Panzer 38(t) reinforcement platoon

I played a game of Iron Cross recently where I was playing as the Germans attacking an entrenched Russian position (Operation Zitadelle, perhaps?). In addition to several infantry units and a Pak36 AT gun, I had 6 x Panzer IIIs, 2 x Panzer IVs and 2 x early production (unreliable!) Panthers. These were pitted against a dug-in and hidden force of Russians, approximately 2/3rds the strength of my Germans, featuring 6 x T34s. Below is the Schwerepunkt led by the Panthers and a platoon of Panzer IIIs.

The objective of the scenario was for the Germans to push forward, puncture the Russian lines and wreak havoc in the Russian rear. Unfortunately, that didn't happen: just like on the first day of Zitadelle, the German advance started well, but bogged down in attritional fighting along the main road and eventually was beaten back by some superb shooting from the T34s. By the end of the battle, there were lots of smoking tank wrecks littering the battlefield, mostly German.

So, I have decided that for Day 2 of the assault, once the German field recovery unit had retrieved and repaired some of the knocked out Panzers, was to throw more armour into the attack. I have therefore bought a platoon of Panzer 38(t)s from Warlord and have assembled and painted them up.

These are really nice kits to build, on a par with my favourite manufacturer, Rubicon, who for some reason do not produce a standard Panzer 38(t) model. They do have a Hetzer and a conversion kit to make an Aufklarungs variant, but no standard 38(t). I feel like I need to get myself the recce tank now, though I am not sure whether the scale of the Warlord and Rubicon kits will be compatible. They look to scale when placed next to my Rubicon Panzer IIIs, but I guess I will have to buy one to find out.

These Warlord kits took about 45-60 minutes to assemble and have plenty of detail on them, plus a good selection of waterslide decals. I was building German 38(t)s, but there are decals for Romanian and Bulgarian vehicles too.

Here are the finished articles painted in plain panzer grey. I chose a basic paint job to match the rest of the models that I have done recently, so that I can use them in a number of early to mid war scenarios.

I have also painted up another infantry squad of panzerjagers to hunt down the T34s. They look a bit shiny still; a few years ago, I started coating my miniatures in Kleer floor wax, which gives them a protective coat, and then overspray them with Testor's Dullcote to take the shine off them. I find that this gives a nice finish and also prevents the paint from getting too chipped. For some reason, these 5 minis are still shiny even after two coats of Dullcote. I also need to finish off the bases by adding some vegetation, but I'll get around to that some time soon...I've got about 30-40 minis that need their bases finishing off.

Can't wait to get these bad boys out onto the gaming table for Day 2 of Zitadelle!

Painted Bulgarian Riflemen

Following on from my post yesterday, I have painted two pre-production samples of Great Escape Games' forthcoming range of 28mm WWII Bulgarians. I am sure that a pro painter will have made a better job than me, but it is far easier to get a sense of what a miniature figure is like once it has been painted.  

I have to say that these were really nice to paint (and quick), not for lack of detail, but the paucity of equipment that the Bulgarian soldiers carried around and the simplicity of their uniforms. Normally, I paint WWII Germans, which tend to have more detail on their uniforms and also lots more equipment, all of which requires a different colour. These guys have a single colour uniform, some ammo pouches and a bag. ;-)

I spent a bit of time yesterday scouring the Internet for colour photos of Bulgarian uniforms, of which there are very little. I settled on using photos of a bunch of re-enactors; here is a link to one of the sites I used for reference. The colours I used (all Vallejo Model Color) were:

• Uniform - 70921 English Uniform
• Helmet - 70890 Reflective Green
• Boots - 70950 Black
• Rifle - 70871 Leather Brown / 70995 German Grey / Boltgun Metal from Games Workshop
• Rifle sling - 70886 Green Grey
• Ammo pouches - 70940 Saddle Brown
• Epaulettes - 70946 Dark Red
• Flesh - 70860 Medium Fleshtone

I washed the models with Citadel Agrax Earthshade and then highlighted using the same base colour mixed with a bit of 70919 Foundation White.

I know that they are not going to win me a Golden Demon, but I think they're good enough for gaming. Just need to wait for the range to go into production now. ;-)

New 28mm Bulgarian Infantry

I've recently been reading more about, and therefore getting into, the war (WWII, of course) in the Balkan region. I've started collecting an early war German panzer division and think that the opposition that I will pit against them first will probably be Greeks.

