Box Contents

The German Fallschirmjäger (Winter) Starter Army is a mix of plastic, resin and metal models containing:

• x6 German Fallschirmjäger (Winter) sprues (36 Infantry) – Plastic
• Fallschirmjäger (Winter) Officer – Resin
• Fallschirmjäger (Winter) NCO – Resin
• Fallschirmjäger (Winter) Medic – Resin
• Fallschirmjäger (Winter) Radio Operator – Resin
• Fallschirmjäger (Winter) Sniper Team – Resin
• Fallschirmjäger (Winter) Panzerschreck Team – Resin
• Fallschirmjäger (Winter) Pak 40 Anti-tank Gun – Resin crew with metal gun
• Fallschirmjäger (Winter) Medium Mortar Team – Resin crew with metal gun
• x2 Fallschirmjäger (Winter) MMG Teams – Resin crew with metal gun
• Sd.Kfz 222/223 Armored Car – Plastic
• StuG III/StuH 42 Assault Gun – Plastic

This Starter Army is not yet released but we have the contents and I have placed my pre-order so let’s take an initial look at an Army List built from this box. Although the new German Army Special Rules have been previewed in the Warlord Community, this Army List is built using the Army Special Rules from the Third Edition Rulebook. This list should adapt well to these once the Armies of Germany has been released in January 2025. One thing to keep in mind is that the points used to create this list are from the Rulebook, not Armies of Germany and may change once the book comes out.

The goal of this list is to create an army using as much from the Starter Box as possible while making an army that can be used for a causal pick-up game or bring the fight at a tournament.

The Last Gamble – Into the Ardennes List

Breakdown

(x) denotes a vehicle-mounted weapon.

Notes and Analysis

The objective of this list is two-part – 1) use as much of the Starter Army as possible and 2) make a List that works at a competitive level. Please keep in mind, this List was written using only the contents of the Starter Army.

What we have here is a mixed quality force with Veteran and Regular units supporting each other army that contains four Platoons (the max number Warlord Games suggests for a competitive event). Fallschirmjager are often depicted as an elite all-Veteran force. However by the time of the Ardennes offensive FJ troops were of mixed quality – so this list remains true to theme. Hopefully in the future Warlord will allow us to field FJ as Inexperienced as many of them were at the time of the Battle of the Bulge. Many units only received a few weeks worth of training before seeing action.

This force has 15 Order Dice (OD) which I suspect at the time of writing (Nov. 24, 2024) to be around the average number of Order Dice taken in a 1,250pt list in Bolt Action Third Edition. This list is a fully combined arms force. You can not rely on any singular unit to carry you to victory. You units must work together to beat your opponent. That being said if I had to pick the core units of this list I would say they are the three infantry units equipped almost exclusively with Assault Rifles and your Forward Artillery Observer. In Third Edition infantry units diminish much more rapidly than before so you will want to get them into position as quickly as possible under the cover of your supporting units. On that note what way to better provide cover than unleashing an artillery barrage against your foe? Call in that off-table artillery and once it strikes use the opportunity to move your FJ units forward into cover while your opponent takes time to recover from the barrage.

One Artillery Barrage alone though isn’t enough support to cover those soldiers advance across the table however. This is where the rest of the list comes into play. Let’s first take a look at how Heavy Weapons Platoon will support the infantry squads.

In the Heavy Weapons platoon there are two MMG teams and one Med. Mortar. The MMG Teams are fragile so make sure to set them up with good lanes of fire and cover if possible. With a whopping seven shots per MMG these units are going to be rolling a lot of dice with an excellent 36” range. Fire these at units looking to target your infantry squads advancing across the table. They can reliably put out Pins and chip away at your opponents infantry and artillery units. Next we have the Mortar. With Cover Saves introduced to this edition, firing directly at units gives your opponents models in cover a chance to save the wounds they take. This can make it very hard to remove units once they are in cover. Indirect Fire however, ignores Cover Saves. So fire your Mortar at any unit in Hard Cover that is looking to fire imaginary lead at your plastic troops. This will either force your opponent to spend time moving units out from under falling mortar shells or hold position until they take a (hopefully) devastating direct hit from your Mortar.

