Happy New Year - Let's Hope This One is Better!

Happy New Year everyone! With 2020 now finally receding into the rear-view mirror I can truly say I'm looking forward to the new year. To say that 2020 did not go to plan and did not live up to my hopes and expectations is an understatement of epic proportions. This has truly been a trying year for everyone. The pandemic has impacted us in ways both large and small. Very little good has come out of it with pain, difficulty, tragedy, and heartbreak being far more common. Above and beyond the pandemic, the United States especially is also suffering from an intense partisan divide which shows no signs of abating any time soon. My greatest hope is that we're able to begin to regain a sense of normalcy as the vaccines roll out and people can begin to resume their normal lives, but we have a long way to go.

Happy New Year - Year in Review and Plans for 2020!

Happy New Year to everyone who takes the time to read this blog. I hope this next year will be joyous and productive for everyone! Every year I try to take a few minutes to reflect on the previous year and lay out some thoughts of what I may be working on for the next year. I didn't really do much of a "year end" retrospective for 2019, but I vowed to do better this time around!

Fielding Schweres Panzerjäger-Regiment 656 in Flames of War

As promised last week, the article detailing ways to field Schweres Panzerjäger-Regiment 656 in Flames of War is now up on their website! There has been a lot of recent discussion online about the flexibility inherent in the V4 lists, and how that can lead to some ahistorical combinations, like Panthers in North Africa for example. Hopefully this article will show the opposite, how that flexibility can yield some 100% historical lists as well.

Ferdinands at Kursk!

An article I wrote detailing the history of Schweres Panzerjäger-Regiment 656 has just been published on the Flames of War main website in support of the new Ghost Panzers book. This article goes into the background of the unit and how it was fielded during the Kursk offensive is one of two on the unit I've submitted at this point. If you read to the end, next week an article detailing how to accurately field the unit in Flames of War is on tap!

Battlefront Updates Ferdinand Assembly Instructions

With the latest update to the website, Battlefront has updated the assembly instructions for the new Ferdinand Tank-hunter Platoon box (GBX127). The box art, of course, still features the original model and retains the circular hatch error, but had the rectangular hatch attached correctly. Hopefully at some point they can go back and re-master those metal tracks...

Battlefront's New Ferdinand - A Design Study

I received my new Ferdinands in the mail yesterday, and imagine my surprise to discover that the whole resin miniature as well as the tracks had been re-done for this new release. I chalk the confusion up to the fact that if you look at the box art on the new Ferdinand Tank Hunter Platoon box (GBX127), the cover art is all of the original GE131 Ferdinand miniature. In this blog I'll go through the details of the new miniature as compared to the old miniature, line drawings of the real thing, and photographs of the Ferdinand in action at Kursk. In many ways the new miniature is an improvement over the old miniature, but there are some notable gaps!

The Front

So let's start right up front looking at the forward view of both miniatures as compared to a line drawing. In the image below, the new miniature is on the left, the old miniature is in the middle, and the line drawing is at right. It's immediately apparent that there have been a lot of changes. The rivet count on the new miniature is correct - the old miniature had too many bolts on the front armor - though the side angles look a tad closer to the real thing on the old miniature. The track width is also more proportional on the new version, and it includes the headlights. The mantlet width of the new miniature is also better.

Panzers on the Painting Table - 24. Panzer Division at Stalingrad Update

Just a quick update on my progress on 24. Panzer Division. First, I've been working with some lists using the new Iron Cross book, and as per normal I'm WAY over on points, unless you're up for a 150 point game, which most people aren't. I'll likely end up running only two of the three tank platoons at once - one Panzer III and one Panzer IV or two Panzer III platoons plus a Panzer III HQ. I'll also likely end up cutting down on some of the support keeping the Marders, some AA, and some infantry, but you guys aren't here for me to jaw on the lists, you want the photos!

First off above is a small photo of one of the Panzer IV Ausf F2 tanks in the force. It has the full modulation coat applied and I'm now working on decals and detail painting. So far I'm loving how the panzer gray modulation coats are coming out and think the whole force is going to look really great on the table.

Is That a Panzer on My Painting Table? Building the 24. Panzer Division for Flames of War - Part 1

Even a casual reader of my blog should be aware that thus far I have not been a big fan of Flames of War Version 4. My particular issues have not generally related to the rules themselves, but the desperately basic lists that were put out for the North Africa Campaign. Much of the more interesting kit was left out of the initial releases, which meant that armies I'd been hoping to build for V4 (German, Italian, and American) had key elements which were no longer supported by the game.

