2020 begins - with Israeli Micro Armour

The kitchen is finished and I have been able to do some minis. Currently got 2 projects on go:
1) a 28mm scale battleboard to act as a window display piece  - roughly 3ftx1ft. Will be up for sale for £120.
2) Yom Kippur way project - specifically Chinese Farm. I have started Adan's division and I have completed painting by first battalion of Centurions (still need aerials and basing materials). C&C appreciated.

These are Heroics and Ros minis.

Need to research alternative air recognition (if they existed) for future formations to perhaps mix it up.

Tale of Three Armies

So I've currently got 3 Forces that I'm working on at the moment although I'm also going to go through my 10mm stuff and see what I've got there too, due to the shed flood issues.

Got a few bits done last night but I'll show some more pictures of these once I've got a decent amount finished. Closest to finished is my Prussian Army - just short commanders and some Kuirassiers and Dragoons.

Prussian Army

I have also started on my Austrians to oppose these, and I've already got all of the Artillery done - ALL OF IT (2 stands).

2 Regiments of Austrian Infantry and the 2 Units of Artillery I need.

Finally I have my Bolt Action force. Everything to the left of the armour is done so I reckon I'm about a quarter of the way through.

Although its not a priority, I had a bit of a go at my StuG last night (getting nowhere near a 750 point list), heavily washed in brown and I'm going to give a light green too I think. Decals go on and then its going to be sand glued to tracks and road wheels before a lot of drybrushing.

I then need to get myself a decent carry case.

Next up - the return of Sch'yyrk.

Warlord Games StuG III

28mm has taken over my painting table. I have 10m and 6mm armies I want to paint but take a lot of effort to get everything out (paints, models, light, correct colour guide for my 7YW Prussians) and at the moment my paint times tend to be an hour here or an hour there at the end of the day.

On the other hand with a lot of 28mm figures, once they are put together and sprayed, I can just work on a figure in front of the tv and get it done in a night (minus basing). As such at the moment on the go I have:

28mm

• Frostgrave Barbarians
• Vietnam (US, NVA and VC)
• Fallschirmjager Starter Army

10mm

• Fallschirmjager
• Canadians
• British Paras
• Russian Infantry

6mm

• Prussian Seven Years War

Last night I sat down and glued together the StuG III from the Fallschirmjager boxset. I've decided not to attach the side skirts as I want to use this for mid-war and I'm thinking of painting the force up as part of 1st Fallschirmjager in Italy. I also didn't want too many pieces which could be broken so didn't attach the top machine gun and shut the secondary hatch up.

The model went together fairly easily (although I don't personally like the two part tracks. The details seem decent enough for a wargaming model especially the grenade launchers.

I need to decide on the paint scheme now, obviously dunkelgelb underneath but then . . . ?

I think I'm going to get the whole force put together before I paint it, whilst I keep up painting habit on my other bits. Having said that if I get a decent spell to myself I might try and get 500 points done so I can play a game in January (fingers crossed). Any volunteers?

On the Football side of life - we find out in less than a week if we're accepted into the league. All fingers crossed. I've been unable to do much fitness myself with family commitments and surgery but give me a week and I'll be back on my bike and attempting to bulk up.

Operation Barbarossa Battle

So for the first time in a long time I went down to Lancaster Wargames Club and made the debut of my German Cavalry with AE. Had a good fun game - tested some hypotheses and met up with people I haven't seen in a while. It was also good to get the models out on tabletop.

Cavalry Regiment Deployed

Although I don't have a battle report I can advise of my findings:

• As expected, cavalry just can't stand up and force its way through formed infantry, but it does seem to have the mobility to exploit gaps (the scenario didn't really allow for this). They are also really susceptible to artillery.

Kradshutzen Arrive to outflank

• Early war Panzer Grenadiers mince their way through Soviet Infantry (only casualties were caused by friendly fire).

Panzer Breakthrough

• Early War Panzers are really glad they have good command - they also can't sit in front of anti-tank guns. They also don't have great guns on them and really rely on the infantry to support them. Having said that they are monstrous when overrunning infantry in the open.

KV-2

• KV-2's are scary when they fire (this one stand blew away 2 Panzer 3 platoons) but are still vulnerable to mass flank/rear fire when unsupported. If the Russians had enough command to get the infantry alongside it I don't know how I could have taken it out. On a side note Panzerjager 1B are actually quite good as tank hunters in early war (Anti-Tank 4)

If I was to play this sort of scenario I would play the cavalry as an exploitation force or mobile flank guard - asking them to break through isn't something they are going to be able to do.

I also would try to move more - my back is killing me this morning and has doubly confirmed to me that I'm not going to be able to play football against Burnley Tornadoes. Having said that I should probably let you know what happened on Sunday! 

Soviet Armour?

So I needed some early war opponents for my Cavalry so I picked up a regiments worth of Russian Infantry to play as counter attackers or desperate defenders! I also got my order of turrets for my German Armour and I decided to spoil myself with some Soviet Armour (Including one of the most ridiculous tanks of WW2).

So first of all I'll start with what you've seen before - another couple of Panzer III Shorts and 2 Panzer III Long. I've got 4 more to do but I've run out of bases :(

Panzer III Long

Panzer III Short

So this will act as either a breakthrough or a reinforcement column to my cavalry force. Want to get a few vehicles (transport) and infantry and eventually build this up into a Panzer Division.

I will start mass painting infantry so I can at least get a battalion and a half on table (with lots of support elements) - again I have a shortage of bases but they at least have some armour support (one platoon of which is just silly).

T26s were (officially) deployed as part of a the Rifle Regiment Divisonal Tank Battalion (4 Stands T26 and 3 stands of T37a as per Spearkrieg). I really like the shading - not so sure about the markings - apparently this is an official paint scheme.

From www.armchairgeneral.com

Finally I keep mentioning the silliness so here you go - a KV2. Pendraken models tend to be two pieces - hull and turret - but this is 3 for the hull and a huge turret. The detail is good especially the road wheels (better than normal to be honest) but as per usual with both of these tanks they are a bit squat.

Monster 152mm Howitzer - in 1941!

Definitely going to fall over - the KV2 could only traverse its turret on flat ground due to the weight of its turret!

Menacing

So due to its serious issues (and not having the stats line in front of me) I'm going to make a couple of special rules for the KV2. First it is Unreliable  meaning that for every move order past the first one there is an additional -1 to command. Secondly it is Restricted due to its issues over the turret movement meaning that instead of having a 180 degree view it has a 90 degree view as below.

So here is the combined supporting armour I have collected for the Russians - not massively rushing to reinforce - most likely to just make a Rifle Division and stop.

Spot the odd one out.

You never know, I might get the infantry painted and a game sorted out!

Early War German Reinforcements

So didn't get a huge amount done besides large quantity of texturing some bases. But did get a few reinforcements (which you've already seen WIP pictures for).

First of all the Panzers - I had 12 of these but over time - lots of moves I opened them up to find I only had 4 turrets - quick email to Leon at Pendraken and the turrets are on their way as a separate order. But in the meanwhile I have finished these 4 - not sure about the markings but think they look ok.

Panzers!

The wash really helps detail the tank - also helped by the high quality casting allowing for the wash to settle. The crosses were black then white to help make them jump out.

Panzer IIIE with added foliage

I used lichen to dress the tank and this works well - just need to avoid overdoing it.

Herr Commander!

All in all looking good - building this up based on either 17th or 18th Panzer Division eventually but depends upon what campaigns that they were involved in. My Cavalry also gained reinforcements; HMGs and Recce for the infantry and the majority of the Panzerjager Battalion.

MG42 Teams

Sdkfz222

The recce needs its markings added to it but these shouldn't take long and will be on by time I repost the whole force in it.

