More Random 20mm WW2 Stuff

Assortment of 20mm WW2 stuff from PSC and Wargames Foundry

After a run of painting some Horus Heresy stuff, I wanted to get back to some of the WW2 stuff sitting in my rather aimless painting queue.  I started with some 20mm WW2 material - an odd collection of items from the Plastic Soldier Company and from Wargames Foundry.

Perry 20mm WW2 Panzer Grenadiers

The Foundry sculpts are part of a strangely stunted 20mm WW2 range they still offer.  I wonder if at one point in the past this collection was more established and complete.  I don't know the history of it, but when Foundry switched to its relatively newer and somewhat nicer (sounding) management, it seemed to come forward again.  You can get some 20mm WW2 stuff from Foundry again, and these figures are part of that range.

Fellow on the front right has rifle grenade - interesting sculpt

The figures were sculpted by the Perry twins, and they look really sharp, even if the range is really limited.  I thought I would try and get a few packs to put together a unit of Panzer Grenadiers in 20mm. My thought did not work out very well in practice.  The Perry sculpts are top quality, but the range is profoundly limited.  The MG34 teams are either prone (lame) or marching (terrible) - they are properly done sculpts, but one of the worst things in 20mm and 28mm WW2 gaming are prone MG teams and marching MG teams.  Panzer Grenadier squads have two MGs teams each, so I'm trying to find some more teams from other ranges.

The MG34 team are fine sculpts, but I loathe marching poses for MG teams - they look so out of place among a squad of troops otherwise ready for action

These figures are wearing camouflage smocks and pants...although I think pants can also be just straight up field grey.  I did a mix of pants: some in camo, and some in the field grey to give some variety.  I tried (again) to paint German splinter camouflage on the smocks, pants and helmet covers, but I didn't make much of a go...despite the number of helpful tutorials online, I can't really seem to get the German infantry camouflage to look right.  It's not terrible...just seems off. I hope I can get better with practice, but German camouflage makes me nuts...

251D Hanomag from PSC, 1/72 scale

You get tons of detail in these great kits

The 251D Hanomag is a 1/72 plastic model from Plastic Soldier Company.  Like their other 1/72 stuff, this is a fantastic model.  Very easy to assemble, lots of details, and paints up very quick. You get a number of extra bits as well - stowage, troops to sit inside, a gunner for the MG if you want one - it's great quality and great value.

8cm mortar team and radio man - 1/72 figures from PSC

Some other bits are also from the Plastic Soldier Company - up first is an 8cm mortar team to provide some fire support for the German infantry sections.  There is also a trooper with a radio.  The mortar team is from PSC's heavy weapon box, while the radio man is from their late-war infantry pack.

Panzerschrek team, 1/72 from PSC

Lots of nice detail on these 1/72 PSC figs

Up next is a Panzerschrek team, to try and hold off the T-34s and other scary Russian things.  Like the mortar, these figures come from the PSC German heavy weapon box.

Medic from PSC, 1/72 scale

Last but not least is a medic, another one of the extras you get from the PSC late-war infantry pack. Some rules like Battlegroup and Chain of Command have small rules that let you makes use of figures like this medic, so it was fun to paint up and we'll see if we can figure out how to work him into a game.

That's it for this bunch...up next, maybe some 15mm WW2...

Ardennes '44 Battle Report - the Crossroads

Last Thursday I had a yen to play a winter game. Having just finished scratchbuilding some schurzen for my Classic Armor Diecast Pzkpfw. IV's, I wanted to get them on the table - even though the tactical numbering and weathering hasn't been done yet :-(  Gamer's ADD - but stay tuned for a post on those in the near future.

Anyway, I laid out some Ardennes-y looking terrain for the Germans and Americans to fight over. The scenario we used was one from Bolt Action but we used our house rules, "Blitzkrieg!" for the game.

The objective of the scenario was to be the side holding the buildings with no enemy contesting. (The Germans were the attacking side, trying to punch through and take a vital crossroads. The Americans got an infantry squad and a bazooka starting in the village.) As this is a forested area, I ruled that any off-road movement by vehicles was restricted to d6" and only after passing a Training check. Of course, in the real Battle of the Bulge any traffic was restricted to roads for this reason.

American bazooka team. The remaining American relief force consisted of two squads of paratroopers, three Sherman tanks and a couple of bazooka teams. Half of them started on the table edge. The rest of the Americans came on as reserves, starting on turn 2. I ruled that in order to come on, the unit must pass a Training check.

The Germans got three Waffen-SS panzergrenadier sections each in a Sdkfz. 251 halftrack, a command section and Panzerschreck team in a Sdkfz. 250, and three Pzkpfw. IV(h) tanks. Two of the infantry sections started the first turn on the table, dismounted - seen above in the trees at top right and centre right.

It took awhile for the Germans to come on table as they were finding it difficult to pass their Training checks. Probably something like this going on off table:

The American Shermans had no such issues and one tank rolled on from each US entry point.

