Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Greeting all. This is my thread for all the excitement surrounding my new Kampfgruppe Peiper force, 15th Scottish Division and 21st Panzergrendierkompanie. I am attending the Breakthrough Assault event in Dorset on the 22nd-23rd February, so thought I'd take this chance to create a blog and hopefully review the tournament/my list as well.
So, we will start with Kampfgruppe Peiper:
Now, originally I was going to take my Motorised 21st Panzergrendierkompanie army, which I have about 3000 points to choose from, but despite trying several lists, and at one point even 'promoting' them to SS (if that is a promotion, as opposed to a change in ideology...) but I simply didn't like how I played them. I found I was generally reacting with them and that I used them very statically. My regular opponents-my brother with his US 3rd Armored Division and my friend with his Aufklärungsschwadron- were threatening to spoil my day and stop my glorious defense of Normandy, so I felt that I would be propping up the tournament table if I continued, so I decided to try something different. I experimented with a couple of Panzer list from Atlantik Wall, and then I saw the Kampfgruppe Peiper boxed army on EBay, which I picked up fairly cheaply.
Contents are: Company HQ with SS-Obersturmbannführer Jochen Peiper with Panther G (Late), two Panzer IV J, one SS Panzer Platoon with four Panzer IV J, one SS Panzer Platoon with three Panther G (Late), one Schwere Panzer Platoon with one Königstiger with five Fallschirmjäger Tank Riders, one Anti-aircraft Platoon with four Ostwind.
This comes to about 1675pt, and the tournament is 1750, so I felt I had a few points to play with unless I realised there was no infantry and that the Ostwinds weren't a feasible choice to hold objectives in my half of the table. I dropped Peiper from the list and replaced him with a large unit of 9 stands of Fallschirmjäger. I was going to drop 2 of the Ostwinds and squeeze in some artillery, but decided to stick with the hard-hitting, mobile theme of the list and went for a Me 262 A2a Sturmvogel instead.
Thus the list was now:
SS-Kampfgruppe Peiper HQ-2 Panzer IV J (150pts)
Combat Platoons
SS-Panzer Platoon-4 Panzer IV J (300pts)
SS-Panzer Platoon-3 Panther G (490pts)
Schwere SS-Panzer Platoon-1 Königstiger (Henschel) (295 pts)
Weapons Platoons
SS-Panzer Anti-aircraft Gun Platoon-4 Ostwind (3.7cm) (205 pts)
Support Platoons
Fallschirmjäger Platoon-1 Cmd Rifle/MG team, 9 Rifle/MG teams (205pts)
Air Support
Sporadic Air Support Me 262 A2a Sturmvogel (105 pts)
Company Points: 1750

Looks good! Hope to meet you at BA 2!

You'll recognise me Reaver83 - I'll be the tall Scottish one on the bottom table
So, how does such a fearsome list perform I hear you all cry, and shall we just give him the top place to save us all the horror of being beaten by him???
Well....
Record is thus:
P 3 W 1 D 0 L 2.... A record that most Scottish teams can only dream of.

Both loses came against my brother's US 3rd Armored Division. I would post up his list, but as he's taking part in Breakthrough Assault as well it didn't seem fair to just post it up! What I will say is that the first game was a Free-for-All , where I made a few very foolish decisions with my Panzers and Panthers which resulted in me losing the Panthers to a flanking maneuver by 75mm Shermans and getting my Panzers (including Commander and 2IC) shredded by a combination of 76mm Shermans and mobile AA (in the flank). My plane was poor, driven off by the AA MGs on the Shermans twice in a row, not helped by rolling up low-strength flights. The Konigstiger was a brute, shrugging off the best he had to offer, until I immobilised it crossing a wall.... The Ostwinds were devastating against recon platoons and half-tracks, reaping a decent tally by the game's end.
The second defeat was Cauldron, with me as the defender. I had awful luck that saw me lose three Panthers to 76mm Shermans from the front, get the Konigstiger bailed out from a single flank shot from a 75mm Sherman, and me spend 4 turns trying to evict a unit of 105mm Shermans from a farmyard with the Konigstiger and my Panzers.
The victory however, was as glorious as it can be! My opponent was using Germans (an argument over how best to lose the war turned sour.... ) from the new Desperate Measures book.
His army was:
1 Command Panther
1 2IC StuG
2 Panthers
3 StuGs
3 StuGs
3 Brummbar
4 10.5cm Artillery pieces
Platoon of Panzergrendiers
Platoon of Panzergrendiers
2 8.8cm Guns
The mission was Surrounded, with myself as the Attacker.
The 2 objectives were placed in diagonally opposite corners, one defended by the Brummbar and 88's, the other by the Panthers and Artillery. I ignored the one with the Panthers and Artillery and deployed in a very lop-sided manner, all bar my Panthers facing down the 88s. Turn 1 saw the Ostwinds kill them as the opening action of the game and from that point it was a forgone conclusion, especially after my Panthers ran over the only Observer team that could see my forces. My plane was far more effective, killing the Command Panther in Turn 1 and wiping out the artillery in turn 2. The Fallschrimjaeger got lucky in an asault with a unit of StuGs, and the Panthers very quickly dealt with the other. The Brummbars got flanked(!!!) by the Konigstiger (with the ability to reroll misses) which went as you can imagine. The game ended at the start of Turn 4 (maybe 3)

