Bolt Action - German 'Aufklärungs' army project (Part 2)

Welcome to part two of this army building project as I put together a German recon force for 1944-45. In part one I began the project by modelling up some motorbike scouts and a Schwimmwagen. This month I have begun work on the core of this platoon, the Panzergrenadiers of the Aufklkärungstruppen. 

The workbench

As I said just before, this month has been focused on the infantry component of this platoon and also creating a basic 1000pt army list to work toward fielding.

My workbench has been full of great German infantry miniatures. You can see in the background there I have my motorbike scouts to inspire me along and help with keeping the colours consistent as I paint through the units.

Check out part one of this article series to see more on the bikes and Schwimmwagen.

I magnetize all my bases using 25mm round stickers from Litko. It means I can transport the army around on cheap metal oven trays like this! No models will fall over and chip, plus it helps me save time at events as I don't have to pack and unpack my army every game.

It's also handy for mobile painting like you see here.

My planned army list has at it's core 4 squads of veteran Panzergrenadiers, each of 5 men. In reality these are two sections split in half as the Aufklkärungstruppen had two 250/1 halftracks per squad to aide them in their recon work, so each 5 man sub section had it's own ride.

Because I have only 20 or so infantry in the first 1000pts due to the halftracks being expensive, I can really choose my absolute favorite miniatures for them and have no duplicates.

More on the 250/1 halftracks in the next part of this series, for now, it's on to the infantry.

Panzergrenadiers

Here is the first half squad, these guys are equipped with the STG44 assault rifle and 2 Panzerfausts. The models are a mix of the new Warlord Games Volksgrenadiers, 'Winter' Germans and Artizan Designs late war range. All my infantry models are metal, I prefer them for their defined sculpting and for my style are easier to paint because of this.

To give my force a really late war feel I have gone for as much of a mixture of clothing and gear as possible.

The second half of this squad is this 5 man unit, also with the STG44's. The miniatures are the same mix of manufacturers I mentioned previously. They all fit well and have no issue with scale or sculpting style. I personally think the new Volksgrenadiers and winter troops from Warlord Games are some of their best miniatures yet. Artizan Designs is amazing as always, I think their sculptor (Mike Owen) is my favorite to paint.

I have deliberately stuck to only using the Splittermuster '41 camo scheme as my army is a Heer (army) unit, not SS. So no Peadot or Oakleaf camo schemes for me.

This is the first half of the 2nd squad. These guys are equipped for more long range firefights with an MG42 light machine gun and their KR98K rifles. I am including a Panzerfaust as my platoon will need all the AT it can get as, being a recon force,  I won't have any large German tanks...no 'Tiger Fear' for me!

This month I only managed to paint my way through 3 of the 4 squads of Panzergrenadiers. Here is my 4th squad which I'll have painted for next time. A great mix of Warlord Games and Artizan Designs miniatures.

My Panzergrenadier platoon may be a scouting fore but it still has it's support assets to get the job done. Here I have my Panzershrek tank hunting team. The mini's are from Artizan Design.

Insignia

To give my force a little extra depth and narrative, I have decided to base them on a particular unit. Panzer Division Feldherrnhalle, a unit which fought in Hungary during 1944-45. I have a huge Hungarian collection, so I wanted my Germans to be linked to them and this unit featured in the battles of Debrecen and the Budapest siege. They sported a distinctive cuff title on their left sleeves. The unit is named after the Munich landmark, where Hitlers Beer Hall Putsch failed in 1922. This unit was originally formed from former SA brownshirts, but by the Hungarian campaign had been wiped out and re-constituted. I love adding insignia when I can, it adds great details to the models. And Germans have plenty. You can see the Waffenfarbe (shoulder strap colour) is a light green, designating them as Panzergrenadiers. I've also made use of the decal sheet that comes with the plastic German Grenadiers by Warlord Games to add the tank destruction awards to the right sleeves of the guys with Panzerfausts.

That's it for this month. Up next for this army project are the armoured vehicles. These will be the SDKFZ 250/1 halftracks and a Panzer II 'Luchs' reconnaissance tank.

These halftracks will give the Panzergrenadiers the vital maneuverability they need to survive and hopefully get their missions done!

For now you can follow the progress of this army weekly here on our Facebook page.



By Bryan