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The Hotchkiss H35 or Char léger modèle 1935 H was a French light tank developed prior to World War II.
So far I have two of these blisters and each contains three tanks. You can make them up either as the H-35 or the H-39. As well as the resin hulls and turrets you get metal tracks and rear engine covers.
The resin hull and turret.
See the workbench feature on the Flames of War French Hotchkiss H-39.
This is a boxed set with parts to make four four 105/155mm C mle 1917 S guns with crew, Observer Rifle team, a Staff team and a Command Rifle team.
Having constructed the guns and put the crew on wooden sticks, the next stage was a white undercoat for the figures and the guns.
I also gave the guns a white undercoat.
I also sprayed the underneath of the guns with a Humbrol Dark Brown spray to add shadow.
Spartan Games have released details about their new releases for the Republique of France.
These are very nice looking models. I like the flying battleships.
This is a boxed set with parts to make four four 105/155mm C mle 1917 S guns with crew, Observer Rifle team, a Staff team and a Command Rifle team.
I initially decided that I would make two of the guns as 105mm L mle 1913 S guns.
Here are the two 105mm L mle 1913 S guns, I am using road wheels rather than spoked on these.
Here are the two 155mm mle 1917 Howitzers.
The completed 105mm L mle 1913 S gun.
I was going to make the 155mm mle 1917 Howitzers with the provided spoked wheels, however after thinking and reflecting about it, I decided that I would make up all four as 105mm L mle 1913 S guns.
This is a boxed set with parts to make four four 105/155mm C mle 1917 S guns with crew, Observer Rifle team, a Staff team and a Command Rifle team.
I glued the crew and other sections to wooden sticks to make them easier to paint.
There are five crew for each gun.
Here is the Staff team.
Here is the Here is the Command Rifle team.
You also get a couple of prone infantry to use as the Observer Rifle team. These I based directly on the FoW plastic base.
See the full workbench feature on the French Heavy Artillery Battery.
The Renault FT or Automitrailleuse à chenilles Renault FT modèle 1917, inexactly known as the FT-17 or FT17, was a French light tank; it is among the most revolutionary and influential tank designs in history.
The FT was the first operational tank with an armament in a fully rotating turret, and its configuration with the turret on top, engine in the back and the driver in front became the conventional one, repeated in most tanks until today; at the time it was a revolutionary innovation.
France still had several thousand First World War Renault FT tanks in 1940. Over 500 of them were still in service in independent bataillons de chars de combat (BCC) tank battalions in the front lines. Although adequate for infantry support, they were totally outclassed by German tanks in a mobile battle.
It is one of my favourite tanks, I have always had a fondness for this little tank, probably as a result of making that Matchbox plastic kit of the Renault and the Char B1 when I was young.
As I am creating an Early War French army I got some of these little tanks for Flames of War.
The tanks were small in real life and were quite small in the 1:76th scale kit, so I am expecting quite a small tank for 15mm. Actually I was surprised by how small the Char B1 is compared to Late War tanks, I don’t know for some reason I thought the Char B1 was a “big” tank, well it might be “big” for Early War, but otherwise it is quite a thin small tank compared to the Cromwells and Panthers you find in 1944. It’s quite incredible the pace of technological change in tank design during the war in just a few years.
I was pleased with the amount of detail in the model.
I like the fact you get two turret variants.
I was recommended these Forged in Battle miniatures at a gaming shop in Birmingham. They look well casted and a similar size to Flames of War infantry.
I mounted the mortar teams onto wooden sticks ready for undercoating and painting.
There are four teams altogether.
The next stage was a white undercoat.
See the workbench feature on the Forged in Battle 15mm French Mortar Team.
The 47 mm APX anti-tank gun was a French anti-tank gun that saw service in the first years of the Second World War.
In the 1930s the French artillery sought a replacement for the derivatives of the 75 mm mle 1897 field gun it used in the anti-tank role. Despite having a decent anti-armour capability, the venerable soixante-quinze was heavy and was much harder to conceal than the smaller high-velocity, small calibre anti-tank weapons of modern design. The chosen weapon was a design of the state-owned arsenal Atelier de Puteaux (“Puteaux workshop”, abbreviated to APX), and was designated as canon de 47 mm semi-automatique mle 1937. It was a very efficient weapon, especially given the (then) thin armour of German tanks of the time, unfortunately the 47 SA 37 still was relatively rare at the time of the Battle of France.
Within the Flames of War blister you get two guns and one command team.
They may eventually end up like this!
The Hotchkiss H35 or Char léger modèle 1935 H was a French light tank developed prior to World War II.
Despite having been designed from 1933 as a rather slow but well-armoured light infantry support tank, the type was initially rejected by the French Infantry because it proved difficult to steer while driving cross-country, instead being adopted in 1936 by the French Cavalry. From 1938 an improved version was produced with a stronger engine, the Char léger modèle 1935 H modifié 39, that from 1940 was also fitted with a longer, more powerful 37 mm gun. It was intended to make this improved variant the standard light tank, to be produced in a number of at least four thousand to equip new armoured divisions of both the Cavalry and the Infantry, but due to the defeat of France in June 1940 total production of both subtypes remained limited to about 1200 vehicles
So far I have two of these blisters and each contains three tanks.
You can make them up either as the H-35 or the H-39. As well as the resin hulls and turrets you get metal tracks and rear engine covers.
The Somua S35 was a French cavalry tank of the Second World War. Built from 1936 until 1940 to equip the armoured divisions of the Cavalry, it was for its time a relatively agile medium-weight tank, superior in armour and armament to both its French and foreign competitors, such as the contemporary versions of the German Panzerkampfwagen III. It was constructed from well-sloped, mainly cast, armour sections, that however made it expensive to produce and time-consuming to maintain. During the German invasion of May 1940, the Somua S35 proved itself to be a tactically effective type, but this was negated by strategic mistakes in deploying its units.
So far I have one of these blisters.
I really need three for a Medium Combat Platoon and a fourth as a command vehicle… well this one may be the command vehicle and I’ll get the other three at a later date.