Bundeswehr Heavy Hitters - Team Yankee M109G Batterie

I grew up in Manitoba's second-largest city (!) - Brandon (pop.~40,000). One of the economic drivers of Brandon back in the day was CFB (Canadian Forces Base) Shilo, a large (primarily artillery) training range just east of the city.

Over 140,000 German soldiers were trained on the base from 1974-2000, under the auspices of the German Army Training Establishment Shilo (GATES). Apparently the terrain in the area is quite similar to that in Germany in the areas where operations would presumably take place in a new European war. Hence the importance of the Base for training our German allies.

Much of CFB Shilo's 40,000 hectare area is devoted to artillery ranges where weapons like the massive 155mm howitzer could be exercised. I can recall as a teenager seeing these M109s being transported on flatbeds to Shilo and I think this is the genesis of my affinity for the model.

Battlefront's M109G certainly looks the business, armed with a massive 155mm gun. My only criticism of the model's design is that I'd like the gun designed to be elevated a bit more. However, the way the part is designed renders it capable of assembly in only one way. Also, I had a miscast on one of the track sections, but it's not that noticeable when assembled.

Unfortunately, the M109G boxed set doesn't come with decals. I had some extra crosses from the Kampfgruppe Mueller and Marder boxes, but I had to freehand the number plates.

Some stowage is sculpted directly onto the rear of the turret. I picked these out in varying shades of khaki/green just to provide some additional visual interest.

The raised fine detail on these models really lent itself well to the light drybrush method advocated by Battlefront in their painting guide. I used the same colours and methods as for the Leopards and other Bundeswehr vehicles I've painted for the project.

West German Infantry for "Team Yankee"

15mm Panzer Grenadiers from Battlefront

More "Team Yankee" painting - these are Bundeswehr Panzer Grenadiers (two platoons), a company command team and two Fliegerfaust teams.  This is enough infantry to equip a Panzer Grenadier Kompanie in Battlefront's Cold-War-gone-hot game "Team Yankee".  The panzer grenadier platoons are small formations, so these units paint up quickly!

Blue bushes used to indicate command base for the zug

Another view of the grenadiers - I love the MG3 teams in particular!

The models are from Battlefront.  Fortunately these castings were pretty nice to work with, and overall these guys were a lot of fun to paint.  I liked them so much I am getting some more figures with the intent of basing them individually in skirmish games like "Chain of Command".

Shoulder fired SAM missile teams for the West Germans

When you have Gepards, I'm not sure why you would need these fellows, but it's fun to have a complete force...

Of course, actual panzer grenadiers are mounted in APCs or infantry fighting vehicles. I have yet to get any new vehicles painted (have run out of a critical hobby supply related to that process, and resupply is four weeks overdue, likely being re-sent - cue venting story about Canada Customs...).  So for now, these guys are on foot, content to hitch a ride in vehicles painted by others!  No worries, as Dallas is rolling along nicely on that front!

Team Yankee: Kampfgruppe Mueller

Well, it's fair to say that here at Conscript HQ we've gone in for Team Yankee in a big way. Although we've already posted a few battle reports and lots of pretty show-off piccies, I wanted to get into the act myself with some posts on my West Germans. First up is the basic Bundeswehr box set - Kampfgruppe Mueller - five Leopard 2 tanks and two PAH helicopters.

The big cats are gorgeous models. Easy to assemble with several crew options, these models make it easy to build your West German battlegroup. Decals are included too!

I painted these tanks using the techniques from Battlefront's Leopard "codex", basically undercoating with green (in this case GW Catachan Green) and painting in the camo with my own interpretation of "teerschwarz" (tar black - Abaddon Black with a bit of Mechanicus Standard Grey mixed in) and rot-braun (red-brown - GW Doombull Brown). It's important to note that unlike the WW2 Panzer forces, the Bundeswehr camo is applied in a particular prescribed pattern. Battlefront has a page that demonstrates the patterns quite clearly.

After applying the camo pattern, the whole vehicle is washed with GW Agrax Earthshade to tie it together a bit. The green is then highlighted with Catachan Green again. Decals are applied, then the vehicle is lightly drybrushed with GW Ushabti Bone. 

Some "spot weathering" is applied in the form of metallic chipping and brown-black sponging.

Lastly, some general road dust is applied with a drybrush of Ushabti Bone along the lower parts of the vehicle.

The PAH helicopters were pretty easy to paint in their two-colour camo scheme of teerschwarz and green. I used the same colours as for the Leopards.

HOT missile tubes were painted GW Steel Legion Drab. In lieu of an Earthshade wash, panel lines were painted in with Nuln Oil shade.

