The French tank projects for 1941 in 20mm for Rapid Fire! rules

If the French had held the Germans (if also the British, the Belgians and the Dutch did the same) maybe, just maybe, a future French tank column might have looked like this one. In fact this group is made of disparate vehicles with no relation to any French 1941 unit, just a group of vehicle projects that never saw its integration in the French army (that excludes the Lafflys W15T). 

This is one of the possible futuristic organisations of the French army 1941 (eventually late 1940), in this case an armored division as thought by the Commander Ayme. The picture is taken from the GBM magazine ('what else?' as George Clooney would say). 

The FCM F1 would have been one of the biggest tanks of the conflict with 120 tons but only a wooden mockup was built. It was designed to pierce the Siegfried line while replacing the aging Char 2C. The model is a MiniGeneral PLA 3d print, like all others in this group, which had to take two coats of varnish before the primer to see most of its printing lines relatively disguised. The camouflage of the lot is based on the latest scheme applied to French vehicles around may 1940. 

Another possible painting scheme is to copy the Char 2C layout as can be seen in this TNT magazine proposal. 

Another camouflage also from TNT, which is the same I used in my two Char 2C. 

The Laffly W15T was already serving in the French army as the tow for the 25mm and 47mm AT guns and the 25mm AA gun. 

A famous picture of the Laffly W15T with LMG mount and making its usual business of towing the 25mm CA39 AA gun. 

The additions to the models were the metal and soft plastic drivers and the LMG from Caesar on a support as seen on the B/W picture. 

No, this is not the famous Panhard EBR of post-war fame but its predecessor, the AM40P that already had an oscillating turret and bullet proof tyres. 

The ARL V9 was the SPG for the DCR as it had parts of the Char B1bis. Only two were made but ended its short career hidden in a tunnel in Morocco.  

The AMX 38 was meant to replacing the D2. Also only two different prototypes were built but not put into production. The figures are (left) Irregular Miniatures and (right) CP models.  All models in the group have antennas which would have been a priority for sure for French tank warfare in late 1940/1941. I chose a buff color for the numbers on this group but this has no historical base.

Next: the Saxon Lithsman at Hastings 1066.

Soviet ZTZ-5 Tractors in German service in 20mm size for Rapid Fire! rules

 

For many years already I wanted to build a second "winter" Volksgrenadier division as two are necessary for the actions of the 5th Panzer army around St.Vith in late 1944 (18. and 62. VGD). They were small units compared to the German infantry division and not very difficult to build. The 105mm artillery was generally pulled by RSO but I had these six 3d resin prints ZTZ-5 offered by my friend Mário Laranja sitting in a box that can replace the RSO (well sort of..). In fact the RSO came after the Germans found the ZTZ-5 from the beginning of Barbarossa. The main difference was the larger track set and different wheels on the RSO. 

Frankly I couldn't find any evidence of the usage of the ZTZ-5 by the VGD in the Ardennes offensive just a similarity between the Russian original and the German copy. For sure, camouflaged like these in white, they can be used in the winter of 1943 and 1944 at the eastern front. 

Mário´s model is a beauty of detail. The tri-color camouflage was first applied and then some white was splashed on for a winterized look. The snow is simply fine sand mixed with acrylic white and a bit of wood glue, everything applied with brush. 

Different stowage also offered by Mário was spread all over together with my own stowage and gauze camouflage nets. 

Next: 'What If ' French for 1941. 

French vehicles in German service in 20mm size for Rapid Fire! rules

 

My usual fear that the end of the world is near and that I have to have all models available otherwise Kit God may punish me led me this time to amass too many 1940 French vehicles. So a number of different theaters were the Germans used French captured vehicles saw a few additions. 

These Lorraine 28 are resin prints from my friend Mário Laranja. A quick Panzer Gray treatment makes them ready for the Eastern Front or an eventual usage in internal service in France or maybe at Dieppe 1942. This last option is just a guess as I have no idea if the Lorraine 28 was used there. 

The site from this Lorraine 28 picture came, kfzderwehrmacht, is a nice source for German vehicles, specially the captured ones. 

This Laffly W15T is a MiniGeneral PLA print. The figure is my usual  soft plastic torso with legs and arms in GreenStuff. 

One of the users of this Laffly version was the 305.ID. After been formed for the second time in France  (the first formation was destroyed at Stalingrad), the 305. ID fought in Italy up the end of the war, being also involved in the Monte Cassino operations. I´m guessing that it was the second formation that used the Lafflys as it was formed in Brittany and probably managed to collect some French vehicles.

These Laffly S25T are also MiniGeneral. The PLA lines can be largely effaced by using two coats of spray gloss varnish before the primer. 

