Review: Battlefront Panzer IIIL/N (GE063)

Today is Panzer III review III.

That's right, it is the 3rd and final Panzer III review for my MW project - well at least for now.

History:
I have covered a short history of the Panzer III up to the J model in my Panzer IIIJ review. The L was the next model after the J. The difference between these 2 models was 20mm additional armour on the turret and hull front. The M followed and had additional side armour. The N model mounted the short barrel 75mm cannon. The N was the last Panzer III production model.

Panzer IIIM - Photo from wikipedia

Panzer IIIN - Photo from achtungpanzer.com

Review:
The GE063 Blister from Battlefront is capable of making the Panzer IIIL or the Panzer IIIN. I have chosen to build my models as Panzer IIIN.

The contents of my blister were all undamaged. The blister contains a resin hull and turret, a metal turret box, 2 metal gun options, an open and closed metal cupola and 2 metal commander options. I had the normal work to do cleaning up the metal components.

At the moment I have just assembled one. I have a total of 3 to make. I will likely hit the spares box after the 3 are fully assembled and add some stowage to these tanks. You will see how they ended up once I post up the painted models.

In the Game:
The Panzer IIIN is largely the same as the IIIL or IIIJ except that there is a slightly shorter range, a better FP and HEAT. In a new game where vehicle have a chance to remount before testing, you want to convert as many penetrations to kills as possible. A firepower of 3 will do that two-thirds of the time, a firepower of 4+ will do that only half the time. The N therefore has a clear advantage.

The 2nd reason for taking the N is that HEAT rounds don't provide the opponent to add +1 to armour saves at long range. This makes their armour the same at either range while the IIIN does add +1 for it's own saves at long range.

And because I can, here are the 3 panzers I have reviewed this week. I hope you have enjoyed this review.

3 pretty panzers in a row. From L to R - PzIIIN, PzIIIJ Late and Rettemeier.

Review: Battlefront Oberst Rettemeier in Panzer IIIJ (GE886)

Today I review a hero no longer available in V4.

Why is he reviewing a warrior that cannot be taken I hear you ask? Well this is one of those beautiful one-off warrior figures that are nicely designed and perfect to lead my new MW desert Panzer force.

The Oberst Rettemeier hero was available in the V2 book North Africa. He could also be used in V3. Sadly there are no warriors in V4 MW yet. I don't know if there will be down the track either. The figure is available in the on-line store. If you want to know more about the man and the model, there is also a spotlight.

Regular readers will know I reviewed the Battlefront Panzer IIIJ here. The review will provide a brief history of the Panzer III. The Panzer IIIJ in that review will be my 2ic.

So onto the review. The model comes with a resin hull and turret, 2 metal tracks, a metal barrel and command figure (Rettemeier). There are no options here. The turret box is attached, the turret hatch is opened. So, I assembled the figure as designed. Being that I want this to be my company commander and not the specific character that the model was designed for, I cut down the 5cm long to a 5cm short. I want my HQ section to be Panzer III short 5cms. The model was well cast with only a tiny bit of clean up on the metal parts. This mould clearly hasn't been spun as many times as a standard tank and therefore seems much crisper.

Unlike the standard panzer III, this model is covered in stowage. There are sand bags, tarps, jerry cans, spare track, spare road wheels, drums and crates. All this will help my 1ic to stand out from the other tanks in the army.

As I said in my previous review, don't discount the old resin and metal models. The character models especially are great for adding variety to your force.

I cannot wait to paint up this vehicle, I hope you enjoyed this review.

Review: Battlefront Panzer IIIJ (GE033)

Today I dive into the lead mountain and V4 with some Panzer IIIs for my DAK desert force.

So, like many I am excited by V4 and more so the new desert forces. I will likely pick up some of the new plastic Battlefront panzers but I have 5 old school resin and metal Panzer IIIs sitting in my lead pile - it would be a shame not to use them.

History:
The Panzer III was originally designed as a vehicle to fight other tanks. However the size of it's turret meant it could not be upgraded to a large enough gun to fight the T34s on the Eastern Front. Production ended in 1943 but the chassis continued to be used for the mass-produced Stug III.

PzIIIJ Early

Early Panzer IIIs mounted the 37mm cannon so as to have common ammunition with the infantry weapon - the pak 36. The 37mm gun was replaced in later models with a short barrel 5cm gun and later the long barrel 5cm gun. The final production model, the panzer IIIN mounted the short barrel 7.5cm gun.

PzIII in the Desert

It was the J model that saw the transition from the short barrel to the long barrel 5cm gun. These 2 models were called the J early and the J late.

