Wargaming Overload Part 3

In addition to the ACW and ancients games I mentioned yesterday I've also played some Napoleonics and WW2 games.

Having made a start on assembling two 15mm Napoleonics forces 18 months ago I decided it was time to finish them up and finally get a game using the 'Napoleon at War' rules. I'd made the decision to buy painted figures rather than paint my own for two reasons. Firstly it would be quicker and second my poor eyesight and shaky hands make painting all the detail on napoleonics almost impossible. eBay buys of painted French and British armies had given me the bulk of what I needed but I was still short a few cavalry and quite a few infantry battalions. So I ordered a bunch of painted units from Stonewall Figures who offer a good range at great prices. They arrived quickly and they were soon based up ready for our first game.

Back in Feb 2013 I had a look at some options for Napoleonics rules and settled on 'Napoleon at War'. They're pretty straightforward and easy to pick up and we got a game with about 8 battalions of foot, 4 regiments of cavalry and some artillery completed in about three hours. It was fun but there were a few things I didn't like, particularly that there's no point in attacking in column as you get no bonuses and you get fewer bases for shooting so you're better off attacking in line. It sort of struck me as a Napoleonic lite game. Fun, easy to pick up but not a particularly accurate simulation of Napoleonic warfare. I think I'll go back and have another look at FoG:Napoleonic.

Talking of not particularly accurate simulations I was persuaded to have another run out with Bolt Action. Time to dust off my 28mm Russians.

It was a 1000pt game and I was facing some Germans supported by a Jagdpanther (at least my Churchill had decent armour, although its pop gun six pounder had little chance of hurting the Jagdpanther) with the mission to recover some intel from the centre of a village. After some initial sparring for position the main action started with both sides trying to recover the intel only to be cut down by fire or wiped out by an assault. Time ran out with the intel still in the village but surrounded by a mass of German & Russian corpses. The result a draw.

I can see the attraction of Bolt Action but it just doesn't do it for me. Chain of Command is still my favourite small scale WW2 rule set.

Tomorrow, amongst other things, I'll be looking at my participation in, of all things, a Heroclix tournament!

Quick Review: 4Ground 28mm MDF fencing

I was looking for some fences for my terrain board when I came across these from 4Ground. I like 4Ground stuff and I have one of their 15mm Churches and a row of their houses and although the fences are for 28mm they should work just as well for 20mm. They cost me £10 + p&p for 42" of fencing (more on this later) which I thought was a decent deal.

 

On opening the pack you find 3 sheets of pre-cut MDF comprising base plates, fence posts and the fences plus an instruction sheet.

 

The instructions are pretty straightforward as long as you make sure you pick the right parts and only detach what you need for each stage. Definitely do not remove them all in one go as it will be difficult to pick the correct parts. They also give you some ideas for customising your fences as you can see in the bottom row of pictures shown below.

 

You start by gluing the fence posts into the base plate and then adding the cross rails. You then glue the fence to the cross rails and you're done. Some of the fences have pop out sections to represent damage to add a bit of flavour to the fencing. The sections with the gates are a bit more fiddly but follow the same principle. The finished fences are shown below. You get 12 pieces of fencing of varying lengths, two of which have gates. They also do a pack without gates for the same price.

 

In the photo below I've added a Valiant 1/72 German to give you an idea of the scale of the fencing.

 

They went together easily and took me about 70 minutes to complete. You could probably do them much quicker but I was in no hurry. I'm happy with how they turned out and I'm looking for some 1/72 scale posters to stick on the fencing to add a little colour.

 

However there is one problem with them. I mentioned at the start of this post that they're advertised as providing over 42" of fencing. This is also stated on the pack itself. However on measuring my finished set they add up to only 38 inches. I checked to make sure I hadn't lost anything, which I hadn't, so either there was something missing from my pack, which seems unlikely as there were no gaps on the MDF sheets, or they've wrongly labeled the product. I've emailed them about this and will do an update when I get a reply.

My finished 1/72 Brits for Chain of Command & Bolt Action

I'd hoped to get my Brits done by yesterday but I miscounted and had to paint up a couple of extra figures but they're done now. The figures are from the Valiant Miniatures 1/72  'British Tommies' box.

