Bolt Action: The Return of Stewie... Or Is It?

I just found out that we are having another Bolt Action Combat Patrol tournament!  The one and only other time that we have played this format was waaaaaaay back in July 2019.  There was supposed to be another one last year but, well... COVID.

You know how it is.

Thankfully that is now somewhat in the rearview mirror (fingers crossed!!!) and we are getting together for another combat patrol!  I jokingly mentioned bringing Stewie and was told that people would be disappointed if he wasn't there so there you have it.  I started list building right away, working around Stewie as the center of the formation with a good sized number of supporting infantry.  This would let Stewie draw the heat while the infantry did their job.

This sounds great on paper and in thought, but I was having one problem with it; it felt really bland.

I like playing the US in Bolt Action, but they do have some limitations that I wish there was an easy way around.  The lack of an LMG in their formations has always seemed like a pretty serious handicap IMO, and the fact that the only anti-tank the US uses consistently is the bazooka.  Now this is historically accurate, I'm not questioning that, it's just from a playing prospective it doesn't feel like a lot of spice there to make things more interesting.

Days went by and people started asking if a tank of some kind would be common in such a small list, and one of the organizers immediately piped up that most people would most likely be fielding one.  Which got me to thinking, maybe I won't field any.

And thus the Die Panzerjager was born.

With grinding gears and screeching tires, I have decided to field a small force of German Grenadiers instead of dear old Stewie.  This force consists of one leutnaut with a minder, four six-man Heer grenadier squads, one chaplain, and one flamethrower team.  In addition, two of the grenadier squads are equipped with LMGs and all of the squads are carrying two single shot panzerfausts.

This is the concept sketch for my flammenwerfer 41.  I don't think I'll be able to order one and have it arrive in time so I'm just going to take a chance and sculpt my own!

This gives me two squads that can lay down nine shooting dice out to 24", another two that can lay down six shooting dice, plus the whole force has a total of eight single shot attacks against any vehicles I might encounter.  On top of that is the flamethrower team which I think will throw in a psychological effect beyond the damage it might be able to do, and the fact that no one would expect me to be fielding a completely different army.

How will it fare in the tourney?  No idea!  Heck, I don't even know if I'll be able to field the list since I won't get the minis until the 23rd and the tourney is on the 10th.  That gives me some time, but given how little hobby I've been able to squeeze in lately, it does leave me a little nervous.  Just to be on the safe side, I'm going to have the Green Machine available as well in case I need to do a last minute switch.  Fingers crossed I won't have to!  Until next time...