Random 15mm WW2 Germans

Assortment of late WW2 German infantry figures and a SdKfz 250/9 from Battlefront.

A couple of weeks ago I embarked on a clean up/purge of various piles of hobby and hobby-related stuff in my basement. It's strange...I threw a ton of stuff away, but I still seem to have too much hobby stuff.  Whatever the amount of net de-cluttering I did (or did not) achieve, the process was great in that when I do this I stumble across a number of things that I was "just about to paint", and therefore had left on or near my painting pile.  This feeling of telling myself I am "just about to paint" something can persist for some time...my assorted WW2 interests had fallen into that abyss.

The main bases are 20mm rounds, while the panzerschreck team is on a 30mm round.

I have a large collection of 15mm WW2 figures. It's not terribly focused, but for the most part it consists of mid-to-late war Eastern Front stuff, along with a nice little pile of North African stuff.  This collection started circa 2007 with a dive into Battlefront's "Flames of War".  Other WW2 gaming systems such as "Bolt Action", "Crossfire", "Blitzkrieg Commander", "Battlegroup" and "Chain of Command" have joined the Flames of War books on the shelves.

The 250/9 is a pretty small ride - must have come in handy when trying to keep a low profile while scouting ahead.

Many of these games require the infantry to be based individually - or, even if they don't explicitly require it, they still work much better with the infantry based individually. But at the same time, I do love 15mm gaming for WW2. I enjoy the "look" of the engagement ranges with the 15mm models - even ones with primarily tanks can avoid the dreaded "tank park" effect.  So in 2013-14, as we started to play some "Chain of Command", I took to doing up a number of individually-based 15mm WW2 infantry units - again mostly for the Eastern Front, 1943-45. The figures you see in these photos were meant to be part of this effort, primed and ready to go, probably some time in 2015, when I put them down to pick up...oh who knows what, but based on the blog history, it was probably something 30k...

Bases intended to not look completely out of place on a winter table, while still being OK for a summer table...

 I decided to do some "mopping up" of these 15mm WW2 forces that have been waiting so long for some painting attention. Over the past few years I have painted very little in terms of WW2 - I sure wish I had taken the time to write down some of the paints I used back then...anyway, I was able to bodge it together again.  And I'll write it down this time!

These are all from Battlefront.  The infantry are from their excellent late-war Winter German collection - now sadly no more as they sacrifice themselves to the altar of plastic figures.  These Germans were just great sculpts - very lean, and they manage, ever for 15mm figures, to look...hopeless, like even if this battle works out, they know the war is lost...I just love these figures, and I'm glad I picked them up while they were still available.

Great assortment of attire on the late-war German castings. Sadly they are no more, as Battlefront focuses now on plastics.

The half-track is a SdKfz 250/9 (I think?So, so many type of half tracks...).  It is a Battlefront model - an older mixed media, resin and metal, model (I think these can be had in plastic now from Battlefront and the Plastic Soldier Company).  I didn't try any cammo because...I couldn't remember what paints I used to use.  I settled for trying to get that German panzer yellow colour settled...the result is...OK.

It's great fun to re-connect with old projects! Stay tuned for more (or, who knows, something else entirely different, anything is possible).  Thanks for visiting the Blog, and have a great day.