They turned out better than I expected and I now prefer them to my Germans. I started with a base of  Warpaint's Khaki spray primer from PSC. Then I block painted the helmet with Coat D'Arms Russian Green, the webbing Coat D'Arms Linen, the skin is Coat D'Arms Suntanned Flesh, the rifle Citadel Vermin Brown and Citadel Boltgun Metal and the boots Vallejo Black. I then gave them a coat of Army Painter 'Strong' tone dip before a spray of Army painter Matt varnish. The bases are Coat D'Arms Brushcape Sandy Brown with GF9 Green static grass.

I have thirty figures left in the box after painting these so I can easily increase the forces as needed. As it stands the figures cost me £4.73 which is great value. Now on to the pictures.

The figures organised for Chain of Command

 

The above photo shows the figures organised as a Motor Platoon for 'Chain of Command'. This is made up of the platoon HQ comprising:

• Lieutenant with a Sten
• Sergeant with a Sten
• 2-man PIAT team
• 2-man 2" Mortar team.

and three Sections each comprising:

• Corporal with a Sten
• LMG team of three men and a Bren Gun
• Rifle team of four Riflemen

The next photo shows the figures organised as a 500pt force for Bolt Action.

 

The force comprises:

2nd Lieutenant + 1 Rifleman - Regular

Forward Artillery Officer - Regular

1st Squad - NCO w SMG, Bren Gunner, 6 Riflemen - Regular

2nd Squad - NCO w SMG, Bren Gunner, 6 Riflemen - Regular

3rd Squad - NCO w SMG, 8 Riflemen - Regular

MMG Team - Regular

Sniper Team - Regular

Light Mortar Team - Regular

 

With these out of the way I've got time to play a few games before my Dropzone Commander stuff arrives at the end of the month.

Damn you Kickstarter..... Again

I've already backed four Kickstarters this year (Commission Figurines, Deadzone, Heroes of Normandie and All Quiet on the Martian Front) and I had no intention of backing any more but I'm a sucker for a good deal.

I saw the Kickstarter for the Winter War 28mm Finnish troops when it launched but I wasn't interested as I've moved on to 1/72 plastics which are much cheaper. However TFL have produced a CoC army list for the Finns now and that and the KS have generated some buzz on the TFL forums so I went back to have another look. A force for CoC would require buying the £60 pledge and I dismissed it as my last two forces in 1/72 plastic had cost me less than £8 each. But, I had a look at the stretch goals and that's when the trouble started. The Finnish Rifle Platoon pledge includes: HQ (1 Officer, 1 SGT, 2 rifle messengers), 2x Rifle sections, 2x LMG sections (1x CPL, 1x LMG & 5 rifles). Includes access to all stretch-goals and free limited figures & free shipping which gives you 38 figures for £60. That's not bad for 28mm but not enough to get me interested. However the stretch goals that have already been achieved will add to this:

• 10 Jager Ski Troops
• 4 snipers
• 4 Tank hunters
• 2 medics and 2 casualties
• A mortar team (1mortar and 4 crew) and a Heavy Machine gun team (1 firing and 1 being moved). The Maxim Machine gun will be available on wheels, tripod and sledge.
• 1 anti-tank gun & 4 crew.
• 1 troop of 6 Light Horse
• A 10 man squad of bicycles
• One gun and baggage, the artillery will be supplied limbered with horses and riding crew and in a firing position with crew. Finnish baggage will be pulled by reindeer!

Now this makes it a lot more interesting. I reckon this brings the cost per figure down to less than 60p, which is a very good deal for 28mm metal figures and there are more goals which look like being achieved to make it even more of a good deal.

Now we get to the rationalisation. I don't need these figures. I have a 1000+pts of 28mm Russians for Bolt Action or CoC and I have 1/72 Germans and Brits for CoC which will also give me 500+pt forces for BA. So I have 'enough' BA or CoC forces and I even have troops for my opponent if he doesn't have any figures. But if I want to play 28mm the Finns will make great opponents for my existing Russians and it's a great deal (discounting the fact that I don't need them!) Also I suppose if I decide I don't want them later I could always sell them on eBay and more than get my money back with all the extras included in the pledge. So I'm sorely tempted. I've not pledged yet but 'The Force' is strong with this KS.

