Operation Winter Storm: Panzergrenadiers 6 – PaK 40

The Germans need something to counter those pesky Soviet tanks so it's time to bring on the heavier stuff in the form of a PaK 40 anti-tank gun.

The PaK 40 (Panzerabwehrkanone 40) had been in development since 1939 but after Operation Barbarossa in 1941, the Soviets began to field more heavily armoured tanks like the T-34 and KV-1 and the Germans found they lacked the necessary firepower to combat these. Thus the development was given an increased priority and the first PaK 40:s were used on the Eastern Front in November 1941. It soon became the main ATG used by the German forces during the later parts of WW2.

The crewmen miniatures are all from Peter Pig, while the gun itself (kindly donated by my good mate Dalauppror – cheers Micke!) is from Battlefront.

In keeping with the rest of this project, I avoided any fancy modelling on the base and just did some simple wheel marks in the mud (not really visible in these photos) and added a couple of ammunitions boxes.

Next up – the first vehicle!

Operation Winter Storm: Panzergrenadiers 5 – HMG

Here is the next addition to the German forces for my Operation Winter Storm project: an HMG with crew. This is an MG 34/42 mounted on a tripod to make its sustained fire more effective. Obviously you need lots of men to supply this monster with all the ammunition it spews forth.

The miniatures are from Peter Pig, except for the righthand ammunitions guy who is from Battlefront.

As usual I painted them in a mix of winter gear and regular uniforms/greatcoats.

Thanks for looking – have a great weekend everyone!

Operation Winter Storm: Panzergrenadiers 3 – Pioneer Teams

I'm steaming ahead with the Operation Winter Storm project and after finishing all the regular German infantry, it's now time for the support. First up are a couple of Pioneer teams, very useful for taking care of bunkers and other fortified positions.

Smoke team with smoke grenades.

Demolitions team with pole charges
and other demolition charges.

Flamethrower team with flamethrower and two riflemen.

The models are a mix of Peter Pig (specialists) and Battlefront (riflemen). Despite a difference in style and chunkiness, they mix pretty nicely in my opinion.

More support toys to come ...

German Panzergrenadiers for Chain of Command

Dalauppror and I have been talking about trying out Chain of Command, the new WW2 platoon level game from Too Fat Lardies. Suddenly an opportunity presented itself on this Sunday (today!), and so we schedueled in a test-game. On Monday night, after coming home from another game in our A Very Moderate Swedish Conflict campaign, I rummaged through my old 15 mm WW2 stuff and dug up my Late War Germans. These were used for playing Crossfire and I Ain't Been Shot Mum! around four or five years ago, and haven't been used since. The paint jobs are not the best to be honest, and the basing is a mixed bag, but they will have to do.

After checking the German list in Chain of Command, I had a good idea of what I needed to do to bring my force up to the required strength: a whole 5 new miniatures were in required in total – a senior leader, a Panzerschreck team and two regular riflemen (although the miniatures are armed with panzerfausts). I also had to rebase about 10 miniatures, eg pairing off some of the LMG teams that weren't on separate bases and doing some singel based miniatures for casualty removal.

So after some frantic painting and (re-)basing this is my new(ish) Panzergrenadier platoon with support:

The miniatures are from Battlefront. However, the senior leader and the panzerschreck team are from Peter Pig, as well as most of the support.

The old bases got a quick facelift with some tufts. Hopefully this also took the edge off the garish static grass used ...

I had some support options painted up from earlier as you can see below. Some tripod mounted MG42s and a 81 mm mortar team, as well as a forward observer and a PAK 40.

Tripod mounted MG42s (PP).

Foward Observer (BF).

Platoon commander in front of the PAK 40 (PP).

81 mm mortar and Panzerschreck team (all PP).

It was certainly interesting to go back to painting 15 mm after having painted 28 mm exclusively for the last 2 years or so. For one thing, I think my eyesight is getting worse – I don't remember them being this small ... Still, they're certainly quicker to paint than the larger scale! If the test game goes well, we'll probably go the 28 mm route though.

However, all this 15 mm painting has unfortunately meant that I've not had the time to work on the miniatures for Röda nävar. Consequently, they've been pushed back a couple of weeks. I'm still determined to get them finished though.