15mm Cold War Special Forces

 Battlegroup Northag and the Centag supplement both have roles for small special forces detachments.  I painted up a pack of Peterpig SAS from their modern African Wars range and a pack of Spetsnaz from Quickreactionforce.

Below are the QRF Spetsnaz in their Sun Bunny all in one hooded suits in faded green with sand coloured blebs.  Variously armed with AKs, RPGs and PKMs, they look the part when painted up.

I'm not sure what the chap rear right is doing, but his comrades are using their AK, PKM and sniper rifle.

More AKs, PKMs and an RPG.

Then from Peterpig, some western special forces.  I've painted these as SAS, although they work fine as Marine Force Recon, Green Berets, or any other NATO recce unit.  Difficult to be sure at this scale, but they look to be armed with M16s for the most part with assorted UGLs

I have some 3D printed Volkswagen camper vans and assorted Gaz jeeps or minibuses to carry the Spetsnaz into battle or Landrovers for the SAS, Hum-Vees or M151s for the US, assuming they arrive by road - airdropped and they have to hike into position.

Thanks for looking.

15mm Volkssturm platoon

I've been wanting to try out the movement trays from Warbases for some time, so took the opportunity to pick up some examples at the Phalanx show last Saturday.  I had several packs of Peterpig Volkssturm in the stash, so, having worked up a 20mm platoon, thought I'd do the same for the 15s.  These guys are based on pennies.


The whole platoon, command of 4, 3 sections of 8 and an MG34 team of 3, plus an 8 man recce infantry section and a 6 man Hitlerjugend tank hunter squad as supports.

4 man command squad, youthful Hitlerjugend CO.

1st squad.  8 figures, 2 with Panzerfausts.

2nd squad.  As 1st.

3rd squad.  As 1st.

MG34 team on the move.

8 man infantry recce squad - note the WW1 jagers front left and right, representing policemen.

6 man Hitlerjugend tank hunters - 5 panzerfausts between them.

Some of the Hitler youth in more detail.

Part of the recce squad - includes the Jager officer/policeman.

Volkssturm infantry including kneeling dude with Panzerfaust and kneeling Jager/policeman.

More Volkssturm infantry with armbands so they don't get shot as Francs-tireurs.

MG34 team - you can sense their pain struggling under the heavy loads in a greatcoat.

Now, they need to get dug in and await the Soviet onslaught or board the Opel Blitz bus and take the fight to the enemy.


Thanks for looking.

15mm US SP 105mm artillery

Having been on the receiving end of Will's US SP artillery in recent games of BG Torch, I thought it time to add some to my 15mm US force.  I picked up a couple of Peter Pig T19 105mm howitzer motor gun carriages and a pair of M7 Priests.


The T19s are nice models - I also ordered sets of US artillery crew from Peter Pig, but they only just fit in the crew compartment - unfortunately, the white metal Peterpig now use is very tough and took a lot of filing on the bases to get them to sit right.

They are base coated in Vallejo brown-violet, with black grey for tyres, washed with diluted Agrax Earthshade and dry brushed Iraqi sand.  Then details like tracks and tools are picked out in flat brown, beige brown and black grey.

Crew uniforms are tan earth trousers and either German camo beige or grey green for the tunic.

Nice models - now for a suitable 15mm supply truck as, in BG, they quickly run out of ammo.

The M7 Priests were also great little kits, easy to assemble.  Although the crew compartment is bigger, the interior is quite detailed making it difficult to locate the crew and the hard metal again made it a real chore to grind down to get a decent fit.  However, once done, they look the part.

Similar basic colours to the T19s.

The bulkheads on the bow are quite deeply recessed, making it a challenge to get the decals to sit right, but lots of decal softener at least gave me a chance, although there is more distortion of the stars than I would have liked.

Crew are similar to the T19s, but with US dark green trousers - to reflect later uniform style.

Again, for BG games, I'm going to need a supply truck or two to keep these fed.

I realised that I've not shared pictures of the main US forces yet, so when I put these in the storage box, I'll take some photos of the whole force.


Thanks for looking.

15mm Late War Germans based for Battlegroup

I've put together a German armoured recce platoon from the Wacht am Rhein book, to form the core of a mobile armoured division battlegroup.  Vehicles are, from left to right, an optional support Sdkfz 251/1 transport for a tripod mounted MG34 or MG42, an Sdkfz 250/1 transport for a bipod mounted MG34 or 42, an Sdkfz 250/10 command vehicle with 37mm AT gun, an optional Sdkfz 250/9 20mm armoured car and finally another Sdkfz 250/1 transport for a bipod mounted MG34 or 42.  Dismounts in front are, again left to right, an optional tripod mounted MG34 team, two 4-man bipod mounted MG34 teams, a two man command team and optional 2-man Panzershreck team, an optional support PAK40 AT gun and two more 4-man bipod mounted MG34 teams.

I still need two Sdkfz 250/1s to mount two of the MG34 teams and I'll use an Opel Blitz Maultier as a tow for the optional PAK 40.  Other support options include an Sdkfz 250/7 with 81mm mortar, an Sdkfz 250/8 Stummel 75mm infantry gun and, as an alternative command vehicle, an Sdkfz 250/11 with Panzerbuche.