New 28mm MDF ruins from Commission Figurines

As regular readers will know I like the MDF buildings made by Commission Figurines. I've reviewed a few bits and pieces previously like the farmhouse and various ruins and counters etc which were all 15mm. However a few months ago they had a Kickstarter to fund a bigger Laser cutting/engraving machine so that they could move in to making 20mm and 28mm buildings in addition to their 15mm range.


Their new laser cutting machine

Well yesterday my pledge package arrived so I thought I'd take a look at what I got. I chose to get the 28mm ruins so I could use them for Bolt Action & Chain of Command. As usual the quality and detail of the etching is superb. As can be seen in the photos below.

 

I chose the 3 modules (2 corners, 1 centre) that make up part of the Berlin Strasse model.

 

Even the interiors have nice etched detail.

There are a couple of changes to the kits from the 15mm ones I have. Now the walls are located into the base by tabs as opposed to the long slots they used to use, I think this is a big improvement. Also the bases appear to be of thinner sheet than my current ones. As they are of different scales this doesn't matter to me. They are still quick to assemble and can packed flat for carrying to the club. That is if you don't want to glue them together permanently.

The 20mm buildings are starting to appear on their website and I'm sure the 28mm versions will be on there soon. I'll have to try and find time to slot these into my painting queue, but I doubt my painting skills will do them justice.

My 500 pt Germans for Bolt Action

I've finished painting up my 1/72 Germans for Bolt Action (BA) so I thought I'd post a few photos and have a look at my army list.

I decided to make the force a late war Heer Veteran Grenadier Infantry unit. The main reason was that I wanted to try out assault rifles because they look cool. Here is the list I've chosen.

1 x 2nd Lt + 1 Rifleman, (Regular) 60 pts

1st Squad, (Veteran) NCO + 7 men (1 SMG, 7 Assault Rifles) 142 pts

2nd Squad, (Veteran) NCO + 7 men (1 SMG, 2 LMG, 5 Rifles) 147 pts

1 x MMG, (Regular) 50 pts

1 x Medium Mortar, (Regular) 50 pts

1 x Sniper Team, (Regular) 50 pts

Total 499pts

I went veteran as I think it's the best option for Germans. Their morale is better and they're harder to hit. I see the 1st squad as getting stuck in, although they have the firepower to defend if necessary. The 2nd squad with it's two LMGs will be used to hold objectives and provide covering fire for the 1st squad. I added a rifleman to the officer so a lucky hit doesn't take him out of the game. I would have preferred a 1st LT but just didn't have the points.

Support comes from the MMG and medium mortar, although I'm not convinced they'll be particularly effective. I'll see how they go and may look to replace them with some cheap armour or a half track. Rounding out the force is the sniper team which I'll use to pick off NCO's or just add pins.

The figures are all Valiant Miniatures 1/72 figures which cost me £8.24 for a box of 68 figures. So this 500pt force only cost me £3.15. You've got to love 1/72 figures.

I have enough spares left to go to 1000pts but I'll probably add some armour and/or transport first. I also want to add enough figures to give me a force I can use for Chain of Command. Here's some other photos of the finished figures.

1st Squad with Assault Rifles

Tripod mounted MG42

80mm mortar

2nd Squad with 2 LMGs

My 1/72 German assault rifle squad

I've finished the assault rifle squad for my 1/72 Germans now. So I decided to post a few 'work in progress' photos as it seems that's what all the big kids do these days.

So how did I produce these decidedly average figures? Well, I start off by spraying the figures with the appropriate base colour. As these are late war Germans I used grey. I then block paint the detail colours for the skin, webbing, weapons etc. The end result can be seen below.

 

They're not brilliant, and I miss out some of the detail as well as painting outside the lines but the dip covers a multitude of sins. Lots of people may be aghast at my approach but I'm not a painter I'm a wargamer. As long as the end result looks ok on the table I'm happy. Once the block painting is finished I brush on a coat of Army Painter dip. In this case the 'Dark' tone which is black. I'll be using the 'Strong' shade, which is brown, for my Brits as I think it will go better with the khaki.

