2 games in 2 Days!

Now then,

I have been lucky enough to have 2 games this weekend!Firstly on Saturday James popped down for a game of Battlegroup Kursk. It was only a small game, based mostly on the introductory scenario in the Kursk book. It went really well and I like the Battlegroup rules alot. 

James has written a great report over on his blog -

 the mad tin hatter HERE

The second game was with Pete, Stuart and myself having our first game of Impetus Baroque, using our newly painted English Civil war Armies.

It was another cracking game, and it looked ace on Petes terrain.

Both games were really good fun and ill be playing them both again in the near future!

Cheers for looking,
Steve

German Vehicles

Now then,

I sat and finished these vehicles off last night, mostly just basing but the trucks in particular needed a bit of work on the camo.

First we have a Panzer IIf.

I tried a dark wash on this one, it has turned out a bit dark, but works ok I think, It just looks a bit dirty....

Next I have a Sdkfz 250/3 command vehicle with a bedstead antenna.

(This is the battlefront "grief" model)

Here I have my Schwimwagons, These are forged in battle models and are very nice.

Again Ive been experimenting with different washes, some are darker than others......

I really enjoyed painting these, with the little drivers and passengers.

Last up I have some trucks, pretty bog standard and boring to paint (id rather be painting tanks...)

These will be used to transport my Panzer grenadiers in the lorried Battalion.

I shall have a proper update tomorrow,

Cheers for looking,
Steve

Panther G and Puma Fixed!

Now then,

I have spent a bit of time over the last day or so going through my WW2 collection, and my Panther and Puma were still sticky from the varnish that was applied in 2014!!

I fixed the problem by putting on  a fresh coat of matt varnish, A simple fix....Thank god for that...

 The Battlefront model comes with 2 turrets, so depending on what you want in your force, you can have either the:

Sdkfz 234/1 Armed with a 20mm cannon, and a coaxial MG.

or

Sdkfz 234/2 PUMA.
An up armoured version, with a fully enclosed turret, armed with a 50mm AT gun

Loads more to come!!

Cheers for looking,
Steve

StuH42 G

Now then,

I have decided to paint up my last Stug as an assault gun to support the Infantry, and help dig the soviets out of their foxholes and bunkers.

The StuH 42
(From Wikipedia) In 1942, a variant of the StuG III Ausf. F was designed with a 105 mm (4.1 in) howitzer instead of the 7.5 cm StuK 40 L/43 cannon. 

These new vehicles, designated StuH 42 (Sturmhaubitze 42, Sd.Kfz 142/2), were designed to provide infantry support with the increased number of StuG III Ausf. F/8 and Ausf. Gs being used in the anti-tank role. 

This is a battlefront model, however I have removed the original commanders cupola using a sharp knife and a lot of filing, and replaced it with a spare Forged in Battle 1 piece cupola with a commander. As the barrel is a lot chunkier than the FIB models I have been painting recently I was able to drill out the barrel and muzzle brake.

The StuH 42 mounted a variant of the 10.5 cm leFH 18 howitzer, modified to be electrically fired and fitted with a muzzle brake. Production models were built on StuG III Ausf. G chassis. 

The muzzle brake was often omitted due to the scarcity of resources later in the war. ~1,299 StuH 42 were produced by Alkett from March 1943 to 1945, the initial 12 vehicles were built on repaired StuG III Ausf. F and F/8 from autumn 1942 to January 1943.





This is my last of my WW2 German stuff for the time being. I have a few bits and bobs to paint up for my Soviets, but they will be waiting for a bit.

I will be painting something completely different next.....Zombies!??
Cheers for looking,
Steve

Pz IVH Platoon, Forged in Battle

Now then,

This week I have finished off the other 3 Panzer IVH for my battlegroup Kursk German forces. I now have a platoon of 3 and 1 extra tank to support them.

Panzers advance across Russian farmland

Command tank.

Panzer III's and IV's

Also because I like my gaming aids, I downloaded a card deck for battlegroup Kursk from boardgame geek, whoever designed them has done a great job.

These are designed to replace the counters in the rulebook, so no little counters in a cup, when you lose a unit etc, you just take the top card.

cardboard case.

Loads of cards, with all the special ones in there too, so no looking up in the rulebook, its all on the cards.

So, next im working on my StuH42 G assault gun, then that's about everything I have for my Germans done. Ill be painting something completely different after its finished, with some help from my son James.

Cheers for looking,
Steve

Pz IVH test paint scheme Forged in Battle

Now then,

I have 4 Pz IVH's from forged in battle sat on my painting desk. I have done a test paint scheme on 1 of them before i plunge in feet first and do the other 3. As your probably aware the German army had loads of different camouflage schemes that varied wildly even among tanks within the same unit.

I have decided to go with what I think is a scheme that would work well enough for both the mid war (mainly stripes and blotches) an late war (dots) Nothing quite says late war to me more than dots everywhere!

Anyway enough waffling, here's what I came up with.

Personally Im quite happy with how it came out, and im getting there (finally) with the dip, I have been watering it down more every time I use it.

On a separate note, The Forged in battle 15mm miniatures are great, every tank I have is different, with schurtzen in different configurations etc. Highly recommended.

Cheers for looking,
Steve

Forged in Battle Pz III's

Now then,

A quick update.....I spent this afternoon painting up my panzer III's from forged in battle. Nice models! Although they wont stand up to the T34's except at close range!

So I now have a platoons worth for the battlegroup rules and the Pz IIIN (short barrel) will be a support vehicle for some Tiger tanks when I get them. But first I have four Pz IVH to get done, oh and a Stug G.

Cheers,
Steve

Battlegroup Kursk, support troops

Now then,

A while back I got a load of stuff from Skytrex, support stuff for the German forces on the Eastern front. As I had a week off, I have got round to painting it all now.

First up I have painted up the Opel Blitz Radio truck. This took me ages to paint, not really sure why....

This will be a forward signals unit for BGK.

Stretcher bearers (Waffen SS)

 Stretcher Bearers (Wehrmacht)

Dispatch riders (Waffen SS)

Dispatch riders (Wehrmacht)

While Im on about WW2, I thought I would show you these. I had them made for me by Warbases. They are laser cut MDF, with 2 dials inside numbered from 0-9. 

All I did was create the "covers" on word, print them out and stick them on. Now, these are not necessary to play BGK, but im thinking anything that makes a game easier cant be a bad thing....

As it took me so long to paint the radio truck, I have been experimenting. I managed to paint up this PZ IIIN in about an hour (not including drying time).

All I did was paint it dunkelgelb, then painted on the cam, then painted the whole thing with ronseal dark oak stain/varnish.

once dry I drybrushed the whole thing with a light sand colour.

Done.


Maybe a bit rough and ready, but once I have all his mates done then they will look fine.

On the painting desk are 3 Pz III M's.Hopefully using the same speed painting method as the Pz III N above Ill have them all done by Monday...

As alwaysI have been chipping away at the epic Novamarines too...

 More Whirlwinds!

Land raider company!

And finally, here is them all painted so far!....

Cheers for looking,
Steve