From DallasE: 1/48 Saint-Chamond Tank from Trenchworx (20 points)

The push to the finish is on. Here's likely my second-last post of the Challenge: a 1/48 scale Saint-Chamond (early production) from Trenchworx.

I've had this model in its box for a year or two and it was time for it to be built and painted. It was pretty straightforward work with a paint scheme from the Internet. It was a little more difficult to determine the "correct" tactical markings for this vehicle - so I just picked some numerals that looked good and "French".

I like that the model has the FAMH (Compagnie des forges et acieries de la marine et d'Homecourt) logo "cast into" the rear armour. FAMH was the manufacturer of the tank and was based in the commune of Saint-Chamond in France.

The vehicle was heaviest-armed tank of the Great War but was a bit of a disaster... the overhangs front and rear were too long, the weight was biased well to the front, and its ability to traverse trenches and craters was negligible. BUT 75mm GUN!!1!!

This model is an early-production version - you can tell by the early 75mm gun and the observation turrets. Later production variants did away with these and substituted a low-profile square turret for the driver/commander.  

Decal is from, of all things, the GW 40K Adeptus Mechanicus decal sheet :-) Later in the war, the vehicle was marginally more successful as an assault gun. This one will see service with my late-war French, it's good to have it done. 

Points: 28mm vehicle = 20 points

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Cracking addition to your challenge Dallas, always nice to see something a bit different in WW1 armoured vehicles pop up. You've nailed that paint scheme with the bold colours and thick outlines, it looks fabulous (and themese well with your French infantry too). And with the historically inspired GW decal being reused on a historical model, the cycle is now complete :-)

- Paul

From FrederickC: Another Mixed Bag of WW2 Vehicles (267.5 points)

 

Last November fellow Conscript DallasE and I were discussing the idea of a France 1940 scenario for Bolt Action. We had played 'The Battle of Stonne' scenario from the Bolt Action campaign book 'Germany Strikes' in October 2021, and were looking at another chance to pit French and German armour against each other. We settled on 'The Battle of Orp' where the 3rd Panzer Division met the 3^e DLM (3rd Light Mechanized Division). A few of the vehicles needed were not in either of our collections, plus I had been looking at ordering some German and Soviet trucks to transport troops on the battlefield, as well as some more early Soviet armour. In the end  I ordered 3 GAZ AAA trucks, 3 T-26 tanks, 3 Krupp Protze trucks, 2 Panzer III Ausf E tanks, and a Hotchkiss H39 tank from Rubicon Models. The past week has been a mad scramble to get all the kits assembled and painted in time for Monday posting day.

 

A group shot, just for Teemu.

A size comparison of the three tank types, all 1/56 scale.

The GAZ-AAA was a truck produced at the Gorkovsky Avtomobilny Zavod (Gorky Automobile Plant) from 1936 to 1943 as the company's first 6-wheeled vehicle. During that time, over 37,000 trucks of various patterns were built. The Rubicon kits were easy to assemble, and  could be completed with or without a driver in the cab. (I went with the driver option.) It comes with a one-piece tarp that can be snapped into place, so I can field them with the tarp on or off. They will provide some necessary transport for all my Soviet infantry.

 

GAZ-AAA truck with tarps

GAZ-AAA truck without tarps

The T-26 tank kit comes with all the necessary parts to build one of ten different variants of the tank, which was based on Vickers E Six Ton. The T-26 entered active service for the Red Army in 1932, and it was used in many conflicts of the 1930s as well as during the Second World War. When production ceased in 1941, over 10,000 tanks of all variants had been produced. Of all the options available, I went with the M1933 turret, and assembled one with a radio aerial along with a commander that came with the Warlord Games BT-7 tanks I had painted in January. 

 

The German Krupp Protze was a truck used by the Wehrmacht to transport troops and tow the 37mm anti-tank gun. While I have a number of German 251/1 half-tracks, the reality is that most Panzergrenadiers rode in trucks. Using Bolt Action rules, the cost of a truck is less than half the cost of a half-track. The Rubicon kits can be built as the troop transport variant, with the tarp either up or down, or to tow the PAK. I built all of mine as transports, so I may end up ordering another as a towing vehicle.

 

The German Panzer III Ausf. E was an early model of that tank armed with a 37mm gun in the turret. It saw service in Poland and France before being replaced by upgraded versions. The Rubicon kits supply enough parts to build one of the E, F, or G variants of the tank. I added a commander that came with the Bolt Action Panzer I tanks I built in December as I liked it better than the one that came with the models. I painted up my Panzer IIIs as part of the 3rd Panzer Division with the Berlin bear symbol on the side of the turret.

 

The French Hotchkiss H39 was an improved version of the H35. Some models were further upgraded to a longer-barrelled SA38 37mm anti-tank gun. The Rubicon kit is a resin model with enough extra parts to build the French tank with either the SA38 or the earlier Puteaux SA18 low velocity gun, as well as a different cupola if you want to build a version of the tank in German service. 

 

The points being claimed are as follows:

12 x 28mm vehicles @ 20 points each =240 points

5.5 x 28mm figures @ 5 points each = 27.5 points

(I am counting the 3 Soviet drivers and two tank commanders as half figures)

I am really enjoying this collection of early war kit.  Although I had to do a double take as your lead into France 1940 was followed by T-26s, but what the heh?  I am pleased to see that you went for the premium AAA grade GAZ instead of the standard utility grade (poor pun), and more over that you've got a proper amount of soft skin transport for both Soviet and German forces.  I've always had a soft spot for the T26, and French armour is always entertaining.  Well done.

From ChrisK: More Early-War French Vehicles (140pts)

Hullo, All,

I've been a little poorly recently, so I'll be light on the words in this entry, but I did at least manage to get some pics done in the lightbox! Thanks again, Barks, by the way, for your supportive advice.

