Eureka! After over 6 months of work (well, mostly waiting for a LONG overdue back order to be filled), the Late War Battle of the Bulge (LW BOTB) German 10.5 cm lefh 18/40 Howitzer Battery is done! I built four guns so I can use it as a Panzer Division 4 gun battery or a
Volksgrenadier 3 gun section. I also did a command stand and a staff stand as when I started building it Flames of War Version 3 was still the one in vogue. Plus, the guys looked neat. So, I started the crews and ordered the howitzers from Battlefront, thinking that the special order guns would be easier to get (and cheaper). Wrong! They didn't have them in stock and took five months to fill, which was annoying. I eventually found three others on eBay and ordered them while waiting for Battlefront to get them in stock. Of course, as soon as I ordered the others on eBay, guess what finally showed up in my mail box. Goes to figure, I suppose. So now, I have a full 4 gun battery, a staff stand, another Forward Observer, and a command stand. Plus, three other unfinished howitzers that will go into my lead pile in the Battle of the Bulge Tupperware container. I think this is a rare unit for table top use, and should help my Germans against the always nasty Americans.
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| A full battery readies to fire on American positions east of St. Vith. |
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| A slightly better picture. It is hard to get the lighting right with a snow covered table. |
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| I used the Late War Winter crew for these guns. |
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| These stands may be superfluous in V4 but still look neat. |
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| The RT Volksgrenadiers of the 18th Volksgrenadier Division need all the firepower they can get. |
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| I used several light coatings of snow flock over a dead winter grass mixture. |
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| The Command stand looks cold. |
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| Another view. |
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| The staff has many targets, but not enough ammunition! Where are the ammunition trains? |
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| The FO hides in the snow. |
I liked how this unit came out, but not the time it took to get all the components to make it. Luckily, my next units are mere VG
sturm and infantry platoons and I have all of the needed figures.