Fear my mighty 37mm Shells

I've got to be honest I'm not sure how I use this force against counterattacking Soviet Tank Forces. I mean T26s, BT7s yes but I've just bought a KV2 just to see how much of a monster it is and I have very little to take it out. At least with a Panzer Division you have quite a few mobile anti tank guns and can always throw in your heavy artillery. My heaviest artillery is a single unit of 10.5cm Howitzers!

I've started on my Prussians but I haven't ordered the bases yet. So I'm painting a cavalry regiment at a time (1st Hussars should be done by end of week) so I feel like I'm moving forward.

Little By Little

I know it seems like a flurry of action but there's not actually much happening - just a little by little - mostly just finishing off the odd bit. But if I clear a bit of space I can get on with some more complete projects which will hopefully be a bit more impressive. And I'll also post a picture showing everything!

Last Nights Work Drying

Shocking picture I know but I was hiding out in the shed. At the back, left to right there is a Sdkfz222 which just needs cavalry markings, 3 HMGs which need texture and my Bicycle Battalion HQ. On the front row from Left-Right, I've got the 3 Early War Panzers which just need divisional markings, 6 StuG III/StuH '42 which I've given a wash to try and reduce how bright yellow they look. Finally in the shadows is my Brigade Command stand for my final Canadian Infantry Brigade - this brigade has been half painted for a long time so a bit of work and should be able to significantly increase my force.

Brigade Command

Its an excessive vehicle but there is no Divisional Commanders in Spearkrieg Commander so I'd rather use it for this than have it sitting around doing nothing. Also helped that I had a spare finished officer model from when I downsized my command stands.

Panzer Grey

Continuing this no plan painting action; some of which is because my polyfilla ran out so I can't base anything right now.

First I pulled out my small collection of Early War Panzers and decided to repaint them. Unfortunately I seem to have lost most of their turrets so I am left with a single PzIII 37mm, 2 PzIII 50mm and a PzIV with a short 75mm. However having painted them in a lighter grey I then used a brown wash and they look really good. I just need to add some appropriate markings and base them and this can be the core of a battlegroup to support my cavalry. Better pictures will follow.

Panzers!

 I'm also fleshing out my Cavalry - painting support weapons and starting on the building blocks for the 2nd Regiment.

HMGs

Whilst I had the grey out I've been working on my elephants (the cavalry have gone away to make some room). So far I think they look ok.

Heffalumps

Still doing bits and bobs - need to get more bases and just keep motoring. Still got a brigade of half painted Canadian Infantry to finish!

British Armour!

Again had these painted for a while but finally got round to posting these. Got another squadron of Churchills but haven't finished basing them along with a Crocodile.

British Heavy Armour

I've organised the formation into a regiment of 3 squadrons - 3 Churchill Mk7s and 1 Mk8 to each squadron. As with all my WW2 forces, they are Pendraken - lovely models but if I ever do an actual armoured formation (Panzer Division etc)  I would probably use Skytrex miniatures - cost a lot less and don't take up quite such a large amount of space on the table - these are BIG models.

Regimental HQ

Not quite sure how often I'll use this stand - usual practice was to split the squadrons in a supporting role amongst attacking Infantry Divisions.

I may redo the names on the sides of the tank as it was originally done with acrylic and has badly rubbed so the names are unreadable. The individual squadrons have the squadron markings in yellow on the turrets - circles, squares (and triangles).

Side View

I also have (as part of Canadian Infantry Division) a couple of M10 Tank Destroyers. Eventually, I will post the division in full once its completed.

I'm not overly impressed with these - no crews and less detail than I have seen on others. However they are more than adequate and when I'm fielding 3rd Canadian Infantry they won't have much armour to be compared to.

Coming Up: I've got my British and Canadian Infantry to post and I'm still musing over Game of Thrones - working title is currently Stag Rampant.