Panzer III Ausf M

With the Analogue Hobbies painting challenge deadline of 20th March virtually upon us, I managed to sneak one last entry in at the last minute.

I had been waiting for more ANZAC Diorama figures to do, but again there were gaps in the time-frame of the 'supply chain', allowing me to get back to some of my own stuff...

So, here's a platoon, or 'Zug', of five Panzer III Ausf M, in 15mm scale, by The Plastic Soldier Company.

I love the PSC kits, great value for money, and easy to put together.

I have painted them up in my usual three colour German camo scheme, to match my existing FoW forces... I also used GW 'Rust effect' paint on the exhausts... Decals by DOM.

The Panzer III may not be as 'sexy' as the big cats, but it was a workhorse of the mid-war period and was still seeing action later in the conflict, so this platoon will be complimenting my existing Mid and Late War forces...

The Ausf M was just about the last incarnation of the PzIII, and had seem increases in armour thickness, size of main gun to 50mm and addition of Side Armour skirts or 'Schurzen'.

In the game, it has FA6 SA3 TA1, has a range of 24" with main gun and ROF3, AT9, FP4+, plus the usual MGs. That makes it quite a useful infantry support tank, able to knock out infantry, gun teams and lighter armoured vehicles, like half-tracks and suchlike. Its still a threat to the side armour of heavier tanks and will certainly hold its own against most tanks in the MidWar setting...

This platoon has been part of my background hobby work, which has gone under the project name of 'Operation Midnight Panzer'... with me typically ending an evenings hobby work, gluing together one of these little tanks before heading to the 'woodhill'... more of those to follow in a subsequent post...

A little panzer love...

As part of my entries to Curts Anologue Hobbies Painting Challenge, I painted up a set of 5 Plastic Soldier Company Panzer IV F1's ...

These had been destined to add an extra dimension to my Midwar Flames of War German forces... I had been waiting and waiting for PSC to do the PzIII (LM) variants as this seems to be the bees knees for MidWar Krauts but they still hadn't got round to it, so I grabbed a box of their Panzer IVs and made the Ausf F1 variant...

 I quite liked the direct fire smoke capability and the bombardment possibilities...

Finished in my typical 3 colour camo style...

Not sure when they'll see action now as I've kinda lost interest in the game...

But a sense of 'completeness' has made me paint them up anyway as I had made them for the challenge...

StuGs and StuHs - StuG Battery

More German armour... The humble StuG or Sturmgeschütz (Assault Gun) was the first boxed set of armour I got for my  fledgling German forces a few years back... The BF boxed set contained 5 vehicles and looking through some of the army lists I was using at the time, I noticed an option to upgrade one StuG to a StuH or Sturmhaubitze (Assault Howitzer), per platoon of StuGs. So I did that, making 4 StuGs and One StuH...


It wasn't until I was introduced to what 'breakthrough guns' can do to infantry, at the hands of Pauls SU122s one game, that I instantly became enamored of these deadly vehicles...

However finding an option to take StuHs in numbers with my desired German forces, was not always straight forward, as they often were not a support choice for the Mechanised German forces I was favouring using...

But they have stayed on my radar, and I have always looked to see where they may fit... Whenever I had used them they were proxied by my StuGs, but I really don't like using proxies... so with many other platoon options sorted, it was time to get some StuHs done, so I ordered a box from PSC...

You just cant beat the price of the PSC kits. Yes they are more time consuming to make than the BF resin/metal kits, and don't have the same heft as the BF ones. But when you can get 5 plastic ones for about the same price 2 Resin/Metal ones, its just a no brainer...

I decided to make 3 StuHs and 2 StuG Gs, with the Saukopf (Pigs head) styled main gun. This gun shape was better at deflecting incoming rounds, and would also help distinguish these newer vehicles from my existing BF StuGs...

More detailed info on the StuG and its variants here, thanks to wikipedia.

PSC 15mm StuGs and StuHs

3 x StuH 42

2 x StuG with Saukopf mantlet

Rear views...

Adding the BF vehicles, I can put out a platoon of 4 StuHs, the BF will be the command vehicle...

StuHs, plus the BF one to right as command vehicle

My BF boxed set was painted long ago and in a slightly differing paint style, but they still seem to match in well enough, though I may give the BF ones another coat of matt varnish to dull them down better to match in... size-wise there is very little difference...

