These Weird WW2 models were shelved amongst the "distractions". I had really liked the idea of playing some Weird War games, and had a few years back bought the basics of a some forces - mostly from Westwind's Secrets of the Third Reich and Incursion ranges, with a few bigger kits from the Dust Tactics series. For rules I ordered the SotTR rules and the Weird War iteration of Two Hour Wargames NUTS. And then nothing happened. Or rather, Other Things happened.
One of the Other Things was 28mm World War 2, and amongst that, my German force grew organically from a small demo force to a fairly solid collection. When PWG club decided to run a "very late war 1945" Bolt Action game, a quick chat with the umpire resulted in a green light for some secret weapons to be added to my German force...
The big mech is a Dust Tactics repaint, which I have named „Otto“
Schwere Technikrüstung Ausführung B. (Forgive my pidgin German - its all Googlate generated...) No additional detailing whatsoever. Otto's little friend is my interpretation of remote optical/IR targeting drone (dubbed „Spürhund“) based on a Tamiya 1/48th Goliath kit.
Bolt Action Rules
Before their debut on the gaming table, the game umpire and myself playtested some basic rules and and guesstimated point values for each of these models. No doubt we were wide of the mark in some instances, but they played fairly well. I have to admit I am a bit hazy on what we decided for the assault rules, but given that none of these models got into close assault we didn't get a chance to implement the playtest decisions. For their first deployment, we used the "Defence of the Ruhr" scenario from Battlefield Europe, we declared a large enclosed farmhouse as the Allied objective and the German deployment zone.
Standard Walker Rules
Light
Walker: 6/12 advance/run
Rough
ground: No run
Obstacle:
No run
Building:
OK
Advance:
2 Pivots
Run:
2 Pivots
Heavy
Walker: 9/18 advance/run
Rough
ground: No run
Obstacle:
No run
Building:
OK
Advance:
2 Pivots
Run:
1 Pivots
Walker Close Assault special rules:
- Walker does not have to make an assault directly to the front. It may pivot as part of the run move.
- Walker = Tank for purpose of being assaulted by infantry. (ie infantry units not equiped with AT weapons must pass order to test to assault it).
- If Walker initiates the close combat, target unit must pass a morale test to engage in close combat.
- Resolve assaults by and against infantry as per infantry rules, but damage as per armour rules. Compare number of wounds scored by infantry, vs number of wounds scored by Walker.
„Vielfraß“ Technikrüstung Ausführung B
Cost: 145pts (Veteran)
Damage Value: 7+ (Armoured car/carrier)
Weapons: 1 x Casement-mounted Medium/Heavy
Autocannon
Special Rules:
Fanatic.
Command
vehicle.
Light
Walker.
„Vielfraß“ Technikrüstung Ausführung G
Cost: 120pts (Veteran)
Damage Value: 7+ (Armoured car/carrier)
Weapons: 1 x Mech-mounted Flamethrower
Special Rules:
Mech-mounted
Flamethrower:
Hits:
1D6, Pen +3, Range 12, Fuel out on 1, Easily catches Fire (+1 to damage roll)
Fanatic.
Light
Walker.
„Vielfraß“ Technikrüstung Ausführung M
Cost: 120pts (Veteran)
Damage Value: 7+ (Armoured car/carrier)
Weapons: 1 x Mech-mounted Twin HMG
Special Rules:
Twin
HMG:
Fanatic.
Light
Walker.
„Otto“ Schwere Technikrüstung Ausführung B
Cost: 426pts (Veteran)
Damage Value: 9+ (Medium Tank)
Weapons: 2 x Super Heavy ATGs, 1 x pintle mounted
MMG
Special Rules:
Gyro-stabiliser
Fanatic.
Heavy
Walker
Flak
Rule
„Spürhund" Infrarot-Zielhilfe
Fahrzeug
Cost: 70pts (Veteran)
Tracked
Damage Value: 6+ Softskin
Weapons: None. 1 x Casement-mounted
Infrared/Optical Camera
Special Rules:
Radio-controlled:
Control team needs to be in play for the vehicle to be activated.
Targeting
aid: Requires succesful to hit roll to aquire target. If this vehicle moves, or
if target vehicle moves out of LoS, or if player removes dice at end of turn, target aquire is
lost. If LoS to any target is shared by this vehicle and any vehicle of its
platoon, that vehicle gets +1 to hit against the target.
As expected, the Otto was a great big glass hammer of a points sink. Yes it hit as hard as it looks it could, (if I recall correctly it dispatched at least one Firefly with ease) but its relatively poor armour and tall profile made it a juicy target for any Allied tanker on the table. The targeting drone was also a tricksy beast to play effectively - in order to be effective it had to leave cover. It lasted 2 turns before hull mounted machine guns saw it off. The „Vielfraß“ suits were the most cost-effective units, and they proved decisive in the defence of the chateau. I think the combination of the scenario and the terrain used on the day made it very difficult for the allied attacker, so in some ways didn't give us a full picture of the effectiveness of this force.
