Project 716 – Round Up

Martin back with a final look at my D-Day 80th Anniversary project to build 716 Infantrie Division. Its been a long and at times frustrating project starting back in January. So lets have a recap of what I set out to paint and build. My initial plan was esssentially just to build the elements that comprise a Beach Defence Grenadier Company as seen below plus an artillery battery to represent 716 Artillery Regiment with its slightly antique captured guns. The panzerjager regiment oddly wasn’t possible as there wasn’t an appropriate option in the Force Support diagram for them.

Well a few things overtook this namely Battlefront released the D-Day compilation books in May and included the ability to add a regular Marder unit in, so I could add 716’s Marders to the project, I had toyed with using the 21st Panzer Marder option here but had been unable to get the models. The second was the Shoot & Scoot Patreons Day D-Day mega game, for which I got to use D-Day Fortifications and needed to have some mobile reserve troops into an 80 point gaming list. This meant I didn’t need to make some of the gun pits I had planned for this project as I already had some amongst my exisiting Beach Fortifications models but, it did mean I needed to paint another unit of Panzer IV’s for my Reserves, so they went on the build pile.

So what have I actually made for this project in the end?

  • Beach Defender Grenadier HQ with Panzerfausts, 2 teams
  • 2x Beach Defender Greadier Platoon with 7 Rifle/MG teams, Panzerfausts and 2 Panzershrek Teams
  • Beach Defender Greadier Platoon with 7 MG teams, Panzerfausts and 2 Panzershrek Teams
  • Beach Defender HMG Platoon, 4 teams
  • Beach Defender 81mm Mortar Platoon, 4 teams
  • Beach Defender 12cm Mortar Platoon, 4 teams
  • Beach Defender 15cm Infantry Gun Platoon, 2 teams
  • Beach Defender 7.5cm Anti-tank platoon with 3 gun teams (I did build 4 so they can be used as a Support choice instead of the 8.8cm guns)
  • Marder Tank Hunter Platoon of 3 vehicles
  • 10.5cm Artillery Platoon, 4 gun teams
  • Observer Team on foot and a Panzer III
  • 8.8cm Tank Hunter Platoon, 4 gun teams
  • 2cm Light AA Platoon, 4 guns teams (as well as the SdKfz 10/4 halftrack option)
  • Panzer IV (late) Platoon, 5 tanks
The complete breakdown of the Units built and painted as part of Project 716

In total 36 Infantry teams, 22 gun teams and 8 tank teams. This provides me with a basic 140 Points worth of Force which means I have plenty of options of what to choose when playing a standard sized game and I can play some really big beach Assault games when I get the time. I have managed to build all my Formation platoons with my D-Day thematic basing style and model things to reflect the majority of the actual equipment they had rather than generic models. Compared to the actual Order of Battle for 716 in June 1944 the only unit I am really missing some representation of is a platoon of heavy AA guns which gives me something to come back to for the next major anniversary!

One of my infantry teams behind wire and sandbags

Tactics

Tactically things are pretty straight forward with a build like this. 716 Infantrie Division were a static defensive formation and any list will play in a similar manner with my Formation units determined to hold ground up to a point, supported by the heavy Artillery and AT platoons. Lets face it being Green and Agressive does make it harder to win with these guys though not impossible. The Panzer IV’s and Marder platoon provide a pair of effective counter attacking platoons and neatly come in at 40 points for both platoons perfect for standard sized games when matched with my core Formation which just needs to loose a single point to be a nice round 60 points.

My Beach Defender emplaced 7.5cm AT platoon made from foamcard and spare parts!

Going for a simple build I’ll have 3 solid infantry platoons, with 2 or 3 AT weapons each, some significant anti-infantry capability in my HMG unit along with 4 assorted bombardment templates, two units of which can provide some defensive AT firepower as well and 2 smoke barrages when needed, all assuming I get them ranged in. Plus a platoon of AT12 guns to keep the enemy honest until my mobile reserves arrive and capable of deliveruing a decent Ambush. The Marders will deal with enemy heavy tanks whilst the Panzer IV’s my best platoon in terms of overall capability can deliver a game winning assault when opportunity presents. This leaves me plenty of options of how to set up for a game under most scenarios, the lack of a Spearhead unit makes some of the manouver scenarios a bit more tricky to play. It’s not going to face off well against all LW list options we see but should perform more than well enough against other D-Day Book Formations.

12cm Mortar position

Related articles

These are my previous articles on collecting and building this force for reference:
https://breakthroughassault.co.uk/project-716-organising-infantry/
https://breakthroughassault.co.uk/project-716-modelling/
https://breakthroughassault.co.uk/project-716/