Box Contents

The Perry Miniatures Afrika Korps German Infantry 1941-43 is a plastic kit containing:

• 38 Germany infantry (6 are prone with rifles sculpted on the models)
• 30 Rifles
• 10 SMGs
• 6 LMGs
• 3 Light Mortars
• 3 AT Rifles
• 1 Radio Operator

The List

Breakdown

Notes and Analysis

The objective of this list is two part – 1) use as many of the components from a single box of infantry as possible and 2) make a List that work at a competitive level. Please in mind, this List was written using only the content of a single box of infantry.

As with both Perry Desert Rats 1940-43 and US Infantry 1942-1945 boxes, this kit is a great offer. In a single box you get 38 plastic infantrymen for 18.33£ from Perry Miniatures directly, and even cheaper from third-party and independent sellers. The scale is a bit slimmer than Warlord’s heroic scale miniatures, but they mix well with each other as the height is about the same. At arm’s length
on the table, you’ll hardly notice the difference. In addition to this plastic box, Perry Miniatures offers plenty of options in metal to bolster out your Afrika Korps. Be it tank crews, artillery pieces with appropriate crew, Fallschirmjäger, Medium Mortars or different sculpts for your infantry. They even have a range of resin & metal vehicle kits but I’d rather use Rubicon and Warlord plastic vehicles.

In this very box you will get three identical sprues of 12 infantrymen each and a command sprue with a radio operator and a single model ideally used as your Lt. This list comes out to 34 men so you’ll probably have the radio operator and three men left that you can kit out however you want. I’d recommend rifles for their sheer versatility. In this game of Bolt Action, you can never go wrong with more rifles. The radio operator makes a great Spotter for when you add any type of Artillery or a Med/Heavy Mortar to your army.

This list comes in at 500pts event and will offer you a somewhat historical Early to Mid-War German platoon. Four LMGs with five shots each offers lots of firepower over longer distances and can set you up nicely for a platoon of Schützen Squads from Campaign: Western Desert. In this list I have chosen three identical squads of 8 men with an LMG. I’ve also added a the LMG Team for additional support. The benefit of the LMG Team over the MMG Team is that the LMG not fixed and can shoot on the move, however, it loses one shot (five instead of six). The option to close in on the enemy while still shooting is well worth it though in my opinion.

Next choice is the Light Mortar Team. Like the LMG Team, the Light Mortar is not fixed allowing you fire indirect support on the move. A Sniper Team can protect your own weapon teams by threatening away enemy snipers and weapon teams which the Sniper can take out with just a single kill. While there is no scoped rifle in the box, a sniper was more than often a crack shot over iron sights (take Simo Häyhä, the White Death, for example).

Lastly, the AT Rifle. While only having a +2 Pen, it can still threaten any Armor 8+ and below vehicle and can destroy any Soft Skin. It can also wound Vet infantry more easily than small arms and interestingly cause exceptional damage on Artillery which the sniper can’t. So while the AT Rifle is never a great replacement for a true Sniper, it can be handy in a pinch. Additional, the AT Rifle is a Small Team and at 30pts regular it’s a cheap Order Die.

As you can see this box offers you an almost unmatched amount of plastic for its’ low price. The only thing you might want to keep in mind is that it comes with 20mm bases, so I’d add a bag of 25mm bases from any manufacturer to the purchase. From this box you can go in almost any direction for whatever tickles your fancy in the Western Desert. Maybe add an Italian force or have your Deutsches Afrikakorps take it up alone against the British Desert Rats and other Commonwealth forces from Egypt to Libya and Algeria all the way to Tunis. You could also battle it out against the quickly learning Americans after their entry into the North African theatre of war with the crippling defeat at the Kasserine Pass. One final note, I highly recommend picking up a copy of Campaign: Western Desert to go alongside your new DAK.

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What’s Next?

Consider these additions to your 500pt 1 Box Army:

• A second Afrika Korps box – More boots on the ground is always a solid next step. This will give you enough men to bolster the existing squads, add additional squads like SMG-toting pioneers etc.
• Add a Flamethrower – A flamethrower model like from the Warlord German Heer Weapons Team box or kitbash one yourself.
• Mobility – A Truck with MMG for carrying Pioneers and more. A Heavy Field Car for a five-six man Pioneer Squad or a Kubelwagen for a Flamethrower Team. Maybe an SdKfz 250 or 251 “Hanomag” for flavor, although expensive in points?
• Mortars and Artillery – What would the North African campaign be without a Flak 88 and what would World War II be without stronger mortars? I myself never hit the table without a Medium Mortar with a Spotter. A Veteran Light Howitzer or a Medium Howitzer with a Spotter are also always a solid choice as are any type of Autocannons. Both Perry and Warlord have a lot of options available in this regard.
• A Tank – For starters don’t be tempted to get the big tanks as they more than often cost way too much compared to what they can offer you on the table. Panzer III Ausf. D/E/F are very good choices thanks to their 18 MMG shots at 140pts. Panzer III Ausf. G is also very good with its’ Medium AT at 155pts and 12 MMG shots. One of my personal favorites, however, is the StuH 42 at 190pts it gets you a Medium Howitzer in a Armor 9+ tank with a 360° MMG. Superb. It also looks almost exactly like the StuG III Ausf. F and G (not absolutely 100% but definitely close enough for proxy) and who doesn’t enjoy StuG life?
• An Armoured Car – While SdKfz 250/9, SdKfz 222 and SdKfz 231 are great choices for about 100pts and get you a Light Autocannon with coaxial MMG, the arguably best German Armored Car is a Soft Skin, the Motorcycle with MMG sidecar for 40pts. With Recce and 6 shots to boot, it’s nothing to be sniffed at and can cause your opponent quite a lot of headache. Rubicon makes a great plastic model for DAK and also one for late war and Warlord’s metal versions are nice too.

– Tim