Meet my army: Part IV - SS-Rocket Launcher Battery

Actually, there is not much to say about the Nebelwerfers NW41... It is a must have for any german player.
It is extremely cheap (even for SS companies) option for quite powerful artillery support. Because it is a rocket artillery, it doesn't suffer from range-in penalties. However, your enemy can range-in based on smoke trails, but from my experience it doesn't matter much :)

What you can see below is the content of NW41 blister, plus one additional Kubelwagen as a transport team for the observer.

Gallery

Meet my army: Part III - SS-Scout Platoon

Although it may not seems so at first glance, the SS-Scout platoon is one of the most interesting units available in Flames of War (Late). It is a little bit expensive, you have to pay 180 (+5) points for the large version of the platoon, but it really pays off. So what do you get for these points? Hmm, only and as much as four stands of infantry ;)
These four bases form one of the most flexible infantry units. In its basic form, the platoon is treated as a recon platoon, which is very useful if you have to attack another infantry company. You get recon movement at the beginning; if the platoon is used correctly, it can prevent from exposing your forces for a nasty ambush; and what is extremely useful it can use "eyes and ears" rule to remove gone to ground from other units. Of course you cannot forget that it has cautious movement ability, which makes it very difficult to hit if you can move in cover (e.g. through fields or forests). To sum up, you can send these boys in front of your panzergrenadiers to prepare the attack.

This is not all, of course. They are even more fun if you are a defender (which highly probable if you are playing SS-Panzergranadiers). You can exchange each MG team with the SMG Panzerfaust team. They loose their recon capabilities, but they become real tank hunters. I rarely use them in that form as a separate platoon, but you may also make attachments to other platoons - what I do frequently. Just imagine... You have two core SS-Panzergrenadier platoons. Each of them has two teams with Panzerfausts. For instance, you can attach two additional teams to the platoon that is defending your front lines and the remaining one team to the second platoon. Assuming that you have your CHQ and 2IC in 6'' range of that platoon, you are able to use six Panzerfausts if someone decides to assault your forward platoon. I don't think there is any tank platoon that can survive such punch :) In order to assault, your opponent will have to spend couple of rounds on softening your defense with heavy fire.  This gives your guns hidden behind your infantry enough time to cause serious casualties in enemy platoons.

Modeling

Battlefront provides a special set GE819 that contains tank hunter version of the platoon. Mine, however, was composed from the minis that remained from the my SS-Panzergrenadier box, and some random german figures. I added also a blister of Schwimmwagen jeeps and BMW motor bikes as transport.

Gallery

Here is a whole platoon, with all configuration options:

Schwimmwagens in action...

The recon version of the platoon:

Tank killers:

BMW motor bikes:

Meet my army: Part II - SS-Panzergrenadier Kompanie

Front cover of the GBX18 box set

Today, I would like to continue the section called "meet my army", and present the core forces of my company. It was the second box I bought from Battlefront -  GBX18. The box gives you a solid base for the SS-Panzergrenadier kompanie. It contains:

• 2x HQ with 2x panzerschreck teams
• 2x SS-Panzergrenadiers platoon (6x MG team and 1x SMG / Panzerfaust command team)
• SS Light Anti-tank gun platoon (3x 7.5cm PaK 40)
• SS Heavy platoon (4x HMG) - the one I rarely use

SS-Panzergrenadier company during assembly

The minis are great, you will find soldiers in many interesting poses enabling to compose two types of bases - dynamic and static.

The good point about the box is that if you combine it with a platoon of tanks or assault guns (e.g., StuGs), it will give you a battle-ready company for 1500-point battles. If you add a battery of nebelwerfers you are ready to successfully fight in 1750-point battles.
It's really cost-effective, however, if you are starting your adventure with FOW, I would recommend you to consider it twice before you decide to collect SS forces. They are in fact a nice option for beginners, because they are elite force, expensive in game points - which results in less models you have to buy to field a tournament-level company. However, their uniforms differ significantly from the other German forces, so you will not be able to easily change rosters. It may sound odd at the beginning, but when your collection of models expends you will want to field most of them for sure. If you can live with that, you will be really pleased to see how enemy panzer platoons brake their teeth on your stone-hard panzergrenadiers :)

Gallery

Here are some photos of my SS-Panzergrenadiers. For sure, you will find many better painted figures at Battlefront forums, nevertheless I feel no reasons to be ashamed :)

SS-Panzergrenadier Kompanie

Company HQ with additional transport teams that are not included in the box set:

SS-Panzergrenadier platoons in action:

PaK 40 teams silently waiting for tanks in ambush:

Heavy machine gun platoon - every yankee nightmare...