Painting Challenge Submission 16 - Pico Panzer Regiment Bäke

The Tiger Is of Schwere Panzer Regiment Bäke - 1/600 models from Pico Armor.

Hello everyone - my blogging pace dropped off suddenly towards the end of February.  I have been busy with work, and then a specific hobby project has been taking a fair bit of time as well.  But the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge continues, and I'm still making submissions - this one is a small (haha) project that I have been working on for the past couple of months and I thought this would be a good time to share and end my recent blogging drought.

These are 1/600 WW2 German figures in winter kit - and while figures at this scale they could represent almost anything, in this case they are meant to represent Schwere Panzer Regiment Bäke in games of "Spearhead", the classic division-level WW2 rules by Arty Contliffe.

The whole group.

Panzer Regiment Bäke

Heads up...here come the big cats...

As catastrophe overtook the German army on the Eastern Front in 1943, the overstretched German forces would make use of "fire brigade" type formations in order to stem the various crisis arising from the Red Army's overwhelming material and manpower superiority and countless breakthroughs along a huge front line.  Schwere Panzer Regiment Bäke was one of these "fire brigades", and a potent one at that, combining a battalion of Panthers, a battalion of Tigers, a battalion of combat engineers and a few other assets (artillery etc) which represented a terrifying concentration of fighting power.

Tiger Is in 1/600 scale and winter paint.

Under the command of Franz Bäke, a panzer commander of some renown, this formation was formed in late 1943, and fought through the winter into 1944, racing from crisis to crisis. Equipped to such a level, the formation is reported to have racked up fantastical kill totals in a number of armoured engagements. I am skeptical of these sorts of kill-total reports, but this formation certainly made a major impact wherever it was deployed on the front.  And yet the Eastern Front was enormous, and in the end formations such as this could not turn the tide or reverse the broader strategic circumstances that would see the Red Army triumphant in the east.

With each base representing a platoon, we have a Panther battalion in 1/600 scale.

As a wargamer I love tank battles, and I very much enjoy painting armour, and I'm drawn to the Eastern Front as a setting (and the middle east, and Team Yankee, etc. etc.).  It's a lot of fun to represent these "fire brigade" type formations in WW2 games.  The trouble is that many tactical-level games provide players on the German side with all of the benefits (veteran crews, amazing kit) while struggling to represent the downsides (ammo and fuel shortages, being massively outnumbered, dire strategic situation etc).  You can try to make allowances for these things of course, and many well-intentioned game designers look to assorted points systems to create some balance or handicapping in a game where Panthers and Tigers are present.  But this is hard to do...don't get me wrong, skirmish gaming with "big cats" is great fun, but I like to find games that give players on the German side the problems as well as the benefits when it comes to these sorts of units.

Play these rules! They are fantastic!

So that is where a magnificent game like "Spearhead" comes into play.  Yes, your Panther battalion is terrifying, and will blow up a lot of sh*t. But the Soviet player(s) will have infantry to slow it down, artillery to blast it, air strikes to hammer it, AND waves of T-34s to send towards it.  You might blow away clouds of T-34s and still end up trapped in a pocket, with half your Panthers out of action, and in no position to seal up the breach in the front lines. No rule system comes close to "Spearhead" for giving players on the German side these sort of up-ended "I-feel-like-I-won-but-I-still-lost" gaming moments.

The combat engineers...a "Stuka Zu Fuss" battery is at the front...

In "Spearhead" each base represents one platoon.  The round bases represent command elements - small ones for battalion commanders, larger ones for regiments etc.  The "Spearhead" scenario book "Where The Iron Crosses Grow" has a scenario featuring Regiment Bäke that we tried back in...2009! Wow, that was quite a long time ago!

Another view of the engineers - the armoured engineer platoons are at the front - they have their own Hanomags to ride around in.

For the scenario in question the Germans have a battalion of Panthers, a battalion of Tigers, and a battalion of combat engineers.  As units go in "Spearhead", these are all pretty scary...but in the scenario they will face a vast amount of Soviet armour, and they will have a difficult mission: escort the remnants of some shattered friendly units out of a pocket and back into the German lines.  The German players will have fun blowing up tanks with their elite panzers, but the command challenge in the scenario is a tough one...it will be played on a big table, and those panzers can't be everywhere...

Another view of the Panthers.

I had, at one time, a large 6mm collection of WW2 figures based for Spearhead. That is no longer with me...since I was starting from the ground up once again, I thought I would give these 1/600 models a try. I've been experimenting with them here and there for a long time (see example here), and have used them for the "Modern Spearhead" variant - they really are fun.

