A hostile horde of Huns.

A hostile horde of Huns

We had a shindig for my birthday on Saturday and the War Room was temporary turned into a bar, which necessitated quite a bit of cleaning and tidying. As a result the table was clear for the first time in ages, so I took the opportunity to lay out my German forces. This is handy for two reasons, firstly it means that I could actually get a look at everything and secondly because I intend to run some Memoir '44 and it means that I can work out how many units of X and Y I actually have. 

Command staff - Kubelwagens and radio trucks. Britannia and a variety of ancient plastics. 

Most of these were collected for use in my Razvedcheki - GURPS World War Two campaign, so the choices may be a little odd for a wargamer. 

Artillery

A Britannia 120mm mortar, plus two infantry guns and a variety of anti tank ordnance.  I have more of those Revel 105mm somewhere. Possibly not. 

Britania crew with a Revell Pak.  I didn't notice the missing wheel on the AA halftrack until now. The self propelled piece is a Wespe, I think and was picked up via eBay, nearly a lifetime ago.  I think it's rather dinky. 

SHQ early war German paratroopers

These guys have probably seen more service than any other part of this collection.  When I began historical wargaming the second time around, my only opponent was a huge early Second World War enthusiast and we only played games that revolved around my fellows duffing up Belgians, Norwegians and on one notable occasion, the entire armed forces of Luxemberg. 

Italeri and Revell Panzergrenadiers. 

I painted all of these myself during a period of illness. They are based for Crossfire, a game that I enjoyed, but did not play as much as I would like. 

More Panzergrenadiers, including one deceased chap that I had thought was out of shot. 

Command staff and a lad with a flamethrower. 

Unpainted bits and pieces. 

I am actually surprised I don't have a painted 88. I shall have to attend to that I think. 

A better shot of the Command staff. 

My gallant Russian partisans murdered that jodhpurs wearing officer more times I care to mention. 

Some of the recurring villains of the piece, Britannia German Field Police. The dog handlers are from Irregular.  These guys spent a lot of time getting ambushed. 

A Britannia motorcycle combination with some plastic chums

I have no idea where the plastics came from, but these guys were used in quite a number of Indiana Jones style chases. 

A Panzer II from Revell and some other scout type stuff. 

Matchbox Panzer IIIs and a Revell Panzer IV

There aren't quite as many of these as I thought. I may have to invest in some regular Germany armour in the midst of all the big cats. 

SHQ dismounted Panzer crew

Some Sven Hassell characters from Drews Militia (or was it Battlefield?)

These guys were recurring villains in the game as well and were pulled out for one memorable game session, where one of the characters was having a nightmare.  It was great - all the other players were in on it and played along beautifully.

A Maus from Frontline

This slap of resin was used as a sort of Death Star type device in a convention game pitting Soviet Partians ("The Red Death Commando!") versus some hiliariously evil Nazis. 

"You have not heard the last of Colonel Siegfried von Stahlfaust!" was a recurring line as the villain, a Panzer officer with a prosthetic metal fist as he would make his escape for the third time that day. 

As one grows older, one asks oneself questions...

...and one of these questions is "Why do I have eight Tigers?" 

I don't even remember putting all of these together. The chaps on the left are repainted diecast models and I know I inherited two of the kits from a pal. This is rather more big cat than I need. 

An Italeri Blitz (right) accompanied by three Frontline Maultiers

The Maultiers were ordered because I got the code wrong when I was making up my order and was too embarrassed to say anything. 

Another three Blitz's  I think these are Frontline again and were ordered to replace the Maultiers. 

A collection of half tracks

The big gray one was from a weird Japanese company that I found in a pound shop for a euro. The others came with other kits I think and are either Italeri or Revell. 

Two big cats

These are Revell, I believe - though I assembled them more than ten years ago now. Krisztian did a job on the camouflage.

And lastly, two resin Hanomags. 

I think these are resin models from Frontline.  They were a gift from a friend a couple of years ago and I had intended to add a few crew to jazz them up a bit. 

And there you have it, in many ways a very typical early wargames army and I say this mainly because the plethora of Tigers. There is less standard armour than I had thought and a little shy on 88mm guns, but for the most part I think it should serve.

I have realised that I forgot to take a picture of the two Ferdinands, the King Tiger and the Jadgpanzer in the centre. I will remedy that in time.

In other news, the Padre is running a caption competition over at his blog and you should enter.  There simply will not be enough fart jokes, I fear.

You will find a link here.