20mm WW2 German infantry in Zeltbahns

Having got the Farnworth guide to painting German WW2 infantry, I tried my hand at a batch of infantry in Zeltbahns.  I had a pack of Caesar figures, but these don't really have any command figures of LMGs, so I picked some up from SHQ, which seem to match in relatively well, just very slightly smaller in stature.

The whole platoon.

Command section

5 man rifle section on the right, 3 man MG34 section on the left.

Another, better view of the 5 man rifle section, with the MG34 team at the far end.

View switched so the MG34 team is closer.

Rear view, showing the men's personal equipment.

The command team, officer with MP40 (I think) with senior NCO behind - there are two of these figures in the Caesar set and they seem right for a grizzled and battle hardened NCO.  Something to do with the set of the shoulders?

Command section rear view.

Detail of the NCO figure.

Rifleman throwing a stick grenade

Panzerfaust firer.  To the eye, the figure looks fine, but close up the magnification and lighting highlight loads of little bubbles in the top layer of matt varnish.  Good job I'm switching to the Galleria varnishes as I've had no trouble with them.

Rifleman preparing grenade.

And again from the front.

MG34 team.

MP40 gunner.  Again, this chap suffers from a pitted surface on the matt varnish layer - not noticeable to the eye, but the magnification really picks it up.

SHQ radio operators - also suffering bubbly varnish.

 

 

As I said, I did these guys using a recipe from the Farnworth guide and chose Deck Tan as the base as this seems to be the best option for the background colour of the earlier splinter pattern which was most commonly used on Zeltbahns.  I've tried to put the colour swatches on in inclined streak of brown with irregular blebs of green and to keep the edges of the base colour relatively well-defined.  Base uniform colour is London Grey for trousers and WW2 German field grey for jacket sleeves.  The figures were washed in Agrax earthshade, diluted 50:50 with flow improver.  The base gloss varnish was Vallejo, which worked well, but I was really disappointed with the final coat of Vallejo matt varnish - I shook this well to get a thorough mix and brush applied it carefully to avoid any froth, but it doesn't seem to have worked, so I'm switching to the Galleria varnishes - I used the Galleria matt varnish on my Brit paras, posted previously, and they seem to have turned out fine.  The Galleria varnish is much thinner and goes on like water or flow improver.  I've just picked up some gloss varnish, so will be trying that out soon.

 

Thanks for looking.

20mm WW2 British paratroopers

Another force for Battlegroup games, this time a British paratroop platoon with supports.  Figures are all from Britannia/Grubby, as is the 6pdr AT gun.  The 17pdr is from EWM and the 2 75mms are from the Airfix Willys jeep kit.

The core platoon, three rifle sections (front left, rear left and right), each 10 men plus a Bren - although two sections have an extra Bren.  There is also a command section of 5 men (front right), with a 2 man 2" mortar team and a 2 man PIAT team.

The platoon commander with his section and a 2" mortar team.

10 man rifle section.

The whole platoon.

Some additional supports, a 3 man Vickers MMG team and another 2 man PIAT team.  There's also a solitary figure with a flamethrower - I will add a pioneer section when I get some more suitable figures.

Something a bit more capable, a 6pdr AT gun with three crew.

And a real heavy hitter, a 17pdr AT gun with three crew.

The overall CO, a three man FHQ group.

Some artillery support in the form of a pair of 75mm pack howitzers, each with three crew.  I modelled the crewmen separately for these as, if I decide to use the 75s as off table, I can use the crew as loader teams for the on-table AT guns.

So, around 600-650 points of British paratroopers.  I plan to add an engineer section and a 3" mortar team when I get the chance.  I also have a bunch of old Escii plastic figures, so I might try out some and see if they compare well - if so I may add another platoon.  Then I need transport jeeps for the 75s and 6pdr and a cut down Morris for the 17pdr tow.  The FHQ will need a jeep for transport and I could do with a couple of recce jeeps too - so I guess I will soon be working on jeeps as well.

As ever, thanks for looking.

Another 20mm WW2 Winter German platoon

Another effort at German WW2 infantry painted after I had read the Farnsworth Guide.  These are mostly Italeri WW2 German Winter Infantry, with a couple of extra bogs from the Italeri WW2 Elite German Infantry and a greatcoat-wearing Caesar figure.  The NCOs on round bases are the EWM (former Sgt Major Miniatures) NCOs posted earlier.


Lighting was shocking poor and uneven in these photos, but the best I could do at the time.


The entire platoon, three 8 man sections, each an MG34 team of 3 men and a rifle team of 5 men, together with a 6 man command section and a 2 man Panzershreck team.  These are suitable for Battlegroup or Chain of Command.