Regimental command - with a SdKfz flak unit on the left, and a 234 recon unit on the right.

These figures are all from Oddzial Ozmy, available in North American from the fine people at Pico Armor. I never thought I would enjoy 1/600 stuff...but the sculpting is incredible.  The infantry is still hard to do, and the bases will need labels so the players know what is what, but these paint up fast and are a lot of fun.  I also really need to up my game when it comes to ground work etc (check out Curt's 1/600 stuff to see what I mean).  But since I had all of the winter colours out during this edition of the Challenge, and Panzer Regiment Bäke was in action during the winter, it was no big deal to crank these out in winter colours "on the side" as I went along painting 28mm stuff.

Another view of the 234 - recon elements are critical in "Spearhead".

Some people who play 1/600 scale will take the opportunity to make their platoons 1-to-1 creations, putting a whole group of three or four tanks on each base.  I experimented with this, but decided against it in the end.  Crowded command bases look neat, but the tanks in the general combat platoons all look too crammed - you just end up with the same "hub-to-hub" look that ruins so many "Flames of War" games, but just at a different scope.  I kept it straight up, using the prescribed base size from the "Spearhead" rules, and used either one tank to represent a tank platoon, or one group of infantry to represent an infantry platoon.  The armoured engineer bases include a group of infantry and some 251 carriers on the same base - in "Spearhead" mechanized infantry is based together with their fighting vehicles.  

There are only a few weeks left in the tenth edition of Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. I hope to have a few more submissions to share before it concludes for the year.

Thanks for looking, have a great weekend!

Another Pico Panzerkompanie

Really small panzers on a really small parade...

My intermittent fiddling with 3mm scale WW2 models continues. Earlier this week I finished off a small group of late-model German Panzer IVs.  The figures are Oddzial Osmy, available from the excellent folks at Pico Armor.  They are based on 20mm square bases from Litko. The round base is meant to signal a command unit.

Love the stuff from Oddzial Osmy

I painted these while waiting for the basing goop to dry on my next batch of 15mm WW2 stuff.  They paint up very fast (as you can imagine) and I am continually blown away by the sculpting quality on these very small figures.  But I do find it is better to use a very loud colour to amp the contrast on the very small figures.  The yellow colour I have used here to represent the "dunklegelb" would look traffic-cone yellow on a larger model. 

Kinda blurry, but the casting detail on these tiny Mark IV-Hs is mental

Depending on the game these figures could either represent a somewhat understrength Panzer company (and were there any other kind at the point in the war where these were in action?) at 1-to-1 or a really strong battalion using Spearhead rules (where each stand is meant to represent an entire platoon - this number of platoons in action for a single Panzer battalion would not be common).

Now they just need infantry...and half tracks...and guns...and...well, on and on....

I have started to experiment with Oddzial Osmy WW2 infantry to see if I can make them look OK.  I am also trying out some other odds and ends, like the smaller armoured vehicles, recon armoured cars and Marder anti-tank guns and such. We'll see how it turns out... 

Big Cats, Small Figures - WW2 Pico Armor

Company of Oddzial Osmy T-34/85s

 I continue to dabble away at random projects, including some more 3mm scale Oddzial Osmy castings, this time in the WW2 setting. I've already painted a good pile for Cold-War-Gone-Hot games, and a budding collection for the Arab-Israeli wars, and I'm curious to see if the gaming fun in this scale can extend into WW2. In this post we have a small selection of late-war Eastern Front armour, T-34/85s, a couple of JS-2s and some German Panther As (which I think was somehow a later model than the Panther D - I am permanently confused by this...)

20mm square bases from Litko

These vehicles are all based on 20mm squares, with 20mm round bases used for command models.  The models are available in North America from the great folks at Pico Armor, who are a real pleasure to deal with - excellent service!  The bases are from Litko Aerosystems - another group of excellent folks.

JS-2s to punch through the lines

These bruisers are a tight fit on the 20mm base

I can't get over the detail on these tiny sculpts - artfully exaggerated so as to show up to the eye, without throwing off the overall impression of the sculpt.  As an example, the spare tracks are right there on the Panthers!! Incredible sculpting.

Panther As - round base for a command tank

I really enjoy painting tanks, and these models are real beauties!  It is a lot of fun to paint up an entire platoon of tanks in one short painting session.  Trying to come up with something that will show up well enough on the table for my gaming friends to enjoy using these tiny models is an entertaining challenge.

