Grey Wolf - Axis Forces on the Eastern Front, January 1944 - February 1945 (1st Printing)

Grey Wolf is their Axis volume. It contains the Germans, Hungarians and Finns. The German forces cover everything from infantry to tank forces, with forces representing the Heer (army), Waffen-SS and the Luftwaffe (air force).

German New Stuff

One of the first new forces you will discover is the Kampfgruppe Bäke briefing. This was originally published on the website as a PDF intelligence briefing. This force represents the heavy tank regiment formed under Oberstleutnant Dr. Franz Bäke. His unit contained one battalion each of Tiger I E and Panther tanks. Bäke’s regiment play a crucial role in the battles for the Korsun and Kaments-Podulsky Pockets. The briefing also includes Warrior rules for Oberstleutnant Dr. Franz Bäke himself.

The next new briefing covers the foreign SS forces that fought in Estonia on the Narva River. These Dutch and Scandinavian volunteers fought alongside Heer and Luftwaffe troops to hold the Soviet advance. The two units were often supported by the Tiger I E tanks of Otto Carius and 502. Schwere Panzerabteilung.

We have also added the Sicherungskompanie, or Security Company, another former website PDF intelligence briefing.. This force is a great opponent for the Partisans and Poles in Red Bear. They also found themselves in the thick of the fighting during Operation Bagration as the Red Army encroached into the rear areas.

The Sicherungs and other troops were often given support by Armored Trains. Two new armored train platoons are available to support a variety of forces. The first represents the captured Polish trains the Germans put into service, while the second option covers the German designed BP44 Armored Train.

Both trains feature Panzer 38(t) tanks and Panzer IV turret tank-hunter cars. Grey Wolf also contains full Armored Train rules for introducing these armored beasts to the Late-war.

In the second half of 1944 the Hetzer tank-hunter began to be issued to tank-hunter and assault-gun units in infantry divisions. These effective vehicles were often pressed into combat as units when tanks or StuGs were not available to counterattack.

The SS cavalry of 8. SS-Kavalleriedivision Florian Geyer and 22. SS-Freiwilligen-Kavalleriedivision Maria Theresia fought in the battle for Hungary, and played their part in the defense of Budapest.

Fighting dismounted alongside Feldherrnhalle and Hungarian troops they were involved in savage street fighting through December 1944, January and February 1945. They can take Street Fortifications to help them hold the streets from Soviet Shturmovye Groups and Romanian infantry, as well as supporting assault guns and security tanks.

As well as the forces featured above Grey Wolf also includes a number of Pioneer forces and the Panzerspähkompanie previously featured on the Flames Of War website as PDFs. The second new Hungarian company is the Puskás Század (Rifle Company) from the infantry divisions, which has also been up on the website as an PDF Intelligence Briefing. This comes with two Motivation and Skill options, Confident Veteran to represent the experienced divisions and Confident Trained to represent the more recently raised divisions. Both options come with a wider variety support and weapons options than the volunteers of the Önkéntes Puskás Század (Volunteer Rifle Company). The Puskás Század represents to the bulk of the Hungarian infantry fighting outside Budapest.

Finnish New Stuff

All the Finnish forces in Grey Wolf are new to print, but have been featured in PDF form on the Flames Of War website. The Finnish Panssarikomppania (Tank Company) was equipped with a variety of captured Soviet tanks, the bulk of which were the old T-26 tank, but some companies included heavier T-28, KV-1 and T-34 tanks.

The Sturmikomppania (Assault Gun Company) contains the Sturmi, which is a StuG G assault gun supplied by the Germans and then modified with concrete and additional stowage bins. We have a great new model coming out of the Sturmi.

Two different infantry companies available, the Jääkärikomppania (Light Infantry Company), who fought with the tanks and Sturmi assault guns, and Jalkaväkikomppania (Infantry Company), the tough infantry who were the Finns main line of defense. Finally the Finns also have a Pioneerikomppania (Engineer Company), ideal for assaulting fortifications.

Grey Wolf also includes German, Hungarian and Finnish special rules. These have been updated and revised as required.

It also includes Fortification placement rules to be used in conjunction with the Fortifications rules in Das Book. We introduced strongpoint-based fortifications, reflecting the practice on Eastern Front, where the vast spaces didn’t always allow for continuous fortified lines.

In Grey Wolf you will find a selection of Warriors. Some are new like Oberstleutnant Dr. Franz Bäke and Finn Toivo Ilomäki, while some you may remember from our older books. Some have undergone review and have had new rules introduced.

At the back of Grey Wolf you will find painting guides for the Germans, Hungarians and Finns. All throughout the book there are also many inspirational color photographs of Flames Of War models.