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!

That's A Lot Of Tanks, Eh? Modern Spearhead Battle Report

T-64BVs - 1/600 scale vehicles from Oddzial Osmy, available at Pico Armor

 This week I hosted a game of "Modern Spearhead", the adapted version of Arty Contliffe's classic division level-WW2 rules. "Spearhead" is one of the great rule systems out there, and although I like to fuss with the rules from time to time, overall it is one of my favourite games and one of the best sets of rules ever done, in my opinion (of course, YMMV).

Vast echelon of elements in the Soviet 112th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment

In "Spearhead", each base or vehicle represents a platoon or troops or vehicles, a battery of guns etc. This is part of creating the right sense of abstraction in order to play a division-level command game.  The players take the role of regiment and brigade commanders, and are not fussed with the tactical elements. Contliffe's rules engine does this very well, and the key to success in a game of Spearhead is timing and planning, mixed of course with (you hope) some good fortune on the dice.

Leopards waiting on a ridge - with the small figures, I used paper to mark elevations instead of hills - Curt put me on to this, and I really liked the effect

I generally use my large (but old, and now really tired looking for the most part) 1/300 scale collection of figures to play "Spearhead" - whether WW2 or modern.  But, as seen here and there on the blog, I have been getting more and more into the 1/600 scale sculpts from Oddzial Osmy (available easily from the delightful folks at Pico Armor).  Here is an old post of those figures in action - I have been painting a few more to bulk up the collection, and we played another game this past week.

The scenario was a favourite setting of mine - Cold-War-gone hot, with the Canadians in CENTAG's III Corps put into action to try and prevent a Soviet breakthrough on the road to Frankfurt.  Byron, Brian H and Dave V all came out for the game.

For the table, I took advantage of the fact that Conscript Curt had just been in town and he had set up for a 3mm game of Napoleonics (more on that will be found shortly over at Analogue Hobbies I'm sure).  He used paper to mark the contours of elevations and hills.  If you would have told me about this beforehand, I would have found it odd, but I loved how it worked in practice with the very small scale figures - it reinforces the "proper" sense of abstraction for the game - you are a senior commander, not tactical, and helps you think at that level.  I made a few small changes and bang, the table was ready - Curt had already done most of the work for me :)

T-72s have overrun 2PPCLI on the first ridge line

Brian and Dave took command of the Soviets. They had a full BMP regiment at their disposal - designated the 112th Guards Motor Rifles - three battalions of BMP2 mounted crack troops, and an attached battalion of T-64BV tanks.  The Regiment had its own attached 122mm SP artillery battalion.  To bulk up further, the 112th received the 80th Independent Tank Battalion, equipped with T-72s.  Off table there was further support from the division - another battalion of 122mm guns, and a further (scary!) battalion of 152mm guns!  Air support in the form of Su-25 "Frogfoot" attack planes was also available.

The Royal Canadian Dragoons open fire

The Soviets had just crossed a small river, and their objective was to break through to the Canadians and capture the next town and river crossing.  Time was of the essence, of course. NATO was on the run, and Frankfurt could be reached and CENTAG disemboweled - as long as the schedule was met!! Forward comrades!

In the face of this monstrous horde, Byron took charge of the Canadians.  He had the 2nd Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (mechanized troops in M113 APCs), and the Royal Canadian Dragoons and their Leopard C1 tanks (bulked up with a fourth squadron - NATO would have got them there somehow as the crisis in Europe boiled up, I figure).  NATO doctrine is flexible, so Byron peeled some elements from both units to create a small reserve task force in case things went pear-shaped.  For support there was the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery and their 155mm SP guns, and the hope of air support from US A-10s and even some division level 203mm US guns...

Initial deployments and plans - Byron has two layers of defence (blue areas) and a reserve off table, while the Soviets have plotted a vicious right hook...

Dave and Brian crafted a fairly straightforward plan - sacrifice some units to overrun the forward deployed Canadians on the first ridge, and send the bulk of the regiment past the right flank so the Canadians on the second ridge would have difficulty engaging. Use the merciless amount of artillery to pound any resistance into dust!

You can see 2PPCLI is no longer in the game...

That's kind of how it unfolded - the Warpac forces broke out of the town and engaged 2PPCLI on the first ridge, taking heavy losses, but backed by horrible amounts of artillery.  Soviet counter battery even located the Canadian gunners in RCHA, took out a battery and forced the survivors to relocate.

The Dragoons would take revenge for their comrades - those Russians on the ridge at the right were soon vaporized

Once 2PPCLI was crushed, the Soviets swept over the ridge, and encountered the guns of the Dragoons.  The Leopards made short work of the Soviets who took the first ridge.  Meanwhile, US air support showed up and started to put some hurt on the Russians.

Byron's challenge illustrated - if he could just get the Dragoons moving...

