A German Stormbird: Me 262 A2a 'Sturmvogel'

Hello there! I want to show you my early christmas presents: the Sd Kfz 234 and the German Stormbird, Me 262 Sturmvogel. Both are from Battlefront.

But for the main thing in this article is to show you a step by step guide on painting 'scribble' camouflage pattern used by some reconnaissance squadrons. The reference I'm using is from Battlefronts article "Stormbirds: The Messerschmitt Me 262 'Sturmvogel'".

For the color I'm using the once mentioned in the article: Vallejo Brown Violet 887, Luftwaffe Camo Green 823, Pale Grey Blue 907 and for the basecoat I'm using Light Grey 990.

Light Grey 990 added

First of course I had to clean up the model which was very easy as there was very few flash.

Then it was time to start with the painting. I first made a moderate brushing with Light Grey 990 to get a light surface where to add rest of the colors.

I then painted the whole model with Pale Grey Blue 907. This will give me an even lighter base from where to start and it will also serve as the under side of the plane.

Pale Grey Blue 907 added

The next step was to add uneven curvy lines of Brown Violet 887 and Luftwaffe Camo Green 823 to the top side of the plane. For this stage I used a drybrush with a moderate amount of paint on it. Intension was to leave some spots with Pale Grey Blue 907 visible.

For some stupid reason I wasn't paying enough attention to my reference pictures here as there seems to be a coat of Middlestone under the camouflage. I fixed this by drybrushing some Middlestone over the already painted camouflage but leaving some still visible. I then repainted the camouflage using Temperas size 3 brush and doing a mixture of curved lines.

After this I fixed some mistakes made during camouflaging stage on the underside of the fuselage with Pale Grey Blue 907. Then it was time to add some wash to the recess, for this I used Citadels Nuln Oil and Temperas size 3 brush.

Finally I did the markings, bombs and the canopy. For the markings I used Vallejos Black and Citadels Red Gore. The canopy was also painted black. I tried to do some reflection lines but wasn't satisfied in the result. The bombs were painted with Vallejos Hull Red and washed with Nuln Oil.

Finished Me 262 A2a 'Sturmvogel'

Finished Me 262 A2a 'Sturmvogel'

Here we are, all done and ready. Not as good as I'd hope but a lot better than I expected. This is my second plane ever painted for Flames of War. The other is my IL-2 Shturmovik for the Soviets.

Please leave a comment or a thumbs up.

Tactica Jagdtiger Chapter 2 - Reluctant Trained

Previously...

We took a look at reluctant veteran Jagdtigers and some ways to use them and lists for 1650 and 1780 points.
...Tactica Jagdtiger Chapter 1 - Reluctant Veterans

Reluctant Trained

In this second chapter we're going to take a look at the 2./512.sPzJgAbt from "Bridge at Remagen". As mentioned before I wont look at the confident veteran list as I have no clear mind over it as of now and no games played with that list. 2./512.sPzJgAbt differents from the reluctant veteran list from "Nuts!" in quite a many ways.

First and the most obvious is that it will get hit easier, a lot. Only being trained you get hit with 3+. Secondly it only requires compulsory sPzJg HQ and one compulsory sPzJg platoon of one Jagdtigers each. That means you'll only need minimum of two Jagdtigers. And thirdly, but no means the worst, you can get Otto "The Laser Beam" Carius!

As with reluctant veterans you need to avoid getting into assaults as you will most likely get into trouble with reluctant rating and eventually get your platoons ran down. And you don't want to waste your platoons in assaults with lists that I have planned.

These lists are made to soak up as much fire as possible and at the same time deliver as big punch as possible. This leads to having a lot of heavy armor which costs you a lot of points but it keeps you alive quite long. Just remember that again you need to work together with your infantry and tanks. Your tanks can't handle assaulting infantry and your infantry can't handle assaulting tanks. And remember to use Carius, get him with a clear lines of sight, just keep him near a forest or house to force those planes to range in on you!

HQ
Compulsory sPzJg HQ 1* Jagdtiger 270
Replace CinC with Carius 85 reluctant veteran

In my lists Carius is a must. With mere 85 points you get to hit everything with their base value at any range up to 120cm/48". You get to ignore concealment and +1 to hit for targets over 40cm/16". And as you ignore concealment your enemy can't benefit of having +1 from Gone to Ground either. This works also inside smoke but here the smoke limits your range to 40cm/16".

He's the ultimate sniper and his primary targets are gun teams and tanks. Also Carius is very useful on taking down enemy artillery.

