Friday, April 20, 2012

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

This is a story of 3 Panzer IVHs.  One of them is pretty scary looking.  Another, isn't so bad, and the third one, while not spectacular, is probably the least horrific (read most pleasing to the eye of all 3).  They are 15mm PSC and I have painted them for a large, Eastern Front Scenario I'm planning on playing someday in the distant future...
The Good...

The Bad...

The Ugly...
This has been a long and expensive lesson I've learned in painting larger models.  Turns out the spider-web styled lines work the best for my skill level.  And here I was thinking I was a good painter!  Anyways the other lesson I learned was free-handing the numbers and the crosses.

The block numbering looks way better than the sloppy "arabic numerals" that I painted on there previously.  Also - when free-handing a cross, paint the black cross FIRST!!!!!  Then paint small white edges around all 4 corners.  You will notice a nice difference in crosses between tank 1 and tank 2.  And a huge canyon of difference between 1 and 3.

All that's needed is some weathering on these guys' tracks and they'll be battle ready for action at Kursk or even Normandy.  The tank with the TC sticking up out of the hatch is the company command vehicle, and also serves as the Forward Oberserver tank for GHQ games.

I also figured out that brown wash works much nicer than black wash on Afrika Mustard.  Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go buy another can of spray paint to redo the half-tracks... Enjoy the rest of the pictures.
Lined up for comparison.

Nice numbers and clean looking cross.  The brown wash settled nicely in the recessed areas as well.

I like the personalization of the PSC products.  I removed a panel.  This camo scheme was taken from a 12th SS vehicle in  Normandy but works nicely for any theater.  

We all remember this nightmare....the 635 tank!

I like how this one turned out.

I like less how this one turned out..


Moving out - the rear vehicle gets killed last!

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Next Eastern Front Scenario....

While I've played this scenario many times before, I have to admit I'm excited about playing it in 15mm!  Scenario is the "Introductory Scenario" from GHQ's WWII MicroArmour rules.  Pits 2 roughly equal forces against each other with a German tank-infantry battalion team and a Soviet tank battalion with a company of submachine gun infantry in support.  Both sides have artillery support and I'm thinking there will be dedicated air support as well.  Can't wait!  (lots of painting to do before this battle however...)

Also - I'll accept tactical strategies if anyone wants to submit their solution for the problem.  If your submission wins, you'll gain fame and notoriety by having your plan acted out on the 15mm tabletop!  Huzzah!

Map from the GHQ Website (and in the rule book).  I think an additional ford over the river will add some spice to the game.
Victory conditions are self-explanatory.  My kind of party!
The German forces.  Looks like trouble for the Russians.
The Russians will have to use their artillery to tip the balance.  High ground suddenly becomes important for Forward Observers!
The statistics for the units

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

From the Procurement Office...

Ordered some welcome reinforcements tonight to bolster my WWII 15mm (1/100) forces off of Amazon and I am amazed at how much money you can save if you dig around. 
The Plastic Zvezda miniatures are amazing and some of the prices off US Amazon are incredible.  I spend a little over 30 dollars US for the following (NOT counting shipping..which put me well over 30). 

Ordered 2 of these sweet T-34/76 for less than 9 bucks


Ordered 1 KV-1 for less than 5 bucks


Ordered a Panzer IVF2 for under 5 bucks

Ordered 5 of these 251/1s for under 4 dollars apiece!!  That's almost 10 dollars less than PSC - but will their quality hold up?