German armoured recce - Half Tracked Panzerspah, and SoTR?

Another platoon I have long been wanting to add to my Wehrmacht forces for FoW, an armoured recce platoon, half track panzerspah, comprising one SdKfz 250/1, and two SdKfz 250/9.

As recce, their role is to advance ahead of the main armoured troops, seeking out enemy ambushes and revealing gone to ground, on hiding enemy troops.

They also come equipped with sufficient fire power to spoil the day of exposed infantry, and the rapid firing 2cm gun of the 250/9's will make lightly armoured vehicles think twice about getting close...

Painted in my usual 3 colour camo style for late war...

On patrol...

Recce scout ahead past a French cafe, looking for hidden enemy...

...but wait, whats that they are scouting ahead for?

What is this? Some new devious terror weapon? A 'Secret of the Third Reich'...?

Some of you may remember a post I did some time ago about buying a 40K set for my son... well back then I threatened to do something like this, and recently I found time to do it, this guy is a test paint, but I think he's come out OK, not that I am an expert in painting 40k stuff...

I decided to mimic the late war German camo scheme and decals... The idea being the marine chapter has its roots in ancient Earth history... The marine chapter suitably being called 'Das Reich'...

I figured this would be one place where the GW overzealous use of skulls on everything would actually work, mimicking the silver deaths head motif of the Waffen SS units...

The only thing I wasn't sure about was whether I should have conduit tubes on the back of the arms, maybe black or metallic...

I figured with their camo pattern they will be perfect for use on an earth style temperate zone type planet, and so did a traditional 'grassy' base...

I will gradually work through the rest of the boxed set, probably adding another figure to a set of German armour I am working on each time...

My painting of this figure, combined with watching Alien & Aliens with my young son for the first time this week, has had him glued to the painting seat again, working on his orks, for the first time in months...

OK, so who's going to come up with some FoW stats for this bad boy... rapid firing 88mm? Yes please ;-)

Victorian Terrace - WIP7 - W/C, coal store, gates, door handles and roof.

More wok over the weekend saw me complete the required balsa and matchstick work, making the yard gates and coal bunker hatches, doors for same and handles on the front and rear main dwelling doors.

I also managed to rough out the roof for main building and yard outbuildings.

At this stage the main roof is lift off, so I can figure out the lighting requirements. I am hoping to find a source for those twinkling yellow LED lights the Colonel has used over at  his blog, and resistor and battery requirements...
Enjoy the pictures...

New Roof

Front door handles

Out buildings finished and yard gates added

General view.

Rear of backyard wall showing gates and coal bunker fill access

All roofs need tiling now, and rear yard walls new clay cladding and brick etching next...

Stay tuned for more...

Victorian Terrace - WIP6 - "Chim Chim Cher-ee" , chimneys, details and more straightening...

More work on the Victorian terrace...

Prior to this weekend I had added the doors and window dressing... This weekend I have added the chimney stack ends.  The doors were just two layers of thin card with the outer layer with holes cut in for the panelled effect. The window net curtain effect is two layers of wedding voil material glued at right angles to each other as the material has a pattern to it.

The chimneys were 3 layers of 3mm mdf cut to size and shape with the outer layer trimmed to fit the top peak of the gable end... Another thing I should have done from the out set from cutting out the gables.

 Click play on above video for some themed(?) musical accompaniment.

Once PVA'd into place and glue dry I clad with more DAS clay... its still drying hence it looks darker than rest of building. Once dry I'll etch in the brick pattern again. The chimney pots are Evergreen styrene rods cut to 1cm lengths and glued to top of mdf before clay blends them to top.

The need for chimneys was one of the reasons I didn't put windows in the building gable ends, otherwise it wouldn't look right...

More close up views of windows and doors at front of building...A little greenstuff filled any small gaps at top of doors. I have also added clay to corner building joints and will need to etch in more brick work here too.

At the rear the clamps are out again, to straighten the rear walls of the yard... The middle piece of mdf is just there for tension to force walls straight as they dry and is not glued in place so will be removed. The rear wall panel with gates is gluing into place.

I need to add the gates once this is done and, am busy cutting out pieces to make the W/C and coal store for back wall of yard...

That's all for now, back to painting German FoW...

German Pioneers - FoW

When I first started collecting a German force for Flames of War, I started off with a boxed 'Festungkompanie', which contained 3 Infantry platoons and all the bells and whistles that came with it.

It was quite a slog to work through, to get it all painted, though worth it in the end.

Since then I have steadily added various platoons to the force to cover many options, across many companies, for my growing Wehrmacht forces. However, the idea of painting up another infantry platoon was still a little off putting...

But in my recent infantry company based Breville Gap campaign against Paul, it became apparent that another infantry platoon was going to be desirable, and specifically that being a pioneer platoon.

The Pioneers are highly versatile force, and also quite a large platoon, at least by German standards. Most German Infantry platoons have 7 teams whereas the pioneers have 10, giving them more staying power. However in a regular grenadier force they are still just Rifle teams, and not the Rifle/MG or MG teams of the rest of the company.
 

German pioneers, flamethrowers lead the way.

Pioneers, also have a higher anti-tank rating in assaults than regular grenadiers, thanks to the mines etc. they carry, which can make tank platoons think twice about assaulting their positions. Also if you equip the pioneers with a supply vehicle then you have the option of deploying barbed wire or a minefield as part of your deployment, making this platoon very useful on the defensive.