Over time the lists have started to improve, and my stated position has always been that if the lists in Flames of War got to a point to where they were interesting, I'd get back into the game with new armies and projects. Enter the new Stalingrad books, Iron Cross for the Germans and Enemy at the Gates for the Soviets. While not quite as comprehensive as I'd hoped, these are in my view a big step in the right direction allowing the player to create a some very accurate forces... one might even say "interesting" forces... so look what's on the painting table. Yes Virginia, those are Flames of War miniatures!

Battlefront's Update from UK Game Day - My Take

So Battlefront had a big splash and presentation in the UK recently where they provided updates on everything from Flames of War to Team Yankee to Tanks (among other things I'm sure). The guys over at Breakthrough Assault have released some of the details for those of us in the rest of the world, and there is also a good write up at No Dice No Glory. From where I sit, the reveals are truly a mixed bag with some upcoming releases I'm excited about and others that sort of confirm some of my worst fears. So based on the summary in the No Dice No Glory Forum, let's hit a few of the high points!

Flames of War - Vehicles of the 761st Tank Battalion

The Battle of the Bulge compilations for V3 of Flames of War were the last to come out, and one of the new added to the Allied compilation were light and medium tank companies from the 761st Tank Battalion - the first African-American armored unit to see combat in the U.S. Army. The unit has a very fascinating history fighting essentially their own version of a "two-front war" against prejudice and bigotry at home and against the Germans in Europe. I won't go through the unit's full history here, but there are several good books covering the unit including Joe Wilson's The 761st Black Panther Tank Battalion in World War II and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's (yes THAT Kareem) Brothers in Arms: The Epic Story of the 761st Tank Battalion, WWII's Forgotten Heroes.

Organized as a independent battalion with four combat companies and an HQ, the unit used a variety of medium and light tanks, though the exact mix was different than seen in some of the standard armored divisions. Companies A, B, and C were medium tank companies and used a variety of Sherman tanks. Company D was a light tank company equipped with Stuart tanks until the end of the war.

Flames of War - Japanese Type 88 75mm Anti-Aircraft Gun Review

The Japanese Type 88 75mm Anti-Aircraft Gun was first accepted into service in 1928, and was designed to combat commonly encountered aircraft of the late 1920's and early 1930's. By the beginning of the Pacific War, the gun was largely obsolete, but it continued to serve until the end of the war with over 2000 being constructed. Allied intelligence regarding the gun was weak, and it was initially assumed that it was a copy of the German FlaK 36/37 gun, but only the names were arguably similar.

The Type 88 can be fielded in virtually any Japanese list taken from Banzai as a support choice (Heavy Anti-Aircraft Platoon). In addition to serving as a heavy anti-aircraft gun, it provides useful anti-take capability with AT 10 and firepower of 3+. However, the gun is immobile (though it has a turntable) and lacks a gun shield, so it can be vulnerable to ranged attack.

Flames of War - Type 97 Te-Ke Platoon Review

The Japanese Type 97 Te-Ke tankette was designed as an improvement to the machine-gun armed Type 94 based on the Imperial Japanese Army's experience in China. While the Type 94 had been useful, especially when deployed en masse against the Chinese, its armor was thin and the vehicle was vulnerable to Chinese anti-tank weapons. While externally the Type 94 and Type 97 tankettes are similar, the Type 97 was truly a completely new vehicle and could be equipped with a 37mm gun or a machine gun as primary armament. In Flames of War, the Type 97 Te-Ke can be fielded as Divisional Support in either a Tank Platoon (three to five vehicles) or a Recon Tankette Platoon (two to three vehicles) in Japanese Lists from Banzai. Battlefront has recently released this tankette as the Type 97 Te-Ke Platoon (JBX05) which contains five vehicles.

The first thing you'll notice when picking up this particular platoon box is that it is very light compared to other Battlefront offerings in the same-sized box. There is good reason for this.  Opening the box you'll see that the Te-Ke hull is molded tracks and all as one piece using Battlefront's new two-part mold process as detailed in their recent factory tour.

