6MMRPC Week Four: DAK 2.8cm PzB 41

Mission accomplished, I guess!  I finished the anti-tank rifle that I started last week, having located some suitable spackle at the local hardware store, and was able to get a match to the basing I originally did more than twelve years ago.  The figures painted up quickly and the gun was already painted sometime last decade.  I also finished a barrel swap for a Panzer III, giving me an undergunned, but cheaper HQ tank for my future DAK Panzerkompanie for V4 Flames of War.  This will give me a 75 point force to practice with!

I found my old formula for the basing, fine spackle, Vallejo Khaki paint, and a sprinkle of sand.

Gun and crew by Battlefront.

I downgraded this Panzer III N to a short 5cm KwK armed Panzer III J to squeeze a few points out of the list for V4.

I'm not counting the tank against my mountain since I only had to paint and swap the gun barrel, but the gun counts.  I finally get to subtract something from my pile of lead!  The single stands so far haven't helped thin the numbers, as I only count full platoons of infantry on my inventory sheet.

6MMRPC Week Three: DAK 2.8cm sPzB 41 In Progress

With V4 becoming the new norm for Flames of War I wanted to update my Africa Korps forces to fit the new lists.  Many of my vehicles are so far unusable, but I hope that future lists will help with that soon.  I was able to get a Panzer list together with stuff I already have, I just need to build a single Anti-Tank Rifle for the infantry platoon and swap a few gun barrels on some Panzer IIIs.

I switched back to the long 5cm gun from the short 7.5cm guns I was using previously on the Panzer IIIs.  This is what I'll be trying out at 75 points.  I still need to finish the short 5cm gun on the HQ Panzer III.

I was ready to do the basing on this last night, but my spackle had dried up.  This is now a mandatory item in the infantry platoon.

Nothing finished this week, but there was some progress!

6MMRPC Week Two: Fallschirmjäger Anti-tank Rifle Team

Another week, one more stand to show for it.  I'm trying to finish a few partially started projects before I dive into something more labor intensive, especially with only a few weeks until we pack everything up and move.  I originally started this for a Mid War list, but now with V4 there isn't even a Fallschirmjäger list available for that period.  Hopefully Battlefront will get something together for them within the next few releases, but I can still use it for the Early War list from Burning Empires (I think).

I tried to match the rubble look of my other FJ stands, figures from Battlefront.

Added some striping to the interior wall for some visual interest, wallpaper or something.

Hope I get to use this someday!

One Last Roundup in El Paso

With a move back to California on the horizon, I wanted to get one last event in with the local group of guys.  Alex has taken over the TO responsibilities down at Military Gamer Supply in El Paso and wanted to run a V4 Late War tournament at 1850 points.  I ran my usual 1. Fallschirmjäger troops but used some support items that so far have gone untried with this force.  

In V4 this list would give me five Formation platoons and three Support platoons, making it tough to break.  

The first round would see me going up against Eric and his Soviet Peredovoye Otryad, or Forward Detatchment, in the new Annihilation mission.  I knew this mission would be a tough one for me, as you only win if you break the opponent's Formation.  There are no Objectives.  Two Fearless forces would likely make this a draw.

I deployed my small FJ platoon, the HMGs, and the Marder IIs here in this small patch of trees.

The large FJ platoon,  LG 40s,  Panzerwerfers, and the StuG IIIs would deploy here, with the Mortars in the center.  Two of my StuGs would immediately Bog Down, but I destroyed a couple of Stuarts.

Eric would continue his push down the side of the table, wary of my StuG IIIs.

His T-34/76s would use the other extreme side of the table, safely dodging from tree to tree to avoid the Marder IIs.

The LG 40s would bag a few more Stuarts, weakening their unit, but I would lose the Panzerwerfers.

My sniper would harass Eric's Heavy Mortars for most of the game.

As predicted, we timed out.  So many Soviet tanks and not enough firepower from my side, and too many Fearless infantry for him to dig out for Eric.  I lost my StuG IIIs and Panzerwerfers, and didn't destroy any of his units, making the score 3-1 in Eric's favor.

