I have been in a real slump as far as painting is concerned. Since Gateway (9/2009) at LAX I have not picked up a brush or opened a bottle of paint. Thought about it a lot... Sat down to do it... Something always got in the way.
Well two weeks back, I made up a list to play Flames of War with and realized that my SS-Panzergrenadiers had no support. I had some PaK40's base coated and mortars primed and standed. So I went to work on them. Ten days later the mortars are 95% completed and the PaK's are 70% done.
Hurray for our side!
Once I get the PaK 40s and the mortars done, I am going to work on a pair of PaK 43s, some 37mm FlaK43 guns and a SS-MG teams.
Pictures to follow.
Tim,they call him ...
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Kursk at LAX
Well Gateway has come and gone, and so how our super-sized Kursk game. I had some responsibilities with the convention, so Harold was on his own. Kudos to him for pulling it off. It was a lot of work and I should have helped him more.
In the end, there were over 100 tanks on the board, platoons of infantry on both sides. Ironically, both Harold and I spent a lot of time setting up the scenario. And what we thought would happen, didn't. Something about the plan not surviving contact with the enemy.
Using Glantz's book on Kursk, we modeled the force after the corrected units in Glantz's book. The idea was to recreate Leibstandarte's thrust down the rail line to Prokarovka. Unfortunately (or fortunately) for Leibstandarte, the Soviets attacked at the same time.
Everything was going fine with our scenario, until the Soviets popped up with some infantry in a farm house. The German commander shifted his SS-panzergrenadiers to his right flank and assaulted the farm house. The farm house became the focal point of the battle.
Leibstandarte halted, deployed their artillery and began to engage the Soviets at long range. At the same time the SS infantry took the farm house. The Soviets tried to push their infantry into the farm house and the fight was on.
The problem is (for the Soviets) this is the fight the SS were designed to fight. Any player of Flames of War knows, digging out Fearless Veteran infantry out of buildings takes lots of infantry with support (artillery, tanks, etc). The Soviets have that, but they also have Leibstandarte's tanks and artillery to deal with.
A few turns later, the Soviet 5th Guards Tank Corps was a burning wreck. Victory to the Germans.
Photos can be found here:
Prokorovka Photo's
To quote James Dunnigan, "Playtest the dumb stuff!"
Tim, they call him...
In the end, there were over 100 tanks on the board, platoons of infantry on both sides. Ironically, both Harold and I spent a lot of time setting up the scenario. And what we thought would happen, didn't. Something about the plan not surviving contact with the enemy.
Using Glantz's book on Kursk, we modeled the force after the corrected units in Glantz's book. The idea was to recreate Leibstandarte's thrust down the rail line to Prokarovka. Unfortunately (or fortunately) for Leibstandarte, the Soviets attacked at the same time.
Everything was going fine with our scenario, until the Soviets popped up with some infantry in a farm house. The German commander shifted his SS-panzergrenadiers to his right flank and assaulted the farm house. The farm house became the focal point of the battle.
Leibstandarte halted, deployed their artillery and began to engage the Soviets at long range. At the same time the SS infantry took the farm house. The Soviets tried to push their infantry into the farm house and the fight was on.
The problem is (for the Soviets) this is the fight the SS were designed to fight. Any player of Flames of War knows, digging out Fearless Veteran infantry out of buildings takes lots of infantry with support (artillery, tanks, etc). The Soviets have that, but they also have Leibstandarte's tanks and artillery to deal with.
A few turns later, the Soviet 5th Guards Tank Corps was a burning wreck. Victory to the Germans.
Photos can be found here:
Prokorovka Photo's
To quote James Dunnigan, "Playtest the dumb stuff!"
Tim, they call him...
Friday, August 28, 2009
White Outline Numbers Failed!
Well, my attempt to paint out the center of the white numbers on the Tigers didn't work out. I ended up leaving the centers solid. There are a number of decal manufacturers out there that make white outline numbers, but none of them currently produce an "S" in white outline that I need for my Tigers. For now they will have to remain solid while I noodle out what to do.
Tim, they call him...
