US Armored reinforcements for Flames of War

Some more reinforcements for my US Flames of War forces... 

A Platoon of M10 Tank Destroyers... These models have been waiting for paint for a long, long time...

Together with my M36 Jacksons which I painted a year ago... I updated these with some new antennas. I think I came close enough to the older models, the new M10's will fit in without problem.

A M31 TRV... The model is still missing it's Commander, but he'll be painted soon. I enhanced the model with some stowage and tracks with dust guards.

And my current painting project (one of them)... A Platoon of M12 155mm SPG's. These models were in dire need of an overhaul, extra stowage and some sandbags.

Taskforce A reinforcements

For my Late War Taskforce A for Flames of War (from the Overlord book) I painted some armored reinforcements to further enhance the mobile ability of this list...

I have already played with the list several times, but so far always used a full Platoon of Combat Engineers and an Armored Rifle Platoon. The two new units will allow me to put more focus on armored support.

Four M8 Scotts... I added some stowage and improvised armor (a couple of sandbags) to tie them in with the rest of my armored forces.

These are the first models to be given my new style antenna... Before I used nylon brush hairs but these tended to get warped out of shape during transport. The new antennas are a bit shorter (only 35mm) and are made from a thin metal rod (.45mm in diameter).

Three new M4 Shermans... As with the Scotts I added stowage and Improvised armor. The model on the left doesn't need improvised armor as it already benefits from the special Swastika Ward Save...

Together with an armored M4 OP (from the Priest Battery) and the M4 with dozerblade from the Engineers. 

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...