Ready for action on the Eastern Front

 As others often recommend, when it comes to the smaller scales, it helps to punch up to a higher/brighter colour than you might normally use otherwise. This is what I am trying to do with these tanks - the panzer yellow colour I used here, for example, would look like a traffic cone on 1/72 or 1/50 scale model. But I'm hoping it jumps enough for a gamer to go "oh, later period German tank...." from about three feet away. We'll see!

No camo on these, but I tried to soot-up the engine deck with weathering powder

I thought the recent game we did with individually based models in this scale went really well, so I'm keen to experiment with the WW2 setting.  The reason it might not work? Well, it all boils down to the infantry...

Panther D next to a (now-defunct) Canadian penny

In the modern gaming, particularly in the Cold-War-Gone-Hot setting, nearly every front line fighting unit has vehicles. The infantry are modelled, and fun to paint, but it's about the IFVs and the MBTs.  And they are big suckers - even the T-80BV is a hefty little casting - I mean, for a 1/600 scale tank.  The infantry castings are almost little terrain enhancements to the IFVs like the Bradleys and BMPs.  Even a third-tier Soviet formation will have BTR-60s to move them around the battlefield (however briefly) - so vehicles dominate the modelling and gaming action in that kind of setting - fair or not, it's how it goes.

T-34/85s next to Canadian Penny

In WW2 the mechanization of the infantry did not reach modern levels we see in the OBs of the 1980s.  The use of half-tracks grew and grew and by the end of the war some Allied units were heavily mechanized, but to represent WW2 on the table, you need to be able to come up with little stands of infantry that are cool and fun to play with, and stand out from their opponents...I'm experimenting with that right now - we'll see how it turns out. 

More Pico Armour Painting

1/600 scale IDF troops ready for action

Some more Pico Armour painting - this time from the Arab-Israeli wars.  Up first is a group of IDF infantry in M3 half-tracks.  Depending on what level of abstraction is going on in the game, these could represent either a couple of platoons of infantry, or if going Spearhead-style (where each base represents a platoon), an entire mechanized infantry battalion.  The two smaller square bases have support half tracks - one an AA track with .50 cal MGs, and the other mounting a 90mm AT gun.

M3 half tracks a-plenty

Magachs ready to roll

Up next is a group of M48 Pattons - known as "Magachs" in IDF service.  As they did so often, the IDF modified these tanks, giving them a bigger gun (105mm, up from 90mm) and changing the commander's cupola, removing the strange little MG turret. These models do not capture those changes - on a 3mm scale tank, I don't worry too much about it, but I have to say the muzzle brakes and camera (or whatever that box thing is) over the main gun give it away - a credit to the amazing sculpting on these little figures.

You can see a couple of the M113 TOWs mixed in with the Magachs here - sorry about the blurry pic

There are a few M113s with TOW launchers mixed in with this group.  The Yom Kippur War was a real coming out party of sorts for ATGM weapons like the Soviet Sagger and the US TOW missiles.  The IDF used these weapons as part of their crushing of the Egyptian offensive toward the passes in the Sinai.

BMP-mounted infantry and support

Company or battalion, depending on the game scale

On the Arab side I have a unit of BMP-1 infantry, with an attached BRDM scout car and a ZSU-23-4 AAA tank.  Again, depending on the game, these could represent either a company or a battalion.  The BMP-1 made its big combat debut in the Yom Kippur War in 1973, but the results were not great.  They equipped a few infantry battalions attached to independent tank brigades in the Egyptian and Syrian armies.

T-62s ready for action in the Sinai

An attached ZSU-23-4 and PT-76, used as a recon tank, provide support

And last but not least a group of Egyptian T-62 tanks, again with a couple of odds and ends for support.  The T-62 also made it's big time combat debut in the middle east during the 1973 war, but they were roughly handled by the IDF.  Still, their heavy main guns and unique ammunition (I believe this tank was a pioneer of sorts for using fin-stabilized rounds in the main guns) were noted.

I've got a lot more Pico Armour painted up, but I ran out of bases, so I am waiting for my next Litko shipment to arrive.  In the meantime, stay tuned for more random projects and painting work.

Battle of Brandon - Cold War 3mm "Red Dawn" Prequel

One of the defining movies of the '80s was definitely John Milius' classic Cold War scare-piece Red Dawn. High school kids forced to witness their country's invasion by the Reds took up arms and ran to the hills to wage a guerrilla war against the evil invaders who imprisoned and tortured their parents, flattened their cities, and even shut down their McDonalds.  

