From MattW: Rockin the 80s … Sort of (77 points)

 Rockin the 80s 

This week in between painting airborne and Greeks I painted some pieces for 1980s Cold War gaming. The vehicles are a mix of Hot Wheels and matchbox repaints. Striped then, matt undercoated, then brush painted. Hand painted sign writing. 

First up a copy of my wife’s first car a VW, that met a nasty end in a accident with a taxi and a power pole 

A Bundesgrenzschutz VW car (west German  border Police)

A Bundesgrenzschutz T1 VW van

Bundesgrenzschutz  VW work truck. 

A Bundeszollverwaltung VW truck (West German customs)

Prepare the KY

20mm vehicle @ 15 points x 5 = 75 points 

Cheers

Matt

TeemuL: That's a lot Volkswagens, Matt! But of course very common in both Germanies during the Cold War and around the rest of the Europe, too. Backdrops are excellent, too, it looks very much like an old (Bond) movie or something similar. Gotta love the details on tyres on the Zoll van - and lights, register plates etc! Yeah, take some bonus points for "hand painted shields."

I first read your first phrase as "...for 1980s Car Wars gaming." and I was WOW! But Cold War suits, too. Have you ever thought about 1980s Gaslands project? ;)

From BenF: Cold War 1984 - West Germans in 6mm (80 Points)

Merry Christmas all! I'm thrilled to be taking part in my third Painting Challenge. For my first entry of number IX, I've got some 6mm Cold War Bundeswehr ready to defend West Germany from the communist hordes. These are the final pieces of a force based around I. (German) Corps in 1984. We've been playing a lot of Cold War Commander at the local club, and I've begun working on a campaign based around a Soviet drive to the Rhine across the North German Plain in the spring of 1984.

One of my personal targets of this painting challenge will be to finish off the forces needed for this campaign - Dutch, a bunch of Soviets, and a small French force.

First off, here's the whole force. This really is an 'odds and sods' collection, as i've already painted up the majority of the infantry and armour needed.

Here's a Panzer battalion of Leopard 1A1A1s, to compliment the battalion of Leo 2A1s  which I have already completed. According to my research, the majority of the Germans were still using the upgraded Leopard Is in 1984, at least in the 11th Panzergrenadier and 7th Panzer divisions which will be the main Bundeswehr combat arms of the campaign. The panzers are GHQ and the M113 'Beobachtungspanzerwagen' is from CinC. The camo netting is done using slices of soft foam 'melted' onto the vehicles using superglue. Aerials are nylon bristles from a cheap dustpan brush. A random Leopard 1A4 was included accidentally in one of the GHQ blister packs, so I painted it up as well, albeit in the NATO three colour camo rather than the Gelboliv of the rest of the force.

Next, here is a battalion's worth of Unimog U1300L trucks. These can be used for lots of different roles, as transport for Jäger, Fallschirmjäger, or Heimatschütz Reserve battalions, or as tows for artillery pieces. The trucks are GHQ, the VW Iltis and the command figures are from Heroics and Ros. The quality and detail of the new 6mm Heroics sculpts are superb.

Next up, here is a Bergepanzer 2, the armoured engineering vehicle based on the Leopard I. This is a Heroics and Ros vehicle with some decals from Flight Deck Decals 2400.

Below are a few Tpz Fuchs transport vehicles which I will be using for pionier assets. I may add another 5 at some stage to provide enough transport for a battalion of Jägers. These are from CinC. 

Next, here is a 'Beobachtungspanzerwagen M113A1G'. Name really rolls off the tongue, doesn't it? Anyway, these are forward artillery observer versions of the M113 unique to the Bundeswehr, and are from CinC.

Finally, a selection of artillery, self propelled and stationary. The M109A2Gs are from GHQ, the rest is from Heroics and Ros. The field guns are the 155mm FH77, which were used by many NATO forces. The huge gun-on-tracks is a M110A2. The tiny little AA guns are 20mm Flak FK20-2s, and the M113 variants are an M125 (81mm) and M106 (120mm) self-propelled mortar vehicles. 