Characterful models with lots of varied equipment

They can also have up to 3 flamethrower teams as part of the platoon, giving them a lethal close range effect. The great thing about flamethrowers is that they ignore cover and there is no save against their effect! They also instantly pin down any platoon they hit, making the following assault easier for the pioneers or other platoons they are supporting. However this comes at a cost as the flamethrower is a one shot weapon and once used the team is removed from play, though does not count as a casualty.

Pioneers are also the best troops to have for getting through enemy field fortifications including barbed wire and minefields.

Another option for the pioneers is to equip one team with a Goliath. A Goliath is a remote controlled tracked bomb. This can be sent at the enemy with varying chances of success depending on the chosen target, but it is best, I have found, against dug in enemy gun teams, which include HMGs and AT guns. Again, this is a one shot weapon so you want to send it after something you know you are going to destroy...

Pioneer team equipped with Goliath

I can see the pioneers being a regular part of my forces from now on, and also with the addition of some 'Stuka-zu-Fuss' rocket launching half tracks, will add some extra punch to my Armoured panzergrenadier force.

Finally, as part of the same order that I placed for the pioneers, I grabbed a Panzerschrek, to add to an odd one I had left from a prior order. This allowed me to complete a Panzerschrek team, part of the HQ of varying infantry based companies. I now have three of these teams , allowing me to field three of these tank killers at once, for example in a Sturmkompanie, from "Grey Wolf"; the late war eastern front supplement.

Panzerschrek team

"Kommen hier kleine Panzer"

More British Recce - Universal Carrier Patrol - FoW

As hinted at in last post, more FoW stuff...

Another recce platoon for my XXX Corp, this time a carrier patrol.

These guys can zip ahead of the main force, seeking out enemy ambushes, or once enemy is spotted, they're position can be reported, effectively lifting 'Gone to Ground' status. For those that don't play FoW, this then makes the hiding enemy easier to hit by the shooting of your own platoons in your force.

They can also harras enemy infantry with their MG fire, and even have a chance at knocking out the odd enemy tank as the command vehicle has a PIAT fitted.

I must confess it was the additional weapons that initially had me scratching my head. The carriers come as a solid resin cast, on base. The crew are separate metal sculpts, which is fine. However the extra front gunner came in two varieties, an MG or a PIAT. To get the chosen gunner in place, the  front of the resin carrier hull had to be cut way (I used a dremel), and gunner put into position. What I had initially thought was a blob of excess metal on top of the cast gun, was actually there to match the cut away carrier hull. So once in position and a little greenstuff to hide the join, painting was straight forward.

The patrol was decked out in the markings of Guards Armoured to match the rest of the force. I am not 100% sure I have the appropriate markings on, but I think they look correct, in general.

I am rather pleased with these characterful little vehicles and look forward to seeing them zip about the battlefield, causing mischief and mayhem!

Next up, more Germans...

British Recce - Stuart VI tank platoon - FoW

Some time ago, my wife starting playing FOW with me on the odd occasion, using my British XXX Corp from Market Garden / Hells Highway, against my varied German forces... see here for more.

As part of this renewed interest in using XXX Corp, I looked to increase some of the platoon options available to this force. It also so happened that mate Paul was talking about attending the Panzerschrek doubles tournament here in NZ, and offered to take me under his wing.

We decided pretty much to go with a British force, my component being the XXX Corp Guards Armoured Company.

This all meant extra troops would be required for my Brits. So a good troop choice to compliment my Shermans would be a Recce platoon of Stuart VI light tanks...

Quickly sourced locally from BF, to avoid any unexpected delays from ordering abroad. I normally order from the UK as its far cheaper than ordering here, but if you want something quick guaranteed, BF seems the way to go...

So these were completed a little while ago, and sat with gloss varnish done, while I awaited a decal order from DOM in the UK. Once decals were added and sealed, a final matt varnish was applied.

So as you can see, in between work on clamping together a certain Victorian Dwelling, I have been busy with more FOW stuff...

I am looking forward to giving these a whirl sometime soon.

Stay tuned for more FoW stuff to follow and more work on the Victorian House...

The Hobbit on DVD - a tarnished experience...?

Yesterday saw the release here in NZ of the DVD of the The Hobbit movie, and predictably I went straight from work to pick it up from the store... and no doubt I'll be grabbing the extended version when it comes out too.

I'd love to have got the Blu-ray variety, but I haven't invested in that technology as yet...

So we had our dinner first, then, with lights down low (dark nights here now in NZ), and glasses charged (wine for adults and juice for kids) and crunchy nibbles within arms reach, we went back to Middle-Earth for the evening...

Still love it!

We all sang along with the dwarves with their moody sombre fireside song... great stuff, very moving - I must remember to get the audio movie soundtrack...

And yet there was one small, discomfort, and that was knowing that, even though I am not actively playing the game at the moment, there is still a bunch of models I would like to collect, yet am so diussallusioned with the whole thing because of GW's pricing policy, I now don't know whether I will bother, and that hard decision has ultimately spoiled my enjoyment of my favourite movie franchise...

So thank you, you greedy bastards at GW, for ruining my love for something I hold so dear as a hobbyist...

$NZ40 for a single dwarf king model...
$NZ100 for Radagast's sleigh...
$NZ100 for 6 Rivendell cavalry...
$NZ80 for Elrond (foot and Mounted)...

...all prices from GW website... just ridiculous...and worse still, most of it is 'Finecast' AKA finecost AKA failcrap... so even if you get the figures, chances are you will have a ton of work to get the figure prep'ed and looking good, see my prior review here