Germans

From the early stages of World War II, the German army began to equip their Panzergrenadiers with armoured half-tracks that would support their panzers in action. They developed the excellent Sd.Kfz 251 series, made by Hanomag, and steadily produced them in their thousands, with over twenty versions seeing service in most theatres of the war. One of the most useful variants was the 8cm Granatwerfer – a version of the Hanomag carrying the standard infantry mortar. The mortar could be moved around the battlefield quickly and in reasonable safety, its armour shrugging off most infantry weapons and shrapnel. The mortar was most commonly removed from the half-track to engage the enemy, however, in extremis, it could fire from the safety of the vehicle. A full load of 66 rounds of 81mm mortar rounds were carried, with more shells available from supply trucks or towed trailers. This model represents the 251/2 Ausf D version of the vehicle (it had a simplified armour shape from the earlier Ausf C, particularly obvious was the sloped rear Armour) that was in use from 1943 onwards in most theatres. This variant featured a forward-facing 81mm mortar in the rear, tactically spot on for attacking and moving position frequently.

Rarely, if ever, have the words ‘war’ and ‘comedy’ somehow been so successfully combined as in MGM’s 1970 classic movie ‘Kelly’s Heroes’. However, the movie which was originally entitled ‘The Warriors’ underwent a major transformation process from its inception to its release, including the cutting of entire scenes and characters and the addition of extended action sequences. Several members of the cast and crew voiced their disapproval of the changes which altered a grittier war movie with depth of character and an integral romantic sub-plot into an action-packed, farcical comedy. However, the cult following which Kelly’s Heroes enjoys nearly 50 years later and the plethora of infinitely quotable lines is perhaps the best proof that the final cut hit the nail right on the head. Warlord took information from the final cut of the movie, Burt Hirschfeld’s accompanying 1970 novel of the same name, (based heavily on the original script) and the real life history behind the units portrayed in the movie to bring a slice of Hollywood to your battlefields... For the movie industry, the Tiger is often the ‘go to’ tank when depicting German armour in the Second World War. Unfortunately Tigers are exceedingly rare to the point that there is currently only one working Tiger left in the entire world. The 1969 Yugoslavian war epic ‘The Battle of Neretva’ found a clever way around this by converting a number of T-34 tanks to look like Tigers, a cost effective film solution. There's a superb bonus within every box of Hollywood Tiger! A full colour, 8 page, booklet provides every hero and vehicle with their own personalised themed special rules to add that 'Hollywood'flair and daring to your movie inspired games of Bolt Action. This vehicle can also be used in games of Achtung Panzer!, the game of close-quarters tank-on-tank combat, its rules can be found in the Achtung Panzer! rulebook.