'Bout time for a game!

Got a game in with Ken today at Zia Comics, Late War 1750.  I ran Cassino Fallschirmjäger and he ran a Polish armored company with Shermans and Sherman Fireflies.  We rolled for a Hold the Line and I defended.

Deployment: I chose to defend the river and placed my Objective in the center of the deployment area, in the patch of trees near the road and river.  My small FJ platoon is holding it and the house near the bridge.  Ken placed his Objective in the patch of trees on the opposite side of the river and I placed my large FJ platoon there.  Ken's tanks and supporting infantry are spread out around his deployment area, his 25 pound battery in on the far hill.

Ken's recon Stuarts move up to the trees opposite the large FJ platoon supported by a platoon of infantry.  

Fallschirmjäger holding the river bank.  Attatched MG42s ope up on Ken's infantry, killing two stands.

Having given away their position, Ken's artillery is able to range in.  Fire from the Shermans kill three stands of FJs.

The Marder IIs reveal their Ambush, killing a Firefly from the left platoon and killing two Shermans and Bailing two more from the center platoon.  The latter platoon fails a Fearless motivation check and breaks.

The StuG platoon arrives and prepares to engage the left side Shermans now that the Firefly is gone.

My 10.5s arrive from Reserve as Ken's troops prepare to cross the river near the bridge.

Ken kills a Marder with artillery fire on his turn and crosses the river.  He attempts to Assault the FJs in the bridge house, but they are pushed back by defensive fire.  On my turn the Marders and StuGs kill three Shermans and Bail two more.  The smaller FJ platoon moves out to push back the troops near the bridge.  The panzershrek team kills the Stuart on the bridge and Assaults the infantry platoon that crossed the river, destroying it.  Ken calls it and the Fallschirmjäger hold the line 6-1.

Good to get a game in, it's been too long.  I've heard that there might be a small tournament about three hours away in May, let's see if I can get something new painted by then.  Maybe 150. Panzerbrigade or Hermann Georing troops?  Looking forward to the new Italy compilations.

Marder III H Platoon

These were my tank hunters.  They came out pretty good but I'm not super happy with the camo.  Still want to do some more work on the running gear too.  They performed very well for me since I went up against so many Tankovy lists.

I love the 38t chassis in all of it's incarnations.  I also needed to find some new crew figs for variety and used some dudes from other tank hunter types, a halftrack commander and a bailed out tank crewman.

I used some heavy tissue paper and folded it over a few spots that got airbrush ovespray.  They also broke up the 'sameness' of the three since there are no appropriate spare track links available.

I like how the 'canvas tarp' hugged the platform on this one.  My favorite of the three.

Shifting Sands Army Build- Part Three

I decide upon Marders as my fouth platoon so that I'd be able to kill KV-1s and also to give me enough shots vs. Tankovy.  They really proved their worth in every round.  I tried a camouflage sceme on these but it didn't come out as fine as I would have liked.  I contemplated repainting them, but with time running out before the event I stuck with the larger style.

Raw out of the blister.  Went with Marder III Hs since that's what was historically at Kursk.

I made sure to sand the flat surfaces but had to be careful with all the rivets.  Left the top cover off for airbrushing so I didn't miss any parts of the gun.

Stowage and crew layout.  I used some different crew than came with the models to add some variety.

After airbrushing.  Tamiya Olive Green XF-58 for the camo.  Gotta buy a finer point nozzle for the airbrush before I try anything more detailed.

Final product.  

HQ and StuH Platoon

The StuHs were supposed to be my major hitter against infantry and guns.  I reality, I faced three Tankovy lists without any of these...  In the one game vs. Strelk I had they performed brilliantly.  The earliest models of StuH were based on the F chassis so I wasable to use the models I already had collecting dust on my painting table.  The HQ tank was also modified from an F back to an E model.

StuG E Company Commander.  I used the Gosewich hero figure as my CiC because I wanted some kind of focal point.

StuH platoon came out pretty nice, I have to admit they were a little hurried.  I finished them the day I left for the event.  

I still want to add tie-down ropes on the stowage and do some more to dirty up the running gear.

Modded figs on the Command StuH, a chopped Begliet gunner and head swapped commander.

Re-used StuG G platoon from my Cassino Fallschirmjäger.