German Support Units from Forged in Battle

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Originally posted 9th December 2012

I've been wanting to get Forged in Battle's StuG support set for some time:  I love collecting the 'tail' elements of an army as well as its 'teeth'!

The Warfare show in Reading (well, Caversham if you want to be precise) gave me the opportunity. Even better, the stand they were on (West Wind Productions I think) had a five for four offer, so I bought the StuG support vehicles, some Hetzers, some half-tracks, some Pumas and some Marder IIIs.

I've only had the opportunity to paint the first lot of StuG support vehicles and the Hetzers and I must say I'm very impressed. I like the integral basing (all my vehicles are based: mainly for protection when handling and in transit), and the models take paint very well indeed.

StuG Support

Hetzers

Fallschirmjaeger 2cm FlakGuns

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Originally posted 4th December 2012

Next, here are a couple of Fallschirmjaeger-manned 2cm FlaK 38 guns for the Germans. I haven't got many anti-aircraft assets for my WW2 armies, as IABSM doesn't really emphasise that aspect of things, but these two are a start. They are Battlefront models: easy to put together and paint...although I hate the way they don't sit flush to their bases. I might glue them down in a moment!

Oh, and the observant amongst you will note that I have the mounting stand round one way on one base and the other way on the other. Not intentional, I assure you, and a lesson to be learnt in paying attention!

Soviet Flamethrower Tanks from Zvezda

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Originally posted 4th December 2012

I haven't had the time to do any actual gaming recently, what with getting Q13 ready and real-life work, but I have been painting a little.

First up, the excellent 15mm KhT-26 flamethrower tanks new from Zvezda. These cost only a couple of quid each, snap together in seconds, and paint up really easily. I'm a big fan of the Zvezda kits, and these babies will give the evil Germans a very nasty surprise!

More Soviet WW2 Planes from Little Fokkers

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Originally posted 14th October 2012

Two more 'planes from the Old Glory Lil' Flyin' Fokkers range: the Polikarpov biplane that I remember fondly from Johnny Red and the Ilyushin IL-2 Sturmovik which I suspect will appear more often than the others.

Polikarpov Biplane

Ilyushin IL-2 Sturmovik

The Polikarpov I-16 from Old Glory/Little Fokkers

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Originally posted 6th October 2012

Old Glory advertised their "Little Fockers" range of 15mm aircraft on TMP a couple of weeks ago, and such is the power of advertising that I couldn't resist buying the four different WW2 Soviet 'planes that they do.

First to leave the painting table is the teeny tiny Polikarpov I-16 fighter: very dinky!

Yet More Gebirgsjaeger

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Originally posted 9th September 2012

The final two units of the Gebirgsjaegers company:  the third platoon, and an anti-tank gun zug from Regiment. 

Again I'm struck by the contrast in quality of figures from Battlefront. The anti-tank gun team are works of art: a joy to paint and come our brilliantly. The infantry are manikins:  horrible compared to the ATG crew. 

Ah well: just a few Peter Pig skiers to paint to finish the project, and then on to the Harook: bird men with guns from Mad Robot!

Gebirgsjaeger MMG Teams

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Originally posted 19th August 2012

More Gebirgsjaeger: this time the MMG platoon. I'm very disappointed. The casts from Battlefront were very poor, especially on the chaps actually firing the machine guns. If you look closely, you can actually see that one of them is missing half his head!

Well, Rob, you may say, why didn't you just get them to send you some more: they're very good at that sort of thing. 

Well, I'd reply, they're very good at that sort of thing because they have plenty of bleedin' practice! If they had the quality control to start off with, then I wouldn't need to bother! I love BF stuff, on the whole, but sometimes they do themselves no favours.

No, the bad casts can stay up here for all to see: I'm bound to buy the three MMGs I need for theSchwerer Zug anyway so, assuming they are of respectable quality, they will be the ones I eventually use on the tabletop. Pity it's only Battlefront who do Gebirgsjaeger in 15mm. For now! Plastic tank anyone?

More Gebirgsjaeger from Battlefront

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Originally posted 26th June 2012

More Gebirgsjaeger from Battlefront. Some of my initial enthusiasm has worn off, but I still think they are very finely sculpted figures. I'm almost sure two sculptors did the range: most of the figures are amazing, but there are a few that are more blobby mannequins!

First off, I'm loving this Big Man. Full of character and paints up really well.

Next, here's the first infantry zug completed. I particularly like the standing LMG team, far left in the middle squad as you look at the picture:


Note that I've changed the way I base my infantry. Rather than singles on 5p pieces, I've used doubles on 2p pieces, with a five-2p-piece movement tray allowing even quicker deployment. The 2p coins do come out of the movement tray for casualty and in-cover deployment.