Combat
You must have one platoon equipped with Jagdtigers and you may have up to two platoons. Al these are reluctant trained so you'll get hit easier but unless you expose your side armor, you'll be fine. Just take a look at enemy artillery and planes.

Compulsory sPzJg platoon 1* Jagdtiger 270 reluctant trained

One individual Jagdtiger can be used to protect one flank with infantry or it can be your platoon in reserve. Won't be nearly as good as Carius but it will still be an asset you can use to channel your enemies movement. Again, remember to use houses and forest against planes as this is just one tank and then the platoon is gone!

Weapons
Here you have an option to get some AAA in a forms of Wirbelwinds or Ostwinds. Ostwinds would be better for their longer range and higher AT and better FP but at the cost of RoF. I think here it's a bit "take what you like" situation so I won't be going any deeper.

Panzer AA Gun platoon 3* Wirbelwind 110 reluctant trained

With mere 110 points you get a good anti-infantry and anti light vehicle unit. But again you need to remember that these have FA 3 and won't stand a chance if put against anything with a big gun. Also use these to limit the places where your enemy can put his AOP or plane. With RoF 6 per vehicle, they are able to take down a full flight of three planes with ease.

Support

Support platoons will give your force some diversity and serious punch. With 6 boxes of options from reluctant conscript Volkssturms to reluctant veteran King Tigers you have the options to give your Jagdtigers a screening force or add more high anti tank, smoke or AA or even the latest Wonderweapon, the Arado 234 B.

sPz platoon 2* Königstiger (Henschel) 600 reluctant veteran
Panzergrenadier platoon 7* panzerfaust/MG, 4* Sd Kfz 251/1 215 reluctant veteran
Air Support Sporadic FW 190F 100

I've chosen to have a bit of all in my list to cope with different situations.

First I've taken Panzergrenadiers as a screening force. They have MGs and half-tracks to stop enemy infantry from assaulting and panzerfausts to stop those tanks even before they think about assaulting. Half-tracks also helps to redeploy if needed and gives me the option to use mounted assault. As veterans these are hard to dig out but as reluctant you may want to stay out of close combat unless you are 100% sure of winning.

My second option is to have some more AT with two King Tigers. With TAS these guys can be a real pain in the ass and can hold out their own on one flank until reinforcements arrive. Also against Soviet tank hordes it helps to have some impenetrable hulls, even SU-100s will have a hard time against these. Just stay near forests and houses and try to position them so that enemy spotters can't get a clear line of sight on you without moving.

With only 100 points left I've opted to take some indirect fire from Luftwaffe, FW 190F. This will force my enemy to spread out and it can be sent after artillery batteries to give them something else to think about. It will have a really free time operating as my forces will most likely not to attack with Defenders of the Ruhr special rule so I won't be going to end up to close to it to stop it from doing its job.

There you have a 1650 points force with 4 platoons and air support. It can assault but it must be done very late in the game. It can dig out guns and infantry and defeat tank hordes to some degree, 20+ T-34s and long table edges deployment would be a very bad thing though.

Up to 1780 points
Now lets take a look at on one way of upgrading the list to 1780 points. 130 points more to use, you could take one more platoon to get 5 platoons. But as with most of the missions the defender has reserves in many of them and that makes having 5 platoons a bit bad thing.

Instead what I've opted to do is, I dropped one Wirbelwind and the FW 190F air support to get one more Jagdtiger and opted to have it as 2iC. This way I will always have two Jagdtigers to put on the field (enemies be afraid!).

I can now have 4 (or 5 if I like) tank killers on the field when facing tank hordes with 50/50 missions. The other options are all good but very dependent on the enemy. For example 5 tanks on the field against combined arms may be a bad idea.

And there you have it, 1780 points and still with 4 platoons.

Thanks you for reading and as always comments are welcome.

Tactica Jagdtiger Chapter 1 - Reluctant Veterans

Prolog

Hi all!

Now I have been a big fan of Jagdtigers for as many years that I've know these Kitty-Cats and once they were introduced into FoW in "Nuts!" I knew my time had come.

There are only two books which lets you to field these mighty Kitty-Cats on the fields of battle, in "Nuts!" and "Bridge at Remagen". In these books you have many ways to field the biggest FVs of the history, be that a schwere panzerjägerkompanie or infantry company with Jagdtigers as a support choice. Many of you have also read different articles on using and building lists with Jagdtigers in them.