Does the Crete campaign (Operation Mercury) count as early war, or is it straying into being mid-war?  Either way, I've already got a good sized force of German Fallschirmjager and Gebirgsjager as the invading force and a small, but growing, band of Allies and some partisans to oppose the invasion. I've got Indians and DAK for North Africa too. I've always fancied gaming Syria in 1941, but back to the Balkans first...

My good friend, Stuart, from Great Escape Games has provided me with a couple of pre-production samples of GEG's forthcoming Bulgarian range to paint up. Here's what two of the riflemen look like based and under-coated. Check back soon for progress updates on the painting.

They have just closed a "GEGstarter" (a sort of kickstarter type thing) with an initial commitment to produce 40 miniatures. I can't wait!

UPDATE: I have now painted the minis.

AAR: Small game of Iron Cross - Italy 1944

My son and I have played a small game of Iron Cross today. It was a pleasure to get some toys out on the table and attempt to teach my 11-year old some tactics and the rules of the game. Iron Cross has really simple mechanics and not very many rules, which makes it easy to pick up quickly, but what it does allow for is permanent involvement from both players...something that is really important when playing against the video game generation!

The game we played was very loosely set in Italy on the basis that the terrain I have been working on over the last few months is all intended for the Mediterranean; the limiting factor making it "loosely based on reality" was that I haven't got full opposing armies for the region yet. 

Like most gamers, I'm not short of figures, but I haven't yet completed forces for this region yet. I have got opposing company-sized forces for North Africa (DAK versus 4th Infantry Division (India)); late war Germans (both Heer and SS) versus British for northern Europe; Romanians versus Hungarians (or Germans) for late war eastern Europe; plus several other single forces for various theatres. Therefore, the forces we fielded were some almost-appropriately dressed DAK versus some British in tropical uniforms. We had an HQ and three units of infantry each.  As the German player, I also had two Panthers and a Marder II; Tom had 5 Shermans. The points were inequal, but in his favour.

I won the opening roll to seize the initiative and deployed some infantry and one of the Panthers near to the road which ran across the centre of the table.

In turn 1, Tom pushed two of his Shermans, an infantry unit and his HQ aggressively up the main road. The Panther and leading Sherman traded shots, but both failed to hit during the first turn.

As soon as the leading Sherman started taking some more accurate fire from the now-stationary Panther, he wisely decided to veer off the main road and take cover the behind the trees and building which obscured the Panther's line of sight.

I think that photo below was from the third turn where Tom started advancing around my left flank with two more Shermans (quantity certainly has a quality all of its own!), and some infantry trailing behind in support.

Meanwhile, using the cover of the villa adjacent to the main road, I deployed my Marder II and started trading shots with the advancing Shermans, which slowed them down a little.

The view from the British right flank with (now) three Shermans advancing...

With the initiative again, Tom spent a few command tokens and targeted the opposing Panther.

Unfortunately, the Sherman scored a direct hit and destroyed the big cat! I thought that I was pretty safe with the Panther's front armour facing towards the enemy...clearly not.  Rolling two 10's was plenty to wipe my tank out.

Meanwhile, on the German right flank, I manoeuvred my second Panther around a small copse and fired whilst on the move at the isolated Sherman, scoring a direct hit and brewing it up. After being the first to lose some armour, I felt slightly better about taking out one of his tanks, which evened up the odds just a little. That's one of the problems with heavily armoured tanks with big guns - when you do lose one, it hurts a lot more than losing a more lightly armed, cheaper vehicle. 

Whilst I was quietly celebrating, Tom continued to advance in force against my left flank.

The Marder earned its pay for a couple of turns, placing repeated shots (even some penetrating hits) onto two of the Shermans, but with each hit it failed to completely destroy them. Tom then had to rally his troops and burn through several command tokens on Company Morale Tests.

The Marder could only stem the tide against a superior number of tanks for so long though and was eventually destroyed. 

It did hold up his advancing Shermans for about three turns though, which allowed me to re-position my remaining Panther into a more advantageous position in the centre of the battlefield for protecting my left flank. However, a previously badly-mauled Sherman, which had been hidden behind the building, taking cover and repairing its damaged turret (make up your own narrative here, if you like!), re-emerged from behind the building at the far end of the road and fired a broadside into the Panther, which punched straight through, killing the crew.

