About three years ago, the Flames of War gaming group that I play with regularly started playing an annual, large format scenario called Tanksgiving. Its a giant team slug-fest featuring tank-heavy 2000 point armies for each player. In years prior I had brought to the field large Tiger units or US 2nd Armor. This year I am going back to the force that I started FoW with, the German Panzerkompanie.
This year’s list is built from Fortress Europe, and goes for quantity, more than quality. In contrast to some of the other lists I was tinkering with, what I am bringing to the table will be primarily older model medium tanks, StuGs, Panzer IVh, and Panzer IILs for example. This will be supported by a large battery of Hornisse 15cm self propelled artillery! I am taking advantage of the scenario’s employment of the ‘Across the Volga’ rule (Artillery units do not deploy on the board, but can still deliver a bombardment) to try out some artillery units that I have never used before. The high point value is also allowing me to a battery that would be difficult to fit in a smaller list.
Below are some pictures of the force that I am bringing to tomorrow’s game!
I have been working on some new StuG assault guns for my Panzergrenadier army. These guys are the only models in the force that I am fielding tomorrow which aren’t complete. I owe them some more highlighting, some detail work, and weathering. I have 3 StuGs that I painted up several years ago as well. I am trying to take this set of 5 a bit past where I had the previous 3.
My force includes 8 StuGs in total. This is in addition to 5 Panzer IVh tanks. The PzIVh platoon was also painted over a year ago. Check out images here.
I painted these Panzer IIL tanks about a year ago. I have fielded them a couple of times with mixed results. I really dig these models, and I think their paint job turned out great! I have been trying to learn how to use recce in FoW, so tomorrows game will hopefully be a positive learning experience. I am not sure how many tanks are going to be gone to ground (a platoon that is concealed, did not shoot, and did not move is harder to detect, but recce units can try to spot them and radio their location to friendly platoons), but their ability to prevent ambushes nearby may prove useful.
Above is a shot of my entire army (sans SP artillery battery) ready to go into the miniature bag. I think this will be entertaining to run. The VAST amount of Soviet T34s that I will inevitably encounter are going to be a hassle. My plan is to have my units stay relatively hidden, and strike at whatever unit the artillery can break up with either smoke, or actual destruction.
I am going to attempt to take pictures and create some kind of simple battle report to illustrate how the game went. If that works out I will post it here!
These tanks look very cool. I’m going to have to paint up some Late War Germans myself next year!
Cheers
Dave
Thanks Dave! Be sure to post some photos as you get them painted.
What time will you be at the Dojo?