A squad of paratroopers moved up to the right of the road, while a .30 cal. team hopped into the foxholes to the left.

Farther left, more paras move up.

Pzkpfw. IV(h) moves up, followed by a Sdkfz. 251.

Bazooka teams wait in ambush. Our ruleset allows "overwatch" fire - basically you forego shooting in your own turn and place a marker where you're aiming. If in its next turn, a target moves within range of the marker, you can take your shot at that point.

Bazookas have the roads locked down...

German infantry shoot up the American bazooka team in the ruined house while the "IV" rolls forward and knocks out the Sherman.

Next turn, German machineguns turn on the foxhole.

Over in the centre, SS infantry take the house ruin while the Sherman gets immobilized. The game ended in a draw, with Germans at the crossroads but the Americans contesting their possession of the objective. The Shermans were all "pillboxed" with their tracks knocked off or engines damaged, but there were still paratroopers about to cause the Germans problems in consolidating.

The Americans' die rolling luck was appalling - I think Mike in particular suffered from "1-itis" with his tanks. A fun game though and I like the aesthetic of the winter terrain. I think that in Spring I may do some work on the winter ground cloth - my ubiquitous Martha Stewart bedsheet. I reckon it could benefit from a light random spray with brown or green-yellow rattlecan - just to give a bit of interest and texture. Of course it's always more fun to play winter-themed games when it's nice and hot outside... right now there's plenty of winter terrain around - just in 1:1 scale :-(

Winter Has Arrived Yay! (Not)

More 15mm winter WW2 troops and tanks

Well the winter has once again locked the Canadian prairies with its dreadful embrace.  The current day time "high" temperatures range in the minus 25 degree Celsius range, and once our enviro-guess-Canada weather "forecasting" service adds its random wind chill, the temps are even more awful.  So of course this is all perfect inspiration to finish some more winter WW2 stuff...

Matching the current weather outside my house. Note that an additional 30cms of snow has come since this photo was taken some time ago

Not much to show in this post - I've been away from the painting table for a few weeks, back just in time to take a stab at yet another Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge.  But it was good to get these bits cleared off before the Challenge started - a set of half-tracks, 251/7s, a few more infantrymen and another pair of Panther "A"s.

An SdKfz 251/7 - will need to warm up after starting the engine...

I opted for these half-tracks over more conventional ones to give the option of having an engineer/pioneer force.  Often they have the worst jobs - repairing bridge crossings, clearing minefields and other work, all under fire.

I believe those are meant to be temporary bridging sections on top there, but I have never been too sure...

This force is also semi-inspired by Scwhere Panzer Regiment Bäke, which included an engineer battalion on its roster for at least some of the period it was in action. The Panzer crews would have relied heavily on them to help keep their advances/breakouts moving, particularly in the face of tough weather conditions.

Peter Pig vehicles are real beauties, sharp castings with nice details like the stowage on the front.

A scenario where some engineers are trying to secure some rickety bridges somewhere on the Eastern Front during the winter, then trying to blow them just as the Russians approach - this appeals to me! I think that would make for a good Chain of Command game.

Some foot sloggers from Battlefront.  These castings look depressed, which I love about them.

The half-tracks are from Peter Pig, and were quite lovely to work with and paint. To my mind they remain top-of-the-list when it comes to quality 15mm figures and vehicles.There are enough half tracks to mount up a platoon - three vehicles.

Panzerschrek team.  I bet that was a fun piece of kit to haul through the snow...

The infantry are a smattering of spare castings from Battlefront - a panzerschrek team and a few regular panzer grenadiers. Once again I am impressed with the quality of these particular castings from Battlefront - their winter Germans are really well done.

Another snow cat, weathered to show it has fought its way through several kessels since the snow fell...

The Panthers are "A" variants, and the models are from Battlefront.  These were real beauties to work with and I had a lot of fun painting them.  The details on the hull are top notch.  While they are of course more expensive than the very, very nice models from Plastic Soldier Company, I still think these are tops in my books and a great value.

Panzer 314 ready to roll out.

As with my previous batch of winter tanks, these received heavy winter weathering treatment. Again, it's probably a little too much, but I still have a lot to learn when it comes to being a bit more subtle with the weathering on vehicles :)

Lots of wonderful, sharp little details on the Battlefront Panthers

So the Painting Challenge starts this weekend - I will be a slow starter in this challenge, but I've got a fairly high points goal (although the others are all just low-balling and sandbagging - right, Ray?) so I hope to tear out a few good starting pieces over Christmas.  During the Challenge I hope to do projects in different scales and periods including 28mm Napoleonics and Sudan, 15mm Arab-Israeli Wars, more WW2 stuff of course, and maybe some sci-fi! I know Dallas, Byron and Kevin are in for the Challenge too, so I'm looking forward to seeing lots of great Fawcett Avenue content lighting up the blogosphere!