As a fan and keen to help fellow gamers I want to bring to the light some formations and tactics of mine when using Jagdtigers in a schwere panzerjägerkompanie. Now there are three possible variants, reluctant veterans from "Nuts!", and confident veterans and reluctant trained versions from "Bridge at Remagen". I only have experience with reluctant veteran and reluctant trained versions of these so I'll stick with them here.

Further more I'll divide this tactica into two chapters so it'll be easier to follow.

This first part will concentrate on reluctant veteran version from "Nuts!".

Reluctant Veterans

 

For reluctant veterans I have two different lists. We're first going to take a look at the 1650 points list and how to use it. And finally we'll take a look on how to upgrade it to 1780 points.

As your force has been rated as Tank Company, you'll be attacking a lot. You'll need to have assets that can pull that off while still being able to defend your own end. Jagdtigers are a good force to pop dug in infantry and guns with their long range and breakthrough guns before your infantry assaults them. Just be careful with flanking TDs and tank forces as your Jagdtigers will get beaten badly from side shots. Take them out first or block their movement with your infantry.

In Nuts! you'll have to have HQ and 2 compulsory platoons with Jagdtigers. Minimum count for FVs in HQ and platoon is one so that gives us 3 Jagdtigers minimum.

HQ
Compulsory sPzJg HQ 1* Jagdtiger 345

Combat
Compulsory sPzJg platoon 1* Jagdtiger 345
Compulsory sPzJg platoon 1* Jagdtiger 345

This gives us a good start for long range anti tank work. But the cost is great, 1035 for three Jagdtigers, so we'll need to keep other platoons cheap.

Weapons
PzJg AA gun platoon 2* Wirbelwind 100
 
Next up is the weapons platoon. What I've though is we need some cover from all of those AOPs and tank hunting planes so I've invested into two Wirbelwinds for 100 points. This unit can also be used against light vehicles and infantry who are trying to harras my Big Cats. Just try to keep them out of the line of AT fire.

Support
Last we have our support options. You can have two infantry platoons in your force. These include Volksgrenadier Sturms, Volksgrenadier Schützens and Volks pioniers, both as confident veterans and reluctant traineds. And SS-panzergrenadiers and SS-panzerpioniers as fearless traineds.

You have one box for artillery. Here you have a wide range of options from 10.5cm leFH18s through 15cm NW41s to 15cm sFH18s. These come as infantry RT, CV or FT Volks troops or SS troops.

Then we have some more AA in a form of FT SS 3,7cm FlaK43s or 2cm Flakvierlings 38s. And last but not leas we have either FW190 or Sturmvogel as Sporadic Air Support option.

SS-Panzergrenadier platoon 225
SS-Panzerpionier platoon with supply truck 220
Volks Rocket Launcher Battery 3* 15cm NW41s 70

For my list I've gone for SS-Panzergrenadiers for their possibility to use as an assault force and thanks to their MGs for defensive work. In offence you'll need to be careful because your being only trained but in my view it's not that bad on defence.

For my second infantry platoon I've gone for SS-Panzerpioniers with a supply truck. This gives me barbed wire or a minefield and an option for flamethrowers which are always handy if needing to attack.

Last I've filled my list up with some ever usefull nebelwerfers. These are to block LoS from enemy AT assets or some other threats or to rain HE shells into the mids of infantry.

That's it, 1650 points on a nose and 6 platoons.

Up to 1780 points
So what would I change to 1780 points. Not much as with 130 points more to use I'd not take a one full platoon as that'd take me to 7 platoons which is not preferred with this list.

I'd either think about upgrading SS-Panzerpionier platoon to CV Volks pionier platoon to have more assaulting bodies. This would then come my primary assault force.

Second upgrade would be SS-Panzergrenadiers to be upgraded into CV Volksgrenadier Sturm platoon. They'd be my close support unit for Jagdtigers with their assault rifles and panzerfausts.

And here we have 1780 points.

Hope you like it.

In Chapter 2 we'll take a look at reluctant trained version of 512. Schwere Panzerjäger Abteilung.

2./506. Schwere Panzerabteilung reinforced!! UPD. Now also 2./512. Schwere Panzerjäger Abteilung reinforced!

"Sir, we have replacements. Two PzKpfw VI Ausf. B "Tiger"s has just arrived from maintenance. Company is now at full strength."

Old KT in the middle, new KTs on the sides

This means my troops for Oosterbeek are now ready. Let those British and American dogs walk straight to our trap!

My oldest KT was made long ago and you can tell. But somehow now that all the KTs are ready and I put them side by side, I like the camouflage on the oldest KT is the best... strange! I thought I'd have learned to paint better by now. Perhaps I need to redo some of the camouflage on the new KTs. Perhaps some fading is in order.

