flames of war Archives - Page 28 of 42

15mm German SdKfz 251 Armoured Half Track

The SdKfz 251 (Sonderkraftfahrzeug 251) half-track was an armored fighting vehicle designed and first built by Germany’s Hanomag company during World War II. One of the most common, and best armoured of the wartime half-tracks, the SdKfz 251 was designed to transport the panzergrenadiers of the German mechanized infantry corps into battle. Widely known simply as “Hanomags” by both German and Allied forces, they were widely produced throughout the war, with over 15,252 vehicles and variants produced in total by various manufacturers.

This is an old metal model that I think was made by SDD. I am using it as a testbed for which method I should use with my Flames of War resin models and I suspect in the end it will probably end up as a piece of scenery.

Having given the model a basecoat of Warpaint German Armour the next stage will be to add the disruptive camouflage.

I thought long and hard about how to do this, and I didn’t have or really wanted to buy an airbrush, even though that appears to be the accepted method for doing late war German camouflage.

What I did was take an old paintbrush and cut off the bristles leaving a quarter inch. This brush is then used to stipple on the camouflage pattern.

I used Reflective Green (890) and Chocolate Brown (872).

I am quite pleased with the effect.

Though the official German manual during the war told how the camo pattern was to be applied, it said the raw paint mixture was to be mixed with petrol and sprayed onto the vehicles. Reality and short supplies of petrol meant that more often the camo pattern was “painted” onto the vehicles, sometimes with brushes and sometimes with rags.

I do like the effect that the airbrush gives these models, I am not sure if I have the requisite skill to do it justice on small models like this.

See the workbench feature on the German SdKfz 251 Armoured Half Track.

Basecoating the Flames of War British 17pdr SP Achilles

The 17 pounder, Self Propelled, Achilles was a British variant of the American M10 Tank destroyer armed with the powerful British Ordnance QF 17 pounder anti-tank gun in place of the standard 3″ (76.2 mm) Gun M7. With a total of 1,100 M10s converted, the 17 pdr SP Achilles was the second most numerous armoured fighting vehicle to see service armed with the 17 pounder gun, behind the Sherman Firefly.

Having given the model a white undercoat, and as I had run out of Humbrol Dark Green, I gave the models a complete spray of Warpaint British Armour.

Next stage will be painting some of the details and the crew.

See the workbench feature on the British M10 / 17pdr SP Achilles.

15mm Ruined Houses

One of my Christmas presents was a couple of ruins from Total Battle Miniatures.

I got the ruined row of three houses and the ruined row of four houses.

They look like very nice clean castings and I think I may get some more to add to my ruined Normandy village for Flames of War.

So what did you get for Christmas?

Basecoating the Flames of War TOG2 Mid-War Monster

The Tank, Heavy, TOG 2 was a prototype British super-heavy tank design produced in the early part of the Second World War in case the battlefields of northern France turned into a morass of mud, trenches and craters as had happened during the First World War. In the end it never went into production, but as part of the Flames of War Mid-War Monsters range you can buy it and use it in alternate history games.

I was going to (as I have done with other models) give the TOG2 tanks a spray from underneath of a Humbrol Dark Green, however I ran out of paint after doing one. So in the end I gave all three models a basecoat of Warpaint British Armour.

The command tank has the commander sticking himself out of the turret…

The three TOGs.

See the workbench feature on these huge tanks.

Flames of War Third Edition

Well here is the official announcement of a new edition of Flames of War.

Update: the video has been removed…

So there is going to be a third edition of Flames of War with a free (mini) copy for existing players, nice.

There are also some photographs of new models including a proper German Armoured Train which looks very nice.

Flames of War British Sherman Firefly

The Sherman Firefly was a World War II British variant of the American Sherman tank, fitted with the powerful British 17 pounder anti-tank gun as its main weapon. Originally conceived as a stopgap until future British tank designs came into service, the Sherman Firefly became the most common vehicle with the 17 pounder in World War II.

After giving a base coat for the underneath of Humbrol Dark Green. The model was then given a spray of Warpaint British Armour. The Dark Green spray adds shadow.

As you can see from this closeup, the spray does give the model an even coat, and combined with the sculpting does show off the cast turret that the Firefly had.

Here is the Firefly with three regular Shermans (the resin models from Open Fire).

See the workbench feature on my Flames of War Sherman Firefly VC.

Flames of War back at Maelstrom Games

Many will remember earlier this year when there was a little strop between Battlefront and Maelstrom Games which resulted in Battlefront refusing to supply Malestrom with Flames of War products.

From Tabletop Gaming News, February 23rd 2011

Battlefront Miniatures Ltd of Auckland, New Zealand announces that Maelstrom Games of Mansfield, United Kingdom is no longer a retailer of its products. This applies to all brands and ranges sold by Battlefront Miniatures Ltd. With immediate effect Maelstrom Games will no longer be one of our retailers.

Well according to the latest news from Maelstrom, they have reconciled their differences and Maelstrom will now be stocking the full range of Flames of War.

We are proud to announce that, in 2012, Maelstrom Games will be renewing our partnership with Battlefront Miniatures to bring you the finest World War II wargame and miniatures out there – Flames of War!

We’ve missed it, we know you lot have missed it, so we approached, apologised and reconciled our differences with Battlefront so we could work together again to ensure 2012 will be a great year for wargaming!

Flames of War, of course, has expanded greatly in 2011 and we will be bringing you all of the superb new releases from this year as well as everything else in Battlefront’s rather enormous range of miniatures. Whilst it will take time to build up stock, Battlefront’s speedy order turnaround times will ensure that even if the items you want aren’t in our warehouse or you can get them very quickly. We will, however, be stocking our store almost immediately, thus ensuring that if you visit the Eye of the Storm you should be able to grab what you need on the day.

Wargames Illustrated magazine and Gale Force Nine hobby products will also return, needless to say (for which we all rejoice), although it may take a day or so to get Gale Force Nine and Wargames Illustrated on the webstore, so please be patient! We will also ensure our venue holds as many Flames of War events as we can possibly fit into the schedule, so watch out for those announcements.

All of the Flames of War items (barring the Vietnam War stuff, which again will appear at some point over the next couple of days) are now on the webstore, so feel free to order them from this point – as well as the superb new late war compilations, Grey Wolf and Red Bear, and all of those lovely new releases coming in January 2012!

What’s interesting is that Maelstom will be offering their usual 10% discount.

I do wonder who made the first move, were Battlefront suffering or was it Maelstrom, I guess we will never know even if the tone of the news from Maelstrom indicates it was them.

Flames of War British Challenger (A30) Tank

The Tank, Cruiser, Challenger (A30) was a British tank of World War 2. It mounted the 17 Pounder gun on the Cromwell chassis to add heavier anti-tank firepower to the cruiser tank units.

Having given the Challenger a white undercoat. The next stage was a base coat for the underneath of Humbrol Dark Green. This added shadow and depth to the main (top) base coat of Warpaint British Armour which was then sprayed on.

Here is the Challenger next to it’s little brother, the Cromwell IV.

See the full workbench feature on my Challenger A30.

Flames of War German Panzergrenadier Headquarters

I purchased a Flames of War box of the German Panzergrenadier Headquarters. In the box you get a bunch of resin, plastic and metal. So having cleaned the metal castings, I glued the infantry to some wooden sticks using wood glue. I then gave the models a white undercoat.