But after some time I realised that a DAK force didn't really appeal, and my young son's interest in painting up his 8th Army troops seems to have fizzled onto the back burner...
So I decided to switch these guys to the Eastern Front setting, and paint them to match my existing forces. They are Plastic Soldier Company, Panzer III H variant, in 15mm scale.
Now, I am not sure but I may have taken some artistic licence in their depiction... Whilst the Panzer III H certainly featured on the Eastern front from the Mid War period onwards... I am unsure if they would have had the depicted 3 colour camo pattern... but I didn't really fancy painting them grey... as they then wouldn't match my existing forces... and besides I may proxy them as later variants of the panzer III ...
I completed them a couple of weeks back but was just waiting for a set of smaller scale decals for the turret numbers to arrive from DOM in the UK... The side of the turret of the Pz III H has a small raised area which I was concerned would not allow the standard size decals to lie flat, so I got the small ones so they sit just below the 'bump', and have gone on well.
HQ above with Co and 2iC
First platoon of three tanks
And then 2 platoons of five. All up together this gives 1350pts of armour. Add to this a little recce and maybe a Stuka and I will have a usable force on the table.
Next up a platoon of PanzerII L 'Luchs' (translation; Lynx):
The Panzer II was a tank that features in the early and MidWar setting but by the LateWar setting it had been modified and turned into a reconnaissance vehicle, where they seem to have been used quite widely on the Eastern Front.
I also used them to demonstrate a guide to painting the German 3 colour camo pattern here.
