"Repair and Refurbish: WW2 German Army" Topic

Looking good! I like the camo on the Pumas. How about a closer look at the Marders?

They should be done tonight so final pics in the light box tomorrow….

It's always about the Pumas.

Kind of amusing. Can't think of a gamer with a collection of German armor that doesn't have at least some Pumas. Maybe some Jagdtigers too. Gotta have a few.

Similarly, I don't think I've met too many gamers with Russian armor who don't have some KV-85s. And yes, I have some too.

Irrelevant vehicles, built in such small quantities they hardly qualify as more than prototypes, but somehow they are on everyone's gotta-have-it list.

Well at least you have some horse wagons as well. I applaud that! Of course, you should have 400+ horse wagons for every Puma, but hey who's counting…

-Mark

Only a few Pumas.

I have a platoon's worth of Jagdtigers but have never played with them. Ditto my Panthers and KV-85s. I'm just more of a meat and potatoes boy. Gimme a swarm of T34s any day.

What I do have is infantry! Amazes me how many gear heads have 0 ground pounders!

What I do have is infantry! Amazes me how many gear heads have 0 ground pounders!

I'm with you on that.

I am impressed by the readings I do here of the gaming at larger scales (15mm and above), for the amount of infantry action that takes place. About 2 decades ago I started to collect 1/72 plastic soldiers again (I say again, because this scale was the focus of my model/figure collecting when I was 10 – 14 years old), and acquired Buck Surdhu's BAPS (Beer And Pretzel Skirmishes) ruleset. But alas I don't think I played more than 2 or 3 games with the figures and never did get a BAPS game together.

It is hard to find rules that can manage both tanks and infantry in one game. Most of the popular infantry combat rules treat tanks as an after-thought, lumping dozens of tanks with widely varying characteristics into the same few categories.

On the other hand rules that do well on tanks seldom do well on infantry. Or if they do, they seem to be geared to dis-similar game sizes. For example the old WRG Armor and Infantry seemed to give a reasonably playable infantry game for a few platoons per side, and a reasonably playable tank game for up to several companies per side. Put them together? Your tanks ran around until the infantry debussed, then the whole game shuddered to a halt.

One of my priorities when looking for micro-armor rulesets is that they handle both armor and infantry well, in mixed games. That's one of the reasons I like the MeinPanzer and Jagdpanzer rules. Both seem to use enough detail to distinguish between different tanks and different infantry weapons/formations, both seem to allow each player to control a company or more, whether tanks or infantry or mixed, and both seem to allow up to several players per side (for battalion-sized or larger battles), before they become too bogged down.

With MeinPanzer in particular I've had several very good combined arms battles. Some were distinctly infantry-heavy, some more armor-heavy with infantry present. You really start to understand why MG-armed tankettes were so popular (until AT guns became widely deployed), or why you need artillery to keep up with your armor, when you get a good ruleset.

Of course, that may be as much because I'm finally learning how to set up my games as because of the rules. Hard to say. But in any case I am with you on the infantry issue … the game has to have ground-pounders, AT guns, artillery, AND tanks* to keep my interest these days.

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

*Note: Oh, and you can always toss in some field fortifications, minefields and aircraft too if you'd like! ;-)

MP is a good system, but below my desired level. Hence my preference for Flames of War, heavily tweaked.

Tanks vary in gun, armor, speed and a few other odds and ends. Vulnerable to infantry in assaults, but if you stand off you can just machine gun the troops to death. until they dig in….

FoW in particular makes every arm potent – a nice by product of the points/tournament focus. If infantry suck, that's a lot of models you won't sell. The result is every weapon system gets in day in the sun.

Scenario design I think is often grossly under appreciated. I can't tell you how many games I've seen with far, far, far too many troops on the table, too many per player, and not enough terrain.

I built a new light box and I'm still monkeying around with how to get it all set correctly for good photos. These are pretty crappy but better than the last batch. I'll keep at it….

Close up of the Marders:

Sdkfz 7s for my two batteries of 88s:

Brilliant progress EC. You are helping inspire me to push on with my 6mm.

BALM

Flak 36 Production Line

I got a little painting done last night after game 6 of the World Series (Go Cubs!). This morning it was time to do a little tidying of the painting table. Well, it's at least a *bit* tidier now. You can see here what I'm working on: a German/Italian village with red tile roofs; some 15mm hay stacks; a couple 6mm bridges; Soviet T-64s; a SciFi digger from Dropzone Commander destined for my 6mm table; ten finished and limbered 88s for Flames of Awesomesauce – I just need to finish the basing; a platoon of Jagdpanthers likewise. Once it's all finished I'll be sure to take some glamour shots.

Soldiering onward I have completed the limbered guns and prime movers for my 88s. I now have ten of these deadly beauties, ready to deal with enemies of the Reich! In addition we have taken delivery of four Jagdpanthers, replete with new paint….I didn't do much detailing on the Jagds, just the base and camo with touches for the road wheels and hull MG. Since these are my only and will rarely see the table I just decided to elt them go "plain Jane."

Looking good.

ok, I'm embarassed to ask this, but I reread the thread twice and can't find what scale the vehicles are! (haystack is 15mm and bridge is 6mm!!) Please tell me. These look GREAT and would be perfect for my re-imagined Panzerblitz conversion

All are 6mm.

aww man!!! Just while I'm headed off to Crisis 2016 in Antwerp with cold cash in my hand…another period and scale!!!! On that note though, it's a VERY practical, affordable "unobtrusive" scale. No downside at all, if you think about it…hmmmmmm…..

<rationalization is what separates us from the (other) beasts>

seriosuly though, great work and very instructive. Thanks for sharing and please keep the updates coming. What rules are you using? Flames of War I assume based on your other posts?

No downside at all, if you think about it

The downside is that everything is very small at that scale (especially the infantry). The average tank is about an inch long. While this allows you to put lots of units on the table, at normal distances (arm's length or more) the great detail of the minis is mostly lost, and its sometimes hard to tell what you're looking at -- especially if you're getting old, like me.

Hi Daler:

I play a variety of rules, but my main WW2 rule set for Micro Armor is Flames of Awesomesauce!

It is a FoW variant and you can get the mods and QRS here:

link

I have to admit, for me it is the table that matters. Plainly painted figurea re fine, they only take up 5% of the space anyway.

Besides, in WW2 everything looks like dirt anyway.

Now with Napoleonics I go 15mm when I want pretty soldiers.

Besides, in WW2 everything looks like dirt anyway.

LOL! Good one.

A little progress on the StuG company.

I finished up another few items tonight. In back we have 5 hidden movement markers. Just truck on washers. In front the new StuG company. I was going to do some more detailing on them but the old paint jobs hid so much detail it wasn't worth it. So while nothing to get excited about I think they are perfectly serviceable for the gaming table.

I'be been away for a while and have been busily finishing off my 15mm Vikings and Saxons. They were painted but needed the basing finished. The local lads were keen to try Hail Caesar and I offered use of my troops. But now they are done I can get back to finishing up the remains of my German army. In the meanwhile, here are a couple pictures of the Vikings game:

Up next:

goo.gl/photos/iYx2EX4Rei7jDeWAA

Really enjoyed the read thru today, and the pics are great. Just picked up a very large collection myself. Started sorting today. gonna be basing hopefully soon. Going with Moded flames of war also. If you are not too far from Indy may have to get together and give a game a go!

@Jdot: I'm north of Chicago. That's a bout 3 1/2 hours from you. Would certainly consider meeting half way somewhere!

The last few stands DONE!

Hidden unit markers:

FlakPanthers: