Having painted some 15mm Brits for the desert, obviously they need some opponents. Now, I did also buy the stuff for an Italian pocket army, but really it has to be Germans first doesn't it? I've done a fair few 6mm Italian vs British games, so more vs the Germans would be good.
Like the British, a smallish Neil Thomas type army to get started (albeit rather bigger than the one suggested in Introduction to Wargaming!). Also just like the British, I bought far too much stuff for Stage One, so ended up only doing some of it.
The foot elements are very similar to the British. A dozen bases of actual infantry, plus some HQs, mortars, MGs, engineers etc and a few single figures with binoculars to act as FOOs or leaders.
I'll go through them in more detail in the ongoing modelling thread of posts. Suffice to say that painting the 'uniforms' was a bit of a challenge, although I've tried to get the proportions of different shades in line with those in typical photographs. I also know some DAK re-enactors and have an old DAK uniform myself, so I've got some idea what shades the olive green items fade to, or can be encouraged to with bleach.
Some panzers. Not quite as many tanks as the British have, as the Germans very sensibly stuck with just a few types of vehicles. A Pz II, two Pz IIIs and a Pz IV, exactly as suggested as the 'representative panzer company' by Bruce Quarrie in his DAK book. I've wanted to do one of those since the 1970s, and here it is with the great bonus I didn't have to scratch build the Panzer II or convert the Pz IIIs from Stugs. Yes, they are all different colours.
More of those in the modelling posts in due course.
The artillery has a rather different mix to the British. I've already got some yellowish 105s, SP SiG, Marders, 75mm LeIG etc which will do, so I focussed on AT guns. A pair of Pak 36 and a pair of Pak 38. DAK also had a lot of flak, and my unarmoured SP Flak is in panzer grey, so I got a couple of Sdkfz 10/4, which will also come in useful for my late war Germans.
Some transport to get going. I've already got some Italian lorries, so they will do if needed. Here is just one Opel Blitz, a couple of Sdkfz 11 and some blokes on motorcycles.
I didn't bother with any other recce apart from the motorcycles as I have yellowish armoured cars already.
HQ stuff. A PP Granit ambulance done as a command bus, a kubelwagen and this rather nice resin command version of an Sdkfz 251.
As with the British, I've got some unpainted stuff to add to this - some more lorries and tanks, plus a couple of Heavy Cars which I will do for Stage Two. I've also got a surplus of field grey soft transport, so I'll repaint some of them too.
Anyway, that is plenty to be getting on with and I have enough stuff to actually be able to play a game with now.
Sehr gut! ☺
ReplyDeleteThat ratio of 1 Panzer II , 2 Panzer III and 1 Panzer IV has been stuck in my head from that Airfix Guide as well. Of course when I actually researched the DAK I discovered all those Panzer I in the early days....
I remember thinking a few years ago how all those elaborate Gerald Scarborough scratch builds are now available as models, and that was before 3D printing!
If I may pick a nit; your Panzer II has the early turret hatch. I made the same mistake in buying ausf C which is the correct model only to discover those in NA all got cupola and added armour on gun mantlet making them more like ausf F.....
Neil
Well, the Pz II are the Zvezda ones, and that is what they look like. It is great being able to buy all this stuff and not have to scracthbuild it, although I do enjoy doing the odd conversion still (like my 47mm Semoventes and Quad .50 cal AA Halftrack).
DeleteA Panzer Division, withal! Or else a smaller battlegroup. Neil touches on a bugbear I've long had with WW2 - and that is that so numerous is the variety and variations of kit, one almost feels the need to buy lots and lots of it, or else focus upon a particular period of the war - a 'period' that might last less than a year.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes think I ought to have stayed 'old school' and built my German army, as I originally intended it, with 4 Panthers and 6 PzIVs (long barrelled) as my composite Panzer regiment, mid-1943-1945.
Cheers,
Ion
Sadly, the modeller in me won't let me do too many egregious substitutions. If I want to go really kit crazy, I'll stick to 6mm.. The larger scale stuff forces you to be a bit more selective.
DeleteIon wrote: "so numerous is the variety and variations of kit, one almost feels the need to buy lots and lots of it, or else focus upon a particular period of the war - a 'period' that might last less than a year."
DeleteAnd of course the ever changing camouflage and paint colours.....
I think the only way to retain sanity is to focus on say a theatre OR go entirely generic. The problem with generic is that some rivet counter will point something out that's "wrong" ( such as Panzer 2 cupolas ☺ ).
Part of the reason or advantage of concentrating on operational games is that you need less kit, so 4x Panzer III instead of 20 which will actually fit on the table.....
Neil
Yes, my original 6mm DAK for Megablitz had precisely four tanks, two each for 15th and 21st Panzer. They have expanded a bit more subsequently as I used the same stuff for grand tactical games. Ariete had the same number of AFVs as both panzer divisions put together! 7th Armoured (which I did in its Op Crusader incarnation) had the remarkably silly number of nine tanks for its three armoured brigades. Three Crusaders, three Honeys and three A9/10/13. Which is partly why I've ended up with so many British tanks in 15mm.
DeleteLovely kit
ReplyDeleteThanks Mark. I must confess I lost my painting mojo for a while after doing all those DAK "uniforms". I hate painting irregular uniforms.
DeleteVery economical Orbat there, Martin. Lovely! I tell myself that what is lost with armour is gained with trucks and Korps level artillery. :-)
ReplyDeleteRegards, Chris.
Unlike the British, the Germans really don't need many tanks for the desert. It is a neat little force however, although perhaps I should have got them some dedicated artillery rather than just loaning them my existing stuff.
Delete