BF StuG to left, and PSC StuGs

And adding in the StuGs, I can field 2 platoons of three StuGs, the Saukopf mantlets identifying the command vehicles

4 x StuH , & 2 x 3 StuGs

So I guess I now have the option to field a StuG Battery, another German force variety...

There's more to this story however... During the making of the PSC kits, I noticed that there was damage to the top hull, in the same places on all the sprues, ... It looked like some kind of damage had occurred as the sprues were taken from the mould? I let Will at PSC know my concerns, and despite still being able to make the kits, with a little greenstuff repair work to each, Will sent me a replacement box free of charge!
Now that's excellent customer service!

So I'll shortly have another 5 vehicles to add - I'll most likely add more StuHs, as I have finally come across a force which combines my 'beloved' half track force, with StuHs - The Fuhrer Begleit forces, currently a pdf armylist from BF website... looking forward to trying it out at some point in the future. I just need to order some Begleit tank riders from BF for the StuHs... watch this space for more...

Tiger Tiger burning bright!

My second submission to Curt's 3rd Annual Analogue Hobbies painting challenge... A boxed set of 15mm scale Plastic Soldier Company Tiger I E tanks, for Flames of War.

Click on pics for a larger view as always...

The Tiger is probably the most iconic image of WWII, to my mind, and thus a crucial, from a collection point of view, element of my Wehrmacht forces.

[A lot has been written about the Tiger, and here is an interesting starting point for those who may wish to find out more. Thanks to wikipedia.]

And yet in the game, it represents a hefty points investment, in terms of your army list, and quite often, in some respects, a Panther tank could be a better proposition.

But there is no doubting, putting a few Tigers on the table will certainly draw your opponents attention as he decides how he's going to deal with them.

Though I must admit my first outting with them was far from a success as I tried using them to represent Tigers from Kampfgruppe Hummel, from 'Bridge by Bridge' - the new Market Garden supplement from BF for FOW.

Sadly in this guise, they are only 'Confident Trained' and get no 'bells and whistles' -  and predictably they ran into a new up-gunned 17pdr ambush that blew them apart in short order... oh well, you live and learn...Yes I know, where was my recce? Well the list I was using had a support choice that was [armour/recce], I picked the armour as I wanted the StuH 42 breakthrough gun to blow the paras out of their foxholes, but that meant I couldn't take any recce! Dumb list! Who came up with that idea???

The PSC kits are great, and easy to put together, and come with several options to make a themed tank from 'Eary, Mid and Late' production runs. I went with the Mid variety as I game 'MidWar' onwards so would ideally like to field them in a big 'Kursk' style engagement.

I also wasn't a huge fan of the appearance of the Late period road wheels, they just didn't fit the image I have of the Tiger in my minds eye...

The only glitch with the set is there is only 4 tanks in the box, compared to five in the other PSC kits, and that means to run a 'Schwere' Late War Tank Co. I am going to need to find another tank as I'd need a minimum 5 tanks ; 1 HQ Tiger and 2 platoons of 2 tanks...

So not sure how often I am going to get to play them... I envisage them as a divisional support option of 2 tanks cropping up occasionally to support my Panzergrenadiers every now and again, (until I can source the 5th tank...), which means its typically going to be a choice between 3 x Panthers for 560pts or 2 x Tigers for 430pts plus 130pts of 'something else'... decisions, decisions...

I painted them up in my usual three colour camo scheme (how to here), suitable for mid '43 onwards... decals from DOM.

So here's 4 'Big Citties' looking at you down their 88mm tank barrels, not the best place to be on the receiving end of!

Painting Challenge doldrums and Elder Sign.

For those who have been keeping an eye on the myriad of activity over at the Analogue Hobbies painting challenge, you may have noticed I am languishing near the bottom of the pack (as I anticipated), without a submission to my name, as yet...

I am steadily plodding away, and have got the 36 goblins from the The Hobbit starter set, about 75% done. I have also got the Goblin King, Scribe and the two goblin captains assembled and base painted.

 And the throne... that was quite a mission as the back of the sculpt is hollow and undetailed which I didn't like, so had to pack it with foam and filler then clad it in bark chip to texture it as rock. No small task...

 But its progressing steadily...

And Sunday night saw the Bowman family head back to the cinema to see the movie again, just to top up the motivation ;-) . I have to say, we saw the 3D version again , as that's all that was available locally at the time we could go, and as much as I love the movie, I think I prefer the 2D version, as there's less blurring, and a clearer image throughout.

