Some New German Armour: StuG IIIs

 

For the last couple of months or so I have been making a real effort to get my WWII collection moving in the right direction. After publishing the Seelow Heights volume a few years back, I sold off most of the vehicles and many of the figures that I had used to illustrate the book, intending to do something different for the next project. Now that "Bagration to Berlin" is well underway, I needed to get cracking on all the new stuff that I will need to illustrate the book. As well as new terrain boards and buildings, this has included a large number of new vehicles and here are some of the first off the production line.

Here is the StuH42 105mm howitzer version. I believe around 1,200 of this version were produced intended primarily for use against soft targets having a much more effective HE round.

All are the excellent Plastic Soldier Company StuGs with the crew figures coming from a variety of sources. I have gone fairly heavy on the stowage on these which really helps to make them stand out. In many of the photos I have seen, assault gun crews seemed quite willing to load their vehicles with such stuff, whereas it seemed to be far less common with panzer crews. The basic colours were done with an airbrush and everything else painted by hand. 

I must have nearly 100 German vehicles alone to do as I can't seem to stop buying the damn things, so a long way to go. Lucky that Rome wasn't built in a day!

A New WWII Writing Project

After the 18 December post, I have had a few people ask me if I am intending to do another WW2 book along the lines of the Seelow Heights volume I published a few years back. It is something I have been thinking about for a while, but have been a bit absorbed with a couple of Franco-Prussian projects. Having completed the monograph on the mitrailleuse in 1870, something a bit lighter certainly appeals and I have been looking at doing another late war Eastern Front scenario book. The initial research has gone quite well and over the last few months I have been working up a number of the scenarios. 

The working title is: Defeat in the East: Operation Bagration to the Fall of Berlin, A Wargamer's Guide. A bit of a mouthful, but just about describes it. The idea is to present a larger number of scenarios than the 12 in my Seelow Heights book. I felt that given the breadth of the subject it probably needed more like 16-18, with plenty of background narrative, information sidebars and of course lots of eye candy! 

I am also intending to include as a bit of a supplement a copy of the quick play rules we use when playing at my house, which we have found to give a fast moving and enjoyable game (when playing with the wider group and usually on a much larger scale, we still use Rapid Fire!). Over the next few months I will try and post regular updates on both the progress with the book itself and the building of the terrain and forces for it. 

After I published Seelow Heights, I sold off most of the vehicles that I used in the photos as I wanted to present something different if I did another Eastern Front book. Only recently have I started to ramp this up a little bit and I now have a reasonable amount done both in the vehicles and terrain department; these will both feature extensively in any accompanying photos. To get things started here are a couple of the buildings that I have managed to finish.

Both buildings are EBAY purchases, completely re-painted of course and with additional detailing. I really like these types of buildings as they are ready made (which appeals to the lazyness in me!) and usually reasonably priced (which appeals to the Yorkshireman in me!). Size-wise they are spot on. Incidentally, if you want to see a real exponent of the art and someone I have shamelessly copied, I definitely recommend his thread on the Wargamers' Forum:

panzerfaust200 - Neustadt WIP (reborn) - The Wargamers' Forum

His Neustadt project has to be seen to be believed.

Below is the SS command group seen planning its next move in the photos above. I absolutely hate painting camo uniforms of any kind, especially SS, but needs must. Am aiming for  couple of battalions plus regimental support assets, so around 120 figures or so. Will do some in greatcoats for a late war autumn/winter scruffy campaign look, but the majority will be in camo smocks.

I will try to keep this thread updated as regularly as I can - there are still several tons of work to do on both the writing and the modelling fronts, but it is a project that has really got my imagination going. As I am now retired and have a very understanding wife, progress will I hope be rapid. I look forward to hearing what you think of it all.