 

The figures after a coat of dip.

 

Once this has dried overnight I give them a spray of Army Painter Matt varnish, which I think is an excellent product giving a really nice flat finish. Then I attach them to the mdf bases which I paint with Coat D'Arms 'Sandy Brown' Brushscape textured paint before adding GF9 Green static grass. The end result can be seen below.

 

The finished squad

You can see the other squads here and here.

My 28mm ruined buildings assembled

As I mentioned in an earlier post I won an auction for some painted MDF ruins. As they're painted all I had to do was glue them together. This was a two stage process. The outer and inner walls were PVA'd together first and then the separate pieces were assembled into the corner sections. This was all straightforward, the only fiddly bit was fixing the triangular piece used to strengthen the corner.

Anyway here's a couple of photos of the finished article, not bad for a fiver.

The assembled corner sections

A close up with figures to give a sense of scale.

Support units for my 1/72 Germans

I've moved on to painting up the support units for my Valiant 1/72 Germans. They comprise an MG42 on a tripod and an 80mm mortar.  For those of you who are interested, the painting details can be found in my post on the infantry squad I painted up earlier.

80mm mortar & crew

Tripod mounted MG42 & crew behind log emplacement

Group shot

And from the rear

Next up will be my squad armed with MP44 assault rifles. That just leaves the officer and his escort and a 2-man sniper team. After they're done I can move on to my Brits.

The first of my 1/72 Germans

I've made a start on painting up the Valiant 1/72 Germans I bought recently. I'm aiming to use these for both Bolt Action (BA) and Chain of Command (CoC). So here is a photo of my first squad. The painting isn't great but it looks ok on the tabletop, which is all I aim for these days.

For those who want to know how I painted them here's the details. First I sprayed them with Army Painter grey then block painted the details. Next up was a coat of Army Painter 'Strong' tone dip followed by a light drybrush of white and then a spray of Army Painter Matt Varnish. The bases I did with Coat D'Arms 'Sandy Brown' Brushscape (which is a textured paint) topped off with GF9 Green static grass. I'm always amazed how much better the models look after a coat of dip. Makes even my painting look ok.

Like lots of old school wargamers I'd used a ton of Airfix figures for gaming but for some reason I've never thought of going back to that scale until recently. But now I've picked up these I'm a convert. The detail is good and the above squad only cost me 97p. So two complete 500pt armies for BA will have only cost me about £5.50, that's less than the price of one 15mm tank!

Assembling my Warlord Games Brits

Having decided on the weapon mix for my Bolt Action Brits it's now time to assemble the figures. This is the part I wasn't looking forward to doing. The figures are lovely sculpts with no flash or mould lines but the fact that they have lots of options and accessories means there are lots of parts to assemble.

I decided to start with a rifleman with a backpack and no other options. But this still meant assembling eight separate parts. These being the base, right arm, left arm. rifle, head, helmet and backpack all attached to the body. If I'd chosen to start with a kneeling figure the body would be further split into the torso and two separate legs as well.

Getting the order of assembly right makes a big difference. I decided to start with the right arm as I could then add the weapon which would make positioning the left arm easier. With all the weapon and arm options it's important to check carefully on the instruction sheet which parts you need. It's also useful to check where your chosen right arm goes by referring to the illustrations. Having big fingers makes the assembly very fiddly and it was quite tricky to get the arm positioned correctly. Once the glue was dry I added the rifle which wasn't too tricky to do. Attaching the left arm was much easier as I had two reference points but The arm didn't fit the body as well as I would have liked as the position of the right arm was a little out skewing everything else.

Arms and rifle attached to the body

Next I attached the head which has a nice recess to making fitting easier but it still took a few goes to get a position I was happy with as my fingers obscured the head as i was holding it into position. By contrast the helmet was a doddle, fitting quickly and easily as were the backpack and base.

