Bolt Action – Updating my German army – Part III

I continue updating my German army for Bolt Action. The last update is another repainted MMG team, to complete my army nucleus.

Previously (Part I and Part II), I explained my ideas to renovate and extend my German army for Bolt Action. Last week we were discussing about the differences between MMGs, LMGs and Automatic rifles (Incanux has created a very interesting statistic table). Finally, I realized that I prefer German MMGs. Because of German special rule, Hitler’s Buzz Saw, German LMG and MMG have an extra dice when they fire. Therefore, I decided to try an army list with two MMG, that’s ten shots with a range of 35 inch (90cm)!!. In BA rulebook the German lists only let one MMG. However, German army book show different theme lists where you can include at least 2 MMGs. So it’s perfect!. Next week, if I can, I’ll test this list:

1st Lieutenant + 2 soldiers (Veteran). 116 pts.      
All with assault rifles STG44

1st infantry squad: 7 soldiers (Veteran). 119 pts.  
An LMG team, a Panzergaust and NCO with SMG

2nd infantry squad: 7 soldiers (Veteran). 119 pts. 
An LMG team, a Panzergaust and NCO with SMG

3rd infantry squad: 7 soldiers (Veteran). 126 pts. 
All with assault rifles STG44

1st MMG (veteran): 65 pts.

2nd MMG (veteran): 65 pts.

Medium Mortar (inexperienced): 50 pts.

Sniper team (regular): 50 pts.

Sdkfz 234/1 (regular): 95 pts.

 Hetzer (regular): 210 pts.

TOTAL: 1000 points

I’ve indicated the nucleus of my army in grey. I’ve degraded the Puma to win some extra points, replacing his light AT gun with a light autocannon. I save 65 points, perfect to include an extra MMG team. Despite, I think my list is weak against armor vehicles. I have a Hetzer (with a heavy AT gun), two Pzfaust and an automatic cannon  (it’s only useful against soft skin vehicles, of course). I only have one powerful cannon!!. For the time being, I’ve always fought against small vehicles, like the Stuart or M8 Greyhound. But I’m afraid of big ones, like Shermans, IS, etc. What do you think? My lists needs more AT power or not?. I’ve also decided to test an inexperienced mortar and a sniper team. I’m not sure about the sniper, and I’m planning to invest his points transforming my assault rifle platoon into “fanatic”, and I want to add more Pzfausts. What do you think?

About painting, these MG teams are from Black Tree Design, except the model with cap and SMG which is from Artizan Design. As I commented, I’m repainting some models. I don’t like mixing different painting styles, so I’ve decided repaint all my army little by little. The best way to repaint a model is remove the paint on it. However, because I don’t have enough time, I’ve preferred to take advantage of some painted areas, such as grey zones and black profiling. These details save me a lot of time!. In my opinion, the worst parts of my old models are the faces and camouflages.  However, I prefer repaint all little details, because I think the final set should look homogeneous. In MP40’s minature, I also took advantage of his camo, where I’ve only applied some lights and new dots.

In this post you can see some comparative photos: MGs were painted 7 years ago, while the Artizan’s model has 4 years. As you can see, the painting style can change drastically in a few years!.

Finally, I’ve painted a new camo in the last MG crews, the Italian Telo mimetico an atypical but very interesting camouflage.

Telo mimetico camouflage:

• Brown violet 887 (Vallejo)
• Green brown 879 (Vallejo)
• Dark rust 302 (Vallejo, Panzer Aces)