invisible officer

The main problem is that the gamer has a composition option at all. So the math wizards are building unhistorical monster units.

In German army the LMG was the last weapon to drop. Every soldier was trained to serve it and most units collected more in battle. Not just the German ones but also British or Soviet. Esp. in the defensive fights of…[Read more]

In real life there had been splinter rings to fix to the Panzerfaust head.  So it could be used like an HE grenade too.     The PIAT was even better for that role. With no backblast safe to use in rooms or trenches.

The temple of Ramses III relief show the carts  drawn by more than two oxen (= Slow) and with just one axle in mid of base (= unstable)  They seem to be ordinary trasport, carrying the belongimgs and kids. So more like a modern camper, not an APC.

Instead of adding power to a force they would seperate the fighters into the “crews” of a few p…[Read more]

The real observer was an expert. Specially trained and normally doing nothing else. A spotter was just an ordinary man that had a base training in gun spotting. Every officer and NCO had that ability in the big armies.   So the different rules are historically correct.

But  armies tended to misuse specialists. But mostly in desperate si…[Read more]

The problems with woods in games are old, as old as modern wood farming post WW II.  It starts with wrong ideas about woods being a light problem for movement and vision.

Modern men are used to the cleaned industrial woods of today.  Hardly any undergrowth.  Like city parks.  WW II was fought in old style woods.  Some thick undergroth was norm…[Read more]

Well, You gave te answer yourself.

“…..for years and year…”

I’m sure You use the standards with small scales,  like much stronger color differences than in reality.    The merge in a mess  thing can be seen with 1/1 scale real items at a distance. A 15 mm is like a real human in a long distance.

I’m lucky, even with 60 I need no opti…[Read more]

The nine barrels of Fliegerfaust B produced a shotgun effect. At 500 m it was a 60 m circle.  So one can expect just one or two  its. And the expected 500 m range was never reached with the pre series front trial weapons.The circle  was reported as 10% of range, so 10 m at 100 m.

Around Saarbrücken a few of the front test series got used but sco…[Read more]

Its the typical rules wording over real world BA tournament  fuss. One reason why I avoid these like hell.

With the German army having no long Gewehr since 1935, but just a Karabiner / Carbine for all arms , that is just nuts. That a writer did name the K98 k by mistake a rifle is for some anal tournament rule lawyers heavenly given law. In WW 2…[Read more]

“My opponent stated that my mounted German HQ could NOT have rifle carbines, as the officer slot in the Armies of Germany only state that I can have the models having: “pistols, rifles, assaults rifles, or SMGs”, specially – that I could equip the models with rifles but not carbines ”

Wow, what a nonsense.  The Geman army standard rifle …[Read more]

°From what I can tell british line infantry could be used if I paint the shakos red. The prussian landwehr sprue for the landwehr, and the british ranked rifles as jagers. Ideally we’d have models with the distinctive red hats instead of shakos, but baring that is this a reasonable aproach”

The shako was never red, only the forage cap- So yo…[Read more]

Historically the Jäger in war of Liberation are named Schützen.   For example the Schlesische Schützen Battalion. A Jäger unit.   So the term would be 100 % correct.

There was a problem with producing enough Jägerbüchsen / Rifles so some used carbines or shortened muskets.

The terms got used long time for same troops, so Fallschi…[Read more]

Very nice work

The round badge with a pip was really the Ober…….   But hardly ever used with that  term Obersoldat.  It was Oberschütze, Oberjäger, Oberkanonier and so on.

Hardly enough on the sheet for all uses, incl. the trade badges. So a Oberfunker needs two.

The chevrons are for Gefreiter, Obergefreiter and Stabsgefreiter.   ~  Corporal…[Read more]

In 25th army in Malaya most taken from shops and civilists got painted olive.

The Japanese made ones had been painted olive or in a light yellowish brown.  They stayed at home to hide the plans for invasion, saving space on ships  and increase landing speed.  Normally the army cyclist units had homemade ones.

They had special types, in…[Read more]

Similar to HM forces German Heer used trade badges. These small round badges denoted special abilities or jobs.  Normally worn on right forearm.

Like radio operator, Farrier, ordnance, Feuerwerker and some more.  In 28 mm the yellow sign on the green would be hardly different.  Gothic F or S for example….  SS had similar but on black.

The answers are 99% correct, 100% for the rules but the often written  Geneva Convention thing  is wrong.  In real world medics and hospitals are just limited to self defence and defence of the wounded.

So  a military doctor, being an officer, wore in many armies  a pistol (or even sword like British on parade) .  Hospitals had rifles and often…[Read more]

Well, in our home games nobody would use indirect fire from a moving vehicle.  You have to stop and do the ranging process if you do not intent to wate amo by putting the rounds far away from target.

In real world indirect fire the smallest change of barrel to the side or up and down would have big effect. Even streets are  not so smooth to a…

From first BA that question came again and again.  Naturally Katyusha units and Nebelwerfer used spotters.  Not wasting amo firing blind in indirect fire.

The rule writers tried to make the Multi launchers weaker for game reasons  but in reality a Feuerschlag from a Werfer Regiment was devastating. Round 1 –  Game end.  Just a few surv…[Read more]

Hmmm, sorry to say but that Volkssturm pistol stuff is historical fantasy.

Being and old professional historian and worse, from Berlin, I spoke for museum with many former Volkssturm men and former boys.  Pistols had been relatively rare and got used by NCO and officers and MG teams as secondary arms.

The pics showing organised Volkssturm…[Read more]

The French formed for example provisional Regiments of horse like 1st – 3rd Cuirassiers . Formed from escadrons drawn away from regular units.   The 1st later became the 13th Cuirassier.   At first the men wore the uniforms from the one they came from. Only at next replacement they got new dress.

Same with 1st – th Prov. Drag.

Same with inf…[Read more]