Project Panzer Lehr Part Two

So with the lists decided for Sturm uber Normandie, I set about building and painting. Two months very quickly became one month in the countdown to the tournament and not much was progressing due to a combination of a busy time at work and rediscovering Wargame Airland Battle.... Focus damn it! I had submitted my lists to the tournament organisers, so I was committed to fielding an army mostly built and painted specially for it!

With six weeks to go how was I doing? Well the three infantry platoons were all cleaned up and blue-tac'd to wooden garden plant labels, which as an aside, is the easiest way to paint up Flames of War scale infantry by a long way! Not sure why I didn't start doing it ages ago as it allows for fast and accurate painting. What else, well two Grille H's I decided I wasn't fielding were ready to go, there was my focus wandering again... I had built all the half tracks I needed though! The HQ platoon has three, four for each mounted infantry platoon and three for the mortar platoon. In addition I had a kfz 15 field car and three sd kfz 11 half track artillery tractors for the nebelwerfer or 88cm gun platoons. Ok, ok, I hear you, I know the 88s should be towed by sd kfz 7 tractors, however I was acutely aware of time and after reading around found that the Germans did end up using the 11s for towing just about everything as the war progressed and losses mounted, so i could justify it!

On to painting then, with one month to go.

Previous work meant that I only had to finish up painting one panther and an 88 gun for those units, the required kubelwagons for the nebs and mortar platoons were also good to go as were the command and spotting teams for each.The AA gun platoon was also good to go. So only 31 stands of Lehr infantry, 14 half tracks a field car and three artillery tractors to left!

For the infantry I base coated in a light grey and used two layers of black wash to create a quick and easy well contrasted paint scheme I was happy with.The Panzer Lehr had a mix of plain dark grey helmets and some with camouflaged covers, for the covers I base coated in dunklegelb and added stippled brown and green patches. 
 Now on to the half tracks! As the summer was officially upon us I set up the car port for some alfresco painting. This has the practical benefit of being able to use my airbrush without worrying about setting up and extractor and the added benefit of painting in bright natural light.

I started off with a base coat of dunklegelb than after a bit of practicing on a spare "test half track", (poor test half track, poor, poor test half tack) I got into the mind set of a bored young German Panzergrenadier given a spray gun and paint as I set about camo'in up my half tracks! I opted for the soft edged lines of colour so typical of German vehicles in Normandy. I used Vallejo chocolate brown and olive green as once airbrushed on they took shades I was after.

Overall I'm very happy with how the half tracks turned out and am looking forward to trying out more intricate schemes in the future.

To finish off the half tracks and other vehicles I painted in various details, baggage and weapons and brought out the lovely details of these miniatures (from the Plastic Soldier Company), with a pin wash of wash for German vehicles from the new-ish Ammo by Mig range. It is brilliant stuff and fairly easy to use, giving a lovely and effective finish without too much trouble. Pin washing is another new technique for me and I know I'll be using it from now on.

 With one day left to go I based up the infantry and added number decals to the panthers and half tracks using more new products, namely decal softer and decal fixative by army painter. Again these were easy to use and gave a great finish!  A final coat of matte varnish and I was done with time to spare to finish up a couple of M10 tank destroyers Al had requested to borrow for his Allied list. Thus was project Panzer Lehr completed just in time!

Coming up next - Sturm uber Normandie!

Project Panzer Lehr Part One

"Fancy going along to Sturm uber Normandie", says Al.
"What's that?", says I.
"Well it'll be a D-Day theme tournament celebrating the 70th anniversary of Operation Overlord", says Al.
"Oh cool!", says I.
"What you going to run?" Asks Al.

Hmmm..... What am I going to run? The title of this post gives you the final answer I came up with, but this leaves out a lot of list construction, head scratching and digging through my pile of lead. My first thought was this, what would be fun? If my first early war tournament taught me anything it is that any list I run has to be fun! I'd be fielding a German force (balancing out Al fielding Allies) which left me with options ranging from static infantry regiments to Tiger based heavy tank companies. The Tigers were very tempting, as was a Panzer IV company, however I had fielded all tanks in early war and fancied a change. So how about the other end of the spectrum, Grenadiers or a static infantry list? Well no, they were too far the other way and I've played them many times before. So how about the elite Fallschirmjager? Well tempting, but they are already very popular lists in late war tournaments and would no doubt be well represented by other players. Hmmm.... perhaps my pile of lead would show the way! After all I had two months until the tournament, plenty of time! I looked through my pile of lead and plastic and found a load of half built 251 C & D half tracks.... Which I immediately put aside in favour of two Grille H self propelled infantry guns! Well who wouldn'?!  It is a armoured box on tracks with a large calibre gun sticking out of it! I immediately starting assembling them!

