With the theme decided it's time to start thinking about how I will represent the 150th Panzer Brigade on the tabletop. So let's take a look at what I have in mind for my first German 1000 point list…

Headquarters:

Veteran Lieutenant with Assault Rifle, 1 Infantry with Assault Rifle

As I'm planning a force which is quite low on numbers every squad or team needs to pack some serious firepower. Not to worry, Germans have access to assault rifles, which have twice the firepower of usual rifles. So this small team is hard to hit, hard to damage thanks to being veteran and puts out 4 shots at rifle range or in assault.

Veteran Medic with pistol

Medics are great for adding an extra order dice for cheap and do have the potential to offset damage inflicted by enemy shooting. Especially with regular or veteran infantry it only takes a couple of successful medic saves will easily pay for the medic.

Infantry:

2× Regular Heer Grenadier Squad

• NCO with Submachine gun
• 2 Infantry with Assault Rifle
• 5 Infantry with Rifle
• 2 Panzerfaust

I chose these two squads as my main infantry because they match the miniatures in the new Winter German Grenadier Squad.

They are put out a decent amount of firepower at range, don't cost too many points and the panzerfausts mean they can hurt vehicles as well.

Veteran Assault Engineers Squad

• NCO with Submachine gun
• 1 Infantry with Flamethrower
• 1 Infantry with Rifle
• 3 Infantry with Submachine guns

These assault engineers fit within the theme and are a huge short-ranged threat against enemy infantry. This makes them perfect choices for outflanking reserves. 4 submachine guns makes them deadly in assault too, and flamethrowers are absolutely brutal.

Regular Medium Machine Gun Team

As my list is light on infantry I need some extra firepower, so the medium machine gun team's 5 shots at range 36" is perfect for dishing out some pain at long range.

Inexperienced Heavy Mortar Team with Spotter

Mortars are fantastic in Bolt Action and I regularly use medium mortars with my British. However I've gone with the heavy mortar team here for a couple of reasons- it does more damage and has a longer range. But predominantly it is because the Kampfgruppe of the 150th Panzer Brigade included several heavy mortar platoons so the choice fits my theme.

Vehicles

Regular Panther Ausf G

The Panther Ersatz M-10 was one of the biggest reasons I chose the theme for the army so I just had to include one in my first list. Panthers are brilliant tanks in Bolt Action, with a turret mounted super heavy anti-tank gun with +7 armour penetration, along with heavy armour giving it a 9+ damage value or 10+ from the front. Add the 2 MMGs and you have a fearsome source of firepower indeed.

However all this does come at a big cost, with the regular Panther weighing in at 355 points, the equivalent of 3 infantry squads or several specialist teams like snipers, anti-tank guns or armoured cars.

This means that if it dies or suffers lots of pins early in the game it will be a massive up-hill battle for the rest of the army to win.

Regular SdKfz 251/1 Half-track

To finish off the list I decided on taking a SdKfz 251/1 half-track as a transport option. I'm not entirely sure how I'll be using it in this first list just yet, as with low numbers I'm worried about overextending with one infantry squad. Or even worse having the halftrack explode while troops are still inside.

However I've wanted to build one of these for a while and it will be very useful in latter lists when I'm planning on having artillery and anti-tank guns which this can tow.

Overall Thoughts

Overall I'm pretty happy with what I can fit into this list and it gives me a reasonable 9 order dice to work with, though that is still a far cry from the 16 dice which I'm used to with my British force.

The two main infantry squads put out a reasonable amount of firepower without being too expensive and the assault engineer unit has the potential to be absolutely devastating. Providing that I can deliver it close enough to the enemy.

But the list will live or die on the performance of the Panther I think, as it represents almost 35% of the points available.

Next time I'll be looking at which boxed sets and blisters I'll be working from, along with the modelling options and conversion opportunities available.