After losing all their armour, the Germans retreated, leaving the British to take and hold the Aprilia-Campoleone road. The photo below is from the German left/British right flank. A great game, even though I lost to my son again.

Greek/Cretan Church - finished article

I've spent about another hour finishing off the application of the wall filler and painting this church for a Greek/Crete themed terrain board. I started it last Sunday and only got around to finishing it off today. It is based on this source photo.

After applying all the wall filler and leaving it for 20 minutes to dry, I painted it all over with a pale pink-ish beige tester pot from B&Q. It was called Warm Beige, but it must be at least 5 years old, so I doubt very much that they still stock it. I bought some other tester pots this week and all the colours seem to be named after places now (Galway, Chueca, Andulusia, Greenhills etc).

The exposed stonework was painted with a darker beige colour and I painted the deep recesses around the door and windows with a diluted black to force a shadow.

Once the base coat had dried, I cut up a piece of the foam that comes in packets of miniature figures and used this to lightly dab on a much lighter colour. I don't know if you can really see the difference on the photos, but this is what it looks like with the lighter colour dabbed on.

After that, I used another piece of sponge and started to dab on a cocoa brown colour to apply the staining and weathering effect on the render. This is the stage that took the most time; don't apply too much paint to the sponge otherwise you will end up with blobs of paint on the model rather than lots of tiny dots. It takes a bit of time but the effort creates the right effect.

Following the brown, I used the same bit of sponge and lightly applied some dark grey to only the top parts of the walls and the roof. Some really well-diluted paint (alternating between the brown and the grey) was painted on certain parts to create a more uneven weathered look.

This is what the (almost) finished article looks like. I'm just awaiting delivery of a Lindt chocolate reindeer, which comes with a little bell, which looks to be just the right size to hang in the bell tower. Assuming it is the right size, then I'll paint it and affix it in place and probably also attach the bell rope down the front of the building like in the original photo.  I decided not to paint the brick archway and bright yellow mortar because even though it is real (IRL!), it doesn't look very real!

The final bit of detailing that I did was to paint the door and appropriately weather it.

I think that I might make a circular stone seat, with an olive tree to provide some shade, to position outside the church.

UPDATE 21/12/20: The bells, the bells...

My Lindt chocolate reindeer arrived, so I took the bell from around its neck and mounted it in the bell tower and then gave it a coat of appropriately weathered paint.

It is now battlefield ready. ;-)

Greek/Cretan Rural Church - work-in-progress

As another Sunday afternoon project, I have started making a small rural church suitable for Greek/Crete scenarios. Because the weather was so nice today, I spent most of the day putting all the Xmas decorations and lights on the outside of the house, so only started this terrain piece late this afternoon!

I'm waiting for the filler on the roof to dry, so I thought I would post up a few work-in-progress images. I have described the technique and materials that I use in a previous post. This particular building was based on a fantastic set of photos that I found on stock photo site, Alamy, who charge for their images, so I can only link to them from here, but they are worth having a look at.

Front of the church

Side and rear

Bell tower

Here is what my church looks like part completed...it's not identical, but close enough in proportions and features to be identifiable as Greek-ish. It is mostly made of cork tiles, with some cardboard cereal packet, some textured wallpaper and surface/wall filler. This is probably about 90 minutes' work so far; once the roof has dried, the remainder of the texturing will be pretty quick to complete, as will the painting.

I intend to paint this building to be more like the church in the photos from the Alamy site i.e. a lot more staining on the render than I have added to the two previous cottages that I made on the last couple of Sunday afternoons.

Another feature that I intend to add to this church is to find a bell from somewhere. I'm sure that there is a chocolate bunny (Lindt or Kinder, perhaps?) that has a ribbon around its neck with a small bell attached. Following a quick Google search, I have just located a chocolate reindeer with a bell! Hopefully, that will be the right size.

I have also been painting a German army for an early war/invasion of Greece scenario to go with the early war German armour that I painted a few weeks ago. Here are a couple of photos of a handful of the infantry. I think these models are from Black Tree, with maybe some Crusader minis thrown in. They were some of the first miniatures that I bought when I started up with the hobby again (as an adult). I had painted them back then (10 years ago?), so have only been touching them up this week and changing the colour of the trousers from feldgrau to mouse grey.  I think that I might re-base them as well: the soil colour is way too dark for Greece.