Front view of the assembled model

Rear view of the assembled model

Overall I'd rather have one piece models even if the quality was poorer. I'm a wargamer not a modeller and from three feet away most of the detail is lost anyway. I can see the appeal of these figures for people who want a variety of options and poses but for me they're just a pain. One thing that would help are lugs and sockets on the arms/torso to position the arms as they are the trickiest pieces. One final note, I've seen people say that they broke some weapons removing them from the sprue but using snips I've had no problems.

Bolt Action: Building my British Infantry at 500pts

Now I have my figures, thanks Tamsin, I need to work out my force composition. Normally I build my forces on paper and then buy the figures I need but this time I need to make the figures I won fit a force.

My first thought was to make all the 'extras' from the box (PIATs, mortars, snipers, lmgs etc) to maximise the points and then use what's left as my troops. But on reflection I decided that was a bad move as the core of the force should be the infantry. So I looked at what was compulsory and then what would be good additions.

So I have to have an officer and two squads, each of five men minimum, I also get a free Forward Artillery Observer as the British 'perk'. This uses twelve of the twenty five figures in the box. I thought about giving them some anti-tank capability with the PIAT but discarded that idea. It's unlikely that I'll be facing much in the way of armour at 500 pts plus the PIAT only has a range of twelve inches limiting it's effectiveness.

The next thing I looked at was artillery support. Getting a free FAO is nice but you only get to call in one barrage which may or may not be effective. So I decided to include the 2" mortar. It's not particularly powerful but it gives your opponent something else to think about plus some well timed smoke may make the difference between success and failure for an assault. This brings my running total to fourteen figures used.

Like most wargamers I have a thing for snipers so adding a sniper team was a no-brainer. Having them sitting on an objective picking off advancing NCO's can really stall an enemy advance as well. Which brings my total to sixteen figures.

My force is a little short on firepower so I decided to add a Bren gun to each of my squads. There is some discussion as to whether LMG's are worth the points but I like the longer range and extra firepower they bring. This leaves me with seven figures spare.

So I've added three infantry to each squad making them nine man squads. I decided to use the last figure as a Medic because it gives me an extra dice and in a small force being able to cancel out a casualty could be crucial.

Next I had to decide on the various options like regular, veteran, weapon choice etc. To do this I used the army builder spreadsheet from BoltAction.net. This gave me the following force:

Veteran 1st Lieutenant
Medic (Veteran)
Forward Artillery Observer (Regular)
1st Squad: NCO with Sten, LMG, 7 Riflemen (Veteran)
2nd Squad: NCO with Sten, LMG, 7 Riflemen (Veteran)
Regular Light Mortar
Veteran Sniper Team

This works out at exactly 500 pts and uses all the figures in the box. It's far from being the best 500 pt force you could build for the Brits but it has the benefit of being free. Now I've decided on my force it's on to the hard part, assembling the figures. I think plastic miniatures are the way to go for lots of reasons but I hate the fiddly assembly. This is my first set from Warlord so I'm interested in seeing how they go together.

First Look: Chain of Command by Too Fat Lardies

While researching the best mix for my Bolt Action Brits I came across a mention of another set of WW2 skirmish rules that are coming out later this year, 'Chain of Command' from Too Fat Lardies. They seemed to be generating some buzz so I decided to check them out. I noticed they'd done a set of videos explaining the rules and a play through of a game so I've linked them all here with my thoughts.


The forces seem to be about the same size as Bolt Action so I should be able to use my figures for both games with just a little tweaking. The 'Patrol' phase sounds interesting and provides some nice pre-game tactics to add flavour to the game. So far so good.


Not too clear what the benefit of ending a turn is at this stage, but it becomes slightly clearer in later videos. The use of dice to activate troops is nothing new but does provide command & control problems for you to solve. It's not too clear what the benefits of having a 'chain of command' dice are, I guess you need to play a few games to fully understand why moving a jump off point or ending a turn might be important. The use of sixes to adjust the flow of phases again requires you to think a bit more carefully about what you intend to do. What if my opponent rolls two sixes and gets to move twice, am I too exposed. Alternatively if I roll two sixes am I in a position to take advantage of a double move. Still seems an interesting rule set with no drawbacks so far.


