Sturmkompanie
Seems like all I do these days is make lists. I guess that's part of the hobby. I like putting together forces and playing FoW theory in my head. I'll readily admit, given the weight of evidence on this blog, that its distracting, and maybe I should just embrace it and carry on talking about lists without actually following up on them with painting. After all I've got a stupid full painting queue, as I'm sure many of my readers fully understand.
But today is not one of those days! I've actually been painting German infantry at a blindingly fast pace. Since my last blog entry (which was actually about British, if you recall) I've painted the following:
2x Pioneer Platoons (10x Rifle/MG teams each)
1x PaK40 Platoon (w/ 3 guns)
1x 7.5cm Infantry Gun Platoon
And I've rebased the following to match the above:
2x Panzergrenadier Platoons (7x MG/faust teams)
1x Heavy Platoon (2x HMG teams, 2x 8cm Mortar teams, 2x Command stands)
1x Panzergrenadier HQ (2x SMG and 1x Panzerschreck team)
All of that I did on a whim, I have no idea why I did it. Since doing my MW Strelkovy horde, I've had nothing but the infantry bug for painting, and again I find that weird! Anyway, I've been capitalizing on that as much as I can.
I got to thinking why I had all of these platoons assembled in the first place awaiting painting and it finally occured to me that they were my long lost Sturmkompanie, which I assembled (but never painted) while I was writing my first book, Stalin's Onslaught. Since then its been sitting in this box marked "Random German Crap". Everything was basecoated in black primer and had been sitting there for the better part of 4 years!
So I thought I should finally get this army finished! Judging by my random painting progress I figure I have the bulk of it already done. Now I just need to finish painting whats left in the box:
Sturm Anti-tank Platoon (2x PaK40 + Cmd)
Artillery Battery (has 3x 10.5cm guns, but I'll paint 4 so I can use the battery elsewhere as well)
Sturm Platoon (7x MG/faust teams)
2x Panzerschreck teams
2x HMG teams (will add another pair to bring it up to a full strength platoon)
3x StuG G
Once all that is painted I guess I'll have a good amount (1980pts worth) of the force sorted out:
HQ (2x SMG/faust, 3x Schrecks): 140pts
Sturm Platoon (full, all teams with fausts): 270pts
(Collect each sturm platoon's 2x teams w/fausts into this platoon)
Sturm Platoon (full, HQ w/ faust): 210 pts
Sturm Platoon (full, HQ w/ faust): 210 pts
Sturm Heavy Platoon (full, HQ w/ faust): 155 pts
Sturm AT Platoon (full, HQ w/ faust, 2x 7.5cm PaK40): 130 pts
Assault Machine-gun Platoon (full, HQ w/ faust): 150 pts
Infantry Gun Platoon (full, HQ w/ faust, 2x 7.5cm leIG): 90 pts
AT Platoon (full, HQ w/ faust, 3x PaK40): 180 pts
StuG Platoon (3x StuG G assault guns): 285 pts
Artillery Battery (full, 3x 10.5cm leFH18): 160 pts
So, just a few platoons to go and we'll be set. The great thing is that this force constitutes my 'generic' Germans, so I intend to fill them out with all of the German options possible so I've got a good solid foundation.
But today is not one of those days! I've actually been painting German infantry at a blindingly fast pace. Since my last blog entry (which was actually about British, if you recall) I've painted the following:
 |
| Stuff I've painted or rebased in the last few days |
1x PaK40 Platoon (w/ 3 guns)
1x 7.5cm Infantry Gun Platoon
And I've rebased the following to match the above:
2x Panzergrenadier Platoons (7x MG/faust teams)
1x Heavy Platoon (2x HMG teams, 2x 8cm Mortar teams, 2x Command stands)
1x Panzergrenadier HQ (2x SMG and 1x Panzerschreck team)
All of that I did on a whim, I have no idea why I did it. Since doing my MW Strelkovy horde, I've had nothing but the infantry bug for painting, and again I find that weird! Anyway, I've been capitalizing on that as much as I can.
