You asked, and so you shall receive! This Intelligence Report will be covering some of the awesome new units that you’ll find inside Armies of Germany: Third Edition! One of our big goals with the new edition was to collect the many, many units scattered across the Campaign and Theatre books of the previous two editions, and look at which ones should be incorporated into the main Armies of… series. Now, we won’t be covering them all (that would be madness), but instead we’ll focus on three specific units, looking at how they work on the tabletop, what they bring to your force, and how you can go about building them!
Spähtruppen
We’ll begin with the Spähtruppen! These reconnaissance and scouting units were usually formed ad hoc from regular infantry units for special tasks – usually patrolling or observing ahead of an advance – and usually consisted of men known to have a particular affinity for this kind of work. Lightly equipped, they weren’t intended to engage in protracted firefights, and often made use of bicycles to redeploy quickly.
What we can see here is a really interesting little infantry unit with some cool options for customisation. Available in Regular or Veteran flavours, they start at 4 men, and can go up to 6 at full strength – right off the bat, this gives us a really interesting ‘low-cost’ option for Rifle Platoons that isn’t a unit of Inexperienced Shirkers, great for smaller points games and getting a few more dice into your list! The real fun starts if you don’t expand the number of men, however. With the option for 4-man squads to take either Infiltrators or Bicycles, and being eligible for all three Defend the Fatherland! options, that 4-man team suddenly gets a lot more capable on the battlefield. My personal favourite has to be running them as Gebirgsjäger with Infiltrators – 60 points for a forward-deploying team of Veterans that also has Fieldcraft? Yes please – perfect for hunting down pesky Spotters and Forward Observer teams! With so many different varieties to choose from, there’s really no wrong way to make your Spähtruppen – I’ll probably go for the metal Gebirgsjäger models as they’re packed with character, and look at replacing some of the heads with foliage-covered helmets to lean into the sneaky aspect a little bit – the world is your oyster!
Pantherturm
From small and mobile, we go to something big and very static! The Pantherturm is an unusual beast, being a vehicle that starts the game already Immobilised, and which can also be taken in an Engineer Platoon! As the name suggests, the Pantherturm is the turret from a Panther tank, mounted on a static baseplate and deployed as a permanent fortification! Used extensively across Europe as part of the German series of defensive lines, they were an effective way to cover an area with the devastating power of the Panther’s long 75mm gun.
In Bolt Action, we count the Pantherturm as an Inexperienced heavy tank (10+ DV) with a Super-Heavy Anti-Tank Gun and co-axial MMG – but with a few extra rules:
What we have on our hands is a very durable way to field a very large static gun, albeit with a few interesting challenges to how you use it! Being immobile, positioning is obviously crucial to making it work – you can’t redeploy it once the game begins! If you can find a hill or similar vantage point, your Pantherturm can provide ‘overwatch’ across a huge swathe of the battlefield, and if you can get it in some cover as well, so much the better! Devastatingly effective against enemy armour, and equally dangerous to infantry, it’s a great tool to have on an Ambush order – watch your opponent think very carefully about their next moves!
One of the coolest aspects of the Pantherturm is its Engineering Selection special rule, which allows you to field 0-2 of them in an Engineer Platoon instead of the non-mandatory Engineer squads – this leaves you with plenty of slots in an Armoured Platoon for tanks that can, well, move, and allows you to give your Engineer Platoon some real ‘oomph’, particularly useful if you don’t fancy taking an Artillery Platoon. It’s all about flexibility here, as of course they can also be taken in an Armoured Platoon as normal! Getting a Pantherturm into your collection couldn’t be easier – we make one in glorious metal and resin, which you can find here!
5th Columnist Unit
Finally, we’re taking a look at a rather unusual infantry squad to find in Armies of Germany – these ones aren’t German at all! The 5th Columnist Unit represents spies, saboteurs, and collaborators who rose up in various countries when Germany invaded, seeking to provide support and assistance to the Wehrmacht – with wildly varying degrees of usefulness! This unit profile represents these ‘helpful’ types taking on a direct-action role in battle, whether the German commanders know about them or not!
What we have here is a very strange little squad! A 5-man squad with Infiltrators for only 30 points? Surely some mistake – how could they be that cheap? Well, being Inexperienced and armed only with Pistols means the points come down, while the Independent Operators rule means that these guys are quite literally on their own – no army special rules, no morale bonuses, and no being the first activation – that brings the points right down! While this does mean they miss out on some fun bonuses, they ability to put a 5-man squad out in Forward Deployment is never to be sniffed at – they’re great for dealing with Snipers, Forward Observers, and any other pesky infiltrators lurking in the midfield, and they’re cheap while they do it, too! If you want a bit of mayhem, you can also give them a Demolition Charge to do nasty things to unsuspecting buildings. While not a unit you necessarily want to rely on to storm across the board, go toe-to-toe with a horde of Gurkhas, and seize crucial objectives every single game, they can be a great way to disrupt your opponent’s carefully laid plans if used smartly!
In addition to their rules, the 5th Columnists are an amazing opportunity to inject some really unique character and personality into your collection. A German force looks great on the tabletop, with its serried ranks of Feldgrau and Stahlhelme, and having a small group in civilian clothing makes for a great ‘accent’ unit that stands out from the rest – making your opponents (and your own officers) ask ‘who the hell are they?’! We’ve got a huge range of armed civilian models to choose from, whether you’re looking for Western or Eastern Front types. The French Resistance, British LDV, and Soviet Peoples’ Militia boxed sets are perfect for these ne’er-do-wells skulking in the shadows of the battlefield, but the sky’s the limit when it comes to making 5th Columnists – let your imagination run wild!
These are of course just three of the awesome units found within Armies of Germany: Third Edition – have you got your pre-order sorted yet?