The 46. ID used the Laffly S25T in its artillery and they must have been collected by this unit during its long staying in France that lasted almost a year before being sent to the Eastern Front in April 1941. 

The Laffly S45 tanker was used by the French aviation as thus its not the most wargame friendly model as a scenario for it is not easy. So this one was dispatched no North Africa were one day it may be used in a Barce style raid. No proof of this, though, only a guess. 

I can't really understand were this photo of captured S45 tankers was taken but it clearly shows that the Germans found them valuable. 

Next: Soviet tractors in German usage.

The "Panzer Grey" period of the German army for Rapid Fire! rules in...

Another plastic and resin force amassed through decades representing the Germans present at Poland, France and USSR up to February 1943. The brown camouflaged vehicles of the first few minutes give away to more grey as the video overcomes July 1940. As usual some mistakes are said (once "Barbarossa" is mentioned instead of "Blitzkrieg"). Also the forgotten brand of Renault ADH is ShellHole Scenics.

Hastings 1066- The Saxon army in 20mm for Impetus rules

The conquest of Saxon England by William, King of Normandy is a fascinating story. I became even more fascinated by it when in ... let me check PSR... ah, yes, in 1989, Revell released its two sets clearly designed for Hastings 1066. 

Since then I amassed a good quantity of both boxes - Saxon and Norman - in order to be able to make the Saxon shield wall and the three Norman divisions that charged up Senlac Hill (some say Caldbec Hill, in a more recent theory). Recently I based all the figures in Impetus Rules bases, ideal both for massed heavy horse and shield walls and painted a few more. 

Both boxes have good figures for the Housecarls armed with two handed axes of which three were made. Some of the figures had small pieces of plastic added in order to extend the lenght of the Dane axe and plastic shields. 

Also using chain mail, the Thegn figures used had plastic shields added some round and others with tear drop shape. Some of the Thegn figures on the back row (standing with spear) are the Saxon horsemen cut in half and glued to Esci Roman legs. 

King Harald Godwinson was made from the Revell Russian Knight commander with converted card and broom stick banner. This picture was obviously taken before the arrow that pierced his eye and brain. The colors came from a British reenactor photo found on the web. 

The Saxon Fyrd was also made from both boxes but with many more from the Saxon box. A total of five stands of Fyrd were made but I hope to make at least as many in the future as the Fyrd was more than the double of both Housecarls and Thegns. Also two bases of Lithsmen are on the cue. The arms were bent by fire in order to produce figures with the shield protecting the body and the next comrade, thus creating a shieldwall. Also many of the swords were replaced by spears as these were much more common and less expensive. 

One of the two Thegn stands had a few Revell Russian knights mixed with Saxon and Norman figures. The Russian knights are also good for many XI/XII century conflicts throughout Europe and mix well with Crusaders, for instance. 

Not much is known about Saxon archers, slingsmen or javelinmen at Hastings but there were some for sure as there is even a theory that its a Saxon arrow that kills King Harald. I made three stands of them also using the helmetless Norman swordsman ( a relatively useless figure, good for Robin Hood movie scenes) to produce a few javelinmen. Their sword was cut and a small needle and shield were placed instead. 

This one is just for you to see that the arms can easily be changed with the help of a hot iron for the making of the shield wall. 

In this selection of figures from the PSR site you can see that the 1st and 2nd figure to the left can have its left arm heated in order to protect the body and create the shield wall and the 3rd and 4th figures can have easily added shields on the Thegn stands. 

Next: The Norman army for Hastings but more probably a video on the German WW2 "Panzer Grey" period as the whole Norman army still has to be built. 

"New Kingdom" Egyptian army in 20mm for Impetus rules

The nostalgia wave continues with the revamping of old and some new builds for this Atlantic force. Atlantic was an amazing Italian brand from the 70´s. Most of its HO stuff was around 1/87th scale like the 20th century figures and Far-West, with vehicles and landing craft sitting somewhere from 1/144 to 1/60! In this childhood days whatever fish that came to the net was eagerly played with and I spent hours around all their stuff. But a different story has to be told about their ancient range - Egyptian, Trojans, Greeks and Romans - were beautiful 1/72nd scale models even if with poetic and Hollywoodized details. 

The brand then decided to move to Lebanon and was caught in the middle of the Israeli invasion of 1982 and many of its moulds were never seen again. Nexus came after and continued for a few years with the survivors but somehow Atlantic - like Atlantida - was lost forever.  

