15mm Flames of War DAK Grenadier Zug – Battlefront Miniatures

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15mm Flames of War DAK Grenadier Zug - Battlefront Miniatures

Back to Flames of War/15mm WWII for a moment, and I’ve also managed to finish off the first of the three Grenadier Zug (Platoons) that I started back in the day. As with the 88s I showed off recently, these didn’t have much left to go on them, so I’m only counting them as one “figure” each, despite the 35 individual figures across the eight bases. (Don’t worry, I’ll be counting each and every one of the next ones that have most of their work to do!)

15mm Flames of War DAK Grenadier Zug - Battlefront Miniatures

Now, it’s been fucking forever since I’ve played FoW, so I may get the odd name wrong – but these two stands represent the platoon command as well as the light mortar attached as fire support.

15mm Flames of War DAK Grenadier Zug - Battlefront Miniatures

Next up, we have the six stands that represent the 3 squads or 6 sections that makes up the bulk of the platoon. For my particular DAK force, I wanted it to represent a “campaign” force, so the uniforms are a mixture of tones – representing new uniforms, old sunbleached and worn uniforms, bits of uniform purloined from the attached Luftwaffe – not to mention captured apparel from the Commonwealth troops that the DAK spent their time engaged with. One thing I do remember about when I was building and conceiving of this army was one report that described the amount of captured and rag-tag gear the DAK were wearing in terms of it “looking like two Commonwealth Armies chasing back and forth across the north of Africa.”

15mm Flames of War DAK Grenadier Zug - Battlefront Miniatures

That mental image stuck with me and I wanted to reflect it with my army looking very much like that – so the models are a mix of the early types available (all metal, at the time) to give each stand and unit a more diverse look with more sculpt variation. This gives it a more interesting look and makes it more of an interesting paint project, but at the cost of being a lot more painful to paint – as I found out.

Ah well, on we soldier…

edit – I’ve just noticed something else that I’d completely forgotten – and so it’s not evident in the pictures either. Three of the infantry stands are in “combat” poses, while the other three are in “deployment” poses – the three “combat” stands are supposed to be in front, while the others would be behind them. Such small details that even I’d forgotten them!

34 thoughts on “15mm Flames of War DAK Grenadier Zug – Battlefront Miniatures”

  1. Nice-looking Germans. I’ve never played FoW myself. It was extremely popular for awhile some years ago but seems to have fallen out of favor where I live, along with come to think of it historical games in general; excepting a group of historical gamer self-styled “old farts” I sometimes game with. Unfortunately most of them seem to go for more obscure games and give a pass to more mainstream stuff. Of the 20 or so of them out there you’d think I’d be able to find at least one interested in the occasional game of Memoir ’44! 😐

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    • I know it was popular for quite awhile in the area I used to live. Not sure around here since I moved a few years ago – though there are no stores or clubs easily accessible where I am now. I’ve heard good things about Memoir ’44 and almost bought in myself until the combo of price to go in hard and the realisation of “who the hell am I going to play it with?” saved me.

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      • Yeah, that is my problem now with ’44. When I first bought it I played it a lot with a friend, but I moved out of the area and the friend died, sadly, and the game sits gathering dust, except for the rare occasion when my husband will play a game with me.

        I really like the Fog of War element with the command cards, which allow you to perform actions in various sectors of the battlefield, and I like how easy the game is to learn the basics of. It isn’t like a lot of otherwise fun wargames where it feels like learning the rules is like taking a college class or something.

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      • Yep, if I had someone to play it with on even a semi-occasional basis, I’d be quite happy to, as all of the gameplay videos I’ve seen of it make it look quite appealing to me.

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  2. Lovely stuff again mate, I love the rag-tag look – having been in the army, it makes total sense… the only time we all looked the same in terms of kit and wear & tear was day one of basic training!

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    • I was in the military for a few years myself and I’d have to agree with Alex, the only day everyone’s stuff looks new was the first day you get it. Heck, not even then because when I was in basic some of the stuff they gave us was left-over’s from Vietnam and some was from Korea. I’m just glad I didn’t go in a bit earlier and ending up with someone’s cast-off musket!

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      • Good to know Ann – you know, it’s weird how many folks in this hobby are ex military… it seems a higher ratio than I encounter in other areas of my life anyway – do you think that’s a thing?

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      • It’s definitely a thing. There are a few other things as well that have become apparent over the years with minis gamers and/or roleplayers, but those are more for PM than public discussion…
        I mean, it could also just be that we find these things out about people more easily, or the overall circles of gamers are wider than those we interact with in our normal “IRL” lives.

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      • It’s a proportional thing. Naturally WAY more people are not military, but there seems to be a proportionally higher percentage of people with some sort of military connection than in the general populace. I could illustrate it pretty well with a Venn diagram, but then I’d have to draw a Venn diagram and post it up.

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      • There probably is and you are probably right; I haven’t thought about it that much. I would say that it is almost axiomatic so far as historical miniatures are concerned.

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      • Yeah, I’ve met a few of those type of people you are talking about, though not all of them were old, lol. I’m fortunate in the wargaming group I hang out with sometimes. For the most part the guys (and couple of gals) all seem to have pretty well-developed senses of humor when they are playing.

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  5. Nothing new here, just more awesome FoW units! The more of these I see, the more I appreciate the combination of tan colors and how they look realistic but not drab at the same time. Always inspiring to see your FoW painting. Keep ’em coming 🙂

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  7. Nice looking German platoon. I have not played FoW but love their tanks for sure. As for the military aspect, I guess I qualify on that front. BUT, not many former military are into modeling and gaming in the aggregate. What’s interesting is when in a game those with no military experience try to educate us who do!

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    • Thanks on the FoW models – there will be more tanks in the future, though I may need a bit of time to get there first at this rate.
      With Military/Gamers – It’s more the reverse as far as military go – not a high proportion of military are/become gamers, but gamers (especially wargamers, it seems) have a (slightly?) higher proportion of (ex/)military in their numbers than across the general populace. After all, gaming is a niche hobby and it turns out that playing with little tanks and soldiers skews the numbers in a few ways. Like role-playing games skew in a slightly different direction, and gaming itself in another.

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  8. Pingback: 15mm Flames of War DAK Grenadierkompanie Army – Completed! – Battlefront Miniatures | Azazel's Bitz Box.

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