Some WW2 repaints...

Been a while since I dabbled with 15mm stuff, but I had a bunch of German vehicles I wasn't super happy with.  Instead of flogging them on eBay and buying more stuff...I just tossed them in the ultrasonic with some alcohol.

 

While they came out a bit 'chunky' - some of the primer didn't come off, so these are a bit less 'crisp' on the details, I speed-painted these to put them back into service.

 

 

Some 15mm walls from Flames of War (for Battlegroup)

The other day my local game store got a stash of old Flames of War boxes (and a bunch of old metal minis in appaling condition).  I snagged the box of old Gale Force 9 'Battlefield in a Box' walls.

 

As with most of the Gale Force 9 stuff it's pretty lifeless out of the box - despite being 'pre-painted' they often need some touching up to really blend with anything.  They feel very...stale?

 

So I slapped them down on some bases, slapped on a few washes/filters and then did the full basing routine.  I shaped them to kind of "clip on" to random buildings as a rear yard.

 

 

Battlegroup: Kursk (Soviets and Germans)

Just a few pictures of a Battlegroup game from this afternoon.  A 500 point game of Soviets vs. Germans with the Soviets stealing the win while being mauled by the Germans.  A lot of infantry casualties and a lot of mortar fire.

 

 

Games!: Revised Battlegroup

 Our local group has fallen out of love with Battlegroup lately, but I've been adding a bunch of house rules/tweaks to bring the game a bit more interest and we played for the first time in a while this past weekend.  I forgot to take pics, but a buddy snapped a few!

Rummaging for 15mm left-overs...

Trying to do anything other than paint more Battle Masters, I rummaged through my box of leftover 15mm kits, and found these four.  I painted them up in short order.  All are 15mm Battlefront/Flames of War kits, as usual.

Some more 15mm replacements.

Starting to add/redo some of my Soviet 15mm force since I painted them before I really understood 15mm and had my better colour palettes established.

 

I knocked out these two BA-64 scout cars, and three T-70 light tanks yesterday.  Not my best work, but suitable.

 

 

Some solo-Battlegroup.

I ran a solo game of Battlegroup today to test some house rules, and some randomized force tables I wrote up a while ago.  I had the guys on Facebook roll for the units.

 

The Germans ran into a pretty impossible scenario, though they almost eke'ed out a win at the end.

 

 

15mm Battlegroup Inventory - November '23

While stacking and sorting stuff in 15mm, I snapped some inventory pictures of the current 15mm collection.  The Soviets occupying six 4L boxes, while the Germans have stepped up to five themselves.  Room in both collections for other additions as needed.

Soviet core tanks.

Soviet infantry platoons.

Soviet assault guns, tank hunters and tracked artillery.

Soviet trucks, tractors, armoured cars and light tanks.

Soviet lend-lease vehicles and armour.

Soviet special units, artillery, anti-tank guns, and platoon support options.

German self-propelled guns, tank hunters and assault guns.

German core tank units and StuGs.

German anti-tank guns, special units and platoon support options.

German infantry platoons.

German trucks, cars, tractors, half-tracks and armoured cars.

Finishing off the 15mm stack of shame.

Well, this is it.  I've finally built/painted the large stack of 15mm crap I had sitting in a box lid, staring at me while I was hobbying.  I'll be taking a break for a bit from 15mm...finally, but happy to finish this batch.  Two Battlefront Panzer III M's.

Replacing some old BA-10's (Zvezda)

So, early in my 15mm adventure, I put together (while swearing incessantly) two BA-10 Soviet armoured cars produced by Zvezda.  Why was I cursing?  They decided to make an armoured car in 26 pieces...for 15mm scale (a little over 1.5" long).  Tiny obnoxious tires, wheels, suspension, headlamp stalks, etc.  A really ridiculously stupid kit.  It was so dumb I believe they simply downscaled a 20mm kit.  This also meant that every piece of it was tiny and risked breaking when you touched them.

They also went together poorly with large seams running down the whole bodies...etc.  Basically a nightmare.  On top of that I was painting fast and furious without having done much 15mm, so my end results were poor.  I tended to avoid using them in games solely because I hated them.

Well, around 3-4 years later that has finally been rectified.  I received two 3D print models from a buddy (along with all the other crap I've painted in the past two days), and painted up some replacements.

Nicer models, nicer paintjobs, and more robust for gaming.

Compared to the older Zvezda kit on the right.

New 3D print vs. older Zvezda build.

The BA-10 collection.

One more of my Soviet bins filled to bursting at this point...

German prime movers...finally.

I've been looking for 3D printed prime movers for my Germans for a couple years at this point.  I finally picked up a few from a buddy, and slapped some paint on them.  I'm not terribly happy with the results, but I can deal since they're just there to drag stuff around.  My German transport collection has been growing steadily.