Turn Counter

For my Flames of War Americans I have built a turn counter. I toyed with the idea of doing one for some time and then I stumbled upon a Patton miniature for Bolt Action... Perfect! Two magnetised mdf bases and six very, very small dice... A fun side-project to do inbetween the hordes of Tanks and Infantry...

Still need to pollish his buttons a bit, but otherwise he's as good as done!

It's all about the base... pt. I

At Crisis last year I picked up some lasercut, round MDF bases... Made by Products for Wargamers. At the moment I didn't yet have the plan to take Bolt Action to another scale, so  I only bought some of the smaller variants. 

With the start of my 20mm project the need for bigger bases was soon evident.

Ranging from 15mm to 100mm... Depending on the size and pose of the model I choose the most fitting base. The same principle is used with the guns...

A WIP Flak 36/37 from Zvezda... I want this gun team to look good ánd be practical enough to be used in games. For that purpose I chose to base the crew on individual bases that fit in the holes I drilled in the larger base. In this way, casualties can be removed as needed. 

Still need some more crew, the Zvezda model comes with only four crew and I need at least seven...

Italeri SdKfz 231 & 232 6-Rad

I just finished painting my two 6-Rads... These models contain enough shades of grey to have a book named after them. 

Essentially the same model, with only minor variations. I chose to leave all the smaller details (antennas, mirrors and such) on the sprues, as those would quickly snap off anyway... Not to worry, there is still plenty of detail left.

The only part of the vehicles that I am not that happy with... I forgot to wipe away the excess wash from the spare tyre covers, leaving behind a nasty stain. Nothing a bit of paint can't fix though...

Fire support: Part I

With a capital F!

Not by design, but more by accident (a rather happy accident, I might add)... I picked up a Munitionsschlepper and only later found out that this particular model belongs to a rather large Mörser named Karl... So a short search and a couple of days later, one just happened to arrive by mail.

Both kits are made by Hobby Boss and are (at first sight) incredibly detailed. It is going to be a lot of fun to build these two...

I don't think they will be of much use in a game, but as far as projects go, this is something I can sink my teeth into. Now all I need to do is to find some crew to go with these...

20mm Italeri Panzer II Ausf. F

One of the first kits I picked up at the start of my 20mm project was this Panzer II from Italeri.

Well detailed but without being too flimsy, this was a nice model to build... I replaced the commander with a model from Plastic Soldier Company and added a few pieces of PSC stowage, too...

Just like my 15mm Flames of War models, this model has a magnetised turret. This way I can use my magnetised destroyed markers...

Getting the rubber/vinyl tracks right was a bit of a struggle... A long time ago since I had some experience with that. It took some time, but I think they turned out quite well. A good thing, as there are many interesting model kits available with this kind of tracks...

The kit comes with a set of decals... I chose to use the red numbers as they look good with the dark Panzergrau...

Together with a 15mm Panzer II from Zvezda I use for my Flames of War Blitzkrieg Germans...

Armored reinforcements (again)

Soooooo, I accidentally deleted the message I posted yesterday (labelled Armored reinforcements)... I decided to take some new pictures and re-post the whole thing.

Two 6-Rads, both from Italeri... These models are incredibly detailed and not necessarily designed for gaming. Lots of fine details (antennas, rear-view mirrors and such) which I decided toleave on the sprue after I snapped off the barrel of the gun (twice). Beautiful models and a nice addition to my 20mm collection.

Size does matter... A couple of Panzer III's... The model on the left is a 1:72 Panzer III J from Italeri. This particular model is from their "Wargamer Approved" series. No thin and fiddly details (like the aformentioned rear-view mirrors and such) and easy to build. The smaller model is a 1:100 Panzer III F from Plastic Soldier Company and is an addition to my Early War Germans for Flames of War.

And a quick overview of most of the vehicles I put together recently... Top row, from left to right: Panzer II F, SdKfz 232 6-Rad with frame aerial and another 6-Rad (all from Italeri).

Bottom row, from left to right: SdKfz 250 Halftrack ( Plastic Soldier Company), SdKfz 265 Panzerbefehlswagen (First to Fight), Kfz 13 Armored Car (S-Models).

Blitzkrieg Germans for Flames of War

I've been collecting and painting Americans for Flames of War for a couple of years now, building a Company suited for both Mid War and Late War. For this project I relied (and still do) exclusively on Battlefront models.

Quite recently I started with Early war Germans... 

In the picture below is my Leichte Panzer Company from the Blitzkrieg book. It's still far from done, but I'm aiming to finish these models before the Early war tournament I'm going to attend.