I imagine the force will struggle against large infantry forces packing large amounts of decent gun teams, as they will deter me from otherwise assaulting and every model lost is fairly major so a firefight against large numbers of StuGs/6 Pounder Guns/T34s will hurt, and I think a decent artillery strike will be nothing short of catastrophic.

Looks-wise I'm very taken with the force, and I like the colour scheme, although I'm the first to admit that I've not painted it to my best standard due to a combination of lack of colours at my disposal, time constraints, and being rather rusty. I was going to put them on winter bases to reflect the Battle of the Bulge, but as the Fallschrimjaeger have a penchant for short-sleeved shirts I felt that would be irresponsible of me...

The Panzers and Ostwinds are painted in GW's Tallarn Sand, a couple of coats was necessary to give an even coat (must say it's a vast improvement on the old desert yellow) then washed with Vallejo's Brown Wash. On the Panzers the camo was done in Dark Flesh and Orkhide Shade (both GW) whilst on the Ostwinds I used Vallejo's Flat Brown and Olive Drab. The tracks were kept simple-gunmetal and then a black wash and then a brown wash (all Vallejo). The waterslide transfers were a long, painful and loud process and I apologise to anyone who heard my yells of rage and frustration all the way from Aberdeen!! All it took was a spraycoat of Army Painter's Matt Varnish to finish them off.

Can't believe I missed this post!

Great looking army, I look forward to seeing it in a couple of weeks.

Ben


Automatically Appended Next Post:
P.s. Love the camo on the panzer ivs

Thank you Greyhunter I am hoping that the weather doesn't go any more mad than it already has, been watching the state of Dorset with growing trepidation! Looking forward to the tournament it mut be said.
So, the Panthers and Konigstiger.... A mixture of flat red and flat brown (Vallejo) with a bit of Liche Purple (GW) for the base-coat, with a gentle brown wash. Then it was Olive Drab for the green camo and Tallarn Sand for the sandy camo (I now have both the Vallejo Desert Yellow and Middlestone which I will use on the next lot). The tracks and MGs were yet again just Gunmetal with a black, then brown wash. Yet again, nothing too fancy, but I wanted to have them done to a uniform standard, and I was sadly limited by paints that I had. They look nice, from a distance of two or so feet, and the army matches, so I can't complain.
Observant viewer may notice that Peiper has commandeered himself a Panzer.... This is because I took both command figures out the box, then got them confused. To make matters worse I had to chop Peiper's hand off, midst much grumbling, to get him to fit in the Panzer. Then I realised my error....
I will post up a battle report over the weekend, detailing my Devil's Charge, so stay tuned!

So, today's game is Surrounded, with my brother's US 3rd Armored Division under attack by Kampfgruppe Peiper. The objectives are the BF Ammo Dump and Fuel Dump, deployed in the garden area of our French Village-a combination of Airfix and Hornby buildings, with roads, a field and hedges from Small Terrain and Fat Frank. We'd hoped that our latest order of scenery would arrive ahead of today's game, but no luck, hence why not everything is base-coated or attached to it's wooden bases.
The game is 1750 points, in prepartion for Breakthrough Assault.

