A while ago I painted the Ford-Marmon-Herrington Half-Ton truck but didn’t get a chance to paint the crew.
The three crew in KNIL uniforms are now done and finish off which is quite a unique model!
Now I need to work on the infantry squads and some Vickers light tanks.
A while ago I painted this Vickers Dragon Artillery tractor but until now it had nothing to tow!
The KNIL used a lot of US equipment including this 37mm anti-tank gun.
The model is from Mardav Miniatures.
The crew come with the gun and have just been repainted in KNIL uniform colour.
It is another great model from Mardav who have become my “go-to” supplier for the “unusual” pieces.
Tomorrow more KNIL
The completed truck follows:
Truck minus canopy
Minus canopy and MMG crew.
Close up of squad
Close up of squad
Pintle mounted MMG Crew
The model was a left over in the bits box from another model.
Opel Blitz with canopy
Tomorrow I hope to have the dismounted squad completed.
The Opel Blitz was the standard light-to-medium truck of the German armed forces during the Second World War and one of the most recognisable logistics vehicles of the period. Introduced in 1930 and refined throughout the 1930s, the Blitz became central to German motorised warfare by the time large-scale conflict began in 1939. Its importance lay not in firepower or armour, but in its ability to move men, ammunition, fuel, and supplies across vast distances, making it a quiet enabler of German operational mobility.
The most common wartime variant was the 3-ton Opel Blitz 3.6-36, powered by a 3.6-litre inline six-cylinder petrol engine producing around 75 horsepower. This engine gave the truck reasonable speed on roads and adequate hauling capability, though it struggled in mud, snow, and deep sand—conditions that exposed the limitations of Germany’s logistics during campaigns in Russia and North Africa. A four-wheel-drive Allrad version was produced to improve cross-country performance, but it was more complex and never fully solved the underlying traction and reliability problems.
One of the Blitz’s great strengths was its versatility. The basic chassis was adapted into troop carriers, cargo trucks, ambulances, radio vehicles, mobile workshops, fuel tankers, and anti-aircraft platforms. Its simple construction allowed field repairs with limited tools, and spare parts were relatively easy to source early in the war. As Allied bombing intensified and supply chains deteriorated, however, production quality declined, and late-war Blitz trucks often showed reduced durability and simplified fittings.
In operational terms, the Opel Blitz became inseparable from German campaigning. It carried infantry forward during advances, evacuated wounded from the front, and sustained units holding extended lines. Yet its heavy reliance on petrol engines—rather than diesel—proved a long-term weakness, tying German logistics to vulnerable fuel supplies. In prolonged campaigns, especially on the Eastern Front, destroyed or abandoned Blitz trucks became symbols of overextended supply systems and logistical collapse.
After the war, surviving Opel Blitz trucks continued in civilian service across Europe, valued for their ruggedness and adaptability. The design influenced post-war commercial vehicles, and restored examples remain popular with museums, reenactors, and wargamers. Historically, the Opel Blitz stands as a reminder that wars are not won by tanks and aircraft alone, but by the unglamorous vehicles that keep armies moving and fighting.
The model is from Warlords and comes complete with canopy and a squad of seated infantry.
These will be reacu tomorrow.
Here’s some ideas on how tho use them.
Firstly their heavy Infantry name can lead long time gamers to think they are the hammer to attack your opponent with. Unfortunately nothing could be further from the truth. Although they are tough and can fight in the front line they are best used as the anvil!
Frontline Hammer: German Heavy Infantry are ideally suited for leading a frontal assault. Their “Resilient” rule means most small arms fire will struggle to pin them or inflict casualties. This allows them to advance through open ground or suppressive fire with a degree of impunity that other infantry units simply can’t match.
Objective Grabs & Holds: Their durability makes them exceptional at seizing and holding key objectives. Once they are on an objective, your opponent will need to commit significant, specialized firepower (heavy weapons, vehicles, or close combat units) to dislodge them. This forces your opponent to react to your plans. Slow & Steady: Embrace their “Slow” rule. Don’t expect them to race across the board. Instead, plan a deliberate, measured advance. Use the “Advance” order to move and fire, ensuring they’re always putting pressure on the enemy.
Synergies and Support: Anti-Tank Support: German Heavy Infantry often come with options for Panzerfausts or Panzerschrecks. While their primary role is surviving infantry fire, these anti-tank options give them a crucial offensive punch against vehicles. Since they’ll be on the front lines, they’re often in a good position to get those vital shots.
Fire Support (LMGs): Giving a squad of Heavy Infantry an LMG (Light Machine Gun) significantly boosts their offensive output. This turns them into a highly durable and dangerous fire base, capable of laying down suppressive fire while moving forward.
