran) = 52pts
2.8 cm schwere Panzerbüchse 41 - 65 (Veteran)
7.5 cm Leichtgeschütz 40 - 59pts (Veteran)
Which would bring the total to 1002 points! Dammit! Where do I lose 2 points?! One of the platoon commands loses one of their extra men, I guess…which would make it 989
What could I add to make it 1250, though…?
I have a few ideas... but for now this is all fine and I just need to work on painting these up and then acquiring the Schwere Panzerbüchse 41 and Leichtgeschütz 40 and additional platoon commanders... then I'll worry about what other options could be considered...
The three groups of three soldiers lurking in the background of the above pics that aren't really accounted for in the lists
Three random dudes that look like Pioneers...? One thing I might consider is making a two platoon force, but having the second platoon have only two squads of pioneers...? They would mostly be regular Fallschirmjägers with these three mixed into them - I can't seem to find any other Fallschirmjäger pioneers... and I have no idea where these even came from!? I thought they might be Bolt Action minatures from Warlord Games. But if Warlord made them in the past, they do not seem to any longer!
When I get to later parts of the war, I can add in these guys with FG42s...
Three guys with captures weapons... There were five in the pack the other two were a guy with a soviet submachinegun (which i left on another table and forgot to include in the pick) and a guy with a rifle (possibly a soviet one? it was close enough so he's hiding in one of the regular squads.... I might use the guy with the thompson... I don't care for the prone one with the sten (because he's on an odd-sized base) and the one with the M1 Carbine looks like that rifle barrel is going to break off... which I HATE...
Speaking of broken barrels... this is why I may end up using the Thompson! (and an additional reason to go with the single platoon)... GAH!?
There will probably be more of this in the next few weeks as I figure out what I might need - if anything - for each collection...
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