I painted some panzers

In preparation for tackling the steam tanks from the All Quiet on the Martian Front starter set I picked up at Historicon, I decided to get some practice on half a dozen Zvezda tanks from my lead pile. Only problem? I've only painted one or two tanks ever, and that was a decade ago.

Zvezda Panzer II

I can whip out a dozen Romans with one eye cocked at the TV, but working through these tanks has proved quite a challenge. During every step of the process I've had to read up on tutorials, check YouTube videos, and experiment with various paints, pigments, and powders. My initial stab at several soviet tanks ran into trouble, so I switched to a pair of Zvezda Panzer II kits with more success.

Building them was a breeze, and they received a coat of black primer, followed by some Plastic Soldier Company panzer gray. I experimented with modulation highlights using a new Iwata airbrush and some of the gray colors from the Vallejo Allied Model Air set.

I picked out details and crevices with a thinned wash of black ink and applied some decals from I-94 (I was too timid to try and apply turret numerals, as there didn't appear to be enough room). I used dark brown/black paint applied with a sponge to simulate chipped paint (I may have gone a bit overboard), and then dusted the tanks with Mig pigments.

It took quite a while, with a lot of trial and error along the way, but I certainly feel I've got a better handle on armor modeling. And look at these tiny Zvezda panzers, they're just adorable.

WWII Germans in Color

I've seen color WWII photos and films before, but I still find them rare enough to be novelties. A set of German propaganda pics popped up on Reddit. I found them interesting and thought you might too.

Panzer III?

Is that a lend lease Sherman and T-34 on the easter front?

In researching German uniforms I was aware that the Hollywood gray was much lighter than what the Heer actually wore, being darker and greener like the dirty faced fellow below:

But check out the uniforms on this anti-tank crew. Even taking into account the altered hues in this early color film, their uniforms are nearly black. Is that a "trick of the light", or did the uneven production quality of German textile mills produce such sinister looking uniforms?



More photos available from the original imgur album.

The Last Hurrah of my 20mm World War II miniatures

20mm tanks by Revell and Italeri, SS infantry by Pegasus

I started my wargaming career with two sets of opposing forces: Revell and Italeri World War II Germans and Americans. I had stumbled across wargaming after trying to find out more information regarding HBO's "Band of Brothers" while it was on the air. In the image search of my Google results I saw a number of World War II miniatures staged on some intricate European terrain. I was familiar with  the fantasy side of gaming, but this was my first exposure to historicals.  That single image lead me down the rabbit hole to Crossfire, TMP and the whole world of WWII wargaming, but with a limited budget at the time, I jumped into the hobby with the cheapest option available: 1/72nd scale plastics.

Apparently the Germans didn't really use the shoulder mount? Too bad, I was really proud of my custom job on that.

I slowly put together the antagonists, fumbling my way through uniform research, painting German oak leaf camouflage, basing, and trying to figure out what the heck a "Stug" was ("they made tanks without turrets???"). My gaming group played quite a few Crossfire games and I had grand plans to expand into the Battle of the Bulge, the Eastern Front, and Italy, but I became distracted by ancients and over time my additions to my WWII collection slowed.  We still broke Crossfire out occasionally, but the lack of tanks and the focus on platoons didn't quite scratch my WWII itch.

With my latest surge in interest in WWII gaming, my long time game partner Mike taking his first steps into painting up and army, and our decision to drop to 15mm in order to get more vehicles on the table, it looks like my 20mm collection may be shelved for some time. As a send off we got them on the table for at least one more game, but this time trying out the Blitzkrieg Commander demo rules just to see how they compared to the other rules we've been looking at. Pics after the jump.

"Eastern Inferno", an Eastern Front Kindle eBook

I've been reading FIFTH GUARDS TANK ARMY AT KURSK to get a handle on the Eastern Front. I'm enjoying it as a high level perspective on the lead up to the Battle of Kursk, but so far there have only been a few snippets of company sized engagements that could be turned into a wargame scenario. I have the German counterpart volume, but I'm betting I'll have to dig into some more personal accounts to construct scenarios for potential games.

I happened to see Eastern Inferno: The Journals of a German Panzerjager on the Eastern Front, 1941-43, a Kindle eBook mentioned on the WWPD forum, on sale for less that $2.00. I haven't read it, but thought I'd pass on the news in case anyone else was searching for personal accounts of Eastern Front combat to turn into wargame scenarios.