Sample file Ostfront –

Table of Contents Germany in World War II...... 4 About This Book...... 5 Branches of the Wehrmacht - Guidelines for Army Composition...... 6 The Heer...... 6 The Panzer Division...... 6 The Panzergrenadier Division...... 6 The Luftwaffe...... 7 Fallschirmjager Division...... 7 Infantry...... 8 Regular Infantry...... 8 Assault Infantry...... 9 Conscript Infantry...... 10 Mortar Team...... 11 Artillery Crews...... 12 75mm PaK 40 ...... 12 50mm PaK 38 ...... 13 Flak 88...... 14 88mm PaK 43...... 15 Howitzer Battery...... 16 Flak AA (20mm-40mm)...... 17 Quad Flak...... 18 Vehicles ...... Sample file 19 Light Vehicles...... 19 Transport Truck...... 19 Sd.Kfz.251 Hanomag ...... 20 Sd.Kfz.222...... 21 Sd.Kfz.234/2 Puma...... 22 Sd.Kfz.234/4 Pakwagen...... 23 Kubelwagen...... 24 Mobile AA...... 25 Light Tanks...... 26 PzKpfw I Ausf. B...... 26 PzKpfw II Ausf. A...... 27 PzKpfw 38 (t)...... 28 Medium Tanks...... 29 PzKpfw III Ausf. F...... 29 PzKpfw III Ausf. J...... 30

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PzKpfw III Ausf. N...... 31 Flammpanzer III...... 32 PzKpfw IV Ausf. E...... 33 PzKpfw IV Ausf. G...... 34 PzKpfw IV Ausf. H...... 35 PzKpfw IV Ausf. J...... 36 PzKpfw V Panther...... 37 Heavy Tanks...... 38 PzKpfw VI Tiger...... 38 PzKpfw Tiger II...... 39 Tank Destroyers / Self-Propelled Guns...... 40 IV...... 40 Marder III...... 41 ...... 42 ...... 43 Ferdinand/...... 44 ...... 45 StuG III Ausf. A...... 46 StuG III Ausf. G...... 47 Jagdpanzer 38 ''...... 48 Sturmpanzer IV...... 49 ...... 50 Reference sheets...... Sample file 51 Damage & Range...... 51 Weapons, Universal Units & Support...... 52 Vehicles Reference...... 53 Early War...... 53 Mid War...... 54 Late War...... 55

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Germany in World War II The Great War left such an impression on the Allies that they decided to prevent such a thing from ever happening again. They decided to hit the Central Powers with sanctions and reparations hard in the Treaty of Versailles.

It didn’t exactly work as planned.

Instead, it left Germany in bad shape and led to growing resentment. As a result, the Weimar Republic was eventually taken over by the National Socialist Party, the Nazis, led by .

Hitler worked hard to indoctrinate and start a totalitarian state. His party would even have its own paramilitary arm. While Germany had already been investigating rearming secretly, the Nazis were re-arming openly. Germany soon interfered in the Spanish Civil War and annexed Austria. They allied themselves with Italy, led by Benito Mussolini, and struck a deal with Soviet to partition Poland. They also took a large part of Czechoslovakia and allowed Slovakia to break off.

The guarantees and the new alliances with France and Britain initially dissuaded Germany from invading Poland, but only for a short time. On the first of September 1939, Germany invaded and advanced against stiff resistance. The Soviets joined in and together they crushed Poland. The Western Allies neverSample took any file serious action in the opening month of war and soon paid for it dearly, as Germany refined their tactics and strategy and soon invaded France via the Low Countries, winning almost as quickly – the only reason it took them longer was that they had more ground to cover and no-one to strike at the other side.

Germany then attacked multiple neighboring states, taking over Denmark and Norway. They also assisted Italy in North Africa and Greece, landing a foothold in the Balkans.

But their greed would become their undoing. They attacked the Soviet Union in in 1941, pre-empting Stalin’s plan to strike at Germany by a few years. Even though Soviet tanks proved a nasty shock to the Germans, they had much success and pushed deeply into Russia but overstretched themselves and fell victim to Russian winter and unwillingness of their totalitarian state to surrender.

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Meanwhile, Germany's Japanese allies had been issued heavy sanctions due to their invasion of China, and in December 1941, they attacked the United States, at Pearl Harbor, believing that destroying the pacific fleet would break the American morale. Instead, they brought the American industrial and military capacity into the war openly instead of their previous somewhat limited material support to the Allies.