So there you have it - the basis for a Team Yankee West German battlegroup. I really enjoyed working on these vehicles, there's something about the three-tone NATO camo that just appeals to me. The Leopards are beautiful tanks and even the PAH helos are starting to grow on me with their whole "TC" vibe.

Anyway, stay tuned for the rest of the battlegroup, there's much more to come!

Team Yankee Battle Report: Soviets vs. West Germans

My current mania is Team Yankee, Battlefront's new "Cold War hot" game set in the 1980s. While Conscripts Greg and Mike have extensive 15mm modern collections, and Conscript Byron is amassing a 6mm horde, my only forays into modern gaming in a small scale has been my 15mm Yom Kippur War Egyptians. However, fond memories of Airfix 54mm Bundeswehr figures I had as a kid, plus the fun of painting NATO three-colour camo, sucked me into collecting a force of West Germans.

Anyway... in honour of my completion of my first Bundeswehr troops (the "Kampfgruppe Mueller" box from Battlefront) Greg kindly brought his toys over for a game.

We set up the first scenario from the Leopard book - "At the Forward Edge of the Battle". This involved the West German forces trying to blunt a Soviet spearhead with a rearguard action. We used the five Leopard 2's and PAH helicopters I'd painted, reinforced by some truly lovely models (Marders, panzergrenadiers and Gepard AAA vehicles) that Greg had obtained from "tacobat", a modern wargaming enthusiast blogger well-known to many of us.

We deployed the West Germans mainly behind the treeline holding the first set of objectives for the Soviets. After a set number of turns, the objectives shift to locations near the West German home table edge. The Soviets have to motor on in order to gain these objectives.
 

Here are the Soviets - a horde of T-72 tanks supported by an entire Motor Rifle Regiment in BMPs (at least it seemed that way). Also seen here is my "period" copy of "Aim to Kill - Warsaw Pact Equipment Recognition Manual" previously owned by one "Captain George". A very cool piece of Cold War memorabilia, the manual comprehensively sets out the WarPac vehicles and equipment of the day, their recognition features, armament, strengths and vulnerabilities.

On to the game... Conscript Hugh rolled his main body of T-72s up on his right flank, aimed at the Panzergrenadiers dug into the treeline and guarding one objective (red die in photo). As the Soviet tanks approached, the Leopards swung the gate and lit them up. The PAH helicopters popped up to join in the fun...

...but suffered the fate of many a newly painted model, shot down in flames before blowing anything up.

The Hinds duly appeared, but fortunately for the West Germans they suffered the same fate as the PAH helos, two Flakpanzer Gepard AAA tanks were on the case and duly evaporated them in a hail of 35mm shells.

But then it started going a bit pear-shaped for the West Germans.  Stuff started blowing up and the weight of Soviet numbers really began to tell. The Marders began to pull back from the woods at left and the Leopards were getting dinged too... a bad morale failure for the Leos sent the remnants of the platoon skedaddling to the West.

Here's how the game ended. The West Germans really didn't have anything left to block the Soviet advance. The remnants of the Leopard platoon, of course, will regroup farther west to fight on (right?)... but for now, the Soviets won the day, but at a high price...

The scenario was the first game in a longer campaign, and of course the results have ramifications later on. I'm looking forward to playing out the rest of the campaign, adding in my own models as they get painted - so far I've added two Gepards and three Fuchs transports. Still need to paint some infantry and the Marders that are now assembled... not to mention the M109G SP howitzers I left in Brandon a month ago (long story...)

Bundeswehr Infantry for Team Yankee

Bundeswehr Panzer Grenadiers in 15mm from Battlfront

A few more bits for Battlefront's "Team Yankee" have rolled off the painting desk.  These are West German Bundeswehr Panzer Grenadiers, 15mm castings from Battlefront.  Compared with some of the drek Battlefront cast up for their Soviet motor rifle packs, these castings were very nicely executed - a couple of warps on the MG3s, but nothing like the miscasts and crap lines seen on my Soviets.  This is pleasant, but also reinforces frustration that Battlefront cannot, it seems, give enough of a sh*t about casting to do it consistently well across all metal products...but I digress.

These castings were a real treat to paint

Compared to the great mass available to Soviet Motor Rifle companies (where one unit on the table can have something like 21 infantry bases), the infantry units in NATO are of course a lot smaller.  So it is with the Bundeswehr Panzer Grenadiers. The platoon is three stands with MG3s and other goodies, and two MILAN guided anti-tank missile teams.

Company command base

The small-three figure base is meant to represent the Company Commander - since I am assembling a Panzer Grenadier company, I'll need one of those :)

MILANs will be critical to stopping the Soviets on the table

These figures are fun to paint, hopefully the first of a healthy-sized batch of Panzer Grenadiers for "Team Yankee".  They will need Marder IFVs before they can start doing anything on the table, but those are still in the "pending" area while I wait for re-supply on some of things I will require in order to get the Marders going...