Of course, the Red scare is remembered fondly by many of us who grew up in the '70s and '80s and the Conscripts are no exception... especially Conscript Greg, who can pretty much recite the movie's dialogue verbatim! As regular readers know, Greg's been working on a new insane 3mm modern project and he had a notion to run an '80s game as a kind of "prequel" to the events of Red Dawn... over to you, Greg...

"In the 1984 movie 'Red Dawn', the Soviet Union and its allies launch a land invasion of the contental United States!  How? An enormous intercontinental pincer movement!  With saboteurs and elite airborne units leading the way, aided by select nuclear strikes (!), the Soviet 'coalition' tears right up through the 'open door' along the border with Mexico, occupying much of the US great plains and mid west.  The other arm of the Soviet pincer comprises three army groups that come across the Bering Straight, trying to link up with this southern thrust. 

So, like, Canada is in the way, there, eh? What happens to poor Canada in 1984's "Red Dawn"?  Let's play a game and find out!

It's September 1984, and the Soviets are invading!  Canada is scrambling to respond the best it can. Teeming Red Army tank and motor infantry divisions are spilling along invasion routes out of the Yukon (!) down through Alberta, Saskatchewan and Western Manitoba - home of Brandon and Prairiecon!  A Russian Corps has advanced down Highway 10 in Manitoba, looking to get to the US border. Soviet paratroopers have seized Brandon and its bridges over the Assiniboine river, but the advance has been slowed because the Canadians have blown the Shellmouth Dam, temporarily flooding the Assiniboine valley in the Brandon area.  Lead elements of the Soviet advance have been trapped south of Brandon.

Soviet Bombers and missiles have already hammered the air base at Portage and CFB Winnipeg.  But the troops in Shilo have fought off the Soviet surprise attack, and are ready to respond. The 8th Canadian Hussars roll out from CFB Shilo to stop the isolated Soviets south of Brandon and check the Red advance.  Success here could allow the Canadian Forces to buy time and rally to at least keep the Red Army from moving further south and west."

View from the north (Soviet) table edge, looking south down Highway 10 towards Boissevain. The attacking force had 10 turns to break the Canadians - basically by destroying half or more of their units and hoping for a failed morale test. The Soviets attacked with two companies of T-72s and an armoured infantry battalion, plus artillery and air assets. The Canadians deployed two understrength Leopard companies and some infantry in M113s, some artillery tubes and A-10 Warthog ground-attack aircraft.

Greg explains the situation to Conscripts Kevin, Dave V. and Jim. Greg had designed the game using the tried and true "Spearhead" rules, but with each 3mm individually based tank representing one actual vehicle.

Off we go! The Soviet column (T-72 company) moves down the road followed up by armoured infabtry. The other tank company stages in the field to the right. Artillery park is in the wooded depression.

Canadian artillery.

Leopards move up to take position behind the rail cut.

The situation develops. T-72 company takes a hard left at the T-intersection and begins deploying down the road, turning towards the enemy and preparing to drive up across the field. The infantry commander behind them on the road was slightly annoyed that they were taking so long to do it ;-)

As the T-72s moved up, Canadian gunnery took its toll - obviously the gunners had studied their training materials carefully!

Leopards on the Canadian left flank were quickly overwhelmed by Mike F's T-72 company - you can see them beginning to take up positions to roll up the flank.

Meanwhile back on the left my T-72 company was getting obliterated by some hot die rolling!

"Hey, this is awesome. We wiped out the Leopards."

"Ummm... are those A-10s?!?!?"

Destruction of the T-72 platoon is complete.

Triple-A fire from the ZSU-23-4s attached to Mike's tank company saves them from aerial pasting with some hot rolling...

...while the Soviet Frogfoot ground-attack aircraft do some damage of their own.

Carnage!! While the Canadians caused enormous casualties to the attacking Soviets, the latter's resolved held just long enough for the defenders to be brought down to half of their original strength, forcing a morale roll. The dice came up "2" which was not enough to keep the Canucks in the fight - Soviet victory!! Onwards to Denver!!!

What a great game - if you've never tried 3mm you have to do it - it just looks so cool. Almost like a map exercise with exquisite little miniatures! Spearhead is a great system to use, also, as it rattles right along. In fact I think Greg had forgotten to bvring his rulebook but he knows the rules so well it didn't even matter.

Thanks Greg for bringing out the game and running it for us! "WOLVER-- err, 'BOBCATS!'"