Flames of War - Painting Japanese Army Infantry for the Pacific Theater

The Japanese used a variety of uniforms during World War II which varied in function and coloration (sometimes quite dramatically). In Rising Sun, Battlefront provided a painting guide for Japanese infantry and gunners based on the uniforms fielded in 1939. Unfortunately with the release of Banzai, the painting guide has not been updated to reflect the uniform colors common in the Pacific War. Of course, the figures themselves are the same as the ones released in support of Rising Sun, so there will be some variations between the miniatures and some of the fine details of the actual later war uniforms. However, updating the color palette will give your force a more Pacific War feel to it.


The Uniform

Any time I try to color-match paints to photographs or historical artifacts, I create a color swatch over the primer color I'm using for that batch of miniatures to ensure I match them as closely as possible. Below is the swatch I'm using for my Pacific Japanese - please bear in mind that for all images in this blog entry, the colors will vary somewhat from a true visual color because of the limitations of the scanning process.

At this point I'm still using all Vallejo colors as I have a large library of paints, and see no need to move over to the new Battlefront colors at this time. Battlefront recommended Khaki Grey (880) for Japanese Uniforms when Rising Sun was released. They now recommend the equivalent Comrade Khaki followed by Zhukov Shade with a highlight of Military Khaki. To my eye, these colors are too brown for the Pacific Theater. Japanese Pacific Uniforms tended to be greener than those paints would indicate.

Armor Of The Arab-Israeli Wars - or - Mike's Visit To Yad La-Shiryon Part 3

In this third installment of my article covering the plethora of armor at the IDF museum and memorial Yad La-Shiryon we will be looking at the armor of the Arab states, generally Egypt and Syria, used in the 1967 and 1973 wars. One thing to remember from all of these photos, most, if not all, of these tanks have been repainted by museum personnel at some point so the paint colors are not necessarily original.

As Soviet client states, Egypt and Syria began to receive large numbers of T-54 and T-55 tanks, and these would form the backbone of both the Egyptian and Syrian armored forces in both the 1967 Six Day War and the 1973 Yom Kippur War. The T-54/55 was one of the first true modern main battle tanks, and despite some early teething problems in the late 1940's, it would go on to become the most numerous tank in history (by production numbers) with estimates as high as 100,000 units being produced in total from all sources.

T-54 Tank - this is an earlier version

The T54/55 would go through several modifications over the years, and while the Soviet Union would eventually phase it out in favor of more modern designs, the type remains in use today by over 50 nations - often in highly modernized forms. Unfortunately much of the Soviet armor is parked very close together, so it is hard to get full views of each tank without a wide angle lens, which I didn't have with me for this trip.

Armor of the Arab-Israeli Wars - or - Mike's Visit to Yad La-Shiryon Part 2

In this second part of my article showing vehicles from Yad La-Shiryon, I'm focusing on more recent Israeli armor, starting with variants of the M48 and M60 on through the current indigenous Merkava Main Battle Tank.

In the mid to late 1960's, the Israelis were desperate to upgrade their aging tank fleet, and sought to purchase U.S. M48 tanks.  Initially the IDF received several gasoline powered vehicles from West Germany, though shipments from the United States followed.  M48 tanks in Israeli service use the designations Magach 1-3 and 5 (there is no 4).

Early Magach with the 90mm gun

During the 1967 war, roughly 150 Magach 1 and 2 tanks were deployed and fought well within the limitations of the relatively weak powerplant. After the 1967 War, the IDF began to upgrade all Magach to the M48A3 standard creating the Magach 3 - this included a new diesel engine and the British 105mm gun. Several M48's had been captured from Jordan, and these were upgraded as well. M60 tanks began to be procured as well creating the Magach 6.

Armor of the Arab-Israeli Wars - or - Mike's Visit to Yad La-Shiryon Part 1

While the Flames of War rules for the Six Day War are a couple of years old at this point (and honestly I still have a bunch of Israelis to paint), I recently traveled to Israel on business and thanks to a generous co-worker, got a chance to visit Yad La-Shiryon (you'll likely need to get Google to translate the link), or The Armored Corps Memorial Site and Museum at Latrun (as it is more officially known). The museum houses a fairly amazing collection of armored vehicles - including many you wouldn't expect to see in Israel. As someone deeply interested in the history of the multiple conflicts since the founding of the modern Israeli state, the museum was a treasure trove of unusual vehicles and really gave me a sense of perspective around the conflicts and the vehicles used. In this first part of the article, we'll look at some of the early vehicles used by the IDF from the 1940's through the 1970's.