I like the option to move and fire or move further but with less options, that's fairly standard in lots of rules. However I don't like the rolling to see how far you can move. It just seems like a random effect for randomness sake. I understand if you're moving through bad terrain the distance you could move might be affected and that effect could vary depending on how bad the terrain turned out to be. But if you're moving along a road with no enemy anywhere near you why would your move be so variable? If I get these rules I may house rule to remove the randomness or maybe make it 3" minimum move plus a D3 or something like that. I like the ranges of the weapons but not sure about the combat mechanisms, they seem a little simplistic. The 'shock' mechanism and morale system isn't really covered in enough detail here or in the later videos to allow me to make a decision on it. A couple of things here that make me think I might stick with Bolt Action but we'll see.


Some fuller explanations of things here. I like the way that the Germans can come in on the Jump Off points giving them a sort of ambush. The rallying is a nice feature, but I would like to know more about 'Shock' and it's effects. I'd also have prefered to see more of the actual combat resolution than just the end results.


More of the same here nothing really new covered.


I like the use of smoke and that you can use grenades. The fact that the Germans got too spread out to be able to use a lot of their dice was interesting and makes you consider the command and control implications of your tactics a lot more than you see in other games. But I'd like to have seen more about morale and shock.

I like the idea of using videos to explain your rule basics and show how the game plays, so kudos to TFL for that. But I have a number of questions, such as do the rules include scenarios; are there national differences for the various troop types; is there a campaign structure; do the rules include comprehensive army lists or are we going to have to buy supplements etc. Overall the rules seem to have some interesting ideas and offer a different tactical challenge to Bolt Action. Not sure if I'll buy a set, it depends on the price, but worth another look once they come out, which is expected to be sometime in August.

Quick Review: Warlord Games British Infantry

Having won these in Tamsin's giveaway I thought it was about time I gave them a quick review. The box contains enough parts to make twenty five 28mm figures with various weapon options. The quality of the casting is excellent with no flash and very little in the way of mould lines. You get lots of options and everything you need to assemble a 500+ points force for Bolt Action.

The front of the box has nice action shots reminiscent of the old "Commando" books I used to love as a kid.

The back of the box gives you details of some of the weapon options you get as well as some pictures of the painted up models.

You get five figure sprues each containing four standing figures and one kneeling figure. In addition there are eight head options on each sprue as well as six different helmets to give your figures some variety. There are also six back packs with options like tea mugs and spades. The twenty two arms on the sprue are related to specific weapon options, I'll talk about these later. Each figure is also supplied with a 25mm plastic base.

As well as the figure sprues you also get three weapon sprues. These contain eight .303 rifles (four with bayonets and one with a sniper scope), two Sten guns, two Thompsons, three pistols, one Bren gun, one PIAT with ammunition, one 2" mortar, as well as various grenades, shovels, a pickaxe, ammo packs and even a pair of binoculars. So lots of options on how you want to equip your figures.

There is also a sheet of transfers with shoulder patches, rank stripes and arm bands for medics and MP's. I've never come across transfers for figures before but it seems like a good idea. I'm not sure how it will work out in practice though as you may need to use transfer softener to get them to sit right. I'll give them a try on the NCOs and see how they look. 

Lastly you get a double sided instruction sheet. One side identifies the components on the weapon sprues while the other covers the figure sprues. This is a vital piece of information as it shows which arms have to go with which weapons. I would strongly recommend that you don't remove everything from the sprue in one go as trying to identify the various arms later would be a nightmare.

I'll look at how well they go together once I've decided what options I want to build for my Bolt Action British force. However they do look like they will be quite a bit more fiddly to assemble with all the various parts than my PSC 28mm Russians. So what do I think about them? Well I'd have to give them a 10/10 as I can't find anything to criticise, but this may change once I try to assemble them.

Bolt Action: Russians

I was going through my photos and I realised I hadn't posted any pictures of my finished 28mm PSC Russians. My oringinal posts on the package deal I bought from PSC can be found here and here and here.

The infantry

You get more infantry than this in the box. I just painted up what I needed. There's a good selection of poses and they paint up well. All the figures were sprayed with Army Painter sand colour and the extra details painted in, they were then given a a coat of the Army Painter 'Strong' shade dip.