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Kursk Painting Issues
Das Reich's Tiger company (8th) carried specific markings at Kursk. The normal turret numbers of 833 became S33 (in this case). The problem is how to get white outlined letter/number decals. No one makes them. It takes a special printer to print white so I can't do them myself. I even tried some custom decal makers, but the cost is too much. I decided to try something. I purchased some white letters/numbers and am going to apply them to the turret and see if I can paint out the center. Yes... lots of magnification (lots and lots). If it works tomorrow I should have pictures... or maybe the next day.Faster, faster, must paint faster
Monday, August 24, 2009
Kursk Painting Log #2
Faster, faster, must paint faster
Progress shown in blue italics:
German Tank Force
12 Panzer IV H - Base coated in dark yellow, tracks painted, wheels painted, detail painted, decaled, black washed, ready for highlights, crew and matte spray.
4 Tiger E- Base coated in dark yellow, tracks painted, ready for green camo and detail work.
3 SdKfz 7/2 AA quads - Assembled, primed, magnets on gun
German Grenadier and Support force
Armored PanzerGrenadier Platoon - 80% painted and based
Armored PanzerPioneer Platoon - 80% painted and based
6 Stug III G - Assembled, base coated in dark yellow, tracks painted, wheels painted, ready for camo & detail work ,
3 Wespe - Partially assembled, base coated dark yellow, tracks painted, wheels painted, working on support vehicles and crew
Stukas - Completed
FW190s - Completed
First Soviet Armored force
10 T-34 obr1941 - Completed
4 su76 - Base coated green, detail painted, weathered, working on crew and decals
Stormaviks - Base coated green
Faster, faster, must paint faster
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Kursk Painting Issues
Harold... Kursk... Must paint faster, must paint faster...
One of the things I am frustrated over is trying to be accurate (within reason) when I paint a unit.
In the spring/summer of 1943 the Germans issued some new directives about camouflaging their armored vehicles. Kursk takes place right in the middle of this (July 1943). One would come to the logical conclusion that all the tanks would be painted in the new three color camouflage? I will avoid the diatribe on how things don't work out like that and move on.
Tigers
Working with black and white pictures can present a problem. I have seen some nice pictures of Das Reich Tigers with two color camouflage. The base appears to be dark yellow, but the contrasting patches are darker, so olive green or red brown? I have read a couple descriptions of the Kursk area being very green during the battle, so a dark yellow base with green patches would seem to be the order of the day. I went to look online and find two images of the same Tiger tank from Das Reich, S33, one shows the contrasting patches in green, the other in brown. Argh! I have seen lots of prints of Kursk, some have the grass brown, others green. In fact the cover of the FoW supplement (Hitler's Fire Brigade?) has two Panthers advancing at Kursk through a sea of green grass (they are identified as Das Reich Panthers, which were NOT at Kursk) so what the hell, I get to pick...green it is!
The Tigers were assigned to the 8th company, SS-Panzer regiment 2. Normally this would yield company numbers of 800, 801, 810 etc. This was true in the run up to Kursk. Just prior Das Reich switched to using the letter 'S' (schwere or heavy) in place of the company number. So 800 becomes S00; 810 becomes S10 and so on. Trouble is this numbering was done in white outline numbers, no decals exist that I can find that will work for this. I loathe the idea of trying this by hand so I am not sure what to do here.
Panzer IV's
I have also noticed that most of Das Reich's Panzer IV's hull schürzen are missing, while they carry it on the turrets. I haven't been able to discover why, but I have two ideas.
* When the tanks were shipped, the turret schürzen were installed and the hull mounting brackets and hull plates had to be installed in the field. So first idea, is perhaps time did not permit installation of the hull skirts.
* Second thought, the initial model of the hull skirts had a very poor mounting system. The skirts were easily damaged or torn off. So maybe they weren't installed or removed because of this?
In any case I am modeling my Pz IV's without side skirts, but with the turret skirts. I have seen a few pictures of Das Reich Pz IV's carrying turret skirts with zimmerit on them. I sanded the zimmerit off most of the turret skirts and left it on some for variety.
I also don't see any real evidence of more than a dark yellow base on the Pz IV's so I have left them dark yellow. Company markings also seem to be missing, the only marking showing on the turret skirts is the national Balkan cross.
To further complicate things, it appears that Leibstandarte and Totenkopf had photographers embedded with them during the battle, while Das Reich, did not. Or perhaps his photos didn't survive.
Tim, frustrated they call him...
One of the things I am frustrated over is trying to be accurate (within reason) when I paint a unit.
