Flames of War — Fallschirmjägers
7 February 2017 | 7th Edition
German Green Devil with MG34, 1943, Russia.
Photograph: Bundesarchiv.
What is it with small, elite armies? With pure Deathwing a memory in our 7th Edition Codex, how to keep the theme of small, outnumbered and outgunned elite forces alive?
Over the last year I’ve been into Flames of War, thanks to a friend purchasing the excellent starter box for my sons.
Currently in version 3, in March this year the game will be refreshsd with version 4 which as you might imagine is causing some anguish amongst hard-core aficionados as it would in a similar fashion in the 40K world. But being an historical game the proposed changes are more to do with mechanics simplification and speeding up the game play. Although this will have an impact into army lists as for instance artillery will become more effective infantry and slightly less so against armour — so subtle but for someone relying on big guns — potentially significant.
I’ve been looking at less generic and more thematic forces to collect and have kinda gone for a German Fallschirmjäger (paratroopers) infantry company. There are plenty of these lists to choose from in a variety of Flames of War source books (Codexes for want of a better term), but I’m sticking with a fairly generic set taken from the axis late war Eastern Front sourcebook Grey Wolf as I like that theatre, plus, they will form a useful potential ally for my Hungarian tank company.
Why?
Well these guys, together with the Gebirgsjäger (Mountain troops), were considered the elite of the infantry. Interestingly were part of the Luftwaffe (Airforce) rather than the Heer (Army) — although controlled by the latter. The Green Devils were a tough bunch, and in FoW are rated as Fearless-Veteran. This means that they are as hard as nails to winkle out when dug in and pretty much handle any skill and motivation tests with ease. The downside is that they are expensive points wise.
For those remotely interested, here's the list so far.
German Fallschirmjäger
Infantry Company, from Grey Wolf.
| Points | ||
|---|---|---|
| Headquarters | ||
| Fallschirmjäger HQ FV |
CinC SMG, 2iC SMG Both with Panzerfaust upgrades |
75 |
| Panzerschrek FV |
8.8cm RW43 Puppchen launcher | 30 |
| Combat | ||
| Fallschirmjäger platoon FV |
Command Panzerfaust SMG 9x rifles/MG squads |
275 |
| Fallschirmjäger platoon FV |
Command Panzerfaust SMG 6x rifles/MG squads |
195 |
| Weapons | ||
| Fallschirmjäger machine gun platoon FV |
Command Panzerfaust SMG 2x MG42 HMG squads |
80 |
| Fallschirmjäger machine gun platoon FV |
Command Panzerfaust SMG 2x MG42 HMG squads |
80 |
| Support | ||
| Fallschirmjäger anti-tank platoon FV |
Command SMG 4x 7.5cm Pak40 guns |
240 |
| Panzer platoon CV |
Command StuG G or IV 3x StuG G or IV |
380 |
| Heavy artillery battery CV |
Command SMG, Staff, Observer rifle, 4x 15cm sFH18 howitzers 3-ton truck, 3-ton truck per gun |
315 |
| Fallschirmjäger anti-aircraft gun platoon FV |
Command SMG 3x 2cm Flak30 guns |
80 |
| 1750 |
Giving a nicely balanced 8 platoons in total.
FV = Morale: Fearless Veteran, CV = Morale: Confident Trained.
Congrats for getting this far.
Ends