The weather hasn't helped either, were finally getting some consistent summer days and its darn hard to stay inside and paint while the weather is glorious. But I did get a little hobby time in over the weekend, and enjoyed sitting out in the sun, under the patio table's umbrella, sipping a chilled beer, or three... while I sat and snipped, trimmed and assembled my 15mm PSC half-tracks (again!) this time though for the command vehicle upgrades, using the PSC upgrade kit.

I made three half tracks with the addition of the  optional PaK36 AT gun mounted up front, instead of the forward firing MG.

This leaves two more to do and I have a choice of stummels, 8cm mortars or flame throwers... I can't decide which to pick! I could add the stummels or mortars to my existing 2 of each, bumping up the platoon size of each to 4 vehicles, or I could add the flame throwers for something a bit different.

Anyone with any experience of using half track flame throwers please shout up!

While I deliberated over that, I started making the 15mm PSC Tiger I kits I got, and got the first 'big cat' assembled. Three more to go...

I picked the 'Mid period' model as my Wehrmacht forces are themed Mid-War eastern front onwards, and I just don't like the look of the Late period's wheels... so I figured if I need to use these guys in Late-War, we'll they'll just have seen a lot of action and be darn experienced to boot! ;-)

Also, last night we had a spot of board-gaming, when mate Jon came round with his Elder Sign game by FantasyFlightGames.

Elder Sign is a Cthulhu-lite themed game, which is both card and dice played.

It is a co-opertative style game, where the players are working together to beat the game, and stop an Eldritch Horror being released into the world.

A lot of fun, which my 9rd old son also got to grips with very quickly and was rapt!

We played several games over the course of an evening, interspersed with a game of Munchkin too.

Great stuff. I do enjoy a good 'board-game' in the right company every now and then, time allowed,  and I can control the guilt at not picking up the paint brushes!

XXX Corps - Guards Armoured - British Shermans - FoW

I have been working on these tanks for some time now, off and on between churning out the juggernaut that has become my Wehrmacht forces, of which it has been commented, Speer would have been proud of.. ;-)

The ten tanks are from 2 boxes of 5 Plastic Soldier Company, (15mm) Allied Shermans M4A2, which the Brits called the Sherman V.

These ten tanks give me an HQ of two Shermans, plus two platoons of 4 tanks each comprising 2 Sherman V's and 2 Sherman Fireflys, fitted with the British long barreled 17 pdr anti tank gun.

I have matched as best as I can the paint and decal scheme from the Hells Highway Supplement. I ran in to a couple of problems though. These plastic tanks are fractionally smaller than the BF ones, and the decals I have used are left overs from my original BF Sherman boxed set, and a new set of BF British decals I bought ages ago... The rear deck of the firefly hull is some what occluded from view due to the turret extension, and looking in the HH supplement they sported the Allied star on the turret top. The problem here was there was a lot of knobbly little details on the tops of these plastic tanks, which I was not confident the decals would lie smoothly over, even with decal softener.

The other decal problem was that even on the BF Shermans the Regimental markings and Guards markings were a tight fit on the hull front curved housing, and on these plastic tanks that area is even smaller, there was no way the BF decal was going to fit... so I left them off, having to be satisfied with the rear mounted ones only.. But other than the decal hassles I am very pleased with how these have come together and painted up.

I did use some of DOMs decals for the Tank numbers on the rear hull sides.

The Guards, differed from other tank companies, in having their platoon insignia on the hull sides and not on the turrets. So the picture on the cover of the Hells Highway books shows them correctly positioned, but the painted model examples in the books have them wrongly on the turret sides. But its a minor issue really. I'm mentioning it here just in case I get comments stating I haven't put the markings on the turret!

So these Shermans give me the core armoured force, I am busy adding finishing touches to JOE Vandeleur, and his forward air observer, and a Recce platoon consisting of Daimler I's and Dingos. Hopefully they'll feature in blog post soon.

So once XXX Corps is battlefield ready, I may break open that FireStorm Market Garden boxed set for a look see...

Panthers

I managed to get my boxed set of Plastic Soldier Company Panther tanks finished tonight. I am quite pleased with the way they have come out.

The hulls do not have the zimmerit, but I think they look good enough as is.

As I mentioned in the earlier WIP post - I have done them as a variant A, with a few variations thrown in too!

I decided to model them as two higher command tanks, and a regular platoon of 3 tanks, as can be identified by their turret numbers.

I know the panthers often had spare track and other stowage on the turrets, but this really makes adding decals difficult! So I left the turret sides clear, and put the spare track pieces on the rear hull areas.

