Early War & Campaign Units

[Kar98kev]

Hello fellow hobbyists,

New to BA having just bought BoB set two weeks ago and putting them together.
Been checking out a lot of online stuff about the hobby (I’m mostly the painter sort of hobbyist), but I like to create a themed/historical army.

The German army book, looks to only cater for late war (infantry) units, but I would like to play more pre 42, when I do eventually start to play. I read its a different game as squads aren’t so ‘geared up’ with ‘fausts, lMGs, ARs etc, so you have to rely on the utility units like AT rifles, AT guns, HE, mortars more (perhaps its less aggressive gameplay).

What I’m trying to get at is:

1) Are these early war units available in the campaign books and if they are, is it ok to use them in an all comers list/mix with German army book units?
2) Can I mix early and late war units in all comers lists? i.e use the pzgrenadiers that came in the boxset.
3) Can I add ‘Italy & Axis’ units in one list to create a themed offense/defence in an all comers list?

Thanks in advance to answer my questions and I’m sure I’ll be back for more!

[Stuart Harrison]

1. Armies of Germany covers all the way through from 1939 to 1945, not just or primarily late war. You have Heer infantry squads instead of Grenadiers (name changed mid war), Early and late versions of Falschirm, assault engineers (Heer Pioneers vs Sturmpioneere), SS, Gebirgsjager, 37mm ‘doorknocker’ AT guns, Pz I, Pz 2II, Pz III (first model available is Ausf C), Pz IV (first model available is Ausf A) and so on. Some more early war stuff is available in Germany Strikes theatre book.

2. Depends who’s defining the terms for the “all comers” lists – for an event, it depends on the TO, for a casual game it depends what you and your opponent agree to.

3. The lists in Armies of Italy and the Axis are stand alone army lists for the respective nations covered. Several have a national rule allowing a single German unit in a force from that country. That’s pretty much the limit for mixing using the default rules, however there are optional rules/suggestions for multinational forces in the Appendixes of the main rule book (p215, Appendix II, Large Games of Bolt Action).

[Fred Cartwright]

The Panzergrenadiers in the BoB box are in late war uniforms with ankle boots instead of jackboots and differences in the length and cut of the tunics. They also have late war weapons like G43 semi auto rifles and Stg44 Assault rifles that are not available to an early war army. The Blitzkrieg box are for 39-42.

[Kar98kev]

Gents,

Thanks for your feedback. Looks like I got the wrong starter set.

Still, enjoying painting the grenadiers.

Could you let me know how many other German units there are in the other books so I know if worth purchasing at this point.

Also if its generally ok to include them in a friendly list (perhaps I’ve asked this before!)

Thanks

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[Stuart Harrison]

Just flicking through Ostfront, looks like all the early war German additional units made it into AoG second edition. Germany Strikes gives you a few (ie: ADGZ armoured car, some small inexperienced squads representing German forces in Danzig, the Neubaufahrzeug V Model A tank). I don’t have the Sealion or Gigant campaign books but they may have a few more.

“Also if its generally ok to include them in a friendly list” – Depends entirely on who’s on the other side of the “friendly”. Some people, anything goes any time. Others don’t like units that are out of context with the rest of the list, out of context with the scenario, “cheesy”, or otherwise seen as flawed or problematic.

[Highlander]

Go to Easyarmy.com and many of your questions will be answered.

[Braddoc]

Sea Lion and Gigant does not really had anything new in terms of units; of course if you consider floating and flying tanks as new units…

The real new units are the (very good IMO) Glider, units of the Brandenburg (spelling?) Commandos for the Germans. There is also some boats, barges and suchlike, and a sort of SPG like a Marder but with the chassis of a Hotchkiss tank with an overly complicaded German name.

The Western Desert offers new units, so does the Battle of France book (including the intresting Spathtruppen squad: 4-6 men no LMG, but they deploy as snipers/observers.)

[Author]

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