Tuesday 13 January 2015

From GregB - 20mm Bundeswehr Panzer Grenadiers (136 points)

1980s West German Panzer Grenadiers from the Bundeswehr; 20mm sculpts from Elhiem and S&S Models
The 20mm insanity continues.  My last entry switched into the "Cold-War-Goes-Hot" setting, and this entry follows along - a platoon of Bundeswehr Panzer Grenadiers.  There are three eight-man sections, a commanding officer, a MILAN guided anti-tank missile team along with a pair of Marder 1A3 infantry fighting vehicles.

That's my driveway this week - 70km/h wind gusts driving the snow through the streets.  Seriously, winter can go f*ck itself
It is winter in the Canadian Prairies, and though I know I am so fortunate to call Canada home, Winnipeg in January can be a bit of a sh*t bomb as Army Group Winter encloses the city in a vice-like grip. Case in point this week a small snow storm swept through (one that none of the clowns at Enviro-guess Canada managed to warn anyone about, but anyway).  The bright side of this weather is that I can really fire up my internal painting machine, put some hockey games on TV, and get a lot of stuff done - not quite as fast as Tamsin or Millsy, but still a pretty good pace.

NATO's front lines
As with the last submission, the infantry figures are all from Elhiem Figures while the vehicles are from S&S Models.  The painting/modeling experience is consistent with the last entry as well. The Elhiem sculpts have some soft details and a manic resistance to primer, and yet I just love them as their overall appearance is quite pleasing, and their proportions are excellent.  The S&S vehicles are suspiciously undersized and plagued with numerous small casting flaws that significantly lower the overall quality of the model.

Platoon commander on a hex shaped base
I did not have a precise TO&E for a West German Panzer Grenadier platoon, so I suspect the sections are understrength.  Each one has an MG3 gunner and a fellow carrying a modern panzerfaust 44 AT launcher.  The balance are armed with G3 assault rifles.  And obviously with only two Marder IFVs, it will be a little harder for this lot to get around.


The MG3 sure looks a lot like the MG42 from WW2


The Marder is a very cool-looking IFV - the turret sports a 20mm cannon that would provide some scary fire support in a firefight.  I like the sci-fi look of the turret.  Later models of the Marder also included a mount for a MILAN missile launcher as well.  It's too bad the S&S quality is poor, but black paint covers a lot of issues, so that's what I tried to do.  Some decals would be great too, but I couldn't find any 20mm scale modern West German decal sheets, and so I did the crosses free-hand.  The results were poor, but serviceable.

A view of the Marder 1A3s


Much "Cold-War-Goes-Hot" interest here in North America centers (understandably enough) around the US forces and encounters of M1 Abrams tanks and clouds of T-72s and T-80s in the Fulda Gap.  I love tank battles, but am much more interested in gaming the other NATO countries, and the West Germans in particular - I have quite a bit of West German stuff for Modern Spearhead.

MILAN team lurking


A potent anti-tank system; the MILAN crew set from Elhiem is excellent
In the 80's the West Germans would have been at the very forefront of any resistance to a Warsaw Pact attack. While NATO would have tried to trade space for time in the face of the large Warsaw Pact shock armies driving across the North German plains and through the Fulda Gap, I expect these fellows would have resisted ferociously, motivated as only those who fight with their own homes and families at their backs can be.  I see that as a richer context for scenarios, particularly Chain of Command skirmish encounters.

Assortment of helmets - some plain, some with scrim
For example, perhaps they are disobeying orders a little bit, holding out longer than directed outside a small village to allow more time for evacuation behind them - they will have already lost one or two of their IFVs, and the strength of their sections is diminished, but as long as they have the MILAN launcher and missiles to use, they will dig deep to slow the advancing Red Army.  Should make a fitting opponent for the Motor Rifles I completed in my last entry.

The free-hand crosses turned out poorly - I wish I could find some 20mm decals
This entry includes 28 infantry figures (20mm size) and two vehicles (allegedly 1/72 scale) - in all I think that works out to 136 points.  I still have a fair chunk of 20mm stuff to paint, but I am feeling a bit of an urge to switch over to sci-fi - we'll see what comes next!


From Curt:

Brilliant work as usual Greg. You are really rocking the 20mm stuff - awesome to see. I look forward to getting these guys on the table for a knockabout.


22 comments:

  1. These are fantastic. I've never seen anything in this "era" so it's really interesting to get some background and well as the shiny figures. Great camo on the vehicles.

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  2. Stunning work as always. I grew up gaming this period so it will always have a special place in my heart. Absolutely F**king brilliant mate.

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  3. Great painting work. The camouflage is fantastic!

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  4. Superb... I could certainly get into 20mm BAOR ... You could try aircraft decals to see if anything is suitable.

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    1. Good idea Dave...I will think of that next time!

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    2. QRF do 15mm decals, might be worth a look.

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  5. Awesome sight. Excellent painting and holy cow it looks like Antarctica outside your house! Cheers and stay warm.

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  6. Fabulous miniatures, the camo is perfect both on the uniforms and the Marders. Greetings!

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  7. Great work good to see some cold war stuff that isn't US or USSR.

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  8. Really great stuff. Love the camo and the vision of them holding on that little bit longer really rings true.

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  9. Fascinating stuff Greg! I love the details like the sleeve patches and the decoration on the rocket launcher.

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  10. Wonderful work! And nice to see more 20mm coming.

    Staying inside painting and watching hockey sounds like a fairly decent way off having to spend time :) The Finnish way of spending your Winter doesn't differ too much :P Except that we have to stay awake in the night to watch NHL...

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    1. Thanks Samuli! I was up very late this weekend myself to watch the ceremony for the retirement of Teemu Selanne's #8 jersey in Anahiem; Teemu remains a hockey divinity here in Winnipeg - an autographed Selanne jersey sits in my gaming room!

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    2. You lucky bastard! He was my biggest idol when I was playing Hockey. He started in the NHL the same year I started playing as a kid :)

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  11. Such good work, great skill set for 20mm

    Ian

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  12. Really like the camo on those Marders, and the troops are excellent. Rocket launcher team especially!

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  13. Nice, nice work again. The troops look great with your tanks!

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  14. The Germans look grand, Greg! I'd also echo the aviation decals and Squadron( if they are still around) used to have a lot of decal sheets available. I like your freehand though!
    I also appreciate underdog scenarios too as you suggested. "Spartans, lay down your weapons!"
    " Persians, come and get them!". ;)
    The woodland camp is very nice too!
    I really like your front lawn shot, but ya need more trees!
    Now that I'm warm from the weekend, I'm ready to go back out and play in the snow again....landnav on cross-country skis sounds fun! ;)

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  15. Awesome. Beautiful. Great.

    I wish I owned them :(

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