From JaccoK - 28mm Early War German Vehicle (75 Points)

As promised here is the fourth entry for this year. The are 5 vehicles for the Early War Germans I started this year. They from different manufactures and I'm not sure which one belongs to which manufacturer. The Opel Blitz are metal the other ones resin.

The Panzerkampfwagen 38(t) was originally a Czech tank of pre-World War II. The main advantages of the Panzer 38(t), compared to other tanks of the day, were a very high reliability and sustained mobility. I really love the look of this panzer. Maybe because the design was not German... 

Sd.Kfz.222 light armored car was a modified version of Sd.Kfz.221 designed to carry20mm automatic cannon instead of a machine gun. There were a few in Poland, but more largely represented during the Western campaign and in France. On a good road network they excelled, and were seen many times by Allied soldiers and officers -to their astonishment- well beyond the supposed frontline, creating panic and havoc, thanks to their speed and devastating main gun. 

SdKfz 251/10. This vehicle was a familiar sight, widely associated with the German infantry 

during all of World War Two. No German force can do without.

Opel Blitz – the workhorse of the Wehrmacht. In the period from July 1937 to August 1944 more than 100.000 trucks were build. Blitz is German for "lightning"and was the name given to various German light and middle-weight truck series built by the German Opel automobile manufacturer between 1930 and 1975. The original logo for this truck, two stripes arranged loosely like a lightning symbol in the form of a horizontally stretched letter "Z", still appears in the current Opel logo.

A brilliant set of vehicles Jake! The 222 is my favourite armoured car, but I have to say I love seeing the heavily riveted 38T - you look at it and it plainly says 'I am a Czech workhorse'. I also really appreciate the little background history you provide with these vehicles - very interesting that Open still uses the WWII design elements in their current logo, I did not know that.

From JaccoK - 28mm Deutsches Afrikakorps (DAK) (75 Points)

It took a while to get my next entry ready, I miss the competition with the other Dutch guys. But the bonus is that I have 2 entries ready now. First up are these 15 Deutsches Afrikakorps (DAK). 

All from Perry Miniatures. I already painted a lot of DAK mostly from Artisan but I was eager to paint the new Perry desert range. These are the metal figures. I also have a couple of plastic boxes waiting to be painted and lovely vehicles from Blitzkrieg Miniatures, sigh...maybe next year.

It's a shame you had to fly solo this year Jake, but you've held the banner high for the Dutch Waterbicycle Detachment - so you should be proud. These figures are terrific. I particularly like the details you've added such as the uniform insignia on the officers and the colour chipping on the rankers' helmets. I'm also very envious of your desert terrain set-up - it's absolutely stunning and immediately reminds me of Tunisia (or I suppose Tatooine/Jakku for that matter). All inspiring stuff!

From JaccoK - 28mm early war Germans (135 pts)

My second entry this year is a one of my longest standing projects that never started (until now that is). 

Command

Ever since Mike, Rob and I started with 28mm WWII gaming it has been my wish to paint an early war German army.

MG34 teams

MP40's

Over the years the collecting of figures has been very successful. The figures are mostly Crusader, but the connoisseur will recognize some Artisan and even the odd Black Tree figures. The Crusader range is still the most complete one I know.

Rifleman

5cm Mortar

You've done a fabulous job on these early war Germans Jake. I really appreciate your attention to detail in regards to their uniform marking and helmet insignia - these things really add that finishing touch to the figures as a whole. Will you be doing any early vehicles for these during the Challenge?

135 points for your roster Jake - well done!

From JaccoK - 20mm late war Germans (96 pts)

I took a while to get the first entry ready but here it is.  These are 24 late war Germans form AB figures all in 20mm. These are an addition to my existing German army.

Last year our group started with the Battlegroup Kursk ruleset in 20mm. Our annual Christmas battle this was also with these rules (the Overlord add-on). I've added some pictures of the battle to get a feel. The table and scenario where made by Michael Fisser who did an excellent job as games master and as host.

Welcome aboard Jake! It's great to have one of the Dutch Waterbicycle Detachment in the mix this year. 

AB makes beautiful figures and you've really done them proud Jake. Your paintwork is excellent and I like that you've added little details like aerials to the radio sets. A great touch. 

That Christmas game looks just brilliant. Bravo to Michael! I had the pleasure to game with Jake, Rob and Michael a couple years ago while we were visiting Holland and it was a wonderful experience. Their games are stunning, great fun and you couldn't hope to hang out with a better bunch of guys.

I look forward to your next entry Jake!

From JaccoK - 20mm WWII Civilian Vehicles (24 Points)

Three scenic items for the next 20mm WW2 game.

Simca 5

Original Simca 5 from 1945

This entry is a small one. I just wanted to paint the two 20mm civil vehicles and the memorial I purchased from Sgt's Mess.

Ford short chassis cargo body

French WWI memorial.

The Simca 5 was also used as a staff car by the German Army but I decided to paint the civil version.

From Jake - 20mm WWII American Infantry (184 Points)

We always play a large battle at the end of the year and make it a project for our group. So this year it was Normandy late 1944 in 20mm. I had to paint over 60 Americans from AB miniatures mixed with Blitz. I knew it was going to be tough to paint them all in the painting challenge and be ready in time for the game. So I painted 24 before and finished 46 of them in the painting challenge making 184 points.

Here they are just after the battle.

Yesterday we played a great game of Battlegroup Overlord. Mike and me played the 1st US Infantry division while Rob van S joined us with his excellent Brits. On the opposite site were Mark, Rob P and Sam with some Germans and a lot of PANZERS! We also had some support if you can call it that (Shermans, Stuarts and Greyhounds).

Part of the game table made by Mike and Rob P.

Below are some pictures of my troops in action (although they saw little of it because it became a real tank battle).