Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge XIV #1 - Early WW2 Germans

Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge XV is only two weeks away, and the final countdown has started. Due to my computer crashing, I never got around to cross-posting any of my submissions from AHPC XIV. I hope you will indulge my journey down 'Memory Lane'.

 

First up is a force of early war Germans consisting of a squad of nine cavalry, nine casualties to act as pin markers and another truck specifically to be used as a weapons tow.

The nine cavalry figures are by Crusader Miniatures. The first three I got at least 25 years ago as a free sample with an order of primarily late war British/Canadian infantry packs. What do you do with three cavalry? In my case, you assemble and prime them, and then put them in a storage box for a quarter century. When I recently put in an order for more minis from Crusader, I decided to get two more packs to flesh out the original three to a total of nine. The Bolt Action rules don't have any provision for Heer cavarly, only SS units. I am not sure if they will see action on the table top, but most German infantry divisions in 1939-40 used cavalry for reconnaissance. They were painted using Vallejo acrylics with a variety of Games Workshop washes.

On an interesting note, the three original figures I received as a free sample had horses that looked more like plow horses than cavalry mounts. The more recently acquired figures had nicer sculpts for the horses, but being somewhat thinner, there was a noticeable gap between the horse's body and the saddle blanket.

 

'Forward at the trot!'

Command group

The three free cavalrymen from Crusader Miniatures

 

Early war German army cavalry on patrol

 

The nine casualties figures are by Black Tree Design, although I bought them when that line was still known as Harlequin Miniatures. They came as a pack with three minis of each of the three poses, one with a leg blown off, and another missing an arm. I am not sure what plans I had for them at time. Again, like many miniatures I have purchased, they sat in a storage box for at least 25 years. More recently I had mulled over plans to use them as pin markers for Bolt Action, and I had a few ideas on how I would do it. In the end, by the time I finally got around to doing something, several others had already done something similar. A case of 'great minds think alike'? I cut bases for them out of old plastic gift cards the same size as those I made for my cavalry figures, and then made a small box using a thin 2" strip of card scored every half inch so that it could be folded to form a square. The sides around the box were built up using Spackle, and then the base was coated with sand. The figures were painted as for the cavalry.

 

9 pins markers for Bolt Action

A close up of the nasty wounds, and the box to hold the dice

The final element is a Krupp Protze Kfz 69 to act as a weapons tow for my Pak 36. I had painted up three of these trucks during AHPC XII, but did them as troop carriers. While on my re-enacting travels in April I stopped in at a hobby store and found they had one box of the same kit from Rubicon Miniatures that has the necessary parts to do either version of the truck. Just what I was looking for. The truck was painted using AK Interactive Dunkelgrau, and then given a wash of Vallejo European Dust Model Wash.

 

Rubicon Krupp Protze Kfz 69

A top view of the Protze with a Pak 36 in the background

 

Challenge Submission #18 - Another Mixed Bag of WW2 Vehicles

 

Last November fellow Conscript Dallas 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. They arrived just before last Christmas.

 

A group shot of all twelve vehicles

A size comparison of three tanks in the same 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. 

 

 

Thanks for reading. We are planning on playing the 'Battle of Orp' scenario soon, so stay tuned for the After Action Report.