Another Portable Wargame: Eastern Front Scenario - Take III (Part 2)

Realising that the German artillery position is the most dangerous position the T-34s concentrate their attention on it (see below):

Exchanging shots the T-34 take damage but gain the upper hand (see below):

The German front line valiantly tries to hold back yet more T-34s and infantry but cannot help but nervously look over their shoulders (see below):

It is "do-or-die" time for the German gunners (see below):

But the appearance of a third T-34 seals their fate (see below):

The Russian infantry pressure also breaks the German infantry line (see below):

Then the German gunners are gone (see below):

And the position overran (see below):

Morale broken the Germans "drift away" on the breeze, the flotsam and jetsam of the 'lost' battlefield (see below):

The German armour (a trusty PSC Panzer IVH) escapes thanks to its mobility. It has been very ineffectual in its attacks (see below):

The German Commander routs (see below - lucky to be alive):

The last German platoon is surrounded and surrenders (see below):

Quiet a brutal affair, but I did want to see how the "step-loss" rule variant played. I liked it. However the "quick kill" seems much more in the vein of the armour (now you see it now you don't), so I might just mix-and-match them. Something about the gun values may need tweaking too when you get light tanks versus heavies etc. I do like the 'morale collapse' passing the initiative to the attacker (or perhaps non-broken). Onwards to "Developing the Portable Wargame" as I believe Bob addresses some of these very issues ("Pinning": say no more!). Also I think it is time for me to cook up some of my own scenarios.

Another Portable Wargame: Eastern Front Scenario - Take III (Part 1)

Another run out for Bob Cordery's Portable Wargame rules, this time played with the "step-loss" variant (so no quick kills). Dawn breaks to see the German defenders facing a gathering sea of Red Army units ready to "surge" forwards 'en masse' (see below):

The German Armour takes a flanking position to anchor the front (see below):

The Soviet T-34 Phalanx just chooses to roll on through the middle (see below):

Soviet artillery pushes the German PAK crews out of their prepared positions as the T-34s try to grind the Germans out of their defenses (see below):

The German PAK rallies and reoccupies the defenses (see below):

However this precipitates the T-34s to storm the defenses (see below):

The Pak 40 Platoon succumbs to the treads'n'tracks of the metal monster (see below, note the weakened German MG platoon to the right - it has been a tough time in the line):

The German center is wilting and the German armour is engaged in an ineffectual dual on the German left flank. Russian infantry have moved up on the German right flank and it is beginning to look very precarious for the defenders (see below): 

The meat-grinder continues with German infantry attacking the central T-34 from a covered ambush position (see below):

The Germans are looking very thread-bare so the attack is desperate measure (see below):

The first German attack id repulsed (see below):

But the second sees the T-34 erupt in a column of smoke and flame (see below):

Meanwhile the relentless Russian attacks have ground down the German infantry destroying a German Infantry Platoon (see below):

A second T-34 launches an overrun attack and cuts behind into the heart of the defense threatening the German Artillery position (see below):

The odds seem stacked against the Germans .. is there any chance of a counter-attack?

1/72 PSC Panzer IVH (Part 1) The Basic Yellow

Working up from the Airfix Grey undercoat the MkIV H is washed with Vallejo Dark Shade Wash to get that harder shadow edge feel (see below):

Tamiya Yellow Sand XF-60 is then used as a base layer, leaving the Dark Wash to pick out the recesses (see below):

There are times when the Internet comes to your rescue. With the best of intentions I had put together the six PSC Pz IV H's well over a year ago. In my haste I had made a dubious choose of "rear engine" arrangement. The more I looked at other people's versions of MkIVs the less and less I became confident that I had done it correctly (see below):

Thanks to the blogosphere there were answers aplenty. My rear engine housing was really an 'air filter' that should really go on the side (see below):

From the other side (see below, with the classic spare rollers on the side):

Once fixed we can put the skirts on (see below):

Many thanks to the following blogs for their help and inspiration (see below):

• http://www.legionsgames.com/minipaint/momini.htm
• http://miniaturesterrainpage.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/plastic-soldier-company-panzer-iv.html?showComment=1447621539799#c5204424394510329936
• http://figurfanatikern.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/plastic-soldier-company-172.html
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4Fbv0pdB3A
• http://kingsleypark64.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/plastic-soldier-company-ltd-panzer-iv.html
• https://meeples.wordpress.com/2011/09/02/miniature-review-plastic-soldier-company-172-ww2-german-panzer-iv/
• http://panzermarch.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/pz-iv-platoon-plastic-soldier-company.html

Next: Three tone camo (again)

My 1000th Post is "Pimp my Panzer IVH" (The classic Esci/Italeri 1/72 kit)

In my previous Chain of Command battle AAR I stated that I was slightly embarrassed with the models I put on table for just having the basic paint scheme. Good enough fo the purposes of a tabletop wargame but privately I have always wanted to do justice to the Panzer IVH (an original Esci, but now released by Italeri) as I think of it as the "Normandy Classic", so hot from the tabletop I gave it a basic German late-war "three colour camo" scheme (see below):

Painting Guide Notes: Original base coat Tamiya XF-60 (Desert Yellow), brown patches Anita's Acrylic Earth Brown(11014) and Tamiya XF-61 (Dark Green)

In a parallel build I also primed one of the Plastic Soldier Company Panzer IV H's in my favourite Airfix 01 "Grey Undercoat". I had already assembled some, gulp that is very lazy of me, some year(s!) back. It will be interesting to see them side-by-side for comparison (see below, more of this PSC fun to come in another post):

Meanwhile I toned up the Green, Brown and Sand Yellow patches with lighter hues.

