On to St Vith!

Or Bastogne, or the Meuse, or something like that.  After a LONG operational pause filled with minor things like work, school, family interactions, vacation and others, I am finally being productive again at the painting table.  I have gotten hooked by the Late War (LW) Germans and Americans for the Battle of the Bulge (BOTB).  Cheap (enough) eBay finds and some really nice infantry sculpts were addictive.  Not knowing which direction to start, I painted up a LW BOTB Panzergrenadier (PG) platoon in snow camouflage and flocking to see how that would look.  At first I said I would only do a single platoon, but we all know how that goes.  I did experiment a bit, using the Battlefront recessed stands (I don't like them that much), snow camouflage uniforms using Vallejo paints (these turned out much nicer), ink wash on the snow camouflage uniforms (the jury is still out here) and of course the snow flocking for the stands.  Even this being experimental, I think it came out pretty nicely.  I should improve on the next LW BOTB PG platoon.  Here are some pictures of the results.

The entire LW BOTB PG zug plus a panzerschrek stand.  

The platoon command stand.  

Two machine gun (MG) stands.  The one on the left was ink washed.  The one on the right was not.  I am not sure which one I like better.

The reverse side.  The left ink washed stand does look better in terms of uniforms, the right non ink washed one has brighter colors, especially in the helmets.

Fanning out from some destroyed Belgium town.

The three foot view.  Here the ink washed one doesn't really show up much differently.  

The poses are very nice.  

At the same time, der sohn of PZRCDR was was much more productive.  He painted up a score of LW German armor for a Market Garden scenario, which can be re-purposed as desired for other LW scenarios.  He used the Battlefront spray paint for the German vehicles and used the recent Colors of War methods and paints.  I am not a fan of the paints compared to the tried and true Vallejo pots but the vehicles did turn out very well.  

A platoon of Panthers is always a good choice, even if they are not Confident Veterans.

Camouflage applied using the feathering approach.

Frontal view.  Another traffic jam!

Top view.

Another view of the ink washed and not LW BOTB PG MG teams in a damaged house.

German sdkfz 251/21 AA halftracks provide cover for the column

Sdkfz 251/16D flame halftracks will be a surprise to any US road block.

A view from the top.

The AA halftracks are neat.  The LW German vehicles are pretty compelling.

Der sohn painted up six of these.  

Rear view of the column.

A panzerjaeger zug with Panzer IV/70s.

Mobelwagens provide AA cover in case the bad weather in the Ardennes breaks.

Der sohn said the Mobelwagens were very annoying to put together.  I believe him.  

On to the Meuse!

OK, next up is a LW BOTB PG headquarter (HQ) platoon, if only to string along an even more better acronym (LW BOTB PG HQ).  I may even be done by the time the next Battlefront supplement is published (next month)!   . . . probably not though.