Decals by DOM.

Now where are those allied tanks hiding?

ANZAC Day, WIP and Games Club

Well ANZAC day has been and gone again. A day of to enjoy with family, and yet a time also to reflect on times past, the gallantry and valor of our service personnel in conflicts around the globe. I am not a Kiwi, being a British migrant, but I have a great respect for what these colonial troops did in their times for King and Country, frequently traveling to the other side of the world to risk, and often lose, their lives.

The day off gave me a chance to frantically assemble a whole bunch of Plastic Soldier Company Panzer III's (Ausf H). Why you might ask?

Well, a couple of weeks back I had an invitation to check out a local war-games club (Kapiti Wargames Club) that has been getting off the ground recently. The club is set up as a safe friendly environment for youngsters and mature gamers to get together and enjoy the hobby of war-gaming.

Being aimed in great part at the younger gamer, GW gaming features predominantly with both 40K and WFB being mainstays in gamers of all ages. However they have an interest in widening their gaming audience and games played.

With this in mind I offered to put on a demonstration game of Flames of War, with pal Paul, which we did last Thursday evening. The game was a simple yet colorful affair, pitching 1000 points each of British Para's dug in around a small hamlet, whilst elements of 12. SS Hitlerjugend Panzergrenadiers, tried to dislodge them.

The Para's clung on tenaciously as they always do, and a final 'do or die' charge, reminiscent of Viktor Gräbner's charge across Arnhem bridge, by the Germans, was stymied in the end.

The game generated a lot of interest from the spectators who asked heaps of questions about the game. I'd put on a mini display of the new rules books too including, the V3 set,  Earth & Steel , and Turning Tide books plus some flyers I'd put together myself, and these all met with great appreciation, in terms of appearance and quality of product.

So, we are off to do it again, and Paul, being the more experience player than I suggested that we put on a tank battle, that people can learn the rules with. Paul suggested a MidWar 1500 point game. OK thought I, I've had some boxes of PSC Panzers kicking about unopened for a while now, so I set to putting them together from Tuesday evening, and on through ANZAC day of Wednesday.

With The Longest Day, and A Bridge Too Far, playing on my portable DVD player beside me, I happily snipped trimmed and glued away, to the sound of machine-gun fire and exploding shells in my headphones.

A few breaks were taken to continue a FoW game Chris and I have been playing over the last few days, trying out the fortification rules.

Each tank took about an hour to put together, so its was a pretty full modelling day!

But now they are ready to game with, albeit without paint, but I don't think that will be too much of a problem at the club, as the typical child like standard of most of the kids models being unpainted or beginning paint-jobs for the most part. Kids typically wanting to get their figures on the table to game with, and painting them coming secondary...But thats fine as it gets them interested in the game, and gets them off their computers, Nintendos Xboxs PS3s and what have you!

So, game on for tonight, my Panzer III's against Pauls Shermans in an Italian setting. Looking forward to it.

No doubt the Panzer III's will get a lick of paint shortly too.

I'll report back with progress, and how the game goes...

From the local paper:

  As good mate Roly has commented on his blog too, good to see a 'bricks and mortar' club here on the Coast.

I'll be formally joining club tonight. Unfortunately I am not a 'facebooker' so though I can view the clubs facebook page, I can't comment or add pics or anything. I'll have to see if they set up an interactive club website or whatever. In the meantime I'll keep posts coming here as "AAR" s or "Bat reps" - choose your abbreviation!

Anologue Hobbies Winter Painting Challenge (AHWPC) - update

Just a quick shot to show where I am upto:

• 20 PSC Half Tracks assembled, base coated, and washed
• 3 Typhoons assembled, undercoat basecoat done
• 3 Command HalfTracks from GpPzGr HQ pack assembled and base coated
• 3/4s of the ' driver' figures trimmed ready for paint for the PSC Half-Tracks.

So next jobs to do:

• Drybrush Halftracks 'middlestone'
• Paint halftracks tyres black
• Drybrush 'mud brown' to Half track wheels and tracks
• Do stowage options for halftracks
• Do crews for halftracks
• Wash command halftracks, do command figures for GpPzGr HQ
• Paint Typhoons
• Add decals to halftracks and typhoons

So still a fair bit to do, but its started raining here, and its set in for the weekend :-), so I'll get some painting done hopefully, and have a game of Flames of War lined up too!

