DAK collection

Back in the heady days of V3, the mid-war period was considered the best by many.  At the time, my only force was trained Americans.  After many burning Shermans and half-tracks I decided to embark on a new army.  I chose the 15. Panzer Division, with a focus on one of my favorite tanks at the time, the Panzer IV.  It was a pretty good list.  The Panzer IV f1 and f2 worked well together, 8-rads were awesome, and of course Rommel with this platoon of captured Honey Stuarts were always a fun!

StuH 42s in a DAK list?  Yeah, that's right.  So what?  Wanna fight about it?

After watching "Fury Road", I even began expanding to create an armored car company and an EW Kradschutzen company.  Up to this point I had the following in my DAK inventory

5x Pz IV (short 7.5)
3x Pz IV (long 7.5)
2x Pz IV (magnetized to be either)
1x Tiger Ie
4x 8-rad
Rommel
4x Captured Honey Stuarts
3x Nebelwerfer (with command and spotter)
2x PaK50 (with command)
1x88 (with command and extra crew)
Full platoon of kradschutzen with dismounts
A menagerie of soft skin trucks, tractors, kublewagons, and motorcycles

And in the pipeline:
another platoon of kradschutzen
6x 8cm Mortar (with command and spotter)
2x PaK36 (with command)
3x SdKfz 233
3x SdKfz 223
4x SdKfz 222
5x Pz IIf

Hope we see German motorcycles again in MW some day.

Then one day, V4 came out.  After reading through “Afrika Korps”, it was obvious my force would need major revision.  The only core units I’d be able to use were the Panzer IVs.  Unfortunately, I found the panzer IV to have been laid low by the new V4 rules.  The Pz IV (short) was a shadow of its former glory (lower AT, I guess due to lack of HEAT rounds).  The Pz IV Long was about the same price (10% of a 1500 V3 point or 100 V4 point list), but with one less AT and in an environment where many other things had gotten cheaper.  If I wanted to run a tank list, I would need some Panzer IIIs.  8-rads were now a liability.  The Tiger and the 88 seemed like the only thing left.  Most of the rest was not even an option in MW anymore.

The Panzer IV long and short.  Neither one seems to be viable in V4.

Now, you may be getting the impression I was not keen on V4.  At this point I should say I do like V4.  About this time last year, the sidewalk in front of our local gaming store was crowded with wild-eyed middle aged men, bitterly raging about the coming rule-change apocalypse to any passerby who would listen.  V3 rulebooks were greedily hoarded.  Miniature collections were liquidated.  Phil Yates was burned in effigy. 

I was just a calm observer to the madness unfolding around me.  I liked the new rules, accepted things had been shaken up, and saw it as a new excuse to buy and paint more miniatures (as though I needed one).

Well boys, we had a good run.

The bright spot was in the DAK infantry.  For the paltry cost of few 2.8cm AT guns and HMGs I would be able to field a few infantry platoons.  Thanks to a combination of new factors in V4, these units could now do more than just guard an objective.  The release of command cards further lifted my spirits.  The armored car company was an option again (though without those SdKfz 233s I’d been working on).  I expect the impending release of the Eastern Front books to bring a few more options to the table as well. 

I'm hoping to werf some nebels at my opponents when MW is expanded with the Eastern Front.

I’ve come up with an armored car company that goes something like this at 100 points:

Armored Car Company
1x SdKfz 223 (1)
3x SdKfz 221/2 (2)
3x SdKfz 221/2 (2)
3x SdKfz 221/2 (2)
2x SdKfz 232 (2)
Infantry will all the fixin’s (10)
3x 6pdrs w/trucks (10)

Support
4x schleppers (12)
4x 25pdrs (14)
4x Marders (16)
4x Panzer III (20)
Full Italian Rifle Platoon (9)

Here's a picture of 8-rads because they look cool. They're also the only completed platoon I have for this new list.

In the meantime, I’ve acquired the following reinforcements for my DAK list.  Work will begin shortly.
10x Pz III (probably to be built as the short-barrel version)
4x Schleppers
3x 2.8cm AT guns
4x HMG teams
3x PaK38
3x 6pdrs
4x 25pdrs