Box Contents

The Rattenkrieg – German Veteran Infantry Starter Army is a mix of plastic, metal and resin models containing:

• x6 German Veteran Infantry sprues (36 Infantry) – Plastic
• German Veteran Infantry Officer – Resin
• German Veteran Infantry NCO – Resin
• German Veteran Infantry Medic – Resin
• German Veteran Infantry Radio Operator – Resin
• x2 German Veteran Infantry MMG Teams – Resin crew with metal gun
• German Veteran Infantry Medium Mortar Team – Resin crew with metal gun
• Sd.Kfz 222/223 Armored Car – Plastic
• Panzer IV Ausf. B/C/D/E/F Tank – Plastic

The Buzzsaw 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.

New Starter Army Box and new Armies of book! As if the release of the plastic German Veteran Infantry wasn’t enough to celebrate, this Starter Army Box Breakdown is using the new rules, point values and unit entries from Armies of Germany: Third Edition. The German Army List in the Rulebook has been replaced by the new Armies of Germany and our army list here reflects those changes. Let’s dive in.

This is a 14 Order Dice, 3 Platoon, 1,250pt list. Now, 14 OD may seem low at 1,250pts but notice that every infantry unit in this list is Vet. The only Reg units are the two vehicles. There are no soft targets. This list is designed to keep the enemy at arms length. This is not an assault list. It’s a gunline. It’s a army list that wants to be the defender. It wants the enemy to come to them. There are three MMG Teams that each spit out 7 shots at 36″ range. MMG Teams are in a great place for Third Edition and should not be underestimated. Backing up those three MMGs are four LMGs in the two Grenadier Squads. That’s another 10 shots at 36″ range from each of the two squads. The small arms output from this list is wild. Keep at least one of the Platoon Commanders close to the MMGs to make sure they will pass any Order Tests and use the Medic to provide that additional 6+ save.

For additional harassment we have a Forward Artillery Observer – great for putting down additional Pins over a wide area. Those Pins will be critical to slowing down the enemy advance and will give you more time to churn through enemy units with all those MGs. The Med. Mortar is there to lob rounds at any static weapons the enemy has and don’t forget, you can use the Forward Artillery Observer as a Spotter for the Mortar. You’ll need to focus down on enemy indirect fire as your MMG Teams are juicy targets for enemy Mortars and Howitzers.

The two SMG Grenadier Squads are meant to advance into cover and provide a “speed bump” against any enemy units that survive the hail of MG fire. These two squads and your Rifle Platoon Commander are meant to lie in wait and then spring into action once enemy infantry closes the gap. You will also these units to push objectives. Point-blank SMG fire is an excellent way to clear an enemy off an objective. Especially if they are Down in cover (point-blank ignores Down).

We do have a weakness though. This force will struggle against Heavy armor. The 222, Panzer IV and Artillery Observer will be able to handle any Light and Medium AFVs but anything higher than Armor 8 will be a real issue. Both the Panzer IV’s Light Howitzer and the 222’s Light Autocannon only have a Pen of +2. Thus, any Veteran Armor 9 won’t even take Pins from a hit from either weapon. A handful of Panzerfausts would solve our problem, but, there are none included in the Starter Army Box.

We are using almost every model in the box. This list requires 32 of the 36 plastic infantry and we are using both MMG Teams, the Med. Mortar, the Radio Operator (as the Forward Artillery Observer), the Medic and both resin officers – one for our Rifle Platoon Commander with a pistol and the other for the SMG-armed extra man. But even with all these models in the list we left a lot of options unused. For example there is a plastic Flamethrower included on the infantry sprue. With that in mind, a great direction to take this Starter Army is a full Engineer Platoon. Run a minimal Rifle Platoon with some LMG support squads to back multiple units of Engineers and Flamethrower Teams. We also did not include any AT Rifle Teams (the AT Rifle is also included on the sprue). You have got to love it when a Starter Army provides multiple list opportunities.

What’s Next?

Thoughts and musings on where to go from here:

• Panzer Ace – As this is a Veteran force, I wanted to include a Veteran vehicle and unlock Panzer Ace. There are only a handful of vehicles with Panzer Ace as an option and the vehicle must be taken as Vet in order for Panzer Ace to be used. The Panzer IV Ausf. G/H/J or Hetzer are both excellent candidates for your Panzer Ace. A Heavy AT Gun with an additional +1 Pen and +1 to the Damage Chart role is truly terrifying.
• Add Panzerfausts – The Heer Veteran Grenadiers has the option for up to four Panzerfausts per squad. Now four per squad is overkill put tossing two into each of the SMG squads will provide all the AT punch you need.
• Drop one of the MMGs – If you drop an MMG Team you are just one point shy of bring in two Vet Anti-Tank Rifle Teams. And considering how weak our current AT is, that’s not a bad idea. Additionally, the AT Rifle is included on the German Veteran Infantry sprue so it’s no issue to make this adjustment.
• Reg instead of Vet – For this list I went with Vets for thematic reasons. If you’d rather run more units with more men, go for Regs. The models will work just as well for Regular Grenadiers or Regular Heer.

– Andrew

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