New Fate of a Nation Book on Its Way!

The chaps over at the Reluctant Conscripts blog have posted a teaser page from the upcoming issue of Wargames Illustrated. On sale in November is a softcover book covering the Arab-Israeli Six Day War of 1967. Given this book is coming out only a month after Barbarossa, looks like my bookshelf is going to get a bit more crowded. The release of the softcover seems to follow the trend started with the Viet Nam books.

Listed in the ad as a 62 page book, Chris at Battlefront has clarified that it will actually be a 72 page book in a thread over on the Flames of War Forum. The available lists appear have been expanded from those available in the original WI supplement.

The Israelis get a tank company, a patrol company, a motorized infantry company, and a paratrooper company.  The Egyptians and Jordanians both get tank and infantry companies.  The Egyptian infantry company appears to benefit from fortifications.  Apparently no Syrians at this point - maybe there will be a PDF?

Regardless I'm looking forward to the supplement when it comes out!

502 Schwere Panzer Abteilung Progress

I'm finally getting back to (and hopefully finishing up) my 502. Schwere Panzer Abtiluing army that I detailed in a couple of previous blog entries (here and here).  I'd originally got this one going for a 1675 point tournament last year that I wasn't able to attend because of work and other life issues, so they've been sitting around collecting dust begging for a paint job ever since.  Next month there's a 1500 point Eastern Front tournament, so I decided to pull out the army and give it another go.

The 1500 point version of the list is very modest.  Three Tiger I E, one Sd Kfz 9 recovery half track, a grenadier platoon (command panzerknacker SMG plus eight rifle MG teams), and three 15cm NW41.  Not a lot to put on the table, but hey, it should be entertaining.  I'm ultimately going with a winter whitewash scheme on the vehicles, and I'm waiting on some modulation pants for the whitewash.  While I'm waiting, I went ahead and started putting down the gray base coat as that will be visible as the winter paint was done in sections for this unit.

I'm going ahead and hitting the support equipment with the same modulation scheme as the main units.  First up are the nebelwerfers:

The Sd Kfz 9 is still a huge beast:

Finally various half-tracks and staff cars:

I'm running this as a 1942 Schwere Panzerkompanie.  The unit represented is actually painted up in early 1943 schemes, but the organization of the unit seemed to still follow the 1942 pattern based on my research until they were fully re-equipped later in the year.  While I can't use it with my current point values, I'm going ahead and working up a couple of Panzer III Ausf N.  The first photo is the base coat.

I'm using Ammo of MIG modulation paints on this starting with a base, highlight and shine.  These will be toned down with a filter - likely before the whitewash is applied.  So far the Panzer III is coming out pretty good:

Of course, the centerpiece of this army is the Tigers.  I've done a lot of modification on at least two of them.  As mentioned in previous blogs, this unit still had some initial production vehicles, and they required quite a bit of modification.  Even the normal miniature required deletion of some stowage. Below is the base coat for the Tigers.  The Ammo of MIG base coat went on without any issues.

I then went through and modulated the Tigers (everything is modulated, but some of the photos didn't come out - look for the results in a future blog).  Both the highlight and shine coats were a little thicker than I'd grown accustomed to, and required both thinning and more frequent tip cleaning on the airbrush.  The end result is looking pretty good so far, though:

Again, the filter will tame down the highlights a bit and then I can go into the whitewash.  The tracks are modulated as well:

I already have the infantry and gun crews painted and partially based.  I need to order some Battlefoam to get this army moving.  Hopefully it'll arrive in time for the tournament or I'll have to improvise.

Barbarossa Sneak Peek!

Battlefront has added a new sneak peek of the upcoming Barbarossa book on the main website.  The preview includes a fair amount of information, including some of the new releases as well as the force diagrams.  While some of the Soviet lists from Rising Sun are certainly reasonably valid to run in 1941, these new lists bring in some of the vehicles that EW Soviet players have been clamoring for including the T-34 and KV-1 and 2.

Looking at the codes available, there is a lot of Greatcoat infantry for the Germans.  This will be a nice addition to the range as the greatcoat clad figures include machine gun, mortar, anti-tank crews and artillery crews.  Also coming out for the Germans are a host of the upgraded tanks in the Panzer III and Panzer IV lines - as well as an uparmored Panzer 38(t).

Looking at the German force organization, the heavy tank hunter platoon may be no brainer - or at least a unit of 8.8cm guns as the Soviets are going to be bringing the big boys out to play.  The Germans have both a Leichte and Mittlere Panzerkompanie available, with the Light version now being based on the Panzer III - though a platoon of Panzer II's is available.  The Czech Panzerkompanie is also still available, as are the Panzerschutzenkompanie and regular Schutzenkompanie.