The museum is built around a Mandate-era fortress

The first thing one realizes when visiting Israel is that it is not a large country in terms of land mass. Driving from Tel Aviv (on the Mediterranean coast) to Jerusalem (on Israel's eastern border) takes you about an hour (it's ~70km/44mi from the shore to the Old City). From North to South Israel is about the same size as Oregon (see image courtesy of MapFight below), though at least the southern third of Israel is comprised of a sparsely populated desert, the Negev.

Comparative map of the U.S. State of Oregon and Israel

Another point to note is that at least in January, Israel is fairly lush (though some of this is agriculture). Palm trees are fairly abundant, but other trees are in evidence as well.

Looking out over the parking lot to the hills to the south of Latrun

Once you enter the museum itself, the armor around the central courtyard area is mostly dedicated to Israeli armor - or at least armor the Israelis have used in various conflicts since 1948. Given the relatively arid climate, the vehicles are generally in very good condition given they're all exposed to the elements. As with most museums, the vehicles generally show evidence of re-painting, and the markings must be taken with a grain of salt (or in some cases a full salt lick).

Money shot of some of the armor used in the 1967 and 1973 wars - photobomed by a Merkava and a few others

Most vehicles have a plaque in front of them with details. These include technical details about the tank including crew size, horsepower, weight, and armament. There is also generally a history section with details about how the vehicle was used (either by the Israelis or others).

Example of one of the data cards with Hebrew and English text

The pre-World War II H-39 was used during the 1948 War by Israeli forces 

Israel's armored forces, even through the 1970's, relied greatly on foreign produced vehicles - many of which dated back to World War II or in some cases earlier. The Hotchkiss and Cromwell tanks, in addition to Shermans were used in the 1948 war alongside many different types of armored cars (improvised and purpose built).

Early Shermans at Latrun

One of many armored cars on display

The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) would go on to modernize many designs - especially the Sherman tank - to ensure that their armored forces were competitive with those of their generally Soviet equipped neighbors (with Jordan being the notable exception). The Sherman tank was up-gunned with the French high-velocity 75mm gun from the AMX-13 tank (which was also purchased and used by the Israelis).

M50 Sherman with French 75mm high-velocity gun

French produced AMX-13 light tank

Israeli Shermans generally also received new diesel engines, and many were further upgraded to the M51 standard by adding a French made 105mm gun. This powerful gun allowed the M51 to successfully engage far more modern Soviet designs like the T54, T55, and T62 using HEAT ammunition during both the Six Day War in 1967 and later during the Yom Kippur War of 1973.

M51 Sherman showing the size of the 105mm gun and muzzle brake

I really owe a great deal of thanks to my work colleague for taking me to the museum. It was an amazing experience! In the next part of this series, I'll include photos of some of the more advanced designs in the IDF inventory followed by Soviet bloc equipment, historic armor, and finally "the real oddballs!"

State of the Blog and Hobby

So it's been a while since I posted here. In terms of getting miniatures done, unfortunately what you see is what you get, I've gotten effectively nothing done in the past three months. There is a simple reason for that, I've been spending literally all of my time getting the new house ready for habitation. Our part of the process seemed fairly simple - emphasis on the word "seemed" - but interior painting (which we did sign up for) also involved all of the interior caulking on the trim (which we didn't realize we'd signed up for), so schedules and timelines sort of went out the window. However, we just recently got the keys, so now the move-in process begins! I'll have photos of the new work-room once I get moved in.

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've likely seen that Flames of War is getting ready to release its Fourth Edition in the next few weeks. Unlike previous edition changes, 4th Edition appears to be a major revamp of the rule set with many similarities to the Team Yankee ruleset. Several recent podcasts over at WWPD have detailed some of the rules, and as usual with any rules changes the reviews have been mixed, though the camps seem fairly polarized at this point. I honestly haven't digested the scope of the changes yet, so I'll have to play through several games to understand the impact

Speaking of Team Yankee, the first new Warsaw Pact nation has been released for the mid-80's World War III gaming system. I'd already started building some Soviet forces for TY, but when I found out the East Germans were going to be released I decided to wait on painting them up until the NVA rules were released. I'm still working on finding the right colors to use for the three tone East German paint scheme (which technically wasn't used until the late-80's - but this is a hypothetical game anyway!), and I'll post a painting guide once I have it together.

I've also been writing up a little something fun for the WWPD blog - keep an eye out toward the end of the week for some great photos. I've been doing some writing in the background, and I'll let you know when those start getting close to hitting the wild!