Hexes, Hexes everywhere... pt. IX

I finished another set of Hexes, two crossroads, a house and the mill...

While the other Hexes are all practical and I am quite contend with those, the real star of this update should be the mill.

The original post with w.i.p. shots of the mill

Building the mill was fun and a bit challenging and I must admit I put off painting it, fearing I would botch it up with a dodgy paint job...

Both the new buildings and one of the intersections, all put together in this section of the board. I really like the way the mill stands out, it towers over it's surroundings, making it a focal point of the battlefield... When I create a new set-up of the board, I will most likely put it on top of the hill.

The pictures below give a good view of the terrain so far...

There are several pieces in progress, including the second multi-Hex town module, two new bridges and another two Hexes with buildings. All these smaller buildings should give me the option to either expand my village or dot them across the battlefield... Nothing beats a bit of hard cover...

Over the next couple of weeks I want to make another batch of snowflake Hexes to expand the surface of my Hex battlefield. More flat Hexes, roads, fields and hills are also high on my list of things I should make.

What a Tanker!

Yesterday we played our first ever 6mm game. Due to the fact neither of us has a complete force to play with (yet), we decided to try out What a Tanker! by Too Fat Lardies...

With two tanks each, my opponent used two French Hotchkisses while I used a StuG B and Panzer IV D, this was a perfect game to get back on the battlefield. While the points weren't precisely equal, they were close enough for this test game. For both of us this was the first battle after a long hiatus, and What a Tanker! proved to be an accessible and entertaining game.

We used the rules with one minor adaptation, we changed all the measurements from Inches to centimetres. This way, the distances matched the terrain...

I had the intention of making a lot of pictures during the game, but quickly forgot about that...

My panzers taking cover at the edge of the village...

The French are advancing on the bridge...

The first Hotchkiss goes up in flames...

The game ended with two burning French tanks, maybe not surprisingly as those were a bit cheaper in points... More important, we got a good impression of the rules and got to play on my new Hex terrain.

Zu bewaffnen! Mustering the army... pt. II

Slowly but surely my force grows...

Painting all those little tanks and vehicles is quite different from what I am used to... On one hand, due to their size, painting them is quick. On the other hand, it's a challenge to get all the details across. Things like tools, spare tracks and tow cables are often so small it's hard to get some decent colour on them to make them noticable...

The motorpool so far...
The three models on the left are 3D prints from Shapeways, the rest is GHQ...

Early War German panzers are grey, no two ways about that. I tried to keep the models as light as possible. The first few models were decorated with decals but the results weren't quite what I expected. In the end I decided to paint over the decals and stopped using them altogether. Very few of the miniatures have enough flat surface to put them on neatly, even with decal softener...

One of the prototypes with decal... 

I am thinking about adding crew to the open topped vehicles, just to add a touch of realism and a bit more detail... Just a matter of making them fit, I suppose...

On another note, I just received my order from Heroics & Ross. I am very impressed with their infantry, so much that I am already putting together a new order! I also purchased several gliders to go with the Fallschirmjäger I ordered. Neat little aircraft that will provide some tactical options.

3D-printed reinforcements... pt. II

The first order at Shapeways left me wanting more... I already had a few items stored on my wishlist and decided to treat myself once more... All vehicles are designed by Masters of Military and printed by Shapeways... The prints and models themselves are highly detailed and of superb quality.

I picked up a German fieldkitchen, often referred to as 'Gulaschkanone'... While not a combat unit, I really wanted to add this to my collection...

No army can fight on an empty stomach...

Picture from Shapeways...

The printed models in their delivery form...

This will serve well as an objective or as part of a terrain piece. I think it would also be well suited to enhance a HQ unit...

I also purchased a unit of Selbstfahrlafette auf Fahrgestell VOMAG mit 8.8cm Flak...

Essentially a mobile gun platform...

The VOMAG in deployed state...

On the left a VOMAG with 8.8cm flak, on the right a VOMAG with range finder...

The printed models in their delivery form... These prints are extremely well done!

These things are big, and I mean really big! They dwarf even my Sturer Emil... The main reason I wanted to include these is that they are so weird/special/unique... The German idea basically was to take a bus or truck (the chassis was used for both), cut of the roof and put a big gun on top...
These actually saw action all through the conflict, serving all over Europe.

The models offer the option to be built either for travel or for combat.

Last models on the list are a set of SdKfz. 247... These command vehicles were built in limited numbers in the late 1930's and used during the early stages of the war.

The SdKfz. 247 Ausf. A...

The SdKfz. Ausf. B...