But that’s not all. We also have a Vet Sniper. This unit has Infiltrator which is by far my favorite special rule in Bolt Action. If the mission allows, this unit can pre-deploy before the game begins. This lets you set them up in an ideal vantage point. Infiltrator also grants +1 to your Cover Save roll if have not issued an Advance or Run Order to the Infiltrator unit. This brings the Soft Cover Save from a 5+ to a 4+ and the Hard Cover save from a 4+ to an incredible 3+ save. But wait there’s more! The Sniper has an innate bonus of +1 To Hit and +1 To Wound against infantry and artillery. This makes taking out NCOs, Weapon Team Leaders, and Commanders much easier. Bolt Action Third Edition really plays into the benefits of having those Platoon Commanders around – taking out your opponents leaders will help reduce their Moral giving them a higher chance of failing Order Tests. So take aim and plink away at your opponents Commanders.

Finally lets look at those Anti-tank units and the Sd.Kfz 223. Armor is ever more common on Bolt Action tables with the ability to field up to five Armored Fighting Vehicles (AFVs) in a single Armored Platoon. This list is chockfull of armor destroying goodness. It contains three units with Pen +6. The StuG III, Pak 40 and Panzershreck. What I have found best is for these units to work in tandem. Deploy your Pak 40 in cover if possible while having as many lanes of fire available. This is your static AT unit that should not be moving. It’s a fixed point. Now you want something that can slide its lanes of fire to intersect with the static lanes of fire of your Pak 40 to create over lapping firing lanes. A kill box if you will. The StuG III is an excellent unit for this job. You will want to use it as a mobile Anti-tank Gun, but only moving it when necessary. Now the reason I say only move it when necessary is because when issuing a Fire Order to an Anti-tank Gun you get +1 To Hit against vehicles. You are going to want to provide yourself with the best chance to hit your opponents AFVs while preserving your StuG. Move the StuG III up as needed to reach your Pak 40 lanes of fire where you think your opponents AFVs will be moving. The Panzerschreck is the insurance policy. You can deploy this where needed to shore up any weak points AFVs might try to push through or have it also set up with intersecting lanes of fire with your Pak 40 and StuG III. They say the third times the charm. Finally the 223. You can deploy this wherever you think is best. However, on paper I would have this accompany your StuG III so that the 223’s +1 Moral Bonus reaches the StuG to help it pass Order Tests if it takes Pins. Also those four MMG shots from the 223 will make your opponents infantry Anti-tank teams have a harder time getting a good shot at your StuG.

Although this list is light on infantry, we have 11 infantry models left over that can be used to build additional troops to field a list that focuses on larger infantry squads. So there we have it! A mixed quality force that relies on each other to get the job done.

What’s Next?

Thoughts and musings on where to go from here:

• Armor Options – The armor in this list takes up a lot of points. Great additions in my opinion to add to your armor pool are the Marder III and a Puma. These pack powerful Anti-tank Guns. The Marder is open-topped and should be used as a backline unit similar to the Pak 40. Keep the Marder in the rear and only move it forward if absolutely necessary. The Puma is super mobile with Reece and can help it escape from enemy fire.
• Drop one of the MMG units – This will free up 50pts to increase the size of your FJ Squads. Infantry are king. Bolt Action is, after all, an infantry based game.
• Heavy Auto Cannons – The Germans have more Auto Cannon choices than any other nation. These can be used along with your Pak 40 in the Artillery Platoon. ACs are great because they roll two shots per barrel improving your odds to hit. They also have the open to fire HE or AT rounds. They can be used effectively against infantry and if they are heavy Auto Cannons can be effective against a lot of AFVs. Auto Cannons also have the added bonus of being great at shooting down enemy aircraft if your opponent happens to be bring Forward Air Observers.

– Shane

Return to the Starter Army Box Breakdowns.