This platoon organisation has a lot of firepower.  Dismounts provide 4 MG34 teams with another 4 MG34s available from the vehicles themselves and the command half track mounts a 37mm AT gun.  Then support options I'm most likely to include are an MG34 in sustained fire mode, the PAK 40 AT gun, 20mm autocanon on the A/C and a Panzershreck team.  I might even indulge the command team with some off board mortars as they can spot for them too.  On the downside, the teams are small and they are likely to be quite brittle, needing some back up from other infantry and armour.

Sdkfz 250s are Plastic Soldier, 251 and PAK 40 are Peter Pig, infantry is a mix of Battlefront and Peter Pig.

The armoured recce infantry platoon provides the core of the battlegroup.  To this, I've added a Gepanzert infantry platoon in Sdkfz 251/1s.  In the photo below, the rear row shows, left to right, an optional Sdkfz 251/9 Stummel with 75mm infantry gun, an optional Sdkfz 251/1 transport for a tripod mounted MG34, an optional PAK 40 with Sdkfz 251/1 tow (I might replace this with a Maultier), and a quad 20mm AA gun with Sdkfz 11 tow.  The middle row comprises three Sdkfz 251/1s, which provide transport for three 5-man rifle squads and three 3-man bipod MG34 teams.  In front is a command Sdkfz 251/10 with 37mm AT gun, a 6-man command team and an optional 2-man Panzershreck team.  Sdkfz 251s and PAK 40 are all by Peter Pig, the AA gun and Sdkfz 11 are by Battlefront.  Figures are a mix of Battlefront and Peter Pig.

One of the Sdkfz 251/1s with dismounts, a 5-man rifle squad and 3-man MG34 team.

The Sdkfz 251/9 Stummel and Sdkfz 251/1 with tripod mounted MG34.

PAK 40 with Sdkfz 251/1 tow.

The quad 20mm AA gun with Sdkfz 11 tow.

Command Sdkfz 251/10 with 6-man command team and 2-man Panzershreck team.

As an option to give the battlegroup some real strength, here is a Panther platoon.  These are from  Plastic Soldier Company and are excellent models, although the long barrels are a little brittle - I notice the command vehicle has a broken barrel already.

And finally, for now, some additional firepower in the form of a battery of Stug IIIs.  These can provide some less expensive (compared with the Panthers) teeth for the battlegroup in smaller games or some additional firepower in larger games.  Models are, I think, all Battlefront.

So, in addition to the missing vehicles for the recce platoon, I plan to create a lorried Panzergrenadier platoon mounted in Opel Blitz trucks and a Panzer IV platoon.  I'll also add some heavy mobile AT guns in the form of some Jagdpanthers and at least one Jagdpanzer IV.  Some Volksgrenadier infantry are also on the cards.  Most of the infantry will come from cannibalising some of my Flames of War infantry, as we are playing this a lot less at the club these days.  I've also just invested in a better airbrush, so hope to get some vehicles painted up using it shortly.

Thanks for looking.

15mm ANZACs for Vietnam

I've been given a huge load of part-painted 15mm ANZAC troops by Steve at the club.  Once painted, we're going to share them as I want a platoon or so for Force on Force games and he is looking to add to his already extensive ANZAC collection.  I thought I'd try out the scheme recommended by Battlefront using a Russian uniform base colour, highlighted with green grey.  I opted for khaki backpacks and webbing, US dark green for grenades, black, highlighted basalt grey, and beige brown for FN rifles and flat fleshtone for skin.  The whole lot was washed in Army Painter strong tone ink diluted 2:1 with water and varnished with matt clear varnish.

I had a pack of Peterpig Australians with FNs, plus some professional infantry with LAWs from their AK-47 range, wearing bush hats, so close enough to do service as Vietnam era ANZACs.

 
I like the look of these and think they will do fine for me to use in 15mm Vietnam games.  So, just a hundred or so to work through and the jobs done.

Thanks for looking.

15mm Vietnam tests

I played a game with Ian and Steve at the Defenders club a couple of weeks back, of Force on Force, set in Vietnam, using Steve's collection of mainly Peterpig forces.  It inspired me to think about building a platoon scale force for the USA and possibly Australians, as well as VC and NVA.  I remembered that I had some odd Peterpig Vietnam figures that I had won in an ebay auction a couple of years ago, so thought I'd dig them out and try and paint them to see if I could get a result I'm happy with.  These are the result.

I figured I had enough for an HQ section, with an officer, medic, M79 grenadier and three M16 armed riflemen.  I read a few painting guides online and came up with these - the base uniform is Vallejo Russian Green, heavily dry brushed with Russian Green mixed with Deck Tan.  Helmets are Luftwaffe camo green with flat earth and Russian Green splodges.  Pouches are golden olive dry brushed khaki.  Boots are olive drab.  Some figures have red and white Marlborough cigarette packets taped to their helmets.

A rifle section of two 4 man fire teams, one with 2 M16 riflemen, an M60 gunner and M16 armed assistant, the other with three M16 riflemen and a LAW gunner, who also carries an M16.

The other section, organised similarly.

I also had two other figures, on the left a shotgun armed tunnel rat and on the right a downed helicopter crew man armed with a pistol.

The whole group.  A few more riflemen and there should be enough for a platoon scale action.

Thanks for looking.