On the Workbench - German Vehicles in Progress

Hobby progress has been a bit of a slow one of late. I started painting the vehicles for my army back in August, but a series of unfortunate events stopped any progress on them. Unfortunately this also stopped me from playing Flames of War, as I only have one army and didn't want to risk chipping my paint jobs that are in progress.

Please be warned, it's a very dreary day in the UK today with a particular lack of natural light so the colours in these photos don't reflect what they actually look like in the flesh.

On the Workbench - Sd.Kfz 251/1 Ausf. D Half-track - Part 2

It's taken some time but I've finally finished the test vehicle for my Flames of War German army, an Sd.Kfz 251/1 Half-track. In the first part of the article I discussed painting the base colours, including the airbrushed camouflage. This time around it is all about weathering!

I'm rather happy with the results considering it's the first piece of WWII armour I've ever painted! The techniques I used were rather simple to do, though in some cases they took a lot of trial and error to get the hang of.

On the Workbench - Sd.Kfz 251/1 Ausf. D Half-track - Part 1

I recently purchased my first airbrush (a Harder and Steenbeck Evolution Silverline 2 in 1) and before I get started attempting late war German 3-tone camo on my backlog of tanks and vehicles, I decided to have a practice on something that I'm not planning on using for the army.

Last year I won a 15 mm scale Plastic Soldier Company Sd.Kfz 251/1 Ausf. D half-track model in a competition run by Osprey Publishing, which proved ideal for a test bed!

Site rebranding to Panzer.GD

As of this afternoon, Panzerwerks has been rebranded to Panzer.GD, complete with our own funky domain name! There may be some teething problems while the migration is in progress (for examples the images have the old watermark) but I'm working to get these fixed as soon as possible.

In the next week I'll be redoing the site layout and colour scheme too, so don't be surprised if the site looks a little different next time you visit.

One unfortunate side effect of the move is that all existing Google+ comments have been lost, but it's a small price to pay for a shiny new domain.

AAR - FHH Panzergrenadiers vs US Engineer Combat Company - No Retreat

This week at the Battlefront HQ gaming club I played against +Gareth Richards in the first game of the round robin tournament for Flames of War. Gareth has organised it to get everyone facing off against new opponents which will be great as I've not played against many different types of list so far and it will be excellent practice!

I'm using the Feldherrnhalle Panzergrenadierkompanie from Grey Wolf, while Gareth used the US Engineer Combat Company from Devil's Charge. I'm using the same list as normal as I've not been able to pick up an extra PaK 38 yet and Dietrich von Saucken is currently awaiting assembly.

After Action Report - Wittmann's Wild Ride

Deployment for Wittmann's Wild Ride

I've always wanted to have a bash at the scenario Wittman's Wild Ride ever since it was published in the Villers Bocage book back in 2008. When Battlefront released the scenario online it seemed like the perfect opportunity to try it out.

On 13th June 1944 SS-Obersturmführer Michael Wittmann in his Tiger I Ausf. E ambushed a column of British vehicles from the 7th Armoured Division on Route Nationale 175, near Villers-Bocage in Normandy. While this ambush was occuring, additional Tigers from the 101st SS Heavy Panzer Battalion engaged British armoured units on Point 213 to the east. In the space of fifteen minutes, between Wittmann and the rest of the 2./s.SS-Pz. Abt. 101 (2nd Company 101st SS Heavy Panzer Battalion) 13–14 tanks, two anti-tank guns and 13–15 transport vehicles had been destroyed for the loss of one Tiger.

Can Wittmann break through or will be stopped by the dogged resistance of the veteran British 7th Armoured Division?

After Action Report - FHH Panzergrenadierkompanie vs Soviet Peredovoye Otryad

Schweres MG 42 from their vantage point on the hill.

At the Battlefront HQ gaming club last week I played another game with my Feldherrnhalle Panzergrenadierkompanie, this time against a Soviet Peredovoye Otryad (Forward Detachment). I'd never faced a Russian army before (ironic as the FFH division only fought on the Ostfront), so it was a nice change of pace.

My list was the same as previous, though now I've used it a few times I'm thinking of tweaking it a little to make it more efficient by adding an extra PaK to the Nebelwerfer platoon and switching out two sMG teams for Von Saucken.