And finally, here's a group shot just to let you see some more of the sculpts:

Right: on to the mortars now!

Gebirgsjaeger from Battlefront

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Originally posted 9th June 2012

Even if I am now buying all my tanks and other vehicles as plastics from the likes of PSC and Zvezda, I still have a soft spot for the Battlefront infantry. Some of it is far from perfect (British Paras!) but some of the ranges are exceptional...including the relatively new Gebirgsjaeger.

I've only just started painting them up, but here are the infantry guns and an FOO:

Zvezda SdKfz 251 Half-tracks

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Originally posted 4th June 2012

Buying all the vehicles you need for an armoured infantry company is always a painful experience, whatever nationality you're collecting. My late war Germans need half-tracks, but the thought of buying four per platoon caused my wallet severe palpitations!

Step forward Zvezda! They do a lovely little SdKfz 251/1 that I managed to pick up at only £2.99 a go. With P&P, my nine models cost only £30: a bargain considering what purchasing them from other manufacturers would have cost me.

The models snap together easily in about five minutes...once you have the knack of it. You need to take care you don't bend the front axles when popping on the wheels, and the curious thread-through, over-and-under body construction took me a bit of time to figure out.

So, how do they look? well, judge for yourselves:

PS  I know these are the Ausf. B so technically early war...but who's going to notice once they're on the tabletop!

PSC British Shermans

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Originally posted 20th May 2012

As those who read this website regularly know, I have recently really got in to buying my WW2 tanks in plastic from either the Plastic Soldier Company or Zvezda. 

It means that I can afford to buy tanks by the squadron as opposed to the platoon with, in my opinion, no loss of quality either.

Here's my latest set of paint jobs:  a good part of a late war British armoured squadron armed with Shermans and Fireflys. Again, I can only say how easy they were to put together (once you get the knack of it) and how beautifully they paint up.

Are plastic tanks the way forward? Well, all I can say is that Battlefront have just released plastic Panthers. Better late than never, eh?

Plastic Soldier Company Shermans

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Originally posted 2nd April 2012

Next on the list from the Plastic Soldier Company were some 76mm Shermans with wet stowage (i.e. the ammo was kept wet rather than dry).

 

These built very nicely indeed: even the usually tricky tracks were not too much of a bother. Lovely kits that take the paint very well: almost too well, as they have come out looking a huge amount smoother than their Battlefront metal and resin equivalents.

Here are some shots of the platoon, and one so that you can compare the Battlefront and PSC tanks.

Here are the Battlefront versions:

And the PSC ones again:

Incidentally, I still prefer to game with the metal and resin tanks from Battlefront (there's something comforting about that weight!) but the PSC plastics are just so well priced, and so much fun to put together and paint, that I think that I shall definitely keep buying them...especially where I need ten to twelve of the same tank.

Next up: the Brits. Some PSC Fireflies and normal Shermans. Two boxes worth! 

Panthers from Plastic Soldier Company

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Originally posted 25th March 2012

Here are my latest tank models from Plastic Soldier Company:  a Zug of Panthers.

Although up to now I have focussed on the early war period and tended to buy Battlefront tank models, with my movement into the later war period I have expanded into using other manufacturers. These Panthers, along with the Panzer IVs, are plastic models from Plastic Soldier Company, and three out of four of the SdKfz 7/1s are from Forged in Battle. 

The reason?  Simple:  expense. I can field five tanks from PSC for at least half the cost of the Battlefront models: worth it when you're buying tanks by the Zug even if in principle you prefer metal to plastic!

One thing to note, however, is that the track assemblies can be a real pain to put together. If you look closely, you can see the difficulty I had in matching the top and the bottom of the track up properly on the bits right at the front and back. I don't understand why they can't just cast the whole track area as one piece, like Battlefront do. It would make life much easier!

Here's another shot of the Panthers:

Plastic Soldier Company T-34s

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Originally posted 3rd March 2012

Buying Battlefront tanks can be an expensive business, so recently I've been augmenting my collection by adding platoons of Plastic Soldier Company 15mm tanks to my core Battlefront platoons.

Next onto the building/painting table were the T-34s...or, as I should say, the T-34s and the T-34/85s, as each kit comes with two turrets and guns allowing you to field both. That's one hull and two turrets per model : damn good value if you ask me!

Building them proved easy: even the track assembly wasn't too difficult (unlike the flipping Panthers I'm working on now which are a right pain in the arse). Painting them was equally easy.

So, in summary, PSC T-34s (and 85s!) are highly recommended, even if their weight (or lack of) does take some getting used to

Deployed as T-34s

Now deployed as T-34/85s: same body, different turret