So, by my totalling the points should be 75 points :

32 x vehicles (64 points)

5 x artillery pieces (5 points) 

12 x infantry figures (6 points)

That's it for the first entry. Next up will be the soviet hordes - all 82 odd of them......

___________________________________________

Welcome back, Ben! 

I've really enjoyed your microscale work in past years, and so you don't fail to please this time out either. Geez, these are lovely little models. 

One mod that I'm very taken with is how you did the camo scrim on the Leopards - that effect is just terrific - consider it unabashedly stolen.  The command stand is another highlight, with the vehicles just having pulled off the autobahn and the officers conversing - very cool. The tiny decals are just icing on the cake as they really finish of the models nicely. Fabulous stuff.

I'm going to give a few extra points for the creative detail work and nice compositions - well done! 

From GregB - Cold War Support Elements in 15mm (36 Points)

NATO support vehicles hold the Warsaw Pact back from strategically vital parts of...my kitchen...models from Battlefront and Armies Army

After five consecutive weeks featuring submissions of 15mm Cold-War-Gone-Hot subjects, I really thought I was going to switch themes.  Honestly! I even started painting something else, in 28mm to boot, that was totally different.  So different, in fact, that horses were involved! Really! But then I started thinking to myself "well, what about one or two support elements to, you know, 'round out' the work I have already completed..." and such are the debris-strewn pathways of my hobby mind that I put down that other stuff and went back to the 15mm stuff - just can't seem to quit the Cold War!

Subjects from two NATO nations today - some support elements for my 15mm 1980s Canadians, and some tank-hunting helicopters for my 1980s West Germans.

Since it has been a few weeks since we last visited the Bundeswehr, let's start with the helicopters. These are BO-105s, multi-part 1/100 scale plastic kits from Battlefront, part of their extremely comprehensive lineup of figures for the 1980s West Germans in their "Team Yankee" game.

BO-105 tank hunting helicopters for the Bundeswehr

Where the Germans have some fine form when it comes to battle tanks, these BO-105s don't, shall we say, give off quite the same "menacing" vibe as, say, the utterly terrifying Soviet "Hinds".
Instead, the BO-105 has a kind of practical, workmanlike "well, anything is dangerous once you attach anti-tank missiles to it" sort of aura.

TOW anti-tank missiles are the killer armament of these helicopters...they are out to hunt tanks

With the Warsaw Pact and its 3 billion tanks facing you down, you do need to have as many economical anti-tank options as possible to back up your ultra-sexy Leopards! The BO-105 is a fine tank-hunting platform, capable of moving quickly, hugging available ground cover and obstructions to "pop up" and pick off enemy armoured targets with guided anti-tank missiles.

While plastic has its issues, bravo to Battlefront for bringing these models out..they'll be fun on the table!

I hate plastic kits, and these models certainly had their frustrations - in particular, the plastic rotor shafts are very weak, and true to form, one of them broke during assembly, requiring heroic amounts of glue to save.  But overall, I have to give Battlefront very high marks for the effort of getting the helicopter models from the different nations into "Team Yankee".  While some metal kits in the scale have been around for quite a while - and lets face it, metal is the only true, proper material for honourable wargaming figures - metal aircraft kits, especially helicopters, in 1/100 scale are not easy things to assemble or base properly.  By making these different helicopter kits, Battlefront has made the helicopters much easier to have (my ineptitude with plastic notwithstanding), and in turn added an excellent flavour for this setting. In our "Team Yankee" games the helicopters seldom survive, but their approach is always dramatic and tense :) I'm sure my tabletop NATO forces will appreciate the air support!

OK - moving back to the Canadians, here are a couple of support elements to "round out" my initial battlegroup from the 4th Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group.

