Building a Rubicon Panzerbefehlswagen III Ausf. H

I picked up some of the new Rubicon Panzer III kits from Great Escape Games this week. I initially bought 2 x Panzerbefehlswagen III (command tanks) and 2 x Panzer III, but will inevitably go back for some more to build out an armoured platoon for Iron Cross. These kits cover several variants, in this case, you can build E/H/J/L for the Befehlswagen and H/J/L/M/N for the regular Panzer III.  I have decided to build variant H for the whole platoon, which gives me a bit more flexibility in which theatre they can be deployed to.  According to Wikipedia, Ausf. H was active from 1940, so I can conceivably use them for pretty much every battle thereafter. The main armament (5 cm KwK 38 L/42) is a bit poky though, so fielding it much later than North Africa will have little impact when pitted against some Shermans!

I purchased some of the earlier Rubicon Panzer IIIs about two years ago and my memory of building them was it was a lot simpler than creating these latest models. The kits from Rubicon seem to be evolving into something more appreciated by a modeller, who is concerned with the fine level of detail that the latest Rubicon kits have, than a wargamer; it is far less effort to buy a one piece resin cast vehicle than it is to carefully assemble these kits.

The artwork on the box is really nice and that quality extends to the instruction leaflet. This is reminding me of the Airfix kits that I used to build 30-something years ago as a kid. The leaflet is printed in colour, which is useful to help you distinguish between the various parts of the kit which relate to the different variants. Whoever researched and created these kits, and then thought through the construction process, has done a thorough and meticulous job. 

The instructions are fairly easy to follow: they are a bit like the Haynes car manuals from the 1970s and 1980s in that they feature an "exploded" view illustrating how each part goes together.  It is well worth cutting all the pieces for a given sub-assembly, such as the turret, and dry fitting them all together, so that you can check which way up each part should go before you start gluing.

Just one small criticism here. The number of variants means that there is some drilling required. Thankfully, I purchased a small, manually-operated drilling tool (a pin vice drill, or something like that?). The problem with that is that none of my drill bits exactly match the size of hole required. How about putting the correct drill bit in the box Rubicon?  I had to drill each hole and then widen it by carefully rotating a scalpel in the hole...not ideal.

One more criticism: some holes are required on all the variants.  Why couldn't Rubicon create the mould with those all-variant holes in them, as they had done on some other parts? There are four sprues containing all the parts, plus several variants; all the parts are numbered.

The moulding is pin sharp with no visible mould lines. The plastic is soft enough to be easily snipped off with a pair of side cutters/snippers and then gently filed to smooth the cut edge.

I haven't yet painted the model, so haven't applied the decals, but there is a good selection allowing lots of variation.

Above are the tools that I used: pin vice drill, file, scalpel, tweezers, side cutters and some Revell plastic glue (the sort that melts the plastic together to create a good bond). Obviously, none of this is supplied with the kit, so you'll need to purchase all these tools to assemble it correctly.

Another tool that I picked up this weekend from Hobbycraft for £30 was a magnifying glass with an in-built light. This really helped when reading the instructions, though not particularly small, were quite intricate in places. At only £30, I think this was a bargain and I suspect my miniature painting may now improve too.

Above are three of the separate sub-assemblies: the main deck, the turret deck and the chassis. I suspect that without the ability to create four or five variants from the same kit, a lot of the pieces could have been moulded as one piece, rather than lots of little pieces. It is quite pain-staking, but rewarding at the same time. It's a part of the hobby that I haven't really been involved with for quite a while, so it was actually nice to go back and build this kit. I think that it probably took about 3-4 hours in total.

The main deck of the tank (above) has 19 separate parts to it. The model featured below is the Befehlswagen, so has a large antenna array on the rear deck. I have also added some brass rods (which were not in the kit) for the extra antennae that the command tank possessed.

One thing that I learnt from dry-fitting each part, prior to gluing, is that it is a really good idea to dry fit! I wish that I had not attached the tracks to the chassis until after spraying a base coat; I can imagine that it will be the devil's own job to get the paint into all the crevices. Does anyone have a top tip for that?  

There is one piece (pictured above to the right of the chassis) that I am glad that I have glued on yet. It was supposed to be affixed to the rear of the chassis, but I am going to wait until after I have attached the deck and chassis parts together. I can easily see that if I had glued this slightly out of place, then the deck and chassis would not have fit together nicely.

Another issue that dry-fitting turned up was that the turret ring did not properly accommodate the turret; it was so tight that I worried that I was going to break something by trying to force the turret into the ring, so I ended up using the file to shave the inside circumference of the turret ring to loosen it a little.

Anyway, I only had a couple of minor gripes over this kit, but other than that, it was fun to assemble and, once I can field 6 of them on the gaming table, will be even more fun to play with. I will post up some photos once I have assembled a few more and painted them.

