“After The Defeat Of France In 1940…”

“…Western Europe became a military backwater for the German Army.”

These three plastic 15mm miniatures are sold by “Battlefront Miniatures” and can be found inside the company’s “Hit The Beach” starter set for “Flames Of War”. The figures consist of an Officer, Panzerfaust and NCO, and together create a 2iC Command Panzerfaust SMG team for the Panzergrenadier Company Headquarters.

As with all my other “FoW” German soldiers, the figures were initially super-glued onto wooden strips, before being primed in “Vallejo” German Fieldgrey WWII, shaded using “Citadel” Nuln Oil, and dry-brushed with (more) “Vallejo” German Fieldgrey WWII. Their details were then ‘picked out’ predominantly using “Vallejo” Heavy Sienna, Gunmetal, Buff, German Camouflage Dark Green, Heavy Brown and a series of “Citadel” Shades.

A unit of Guardsmen are transformed into alien drones

With both of my Panzergrenadier Company Headquarter stands now completed, I have managed to pay a visit to the LVL Up Gaming Store in Bournemouth so as to play-test some homemade 15mm science fiction rules using my "M.I.S.S." game engine. For this particular series of battles I brought along some figures taken from my “The Ion Age” collection by "Alternative Armies", some Xenomorphs by “Ground Zero Games”, and a smattering of 10mm Face Huggers by “Pendraken Miniatures”.

The three-stage campaign was played across a small(ish) settlement, which had been built up around a couple of bubbling toxic pits, and involved us pitting a troop of Crimson Fist Space Marines and Imperial Guard against an ever-increasing horde of deadly extra-terrestrials (which was directed by some simple AI mechanics). Each game lasted six turns, and to win, we had to hold ten points worth of objectives – which had been covertly strewn across the 3 x 3 tabletop.

The Imperial Guard and Space Marines battle Xenomorph Warriors

The opening scenario involved the Forces of Mankind solely encountering a swarm of Face Huggers which sped towards their lines from three separate craters located just beyond the northern outskirts of the abandoned colony. This enabled us to get used to the game’s core rules and tremble in terror at just how fast the tiny aliens could traverse the terrain before they were upon our infantry. Luckily, Humanity was able to prevail, but one particular highlight was witnessing a unit of Imperial Guard succumb to the Face Huggers and transform in Xenomorph drones during the following turn.

The next two fights was infinitely closer, as actual alien warriors accompanied the swarm of incoming Face Huggers. These humanoid-shaped extra-terrestrials were particularly deadly for the Imperial Guard as the soldiers always have to pass an intimidation test before they can attack them. Luckily, the Crimson Fists suffered no such set-backs, with the Space Marines’ Missile Launcher team proving especially adept at culling any alien foolish enough to get within their sights, and as a result the settlement was ultimately purged of its impurities. At least until next time…