 |
| The box, in case you didn't believe that it existed. |
 |
| The Pioneers that started it all several blog posts back |
Sturm Anti-tank Platoon (2x PaK40 + Cmd)
Artillery Battery (has 3x 10.5cm guns, but I'll paint 4 so I can use the battery elsewhere as well)
Sturm Platoon (7x MG/faust teams)
2x Panzerschreck teams
2x HMG teams (will add another pair to bring it up to a full strength platoon)
3x StuG G
Once all that is painted I guess I'll have a good amount (1980pts worth) of the force sorted out:
 |
| The stuff I rebased (originally from my old Aufklarungs) |
Sturm Platoon (full, all teams with fausts): 270pts
(Collect each sturm platoon's 2x teams w/fausts into this platoon)
Sturm Platoon (full, HQ w/ faust): 210 pts
Sturm Platoon (full, HQ w/ faust): 210 pts
Sturm Heavy Platoon (full, HQ w/ faust): 155 pts
Sturm AT Platoon (full, HQ w/ faust, 2x 7.5cm PaK40): 130 pts
Assault Machine-gun Platoon (full, HQ w/ faust): 150 pts
Infantry Gun Platoon (full, HQ w/ faust, 2x 7.5cm leIG): 90 pts
AT Platoon (full, HQ w/ faust, 3x PaK40): 180 pts
StuG Platoon (3x StuG G assault guns): 285 pts
Artillery Battery (full, 3x 10.5cm leFH18): 160 pts
So, just a few platoons to go and we'll be set. The great thing is that this force constitutes my 'generic' Germans, so I intend to fill them out with all of the German options possible so I've got a good solid foundation.
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| PaK40 Platoon |
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| Infantry Gun Platoon (sorry for the photo qualities. I'll stop taking photos at night!) |
They look excellent... infantry everywhere! I like the basing with the little rocks n stuff. Very cool.
ReplyDeleteImpressive progress. You're not the only one with a "list building addiction". I've personally played around until I can use the Sturm Coy as an...offensive force. People say it's wrong, but what do they know? I think list-building is valuable practice and definitely helps you become more aware of the choices you make and the impact they have on the game. Sometimes it's even fun...
ReplyDeleteI take it you're using the old "classic" Evan LW Grenadier sculpts?
CdlT
Very cool!
ReplyDeleteVery nicely done.
ReplyDeleteThe "art and science" of list building is an area that many of us could use a lot of education. When I first started, I chose my army based on personal preferences, not based on performance on the table. While I am still fairly new to the game (about 12 months experience), I am starting to learn more. Of course, easyarmy.com makes it even easier to play the "list building game." I have 3 tournaments in a 5 week span here in Wisonsin / Illinois (USA) area that are upcoming. One of them is a quick style, three gamer that has blind domination (twice) and domination once. These are new missions for me and come from the I-95 folks on the East Coast / publicized by the WWPD guys. Blind domination is fascinating and I am really crafting a list that I think will work in that mission. And that has started the whole list building bug!
Question on the rebasing - did you glue the infantry to the original bases? If so, how did you get them off?
Keep up the great work (professional work AND personal work)!!
Very Nice! I like the bases.
ReplyDeleteThanks guys for the comments! I'm pretty pumped to keep going. I cleaned and assembled the 10.5 battery this evening whil waiting for the magic wash to dry on two HMG and two 'schreck teams. I don't know why painting infantry has gripped my modelling attention so much lately. So much in fact that I get a little anxious when I even consider painting vehicles!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, thanks for the motivation!
Chev: Yeah, I've always wanted to take the Stumkompanie out for an offensive. I know many see it as a static list, but I think that's a waste of its abilities... sort of like US and Brit paratroopers. I don't see why people are content to sit in their holes. Seems like a waste of points, like people who dig in with their Nisei or FSSF... But thats just my opinion I'm sure!
Yes indeed they are Evans old Panzer Grens. Its what I had when I assembled the force initially. If i could do it again, I'd probably consider using the Sperrverband figures for that ragged look!
WEB: On the basing, all I did with these is strip off all of the static grass and bright green woodland scenics bushes. The colors were just all too wrong for my tastes! So I generated a look a bit closer to what I had in mind for my generic Germans. I was thinking about doing a little tutorial at some point on basing. Its my favorite part of the process actually!
Thanks again guys! Back to work on those 10.5s!
What is it with getting into painting infantry? It often gets a hold of me for weeks on end as well. Anyway your basing looks really cool (as well as the figures). So yes please do a tutorial on it at some stage.
ReplyDeleteCheers