Some more WWII Greek Infantry

I've not been particularly productive so far in 2021...probably general apathy brought on by being in lockdown for so long. Anyway, I have painted some more Greek Evzones from Great Escape Games. I've fully finished, other then adding some vegetation to the bases, 21 individual figures now; 23 left to finish, plus the mortar and anti-gun models. 

Here are a few shots of a little vignette containing three infantry figures. I have started basing some figures on multi stands like this, even though they are 28mm, because it makes moving them around the gaming table so much easier. I intend to use this army for Iron Cross, so there is no requirement to have them based individually anyway.

I have also started work on painting two (captured from the Italians) CV-35 tankettes. I have only applied the base coat of dark green so far. I started off using an airbrush, but gave up with that after three coats: there are so many little nooks and crannies on the model that it is virtually impossible to get the airbrush angled correctly, so I ended up painting a couple of watery coats all over and into the many recessed areas.

I wish that I had bought a tank commander and stuck him in the top hatch to reassure me that they are the correct scale! Every time I look at them I think they are 15mm sized models! Here is a CV-35 with the Greek Lochagos.

These tankettes are tiny in comparison to every other armoured fighting vehicle; it must have been terrifying for the crews to go into battle during the Second World War in such a diminutive bit of kit. Here is what it looks like next to a Panzer 38(t) in the same 1/56 scale.

The CV-35s are only armed with machine guns, so won't be tasked with taking on the Panzers, but will certainly have to keep out of their way or get trampled beneath the tracks. It should make for some interesting gaming!

The CV-35s are from Company B, the Panzer 38(t) is from Warlord Games and the infantry figures are from Great Escape Games.

Greek infantry figures

I have started painting some Greek infantry from the Great Escape Games range. I intend to use them in games of Iron Cross, in an Invasion of Greece scenario, so these first 10 figures will represent two platoons.

The colours I used (this helps me to remember in case I come back at a later date and want to add more figures to the existing army) were all from Vallejo Model Color range. I based the colours on some photos of a group of WWII Greek re-enactors, who I assume have paid plenty of attention to getting the authenticity of the uniform correct.

• Helmets - 70890 Reflective Green
• Tunics, trousers and greatcoats - 70924 Russian Uniform WWII (painted over with a wash of Citadel Agrax Earthshade to make the green a bit browner)
• Rifles and webbing - 70846 Mahogany Brown
• Metal - 70995 German Grey
• Ammo pouches and holsters - 70822 German Cam Black Brown
• Bags - 70882 Middlestone
• Puttees and waterbottle cover - 70921 English Uniform
• Boots - 70843 Cork Brown
• Cap badges and rank insignia - 70824 German Cam Orange Ochre
• Collar tabs - 70946 Dark red

The bases are 4Ground 'New Wood' with a dry brush of Dulux Sandstone.

Some of the figures have "bushy tails" on the back of their caps (does anyone know what these are called?), which I have painted black and very lightly dry-brushed with 70991 Dark Sea Grey to pick out the detail.

I have so far purchased 20 infantry + 4 HQ figures; a mortar; a heavy machine gun; a sniper team; three anti-tank units and a couple of captured Italian CV35 tankettes.

These will be supplemented by several squads of British infantry and a 2 pounder. I've got a variety of early war British tanks too, so just need to research which ones can be fielded in Greece.

I've not worked out the points value for Iron Cross yet, but it seems like I have enough to hold back the invading Germans. Just need lockdown to be over so that I can get back to some tabletop gaming!

Aufklarungspanzerwagen 38(t)

The Aufklarungspanzerwagen 38(t) was a reconnaissance version of the German Panzer 38(t), which itself was based on the Czech LT vz.38 light tank. This model is from Rubicon and is made from the base Hetzer kit plus two add-on packs to convert it into a light recon tank with a 20mm autocannon.

Like all Rubicon kits, it is really well manufactured with lots of detail and clear assembly instructions. I do have one gripe with this conversion kit though. The resin superstructure piece, which sits atop the ABS plastic main hull, to convert it from a Hetzer into the recon version, did not fit correctly. No matter where I placed the superstructure onto the main hull, there was a gap of 1-2mm. In the end I flush-fitted it to bond together at the front of the hull and then used filler putty to fill in the gap at the rear. You cannot see the join after it has been sanded and painted, but it is not the quality that I have come to expect of Rubicon. (I have assembled almost 30 of their kits over the last couple of months and every one of them has been micromillimeter perfect except this one piece.)

I wanted to add this Aufklarungspanzer to my growing collection of German armoured units, so that I have a specific unit to use for reconnaissance in Iron Cross. I've been playing a game of Germans vs Russians with Stuart from Great Escape Games. In the ongoing scenario, his Russians are dug in and hidden from the advancing Germans, so a recon unit will come in really handy to expose the disposition of his troops prior to the rest of my tank units blindly stumbling onto his anti-tank guns. I've also got a small number of motorcycle mounted early war troops (from Crusader, I think?), so will deploy these as a recon platoon too.

Surprisingly, Rubicon do not have a Panzer 38(t) kit, so I recently bought a troop of them from Warlord. I quite enjoyed putting the Warlord kits together, but having now assembled the Rubicon kit, which is ostensibly modelled/based on the same Czech LT vz.38 chassis, I thought that they should be the same size. I thought that whoever mastered the 38(t) model for Warlord got some of the dimensions wrong. The length is the same as the Rubicon kit, and also consistent with them both being 1/56 scale, but the Warlord 38(t) is almost a centimetre narrower that the Rubicon 38(t), so cannot be correct to the 1/56 scale.

However, some members of the wargaming community have pointed out my misunderstanding! 

There are/were in fact two variants of the Aufklarungspanzer, which were based on the 38t. The Rubicon model is based upon the Hetzer chassis, which was itself derived from the chassis of the LT vz.38 chassis, but modified, hence the difference in size. The Hetzer-based version apparently never saw action and was a prototype developed at the end of the war. The second version, which did see action albeit in limited numbers, was built on the original chassis of the 38t and is far more similar to the Warlord models I have got. Rather than the tank turret shown in the photo below, the recon version had a 2cm autocannon and open top turret.

I'm still intending to use the troop of 38(t)s because they still look cool and are a bit different to the usual plethora of Tigers that grace too many wargaming tables. By the time the troop gets close to the same position as the Aufklarungspanzer on the gaming table, I am fully expecting the recon unit to be obscured by a smoke marker i.e. a blazing wreck!