German Bolt Action Force for Unternehmen Merkur (Crete 1941)

[von Lucky]

Like many of us, at this time of the year I think about wargaming projects for the year ahead. Since Christmas I have finished a DBA army for Cancon, and I have still a Tribal army of Maori to paint (which I should be painting as I type this...), but there's other things that are already distracting me.

One of these is completing a 28mm German Bolt Action army. There's no deadline as such, so it'll be slow-burn.

The bulk of the miniatures I bought on eBay in September 2006(!) and I bought the rest over Christmas. The last choice was making a proxy for a motorcycle with MMG sidecar.

I decided to be a little whimsical and use a mule with a spare MG34 infantry figure. I think the mock up works:


Next step will be gluing it together, Greenstuff, etc. The rest of the army is ready to be undercoated. Probably in February though, as Cancon is at the end of January.

You can read more about the army composition here:
https://donnerundblitzenwargaming.blogspot.com.au/2018/01/fallschirmjager-in-crete.html

I'll update this thread if I don't get too distracted.

[Poiter50]

The Rubicon MC with sidecar would be good for that. I thought BTD had a FJ MC as well.

[von Lucky]

They do too:
https://eoeorbisuk.com/collections/world-war-2/products/ww2130-fallschirmjager-motorcycle-and-sidecar-1?variant=4539433219

I'll consider it as I paint the army.

[Poiter50]

  but I do like the idea of the mule with the LMG gunner. Gebirgsjagers would have used that in their ops.

[flatpack]

Did the donkeys get parachuted in, or travel by glider ?
Only joking.
Good call on using the pictures and info you have found, to add a bit of character to the game.

[Truscott Trotter]

[flatpack]

Love it. Wicker wings. 

[carlos marighela]

Like many of us, at this time of the year I think about wargaming projects for the year ahead. Since Christmas I have finished a DBA army for Cancon, and I have still a Tribal army of Maori to paint (which I should be painting as I type this...), but there's other things that are already distracting me.

One of these is completing a 28mm German Bolt Action army. There's no deadline as such, so it'll be slow-burn.

The bulk of the miniatures I bought on eBay in September 2006(!) and I bought the rest over Christmas. The last choice was making a proxy for a motorcycle with MMG sidecar.

I decided to be a little whimsical and use a mule with a spare MG34 infantry figure. I think the mock up works:


Next step will be gluing it together, Greenstuff, etc. The rest of the army is ready to be undercoated. Probably in February though, as Cancon is at the end of January.

You can read more about the army composition here:
https://donnerundblitzenwargaming.blogspot.com.au/2018/01/fallschirmjager-in-crete.html

I'll update this thread if I don't get too distracted.

Dunno how Blot Akshuns 'army' lists run but AFAIK, fallschirmjäger platoons throughout the war were based on 2X LMG per squad, not one, save possibly for those smaller groups deploying by glider which, of course, actually had another LMG,  available to the pilot upon landing.

Here's the relevant KStN (TO&E) from 1939:

https://www.wwiidaybyday.com/kstn/kstn5223L1jun39.htm

Two LMGs per squad is also what's shown in the 1944 KStN so it's reasonable to assume that in 1941 they also had two.

You might want to bookmark this, it's a very useful guide to German organisation.

https://www.wwiidaybyday.com/kstn/kstnmain.htm

Love the donkeys, especially the winged variety.

[Poiter50]

My understanding is that one of the section LMGs was used as armament for the glider. Once landed it was used dismounted.

[carlos marighela]

My understanding is that one of the section LMGs was used as armament for the glider. Once landed it was used dismounted.

There were one or two MG-34s fixed to the side of the DFS-230, I'm not sure whether they were the section's organic weapons stored there or intrinsic to the glider's own armament. The pilot or a passenger had access to an MG-15, which is a dedicated air weapon that was carried at the rear of the cockpit.

I think it's more a case of the section's using the glider's weapons rather than the other way round.

Here's a photo showing the stowed MG-34. Looks like a standard MG-34.

There's also an illustration alleging to show how it was fired whilst fixed.

[carlos marighela]

Subsequently found a photo of the inside  of a crewed DFS-230, which shows an MG-34 stowed inside. So it appears I was wrong. There were two MG-34s available to glider sections/squads as well. plus the pilot could, in theory give covering fire from the glider with the MG-15.

[von Lucky]

Thanks for the links Carlos. Luckily I can read German I originally bought the miniatures for Disposable Heroes & Coffin for Seven Brothers, where they reflect that structure well.

Frustratingly in Bolt Action you can only get one in a 10-man squad (it starts as a 5-man squad with an LMG option and an option to purchase an extra 5 infantry). Alternatively I can field two 5-man squads, but these are tactically useless in game.

[Westfalia Chris]

There's also an illustration alleging to show how it was fired whilst fixed.

Honestly, that looks like the sort of sillyness that would feel right at home in Bolt Action. 

[von Lucky]

Yeah, and I think I'll add a few BV 40s to the force too.

[carlos marighela]

Honestly, that looks like the sort of sillyness that would feel right at home in Bolt Action. 

Further proof, if anymore were needed, that the popular trope that Germans are a humourless people is demonstrably false.