Western Desert Battle Report and Blitzkrieg 1/48 Sdkfz. 250 and 251s!

On Thursday I hosted a Bolt Action game using the new models I've painted for the Western Desert, on the amazing desert terrain tiles that Conscript Greg left here when he moved away. The occasion for the game was a visit by Founding Conscript Curt from Regina. The scenario was a straightforward clash in the desert, envisioned as part of the Battle of Gazala in May-June 1942. The Germans were on the attack with a Panzergrenadier platoon mounted in Sdkfz. 250 and 251/1 halftracks, two MMGs and crews in a truck, and a Pzkpfw. IV Ausf. F and Pzkpfw III Ausf. G. These are entering the table from the right and lower right as shown in the photo above.  

The British were deployed to defend their bivouac area, and deployed an infantry platoon with commend section in a Universal Carrier, two Vickers MMGs, two six-pounder AT guns, and a Stuart Honey and Valentine coming in from Reserve. 

"Die Panzer Rollen in Afrika Vor!"

The infantry was grouped behind the AT guns waiting for their chance to engage.

Eager to get to grips with the enemy, the British infantry rolls out from behind the AT guns. To their front, the halftracks, tanks and truck are moving towards the British lines. Firing by the AT guns on the first turn was ineffective.

The German infantry and MGs disembarked from their transport and dashed into the wadi, taking cover at the far side and engaging the British infantry. The command Sdkfz. 250 was knocked out and the surviving members of the command section took cover behind a patch of scrub.

The German MG34s were pretty effective against the British Vickers six-pounder crews. The British infantry was perhaps a bit over anxious in closing the range to engage, given that they were out in the open.

The Valentine got brewed up by a long-range shot from the Pzkpfw. III.

The Honey moved up and machinegunned some of the MG34 crew but it was getting late... both figuratively and literally. With most of the British infantry eliminated as well as their MGs and six-pounders reduced, this was always going to be a German win.

Although I somehow completely forgot some elementary parts of Bolt Action (despite having run it at Prairiecon in late May!) I think everyone had a good time. My thanks go to Conscripts Craig and John C. for coming out for a game with me and Curt. 

So while you saw some pics of the new Blitzkrieg halftracks above, I wanted to show them here in a bit more detail.

Like all of the other Blitzkrieg models in my collection, these halftracks are great, and require minimal assembly. The model 251s are literally five pieces - chassis, two bench seats, MG shield and MG34. They are rather ugly underneath, but that's OK as you can't see that part as they're sitting on the table.

Of course, I added a load of stowage to all of the models to make them more at home in the desert. The balkenkreuz decals are ancient 1/48 items from my decal folder.

Here's the 250 - with even fewer parts than the 251 - no benches as the seating is molded right in. The Afrika Korps logo is a decal but had no swastika shown - I had to freehand it in. Weird.

Of course I added a shedload of stowage to these vehicles as they were essentially a panzergrenadier's "home away from home"... and period photos show these vehicles well loaded down. Most of the stowage is from my preferred supplier "Value Gear" - a great source for resin stowage bits. 

I like to add WH license plates to my Heer vehicles as well - every vehicle in the Wehrmacht except tanks was supposed to carry a pair. Of course the Army (Heer) vehicles' plate numbers were prefaced "WH" (Wehrmacht Heer), while Luftwaffe and Waffen-SS vehicle numbers carried "WL" and "SS" prefixes, respectively. These decals are 1/35 from the decal folder but I don't mind as I like the look. However the rear plates are 1/48 scale and don't match :-(

The Sdkfz. 250 is neat too. One thing that jumped out was the difference in front wheel design from the similar 251/1. I had assumed that the front wheels would be identical, but the 250 wheels are different, and this is correct.  

Some of the stowage is from the excellent Tamiya set, that includes the jerry cans shown here. Presumably the crews just welded or bolted a hook on the outside of the vehicle and just hung the cans on there. The shovel and mallet are from an old Bandai engineer set. They sure come in handy when outfitting vehicles! 

I ended up sticking a shovel and mallet on each of the 251s.

Here's the rear of the Sdkfz. 250 with added stowage. A really nice model, this.

I'm really looking forward to playing Bolt Action in the Western Desert again soon, hopefully I will do a better job remembering the rules. But it was fun! Now to paint that Grant tank!