Schutzmannschaft Battalion 118

[racm32]

For the upcoming 750pt Combat Patrol, Bolt Action Tournament I have painted up a force of using the German Anti-Partisan Eastern Front list. They will represent a platoon from the Schuzmannschaft Battalion 118 which was a Schutzmannschaft auxiliary police battalion (Schuma). The core of the Schutzmannschaft battalion 118 consisted of Ukrainian nationalists from Bukovina in Western Ukraine. While an auxiliary police force would most likely never be equipped with SdKfz 222 armored cars or 251/1 half-tracks, I figured for the purposes of a propaganda film they might temporarily be. As such I have included a videographer to film Battalion 118 in action to show how well equipped even the auxiliary police are and that the Communists Partisans have no chance.
Additionally I build a 2x2 display board specifically for this Tournament and modeled it to look like it could be anywhere in the Ukraine countryside.

More close up photos and full roster on my blog: https://wyndehurstproductions.blogspot.com/2022/03/schutzmannschaft-battalion-118.html

[MaleGriffin]

Fantastic work! Absolutely brilliant!

[tomrommel1]

outstanding craftsmanship!

[CapnJim]

Now that looks great all put together.  Well done!

[racm32]

Thank you all!

[TacticalPainter]

You’ve done a great job with the painting and terrain there but I’m intrigued why you’ve chosen to represent this unit and what combat do you intend to game?

They have an extremely unpleasant history and seemed to have spent much of their time wiping out villages to ‘pacify’ rear areas and remove support for partisans (with the odd extermination of Jewish communities thrown in as part of this). I assume you are aware of the war crimes trials?

What sort of scenarios do you envisage playing? I’m just trying to imagine how many unarmed civilians your opponent gets for 750pts and if you have enough time to shoot them all in the turns available?

[fred]

You’ve done a great job with the painting and terrain there but I’m intrigued why you’ve chosen to represent this unit and what combat do you intend to game?

They have an extremely unpleasant history and seemed to have spent much of their time wiping out villages to ‘pacify’ rear areas and remove support for partisans (with the odd extermination of Jewish communities thrown in as part of this). I assume you are aware of the war crimes trials?

What sort of scenarios do you envisage playing? I’m just trying to imagine how many unarmed civilians your opponent gets for 750pts and if you have enough time to shoot them all in the turns available?

This.

[traveller]

Wow! 

[racm32]

You’ve done a great job with the painting and terrain there but I’m intrigued why you’ve chosen to represent this unit and what combat do you intend to game?

They have an extremely unpleasant history and seemed to have spent much of their time wiping out villages to ‘pacify’ rear areas and remove support for partisans (with the odd extermination of Jewish communities thrown in as part of this). I assume you are aware of the war crimes trials?

What sort of scenarios do you envisage playing? I’m just trying to imagine how many unarmed civilians your opponent gets for 750pts and if you have enough time to shoot them all in the turns available?

Fair question. The tournament is for 750pts and a combat patrol. Looking at the models I had I felt like a Anti-partisan Eastern Front list fit the theam of the tournament pretty well. Then I was looking for a unit that actually existed that would fit along with them and that was the 118th. I did see they were accused and tried for war crimes  but then most Anti-partisan forces ended up killing many civilians so I don't think I would have found any unit to fit the bill with a clean record. I didn't put any markings in the vehicles or minis to tie them specifically to the 118th so as soon as the tournament is over the will revert to default Germans and the board will be used for skirmish games.

[Digits]

I have a Waffen SS unit for CoC so I won’t comment on their history….there were virtually no axis units in the East that didn’t carry out war crimes anyway.

What I will say however, is this looks really good.  I saw you putting togetHer the board and as a display setting for your force, it looks fantastic,

[JohnFoA]

Nice modelling with a great diorama base.  Will the base be enlarged for your game - I'm unsure of these rules and any relationship points to table size.

Re the idea of gaming 'Police' activities.  Yeah, it has been remarked on that vast swathes of German and the Eastern Allied armed forces were appalling and their actions were genocidal to local civilian population.  Mind partisans weren't much better and I wouldn't want to live on the difference.

But not wishing to start a long thread on comparative hell each side inflicted, I always say if a match up of Partisans vs Police is a wargame.  I have played out the Warsaw Uprising several times and make a point of not putting out civilians, despite there being many unfortunates in the crossfire.  I found that objectives and game mechanics have to be carefully adjusted for a good game.  Firepower-wise its only ever going one way.

Hope it goes well.

[racm32]

The base will just be used as a display board at the tournament. When its over I will swap out the buildings for some Dark Ages ones and use the board for skirmish games.