Mid War 71 points Desert Rats vs Panzer IV Ko. Breakthrough

Tally Ho, Chaps!

Matt and I had another set of Mid War tester games.   This is game 1.   We played 71 points, as that is what Cdn Nationals will be Sept 2018.    Matt is waiting for Eastern Front lists, but is just using the DAK Panzer Ko. for now until that comes out.   I went with my trusty Desert Rats, we rolled Breakthrough, with me defending, as I had an Inf. Formation in my Force    As always, Video Batrep at the end.

His list:

HQ Panzer III

3 x Panzer IV 'Long'

2 x Panzer IV 'Long'   (in Flanking Reserves)

2 x 8 Rads

3 x Marders

My list:

Crusader HQ 2x CS, 2 x Crusader II

Crusader 2 x II, 1 x III (I completely forgot these were IIIs in game!)

Crusader 2 x II, 1 x III (reserves)

Grants x 3  (reserves)

Motor Co HQ

Motor Co

4x 6lbrs

3 x Bren Gun Carriers

2 Hurricanes (reserves)

Deployment, I Spearhead'ed the Carriers and deployed on both objectives

Panzer V 'Panther' Tanks with Finishing Touches and Pictures

The nice thing about taking the time to building a small lightbox to take your pictures in, is that they turn out great. The right balance of light and a digital camera make all the difference. The Panther Company I have had sitting incomplete is finally done. You likely saw them in progress this week while I have had some spare time to paint.

Painted Panzers

I've had a few tanks lying around and have not been painting very much lately. I decided to break out the airbrush and some Pzr IV/70 tank destroyers that came in one of my German army boxes. We'll look at the tank and how it's represented in FoW.

Painting Panzers The Video Edition

As promised, here is the video for the process and tips I used in getting my Panzers ready for Historicon 2014!

Thanks for watching and stay tuned for more videos in the future. I enjoyed getting all the historicon videos up from last year and look for the same type of AAR once the convention has wrapped up. See you there and at the WWPD podcast!

Historicon 2014! Might as well buy new shhh....er.......STUFF!!

Historicon 2014 is upon us! Just a few more weeks until my army will be complete and packed up ready to clear customs. Hope you had a good Canada Day and all of our friends down south, we hope you have a safe and fun July 4th! I've been trying to figure out what to bring to this years tournament. At 1485 points, it's easy to make a list with enough options to make it competitive. As for me, I look forward to just playing some games and making the most out of my second Nationals. I may not play in the I-95 Doubles Flames of War event on Thursday. SO....hopefully that will lead to a few more hours of checking out some of the other games and making the most of the shopping by picking up some more terrain for my home tables.

Now to what I've been working on. I had a list put together and was ready to just pack up models I already owned and painted to take with me to Historicon, but where is the fun in an army you had no hand in painting? When I decided to take a German list, my Panzergrenadiers are not painted by me, and for some reason I feel compelled to try and make my army look good for this one big event. I figured because I played my 82nd Airborne last year for the LW Nats, and my Australians are not a real fun list to play at 1485, I thought about a totally new list from scratch.

Sorry mate, no HE makes me CRAZY against Infantry!!

Below is a picture of just a few of the 15-16 tanks I am currently assembling and painting for this year. The one on the left is simply assembled and has two primer coats of grey, wondering whether or not to leave them that way took a little bit of research. I found that during the 1941-1942 time period, Germany was starting to use different color and camouflage schemes to better hide their armor against the Soviets. This leads me to the tank in the center, it's been painted with Plastic Soldier Company spray paint. In this case, I used the 'Dunkelgelb Yellow', it's a little different than the other color that is popular for this period, which would be DAK brown, or tan if you prefer.

PEW PEW!!

Masking off a few random areas on each tanks leaves some grey underneath once dry and gives a camo effect without the use of an airbrush and cuts down on the chances of imperfect lines if you use a paintbrush. Let's face it, I have a few weeks to get this done and on the table! Still working for a few more weeks before taking a much deserved holiday.
 
The last tank on the right is the one that is 99% complete, all I need to do is add a few markings and numbers. From beginning to end, once the dunkelgelb is dry. I might be looking at 20 minutes a tank. There really is no need to go overboard on these. Armor is simple and should be treated as such, large surface area with very few chances to be creative color scheme wise. I used the following in completing these: Black (Villejo) road wheels, 'Vermin Brown' (Citadel) for the tracks, Gun Metal Grey (Villejo) on the tools, box latches, machine guns and a light-medium grey drybrush once they have been washed with CGR 'Magic Mud'.

With any luck, I'll get them all done!

It looks a little darker up close, the fluorescent lighting in my shop is not the best for final photos. Once the wash goes on, it brings that yellow down to a nice 'sun-faded' look. You can also see that the 'perfect' lines that were masked off now look a little better as well. I think with a slightly feathered look to them, they look a little more realistic. Thanks for reading as always, and look for a short video in the next few days for a breakdown of this entire process.