Turn 1
A 2-strength flight of Me 202's swooped down over the 76mm Shermans, braving their AA machine guns, whilst the Panthers and Konigstiger burst through the treeline, guns roaring. When the smoke cleared 3 75mm Shermans were destroyed and their Sgt had bailed out of his tank. The aircraft saturated the area with bombs, but when the smoke cleared there was only minor damage to the paintwork... The Panzers blitzed out of their hiding place in the farm, neatly flanking the 105mm Shermans, 7.5cm destroying two and bailing out a third. The Ostwinds poured high-caliber rounds into the entrenched infantry, cutting down a squad as they dived for cover.
The 76mm Shermans battened down the hatches, and under Sgt. Poole's instructions gave the Fallschrimjaeger hell, pinning them, with the dismounted recon platoon cutting down a stand with their LMG. The 75mm Shermans gunned their engine to speed past the Panthers, sending a round through the side of one as they did, blowing it up. The 105mm Shermans attempted a close-range artillery bombardment of the Panzers, but failed to hit anything. The AA halftracks opened fire on the Ostwinds, bailing one out in a hail of brass and lead. The Command Tanks took down a Panzer that had failed to notice their cunningly-laid ambush

Turn 2
Another 2-strength flight of Me 202's descended on the 76mm Shermans whilst the Panthers pushed up towards the dug-in Armoured Rifle platoon defending the ruins. The Konigstiger carefully sighted on the surviving 75mm Shermans, and bailed both out. Thye Ostwinds sped closer, guns chattering madly as they took revenge on the US AA, tearing through the closest 2. The Panzers destroyed three of the remaining four 105mm Shermans, and the survivor failed his morale check, abandoning his vehicle. The Me 202s failed to range in on the 76mm's and flew away, to the cursing of the Fallschrimjaeger. The Panthers assaulted the Riflemen in the ruins, bazooka and 3.7cm rounds whizzing past, causing one to bail out as they crashed through the low walls, crushing a bazooka team beneath their treads, causing the survivors to fall back.
The Command Tanks opened fire on the Ostwinds, turning one into a raging inferno, whilst the 76mms moved up into the village, ready to try and turn the tide of the battle, a single shot flipping an Ostwind end-over-end, crushing the crew. The recon squad continued to pin the Fallschrimjaeger with suppresive fire, whilst the 75mm Sherman crew cowered behind their vehicles.

Turn 3
The final flight of the Luftwaffe produced it's third 2-strength flight, which cut down an LMG stand from the recon platoon. The Konigstiger moved onto the objective, knocking out the last two 75mm Shermans in the process while the Panthers fired their main guns into the building overlooking it, killing the bazooka team, LMG and rifle stand in an incredible round of shooting. The Panzers took on the 75mm command tanks, destroying the commander and bailing out his 2-IC. The survivng two Ostwinds lowered their guns and let fly at the Rifle troops, killing an unlucky bazooka stand. The Fallschrimjaeger leapt to their feet and started to run for the village.
The 76mms trundled down the side streets, and opened fire over the small vineyard, smashing through 3 Panzers with deadly percise fire, whilst the 2-IC remounted his tank and returned fire, dead-shotting the German 2-IC. Sgt. Poole caused the Commander to bail out. The AA made a heroic dash to intercept the Konigstiger on the ammo dump, hoping to delay it long enough for the Armor to come and deal with the behemoth. One of the 76mms opened fire on the Panther, but only succeeded in alerting the crew to his presence, whilst the surviving bazooka team destroyed an Ostwind and the 3.7cm gun bailed out the last one. The last 76mm Sherman then blew it up with a well-placed round through the magazine.

Turn 4.
The Panther remounted and the pair of them turned towards the objective. The AA halftracks vanished in a giant fireball as three German heavy tanks unleashed their wrath on them. The Fallschrimjaeger continued their dash for the village, sprinting along the main street as the battle raged to their left. The Commander climbed back into his Panzer and attempted to fall back behind the wrecks of his squadron in an attempt to avoid the high-powered guns of the 76mms. The Ostwind recrewed and continued to pour rounds into the infantry cowering in the ruins.
The 2-IC rounded the smoking wrecks of the Panzers and opened fire, his stabiliser allowing him to send round after round into the hapless German commander, reducing his tank to a burning deathtrap. The 76mms turned on the Panthers and let fly with everything they had, but when the smoke cleared, both tanks were undamaged, and blocking the route to the objective. The Armored Rifle Platoon attempted a heroic assault but the Panthers MGs pinned them down.
Turn 5
The Konigstiger sat beside the fuel dump at the start of the turn, and with that the game ended. It was a hard-fought, but glorious victory for the German Army.

Well, after 3 defeats and 1 victory, Kampfgruppe Peiper moved at the double to EBay, shockingly without throwing a track or failing to arrive at the designated time....
So, onto the next project: The Art of War. Stay tuned for the new list(s) soon...