Review - M113 Panzermorser Zug (TGBX09)

History:
The Panzermorser was one of many varieties of the US army M113 troop transporter. This particular modified M113  had the roof opening widened to allow for a 120mm mortar to be fitted and fired.

Photo from www.guildwargamers.com

Review:
The box contains 3 sets of 2 frames to make up 3 Panzermorsers. This is the first M113 I have built and I am surprised by the amount of extra pieces on the frames once the Panzermorsers were fully assembled. It seems there must be just one set of frames for all the different versions.

Ze Box

This set comes with the cards for the unit plus 2 crew for each of the mortars. An additional bag is also supplied that contains the smoke launchers, mortar base plates and Machine guns. Finally there is a set of vehicle commanders.

Contents of the box. Note the pieces on the Right frame.

The kit itself is fairly simple to assemble and fits together extremely well. If in doubt there is an assembly guide on the back and Battlefront have provided an assembly guide here that shows photos of each step.

Photos:
And here is the model fully assembled. I will post again once the little guys are painted. I hope you have enjoyed this review.

Rear view - Note base plate on the rear. Don't note the mould line on the mortar tube.

I have not yet glued the mortar in. I will paint it before gluing.

Painting: Battlefront Leopard IIs (TGBX01)

I reviewed the Leopards here. I then shared my ideas on colours and paints here.

I have finished painting these beautiful models. I had to amend my colour selection slightly. I found the originally planned Black Gray too dark. So I swapped this out for German Gray. I think it looks better. I left a little of the Black Gray underneath to highlight the German Gray above

If you read the painting article above, you will recall that this was to be my experiment with black lining. I decided to go with a simple black paint instead of the panel line. I think it came out OK. However, I need more practice.

Anyway, onto the pictures. I hope you enjoyed my first West German batch.

Company Commander.

A full strength platoon.

Platoon with commander.

And again.

Platoon Commander

Rear view.

Tournament Coverage - NSW Masters

Australia has yet to have a national invitational masters event. Last year was the closest with a New South Wales invitational. This year the masters was open to all but attracted a field of good players from various parts of NSW.

The event was a 5 round 1625 Late War open event. Each player could bring two lists which would be chosen in secret each round by players. The list had to be from the same briefing and had to have the same HQ teams.

As always, the Games Cube was a great host providing top quality tables, terrain and prizes. The store was also jam packed with Team Yankee and Flames of War figures. Scott did a terrific job as To and bye player. Sadly his Churchill's had a tough weekend!

Here are the photos - with commentary - I took of the action over 2 days. I hope you enjoy.

Dave's wintered Panther Company moving into a damaged town

Brit Sherman Company preparing for battle.

Conrad's Panzer IV/70s

And again - Nice Camo.

David's Hero IS2s with Heavy Mortar in the background.

Germans occupying a building.

Neb crews preparing a bombardment

Nicely painted fortifications. In this case used a table scatter terrain.

US Fortified Company defenses.

The Bye army. Churchills anyone?

Lovely Panzer IVs.

German Infantry preparing to hold the cross roads from a US 82nd airborne assault.

One of the tables.

The German defense near the end of the battle with the 82nd.

US Fortified on the defense.

Ruined Town table

Ze Germans!

Grand dad Schmidt and little Hans stop of the Panther assault!

IS2 Company!

The road is a dangerous place to park.

The enemy is that way.. I think.

German infantry set for defense again the hero IS2s.

Soviet Tankovy.

Churchills and German Infantry tussle.

Churchills in trouble.

Last round. Germans set for defense in breakthrough.

Scott on the right starting the presentation. The beautiful print is a lucky door prize.

More Again Decals From the Front

Following on from yesterdays BA10s, today I present the completed Romanian R-2 Tanks. These have also been lingering on my painting desk.

I reviewed the models originally here. Later I posted the fully painted, but not decalled models here

As you will have noticed, I am coming to the end of my Romanian EW project. These R-2 tanks have been the highlight to date. The models, despite being older were easy to put together, they were fun to paint and I think are the best looking unit in the army.

On to the photos. Enjoy!!

Decals, Planning and Romanian Captured BA10s.

So, those who have been following will know that I planned badly have been waiting on decals to finish up my Romanian vehicles. The good news is that they have arrived so I can finish up the tanks that have been sitting on my desk taunting me.

I also picked up the last 3 anti tank guns I needed to finish up my list, but that is a post for another day.

For those who haven't been following, I reviewed some BA10s here. I then went ahead and painted them here. You can also see the paints and steps I used.

You will recall that I couldn't find any pictures of Romanian captured vehicles, so I got creative with my decals.

Anyway, without further ado, they are now finished. Here are some pics. I hope you enjoyed the journey of these little guys.