I just need to find some suitable reference photos for the colour scheme now. Here's a pic of a Panzer III from Bovington. I know it's not an Ausf H, probably later, an L maybe, judging from the size of the main gun.

I have also assembled one of the Panzer III (SdKfz 141) kits as well as part of the same troop for an early war Iron Cross force.

Deutsche Afrika Korps

The Deutsches Afrikakorps, often abbreviated to DAK, was the German force deployed to fight against the Allies in North Africa in WWII from March 1941 until its surrender in May 1943.

I painted up a fairly sizable force for Iron Cross about a year ago, but have not yet had a chance to get them out onto the gaming table to play with, so whilst most people in South Wales are now in lockdown (the Vale of Glamorgan is the last bastion of sub-lockdown Covid numbers and hemmed in on all sides by the surrounding locked-down counties of Cardiff, RCT and Bridgend, plus most of the rest of South Wales!), I decided to "deploy" my forces onto the gaming table just because...

The force was constituted (and based) for Iron Cross and is made up of:

• 1 x HQ squad (with a command car)
• 7 x infantry squads (5 of which are mounted in trucks)
• 1 x mortar
• 2 x HMGs
• 1 x Pak36 AT gun
• 2 x Panzer IIs
• 5 x Panzer IIIs
• 2 x Panzer IVs
• 1 x Messerschmitt Bf109e (this is only for table decoration/terrain)

Ranks of infantry

Command car and fire support units

Some of the infantry

A close-up of the mounted command squad

Infantry units mounted in trucks

The seated troops are from Perry, so slightly smaller than the rest of the army, which is from Artizan, but the difference is not noticeable when they are in the back of the trucks.

Transport vehicles play an important role in Iron Cross, so I created miniatures that could be removed for when I wanted to dismount the troops. The seated models are glued to a coffee stirrer, so that they can easily be slotted into place, or taken out again and then replaced with Artizan models on the tabletop. The coffee stirrer was painted the same colour as the bench in the back of the truck.

In several of the scenarios in Iron Cross, you need an objective or two to fight over, which this Me109 fulfils nicely, along with some piles of equipment and crates. The desert battlefield doesn't often feature much in the way of suitable objectives, so I think this is a nice feature to add to the look of the game.

A couple of Panzer IIs in the foreground, with the Panzer IIIs behind.

Panzer III command tank.

These two Panzer IIIs have seen plenty of action in North Afrika!

Pak 36 and crew

Panzers advancing line abreast after knocking out a British Matilda on the outskirts of Tobruk

The Panzers pause as they crest a low ridgeline and scan the horizon for more Allied forces.

DAK infantry move forward to exploit the gap created by the Panzers.

AAR: Iron Cross, Germans vs Romanians

Here are a few pics and some narrative of a recent game of Iron Cross that Stu McCorquodale and I played; Stu had a nicely painted army from his (Great Escape Games) range of Romanians versus my Germans. If you are familiar with Iron Cross and wondered about the deployment and some of the action, we were trying out some new rules and a new scenario.  Great fun!

The table was 8 feet wide by 6 feet across, so we set up on opposite sides of the table. The scenario was 415 points per side, which were deployed in two stages: a recon force and then reinforcements, which came onto the table in turn 4. The Germans (me) started with:

• HQ plus 4 units of infantry
• 2 x HMGs
• 2 x SdKfz 222

From memory, Stuart started with the following deployed as his recon force:

• HQ plus 4 units of infantry
• HMG
• Mortar
• 2 x anti-tank rifles

The scenario we were playing did not have defined deployment zones: we each rolled a d6 to see where our recon force entered the table edge. Germans deployed to the left and the Romanians in the centre, though both forces made a beeline for the high ground on the German left flank, which also had plenty of tree cover obscuring line of sight, and the hard cover on the edge of the farmyard in the centre.

Germans deploying onto the left flank.

View of the battlefield from the Germans' right flank, facing towards the Romanians.

Romanian infantry advancing in toward the centre of the battlefield.

The first couple of turns were taken up with rapid moves forward (lots of platoon moves) to get into a good fighting position. Aiming to exploit their greater mobility in turn 3, the Germans quickly pushed forward into the central compound with one of the 222's and immediately had a hole punched through the side armour by a well-aimed shot from one of the Romanian AT rifles. First blood to the Romanians!

Smouldering SdKfz222 with the two German HMGs moving up to the wall as quickly as possible to establish a killing zone in the farmyard.

Infantry from both armies advanced to the base of the hill and then paused to await armoured support.

Romanian infantry and several support weapons moving up to the base of the hill.