A close-up of some of the poses

The two different types of mortar you get.

The anti-tank and artillery options for the guns.

The Maxim and anti-tank rifles.

I was going to add a nice Foundry German force in greatcoats as opponents but I got ripped off by Maelstrom and they never arrived.

If you're interested in Bolt Action I did a quick review which can be found here.

Bolt Action goes Weird…

With Halloween approaching Warlord Games have produced some rules to allow you to incorporate some of their Weird World War II miniatures into games of Bolt Action. I think this is a great idea and I may be tempted into buying some figures to try these out.

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At Halloween the barrier between the world of the dead and living is at its thinnest. Even at this time it is rare for spirits to be able to crossover, but when many souls are crossing over one way some can slip back too. Soldiers do their best to avoid action at this time, it is hard enough to fight against the enemy, even harder to fight against former friends. These are some simple rules for playing Bolt Action during these dark nights.

Sometimes they come back…

Select your armies and mission exactly as in the Bolt Action rulebook. In addition for 20 points a British Army may upgrade one of their HQ characters to Major Terntadust; for 30 points a German Army may upgrade any of their characters (Lieutenant, Major or Captain) to Vamphyrs. Their rules remain the same as in the army lists for the level they’ve been purchased at but they gain the additional special rules below. The Wulfen-SS replace a Flamethrower team and cost 50 points for a regular unit, 80 points for experienced.
The game plays as usual until the first casualty is inflicted. Every time a model is removed immediately roll a d6. On a 4+ then the owner of the wounded unit places a zombie within 7” of the squad. If it is the last model in a unit (including single model units) then instead place d3 Zombies. If it is possible the zombies must be placed in coherency with another unit of zombies to create a large unit. If a new unit of zombies is formed then place a different colour dice in the turn-bag.

Zombies!

The rules for zombies are pretty straightforward. They are treated as any other unit except they are immune to pinning.
Zombies move when their counter/dice is drawn from the turn-bag. The player who last took an action chooses which zombie unit gets the action. The only action they can take is they will run 2d6”. This will be in a random direction unless there is a non-zombie unit within 12” in which case they head towards them.
Optional:
When a zombie unit is destroyed DO NOT remove a dice from the turn bag. Once each zombie unit has taken an action then they may receive a further action. The player who last took an action chooses which zombie unit gets the extra action.

Major Terntadust

Major Ternadust has long been the head of the secret British Army Division against paranormal activities. Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered his ministers to create a secret division in the British army to combat the recent reports of supernatural creatures in the German lines.

Zombies may not come within 9” of Major Ternatadust. Any that try to do so instantly stop 9” away. If zombies are within 9” of Major Terntadust at the start of their action then they run 2d6” directly away from Major Terntadust. Casualties removed within 9” of Major Terntadust do not create additional zombies.

Vamphyr

Hitler’s secret division has long been researching the powers of the occult and how to harness the powers of Darkness, to use against the allied forces.
Vamphyrs can control zombies that begin their action within 12” of them. Instead of rolling for the direction the Vamphyrs can choose the direction. The distance is still randomly rolled.

The Wulfen SS

The great weakness of Hitler’s Occult Forces is the Vhampyr’s inability to go out in daylight. To overcome this weakness the mountains and forests of Germany were scoured and the shock troops of the Wulfen-SS were formed.
This unit consists of a werewolf stormtrooper from the Wulfen-SS, ready to rend the enemies of the Third Reich limb-from-limb, accompanied by a wulfen ‘minder’ to keep them in line. The minder is treated as standard infantry armed with a pistol.

The Werewolf has the following special rules:

Making the fur fly – The werewolf has the Tough Fighters special rule.

Only Silver can stop it! – The werewolf ignores the first two casualty rolls assigned to it in each phase although exceptional damage will affect it as normal.

Rampage! – Should the minder be killed the Werewolf will go berserk! Remove all the pinning counters immediately. The Werewolf will now always receives a Run order when activated (this automatically succeeds). It will charge the nearest enemy unit but if no enemies are in charge range it will instead charge the nearest friendly unit. If there is no unit within 12” then it will instead run towards the nearest enemy unit.