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!