Realizing he needed to maneuver to stop the Soviet flank maneuver, Byron activated his small reserve and sent them forward, and he tried to issue orders to get the Dragoons to hit the Russian flank.  In "Spearhead", the ability to change your orders is crucial to the success of outnumbered but more flexible forces like the Canadians.  Just don't roll a "1"...so, anyway...

Visual recreation of Byron's order change rolls...Dragoons stay put

Byron's reserve came forward, but he could not get the dice god to allow the Dragoons to move in time! The Soviet flank thrust took a bloody nose from the small reserve (and more US air strikes), but Soviet artillery, and a visit from the Su-25s, blasted the Canadian reserves.  With two of their three elements broken, the Canadians were defeated.

Su-25 Frogfoot pastes some Canadians in M113s

Soviet victory was achieved in 8 turns of hard fighting! Promotions for the Soviet Commanders! The Soviets had two battalions (a BMP unit and a T-72 unit) knocked out of the game, and two more (a second BMP unit and the T-64s) chewed up a bit, but their plan held and they managed to overwhelm the Canadians.

Suppressed Leopards courtesy of huge Warpac artillery barrages

It was, however, a close-run thing - the pivotal issue was Byron's bad luck with his order dice - if he had been able to get the Royal Canadian Dragoons moving, they might have swept right into the flank of the Soviet advance over the second ridge...it could have gone either way.

Soviet Motor Rifle units sweep the forested ridge!

While it was a loss for the Canadians, and the poor lads of 2PPCLI took a drubbing, the Royal Canadian Dragoons were still actually in great combat shape, with three full squadrons and some attached support still ready to fight.  If and when the guys are up for another game of "Modern Spearhead", I think we'll have a scenario where these fellows are trying to cut their way out of the pocket they find themselves in and re-join the NATO lines.

Thanks to Byron, Brian and Dave for coming out to play, and doing a great job playing the command roles in character!

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.

More Pico Armor Fun

Soviet T-72 tank, BMP-2 APC and infantry section - and a Canadian penny

Over the past few years I have periodically dabbled in the Oddzial Osmy's 3mm tanks and troops (example here).  We have even played a game of Cold War Commander using them (back in 2008, I think, but I'm guessing - I couldn't find it on the blog, so it must have been a while).

Motor rifle company in BMP-2s

I am very impressed with the sculpting and casting quality of this range - these are really, really neat.  And the scale offers a chance to "air out" the game a little bit on the table, with engagement ranges that "look" more realistic on the table, and crowds of armour that don't crowd up.  But would this catch up with other gamers?

BMP command unit (round base), BRM recon track, and a platoon of BRDM AT launchers

When I had first purchased these figures I based them in groups, so each stand would literally represent a platoon. But the look still didn't quite work for me - I have always loved tons of tanks on the gaming table, but disliked the "hub to hub" effect this produced in terms of the look.  This happens even with the smaller size figures like 15mm (for examples, see nearly any Flames of War game).  

ZSU-23-4s - an essential for any Warsaw Pact commander

The hub-to-hub effect happens for a lot of reasons on the gaming table which I'm not going to drone on about here.  I thought 3mm might solve it, but the group bases still looked crowded...even allowing for the smaller scale, the tank platoon, for example, still looked crammed into the square base. 

Before on the right, after on the left

T-72 command base (20mm round)

There are certainly times when armoured vehicles mass on the battlefield, but generally they are quite spread out. How to get this on a reasonable sized table, while still playing with a ton of tanks?  I started to experiment with individual basing for the 3mm stuff last summer - example here.  Recently I finished another round of the figures, and re-based some of my previous stuff on individual bases, enough to get tonight's game going.

T-72 company

I think Oddzial Osmy has a devoted fan base - the range is very, very comprehensive and new stuff keeps coming out. Check out the Pico Armor online store to see for yourself. On forums like TMP, however, I have often seen the small scale panned on the grounds that the figures are impossibly small, and "might as well be paper counters".

Leopard C1 squadron

TMP door-knobs aside, 3mm will not be for everyone. For me, it is a lot of fun to work on these little tanks and troops.  It is a challenge to find the right colour shades to make the figures more visible, to shape the groundwork a little bit, etc. You can get a pile of them for a small sum, the range is unbelievably complete, and I even love that they mildly evoke counters - after all, I was a huge fan Avalon Hill games like "France 1940".  I'm also a big Cold War tank geek, so I can "see" the shape of the vehicles right away.  I'm not sure that will hold for the more casual participant.  These will probably need some labels to help with identification. 

Another view of the Leopard C1s

Will this work for gaming? We'll see tonight - we will be playing an imaginary WW3 game, using the overall Soviet invasion plot of the 1984 movie "Red Dawn", in which three Soviet army groups crossed the Bering Straight and tried to link up with a southern Communist pincer coming up from Mexico.  The Soviets are trying to pass through Brandon on their way to the states - and the Canadian Forces have a little something to say about it!