"Fighting Begins - Arracourt '44" Topic

Using this title for an upcoming game, as 113 Panzer Brigade hits the American outpost line the morning of September 19th, 1944, just outside the town of Rechicourt, France.

With classic World Tank Museum 1/44th scale Panther models here (repaints).

Really nice looking Panthers. Are they airbrushed? If not they sure look like it. More photos!

Hi Ed – TY!

Still using the dry pigments method (currently updating my PzKpfw IVH's and SdKfz 251s to the same scheme).

I had kept a lot of the mid-war German armor just in Dunkel Gelb to do Tunisia with, but now adding camo stripes to a lot of the plainly-painted models in the collection.

The IVs aren't coming out quite as nice, but will look ok on the tabletop (they've probably had 3 paint coats over the years).

What great models. Confess I have no idea how it worked out in reality but, as we do not all need to speak German, I suspect the good guys won in the end. Funny how badly the Panthers did in attack in NWE, as in Dompaire. The US Tank Destroyer Doctrine is criticised, but it did seem to work. The odd Firefly 17pdr or 3in on an M10 did seem to give one an edge in defence, esp as the German crews were increasingly less well trained.

Oh, and I prefer the IVs! Better ear and tear and highlights.

DH, astute doctrinal observations, and especially in regards to actual combat results.

The US TD doctrine was conceived to repel Blitzkrieg-style, German tank attacks. In 1944-45, these attacks weren't to be commonplace, but when they were, the TDs did very well (in their intended, original role).

Conversely, the German Panzerjager arm is never/hardly criticized – as they were effective, mobile AT weapons (as used against enemy armor attacks, in multiple theaters of the war).

Sometimes expert criticism assumes there's going to be an endless military budget for hardware, or a secure/ protected industrial base.

Taking the discussion really forward in time (to Ukraine these past couple of years) – the US M1 tank deliveries to Ukraine, really?

WWII, and arguably much more now, defence has all the advantages over offence (however you spell the two words, s or c)

TDs were high profile, but very mobile and still not too hard to conceal. True A/T guns were lethal, only until spotted and then HE or MG fire could "Suppress" them (ie kill the crew).

The death of the tank has been predicted since the first Panzerfaust, the many A/T missiles, the A10 Warthog, even a cheap mine to blow off the tracks, or a narrow and weak bridge. They still dominate the battlefield and I do accept that might only be to benefit the military industrial complex.I deleted the next bit about the conspiracy theories and will just say, stick me in a Merkava, maybe an Abrams, but not a Russkie AFV.

Here's a before and after pic of my halftrack camo conversion work. The four on the right took about an hour to do, so a company's-worth to change being no issue, other than I'll lose my dark yellow versions forever.

Steve Zaloga did some nice contrasting between the tanker's choice vs. the the commander's choice (Tiger vs. Sherman kind of thing), sorta a "being the mostest" vs. "getting there with the mostest"……no doubt there will be something like this done on Ukraine someday.

Now from the "gamers" point of view – I've seen gamers play the big [WWII] tanks like they'll always win the day – others instead play them with a fear of losing them (risk aversion). Of course, how many of the big tanks a player gets to command makes a difference in how they proceed forward too.

As DH mentions above – and we don't play many minefields in our tactical wargames, as they just change the whole dynamic and pace of gaming, but Tigers or Abrams all have lost their ways on a prepared battlefield (from Kursk to today's modern fields in Ukraine).

Back to the original comparison – being the mostest vs. getting there with the mostest? – there's this issue of just getting there, so that any tank can start to do its thing.

That is a great looking table and minis there, FlyXwire! The Panzer IV and the half-tracks look great as well.

Thank you Pete!

I'm really pleased how the mat has come out for this one -

That looks fantastic, FlyXwire!

Pete, you might get a kick out of this pics – 45 year old GHQ decals that still do the trick (hey, they're fitting these N-scale Stuarts fine, and still look great after all this time).

Outposting Moncourt on the morning of 19 September, east of Rechicourt was a platoon of M5A1 light tanks, of 1st Platoon, Compnay D, 37th Tank Battalion, who would there encounter advancing elements from the left wing of the German 113 Panzer Brigade.

1/144th scale Stuarts bought off of ebay years ago, and finally painted now (needed for the scenario!).

Great stuff, FlyXwire! I still have some of the older GHQ decals and will be using some of them pretty soon.

I admit that some of my German tactical numbers are a bit brittle and tend to break apart.

For my American stars, I do have an old sheet of GHQ but also some by Microscale Industries that work very well also.

Captain Pete try Liquid Decal Film by Microscale to strengthen the old decals. I use it and it works most of the time.
link

Cpt. Pete – best of luck with your set of decals too.

Ed, that's a great tip!

Thanks, machinehead! I actually bought some of that but have not used it yet.

Thanks very much, FlyXwire! Best of luck on your projects. It is always great to see your stuff here on TMP.