The printed models in their delivery form...
Note the difference in size between the Ausf. A and B...

I have both these vehicles in 15mm for my Flames of War Germans and I really wanted to include them in this new project too...

Once again the quality of the Shapeways models amaze me... Looking forward to get these painted!

Hexes, Hexes everywhere... pt. VIII

The latest expansion of the snowflake Hexes left some gaps in the lay-out of my Hex terrain. Adding about twenty basic Hexes shouldn't have taken this long, but work and other commitments slowed progress to a mere crawl.

However, with the new Hexes ready to go, I can now fill in the gaps. The new additions consist of two roads with intersections, about twenty grass Hexes (the standard flat Hex), four new hill Hexes and six risers...

I decided to re-arrange most of the terrain set. I started with building the hilly part of the terrain. After that, with the river, roads, town and fields all in place, the gaps were filled in...

The edge of the board clearly shows the elevation of the large hill...

At this size, the board is already big enough for a decent battle. Features like the hills and river are what makes me so enthusiastic about this terrain, especially on this scale... It's very hard to achieve this with conventional terrain and scenery.

There are several other Hexes nearly finished, these all feature roads and/or buildings. After that, I really want to complete the second multi-Hex town module and the two bridges.

A Sturer Emil looking out from atop the hill...

Out of depth...

As the Hex Terrain Toolkit is used rather intensively, there is bound to be some wear on the parts... The first piece to show this is the depth cutter. More precisely, the bit that's used to cut the Hexes in half... These half thickness Hexes are used for rivers, risers and snowflakes, this means it gets used a lot...

It might have something to do with the fact I use a table cutter instead of a hand held model. This means the hot wire is in contact with the same spot of plywood kit for longer periods of time, the high temperature of the wire burning into the wood and glue. Or maybe it's just the increased power of the table cutter when compared to a hand held model...

Either way, the module is damaged to such an extent that the precision the whole system relies on, is lost...

The wear on the Toolkit... 

I came up with a solution to this problem...

A piece of MDF board with two pieces of wood, glued on top as guides. The wooden guides are 9mm tall (at least, they were supposed to be). So I glued a sheet of 1.5mm plasticard in between them. As this proved to be insufficient (as the wooden guides were closer to 9.5mm) I added a layer of 0.5mm plasticard. Now this little contraption gives me the 7.5mm of depth I need.

This picture shows the two layers of plasticard...

I could have asked for a replacement, and in time I probably will, as the regular depth cutter is beginning to show signs of wear, too... But for now, this solution works as planned and results haven't suffered.

Zu bewaffnen! Mustering the army...

At Crisis in Antwerpen I picked up my pre-ordered package filled with GHQ Micro Armour... While I had previously bought a sample pack, which gave me an idea of the scale and level of detail, the quality of these miniatures continues to amaze me.

This is no review, there are already enough of those, but I will say that these models are among the very best I ever had the pleasure of working on... Extremely sharp casts, little to no flash and highly accurate.

I ordered several different vehicles, all suited for the Early War period, 1939 to 1941. These models will represent my Blitzkrieg Germans, fighting in Belgium, France and Holland. They will also form the basis of the force invading Britain in our what-if Seelöwe campaign.

Over the coming months (or even years, depending on the speed of the project) this force will be expanded, reinforced by infantry (probably  Fallschirmjäger) and newer vehicles.

So far I have the folowing vehicles from GHQ:

SdKfz. 221
SdKfz. 222 Leichter Panzerspähwagen
SdKfz. 231/232 Schwerer Panzerspähwagen  6-rad/8-rad
SdKfz. 9 Famo
SdKfz. 265 Kleine Panzerbefehlswagen
Panzerjáger IB
StuG ausf. B

I also have several Panzers, ranging from the smallest, the Panzer I to the Panzer IV... The main reason to start off this project with Early War peroid is the wide selection of lightly armoured vehicles you van choose from. I aim to include as many different vehicles as possible in my collection!

To make this collection as complete and diverse as possible I will be adding 3D-printed models as well... The first few have already arrived (as can be seen in a previous post) and more will surely follow.

I also placed an order at Heroics&Ross... They have some interesting vehicles, too. And at a nice price...

Below are some pictures that serve as inpiration...

A column of Panzer III...

Panzerbefehlswagen... I really like this vehicle...

8-Rad with bed-frame antenna...

Panzer I... As far as tanks go, it's pretty damn small...

Panzer II ausf. C... One of the best looking tanks in my opinion...

Panzer IV ausf. A... Armed with the short 75mm cannon...
My army will include a few of the, very similar, ausf. D...

SdKfz. 221, 222 and 232... 

The SfKfz. 232 6-Rad... This is one of the reasons I wanted Early War Germans...

Laying the foundations... pt. II

Expanding the Hex terrain means I need more snowflakes. A lot more...

As I mentioned before, these are rather time consuming to cut. However, they are also indispensable if you want tight fitting Hex surface.

Over the last couple of days I managed to complete nine sheets of snowflakes (54 snowflakes in total, the sheets measure 2x3 snowflakes, glued together for improved cohesion).

These will be enough to expand the surface from the current 6x2 to 7x3 sheets (for a total of 126 Hexes)... This will easily be enough for a regular sized game or battle. This surface is just under a quarter of my total table surface, so there's still a way to go...

The recent expansion...  Now we're getting somewhere!

The landscape is taking shape... Mind the gap though...

The expansion of the snowflakes has overtaken my stock of terrain Hexes... I am going to make more basic Hexes to fill all the gaps.

The added space gives me enough room to deploy the entire river set. I like the meandering nature. In combination with the hills, the result is oddly organic, despite all the Hexes...

Hexes, Hexes everywhere... pt. VII

With the completion of the new batch of hill Hexes I rearranged the set-up to include a large hill...

I rerouted the river to make some space for the hilly terrain. I think it 

certainly adds a bit more variety and visual interest.

Waking up on Hell's Highway...

This weekend we spent the night at a hotel overlooking Hell's Highway, the route between Nijmegen and Arnhem...

Dawn over the Waal bridge...

Our hotel room was situated on the 13th floor of the hotel, looking south over Nijmegen... In the distance you can see the Waal bridge, barely visible in the early morning light.

3D-printed reinforcements...

To augment the GHQ Micro Armour I picked up at Crisis last week, I placed an order at Shapeways... For those who aren't familiar with this company, they offer a wide range of 3D-printing services... Primarily, you can get your own designs printed, but you can also order prints from their well stocked store (filled with products from various designers)...

In the past I have purchased several 15mm vehicles for my FoW Late War Germans, but these were the first 6mm miniatures I ordered...

While not cheap, these small models are a lot more affordable when compared to larger scale printed miniatures... Due to the difference in cost, I will only use 3D-printed miniatures to get my hands on vehicles that are otherwise unavailable...

First on the list was a mixed set, containing two of each: Dicker Max and Sturer Emil...

The 3D-printed miniatures in their delivery form...

Dicker Max...

Originally designed as a bunker buster to tackle the French Maginot line, it later served as a tank destroyer... Armed with a 10.5 cm cannon it is a fearsome weapon.

Sturer Emil...

And when the 10.5 cm cannon of the Dicker Max isn't enough, there's the 12.8 cm gun of the Sturer Emil... Both of these vehicles were built in very limited numbers. In fact, only two were built of each type.

I also purchased a set of 8.8 cm (SFL) auf Zukraftwagen 12t (Sd.Kfz 8), better known as the Bunkerflak or Bufla...

One of the more interesting vehicles of the period, in my opinion...

The 3D-printed miniatures in their delivery form... 

The Bunkerflak, as the name suggests, was originally designed to tackle bunkers, in particular the Czechoslavakian border defenses. As these were bypassed without any real fighting, the vehicle later also served as tank destroyer. Most German anti tank guns of the time had little to no success tanking on the heaviest enemy tanks like the British Matilda and French Char 2B. The mobile 8.8 cm had no difficulties with those targets...
By no means a small target, these pack a serious punch... While they have little to no defensive capabilities (the halftrack is only lightly armoured and the gun's crew is very exposed indeed), offensively they can take on anything the enemy has to offer, be it bunkers or tanks...

Speaking of the enemy... For my battle buddy I ordered a French Char 2C...

Bigger than a Tiger II (but slightly lighter), with a crew of 12 or 13, depending on the variant...

While these saw only very limited, if any, use, this tank is too cool to pass up... A product of the First World War, only ten were ever constructed. These landships were, and still are, the biggest tanks ever built!
All were destroyed by the French to prevent them from falling into German hands...

The Char 2C in it's delivery form... 

The 3D-printed models are as crisp as I expected them to be from my previous purchases. They might be more expensive than GHQ metal models, but it's the only way to get these less mainstream vehicles... And when ordered in small numbers I can still get away with it...

The miniatures are nicely detailed but lack the finer touches that can only be achieved in metal casting. Even so, this is the first order of many, I suppose... There are a lot of other, less used tanks and vehicles I want to add to my collection...