I used three boxes of infantry for this host. The Atlantic boxes were not only cheap and made of excellent plastic (no broken figures after 40 years) but also had more than 60 figures inside. This Egyptian set is great for Old and Middle Kingdom as no figure has armour with nice shields and a correct choice of weapons. The only problem here is the small number of archers (one pose only) which should be half of the total infantry. The standards were made from GreenStuff modelled into broom sticks and glued to the a relatively immovable pose. I left the figures with the Pharaoh´s Deshret crown like that and they became officers which is not correct but looks good. In the old Egyptian armies the officers fought from the back of the phalanx and I did the same here. 

The archers came from the infantry box and the three poses of archers from the chariot box. Some of the figures are the Pharaoh from the chariot but his head was modelled in order to have only hair without the Pschent Pharaonic headdress. You can´t get many archers unfortunately from Atlantic and other brands will have to come to rescue in the future like Zvezda and Caesar. 

The only reason I can call it a "New Kingdom" army is because of the chariots. These were introduced by the Hyksos and thus this new weapon can only be used by New Kingdom Egyptians. The chariots were usually accompanied by skirmishers as you can see here - probably very fast runners!! So here Atlantic mixed different periods of Egypt history but I have some plans to upgrade the last few boxes of Atlantic Egyptian (old/middle) infantry ...

This chariot is meant to be Ramesses II at Khadesh (obviously!) fighting the Hittites  and for that the golden armour of Ramesses was painted in his torso. In fact this gave me the idea how to place linen protection in the Atlantic Egyptian infantry converting them to New Kingdom Egyptians... damn, I just unveiled the "plans to upgrade" the Egyptian infantry, you big mouth!!

Kept for some 40 years in my basement was the Egyptian boats box. Up until last week I was convinced that this box had standard bearers and rowers inside due to the beautiful box artwork but in fact the standard bearers are the one from the Pharaohs´ court box and rowers are conversions from infantry positions. 

The rowers are conversions from the figure holding the small Khopesh. Arms were bent to position and a piece of plastic sprue gave the rows. 

This kind of cover, even if with some rather strange boats, was making us dream when we were kids and I think they contributed for my love for history.  And her you have the "fake" rowers and standard beares (left boat) not present on the box. 

This Sphinx was also waiting painting and basing for a few decades and finally it was done. Its funny how Atlantic portrayed the Sphinx in stone color while it was found more recently that it was painted as it had some vestiges of a reddish paint in the back of the ears. 

This was the full series of Atlantic Egyptians of which you can see four in this post (infantry, chariots, boats and the Sphinx). I still don´t have the court, the Pharaohs' boat and the temple and I hope to find them one day at reasonable prices mainly for the sake of nostalgia. Well, while there is life there is hope! 

Next: Impetus rebased Saxons.

Able Archer/ RFR rules (?) - Russian invasion of Ukraine 2022 in 20mm (part 13) - Ukrainian Leopard 1A5 and AS-90 SPG

 

These three are the latest addition to the Ukrainian forces. The AS-90 is a 4D model with new wheels as explained later. According to the famous leaked papers by a Portuguese descendent (it had to be...) it can be found at least in three of the mechanized brigades in the nowadays counteroffensive, the 21st, 116th and 117th MBs. The old Leopards 1A5 (Esci models) arrived in sufficient numbers to equip three Ukrainian mechanized brigades but it will be hell for them to keep up with the amount of technology and hardware in the actual battlefield a bit as the old Russian T-62. For me the arrival of old material (and lack of ammunition) at the front is the proof that both sides - Russia and NATO- were not expecting this war to go as far  and no one really was expecting to escalate as it did. And this applies to  the provokers of this conflict that exist on both sides.  

 

These are the wheels that came along the majority of the 4D first series of tanks (both 1/87th or 1/72nd). Obviously they had to be replaced. 

 With a decent hull and turret and the addition of some T-72 wheels from ModelCollect leftovers the 4D AS-90 becomes pretty decent.

The usual journalist's view of the Ukrainian SPGs. 

The Esci Leopard 1A5 were in the stash for an entry into the Turkish army of the 90s and for an eventual conflict with the Iraqis, but obviously ended up in Ukraine. In the Ukrainian service some pictures emerged with them covered in camouflage netting (here made of gauze dipped in white glue and modelled directly on the tank). The only addition in relation to the Esci model is the turret range finder, tank commander and antenna. Fortunately the gauze also covers other missing parts in the Esci model that the real tank has like hull side boxes and other small details. 

The end result is ok. I still have the Altaya Leopard 1A2 in the stash and I´m thinking of converting it to the A5 version thanks to Saint Gauze as it will hide most of the differences.  

The tank commanders are the Esci Nato officer converted to tank commander with a new Russian tank helmet (TSh-4M) made of GreenStuff. 

Next: Atlantic New Kingdom Egyptians for Impetus.