The March to Third Edition – Beth’s Late-War Luftwaffe

Bolt Action author Beth Walsh has been hard at work on a new late-war Luftwaffe army. Some might say she has an enormous, perhaps even unfair, advantage in list building, being the curator of unit profiles for upcoming Armies Of… supplements for the new edition, but we won’t hold that against her!

Beth: “Having been helping with 3^rd Edition for a while I’ve had a good chance to look at what I could do with the new army construction rules. I’ve decided on two projects for the release of 3^rd Edition, a late-war German force based on the Ostfront and a late-war Free French force, both utilising numerous Warlord plastic kits and plenty of conversions!

For this article I am focussing on my new German force. This will be based around the last stand in the East, specifically those units that were part of Army Group Vistula. The main force will be based on the Hermann Göring Division, but without getting into specifics. Crucially I will be setting the force in the ruins of an urban environment using various basing techniques. This, combined with the general ragtag look of the models, will hopefully give the whole force a feeling of being broken and battered, thoroughly having endured the hardships of battle.

Planning

I knew I wanted a full machine gun platoon with four MG42 teams! Having pretty much never used an MMG team playing Bolt Action previously I felt the new edition was the time to change that. Other than those requirements I have no solid plans for what I want in the force, this will evolve as we go on so stay tuned!

Bases

The basing for this project is integral to the overall feel and to give the models an extra level of atmosphere. To get inspiration and reference I flicked through a few of the Images of War books I have on the shelf, I find them a very useful resource for modelling.

I will be following these basing techniques for the entire project. They are as follows:

• Using various thicknesses of plasticard to form the core of the urban environment
• Using a sharp craft knife to cut away segments, forming walls and windowsills. Similarly cut edges away to give the masonry a war-torn feel.
• Using a pin vice drill to represent bullet splash, ensuring these are in a coherent line to appear as if it had been “sprayed” from one weapon.
• Additional details such as fallen wooden beams (broken up coffee stirrers), sandbags (modelling putty/green stuff), barbed wire (available from Warlord Games), bits of equipment from various plastic kits.
• Using texture paint to fill in any ‘gaps’ on the base and to add any last chunks of rubble.
• Using a relatively simple painting scheme; neutral tones of various different shades (allowing for variation and avoiding the impression of just having a grey blob on a base).

The Models

The Division was part of the Luftwaffe and at various points in the war had a real menagerie of uniforms. In terms of modelling this is very exciting as it allows me to use a big mix of different plastic kits to achieve a real hodgepodge of smocks, tunics and greatcoats. I will stipulate now that I am taking some artistic licence with some of the modelling, mainly to give the force a feel of variety and to afford the opportunity to add or highlight interesting details.

The Hermann Göring Division had access to a number of different unforms (dependent on the theatre), and towards the end of the war there were definate cases of wear ‘whatever is available’. For this project I am working off this illustration (taken from Osprey Publishing’s The Hermann Göring Division). Although I’m trying to avoid overall uniformity this will serve as a great basis for the general scheme of blue/grey Luftwaffe uniform with reversible Waffen-SS camoflague smocks.

Here’s my first two completed units!

Next Steps

My next steps will be to make two more MMG teams to fill out the Heavy Weapons Platoon, then I’ll look at making up the necessary infantry for the Rifle Platoon!”

~Beth Walsh