From MartinN: Panzer IV Ausf. A (20 pts.)

We're just into the second week of this challenge and I already got a second entry in *enter canned applause here*. Somehow I doubt it'll last though...

One thing that was sorely lacking in my Early War German force was a Panzer IV of one of the earlier marks. For some obscure reason I settled onto an Ausführung A variant instead of the more usual B/ C/ or D variants, which were all around and in greater numbers for the Invasion of France. Be that as it may, on first sight this Ausf. A can do service as a D just as well, the overall shape being the same.

Also, nobody likes button (rivet - ed) counters anyway ;-)

The model is a 3D print from Night Sky Models over on www.wargaming3d.com and I can recommend their files for their quality. 

I should have probably gone for the grey-brown two tone camouflage it was only at the end of July of 1940 that Panzergrau was to be used as the only color. Yet, while some pictures clearly show the earlier two tone camouflage, just as many seem to show plain Panzergrau. Given that dark brown and grey would be hard to identify correctly on all but the best black and white pictures, it might just as well be that they all still sported two tone camouflage. And frankly, I couldn't be bothered to dig deeper into it.

As I wanted this latest addition to fit in with the rest of my early German motor pool, grey it was to be anyway.

The decals on the turret were a b*tch to apply, due to the curvature on the back and the vision ports on the front. But after many a swear word and a few failed attempts we got there thanks to the liberal use of Micr Sol and Micro Set. I might have overdone the weathering just a little bit, but by May 1940 this old warrior had in all likelihood already seen combat in Poland. As it helps to make the otherwise rather dull looking vehicle look more interesting, I think it's permissable to go a little overboard. 

1x 28mm vehicle = 20 pts.

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Fabulous work on this early Mark IV Nick! I've always like the look of the earlier panzers as they seemed less ferocious and more interesting in their design than the later cats. Your panzer grey looks spot on and I love the weathering that you've gone with, especially that dodgy exhaust system. While the decals may have given you some trouble you managed manfully and they look terrific. A lovely clanker, my friend, indomitable in France but doomed to be made into a smoking pile of slag on the Eastern Front. 

- Curt

From JasperO: Convoy through the smoke (45 points)

I’ve had this resin Maultier sitting around for years - I believe it’s an Anyscale Model, but it’s a one-piece casting whereas the model Anyscale currently offers consists of three pieces, plus the tilt. Anyhoo… I’m still working on that some trucks for WSS and this qualifies. I filled it up with various bits and pieces from many sets, and added a Perry sitting German from their set for the SdKfz 7 for some extra interest. 

I have built a Rubicon and a Warlord Games Opel Blitz as well, which left me with an extra towing hitch, which this model was lacking. So I added that, and I figured, since the triangular marker is up, it needed to have a trailer as well. As it happens, the Rubicon Flak30 comes with an optional ammunition trailer, so I suppose this Maultier belongs to a Flak Abteilung.

Finally, and unrelated to the above, I have some nicely 3D-printed smoke markers from Sabotag3D. I just based them and airbrushed them from dark grey to light grey. I suppose that, like trees, you never have enough smoke markers, so I’ll need more, but this seems like a good start.

Bit of a rambling blog… The deadlines are coming thick and fast these weeks, trying to catch up with Covid-related delays. The Maultier should be 25 points (including the passenger). Five more for the trailer? The smoke markers fill about a 3x3x3” box, so that’s 1/8th of 20 points? I’ll leave it up to the gentle mercies of the Minions…

From DaveD - Well who doesn't appreciate a half track truck . The trailor is a nice extra piece , and the smoke works well - i will make this a 45 pointer

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 JasperO: low budget fun on Babylon 5 with some T34s (72 points)

Tamsin asked me on my previous post where the “lovely vehicles” (her words) were. Well, here they are. The Red Army is often portrayed in (older) books and movies about WW2 as a giant sledgehammer, rolling forward with hordes of cheap T34s racing out to meet the German defenses. I believe that idea has now been discredited thoroughly, but I’ll happily claim it today to claim the score for Babylon 5.

Today’s offer consists of two T34s. One (the one with the tank commander) is the Rubicon T34/76 with the later turret that comes with the T34/85. That kit comes, fortunately, with two /85 turret tops that each have a commander’s cupola. I carefully cut one out of a spare and attached it to the M1943 turret to make it into the final version. TL;DR: I glued some plastic on other plastic and stuck a Rubicon plastic commander in it, and provided a saw from their new Soviet Stowage set. 

This T34 is one of the earlier Rubicon plastic sets, somewhat simple, but far more detailed than the Warlord Games offering. It is only let down by the very simple tracks, and the driver’s hatch in the front hull which requires a lot of filing and putty to fit well. The Warlord T34 is equally old, quite a bit simpler (but with nicer track details) and comes with a very specific rounded late model turret , a somewhat odd choice. For some added interest, I painted two tank rider figures, ready to defend the tank from Panzerfaust-wielding ambushers, or jump off and take the fight forward. 

Two tanks, two-and-a-half figures and the Babylon bonus should net me another 70-something points, I think!

From DaveD

Very nice T34's - always one of my personal favourites, and a fine job you've 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