M113 "Lynx" Recon vehicles for the Canadian Forces

There are two "Lynx" recon vehicles - a variant of the M113 APC that is a little sportier-looking than the average M113.  The Canadian Forces used the Lynx for various scouting, security and other purposes.  These models are from Armies Army - Keith, being a great guy, tossed them in as freebies after I ordered a squadron of Leopard C1s - "they will look great with your tank column" he said, and he was right!  While I thoroughly dislike the M113 in general, the Lynx at least has a sporty little look to it, and the turret-style bracket mount for the .50 cal is pretty neat too.

.50cal MGs in the turret-style mounting, and a little .30cal on the back for some extra fire support in the event of a sticky situation while out scouting...

Big "thank you" to Keith for tossing these in with my Leopard C1 squadron...they will round out my forces nicely!

As I mentioned in a previous posting, wargamers can seldom relate to recon assets the way real commanders in the field would.  These vehicles would be out ahead of the Leopard C1s, reporting back and providing vital intelligence as the battle was joined.  With an actual battle underway, as experienced on our tabletop, these poor Lynx vehicles won't last any longer than the Soviet BRDMs or other equivalents, but at least my Canadians will have some recon support, and the additional power of a couple of .50 cals to back up the infantry platoon.

M150s - APCs mounting TOW anti-tank missile launchers

The other two vehicles are M150s...these are M113 APC with a mount for a TOW guided-anti-tank missile launcher. High-end anti-tank hitting power is at a premium in any NATO force, but particularly so for the Canadians, who may have to tangle with Soviet tanks while the Leopard C1s of the Royal Canadian Dragoons are busy elsewhere.  These M150s provide the Canadian mechanized infantry elements with some theoretical heavy anti-tank power with quite a long potential engagement range.

Clever casting work by Armies Army to allow the convenient mounting of a TOW launcher and gunner on the M113s

Some oversize decals from a 1/87 sheet to give some good Canadian flavour, eh?

Much fiction related to war with the Warsaw Pact (and thank goodness it is fiction!) features weapons like the TOW sniping Soviet tanks with clockwork-like precision - although it should be noted that some accounts, like Kenneth Macksey's fantastic "First Clash", are much more sanguine about such things. I am personally skeptical of the projected effectiveness of weapons like the TOW under real battlefield conditions (it would be no small thing to steer a missile towards a tank in the middle of the smoke, falling artillery shells and other horrors and utter chaos of a Cold-War-Gone-Hot battlefield, I expect), but I do really like the models. They add some additional flavour to my Canadian battlegroup, and extra character (and help on the tabletop) for the infantry platoon.

I popped the commander out to show a command vehicle, but let's assume the firing pose is for propaganda purposes only - I hope they wouldn't fire the missile while the poor driver was popped out of the hatch, right in front of the barrel!

The M150s are also from Armies Army (now available from Plastic Soldier Company).  As I said before, Keith did an incredible job bringing a very complete collection to market - I love when sculptors do that! Go buy this stuff and support these guys!!

So six vehicles in 15mm, should be good for another 36 points this week. About this time last week, I predicted it would be "time to switch subjects and show something else next week blah blah", but as you can see above, such pledges on my part are clearly worthless...so we'll just see you next week!

***

Song: Diamond Eyes
Artist: Shinedown
Album: The Sound of Madness

This is a sort of generic, driving hard-rock song from the late 2000s - great to listen to when painting tanks, AND when painting things that are made to blow up tanks!






Ah, what would a Thursday be without a visit to the cold war front lines?  These are absolutely smashing, totally agree with you on the choppers, they remind me more of Blue Thunder than Airwolf!

Great camo too, I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm somewhat addicted to checking out the different vehicles to see if you've had to get the same camo scheme on each one of each variant - must be mind bending to paint!  I love those little TOW launchers too - relying on some poor chap to stand at the top of a vehicle with little to no suspension and ask him to guide a missile towards a scary looking tank in the distance whilst it's training it's gun on you..... how could that ever go wrong?!?!?

Great stuff, 36 points it is!