On the Workbench - Sd.Kfz 10/5 Platoon

Providing anti-aircraft support for my Feldherrnhalle Panzergrenadierkompie I have a platoon of leichte Panzer-Selbstfahrlafette 2 cm FlaK 38 auf Fgst. Zugkraftwagen 1t, or Sd.Kfz 10/5 to you and me.

They are a mainstay of my current list, but tend to get left in reserve as I've not come accross many opponents who use aircraft. They've only actually taken to the field a couple of times, but I wouldn't want to go without AA in my list, better to have and not need it than need and not have it.

After Action Report - FHH Panzergrenadiers vs Canadian Armoured Recce - Breakthrough

PaK 40 platoon watching over the main axis of advance.

This Flames of War after action report is for a battle fought at the Battlefront Europe HQ at their weekly game night, where my Feldherrnhalle Panzergrenadiers took on Anders' Canadian Armoured Recce in a 1780pt game using the Breakthrough scenario. This game was actually fought on the 4th July, and was my first experience of playing the Breakthrough mission. As with the previous game, this will be reported for WWPD's Operation Overlord campaign.

This time around there are a few more pics, so it should be a bit more visually interesting. The lists we used are the exact same as for the previously reported game.

On the Workbench - German sGrW 42 Mortar Platoon

The German 12 cm sGrW 42 mortar was copied from the Soviet PM-38 mortar (in turn based on the French Mortier Brandt de 120 mm mle 1935) that was first encountered during Operation Barbarossa. In Flames of War they pack quite a punch, with a 56" range, AT 3 and firepower of 3+. They are however, unable to fire smoke bombardments like their smaller brethren.

Whilst firing, the recoil of the weapon forces the base plate into the ground. To model this, I filed the bottom of the base plate flat, and then built up a ridge with milliput for the mortar legs to stand on. Once painted, I will build up the bases using Vallejo coarse pumice to form a shallow firing pit for the mortars.

After Action Report - FHH Panzergrenadiers vs Canadian Armoured Recce - Encounter

Land Mattresses open fire on the left flank on turn 4

This after action report is for a battle fought at the Battlefront Europe HQ at their weekly game nights, where my Feldherrnhalle Panzergrenadiers took on Anders' Canadian Armoured Recce in a 1780pt game using the Encounter scenario. This is actually a rematch between myself and Anders, as we fought using the same lists the previous week.

Unfortunately this report will be a little light on the photos, as I was concentrating so much on what I was doing that I completely forgot I was supposed to be taking photos until turn three, whoops!

An Introduction to the Panzerwerks

Avro Lancaster Mk Is of No. 44 Squadron RAF over Lincoln, 29 September 1942

So, where to begin? I have set this blog up to document my adventures into the world of wargaming and military modelling, specifically regarding the Second World War.

Several of my family members served with British forces overseas, and my Grandfather crewed a Lancaster Bomber with No. 44 Squadron RAF for the final two years of the conflict, so I was raised on a steady diet of stories surrounding the Second World War.

However, it wasn't until the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings on 2004 that I began to take a real interest in the history of the war. For the week of the anniversary commemorations it seemed the television was full of fascinating documentaries and interviews, and the depth of the subject matter really struck a chord with me.

Like most people who've been through the British education system, I have studied Nazi Germany and the Versailles Treaty in the past but the actual history of how the war progressed was completely new to me. I was like a man possessed, devouring tome after tome of information on everything from campaign histories down to small-unit tactics and technical information on armoured vehicles. It was the latter that truly captured my imagination, I've always found tanks fascinating and like many people who research WWII, I was instantly drawn to the German heavy Tiger and Panther tanks.

Tiger tanks spearheading an assault south of Orel during the Kursk offensive, July 1943

This interest in armour developed into a desire to wargame the conflict, eventually resulting in my purchase of a number of figures for Flames of War, a 15mm scale combined arms wargame. For the few months I have been attending the regular gaming nights at Battlefront Europe's European HQ in Nottingham, where I have been learning the game. It turns out this is a very good motivation to get an army painted!

I will be posting units in my army as they are painted, with the odd painting tutorial or review where appropriate. I'm also taking part in the Operation Overlord campaign that WWPD.net are currently running, so there may be the occasional battle report making an appearance too. I may branch out in the future to include military modelling in 1/48, 1/35 or 1/72 scale, but that may be quite a way down the line.

Anyway, on with the show!