Anyhow I wanted these to look that they have had some repairs in the rear areas and hastly sended to aid in the defense of Oosterbeek. That's why there are replaced guns and turrets etc. without camouflage paint (though should have bought the non-zimmerit ones, these look awful with zimmerit!).

Now to finish some Jagdtigers(done!) and 3,7cm FlaK43s!

UPDATE: 2./512 Schwere Panzerjäger Abteilung

Carius with his company

Now we have more Jagdtigers to deploy to the fields of battle. Their leader is the most famous Otto Carius, better known for his actions leading a Tiger I E tank.

My Carius' model is not the BFs Carius but rather a normal Jagdtiger that I use as Carius. No need to buy one more Jagdtiger when I have 3 already!

Here again, as with KTs, I went with a worn look. Also some fuelcans and other stowage was added to personalization.

Enjoy!

EasyArmy version 2.0

So after a long silence Battlefront has come to tell us the big and waited news concerning EasyArmy.

"Forces Of War!
For many years one of our play testers and proof readers Gregg Siter has in his spare time been running Easy Army. He created it out of a personal desire to have a tool to manage his armies but it has grown so that many other people can now do the same. For those of you who don’t know this is a force building software package that helps you create and use army lists. When we gave Gregg the okay right at the start to do this we always assumed this would evolve into something more and now that time has come.

Easy Army is going to evolve into Forces of War. This will be an official FOW army builder that at its core uses Easy Army but now will have more features and graphics than ever before. We still have a little more work to do until we can show you the final version but our goal is to have it up and running before our next book, Barbarossa, is out in October. Stay tuned for more news as we will be showing you what it looks like and how it will work in the coming weeks.

~John Paul"

Few questions arise.

1. What will happend to those books already bought from EasyArmy, can we keep them or do we have to buy them again and for what price? 

2. What will happend to all our armylists in EasyArmy? This relates directly to the question 1 as I think if the books will be gone so will the lists.

3. What will the new pricing be? Once for a book, monthly or annually for whole content or some other. What level will the price be for one book?

4. Updates, this is perhaps the easiest. As it's going to be a software (mentioned in John Pauls post) it can check updates via internet every time it's started.

Well we'll need to wait for now. All I hope for is that we can keep our bought books and armylists.

2./512. Schwere Panzerjäger Abteilung - Defending Ludendorff Bridge

Finally received my price book "Bridge at Remagen" for Best Painted in Ace of Aces contest from Battlefront, big thanks for them!

This book is The Book for every player wanting to field a mix of Big Cats with Big Guns. And as you might have quessed from my previous post, I'm the kind of players to like and want them. From the first time I read that Carius, Jagdtigers and King Tigers were going to be in a same list I knew I just wanted to have this book ith all the sweetness.

Now that I've had my first look on the book I've come up with a list where I can have them all. It's not a competitive list in any way but you just can't have it all! ;)

This is 1650 points list using 2./512. sPzJgAbt. Nice thing with this is I only need one compulsory combat platoon.

This gives me 5 platoons, 4 which counts when counting for reserves. From the list you already might quess which platoons would go to reserve, unless there is a damn big tankrush coming my way and I need to bring as much long range AT into bear as possible. Reluctant isn't that bad when you still are veteran or have high armor value.

My first text here. German Reinforcements ready!

Hi all!

My first text here and I want to thank Mikko H for inviting me in. And specially I want to thank you dear readers for reading!

First something about me. I'm more of a slow painter, furious gamer. I like when my units look a bit better than just dipped into a can of paint. I've never used an airbrush and I doubt I never will, I like more of the close touch and the control of the brush. So don't expect some fancy airbrushed models :)

Enough of me and on to my first showcase.

Decided to show you my third Tiger I E that I've painted. With this one I wanted something different from the earlier ones so no mudguards and more of a rag-a-tag look.

I basecoated the tank black and after that gave it a few light coats of Middlestone. Second camocolor I used is Beige Brown and I did it with an old medium sized drybrush. Tracks, tools, cables and jack were first being painted with Light Grey and then washed over with Nuln Oil. Red oxide was done by mixing 2 parts Red Gore and 1 part Dark Brown and being washed over again with Nuln Oil.

And here are the pictures:

  

As you may notice I haven't done any mud or dust as I'm not sure yet what kind of mud or dust should I do. My older Tigers have just some drybrushed Dark Brown and Beige Brown but I may want something new for this one.

But heres all for now. Thank you for reading ladies and getlemen!