In the spring/summer of 1943 the Germans issued some new directives about camouflaging their armored vehicles. Kursk takes place right in the middle of this (July 1943). One would come to the logical conclusion that all the tanks would be painted in the new three color camouflage? I will avoid the diatribe on how things don't work out like that and move on.
Tigers
Working with black and white pictures can present a problem. I have seen some nice pictures of Das Reich Tigers with two color camouflage. The base appears to be dark yellow, but the contrasting patches are darker, so olive green or red brown? I have read a couple descriptions of the Kursk area being very green during the battle, so a dark yellow base with green patches would seem to be the order of the day. I went to look online and find two images of the same Tiger tank from Das Reich, S33, one shows the contrasting patches in green, the other in brown. Argh! I have seen lots of prints of Kursk, some have the grass brown, others green. In fact the cover of the FoW supplement (Hitler's Fire Brigade?) has two Panthers advancing at Kursk through a sea of green grass (they are identified as Das Reich Panthers, which were NOT at Kursk) so what the hell, I get to pick...green it is!
The Tigers were assigned to the 8th company, SS-Panzer regiment 2. Normally this would yield company numbers of 800, 801, 810 etc. This was true in the run up to Kursk. Just prior Das Reich switched to using the letter 'S' (schwere or heavy) in place of the company number. So 800 becomes S00; 810 becomes S10 and so on. Trouble is this numbering was done in white outline numbers, no decals exist that I can find that will work for this. I loathe the idea of trying this by hand so I am not sure what to do here.
Panzer IV's
I have also noticed that most of Das Reich's Panzer IV's hull schürzen are missing, while they carry it on the turrets. I haven't been able to discover why, but I have two ideas.
* When the tanks were shipped, the turret schürzen were installed and the hull mounting brackets and hull plates had to be installed in the field. So first idea, is perhaps time did not permit installation of the hull skirts.
* Second thought, the initial model of the hull skirts had a very poor mounting system. The skirts were easily damaged or torn off. So maybe they weren't installed or removed because of this?
In any case I am modeling my Pz IV's without side skirts, but with the turret skirts. I have seen a few pictures of Das Reich Pz IV's carrying turret skirts with zimmerit on them. I sanded the zimmerit off most of the turret skirts and left it on some for variety.
I also don't see any real evidence of more than a dark yellow base on the Pz IV's so I have left them dark yellow. Company markings also seem to be missing, the only marking showing on the turret skirts is the national Balkan cross.
To further complicate things, it appears that Leibstandarte and Totenkopf had photographers embedded with them during the battle, while Das Reich, did not. Or perhaps his photos didn't survive.
Tim, frustrated they call him...
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Kursk Painting Log
Harold... Kursk... Gateway 2010...
Ok so here we are (progress shown in blue italics):
German Tank Force
12 Panzer IV H - Base coated in dark yellow, tracks painted, wheels painted ready for detail work
4 Tiger E- Base coated in dark yellow, tracks painted
3 SdKfz 7/2 AA quads - Assembled, primed, magnets on gun
German Grenadier and Support force
Armored PanzerGrenadier Platoon - 80% painted and based
Armored PanzerPioneer Platoon - 80% painted and based
6 Stug III G - Assembled, base coated in dark yellow, tracks painted, wheels painted ready for detail work ,
3 Wespe - Partially assembled (tracks on)
Stukas - Completed
FW190s - I may have kits of these guys somewhere
First Soviet Armored force
10 T-34 obr1941 - Completed
4 su76 - Base coated green, detail painted, weathered, ready for crew and decals
Stormaviks - Base coated green
Ok so here we are (progress shown in blue italics):
German Tank Force
12 Panzer IV H - Base coated in dark yellow, tracks painted, wheels painted ready for detail work
4 Tiger E- Base coated in dark yellow, tracks painted
3 SdKfz 7/2 AA quads - Assembled, primed, magnets on gun
German Grenadier and Support force
Armored PanzerGrenadier Platoon - 80% painted and based
Armored PanzerPioneer Platoon - 80% painted and based
6 Stug III G - Assembled, base coated in dark yellow, tracks painted, wheels painted ready for detail work ,
3 Wespe - Partially assembled (tracks on)
Stukas - Completed
FW190s - I may have kits of these guys somewhere
First Soviet Armored force
10 T-34 obr1941 - Completed
4 su76 - Base coated green, detail painted, weathered, ready for crew and decals
Stormaviks - Base coated green
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