August was a great month for me and the hobby. I painted lots of stuff and managed to get in a few games as well. August saw a return to Flames of War late war. Late war has been a very limited period for me, even as it is the most popular period for FoW. This has most been due to my primary opponent not really caring for the period. Over last couple of years my gaming group has been changing and LW is not the main period for me for WWII. This meant I needed to get my collection updated to be able to hang in this very competitive period.
The German army provided the most options for me from the dead-lead pile so I decided to jump back in with them. The first thing on the agenda would be some AA. Allied air is way more likely in LW than MW so this was a must have.
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| Sd Kfz 10/4 Platoon |
I painted a couple of Sd Kfz 10/4 Light AA halftracks. These are the Battlefront resin and metal models from the MW box set. These are the same models they have had in production for years and I really like them. They are easy to build and paint. I have two more that I will paint on Panzer grey for my MW armies.
Next up is a platoon of 251 halftracks.
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| Sd Kfz 251D |
These are the current LW German halftracks from Battlefront. They are plastic models and are very nice. I acquired these assembled from a local gamer as part of a collection I purchased a few years ago. It was not the most precise build but after painting they turned out pretty good. These have already seen battle as part of my Berlin training battalion army.
Over the years I have collected a number of LW Panther tanks from Battlefront. These are the ausf A and are the old resin and metal models. Several are from special characters, back when that was a thing with FoW. I decided to paint up the first four in the collection for a Berlin Panzer Training Co army.
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| Panther A |
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| Panther A |
These are the first models where I used the Vallejo pigments. After my normal paint process, I applied dry pigments to represent dirt and dust. I really like the look and plan to experiment more with these pigments.
To support the Panthers I also needed some standard PzIVH tanks. These are the back-bone of LW and have plenty of MW uses too. Not sure why it took so long for me to paint these up and add them to the collection. These are a mix of the old Battlefront resin and metal models and the current plastic models. The resin ones are a salvage project that I have been working on for a number of years. They are real Frankenstein tanks with parts from PSC PzIV. The plastic models were pre-assembled as part of the collection with the 251 halftracks.
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| PzIVH Command |
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| PzIVH |
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| PzIVH |
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| PzIVH |
Sadly, the resin models are really showing their age. They serve the purpose, in game terms, but I will likely replace them with plastics soon. In nearly all cases the BF plastic kits are superior to the resin models.
Finally, we have more items painted specifically for the Berlin Panzer Training Co army. Normally, PzII tanks would not be in a LW list, but Berlin changes that. These are a mix of the N and M variants. They are plastic models from Battlefront. They will definitely be doing double duty in my MW armies.
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| PzIII N and M |
Twenty-six models all together. Not a bad couple of months. Sadly, I have slowed way down on painting production for the last couple of weeks but I am trying to get one more Napoleonic Russian battalion done. Just need to push through the slump and get back on track.
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