To cut to the chase, I continue to plough through by pile of 1940 French, and today, I present to you a vertitable melange of efforts - I'll outline them here, and then a few more notes will follow with the pics:

• Panhard 178 Armoured Car;
• Laffly W15 Tank Hunter;
• Renault R40;
• a requisitioned civilian truck, and
• three Renault FT-17s.

Panhard 178: 

This is the Warlord Games model, and - since taking the photos - I have noticed and fixed the surpised look on the commander's face!

Laffly W15 Tank Hunter: 

Armed with the formidable 47mm anti-tank gun, this model is a resin print, courtesy of a friend of mine, from an STL designer who goes by 'Eskice'. 

This came with an accompanying 3D-printed crew, but they needed some... er... corrective surgery, so they're not yet done.

Renault R40: 

This is a combination of an old resin hull with FDM-printed tracks and turret, and I'm pleased to note that it was a wonderfully appropriate gift for my 40th birthday.

Requisitioned Fordson Truck:

This is a die-cast model (always my preference for soft-skin transports), and I used it to practise one of the wackier approaches to vehicular camo practised by the French. Reference pics of such vehicles are somewhat tricky to pin-down, but I did read a couple of times about local units applying their own patterns to suddenly-requisitioned transports, so it struck me that someone might well have wanted to get creative... 

...or maybe it was a little too much requisitioned Absinthe?

Renault FT-17s

Finally, and from the same source as the Laffly tank-hunter, my friend also printed me a trio of baby FT-17s, with both MG and AT turret variants. There's not a huge amount to say about these, other than that they are greener on the lower hull than they might appear in these pics, wherein the drybrushed brown seems to have been picked up far more. 

For seven vehicles at this scale, then, I would like to claim 140 points, please. I felt a little guilty about claiming the full-whack for the FTs, but then I figured they each have an extra turret and the time spent on that wretched truck might hopefully make up for it!

Thanks for swinging by; keep up the great work,

- ChrisK

 

This is a brilliant showcase of early-war Gallic variety- bravo! Of course you may claim each of these as a full 20 point vehicle. For me, the star of the show is the truck canvas. The Laffly is a delightfully odd truck as well.

Barks

From ChrisK: More Frenchmen and A Questionable Design (Death Star) (160 points)

I was very grateful for the feedback my last lot of WW2 French infantry received; so much so, in fact, that I have done more of the same! 

Well, their rules in Bolt Action allow them to take a free fourth inexperienced section if they pay for three, so it'd be rude not to... plus I've really been enjoying the challenge of fielding inexperienced troops.

Here, then, are my next two sections, supported by a Laffly AM50 armoured car:

[I'll talk more about the Laffable Laffly below...] 

The first section here have black leggings/puttees - partially to suggest that they are Chasseurs a Pied [I can't work out how to get the accent grave without really upsetting Blogger - sorry!], and partially to aid tabletop differentiation. Ten of these models are Warlord Games' metal French Infantry set; the extra two are from the versatile Wargames Atlantic plastics, as before:

Two very similar pics, but I had real trouble with the exposure of these in the simpler of my two light boxes - so you are welcome to chose which one you dislike least!

Here's a shot of the different packs that the Warlord minis have. A bit more detailed than their Wargames Atlantic counterparts

Also made from the Wargames Atlantic plastics is this section of French Officer Cadets (I warn you now, these pics are horribly over-exposed - I promise they look way less deathly in real life!):

These vainglorious and enthusiastic young fellows represent those cadets from the French academies who really did drop their studies and march to war in 1940 (and there's maybe a couple of nods to my own time as an O/Cdt in the dim past). They're variously equipped with whatever they could lay their hands on, including an ancient Chauchat as their LMG and a few of them have their ceremonial swords slung too. Because if not now, then when, eh? 

Like all good officer cadets everywhere, they're doing a great deal of pointing... and like all good officer cadets everywhere, they're also being kept in line by a doubtless exasperated staff NCO. Unlike all my other infantry, whose collar insignia have been covered with green 'security patches', I've taken the liberty of giving him complementary light blue collar tabs, so he fits in with his chinless charges. 

I really struggled to find consistent, reliable information on the colours and trim of their uniforms, so I've taken artistic liberty and chosen light blue for their soft kepis, collars and piping - again, a self-indulgent nod to my own time. 

(NB: That chap on the left, above, really looks unwell in this pic. I assure you he's alright 'in the flesh'.)

Finally, this is the Laffly armoured car. And I'll say it straight out: here I'm claiming "questionable design" for the Death Star bonus - because - well, just look at it:

This utterly glorious, utterly daft model is by the talented Mad Bob.

I should point out that the patterning of L'Indochine's camouflage is inspired by various contemporary French designs I came across, but reinterpreted... not least because I don't have an airbrush, so I couldn't adequately feather the edges of the patches: this led me to opt for a harder edge. Annoyingly, the roundel decals were not very high quality, so they look a bit 'meh'.

Points:

My claim in this entry is for 

- twenty-four 28mm figures @5pts each = 120pts;
- one 1/56 vehicle @20pts, and
- a 'Death Star' bonus @20pts, for 160pts total.

And next, I'd like to leap into the adjacent 'maelstrom' please, if I may.

Thanks for your time; happy painting,

- ChrisK

I have such a soft spot for interwar armoured cars. I love your hard-edge camo pattern on this one, as well as all the rivets. I also like the weathering. Good work on all those poor cadets!

The maelstrom spits you out between Coruscant and Vogsphere!

Barks

NB Don't forget your labels, and to tag your post 'ready' or 'draft'!