Painting: Axis and Allies Sd Kfz 231 (8-Rad).

Today recce patrols spot a new DAK unit.

I shared a review of the Axis and Allies (A&A) 8-rads earlier in the week. I have since then added some stowage and a BF commander.

I painted these up last weekend but real life and travel has conspired to prevent me from posting them up.

 I followed the same painting plan as I used on the earlier DAK units.

These were a joy to paint. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Review: Axis and Allies Sd Kfz 231 (8-rad)

Today I take a look at another Axis and Allies (A&A) model - The Sd Kfz 231 (8-rad).

Like the A&A panzer IIIs I reviewed a while back, these models have been sitting on the shelf for several years. It seemed crazy to not paint these up for my new DAK force.

Like all A&A models, these came fully assembled, pre-painted and table ready. They are painted in an appropriate colour (for Europe anyway) and are decalled. They are a great easy way to build a force if you can still find some of these.

On the negative side though, these are not highly detailed showcase pieces. They are designed as game pieces. The tires, 20mm cannon barrel and hatches are all lacking in any real details. The turret doesn't rotate and most notably on these models in particular, the paint job is very average. The turret and hull are different shades of gray and the wash has been badly applied.

I will paint these up and see how they go. Before I do, I will wash these in soapy water, apply some stowage and try to fit a commander in the hatch. Stay tuned for a painting post. I hope you enjoyed this review.

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.

Tournament - Cancon Day 2 - Team Yankee

Today I share some photos from the 2nd day of Team Yankee at Cancon.

If you missed day 1's Team Yankee photos, you can follow the link here. For day 1 Flames of War photos, follow the link here.

Day 2 was the beauty parade. No, that is not geek fashion event but rather a chance for players to showcase their armies for the painting prizes. Aside from best painted, there were also to be prizes for objectives, best units, best tables and best aircraft.

Anyway, roll the photos... Enjoy!

Brits - Who said this wasn't any infantry game.

Soviet Tanks

The Greeks. Check out the awesome objectives.

West Germans in winter camo.

More Brits.

Soviet Union with Hind cover.

US forces enter a town.

USSR protecting the newly taken Mac Pizza King

Whitewashed West-Germans

West Germans again. They were everywhere.

Painting - German Infantry for a friend

A while back, a mate of mine gave me a couple of blisters for my Romanians. I wanted to return the favour and paint up some spare Battlefront German Grenadier figures I had laying around and give them back to him for an army he is short some figures for.

As it turns out, this small project comes at the perfect time as they provide a change of pace from the Romanians I have been painting.

I haven't based these as I am sure he will want to mix them in with some other figures to complete units.

I have another batch undercoated that I will finish up in the next week too.

Anyway here they are. I hope you enjoy the pics as much as I have enjoyed painting them.

Tournament Coverage: Waffenbruder 2016 - Day 2

For day one coverage, please click here

Thanks to the Hasty Attack corespondent, here are some pics of day 2.

I understand David and Conrad won. Well done to them.

Deployment

Street Barricades

Defense set

Tankovy and the railway to no where

Tankovy on the attack

Tournament Coverage: Waffenbruder 2016 Newcastle

An exciting doubles event is being held in Newcastle this weekend at the Gallipoli Club in Hamilton.

Each pair takes a 1800 point list from Grey Wolf and a 1800 point list from Red Bear. Each player plays on their own table against an opponent list from the other book.

10 brave warriors are competing.

Sadly I couldn't make it but a Hasty Attack corespondent has shared some photos of day ones action. Hope you enjoy.

David and James.

Assault across the river.

Panzer Angriff

Soviet Armour Blunted.

I cannot work out which way this photo should be!

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.

Semovente 105/25 or the Small World of Toy Tanks.

Story:

At MOAB one of the key draw cards is The Bring and Buy stand. This is where players consign lots of unwanted figures to the organizers who sell these on the owners behalf for a 10% cut.

I stopped by and picked up four nicely painted Semovente 105/25. I have been looking for these models for a while as I have wanted to use them in some of the Late War Italian lists.

Taking my spoils back to the FOW area, I showed them to one of the painters of the group, Ben. Ben quickly informed me that he had actually painted them years earlier as a commission job.

The world of toy tanks and man dollies is indeed small!

History:

The Semovente 105/25 is an Italian built self-propelled gun. 12 were built and saw service under the Italian flag in 1943. After the Italian surrender, the Germans captured these units and built a further 91 vehicles. These vehicles then saw service in Italy and the Balkans.

Looking at photos of the vehicles in WW2, the Semovente 105/25 had a distinctive camouflage scheme different to the models I picked up. Oh well, they look pretty.

Pictures:

And onto the eye candy…