German Early War Battalion Support

In addition to the three companies of line troops and the heavy company of machineguns and mortars, I've added some support elements. These were sourced from the excellent Zvezda mini-sets, with some additions from the venerable Esci Wehrmacht.

Here are three platoons of combat engineers. In order to differentiate different classes of troops, I've opted for basing two instead of three figures per base, so that it is readily apparent that these guys are special (and thus a great target for artillery fire). The two bases are mine detector teams, using one figure from the Zvezda set and one from the Esci Germans. The Zvezda miniatures are exceptional and although more petite than their Esci counterparts, they look OK on the same base. The third base is an Esci flamethrower and a simple infantryman.

Anti-aircraft support (where's the bloody RAF poms?) is a 20mm gun from Zvezda. Not much to say, except that the fit is so tight that I prefer to assemble the model and then run some Tamiya extra thin cement along the join lines. Capillary action takes care of the rest. This will probably spend more time shooting at infantry than planes.

The ubiquitous early war doorknocker provides the battalion with some much needed anti-tank firepower. Granted, it won't penetrate a Matilda, but other than an 88, nothing else is available 'till they invade Russia. Again the model is from Zvezda, with an extra crew from the Caesar 150mm howitzer.

Finally these guys. Nope, they aren't Wehrmacht. Any idea where they're heading?

That's all for now from cool, evening Athens.

German Early War Battalion

I've finally found some time to write up on my projects. Real life and the renovation of my old apartment have taken up too many hours of the day for me to blog. Still, I've been painting steadily and my early WWII German battalion is finally complete. It's been complete for a while now, but SWMBO has had other plans for my time. Kitchen appliances, bathroom fittings, you get the idea. Anyways, back to the figures. I used classic Esci and Revell for these. The Esci figures (reboxed by Italeri) were as perfect as when I used to buy them in my (very early) teens. The Revell stuff had a lot flash. I did not remove all of it, lazy sod that I am. After lots and lots of Feldgrau they were ready.

  Here are all nine platoons. The figures mix well together and have great detail as all of us know. There are still enough figs left over for another two companies or so.

 

The machinegun platoons were Esci and Zvezda. Zvezda are a bit more accurate with their sustained fire tripods but I like the old-fashioned stuff as well. 

  

Mortar platoon is Zvezda. Great little kit, not at all fiddly.

  

And  finally the command stand. All Esci. Radio man, officer (for once showing some common sense and wearing a helmet) and NCO.

This was a surprisingly pleasant experience. I thought that I'd be bored to death after all this feldgrau, but it was very zen in a way. No worrying about what design to paint or which colours to use. Just plain old field grey. Eventually all of these guys will get transport. I'm thinking about a mix of 251's, trucks and motorcycle combos. With the crisis in Greece its getting difficult to find a lot of stuff so I'm stuck with only 2 Opels, one for the battalion AA (a 20mm gun) and one for the AT battery (one door knocker). Still, better days for styrene are bound to come.

This is all from the Greek Geek household and a pleasantly cool Athens evening.