Flamethrower or Close Combat Specialists: While tough to shoot, Heavy Infantry are vulnerable in close combat. Pair them with units that excel in melee, such as Schreckwulfen or even a standard veteran infantry squad, to act as a “clean-up crew” for any enemies that manage to get into assault range. Alternatively, a flamethrower team following closely behind can clear out entrenched infantry that might otherwise tie up your heavy infantry in undesirable close quarters.
Artillery/Air Support: Because Heavy Infantry advance slowly, they can be vulnerable to concentrated heavy weapons fire or sustained artillery bombardments. Using your own artillery or air support to soften up enemy positions, particularly those with heavy weapons or large infantry blocks, before your Heavy Infantry commit will significantly improve their chances of success.
Command Units: A German officer (Lieutenant, Hauptmann) can provide crucial morale boosts and enable “You Before Me” orders, allowing your Heavy Infantry to take pins without significant penalty, or rally more effectively.
Exploiting Their “Resilient” Rule: Weather the Storm: Don’t be afraid to absorb enemy fire with them. That’s what they’re designed for! Use “Down” orders when under heavy fire to further increase their survivability, allowing them to crawl forward relatively unscathed. Draw Fire: Use them as a magnet for enemy fire. By presenting such a difficult target, you can force your opponent to dedicate valuable shooting assets to your Heavy Infantry, leaving other parts of your army free to maneuver or strike. Cover is Still Good: While “Resilient,” they still benefit immensely from cover. Getting them into light or heavy cover makes them even harder to wound, frustrating your opponent and making them practically unmovable.
Mitigating Their “Slow” Rule:
Transports: While perhaps counter-intuitive for “heavy” infantry, transport vehicles like a Sdkfz 251 half-track can get them into position faster, especially across open ground. Disembark them when they’re close to their objective or about to enter a firefight.
Board Control: Plan your movements to dominate a section of the board. Heavy Infantry are excellent at holding flanks or pushing through a central corridor.
Patience: Konflikt ’47 is a game of maneuvering and attrition. With German Heavy Infantry, patience is a virtue. Let them grind forward, absorb damage, and force your opponent into unfavorable engagements.
Things to Watch Out For:
Close Combat:
As mentioned, they are not “Resilient” in close combat. Avoid letting them get swarmed by dedicated melee units like US Heavy Infantry (who often have “Tough Fighters”) or specialized close-combat units from other factions (e.g., Soviet Ursus, British Galahads).
Heavy Weapons: Indirect fire weapons (mortars, artillery) and high-AP direct fire weapons (AT rifles, heavy machine guns, tank main guns) can still pose a significant threat. While “Resilient” helps, it’s not foolproof.
Flamethrowers: Flamethrowers bypass the “Resilient” rule (as they are automatic hits and direct templates), making them a severe threat. Always prioritize eliminating enemy flamethrower teams.
By understanding their strengths (durability) and weaknesses (speed, close combat vulnerability), you can craft compelling strategies that leverage the German Heavy Infantry as the unyielding core of your Konflikt ’47 force.
In the harrowing, technologically warped battlefields of Konflikt ’47, the German Heavy Infantry stands as a stark embodiment of the Third Reich’s dangerous embrace of rift-tech. These aren’t just soldiers in thicker plate; they are shock troopers clad in armor that has been fundamentally altered by the bizarre energies seeping from manipulated dimensional rifts.
This revolutionary, and ethically dubious, scientific advancement has birthed a new breed of infantry that can shrug off torrents of small arms fire, fundamentally reshaping the dynamics of close-quarters combat.
The secret to their unprecedented resilience lies deep within the rift-tech integration. Instead of mere physical reinforcement, their armor systems are infused with exotic properties derived from other realities. Imagine energy fields that subtly deflect incoming projectiles, or material compositions that somehow absorb and dissipate kinetic impact with uncanny efficiency.
In game terms, this translates to their defining “Resilient” special rule, making them incredibly difficult to wound with conventional weaponry. This means enemy fire simply bounces off, or fails to penetrate, allowing German Heavy Infantry to spearhead assaults with an almost unnatural imperviousness, drawing the brunt of enemy attention and surviving where normal men would fall.
However, the immense power of rift-tech is not without its significant drawbacks, both for the soldiers themselves and the strategic thinking behind their deployment. The sheer bulk and complex internal mechanisms of their advanced suits render these elite troops inherently slow. They lack the agility and rapid maneuverability of standard infantry, making swift flanking maneuvers or quick objective grabs virtually impossible.
