Flames of War on Budget

[khartoum2]

A number of years ago I bought a copy of the Flames of War rules and Fetunga Europa army lists.  At the time I decided my budget was better spent elsewhere and thought about converting the rules to 1/72 scale.  however time meant that this never happened, no surprise there.

Anyhow recently I was in my local shop and saw a few boxes of plastic soldier company items and on a whim decided to buy a pack of panzer IV's, a pack of half tracks and half track conversion kit.  To go with this in the discount box were two boxes of wargames factory german infantry.  So I had my items but no idea how I they were going to slot together in a force but was definiely thinking mechanized panzer grenadiers.

I had the idea of putting together two forces 1 German and 1 Russian setting myself two rules, to keep it down in price, and to paint it as simply as I could as I still had various other projects on the go which were more involved and one of the reasons why I decided to resurrect a FOW force.

First night I put quickly put together a sample of one of the 5 Panzer IV models and found it an absolute pleasure.  Then on the weekend in a spare hour I built the other 4. 

I will tell more as the army builds (I have already made some additional purchases) and post the odd painted picture.

[Poiter50]

The new BF Open Fire set will add Stugs, Pak 40s, German infantry, a V1 (objective marker) as well as 8 British Shermans and US Paras, all plastic. Good value to boost one force and give you a starter for another.

[khartoum2]

Thanks, as it happens I have been making a few additional purchases, one of which was the new game set which was discounted down slightly and made more sense than the 3 boxes of bits I had picked up previosult int he shop.

Anyhow I have built the tanks and painted 3 of them.  These are not works of art I have quickly put base coats on them and some camo lines (not one for purists of designs - just lined here and there). Finally I gave them a wash with stong tone ink and all I intend to do now is get some decals and varnish the result.  All in all a very quick and painless process - I undercoated 3 tanks and painted one completetly in an evening.  This just left 5 minutes on another day to wash.

[khartoum2]

I put together the wargames factory figures on their bases and made a bit of a horlicks of it at first.  I based the groups with two machine guns in each 2 base section rather than one of the bases having only rfiles.  This meant I severely restricted the number of companies I could make with the two bozes I had acquired.  It was not until I bought the Open Fire set that I realised this.  I have now gone back and added extra figures and bases from the set and it has worked that I have 2 platoons with 3 sections and 1 with 2 sections.  In addition I have enough anti tank figures for additional sections and command groups.  Fianlly I built a mortar platoon as well. 

These figures are very slender and some rifle ends and othe extremities easily bend.  The detail is moulded very nicely to the model but I find on the test stand that I have commenced painting that it is to difficult at times to work out when undercoated in black.  The plastic figures I have form FOW are posed more interestingly and less uniformly and look very good.  They do not though sit too well next to the factory figures as they are more bulky.  This bulkyness is an advantage as it does give them more of a sturdy feel that will last longer.

[khartoum2]

Other Purchases

To catch up witht he purchases I have made here and there on differnet visits to a number of model shops I have acquired :-

Plastic Soldier Co box of 5 Panthers - couldn't resist these sleek monsters of a medium tank which have always been my favourite - points wise though they are very much a luxury and will take some matching on the Russian side - Models went together so easily and was completed in no time. 

Zvezda snap togethre Russian kits for 3 KV1 heavy tanks, 3 trucks and 2 rocket launchers.  These kits fit togther so easily taking next to no time to assemble.  The only issues I had were that the trucks bonnets needed folding for asembly and this has meant that they are weak - one split while undercoating.  The rocket launchers I felt needed a couple of their lugs that attached the rail framework to the truck and then to be glued in place.  To have built it as a clip together kit would have ended in disaster - All of these were thrown together very very quicklym adn are now awaiting painting.

My final purchase before  the open fire box set where I intend to use the Shermans as lease lend Russian vehicles was 2 Zvezda snap together Sdkfz 222 armoured cars.  Thes were a bit of a pig to get right due to the awkward shapes of the body work.