In turn 4, the reinforcements for both sides entered the battlefield. On the German side were a Panther and two StuG IV's; the Romanians were heavily reinforced by three more infantry platoons and six AFVs: three R1s, two R2s and one T3. By choosing lots of low cost units, Căpitan McCorquodale-escu maxed out on his command tokens compared to the points-heavy AFVs selected by SS-Gruppenführer von Morton. At the start of turn 4, Stuart had 20 command tokens versus my 12; I needed to start killing some of his troops to whittle down his numerical advantage. No problem, I thought: I've got a Panther!

One StuG and the Panther deploy on the centre-right; second StuG is positioned towards the top of the photo on the centre-left.

The big engine of the Panther revs up and causes some consternation among the Romanian lines.

The Romanians deployed all of their reinforcements from the centre of the battlefield too and then fanned out onto the two flanks; the two R2s screening the T3 as they advanced towards the two heavier German tanks. The balance of the Romanians headed towards the edge of the farmyard and the large hill.

In turn 5, the Germans started to cautiously advance up the hill in sufficient number to discourage the Romanians from attacking too early without sufficient support.

Second 222 moving towards the centre of the battlefield to reinforce the two HMGs, one of which had been taking heavy fire from the Romanian machine gun.

One HMG forced to fall back to save it from getting wiped out too quickly; it then skipped over the wall to the right.

German HMG in a new position putting down a lot of fire across the centre of the battleground wiping out one of the Romanian infantry platoons as it incautiously advanced.

Down the barrel of the Panther to the three Romanian tanks in the far distance.

The Romanians had the initiative and pushed forward with one of the R2s firing at the StuG as it went. The German commander confidently eyed the approaching tank, waiting for the right moment to fire back. Unfortunately, the foolhardy tank commander never got the opportunity as the R2 scored a direct hit on the ammunition magazine blowing the StuG apart.

StuG in ambush position.

The brewed-up StuG on the German right flank.

As the tanks traded shots at long distance, the Romanian infantry charged forward. The T3 moved up with some infantry in support and the surviving R2 broke off towards the farmyard to add more weight to the central push from the Romanians

.

Romanian T3 in the foreground with the R2 heading through the farmyard.

The R2 and the second SdKfz222 trade shots across the farmyard, but the R2 makes short work of the 222.

I think the photos below came from turn 6 and show Stuart's Romanians massing in the centre, but moving towards the hill. I had two German infantry platoons on the reverse slope of the hill and towards the end of the turn, when Stuart had spent a lot of his tokens on restoring company morale, I moved one unit to the top of the hill and fired down-slope inflicting some damage on his HMG. I re-activated the same unit, poured more into the HMG and destroyed it, then retreated back down the slope into cover. I repeated the same manoeuvre with the second unit: move and shoot, shoot and retreat. This put a dent in the Romanians' aspirations to claim the high ground for themselves.

The second StuG has moved in support of the infantry on the hill, who were leapfrogging up and down the hill in the vanguard of the attack. One of the HMGs has fallen back, after taking significant fire (recovered a few morale tokens!) and then set up to cover the crest of the hill in anticipation of the Romanian counter-attack.

A few burning vehicles and light skirmishing across the farmyard, whilst the weight of both armies manoeuvre into better attacking positions and spend a significant quantity of Command Tokens restoring morale.

The Panther deals with the T3 to secure the German right flank.

Căpitan McCorquodale-escu gives the order for a massed infantry attack with some limited tank support. As the forlorn soldaten cross the farmyard, the Germans open up with everything they have and cause the Romanian attack to stall, causing heavy casualties in the process. The Romanians have no choice but to retreat; they only caused some light injuries to the landsers. Some cigarettes are smoked to calm the nerves!

Later into the battle, when all of the Romanian reserves have made it to the front line, they make a concerted push towards the summit.

The surviving StuG moves onto the far left German flank to stop the progress of the platoon of R1s. 

The R1s are only equipped with machine guns, so they cannot do any damage to the StuG, so what could possibly go wrong? 

A squad of Romanian tank hunters crawl through the undergrowth and fire a panzerfaust straight through the schurzen and into the crew compartment. Damaged, but still capable of fighting on, the AFV commander slams his vehicle into reverse and falls back, hoping to get out of range of the hand-held AT weapons.

Unfortunately, there is still a unit equipped with an anti-tank rifle, which fires and hits the StuG! The German left flank starts to collapse, allowing the infantry and R1s to outflank the defenders on the hill, who now get caught in a cross-fire.

The Romanian strength on the hill is too much for the Germans, who start taking significant casualties.

The Romanians press the attack over the top of the hill.

Germans on the reverse slope coming under fire.

Outflanked and outgunned, the Germans take heavy casualties.

Despite it being really close for a lot of the game (the initiative in the battle ebbed back and forth several times), the Romanians caused the German army to break. Losing four AFVs meant that the German side lost a lot of break points, even though the Germans had almost whittled away the Romanian numerical superiority towards the end, therefore the battle was lost.