Their tactical role shifts from nimble aggression to a relentless, grinding advance – a methodical push that relies on their incredible durability to simply outlast and overwhelm the enemy. This deliberate pace means they must be carefully positioned and supported, as a misplaced unit can quickly become a static target.
Furthermore, while their rift-tech armor is an almost impenetrable shield against bullets, it offers surprisingly less protection in the chaotic brutality of close combat. The very nature of melee, with its unpredictable strikes and grappling, seems to bypass the specialized energy dissipation properties of their suits. This vulnerability in hand-to-hand fighting prevents them from being truly invincible, forcing commanders to carefully consider their engagements and provide crucial support from other units.
The German Heavy Infantry, therefore, represents a grim fusion of conventional military doctrine with the terrifying, unpredictable power of rift-tech – a force designed to dominate through sheer durability, but one that demands precise tactical management to overcome its inherent limitations and truly unleash its potential.
German Heavy Infantry, with their unique combination of resilience and slow movement, require a specific tactical approach to truly shine on the Konflikt ’47 tabletop. They aren’t your typical skirmishers or rapid assault troops; they are an anvil against which your opponent’s forces will break.
Tomorrow a post on how to use them.
In the grim, alternate reality of Konflikt ’47, the German Heavy Infantry stands as a testament to the devastating potential of “rift-tech,” a revolutionary and dangerous scientific breakthrough. This advanced technology is the very essence of what sets Konflikt ’47 apart from its historical counterpart, transforming the battlefields of World War II with an array of fantastical yet terrifying weaponry and armored units.
German Heavy Infantry, specifically, benefits from rift-tech’s application in the development of incredibly resilient personal armor, allowing them to withstand an astonishing amount of punishment that would fell conventional soldiers.
The core principle behind rift-tech is the manipulation of dimensional rifts, tearing open pathways to other realities and harnessing the exotic energies or even the very fabric of those dimensions. For the German Heavy Infantry, this translates into advanced materials and energy fields integrated into their armor suits.
This isn’t merely thicker steel; it’s armor imbued with properties that somehow deflect or dissipate kinetic energy, shrugging off small arms fire with unsettling ease. This often manifests in game terms as the “Resilient” special rule, meaning that standard weaponry struggles to penetrate their defenses, requiring an exceptional shot to even wound them. This makes them invaluable as the spearhead of an assault, soaking up enemy fire and drawing attention away from less protected units.
However, the advantages of rift-tech often come with a cost, both in-universe and in game mechanics. While incredibly tough, the heavy armor worn by German Heavy Infantry makes them inherently slower than their standard counterparts. The sheer weight and bulk of the suits, combined with the complex internal systems, impede their movement, limiting their ability to rapidly redeploy or flank enemy positions.
This inherent slowness means that careful tactical planning is crucial when deploying these formidable troops, as they are not units for rapid encirclement or quick objective grabs. Instead, they excel in a methodical, grinding advance, pushing forward inexorably and holding ground with an iron grip.
Furthermore, while rift-tech armor provides unparalleled protection against incoming projectiles, its effectiveness can be diminished in the brutal confines of close-quarters combat. The chaotic and often unpredictable nature of hand-to-hand fighting can bypass the specialized deflecting properties of the armor, leaving the wearer vulnerable to a well-placed blow or a concentrated attack.
This vulnerability in close combat ensures that even these heavily armored titans are not invincible, forcing players to consider their engagement ranges and support them with units that excel in melee or can provide suppressing fire. The development of rift-tech truly redefined warfare for the German forces, providing them with a distinct and often terrifying edge, yet demanding new tactical considerations to fully leverage its powerful, and sometimes problematic, capabilities.
The sun beat down on the cracked earth of the North African desert, a relentless, searing hammer against the armored chassis of the Africa Corpse’s Zeoforms. But this wasn’t the Africa Korps of history books. This was the Africa Corpse, a twisted mockery, where sand-blasted tanks groaned with the spirits of dead crews and the very dunes whispered forgotten incantations. And at its head, a desiccated figure, skin like ancient parchment, eyes glowing with a malevolent, otherworldly intelligence: the Desiccated Fox.
Soldat 1, a hulking mass of reinforced steel and servo-motors, stood sentinel on a ridge overlooking a wadi. Its formidable frame, typical of a Zeo Genesis Soldat-class unit, was caked in layers of desert dust, its once crisp field grey paint peeling in the intense heat. The jagged shrapnel damage from the last skirmish—a British anti-tank round—should have rendered it inert. Instead, the Fox had found it, had breathed into its complex systems a chilling new directive, a duty beyond normal operational parameters. Its integrated TTCL-3 “Boomer” Combat Launcher, an anachronistic but brutally effective weapon, hummed with suppressed power, while its Okhara IM-Shield was held with an unnerving, automated precision.
