6mm German reinforcements

And here comes the German infantry. Now there's a nice core of infantry for both armies and I think I can pull off more scenarios.

 The grand total for both armies starts to look pretty nice!

 

 

 

WW2 German infantry battalion for Spearhead

Being active on the painting front after some weeks of not picking up a brush! Here are the first infantry units for my microarmor project. They took me two or three evenings to do so they're pretty fast to paint. These represent a German infantry battalion in Spearhead, reinforced with some Paks. They are for the first scenario in the Spearhead rulebook. Next, I'll finish up the Russians for that scenario and I can finally get a game in with these figures!

Microarmor WW2 German trucks

Productive weekend! I finished these trucks I printed, too. My microarmor is based on 30mm squares but I decived to base the trucks on 2x4cm rectangles to achieve the look I wanted. Now when in a road column they look appropriately like an endless queue of trucks heading towards their doom in the eastern front!

3D-printed microarmor

First finished models for 2019!
Here are three 3D-printed StuG's and one traditional metal one. You can still see the print layering on the tanks but it's only visible up close and in bright light. Very happy with my Anycubic photon!

A bunch of microarmor stuff

Not much to see but I'll log it here nonetheless. I did a small bunch of WW2 german tanks on my airbrush as well as those village bases from total battle miniatures. I've had difficulty with my airbrush clogging while doing those tank camos but it looks like flow improver does the trick and I should enjoy airbrushing a bit more from now on. Fingers crossed!

More reinforcements for my Germans / SHQ miniatures vs. PSC size comparison

Getting some of the support options for early war Germans can be a bit tricky in 20mm. I want to be able to game Barbarossa in Chain of Command so I need at least the small 50mm mortar and preferably the Panzerbüchse 39 AT rifle. My Germans are mostly Plastic Soldier Company, who don't stock what I need, but my friend tipped me off on SHQ miniatures. Their site is antique and they don't have photos of everything but delivery was fast and shipping costs reasonable. Oddly enough the figure bags were labeled "WARNING: these pieces contain lead". I though we're not supposed to have actual lead in our lead pile anymore in the EU? I'm not complaining though, a bit of the ol' Pb makes the figures more durable as they will bend rather than break, and painting and varnishing them will seal the metal inside a protective layer anyway.

Panzerbüchse

An engineer team with a flamethrower. A scary weapon in  CoC!

The 5cm Granatwerfer is a standard support weapon in early war platoons.

The models are nicely detailed (especially after painting up those horrid Strelets Finns!) and fun to paint. But will they blend in with Plastic Soldier Company 20mm´s?

The answer is.. not perfectly. The PSC models are slightly taller and plenty bulkier. I think they work in a pinch however, and blend in when looked at from a "wargaming distance". It'll help not to mix them within units also.

I definitely like the models and anyone looking at getting an all metal 20mm German force should give these a look. I have some more stuff from them in The Pile(tm) but didn't paint everything straight away.

Reinforcements for my 20mm WW2 Germans

Chain of Command is played using a typical infantry platoon plus a variety of support options to give the force some color. I haven't had many support options yet and I've been borrowing my opponent's Germans so far. This latest batch remedies that and gives my Heer rifle platoon some much needed help.

A radio operator to act as a forward observer, a panzerschreck for those late war engagements and a sniper which is quite handy in CoC.

Two MG34's with a drum magazine and a tripod mount. HMG's to add firepower to my force. Note that some of these weapon teams require additional riflemen, which I need to do more of if I field a lot of these at once.

A medical orderly and some walking wounded.

A Pak36 to keep enemy vehicles worried.

A Panzer IV, which starts to be a bit heavy for Chain of Command, but might see the field if there's an abundance of support points in a scenario.

I found a Dragon models halftrack in the bargain bin of a local toy store and grabbed it. In CoC it will be more useful as a machine gun nest than a transport but you never know.

Building the halftrack took quite a while as Dragon models are really detailed and valued by military modelers. Even the inside compartment was fully detailed even though it is really hard to see inside once the model is complete.

So there you have it, more meat in the grinder.

20mm WW2 German platoon complete

I now have 40 something infantry for my WW2 Germans from Plastic Soldier Company. I bought these to take part in WW2 games some of my friends play and now I have enough for a "platoon plus" sized game. Four squads of infantry including both moving a shooting versions of their machine guns, a truck, a Flak 88 and a Stug. Plenty enough to have fun with.

I'm glad I've managed to "complete" a couple of projects this summer. It means there's room for new ones! And yes, the word "complete" should always be in quotation marks as far as miniature projects go as you never know when you decide to expand! I know I want to add a few odds and ends to my krauts, even if the core is done.

A bunch of 1/72 WW2 Germans

Here's the first batch of WW2 Germans I've completed. I planned to use these for the Rate of Fire demo game a year ago, but ended up borrowing the Germans used in the game save for the 88 which I did back then. Even that has been improved lately.

Here's a couple of photos of a squad of infantry. They're from Plastic Soldier Company and I rather like the detail on them. Some people complain that 1/72 or 20mm doesn't have enough detail, but I think there's plenty here. I plan to do a platoon or so of these. At least for starters.

Here's the Flak 88 I used as an objective in the demo game. I've added some dirt to make it look like something else than just a basecoated piece, and improved the paint job of the crew. The piece is from Zvezda.

Here's a Stug Ausf G assault gun from Revell. I wanted to use a grey paint job on the tanks to avoid painting camouflage. I want to have an airbrush for tank camo but I can't afford one right now. The paint job makes the model a bit anachronistic as the Ausf G came into service about the same time Germany changed into yellow camo in their tanks. At least that's what I think. Some treadhead might want to educate us if he spots this. As you can see, I used the opportunity to practice doing muddy tracks. Is it excessive?

Not wanting my troops to walk, I bought this Opel Blitz truck from Italeri. The understructure was a pain to assemble, but it was quick to paint. I go for the grey again to keep consistent.