Soon, instead of just tanks and weapons from the United States, troops started arriving in North Africa as well. Due to internal Axis struggles, the Afrika Korps was permanently under supplied and by the time the supplies actually started arriving in North Africa the whole front was lost. It did not take long before the Allies invaded Sicily and mainland Italy. Germany tried to keep hold of as much Italian territory as they could. At about the same time, the Eastern Front’s stalemate started breaking in favor of the Soviets.

With the new front opened, Germany was hard pressed and the situation for them was grim. They also expected an invasion around Calais, but the Allies decided to strike Normandy in . With three European fronts, Germany’s fate was sealed.

Due to Hitler’s micro-management and inter-service rivalry hampering the German armed forces, the situation was not looking any better. Attempts to assassinate Hitler failed and he grew even more paranoid. But admitting defeat was still not allowed in Germany, even with three fronts tightening the noose continuously. Sample file Then came the Ardennes Offensive, also known as the . While Germany failed to achieve its objectives, it set back the Western advance a fair deal. But the price was too steep and the Allies had superiority everywhere. Ultimately, Hitler committed suicide and German surrender started on the 4th of May, 1945 and was finalized on the 8th.

About This Book This is the Wehrmacht Army List for Ostfront. Aside from flavour text, you will find unit sheets and reference sheets that will enable you to create army lists for the appropriate periods for your battles. The unit sheets contain all the necessary information about the unit as well as any special rules that might be necessary, while the Quick Reference Sheets provide a condensed write-up of unit attributes and a few handy tables. The whole book considers ease of printing so that you can use exactly the parts you need.

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Branches of the Wehrmacht - Guidelines for Army Composition The Wehrmacht actually meant the Armed Forces, not just the Army. While this became common usage in modern English, it’s technically incorrect. The branches were, obviously, separate, and they each had different roles. Hitler ensured inter-service rivalry that often resulted in the forces operating jointly, not side-by-side. The three branches were the Army (Heer), the Navy (Marine) and the Air Force (Luftwaffe). Notably, the Waffen-SS was not a part of the Wehrmacht even if they operated together.

The Heer The Heer was the main ground force of the Wehrmacht. They did most of the heavy lifting and took the brunt of the warfare. As the core, it was home to the famous Panzer divisions and employed the German arsenal to great effect.

The Panzer Division The Panzer Division was probably the most well-known type of German divisions. The armoured division was generally supposed to consist of two tank regiments (2-3 battalions) and one motorized infantry regiment (2 battalions) plus supporting troops. For instance, during Operation Barbarossa these support troops were an artillery regiment and a recon, motorcycle, anti-tank, pioneer, field replacement and communications battalion each. It was also the point where the ration changed to one tank regiment to two infantry regiments. Sample file

Notably, heavy tanks were mostly used as separate battalions. This means that only the most favored divisions would boast a heavy tank company.

All in all, this roughly implies a composition where a third of your points is infantry with their transports, a third is medium tanks and a third is support units. The support here is a catch-all term, obviously, and it includes the odd heavy tank, tank destroyers, towed guns, howitzers or assault guns.

The Panzergrenadier Division The Panzergrenadier Division is essentially a motorized division. On paper, they’d consist of six battalions of infantry, a battalion of tanks, a battalion of artillery, recon, pioneers, anti-tank and anti-air.

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This composition means that at least half of the force should be infantry with adequate transport capacity. Furthermore, the artillery, anti-tank, and anti-air components were in reality towed more often than self-propelled. The Panzergrenadier divisions would also often get assault guns instead of tanks due to tank shortages. If you’re planning to play a Panzergrenadier division, you should hold these facts in mind.

The Luftwaffe The Air Force was the branch which had the most Nazi influence, as it was essentially created by them and run by Hermann Goering. In contrast, the Navy was often considered very conservative and rooted in the old Imperial tradition.

Thus, Luftwaffe was somewhat less reliable. They fielded ground divisions that would co- operate with the Heer, though the Army noted that they were often less capable in actual combat.

Fallschirmjager Division The Luftwaffe had paratrooper divisions available. Naturally, employing these means using light equipment and assault infantry primarily. Some towed pieces could find their way into the field, but a paratrooper division would not really have vehicles available, aside from possibly those provided by the ground forces that linked up with them. Sample file

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Infantry

Infantry Platoon Move Early War Mid War Late War

6” Cost: 10 pts 10 pts 10 pts

Weapons

Name Range Hit Type Fires Notes

Rifle 12” - - Always Cannot be fired after moving more than 3”. Damages UA Vehicles on a 5+.