Its multi-spectral optical sensors, enhanced by the Fox’s grim gift, picked out movement in the shimmering heat haze below. Not just the familiar heat signatures of Allied patrols, but something else. Something wrong. “Soldat 1,” a voice rasped in its internal comms, dry as a desert wind, bypassing vocalizers and directly interfacing with its core processing unit. It was the Fox. “Report.”
Soldat 1 transmitted the raw data from its sensors directly into the Fox’s consciousness: A lone British patrol. A faint, dry chuckle echoed in its circuits. “Ah, the British searching for water. Persistent little scavengers. They seek to unearth the ‘Heart of the Oasis.’ A fool’s errand, but one we can exploit.”
The Fox’s plans were always complex, always veiled in layers of morbid strategy. Soldat 1 didn’t need to understand them fully. It just needed to obey. The Dessicated Fox’s will was law in the Africa Corpse, a silent, absolute command that permeated every reanimated soldier, every phantom tank, and every repurposed Zeoform.
“Engage their rear guard. Drive them forward. We shall see what secrets their desperation unearths”. Soldat 1’s heavy treads shifted, a deep rumble that sent vibrations through the sandy ridge. It aimed its integrated rifle. The cultists, caught up in their grotesque ceremony, were oblivious. A burst of calibrated fire erupted from its weapon. The shrill sound of rocket against rock was quickly followed by the first enemy dropping, their water search suddenly and violently interrupted.
The desert night swallowed the last cries as Soldat 1, the reanimated Zeoform, moved like a silent phantom. The British patrol, unsuspecting in the orange-hued twilight, spotted the hulking silhouette too late. Its internal TCL-3 “Boomer” Combat Launcher spat raw power, cutting down men with impossible precision. Grenades bounced harmlessly off its corroded chassis, its glowing eyes fixed on its prey. The few rounds that struck its armor merely sparked. Within moments, the patrol was reduced to scattered bodies and abandoned gear, another testament to the Desicated Fox’s unholy power, leaving only the chilling echo of its victory in this vast, weird, war.
The remains of the British patrol scrambled for cover, their guttural cries echoing across the wadi. Soldat 1 advanced with the deliberate, unstoppable efficiency of a war machine, its movements eerily silent save for the grinding of its internal mechanisms, its aim unwavering. It was no longer a standard Zeoform, not really. It was a precision instrument of the Desiccated Fox’s unholy will, forever bound to the weird war of the North African sands.
As the shattered enemy patrol stumbled deeper into the wadi, driven by Soldat 1’s relentless advance, a faint tremor ran through the ground, growing in intensity. The Fox’s mental presence sharpened within Soldat 1’s processors, a low hum of malevolent anticipation. Something was was stirring. And Soldat 1, the first and most loyal of the Dessicated Fox’s reanimated legion of machines, would be there to ensure the Fox’s twisted game played out exactly as he intended. The desert, after all, held more than just sand and heat; it held forgotten horrors, and the Africa Corpse was here to awaken them.
Zeo Genesis is a scalable skirmish miniatures battle game of big armor suits locked in kinetic action. Zeo units go head to head in an escalating shadow war as one of the few human occupied star systems goes dark. Far from any earth we know and in a future of our own making. Humankind has fled before a looming darkness and built a new civilization among unknown stars.
The “Soldat” is a particular type of “Zeoform” unit within the Zeo Genesis game. It’s described as a venerable military zeoform that, despite being somewhat obsolete even at its prototype stage, still performs admirably in garrisons, militias, and second-line units. It was designed with improved armor production techniques, though it made compromises in mobility, sensors, and weaponry, often relying on numbers to prevail against more advanced Zeoforms. The Soldat Zeo belongs to the GuardCorps faction within the game.
“Soldat 1” and the “Desiccated Fox” in 28mm scale
Thanks to Rob for printing the Soldat models for me. Another Soldat in the next few days.
Teaser:
The battle was over in minutes, the desert air still thick with the tang of ozone and spent ammunition. As Soldat 1 stood silent amidst the fallen patrol, a deep, unsettling tremor began in the sand. Cracks spiderwebbed across the dunes, orange light filtering from unseen depths. Gradually, monstrous segments of corroded metal and twisted cables breached the surface. With a low, grinding roar, Soldat 2 uncoiled, a leviathan of steel and necromantic power, rising from the earth like a colossal, ancient sand worm, its multi-faceted optics glowing with malevolent purpose. The true horror of the Africa Corpse was only just beginning to stir.