I put a tuft of blue flowers on the base to represent the platoon commander

Stay tuned for more "Team Yankee" - and maybe some Napoleonic stuff? Who knows...

Seventh Painting Challenge Entry - 20mm Bundeswehr Panzer Grenadiers

1980s West German Panzer Grenadiers from the Bundeswehr; 20mm sculpts from Elhiem and S&S Models

My Analogue-Hobbies-Painting-Challenge-motivated 20mm insanity continues.  My last entry switched from WW2 into the "Cold-War-Goes-Hot" setting, and this entry follows along - a platoon of Bundeswehr Panzer Grenadiers.  There are three eight-man sections, a commanding officer, a MILAN guided anti-tank missile team along with a pair of Marder 1A3 infantry fighting vehicles.

That's my driveway last week - 70km/h wind gusts driving the snow through the streets.  Seriously, winter can go f*ck itself

It is winter in the Canadian Prairies, and though I know I am so fortunate to call Canada home, Winnipeg in January can be a bit of a sh*t bomb as Army Group Winter encloses the city in a vice-like grip. Case in point last week a small snow storm swept through (one that none of the clowns at Enviro-guess Canada managed to warn anyone about, but anyway).  The bright side of this weather is that I can really fire up my internal painting machine, put some hockey games on TV, and get a lot of stuff done - not quite as fast as some of the leading Challenge participants like Tamsin or Millsy, but still a pretty good pace.

NATO's front lines

As with the last submission, the infantry figures are all from Elhiem Figures while the vehicles are from S&S Models.  The painting/modeling experience is consistent with the last entry as well. The Elhiem sculpts have some soft details and a manic resistance to primer, and yet I just love them as their overall appearance is quite pleasing, and their proportions are excellent.  The S&S vehicles are suspiciously undersized and plagued with numerous small casting flaws that significantly lower the overall quality of the model.

Platoon commander on a hex shaped base

I did not have a precise TO&E for a West German Panzer Grenadier platoon, so I suspect the sections are understrength.  Each one has an MG3 gunner and a fellow carrying a modern panzerfaust 44 AT launcher.  The balance are armed with G3 assault rifles.  And obviously with only two Marder IFVs, it will be a little harder for this lot to get around. Spare BMW will have to be "appropriated"!

The MG3 sure looks a lot like the MG42 from WW2

The Marder is a very cool-looking IFV - the turret sports a 20mm cannon that would provide some scary fire support in a firefight.  I like the sci-fi look of the turret.  Later models of the Marder also included a mount for a MILAN missile launcher as well.  It's too bad the S&S quality is poor, but black paint covers a lot of issues, so that's what I tried to do.  Some decals would be great too, but I couldn't find any 20mm scale modern West German decal sheets, and so I did the crosses free-hand.  The results were very poor, but serviceable.

A view of the Marder 1A3s

Much "Cold-War-Goes-Hot" interest here in North America centers (understandably enough) around the US forces and encounters of M1 Abrams tanks and clouds of T-72s and T-80s in the Fulda Gap.  I love tank battles (a lot - my favourite gaming encounter), but am much more interested in gaming the other NATO countries, and the West Germans in particular - I have quite a bit of West German stuff for Modern Spearhead.

MILAN team lurking

A potent anti-tank system; the MILAN crew set from Elhiem is excellent

In the 80's the West Germans would obviously have been at the very forefront of any resistance to a Warsaw Pact attack. While NATO would have tried to trade space for time in the face of the large Warsaw Pact shock armies driving across the North German plain and through the Fulda Gap, I expect these fellows would have resisted ferociously, motivated as only those who fight with their own homes and families at their backs can be.  I see that as a rich context for scenarios, particularly skirmish encounters.

Assortment of helmets - some plain, some with scrim

For example, perhaps they are disobeying orders a little bit, holding out longer than directed outside a small village to allow more time for evacuation behind them - they will have already lost one or two of their IFVs, and the strength of their sections is diminished, but as long as they have the MILAN launcher and missiles to use, they will dig deep to slow the advancing Red Army.  Should make a fitting opponent for the Motor Rifles I completed in my last entry.

The free-hand crosses turned out poorly - I wish I could find some 20mm decals

I still have a fair chunk of 20mm stuff to paint, but I am feeling a bit of an urge to switch over to sci-fi, so we'll see what comes next for the Challenge. In the meantime I hope we can set up a scrap sometime soon with these fellows at the Fawcett Avenue gaming table.