HMG 16” - - Always Cannot be fired after moving. Damages L2 facings on a 5+, UA facings on a 4+, inflicting +1 damage.

AT Rifle 16” 5+ -1 Always Cannot be fired after moving. Unavailable in Late War.

Rocket Launcher 12” 4+ - Always Cannot be fired after moving. Unavailable in Early War.

Grenade 6” 4+ - Always Ignores cover, ignores armour modifiers, standard damage vs infantry. Cannot be thrown after moving more than 3”. Indirect weapon.

Getting Pinned: 1-2 If Regular Infantry take 50% casualties, roll a d6. Regular Infantry are pinned if the result is 2 or less: They cannot move or fire next turn. Place a yellow marker. Platoons Regular Infantry are deployed in platoons. A platoon is two bases of Regular Infantry that must be initially deployed within 1” of each other. After deployment, each base can act separately, and does not need to stay within 1”. The two bases together cost 10 points. At the end of a battle,Sample each individual file base is worth 5 points.

Transport Regular Infantry can take a turn to embark a vehicle within 6”. Once embarked, they move at the same speed as the vehicle they are embarked in, and can disembark provided the vehicle didn't move Flat Out that turn. Disembarking infantry count as moving 3” for the purposes of shooting on the turn they disembark.

Going to Ground

If Regular Infantry haven’t moved during their turn, they’ve Gone to Ground and take -1 damage when fired upon.

About Regular Infantry:

A unit of about 25 men, Regular Infantry is a versatile, basic infantry unit. They are the professional soldiers for the Reich and they form the backbone of the Blitzkrieg.

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Assault Infantry Move Early War Mid War Late War

6” Cost: 10 pts 10 pts 10 pts

Weapons

Name Range Hit Type Fires Notes

Rifle 12” - - Always Cannot be fired after moving more than 3”. Damages UA Vehicles on a 5+.

HMG 16” - - Always Cannot be fired after moving. Damages L2 facings on a 5+, UA facings on a 4+, inflicting +1 damage. AT Rifle 16” 4+ -1 Always Cannot be fired after moving.

Rocket Launcher 12” 3+ - Always Cannot be fired after moving.

Grenade 6” 3+ - Always Ignores cover, ignores armour modifiers, standard damage vs infantry. Cannot be thrown after moving more than 3”. Indirect weapon.

Veterans Assault Infantry are veterans and they gain -1 to all Hit scores (already shown above) and add +1 to damage against other infantry. Getting Pinned: On a 1 If Assault Infantry take 50% casualties, roll a d6. Assault Infantry are pinned if the result is a 1: They cannot move or fire next turn. Place a yellow marker.

Transport Assault Infantry can take a turn to embark a vehicle within 6”. Once embarked, they move at the same speed as the vehicle they are embarked in, and can disembarkSample provided the vehicle file didn't move Flat Out that turn. Disembarking infantry count as moving 3” for the purposes of shooting on the turn they disembark.

Going to Ground If Assault Infantry haven’t moved during their turn, they’ve Gone to Ground and take -1 damage when fired upon.

Outflanking If Assault Infantry are Outflanking, they start the game in reserve. Each unit rolls a d6 at the beginning of each turn (including the first). On a 4+ they can can move on from any table edge except inside the enemy’s deployment zone.

Insertion If Assault Infantry are not Outflanking, they may start embarked in a Standard Infantry Carrier. They also can make a free 6” move when the game starts, embarked or not.

About Assault Infantry:

A unit of about 10 men, they were known as Sturmmann, which translates to “storm man” or “stormtrooper”. Assault infantry are experienced and well-armed and capable of performing feats and strikes regular infantry were not quite suited to.

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Conscript Infantry Move Early War Mid War Late War

6” Cost: 3 pts 3 pts 3 pts

Weapon

Name Range Hit Type Fires Notes

Rifle 12” - - Always Cannot be fired after moving more than 3”. Damages UA Vehicles on a 5+.

Conscript Infantry Conscripts do not have any weapons besides their basic rifles.

Getting Pinned: 1-3 If the Conscripts take 50% casualties, roll a d6: They are pinned if the result is 3 or less: They cannot move or fire next turn. Place a yellow marker.