The Soviets have a Tankovy Battalion, a Lend Lease Tank Battalion, and a Motostrelkovy Battalion available (at least).  As expected, the cost for a T-34 obr 1941 is high with a CC command vehicle coming in at 300 points with the FC Guards version coming in at a whopping 335 points.  The moral of the story is DON'T expect to see hordes of T-34's or KV's in early war.  The thick armor and strong guns of both vehicles should make them fairly deadly on the battlefield, though.  The Soviets also have access to a "Captured Polish Armoured Train" which proves to be interesting.

I'm really looking forward to Barbarossa.  It may be enough to make me bite the bullet and finally start a Soviet army.

Martian Front Reinforcements Arriving

Several new items are beginning to pop up over on Alien Dungeon's All Quiet on the Martian Front site. These all seem to be tied to the recently announced "Wave 2" of shipments for the Kickstarter campaign. It has taken them a bit more time than originally advertised to get some of these out of the door, but at first glance a lot of the releases look pretty good.

The Americans are getting a whole variety of new troops to bolster the infantry, rough riders, and steam tanks provided in the original batch. New infantry includes a command squad, the forlorn hope teams, and armored infantry. New tanks include the artillery steamers, the clamp tank, and a Mark II command tank variant.  Artillery has also finally arrived with the anti-tripod gun and heavy field gun battery finally being available.

The Martians also have several new miniatures available as well.  The Drones are now available and the slaver tripod is available for pre-order.  The British are still "coming soon" at this point.

I've been working on paint schemes for my Martians and picked up some nice metallic paint for them.  Look for an update in a future blog.  I've also decided to go a bit further on the painting of my tanks as I've picked up some modulation paints for US armor - look for that in a future blog as well!

Reinforcements Arrive for 510. Schwere Panzer-Abteilung

I finally got back to painting on the tanks for 510. Schwere Panzer-Abteilung yesterday, and I've also started working on the support units.  If you remember the list I'm working with, I need three 15cm Nebelwerfers and four Flakvierlings to round out the support choices.  I've started the process of prepping the figures for painting, and I figured I'd try and paint the guns with the rest of the armor.

First the king tiger progress.  In previous blogs, I've detailed the one tank in primer red as well as those in the octopus scheme.  I'm now working on the ones that will be in Hinterhalt-Tarnung or Ambush camouflage. For these vehicles I've started with a base dunkelgelb which I've then modulated using AK interactive modulating paints:

Ambush camouflage comes in several varieties, but the version I'm trying to replicate is hard edged.  I therefore pulled out the Panzer putty again and began the process of masking the areas I wanted to remain yellow.  Next I painted the olivgrun, again using AK interactive modulating paints to preserve the overall modulation of the piece.  Once that is dry, you guessed it, more Panzer Putty and then it is on to the rotbraun.

The King Tigers are supported by a unit of Ersatz SS training panzers.  These are a mix of Panzer III and Panzer IV tanks which had been removed from front-line service, but are now forced back into the fray. I wanted these to look somewhat beat-up, but given there are many references showing training workshops where these tanks were maintained and repainted, I don't want to overdo it.  As with the King Tigers I started with the panzer dark yellow modulation paints, shown below.

The Schurtzen are getting the same treatment as the vehicles themselves.  Unlike the King Tigers, I wanted to go with a blotchy freehand over-spray of red-brown and olive green.  So I used the Ammo of Mig 1943-1945 wargaming set and the overspray paints there.  I found the dark yellow modulation paints in this particular set to be a little brighter than I was used to, so I'm going to have to try that again with lighter modulation coats.  So far I'm happy with how the schemes are coming out, and once weathered I think they're going to look spot on for battle-weary training panzers.

As I mentioned before, I'm also trying similar techniques with the Nebelwerfers and flak guns.  They'll need some additional hand painting as the surfaces are very irregular, but for the initial shading I think the modulation techniques will work fine.  First up are the Nebelwerfers.  Right now they're just in the base coat, which as you can see is quite dark.

I've made it further with the flak guns, I was able to go ahead and start the modulation process with them. There are whole areas I skipped simply because I know they will be covered by other parts once the full miniature is assembled.

After the modulation of the panzer dark yellow - I went ahead and overs-prayed the gun shield with the red brown and olive green while I was painting the Ersatz unit above.  The end effect looks good so far. The gun shields for the flak guns will, as well as the cradles will get some chipping and other effects.

At this point I've gone forward and gloss coated the first three King Tigers as well as the Ersatz squad and the flak guns.  I've brought them inside and have started the pin washes with a mix of AK and Ammo of MIG products.  I'm hoping to have photos that progress soon.  I've also just discovered that the tanks for my October army are not quite together yet, so I'm going to have to take a short break and finish building a couple of Tiger Tanks and one Panzer III Ausf N.  Look for those in an upcoming blog as well!