When reading through this blog you might notice that I have a thing for plastic models... For my Germans I chose to take this a step further... I am going to use only plastic models for this project. The Panzer II's and Panzer IV's are from Zvezda, the Panzer III's are from Plastic Soldier Company and the Panzer I's are from Minairons. The Stuka is from Victrix, and is in 1:100 too.

Getting the models I need/want in plastic is a bit of a challenge, as there isn't a lot of the Early War period equipment available (yet)... Choices have to be made, consessions have to be done... For now, this Company is adequate, and I'm also working on some very nice Panzer 38(t)'s. However, I am very much looking forward to plastic 88's and plastic Recce vehicles...

Review: 20mm SdKfz 251/C Halftrack by Plastic Soldier Company

For my Battlegroup and/or Bolt Action project I recently picked up a box of 20mm or 1:72 plastic SdKfz 251/C Halftracks from Plastic Soldier Company. For my Flames of War Germans I have several of their 15mm kits. Picking up some of their 20mm kits seemed like the obvious choice..

The box contains three Halftracks, each on their own sprue. Apart from the basic Halftrack, the sprue contains stowage, crew, spare weapons and the option to arm the model with a 37mm gun.

The sprues contain some nice bits of stowage, spare weapons and, more important, a lot of crew...

The model is designed for gaming and thus lacks the finer details like antennas and mirrors (you know, the stuff that breaks at the slightest hint of a touch)... It is very easy to build and goes together in just a couple of minutes. The material is what you would expect from a company like PSC, high quality and sturdy plastic. 

The most fiddly parts, the machine guns, are even quite strong (I didn't even break one, yet...).

I left the top half of the Halftrack off, otherwise the inside is very difficult to paint (something I learned while painting the 15mm Halftracks). The magnet is used to keep my destoyed markers in place...

Together with it's smaller 15mm brother... The 15mm model is being painted, but is still a long way from finished.

As mentioned earlier, the Halftracks come with crew (I just noticed I still have to put in the driver). These models will be painted separately.

Final verdict? I am very pleased with the kit. Sure, you don't get rear-view mirrors (you want those, pick a brand like Italeri or Revell) but the kit is nicely detailed and very well suited to wargaming needs. The crew and stowage are both very nice and will help to individualize the otherwise identical models. 

Review: 20mm Zvezda German regular infantry

As I started out with using plastic kits for Flames of War, I found the reviews made by other hobbyists and gamers very useful. With the start of this project I thought I would offer some reviews of my own...

First up is this set from Zvezda...

1:72 German Regular Infantry... Zvezda produces an entire line of such kits for their own wargame: Art of Tactic. 

The kit includes five multi-part models and offers two different basing alternatives. The casts are clean, there is little to no flash, and the models are quite detailed. The plastic itself is of high quality and responds well to glue (unlike some of the softer plastic kits out there).

According to the box and the instructions the models are snap-fit (no glue required), and they went together without problem. I chose to glue them anyway, as I fully intend to use them for gaming purposes.

Due to the fact that these are multi-part models they offer some interesting poses. If I could  pinpoint anything negative about this kit, it would be the fact that the poses are pre-fixed and that there is little room for variation.

Final verdict? This wasn't the first Zvezda kit I purchased for my Bolt Action/Battlegroup project, and it most certainly won't be the last! At only €3,50 this little kit is quite affordable and offers some nice, good quality models. The fact that Zvezda offers a whole range of similar kits is a big bonus, too... 

Reinforcements have arrived...

Quite recently (as in, just last week) I started working on a 20 mm (that's 1:72 scale for non-wargamers) German Blitzkrieg platoon/company. Mainly as a hobby project, but with Bolt Action and Battlegroup firmly held in mind. This project fits nicely with the Blitzkrieg Company I'm building for Flames of War.

I just finished painting the first soldier as a test, and today some reinforcements arrived...

A couple of the excellent Zvezda kits, designed for their own game: Art of Tactic.

The painted soldiers are both test models. The 1:72 model is from Zvezda, the 1:100 model is from the Early War German Infantry kit made by Plastic Soldier Company.

Off to War...

Well...

A quick introduction: Martijn, Dutch, mid 30's, married, teacher, wargamer...

What can you expect to find on this blog? Definitely some stuff for Flames of War, some 15mm or 20mm Bolt Action, Battlegroup, Saga and maybe even some good old Mordheim or WFRP...

I will be posting pictures of hobby projects, battlefield scenery, battle reports and the occasional model-kit review... Actually, there might be a lot of reviews, mostly aimed at plastic model kits suitable for wargaming...