I learned several things in my first V4 tournament game:  Il-2s are really, really nasty!  They killed all four of my StuGs in one pass...  Tree templates need to be marked with the 2" zone of 'I can still see you', and I will be doing that with my terrain.  Woods terrain pieces will need to become larger to stay effective.  Infantry still can't do much against that many tanks, even if they move further.  Annihilation may not be a tournament mission, unless it's at the end of a long event.

In the second round I would be matched up against Aaron and his Finnish Jääkärikomppania in Counterattack.

I didn't really see myself being able to break through Aaron's defenses so decided to swing most of my force toward the open Objective.  He would move two of his units to counter, and rely on his reserves to assist.

I was able to thin out some of his infantry while it was moving to the objective, and had plenty of firepower to intercept his reserves.

I would lose two StuGs to a combination of T-34/85s and PaK40s, but the rest of my armor would survive.  After a string of disastrous rolls by his infantry, Aaron would concede victory.  

Aaron's Finns were really unlucky in this one, both of his Warriors would roll ones to run off the board.  This would leave him without much to contest the objective and I took this one 8-1.

In the last round I faced Vince and his German Schwere Panzerkompanie with Otto Carius in command.  The mission was Encounter.

Carius and his friends would rampage across the table without anything to fear from my list.  While closing, Carius and Kerscher could ignore modifiers for range and concealment.  They would take out my Panzerwerfers early before reaching my FJs.

I made a pretty solid push on his objective, but reserves move so fast now!  My FJs remained pinned for a turn and that would cost me big time.  Hs 129 B3s are nasty too!  Once my armor was done, so was I.

I had a slim chance here, but the delay sunk me.  I would destroy a battery of 3.7cm FlaK guns, but Vince would win 8-1.

In all, I still find the potential of V4, I just don't think non-mobile infantry have much of a future in a competitive setting.  It's early though, so I could be wrong, of course.  I just think that mobile infantry and armored lists can do everything better, especially since there's no advantage to sitting still now.  I'll be looking at a more mobile list soon, maybe Panzer Lehr or a Desperate Measures Panzer list.

6MMRPC Week One: Fallschirmjäger Sniper

I don't have much to show this week butI consider it a victory.  The store down in El Paso was hosting a V4 event last weekend and I was determined to paint at least this one stand so I could try something new.  He came out pretty good and I was able to dress up the base to match the rest of the army which is now four or five years old.

The figure is from Battlefront, probably from the old Festungskompanie box set from a decade ago.  The base is also from Battlefront's Urban Rubble set.

I bulked up the base with a mix of ballast, stones, and balsa scraps.

Obligatory WIP shot!

It's a small start, but I painted something!

6 Month Mountain Reduction and Painting Challenge- 2017 Edition

Back in 2015 I had the pleasure of participating on the Six Month Mountain Reduction and Painting Challenge, and painted up a pretty fair amount of minis.  Last year there was a three-month version that I failed at completely, but I'm going to give it another go this year, though the first month I'll be prepping for a move back to California and I'm not sure what I'll be able to get worked on.  Rules are similar to previous years:

1. No purchasing of new miniatures, except if you use a Joker.  You get three Jokers to use on a miniature purchase.  Can be a blister pack, an eBay bundle, or a single figure.  The only exception is if you need to buy a single figure to complete a unit.  In addition, you can earn additional Jokers by completing an entire project, complete with starting, WIP, and final pictures.

2. Gifts do not count against you.  Holidays, birthdays, and gift cards given to you do not count against you.

3. Paint, terrain, and hobby supplies do not count against you.

4. At least one hobby-related blog or Instagram post a week.

5. Zombie-related stuff during October is encouraged. 

I'd like to finish a few partially built items for my Flames of War Fallschimjäger, get started in V4 Mid War Flames of War, and maybe get to some Star Wars Armada ships.  It might be really slow until I get moved next month, but I hope it picks up from there!