Review:
These are old models. The metal frame that holds the various gun options is stamped 2008. It is well documented that Battlefront have made real progress with their new plastic range since these old Panzers rolled off the production line. Quite simply, the plastics go together with a minimum of fuss. Sadly, these old resin and metal panzers don't fit so well together. This is not new information I hear you say, I knew this before I popped this model out of the blister.

The model is made up of a resin hull, resin turret, 2 metal tracks, 2 different commanders, an open and closed capola and 2 guns - a short barrel 5cm and a long barrel 5cm. I plan to use this as my 2ic so put a commander in the open cupola and installed the short 5cm gun.

The metal parts had quite a bit of flash and needed extensive cleanup. The assembled model doesn't rest perfectly level on the table. However, these old Panzers are nice models. I have always had a soft spot for these old Battlefront resin and metal models.

The reason that I am posting a review of this model and more different panzer III blisters in the future is that they still provide nice vehicles and variety beyond the new plastics. So, if you have some of these old boys in the lead pile, pull them out and paint them up!

Painting: Battlefront Roland Flak Batterie (TGBX08)

Today I test fire the Rolands for my new West Germans.

A while back I un-boxed and reviewed the Battlefront Roland box set. I also reviewed the history of these self propelled West German flak vehicles. You can find that article here.

After some real world delays, I have finally managed to get these 2 Rolands painted up.

I followed my now established paint scheme. For anyone new to this army project, you can find the refined formula here in the Luch article. Like the Gepards, I used the Soviet Green spray as a base coat. 

These vehicles haven't been varnished yet so you might see some gloss varnish around the decals. This will disappear once varnished.

I have another pair of these to paint up which will give me a unit of 4.

I hope you enjoyed my review and painting articles for these lovely models. 

Review: Battlefront Fast Food Restaurant.

Today I un-box one of Battlefronts new Battlefield in a Box (BiaB) Team Yankee buildings - The Fast Food Restaurant or McPizza King.

The building is available on the Battlefront website for US$40 or AU$59 from my local store.

The building comes in the now very familiar BiaB outer box. Like always, it is fully painted, fully assembled and ready to use.

Ironically, unlike your favourite 1980's burger, this packaging is without polystyrene. The packaging is limited to a cardboard wrap and a lot of bubble wrap. A minor quibble but I like to store my buildings in their original box and this building doesn't really have one.

The building is simple enough, a whitewashed exterior with a white-lined red roof. The building is an amalgam of iconic US fast food joints. 

It is great that Battlefront are supporting Team Yankee with more modern buildings and terrain. This certainly fits the bill. I like that this can stand alone or be part of a series of other buildings. It wont work on a WW2 board but will look fine on a Team Yankee board with WW2 buildings.

Who remembers those hideous orange tiles?

As an extra, Battlefront have released a PDF to add window and other details to the building. The PDF is here.

This is a large building and will certainly draw attention on the table. It is nicely detailed and would look even better with a parking lot. However, at sixty dollars, it is a fairly large investment and the price is in line with the large building catagory. I think this is a good option for a Team Yankee regular. For a FOW regular who plays the occasional game of Team Yankee, I think the warehouse is probably a better place to start as it can be used on the WW2 table.

Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed the review. Feel free to leave feedback.

V4 Launch and Sabre Tournament - Mega Games Penrith

Last weekend at Mega-Games Penrith, the Panzer Angriff club and the store offered a V4 launch event. The club setup a desert table with fully painted forces to demonstrate the game to anyone who wanted to play. Every time I checked there was a game going. What a great way to learn the new game!

British demo army

DAK demo army.

The Panzer Angriff guys organised for a copy of the new DAK and Brit books to be signed by the BF design team. Everyone that purchased something went into the draw to win one. I was lucky enough to win the British book! Lucky me!

New V4 books and cards ready on the demo table.

The new MW rules, the new free books, some of the new accessories and the box sets were on offer for those keen to get into the V4 desert stuff early.

Demo table

The store also hosted the annual Sabre Late War event. 18 players turned out for 5 games of LW to say goodbye to V3.

Mega Games playing area.

After 2 days of play, Scott lifted the perpetual plaque.

Swashbuckling Scott.

Canadian Rams

Mike and Geoff dancing during a quiet moment.

Ross and Nathan

Mitch's cool fortified Germans.

One of several very nice snow tables.

6 pounders

AVREs. No they didn't get to fire their main gun.

Brits advancing

Volksturm on the defense.

I hope you enjoyed coverage of the event.