Release the Kraken! Or More Fun with 510. King Tigers

Managed to get some more painting done today after spending the morning practicing archery and then going out plinking with some friends.  First things first, I wanted to get a decent picture of the primer red with yellow over-spray.  The natural lighting shows off the panel shading a lot better!

I was holding off on any more painting until I got my new masking material in.  I've tried both silly putty and white putty adhesive in the past.  While these both work, they have some serious shortcomings.  I'd seen listings for Panzer Putty on the web, and I finally managed to track down a couple of tins at Colorado Miniatures (THANKS!!!).  They ran me about $25 a pop (I picked up two), but the tubs are very large and it looks like they'll be more reusable than either of the other media.  Imagine my delight when I checked the mail after a great day at the range and my new Panzer Putty had arrived!

With the new putty in hand, I immediately went to work masking out the camouflage on the "octopus" scheme King Tigers.  I tried to match an existing example for one, then decided I was crazy and free-handed the other one.  The Panzer Putty is much easier to work with.  It has variable flexibility.  As you work it, it becomes more flexible, but if you let it sit it becomes much harder and adheres nicely.  You'll still want to wrap edges to keep it in place.

I'd already put down some initial base coats of the 1943-1945 panzer dark yellow base and just had a neatening coat to do on the overall yellow base vehicles left to do.  Therefore I went ahead and started base coating the yellow on the "octopus" vehicles as well.

I went ahead and panel shaded the panzer yellow with a highlight and shine coat.  The new paints are a little thicker than the old AK interactive ones, so I'm going to have to watch my pressure and paint thickness.  I've still got some work to do on the training tanks, but my priority was to go ahead and get the "octopus" tanks ready to go.  As you can see below, the maked tanks and unmasked tanks have received similar paint schemes so far.  The unmasked King tigers will have "ambush" scheme, so I'm trying to keep the layers reasonably thin at this point!

So how'd the Panzer Putty do?  In a word - AMAZING!  I was able to use thin paint layers and there seemed to be no edge buildup As you can see below - I've already got the green circles added to one of the two, while the other has just had the putty removed.

I'm using a mix of the "shadow" and "base" olive greens to do the "octopus" circles.  So far the King Tigers of 510. Schwere Panzer-Abteilung are coming out just as I'd hoped.  I still have a way to go, but I'm making progress.  I've also started scraping the infantry and the Flak guns as well, so look for them in a future entry.

Updates from the Martian Front

The guys over at Robot Peanut have posted a couple of long-awaited updates for All Quiet on the Martian Front.  As mentioned in a previous blog, the steam tank sprues as provided give the player options that were not available in the AQMF main ruleset.  The tutorial on their webpage showed how to use the sprues to build these tanks, but the rules had been AWOL until today.  Officially released as an addendum to pages 96 through 99 of the main rulebook, there is now a PDF detailing several new varieties of steam tanks which can be built and fielded using the plastic kit.  In addition to the standard Mk II and Mk III, there are now several new variants.

Overall the Mk II tank is familiar coming in at 165 points for the unit with the option of adding a heavy machine gun (HMG) for +10 points.  Added are a Mk IIt gun tractor with a single HMG and the capability of towing an artillery piece or acting as a "Light Wrecker."  There is also the Mk IIb "Interim Tank" which has two sponson mounted 4" guns and 1 HMG at 240 points for the unit.  These are classified as "heavy tanks" and "rare."  "Rare" is a new rule indicating that only one unit can be fielded for every 2500 points. There is also a Mk IImg which has three machine guns (two in sponsons).  Together these tanks are analogous to the World War I British Male and Female tanks (like the Mark IV).  Finally there are rules for a Mk IIc command tank - taking the superstructure from a Mk III and adding it to the Mk II with a no sponsons.

There are fewer changes to the Mk III as that variant is pretty much "maxed out" in terms of modeling options. The standard Mk III still has 3x 4" guns and a machine gun with a unit of 3 costing 225.  I don't understand how the Mk III - with a higher rate of speed and an additional 4" gun - is cheaper than the Mk IIb.  Perhaps the values are switched or they failed to update the Mk III cost.  Added to the Mk III variants is the Mk IIIs with four machine guns.  Provided in single element units, the Mk IIIs are designed for infantry support and can only be taken with US Armored Infantry.

In addition to the fun new steam tank variants (which I need to finish painting!), Alien Dungeon has also released Revision 1.0 - Errata and FAQ to the AQMF ruleset.  This PDF includes error corrections as well as answers to several frequently asked questions.  Based on some of the points issues above, they may need to release an update to the update, but regardless I'm glad to see the line starting to grow and evolve.