Painting 30 tanks in one day (10mm, of course)

First, do a lousy job of cleaning them up a couple of weeks ago.  Pendraken do have some mold misfits that are impossible to file down without changing the shape of the turrets.

They were all primed with WalMart cheapo grey primer, with which I prime everything.
They were then sprayed with Tamiya AS-24 Dark Green (Luftwaffe).  The machine guns were painted flat black and the ends of the exhaust pipes in charcoal grey.

The louvers and grills were washed with P3 Armor Coat, and everything below the fenders including the front and rear glacis plates were painted with Plaid Apple Barrel (Michaels M20389) Spice Brown. If a little splashed over the fenders and glaci, so much the better!

The tanks were then hand numbered on both sides of the turret, and the rear, not standard practice, but to make the individual tanks easier to identify by the player. Checking a lot of wartime photos showed that as many tanks had two-digit numbers as three-digit numbers. That saved painting 90 digits!

Once that was dry, the entire vehicle was washed with my dark brown wash, made with the Magic Wash formula.

Now for the juicy bits, the photos.

The entire group, ready for action.  The photo was taken, hopefully, by a Soviet reconnaissance aircraft.

The IS-2's.  Not much to say, except that the barrels are supplied separate from the turrets.

The T-34/85's.  You can see the mis-molding on the turret sides that are impossible to remove without changing the shape of the turret.  It's not too noticeable on the table.  There are 15 of these.

T-34/76's. The same hull is used for all T-34's. It would have been nice if the 85's had been molded with external fuel tanks, but, oh well. There are 10 in my force.

The SU-76's.  There is a surprising amount of detail on these tanks. There are indications of the ammo racks in the interior, and the gun block has enough detail for you to know what it is.. There are only 3 of these poor, under-armored souls in my force. They seem to be a bit large in comparison to the other Soviet vehicles.

The entire force consists of 2 IS-2m's, 3 Su-76's, 10 T34-76's, and 15 T34-85's.  30 tanks.  How did I arrive at these quantities? Blame it on Two Hour Wargames "Hell Hath No Fury".
http://store.twohourwargames.com/hehanofutaon.html

It is a fast-play, tank only set of rules.  The rules only have US and German tanks, but there are free updates for Soviet and UK forces.  The time is D-Day to the end of the war.  There are only the tanks one is most likely to run into. The rules can be played solo, head-to-head, or players versus non-player forces.
The proportions are derived from the scenario, of which there are 10, mission forces.

AT Bayou Wars, the will be fighting 20 German tanks, also determined by the scenario mission forces.  There will be 6 StuG-III/G, 3  Panthers, 3  PzkwIII-M, 7 PzkwIV-H and 1 Tiger 1.  Last year's US vs. German was a fiasco, with the US tanks being neutered within the first 20 minutes.  Luckily for this GM, there were 2 souls who took a platoon of PzkwIV-H's vs. a platoon of M4-76's and played for an hour or so.

Hell Hath No Fury Patrol #2

I got a couple of Pendraken M4A4's with the 76mm gun. (I have 8 more on order from the War Store).  I decided that I would have them go after a Tiger I.  There would be the regular 3 PEF's on the board so I wouldn't be sure where it was.  My plans change into a regular patrol quickly and you will see why!

Turn 1: In order to get the game going, the Shermans moved 12" on an invisible road, and the PEF's moved towards them, 1 at 8", and the other 2 at 4" each, as decided by the die rolls.

Turn 2:: US 3 Germans 4

All PEF's move 4" towards the Shermans.  The Shermans' attempts at PEF resolution resulted in them being resolved next turn with 3d6. Note that the Shermans have no LOS to each other, and so operate independently.

Turn 3: US 4 Germans 5

The first PEF to be resolved is the Tiger I.  Insights are US 3 & 1, Tiger 3.

 In the rules, in a tie the player decides who goes first.  Being no idiot, my Sherman #1 goes first with a flank shot and destroys the Tiger I.  Not much of a game!  So the second PEF is resolved as 1 Panzer IV-H.  The In Sights are once again ties.  Since Sherman 1 is unable to turn his turret (only once when active OR move), he Ducks Back.

Turn 4  US 3 Germans 6

Both Shermans move to where they can see the Pzkw IV-H, though Sherman #2 can only see his turret over the rocks.  The German passes more dice on the In Sight that either Sherman, and fires first at Sherman #1.  He misses, a double 6! Sherman #1 returns fire and explodes the Pzkw IV-H!

Turn 5 US 6 Germans 4

The US can't move and the PEF passes 0d6.

Turn 6: US 6 Germans 2

The PEF moves 4" in the village towards the Shermans.

Turn 7 US 3 Germans 5

The US advances to within LOS of the PEF and it turns out to be nothing!

Sherman #1 radios headquarters with the new that the village is clear of German vehicles.

This was a rather more satisfactory result than the previous sortie, posibly because I didn't make so many mistakes.

Now a word about the Pendraken tanks.  I have two M4A4 76mm Shermans and 2 M10's, also a Stug III. My total order is for 2 platoons of M4A4's and one of M10's.  I also have on order 4 Stug III's.War Store warns that he has limited quantities, and orders twice a month.  No problem.  

If you look at the picture of the tank on either website, you can see that the there is a mold registration problem on the turret and gun. This means that the turret and gun top and bottom are slightly off from one another. This requires a bit of work with jeweler's files.  The same hold true for the M10's turret, though it doesn't affect the gun..  I don't consider it too much of a problem, but now you know.

Hell Hath No Fury

Hell Hath No Fury (HHNF) is Two Hour Wargames' latest WWII rule set, encompassing tank vs. tank combat, none of those pesky infantry or anti-tank guns!  Lock And Load had done a fun little set called Tank Vs. Tank a while back, and I bought up a bunch of 1/144 tanks when Wal-Mart had them for $1.00 each.

