MOAB 2016 - Flames of war - Day 3

Day 3 dawns and 2 more games to go. 8 games is a long event but does provide plenty of game time for keen FOW'ers. 

The tournament was ably organised by Nigel who ran a fun and well organised event. It was won by John - Well done. The sponsors were very generous and there were prizes for all plus a box of box of buildings for the "terrain pool".

Overall the level of painting and terrain was excellent. Here are the some pics I snapped on the last day.

German Halftrack

One of my new HMGs on the table

Ambushing Panzers. Achtung!

Another table shot.

German Grenadiers

RSO Pak 40.

And one more table shot.

And with that, another tournament is done. I hope you enjoyed the coverage. Please feel free to leave a message.

Panzer IIN Platoon Finished!

In my previous post, I converted some Panzer IIIs. I still need to paint them to be ready for the weekend. Here is the step by step process I went through.

First up white undercoat. In the past, I used a black undercoat but a friend suggested that white means the base colour will be more vibrant. I don't know why but it works. This is a plastic soldier matt white.

Next up some Dunkelgelb or dark yellow. This is from the army painter spray can.

Next up a wash all over with army painter strong tone. This is from the dropper bottle and is applied with a brush

I then paint all the raised areas in middlestone (this is a perfect match for the earlier spray). I am careful to leave all the crevices that had been hit with the wash.

Next some camo. I used reflective green and chocolate brown. First I mix the camo colour 50/50 with the middlestone and water it down. I then paint within the lines just the raw camo colour. This is something I picked up from the battlefront website. This is only the 2nd time I have tried this technique.
I then painted the tracks cavalry brown. This represents the German factory primer.

Nearly there now.
Next I add some flat earth to show battlefield dust and dirt on tracks, wheels and mudguards.
Then a quick light highlight of Iraqi sand to catch the edges.
Finally some decals and a spray of matt varnish.
Here is the unit on patrol.

Panzer IIIN Conversion

So, I need some Panzer IIINs with schurzen for a game on the weekend. Somewhere in the lead mountain, there must be a box of these.

There isn't.

However there is 4 Gaming Models PzIIIL/M without Schurzen. So lets have a crack at some conversion work. How hard can it be?!?!

Panzer IIIN


Photo from worldwarphotos.info

The Panzer IIIN was the last production model of the Panzer III and entered production in 1942. It was armed with the short barreled 75mm gun and 2 machine guns.

So, onto the models. Gaming models (http://www.gamodls.com/) fall into the cheap and cheerful category. They are all resin, come fully assembled and undercoated, have a huge range and work well as wargaming pieces. They are not showcase models. I have used them in the past as a good way to get a large army on the table cheaply, to test a new army or to use as a once off.



These have been sitting in my cupboard for years and were purchased when i first got into FOW as part of a huge batch of tanks that could quickly get me onto the table. Sadly, they have sat in the cupboard ever since. Being that I need some Panzer IIIs for the weekend, it seemed like a opportunity to get these out and at least use them.

So, I need to cut the barrel down to make it look like a short 75. Yes, I know that the L and M had a long 50mm but at 1:100 scale, is there really a difference? I also need to find or construct some schurzen.

I had some plastic solider Panzer IVs schuzen in my bits box. So these might do the job. I cut off a panel, removed the supporting rail and dry fitted them. It worked. I then just cut the bottom of the last panel and the first side skirt was on.

There should also be skirts on the turrets but this was more time than I was willing to spend. I said that I might only used them once, didn't I? I am happy that anyone will see them and know that they are equipped with schuzen.



Being that these were to be used in a LW list, I expect they have been in the field for some time. I wanted them to look battle worn, I have therefore removed a few panels to simulate battle damage.



So, with that, the conversion work is over. Next up, painting.