Armies of Germany Review

Well, just finished going over the Armies of German book, there is still much I need to go back and read again to absorb all the content but I wanted to let people know what to expect from the first book of the big four armies by Warlord Games.

First, the Osprey/Warlord concept produced again another solid book that was full of quality. The book is soft back, 96 pages and full color with tons of detail. Sure there are some typos but I can live with that if the book has enough eye candy. The book is packed full of excellent examples of artwork depicting uniforms and historical blurbs in the “top secret” format as before.

The opening of the book has a short historical rundown so if you are into that, otherwise flip over a few pages to the meat of the book.

Again it gives the Reinforced Platoon list found in the core rules and also goes over the Army Special Rules (same as the core rules). Later in the book, there is several modified Platoon lists that allows you to play somewhat more historical accurate games with some minor changes to the selections you can take.

There are no major changes from the core rules for the Officer, Medic and Forward Observer. Then it moves on to infantry squads, 16 by my count in all. The points are almost the same for standard/veteran units with small changes to options for early/late war units. It also presents a few new units like Kradschutzen (Motorcycle). Pioneers (Engineers) and Waffen-SS Calvary Squads. There are also a few options for many lists to take bicycles as a mode of quick movement early in the game. It also breaks down the Ostruppen (occupied conscripts), Volksstrum (old/injured conscripts) and Hitler Youth fleshing each out and giving the more purpose in the game than the prior core rules. They also included the Kriegsmarine but not the Luftwaffe infantry divisions that were formed up later in the water. Granted there are models to use as Kriegsmarines but not anything official for Luftwaffe was ever made by a company.

Then it falls back to the standard Medium Machine Gun and Panzerschreck Team with a quick inclusion of the Anti-Tank Rifle Team (cheap but hard to sell against the Panzerschreck and Panzerfausts). Then on to Snipers and Mortars (same as the book).

Flamethrowers (now able to take two one shot flame throwers instead of one) gives you more options now but now forces you to choose between double up your firepower in a single shot or gamble that you can keep a single flamethrower around for multiple uses.

Artillery got a few boosts once you get past the Light, Medium and Heavy Artillery with the introduction of the Recoilless Artillery and Nebelwerfer. Then it shifts to Anti-Aircraft guns and Anti-Tank guns. Some nice fleshing out here from the core rules making plenty of options for the German player.

Onwards to Tanks, Tank Destroyers and Assault Guns, well this is where the book shines and all those generic tanks get broken up into various separate types and pointed up offering a huge variety of weapons and point scales to meet your needs. It also inserts rules for using Schurzen Armored Skirts in the game. This slips on to Self-Propelled Artillery, Anti-Aircraft vehicles and on to Armored Cars. Fleshing out more and more options for your army to add in. Then it finishes with more transports than you can shake a swastika at.