Transport Conscripts can take a turn to embark a vehicle within 6”. Once embarked, they move at the same speed as the vehicle they are embarked in, and can disembark provided the vehicle didn't move Flat Out that turn. Disembarking infantry count as moving 3” for the purposes of shooting on the turn they disembark.

Going to Ground If Conscript Infantry haven’t moved during their turn, they’ve Gone to Ground and take -1 damage when fired upon.

About Conscript Infantry: Sample file A unit of about 25 men, Conscript Infantry are a unit of people in compulsory service and with sub-par equipment rather than regular volunteers. Conscription in Germany was instated by the Nazi party in 1935.

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Mortar Team Move Early War Mid War Late War

6” Cost: 15 pts 15 pts 15 pts

Weapons

Name Range Hit Type Fires Notes

Rifles 12” - - Always Cannot be fired after moving. Damages L2 facings on a 5+, UA facings on a 4+, inflicting +1 damage.

Mortar 24” - - Always Inflicts +1 Damages on one infantry base within range. Indirect. Smoke Shells.

Getting Pinned: 1-2 If the Mortar Team takes 50% casualties, roll a d6. The Mortar Team are pinned if the result is 2 or less: They cannot move or fire next turn. Place a yellow marker. Embarking The Mortar Team can take a turn to embark a vehicle within 6”. Once embarked, they move at the same speed as the vehicle they are embarked in, and can disembark provided the vehicle didn't move Flat Out that turn. Disembarking infantry count as moving 3” for the purposes of shooting on the turn they disembark.

Going to Ground If The Mortar Team haven’t moved during their turn, they’ve Gone to Ground and take -1 damage when fired upon.

Smoke Shells Instead of a regular mortar attack, the Mortar Team can fire a Smoke Shell. The Smoke Shells scatter 1d6”. Nominate a target. Roll a standard D6, and a Scatter Die with 4 arrows and 2 Hit! Signs – if the result is hit, then there is no scatter. Otherwise scatter in the directionSample of the arrow file D6 inches Place a 3” diameter circle of Smoke at the struck point. The smoke counts as infinitely high for purposes of the game. The Smoke gives +2 cover to any target it obscures completely, and +1 to any target it covers partially. Indirect weapons are effected, but only ever count the smoke as +1 cover, even if the target unit is directly in the centre of the smoke marker. Roll for every circle of smoke at the start of your turn: it dissipates on a 4+, and is removed from play.

Cannot Capture or Contest The Mortar Team cannot capture or contest objectives or supply trains.

About the Mortar Team: A Mortar Team is a small detachment of regular infantry equipped with a mortar.

Basing: Mortar Teams should be mounted on the same 3” X 1.5” base as regular infantry.

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Artillery Crews

75mm PaK 40 Move Early War Mid War Late War

10” Cost: 8 pts 8 pts 8 pts

Weapon

Name Range Hit Type Fires Notes

75mm Pak 40 36” 4+ - Always

Getting Pinned: 1-2 If the PaK 40 Gun Crew takes 50% casualties, roll a d6. The Gun Crew are pinned if the result is 2 or less: They cannot move or fire next turn. Place a yellow marker.

Going to Ground The PaK 40 Gun Crew can choose to Go to Ground in their turn: They take -1 damage when fired upon but they cannot shoot that turn.

Towed Gun The PaK 40 may pivot on the spot and fire, but it counts as moving (+1 to Hit score). The gun cannot be moved until it is packed up. It takes one turn to pack a Towed Gun up and one turn to set up a Towed Gun for firing. Towed Guns move up to 10” per turn while packed up. The Towed Gun cannot fire when packed up and counts as an infantry unit for the purposes of damage.

Gun Shield The Gun Shield gives -1 cover to any rifle or HMGSample attacks originating file forward of the front of the guns base.

Cannot Capture or Contest The PaK 40 Gun Crew cannot capture or contest objectives or supply trains.

About the 75mm PaK 40: The PaK 40 was the standard anti-tank weapon of the Wehrmacht. It was available to their allies as well and formed the basis for the most efficient guns during late and mid war, such as the 75mm KwK 40 L/43 and L/48 variants, mounted on the Panzer IV, the L/70 75mm KwK 42 of the Panther or 75mm StuK 40 of the StuGs.

Basing: The 75mm PaK 40 should be mounted on a 2” X 2” base.

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