Like all of Two Hour Wargames' rules, this one is based on reaction, so you never know whether your toys are going to do exactly what you paln.  Fog of War!

5 Shermans M4A4 Shermans with the 75mm gun were sent on patrol to see if the area ahead was clear for advance.  It wasn't.  And thereby hangs a tale...

In HHNF, each member of the tank crew has his own Rep which denotes his ability to perform his appointed tasks.  These are rolled for on a table.  So 3 of the Shermans had Rep 5 (very good) tank commanders, and the remaining 2 had Rep 4, not bad.  Gunners varried from Rep 4 to 5.  Loaders were mostly Rep 3 (low average).  This would be a factor in the game.

The game was played on a 3' x 3' table, lain out in a 3 by 3 grid, not visible on the table.  It's just for initially locating the PEF's, Possible Enemy Force, before they are revealed.

Here is the original layout with the Shermans coming in at number 8 on the grid.

I don't really have any 1/144th terrain, so I used a 15mm farm as the only building.  The green 3D clumps are representing trees.  The green felt represents hills and the tan felt a depression.  Two PEF's appeared in 1 & 3, out of the picture on the upper left and right.  The third PEF appeared in 5, where there is no cover.  PEF's normally appear in cover and continue to hide as long as possible, while advancing toward the enemy.

This was an unusual situation caused by my leaving a blank area in the center of the table.  The Shermans are numbered 1-3 in the front row, with 1 being the platoon commander in the center tank.  The second row are imaginatively numbered 4 & 5.  This is Turn 1 and the Shermans advance onto the table.  And immediately reveal the PEF in front of them to be: the worse possible roll, 6 more than your unit. (This is a BIG mistake.  Rolling 6 should only add 3 more than your unit!) The only German tanks that I have in that quantity are Panzer IV-H's with superior guns to the Shermans!

Luckily for the Shermans, they win the In Sight, allowing them to get off the first shots. (Normally, I would roll up the crews for each Pz IV-H, but with 11 of them, I just made their crews all Rep 4.  Fudging, I know!)  The Shermans disable the first 3 tanks in line with 4 shots, blocking Line Of Sight for the Pz IV-H's behind them.

None of the front-line Shermans were able to reload quickly enough to be able to return shots until their next activation (Rep 3 Loaders, remember?), and #3 couldn't even try again until the next activation. Tank #4 had no targets and #5 was able to reload quickly.  The Germans got no activation, due to rolling higher than their Rep.

On turn 2, the Activation dice were Germans 6 (no activation) and US 1.  Since standing in the open was not wise, they split up, the front row going left around the trees to their left, and the back row going to the right, also around the trees. Sherman #3 finally reloads when next Active, so is unable to shoot this turn, and remains in hiding.

Shermans 4 & 5 round the trees and win the In Sight with the few Germans who can see them. #5, with the best gunner in the platoon, hits a tank in the side and destroys it. #4 fires at another Pz IV-H, but his round bounces off, and the German destroys him.  When tanks are destroyed (exploded), any friendly tank within 4" must take a Crises Test, since seeing your buddies turn into pink mist can be unnerving.  1 tank in the second German platoon Ducks Back (hides from the destroyer, a temporary situation).  In the 3rd German platoon, another tank Ducked Back, and in the 4th platoon, 1 tank left the table. 

Turn 3 Germans 2 Americans 4

Tank 1 & 2 tie their In Sight with a couple of tanks on the Germans' right flank and #1 explodes another German tank.  Tank #3 still must reload. #2 has no target.  Here I made a mistake.  In Sights are not tied in HHNF, but are rerolled.  As a result, the destroyed German tank destroys Sherman #2.  Sherman #1 Ducks Back, but #3 is okay, but still unloaded.

On the right flank, Sherman #5 advances to the sand pit and again wins the In Sight. He fires again, and explodes another Panzer IV-H.  As a result of all the damage to the Germans, the remainders of the 3rd platoon Ducks Back, and both the commander and the remaining tank of the 4th platoon leave the battlefield.

Now the Germans activate.  The PEF on the right of Sherman #1 is revealed to be 3 more Panzer IV-H's.  Sherman #1 wins the In Sight and Ducks Back, since he doesn't like 3 to 1 odds.  The PEF on the left moves forward, but remains hidden..  The commander of German platoon 3 moves to the front of Sherman #5, who is not reloaded, so he Ducks Back.

 Turn 4  Germans 4 Americans 2

The commander of the new German platoon advances on Sherman #1, and loses the In Sight to him.  Sherman #1 fires, and his shell bounces off.  The German tank returns fire, and explodes Sherman #1, the platoon commander.  That's enough burning Shermans, so the 2 remaining leave the field on my decision.

Great fun, unless you're in one of the tanks.  The Shermans disabled or destroyed 6 tanks for the loss of  3 of their own.  They also ran off a couple more, and all stood firm when their buddies bought it near them.  It was my usual luck for the first PEF to be the worst possible roll.

Mistakes? I've made a few (hey, isn't that a song?).  I had an In Sight as simultaneous, which is wrong.  It should be a reroll.  I rolled doubles for activation twice, and forgot that could bring reinforcements, I think.  Can't find it at the moment.  My biggest mistake was when I rolled a 6 on enemy forces, I added the 6 instead of the 3, as called for. Oh, yes.  Since the Germans held the field, they could recover their damaged tanks, and two were repairable.  So the Shermans only destroyed 4 tanks for their loss of 3.  But we know that the Americans can replace Shermans much more easily than the Germans can replace anything.