Panzer IV H platoon

With my WW2 interest thoroughly re-invigorated, I have set to with painting projects to get my existing forces re-inforced. You may have see the prior post to this one with my newly arrived commando section? Not to be out done, the forces of the Wehrmacht have been bolstered aswell.

Having found that the Plastic Soldier Company have released a range of hard plastic kits in 15mm scale that, from the reviews I had read, match very well with Battlefronts range of figures and vehicles, I couldnt resist the temptation to buy a pack of Panzer IV's to help my beleagured German grenadier force.

The kit comes with several variant options, allowing you to field the short barrel early varieties, aswell as the longer barrelled later variety. It was the late version 'H' that I was interested in, with the longer barrel, and side Schurzen armour plates.

The kits were very easy to make, and aimed at the gamer rather than modeller, so you can get your tank force quickly into action. Of note the tracks are the same hard plastic, and glue on easily with the same glue you make the rest of the tank with. Unlike prior Airfix kits I have had the dubious honour of making where you make the whole tank and all the dang fiddly wheels, only to find the tracks are some horrible soft plastic that no glue known to man will stick (despite asking Airfix via email drectly and getting no response, surprise surprise...)

Once assembled, each tank taking maybe 15-20 minutes, and with them being in a dark yellow (dunkelgelb?) colour, I sprayed them straight away with the new sprays from Battlefront. I didnt bother to black undercoat first. Once dry I painted the tracks and added the camo markings. Then I washed the whole tank in in my 50/50 mix of vallejo brown and black wash. Once dry they were drybrushed with 'dark yellow' - I could have used the Vallejo middlestone colour but I think I actually used a matching Foundry shade that I had. After that, I detailed the commander, and tools on the deck, redid the exhaust and air intake tubes in a dark copper colour and washed these in black. Finally added some dry-brushed on mid-brown to give a muddy appearance to the tracks and lower area of the tank.

The last bit then to do was add some decals. I had some spare from the StuGs I made a while ago, so used these. They simply show the black cross of German forces and a vehicle identification number.

Other than the decals, I have not varnished the tanks. I find that plastic figures seem less in need of it, as they are less susceptible to being chipped, and the paint adheres very well to the plastic surface.

The Panzer IV H, by Late War standards was a medium tank, and very similar in the game to the Allies Sherman, although it has a slightly better main gun, and the side Schurzen armour affords it a little extra protection against infantry fired anti-tank weapons.

The Panzer IV was widely used by the Germans, both in defending Fortress Europe from the Western Allies in Normandy and Italy, and also on the Eastern front against the Soviet threat, so no doubt my small force of Panzers will get regular use against all comers!

And just to re-iterate, these tanks are NOT contributing towards Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, which is another reason I pushed along to get them finished before the 20th December kick off!

Analogue Hobbies Winter Painting Challenge - The Gauntlet is picked up!

Well, I have had a rummage through the cupboards, and have dug out what I hope to work on through the period of the challenge, as can be seen pictured above.

• a box of Flames of War - Battlefront Typhoons
• 4 boxes of Plastic Soldier Company (15mm for FoW) - SDKfz 251's - thats 20 vehicles!
• a box of Flames of War - Battlefront PaK 40 platoon.
• 1 blister pack of Flames of War - Battlefront German HMG platoon
• 1 blister pack of Flames of War - Battlefront German 8cm Mortar platoon

...and if I get through that little lot in 3 months it will be a bloody miracle, but I figure 'aim high, and if you miss, you still hopefully hit fairly high"... Also still winging their way from Wayland Games in UK is a box of BF FoW - Panzergrenadier Command HQ ( 2 more half tracks and command teams), and a 10.5cm artillery battery boxed set and a bunch of loose 'fausts and 'shreks, just in case I manage to get through the above - yeah right who am I kidding!

I've made an (allowed) start - I have so far half assembled 1 halftrack (sitting on opened box in pic)... theres a lot of work ahead...

Also, (God it would have been so easy to cheat!), just tonight, I have finished painting, my second commando platoon pack, and the PSC Panzer IV H platoon... just need to varnish and base the commandos , and do the decals and varnishing of the panzers, so these guys are a current WIP - and not to be included in the Challenge. So this pretty much clears my painting table, ready for the off!

So what I am doing sitting here writing this, theres work to be done...

update 15/12/11:
The parcel arrived from Wayland Games, and the FoW Panzergrenadier HQ, and German 10.5 Artillery Battery , plus 'shreks & 'fausts have been added to the pile :-)