Berlin German : Old Men and no reserves!

With the release of Bulge German my long awaited plan can finally come together. Namely a viable (in fact I would say rather good) army with none of the dreaded reserves. How can you accomplish such trickery and shenanigans I hear you cry….well settle down I will tell you tale of the Volkssturm.

Volkssturm represent the desperate attempt to defend Berlin with those not fit to fight (eg old men) drafted, given old weaponry, bags of Panzerfausts and the chance to repel the invader.

Now bear with me here because I know they are not great, but look closely and see the local militia rule. This means they count as on 0pts when calculating reserves. This means that field 40 points of them (in a 100pt game) and you have no reserves and a heck of a lot of troops (and Fausts) on the board.

The best thing is that they bought their friends in the Command Cards, namely Mortars, HMGs and 7.5cm Infantry Guns. The Volkssturm feature in the Berlin Battlegroup;

I can therefore field 3 platoon, mortars and guns, oh and then do it again. It is worth noting the HQ cant be Volkssturm though. My 40pts looks like:

Hq 4
Full Str Volkssturm Platoon 5
Full Str Volkssturm Platoon 5
Full Str Volkssturm Platoon 5
4 x Volkssturm HMG with nests 4
4 x Volkssturm 8cm Mortars 3
2 x Volksturm 7.5cm Inf Guns 4

Hq 4
Full Str Volkssturm Platoon 5
Full Str Volkssturm Platoon 5
4 x Volkssturm 8cm Mortars 3
2 x Volksturm 7.5cm Inf Guns 4

Total = 43 pts of Volkssturm (ie your reserves) and 51pt grand total

Before adding anything else lets note that we have 12 Faust shots, 4 x templates (all with smoke) and 4 x HMGs to provide DF when holding a position (your older gentlemen only have rifles). Given that a LMG in the platoons is 1pt and you can get 4 x HMGs for 2 guess what everyone will pick (#100ptsystem).

To fill out my remaining force I start with some recce, SS armoured cars at 2pt will do the job I need. Now I add something nasty. 3 x King Tigers from the training platoon. Sure they aren’t as good as SS but they are 41pts for 3 and I can downgrade to FA15 (oh no how will I survive 🙂 ), for a total 3pt saving. Next up is 4 x Luftwaffe 8.8cm Heavy AA Railway guns. Yup I love getting a second ambush and I also like the price of 8pts. This provides some hard hitting AT to add to the King Tigers ensuring I can kill at range and then up close with the fausts.

The full list is therefore

Formation 1
Hq 4
Full Str Volkssturm Platoon 5
Full Str Volkssturm Platoon 5
Full Str Volkssturm Platoon 5
4 x Volkssturm HMG with nests 4
4 x Volkssturm 8cm Mortars 3
2 x Volksturm 7.5cm Inf Guns 4

Formation 2
Hq 4
Full Str Volkssturm Platoon 5
Full Str Volkssturm Platoon 5
2 x Volksturm 7.5cm Inf Guns 4
4 x Volkssturm 8cm Mortars 3

Support
3 x Tiger II training platoon (with Porche command card) 38
SS SDKFZ 250 recce platoon 2
4 x Luftwaffe 8.8cm Heavy AA railway way guns 8
Lucky 1

Total = 100pts

All on table, every game…..

Now the big draw back here (before we talk tactics) is that you need to paint it all. That’s 49 inf stands, 4 x HMG nests, and 12 x mortars/guns, even before you get to support!

Tactics

I am excited by this but it wont be all smiles and walks in the (rubble wrecked) park. 5 platoons of infantry just isn’t really seen, especially at this size of platoon and certainly not with double Fausts. Deployment zones is a factor, you will cover a lot of it so dont get to hung up about templates. Trust me you can counter battery with your 4 templates. Key will be laying your railway correctly for the guns and take note that you get to ambush as if concealed, therefore you just have to keep the enemy 4 inches away to pop it. King tigers will of course the other ambush if you have it.

While this force is perfect for defensive battles it can certainly deal with a meeting engagement like dust up. The truth is you have to go quickly. Accept casualties and send at least 3 platoons towards their objectives. With 3 x King Tigers plus your railway guns, you should be able to thin out their armour and finish off what is left with your Fausts. Keep your HQ with you to help mitigate your reluctant status.

If the enemy has guns and infantry you can deny them with range in markers a plenty (if available) . Pick a point and wallop it. Equally don’t forget that you can have 4 turns of smoke which screens those aggressive inf and help to get them into the assault, or just protect them as they advance to Faust range.

A big threat is large templates, like Nebs etc. Make these a priority for your artillery and/or go after the OP. Remember if you smoke correctly to obscure the ranged in marker then its +1 to hit your troops even once ranged in. Every little helps.

When defending remember to use your board coverage to your advantage. You want to have no enemy within 8 inches of the obj on turn 6, therefore deploy forward. Accept that eventually you will get assaulted and fall back but make the enemy have to suffer defensive fire from your King Tigers (main gun or MGs) to do it. With so much infantry you should have no issues protecting their flanks.

Accept that you’re not going to win 8:1, adopt the Soviet mentality that people are expendable and take that objective.

Conclusion

While you could use the blocking platoon in Bagration to produce a 100% on table force, I would argue this is the first viable one. Plus I would also argue it is far more than ‘viable’, 3 x KTs is enough to scare most forces, let alone when combined with the templates, guns and 5 infantry platoons. Painting is going to be slog but I think it will be worth it.