Zig-Zug

I’ve been painting a platoon of Panzergrenadiers for Chain of Command recently, and I’m almost there. In fact, I thought I was there, until I tallied up my forces and realized I was two MG-42s short. A slight oversight!  Actually completing a unit would be completely out of character, for me, so I’ll just put up pictures of what I do have done, but will leave the offending Zug 3 out of the photos as punishment for having left their MG teams behind.

My real reason for posting these, is I’d love to hear some comments, criticisms, and suggestions about painting Germans and having them ‘pop’ on the table. These guys don’t look too dull up close and on camera, but they totally fade into the table at 3′ or more.

Ok. The figures (all Fantassin/Warmodelling, by the way).

Zug 1 on the Move (Plus a really badly painted Stug)

German squads are made up of two LMG teams. Team one on the left, team two on the right. I think this Stug was the second or third thing I painted when I started this mad wargaming thing. It shows.

Zug 2 assaults the farmhouse! (rather lazily on the right)

There’s that pesky Stug again. Notice the squad leader (a junior leader, in Chain of Command terms) has his base outlined in sky blue. I’m still debating whether or not that’s a good idea. It definitely takes away from the diorama approach, but I think I’m ok with that.

You can have additional forces in Chain of Command. These are a few of mine. Plus a senior leader for the platoon.

These are mostly support forces for Chain of Command. They are added on to your base platoon in a don’t-call-it-a-points-system-points-system way. These forces can range from a jeep (if you’re cool) to a King Tiger (if you’re not). I have a PZIIL on order, which is nearly as rare as a King Tiger but almost as ineffective as a jeep. I’m not sure where that puts me on the cool scale. Probably not very high.

If you’re still reading this, the forces in the picture are, from left to right, a sniper team, a forward observer (most likely for mortars), a tripod mounted MG-42, and the fellow on the far right is the platoon lieutenant. Who isn’t a support force. And who’s supposed to have an attached Panzerschrek team. Which is why he’s hanging out with these non-standard types, for the moment. You’ll notice he has a red ring around the rosey, as all senior leader will, if I adhere to this scheme.

Any advice?

I’ve Been Busy!

Like a butterfly, I float around from project to project with no particular direction.

In this particular case, I’ve made it back to my initial 1/72 (20mm, actually) WW2 skirmish project. I started this project with Valiant plastics, which are just ridiculously huge and look like they could punch out a Sherman tank if they connected with a good solid punch. I’ve switched to 20mm metals now, and all miniatures shown are Warmodelling/Fantassin, as purchased from Scalecreep miniatures, from whom I received good service. The US jeep model is by Academy, and looks a bit weird to me. For the first time, I suffered the woes of decal silvering, so I’ve invested in some Microsol and Microset for my next effort.

A few US infantry and Jeep with .50 cal Machinegun

I dig these miniatures…they have nice dynamic poses. That said, the faces are a bit vague, and there were a couple of broken bits (such as the guy in the middle’s Garand barrel).

Academy Jeep with a few Warmodelling US Rider figures.

Obviously I haven’t weathered the Jeep yet. You should have seen the decals before a dozen applications of MicroSol. They were really bad before. Yes, I realize they’re still really bad.