The greatcoat-wearing figures are done in a standard London Grey colour, while most of the remainder are wearing hooded parkas and over trousers, which I've done in winter white, or an autumn Oak Leaf pattern.  A couple of the figures are shown in grey trousers or shirts (mainly those from the Elite infantry set) for a little bit of variety.  I think it gives them a bit of a rag-tag veteran look, although they could equally work as a Volksgrenadier platoon for the Bulge, Berlin or late Eastern Front.  They do suffer from a shortage of Panzerfaust armed troops, so I'd have to use markers to indicate any allocation of Panzerfausts.


The whole platoon.

Command section.

Section 3.

Section 2.



Section 1.

Panzershreck team.

Command section, slightly better lit.

The whole platoon, again slightly better lit.

Platoon from another angle.

Quite nice figures, lots of detail and not a lot of excess plastic and no flash, which made them really simple to paint, especially after a session in the top drawer of the dishwasher.


Almost ready are some more Atlantic Wall defences and some additional supports for the winter platoon in the form of a 37mm AA gun and 120mm mortar.  Looking through the spares from the Winter and Elite sets, as well as Caeser sets of greatcoated and Zeltbann infantry and winter infantry, there are probably enough assault rifle armed figures to make up a platoon exclusively armed with the Surmgewehr 44, so I can make up a very Late War platoon suitable for Volksgrenadiers, Heer or SS units in Berlin or 1945 in general.  My plans also include a platoon of Volksturm in a mix of uniforms and civilian clothes, plus some Hitlerjugend tank hunter teams.  Those will be for another day, as I'm now trying to progress the British vehicles that I picked up at Vapnartak.  Then, at last, I've made some progress on test figures for the Britannia British airborne infantry - although I realised I will need more figures to complete the platoon I had planned plus an engineer section and supports.


Thanks for looking.

Crisis Point 2019 - Operation Herkules Day 2 action

Day 2 action began with a pair of Pz IVs and a beute KV-2 coming across the narrow beach, passing the largely destroyed beach defences and probing inland, supported by a platoon of Kriegsmarine.  To their left, a pair of Semoventes supported by a platoon of Italian marines occupied the coastal village, including the Novelty Rock Emporium.

Here they come boys.

One of the Semoventes starts to probe forwards under the watching gaze of marines with LMGs and an MMG in the coastal town in the foreground.

Over on the British far right, two platoons of Gebirgsjager, advancing  from the airfields secured yesterday, attempt to join up with the naval landings.

Hurrah for the 25lbrs.  The two gun battery bracketed the KV-1, scoring a killing hit, unlikely to penetrate the thick armour on the KV (double 6 being needed), but a useful double 1 resulted in an automatic immobilisation.  The British armour advancing onto the table included 2 Vickers Mk VI, which were allocated to the front against the Gebirgsjager, supported by a Matilda II.  Two more Matilda IIs and three A12s were pitched at the naval landings.  An A12 struck a lucky hit on one of the PzIVs, brewing it up.

The Kriegsmarine attempted to swing around the flank to deal with the 25lbr battery, but this was countered by an A12, with a Matilda following up.

With the KV-2 immobilised, the Semoventes attempted to break into the town, only to be faced with a pair of Matilda IIs and an A12.  One of the Matildas brewed up a Semovente, so the other was despatched to bolster up the flank against the Gebirgsjager, which was under significantly more pressure.

The Gebirgsjager had more or less broken the infantry platoon in the town and managed to KO one of the Vickers, although the MGs of the other Vickers and an A12, with a Matilda II rattling up in support, was making the hardened mountain troops think twice.

The Vickers burns in the distance.  Very little stands in the way of the Gebirgsjager.

Gebirgsjager advance through the woods and olive groves around the town on the British right.

They make steady progress.

Gebirgsjager about to link up with the naval landing force.

The Italians occupy the coastal town, with a pair of squads thrown forward to support the lone Semvente.

Another lucky hit on the KV-2 caused a morale test, which the German crew failed, abandoning the vehicle - counting as destroyed.

 

 

With only one serviceable Pz IV and a Semovente left on the British left, the axis forces lost heart and the advance stalled.  Sadly for the British, on the right, the Gebirgsjager had effectively dealt with the British platoon, although they were struggling against the steadily increasing numbers of British tanks being fed into the area.  Overall, both sides seemed to have dealt with one flank, but were struggling to make any headway on the other, so each claimed a partial victory, but conceded a partial defeat too.  Overall, we were happy to agree a draw.  All would depend on who could reinforce first!

 

A great weekend's wargaming in brilliant company, lots of good Yorkshire bitter and some excellent pies, not to mention the liver and onions!

 

Thanks for looking.