• The Green went from Tamiya XF-61 (Dark Green) mixed with XF-62 Olive Drab, to pure XF-62 then I added XF-3 Yellow to highlight. 
• The Brown went to Tamiya XF-52 (Flat Earth) and as I highlight I mixed in Anita's Acrylic Lemon Yellow (11055) [done more as an experiment rather than plan, my other option was to add white]
• The Sand Yellow XF-60 was repainted to chase away some of the wandering wash errant flood areas then [as it was too hand] Anita's Acrylics Lemon Yellow (11055) to highlight and if memory serves me correct I probably drooped a little White Anita's Acrylic (11001) as a final highlight.

In addition I made plentiful use of Vallejo Wash (73201) Black Shade with a fine brush back into the corners and shadow areas. I used a new trick on the tracks. The tracks got a base coat of Vallejo Game Color [sic] Dark Fleshtone (72044) as the factory 'rust primer'. I then used the Vallejo Black Shade Wash, leaving it to dry before highlighting in Vallejo Model Color Gunmetal Grey (70863). The paint trick in the book was the classic Panzer IV exhaust tube was painted Vallejo Game Color Dark Fleshtone (72044) and highlighted with Tamiya XF-3 Yellow (see end product below):

Panzer IVH "pimped" 360 degree treatment - Facing Left: 

Rear: 

Front:

Side View: 

Quite happy with the results on this 'old timer', no immediate rush to put the decals on (no change there then) especially since it now represents a "wreck marker" in Operation Martlet for the first scenario ;)

Next: By way of comparison the PSC Panzer MkIVH

1/300 WW2 German Panzer IV F2 Battalion (Spearhead/BGC)

The Panzer IV F2 kit laid out in a battalion formation two companies up (plus leading recon Pz IV platoon) and one company back in reserve. The HQ Pz IV platoon plus AA and Engineering Hanomag 1/251 mills around in the middle (see below). One feature of this compact formation is that all the individual platoons are within three inches of the Battalion HQ (central to the picture below) and thus would get a +1 rally from suppression modifier. The command radius of the HQ is twelve inches (on the attack, doubled if defending a designated static position), with the exception that the recon element can still be in "command" (double)twenty four inches away:

Sweeping down for a closer look at the leading elements. I still have to put unit marker notation on the rear of each stand, along the brown strip where I have left a "space".

Even closer still. This is about as in focus as I can get with the Blackberry's camera. The jury is still out as I am perfecting my factory painting technique. I think it looks too spotty, or when things are so small as this who cares, they are going to be viewed from six foot away!

Trouble is I care too much!

Painting Tray (continued) 1/300 and 28mm Renaissance

There's nowhere to hide "Four Horsemen" (+ Charles V Holy Roman Emperor), the paint is going to catch up with you (see below) no matter what you do: 

Except the GHQ Panzer IV H's jumped the queue and took a coat of Tamiya XF-60 Dark Yellow for the team (see below). The level of detail again is quite frightening for the small scale (1/285). Again I started and finished the phase in "battalion" production mode.

Flesh, flesh (see below)! The "Four Horsemen" are officially started. OK, quite a tame start but from small seeds come great trees!

Next: Painting Tray 20mm distraction diverts my attention from the "Four Horsemen".

1/300 Panzer IV Battalion's painting cont ...

The Panzer IV F2 battalion gets the Tamiya XF-60 Dark Yellow effect (base coat), a little too much of the Afrika Korp look about them in the first instance but nevertheless a decent base colour (see below):

A close up (yes again  I need to use my camera not the Blackberry). Despite the 1/300 scale the Heroics and Ross figures have a fair amount of detail to them  that comes out with a touch of selective painting (see below):

Now in their "Anita's Acrylic Metallic Black" (watered down wash/paint mixture) 'undercoat' the GHQ Panzer IV H's models stand as a definitive standard of detail (almost too much fine detail, to the point of seeing spare track links laid over the front of the hull and coils of spare wire hanging off the back of the engine cowling). Slightly bigger at 1/285 scale but a lot smaller than the Skytrex 1/200 early war stuff I have (see below):

I am still working on a "factory production phase" all of one per battalion through a stage at a time. Hence the Pz IV F2's are all yellow base coated and the Pz IV H's are all metallic black undercoated. Next up, time to base coat yellow the GHQ Pz IV H's.

The 1/300 Panzer IV Hoard Revisited

Take II: Heroics and Ross Panzer IV F2's laid out in a Spearhead/BGC battalion formation (there is an engineering half-track and AA PzIV lurking in there somewhere too). The Panzer IV's are getting an Anita's Acrylic Metallic Black undercoat over which the Tamiya XF-60 Sand Yellow base coat is being laid. 

A GHQ Panzer IVH battalion(+) equivalent formation. Barrels now straight (or as straight as I can make them) with a Tamiya XF-1 Matt Black undercoat applied to the barrels over the original Panzer Grey (yes, wrong period paint chosen by the original owner, but it's all getting redone anyhow).

The whole painting tray (including my 28mm Renaissance Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, again avoiding the paint). The thing about 1/300 or 1/285 scale is that there are lots of them that need to be painted at the same time! The factory style painting operation commences. (Note: The fifth horseman below, is not an additional member the troublesome foursome [Famine, War, Pestilence and Death], but the Holy Roman Emperor himself  Charles V [from Redoubt Enterprises], chosen as a suitable Renaissance commander for my Impetus Army)

Note: I am working from the left hand side of the table over the the right hand side :)