And then I started looking for a list in which i could field them. Not many for a D-Day themed tournament (Overlord and Atlantik Wall army books only). Well the SS has them - no too rascist. Panzer Lehr has them too. Panzer what? Panzer Lehr? Elite armour infantry and tanks from one of the best trained and equipped formations in the entire German army? Lots of cool looking half tracks that I just so happen to also have lurking in my pile of lead? Yes Please!

So Panzer Lehr it was, a decision based entirely on a tiny support platoon they happen to have access too and the fact I turned out to have everything I needed for them all ready to be built and painted. On to list construction proper!

List construction is a minor hobby in it's own right, it is a fine art that I regularly butcher in quests to be able to squeeze such war winning units such as German armoured trains, or perhaps create a formation made up entirely of one type of Italian tank with biplane support thrown in for good measure. This time it would be different though! This time I'd be sensible! This time i could.... fit Grille Hs, a unreliable King Tiger and 3 88mm AT guns in he same list! No bad!

Right, a sensible and fun list! First to consider what are the Allied players going to be fielding. Well Al reckoned and was proven right by predicting Churchill heavy tanks as being a popular choice. So how could my Panzer Lehr deal with these heavily armoured, decently armed but slow tanks? The answer while looking over the list was obvious 88mm AT guns, Tigers and Panthers. Well the 88mm AT gun battery were a sound choice. Add extra crew and this unit of 3 guns can throw and awful lot of heavy AT fire down range and even prove useful against infantry and possibly even allied aircraft at a push. So the 88s were in. Now we need to mobile firepower. Panther or Tiger? Well the choice was fairly easy in the end, although the iconic Tiger will always have that certain boxy appeal, the Panther tank can do everything the Tiger can, but for less points per tank, with a slightly better AT gun and slightly thicker front armour giving it the edge. Yes the Tigers have their Tiger ace skills, but you seem to pay a lot of points for what is in reality a randomized dice roll on a chart and lets be honest, you never roll the skill you really want or need to make them worth it. So 88s and Panthers in, Tigers out.

But what of the core platoons I hear you cry! Well they were easy choices. What is not to like about confident / veteran rated infantry mounted in half tracks?! I'll take two full platoons please! Now it is at this point I really started to consider one of the cool tournament features of Sturm uber Normandie, the 570 point swap out. Before each game, after knowing whether you would be attack or defending and knowing the unit that your opponent is fielding, you can choose between two different army lists with a difference of 570 points total. So naturally I decided on this, one list for attacking with and one list designed to defend.

With the attacking list I opted for the basic HQ platoon of the Oic and 2ic in half tracks, two platoons of infantry mounted in half tracks, 4 panthers for tank support, the half track mounted mortar platoon to put out smoke screens or to pinned down enemy infantry, a couple of nebelwerfers for the same job (i anticipated needed a lot of smoke to cover my advance) and a half track recon platoon.

For the defense list i opted for the HQ platoon in half tracks with added AT section of two panzerschreck teams in their own half track, two platoons of dismounted Lehr infantry, one platoon of mount Lehr infantry, 3 88mm AT guns and 3 Panthers. On the defense the AT guns and dismounted infantry would be deployed on table with the Oic with the job of holding until the mobile mounted Lehr infantry, Panther tanks and a mini platoon of the 2ic and panzerschreck teams arrived.

But what of the awesome Grille H SPGs I hear you cry! You know that unit that put you on the fieldin this army? Have you no sense of loyalty?! Well no. I will one day be running these awesome little guys, but unfortunately Panzer Lehr units are expensive and I simply couldn't fit them in either of my lists. Next time!

Next up: Project Panzer Lehr Part Two.